Ever since I first heard Erin Nuttall read from her works-in-progress during our time together at the Vermont College of Fine Art’s Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program, I was a fan. She is a writer to watch, and I’m sure we’ll be reading her middle-grade and young-adult novels in the future. Thanks to Erin for interviewing me about side-writing on KidLit Craft – a terrific blog you’ll want to explore. You can check out Erin’s thoughts on side-writing in her inaugural post on KidLit Craft, and stayed tuned for more side-writing exercises on the blog all month.
In a virtual meeting for CANSCAIP Members and Friends across Canada, I’ll be speaking with panelists S.K. Ali and Nadia Hohn as well as moderator Glen Huser about our faculty and student experiences in writing programs and schools.
Have you considered a degree in creative writing? What degrees are out there? What is the workload? What can you gain? And – is it worth the money?
Date and Time: March 10, 7 p.m. ET Guests are welcome, and can contact office@canscaip.org to request the Zoom link.
Our world has been going through extraordinary changes, and so have we as writers. Who are you now? What stories are currently simmering within you, waiting to be told?
In this hands-on workshop, I’ll explore how to tap into ourselves and our stories through the practice of side-writing, which refers to stepping away from the story on the page to explore the raw heart of it through creative exercises. You’ll explore how side-writing can help us to write true to ourselves, plumb the emotional depths of our characters to better connect to readers, and spark joy and play in our writing.
Now, you can listen to Catherine’s interview with me on Cabin Tales. It includes my advice to young writers with writer’s block, and tales of terror from my childhood. (Yes, I was afraid of closets. Maybe I still am.)
Each episode of Cabin Tales focuses on one aspect of creative writing, such as setting. They include original spooky stories, excerpts from creepy classics, and writing tips from authors like me. The stories are deliciously monstrous – ones you might tell around a campfire to scare your friends – so Catherine warns that they’re not for very young listeners.
Cabin Tales also encourages young writers to share their own stories with fun weekly prompts. I hope you check it out!
UPDATE: Thank you to the organizers of the SCBWI Canada East Art of Story Conference, who have wisely decided to cancel it due to covid-19. I hope to be back as a speaker at a later event. In the meantime, they’re hoping to host online workshops and distance critiques so stayed tuned!
I’m thrilled and honoured to be included as faculty at the upcoming SCBWI Canada East Art of Story Conference. This is an intimate and craft-based conference focused on writing and illustrating for children and teens. I hope you’ll be able to join us.
Date: April 24 to 26, 2020 Place: Albert at Bay Suite Hotel, Ottawa
You can check out all the faculty and workshops. My talk will be based on my critical thesis and grad lecture I completed during my MFA in Writing at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. I’m excited to be able to share it with a wider audience.
How To Build Character Cultural Literacy To reflect the full and varied reality of human experience, all writers need to respectfully and thoughtfully depict secondary characters with a range of cultural beliefs. Even when our protagonists largely mirror us, can we say the same for all their friends?
Each character we create exists within a global village and within a particular nation, neighbourhood, social class, ability level as well as an ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, family, and peer group—each with its own distinct culture. Awareness of our characters’ culture beliefs will deepen their presence on the page.
Using insights from contemporary cultural anthropologists, I’ll introduce tools we can use to identify our characters’ deep-level cultural beliefs, offering insights into their motivations and story arcs. I’ll focus on family culture since that’s where we first learn and express our beliefs, although these tools can be applied to other cultural groups. We’ll also compare our own cultural beliefs to our characters’ to discuss the importance of respecting #OwnVoices, writing within our cultural elements, and avoiding bias through omission.
I graduated! Two years went by so fast. I can’t quite believe I’m done.
My final residency was a celebration from start to finish as each grad in my cohort delivered a lecture as well as a reading from their creative thesis. It’s fascinating to witness the growth of writers through this program and how it radically and fundamentally changes them. Add to that the usual workshops, faculty lectures, plus specialty seminars, and this residency was jammed-packed writing fun.
Relaxing before my lecture. Notice my light-bulb dress? It made my lecture illuminating!
It’s hard to explain how this program has changed me. It’s like it disassembled then re-assembled me as a writer. It expanded my scope in terms of genre and form, and it helped me plumb emotional depths to find my stories and characters. It also gave me the language to identify where a story isn’t working yet and the techniques to re-imagine it.
Dorm life.
But even though I now have an MFA in Writing, I’ll never finish learning how to perfect this thing called writing. It is impossible to perfect, which is one reason why I adore it so much.
My Hogwarts.
Before I began this program, I had to think long and hard about why I was taking it, and I decided that it couldn’t be because of the promise of whatever publishing contracts may come. It had to be for the sheer joy of building my writing craft and community. This program delivered that and so much more.
My brilliant cohort. I’m grateful to know them.
For one thing, I have access to future VCFA lectures and critical theses, so I can continue to learn and grow. And the VCFA community is warm and welcoming even beyond graduation.
Now, I begin the next stage of my journey with my post-MFA plans firmly in place. I plan to continue to put writing first, and strive for goals that are within my control. I plan to play with words, and make time for pondering and self-exploration. I plan to revise and re-imagine till my word shine. And I hope to share my new craft knowledge through workshops and classes.
My costume for our Space Disco dance included a homemade jet pack. To VCFA and beyond!
