Teens are invited to a writing workshop on the theme of beauty and body image. Join myself and Patricia McCowan – authors from the short story collection Cleavage: Breakaway Fiction for Real Girls – at the Beaches branch of the Toronto Public Library on October 4 from 2 to 4 pm (2161 Queen St. East). Stories from the workshop can be submitted for posting at breakawayfiction.blogspot.com by emailing breakawayfiction@gmail.com.
Presentation News
CANSCAIP presentation
I was invited to give a talk for CANSCAIP, the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers. On September 10, I spoke about my recent exploration into the art of screenwriting and how it applies to writing a novel. If you’re interested in screenwriting, two excellent books are Syd Field’s Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting and Robert McKee’s Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting.
Writing for Children at Centennial College
Do you want to write for children or teens? Join me for a writing workshop on September 25, 2008, at Centennial College to learn how to generate ideas, develop believable characters, understand genres, edit your writing, and market and promote your work.
Summer Writing at Camp
I just finished two awesome weeks of teaching WordPlayer writing workshops at Pegasus Studios Arts Camp in Toronto. Together we wrote and shared poems, created characters using masks, and invented stories about buried treasure. The kids and teens were super enthusiastic when we created our own imaginary worlds then wrote stories about them. They drew maps of their worlds, imagined characters, then wrote pages of fabulous material. Thanks to all for sharing your writing with me.
WordPlayers Writing Workshops
This July, I’ll be leading WordPlayers writing workshops for children and teens at the Pegasus Studios Arts Camp. If you like writing poems or stories, come play with words using masks, story dice, photos, character games, and more. For more information, go to Pegasus Studios.
Prose Writing Workshop for Teens
In February 2008, teen writers joined me at the York Woods library in Toronto for a prose writing workshop. Participants expressed themselves through writing using a variety of stimulating activities designed to teach technique.
Young Voices Writers Conference
On October 20, 2007, I enjoyed a writing workshop with enthusiastic teen writers at the Young Voices Writers Conference. The event was held at the North York Central Library in Toronto. In my workshop, I focussed on how to revise a work of fiction, demonstrating my own revision process then discussing specific ways to polish prose with writing exercises to show technique.
Editor of Young Voices Magazine
On October 18, 2007, I joined the staff of the Toronto Public Library to celebrate the launch of Young Voices 2007, the library’s annual magazine for teen writing and art. As a guest editor of the magazine, I congratulated this year’s winners and encouraged teens aged 12 to 19 to enter their writing for next year’s magazine, when I’ll again act as an editor. For more information about how to submit, go to Young Voices magazine.
Prose Workshop, Toronto Public Library
Teens aged 12 to 19 joined me for a prose workshop at the North York Central Library in Toronto on February 20, 2007. Participants worked on their creative writing with an eye to submitting to Young Voices, Toronto Public Library’s magazine for teen writing and art. Participant Sanjeev Narayanaswamy wrote this review of the workshop.