The annual Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Writing the Region Workshop July 20-24 in Gainesville, Florida features new presenters and new sessions for new and returning participants.
Gainesville, FL (PRWEB) June 6, 2005 -- Year after year, writers make an annual pilgrimage to Gainesville, Florida to learn from some of the best in the business. They count on the organizers of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Writing the Region workshop to always provide new sessions that update their skills, and this year's workshop July 20-24 is no exception.
Workshop participants will be able to update their skills at sessions by some of the publishing industry's major players, one of whom is keynote speaker Jim Fusilli, author of the award-winning Terry Orr detective novels. Fusilli's Orr plies the streets of the author's own hometown of New York City. While Fusilli allows that his knowledge of New York is important, he says an author needs to know more about an area then just facts and figures.
"You can learn about the streets, shops and architecture of any place in a few minutes on-line these days," Fusilli said. "But to know the personality of a place, its energy, its attitudes, you have to know its soul.
"You have to be able to know more than what you can see," he said. "You need to know why your characters are where they are. I have a pretty good understanding of why people come to New York City, why they stay and why they leave. An understanding of those attitudes helped form my characters and define my series."
The crime novelist will tell workshop participants that setting alone will not make a story. Writers need to make sure their characters are fully developed, but setting has an integral role in that development.
"As you create characters, you have to create the world in which the characters will live. I cant see a character absent setting," Fusilli said. "You have to ask fundamental questions when developing characters, and many of the answers require an understanding of how they will interact with setting."
But setting and character development aside, there is a business side to writing. And The Writing the Region workshop has sessions lined up to answer those questions as well.
Doris Booth is editor-in-chief of authorlink.com, one of the major websites for authors that brings together agents and publishers looking for new material with authors. Booth will present a new session that will help authors figure out exactly where the publishing industry is today.
"The publishing industry is constantly re-inventing itself to better fit the changing moods of readers, Booth said. "These movements in the marketplace necessarily impact the author. Editorial content that was hot five years ago might be unsalable today.
"Authors need to be aware of trends in editorial content, and how to spot important developments in the market and stay ahead of the curve," she said.
To help authors determine if their idea is in synch with the realities of today's market, Booth and fellow agent Ann Hawkins are offering a different kind of session in which aspiring novelists can discuss their ideas with the two publishing professionals. Booth said authors need to have a good handle on what their story is going to be about.
"Authors need to be able to summarize the story in one or two sentences--similar to the descriptions in the TV section of the newspaper," Booth said. "Agents also want to know something about the characters, the central conflict, the resolution."
For more information, call toll-free: 1-888-917-7001, or visit the workshop's website at http://www.writingtheregion.com/.
# # #
|
