Monday, April 13, 2015

Openings still available...

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Hi folks,

There's still a few spots left in my upcoming presentation on May 16 from 10 am - 4 pm at St. Edwards University for the Writer's League of Texas. Go here  for additional info on registering and attending. Hope to see some of you there!

 

"Watch to Write: Lessons for Novelists in Thelma and Louise" with Les Edgerton

$129
Register until
5/13/2015


Members: Login to receive members-only pricing.

Location
St. Edward's University, Trustee Hall 303
3001 S. Congress Ave.
Austin, TX 78704

 
 
 

5/16/2015 From 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM



 
$69 for members (please log in for member pricing)

$129 for nonmembers
Before purchasing, please read all policies as noted below and on our Classes page.

Note: Online registration will close at the end of Thursday, May 14. After that you can pay admission at the door with a check for the walk up rate - $79 for members and $139 for nonmembers - as long as seats are available. Thank you!

Watching good movies can make you a better fiction writer.
That’s the entire premise of this workshop. The power of visual storytelling can allow writing teachers to demonstrate fiction-writing techniques in a more effective and entertaining way. 

In this class, we will watch the movie Thelma & Louise in its entirety, stopping frequently to desconstruct and discuss techniques that Callie Khouri (the screenwriter) uses to create a wonderful work of art—the same techniques used by the best fiction writers. Virtually every frame of this movie offers a valuable teaching moment for writers, and on top of that it provides an entirely pleasurable way to learn.

Class take-aways will include:

- How actions both inform characterization and provide a dynamic means to create character arc, creating believable, exciting people and not “characters.”

- How to write riveting scenes and set up future scenes up by foreshadowing.

- How to handle exposition and backstory.

- Giving your characters physical actions to define them and show character arc.

- How to utilize setting to define character.

- Surface-problem and story-worthy problem--How each is related and resolved.

- How to write resolutions that satisfy emotionally.

- How to create “watercooler moments”

- A bonus takeaway is learning how to create a novel that is cinematic in nature which could help sell it as... you guessed it...a movie!

This workshop would be valuable to every skill level of writer—from the raw beginner to the polished writer who has been published several times. And, even though it’s an event geared to novel writers, the same principles we’ll cover apply also to screenwriters. So… everybody is welcome!


About the instructor:
Les Edgerton has published eighteen books. His fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, O. Henry Award, Edgar Allan Poe Award, PEN/Faulkner Award, the Derringer Award, Spinetingler Magazine Best Thriller Award, Texas Institute of Letters Jesse Jones Book Award, and the Violet Crown Book Award, among others. One of his screenplays was a semifinalist in the Academy Award's Nicholl's Foundation and another was a finalist in both the Writer's Guild Awards and Best of Austin Screenplay competition. He's taught creative writing for the UCLA Extension Writer's Program, was the visiting writer-in-residence for the University of Toledo for three years, the visiting writer for Trine University, taught creative writing online for Vermont College, Phoenix College, St. Francis University, Writer's Digest, for the New York Writer’s Workshop and others. He currently teaches an ongoing private novel-writing class and provides private coaching. The workshop on Thelma and Louise is the heart of his newest craft book, A Fiction Writer's Workshop at the Bijou.

A native Texan, Edgerton is making several appearances in Texas this summer including this workshop, an appearance at BookPeople Bookstore in Austin, an appearance before the San Antonio Writer’s Group, and will be on staff for the Writer’s Retreat Workshop at the Oblate Retreat in San Antonio, all in May. Details found on his website at www.lesedgerton.net.


REGISTRATION BY MAIL: If your browser has difficulty with our website store, or if you prefer to mail in a check, click HERE for a class registration form. The document provides instructions on where to mail it.

NOTE: Tickets are not refundable, but they are transferable. If you purchase a ticket and then find you cannot attend, someone else can attend in your stead. Simply contact us at wlt@writersleague.org or 512-499-8914 and let us know so that we can update the class roster. For policies, please visit our Classes page.


This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department. Visit Austin at NowPlayingAustin.com.


Writers' League of Texas classes and workshops are also funded in part by the Texas Commission on the Arts - Investing in a Creative Texas. For more information, go to www.arts.texas.gov.

The Writers' League of Texas would like to thank St. Edward's University for its generous support and commitment to community, ongoing education, and the arts. Visit www.stedwards.edu.



Blue skies,
Les

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