The Writescape Companion
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The Writescape Companion Summer 2011 Sunday, Aug. 7 Summer writing Tasting the Page It looks like this summer is going to be a So what’s hot and what’s not? If you Taking description beyond hot one. I’m not complaining—I’ve been write for children, author Erin Thomas the five senses cold for far too long—but it got me can what’s cooking with a few Canadian ~~~ thinking about hot writing. publishers. She and Gwynn are teaming Saturday, Aug. 20 up to facilitate a six-week Writing for Woods, Water & Words Raw, first-draft writing is hot writing, Children course. A day of writing activities at writing straight from the creative brain, Glentula on Lake Seymour. writing more concerned with story than Then, there is the hot writing that comes ~~~ semantics. This summer let go with your when you are ‚in the zone,‛ when your Sunday, Aug. 28 writing: no internal editor; no telling characters are real people doing real Putting Flesh on the yourself it’s no good. Just write! Start with things and words are just pouring onto Bones the hot prompts in this issue, or check out the page. Ah, bliss! The secret is, this Building strong characters Inspiration Station to keep you going all kind of writing only comes when you ~~~ summer long. write often, preferably every day. Find a Mondays, Sept. 12 – Oct. 24 quiet spot in your garden, pack the kids Writing for Children Hot writing can also conjure up steamy off to grandma or escape to write for a The ins and outs of children’s sex scenes. Afraid to write them? Find tips dedicated day of writing at Woods, writing and publishing in this issue from an erotica writer and ~~~ Water and Words. Give yourself a gift info on how Harlequin categorizes Saturday, Sept. 24 this summer and write, write, write. different levels of physical intimacy. It’s Not What You Earn, It’s What You Keep Hot writing topics also have their seasons. Ruth and Gwynn Tax tips for writers & artists Rev up your writing at Turning Leaves ~~~ Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011 2011 What’s new this fall at Turning Leaves fire; every room has a wood-burning Glentula Fall Getaway 2011? A new location and a new guest fireplace. Think about the delicious A one-day getaway at facilitator. Our all-inclusive fall writing meals you’ll share. (Ruth recommends Glentula on Lake Seymour retreat takes place October 28 to 30 at the chocolate and caramel brownie— ~~~ beautiful Fern Resort near Orillia (about yummy.) October 28 – 30, 2011 Turning Leaves 2011 1.5 hours north of Durham Region) on the Register today! Click here for details. Three days of workshops, shores of Lake Couchiching. discussions and feedback— We have exclusive use of the resort’s Who is our mystery and time to write! Fireside Inn. All meals and the extensive facilitator, you ask? ~~~ amenities are included: bicycles, tennis, Why, award-winning Mondays, Nov. 7 – Dec. 12 archery, walking trails, gym, indoor pool, Barry Dempster! Write Now An introduction to creative Jacuzzi, steam room and sauna and The GG-nominated writing lakeside hammocks. poet and author joins ~~~ us in a fireside chat on Imagine the writing you’ll do, with Wednesdays, Oct. 5 – Nov. 9 Friday evening and stimulating workshops and plenty of time Write On Intensive leads a Saturday workshop. Advanced creative writing to write. Picture yourself toasting by the 1 Writing at The Heathers in York Region Tasting the Page: Character Development: Beyond the Five Senses Putting Flesh on the Bones Sunday, August 7 Sunday, August 28 10:00 pm to 4:00 pm 10:00 pm to 4:00 pm Register online for Register online for Tasting the Page Putting Flesh on the Bones with Gwynn Scheltema with Ruth Walker In this one-day workshop, we Is it the book you remember or the experiment with creative writing characters? A good storyteller fills exercises that make your writing live. the pages with people who linger We munch our way through a long after you close the book. smorgasbord of fiction foods from This one-day workshop focuses on image and emphasis, to movement, ways to develop your characters into theme, and syntax. memorable people. Innovative • Challenge your reader’s exercises and intriguing examples perceptions and assumptions help you create believable dialogue • Deepen your powers of description and fascinating fictional folks. • Learn new descriptive techniques Expand your writer’s toolkit with to give greater weight to your techniques that reveal your narrative voice characters’ deepest, darkest secrets. • Learn how to add description By the end of the day, you’ll know without slowing the narrative your characters so well, that you will Don’t leave your fiction on the plate. stay up nights watching them, Prepare it gourmet style and your listening to them and writing about readers will beg for more. them. Fee for each: $90; $80 for WCDR/SOH/PWAC etc. Spice up your sex scenes Sex is emotion in motion. ~ Mae West Writing sex scenes can feel like getting undressed in public; like your mother is watching; like everyone will think you do the things you describe. Get over it. If you write for adults—in any genre—at some point you will need to handle intimate scenes. Here are the top five mistakes authors make when writing sex scenes, according to Clare Langley-Hawthorne, author of Consciousness of Sin: 1. Things get hot and heavy in the most unlikely of moments and places. 2. Euphemisms rise to a whole new level, leaving the reader giggling or cringing. 3. Sex is always spectacular, never boring, mundane or unsatisfying. 4. ‚No‛ doesn’t mean no; it means I will eventually give in and have earth-shattering sex. 5. Characters are never just ordinary people, but bigger-than-life Adonises/Aphrodites. 2 One-day Retreats at Glentula on Lake Seymour Woods, Water & Words Glentula Fall Getaway Saturday, August 20 Sunday, October 23 Register for Register for Woods, Water and Words Glentula Fall Getaway If you can’t get away for a full weekend retreat, try one—or both—of these one- day getaways. Writing activities will enlist the woods, the wandering garden paths, the lake and streams for inspiration, as well as the energy of writing in a community of other writers. The day will be a mix of group-led writing exercises, situation-themed writing prompts and time to write and reflect. Gwynn will 10 am – 4 pm be available at several points in the day to Writing activities answer any questions you may have about 5 pm – 8 pm your personal writing project. Optional campfire reading and If you wish to stay, we’ll finish the day discussion around a cosy campfire to read and share, The tragedy of sexual and discuss writerly things. A light lunch and intercourse is the perpetual buffet dinner will be provided, as well as an all-day virginity of the soul. beverage station. ~William B. Yeats Check www.writescape.ca for details on day and evening options ‚Hot‛ shows up everywhere in idiom in our language. Here are ten common phrases. Use one or more to jumpstart a piece. talking hot air in hot water hot under the collar hot off the press hot on her heels in the hot seat hot as Hades touch a hot button blow hot and cold she thinks she’s hot stuff 3 It’s Not What You Earn, It’s What You Keep: Taxation Tips for Writers Saturday, September 24 10:00 am to 4:00 pm Location: TBA in Durham Register online for It’s Not What You Earn with Gwynn Scheltema Being a writer means more than coming up with great plot lines and sizzling dialogue – if you get paid for your writing, it also means dealing with Revenue Canada and taxes. Participants will learn the answers to questions like: · How does Revenue Canada define ―freelance‖? · If I win a writing contest, is that money considered income? · Can I deduct research expenses? · How do I value a work-in-progress? · Do I have to register for GST? Fee: $90; $80 for WCDR/SOH/PWAC etc. Not all kisses taste like Hershey’s Kissing uses all five senses. Kisses come in so many forms: passionate, wet, teasing, rough, slow… Remember how you felt when you first discovered that French kissing involved touching tongues? As a teen, did you practise on your arm or the mirror? What about your first If my doctor told me I had kiss? only six minutes to live, I Write about a kiss—fun, disgusting, chaste or steamy. wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster. ~ Isaac Asimov Sweet, saucy or sizzling? Writing a romance? Harlequin, the world’s largest publisher, provides clear, detailed guidelines on their website for every imprint, from the word count to the level of sexual content. For example, Blaze editors ask for ‚sensuous, highly romantic, innovative stories that are sexy in premise and execution. The tone of the books can run from fun and flirtatious to dark and sensual. Writers can push the boundaries in terms of explicitness…an emphasis on the physical relationship…fully described love scenes along with a high level of fantasy, playfulness and eroticism.‛ Their eBook sexy short story program—Historical Undone—is looking for ‚a high level of sensuality that flows naturally out of the plotline… hot, sexy and subtly explicit without the lovemaking being vulgar or gratuitous.‛ Pssst…you can submit these 10,000- to 15,000-word shorts without an agent! Go to www.eharlequin.com and click on the writers’ guidelines under Harlequin Extras.