During Fall 2016, we will continue to support Free Association readings at GCC and hold free community workshops one Saturday per month. We hope to see big, happy, creative crowds at all of these events. Listed below you’ll find the current dates for our readings and workshops. We will have more details about each of these events as the calendar lurches closer to them. We will also look to add other events, both college- and community-run, when we are able. For now, mark your calendars and save the dates!
So, you’ve built a character. You gave it cool clothes (turtle-neck, yoga pants) and a favorite whiskey (Wild Turkey) and deep, soulful eyes anyone could drown in (blue, naturally). You gave it a history too, filled with pain, regret, shame, and other abstractions. Oh, and maybe it used to fold clothes for Old Navy or bartend at that one Applebee’s–you remember, the one that nearly burned down because of poor deep-fryer maintenance. You gave your character a complex intellect and a deep appreciation for philosophical thought because, you know, that’s useful. But, see, now all the character does is wallow in a bathtub, breaking down the chemical structure of Pantene Pro-V and debating the authenticity of modern marketing’s practice of assigning gender to body washes and anti-aging cream. Who doesn’t want to feel the gentle caress of shea butter? Bask in the scent of champagne mango and white ginger?
Probably no one, but that’s beside the point. The point, if you’ve made it this far, is that narratives need characters that do things. In this workshop, we’ll dive into that further. We’ll talk about how terms like plot and conflict interconnect, discuss how you can affect the pace of a story by generating conflict in a variety of ways, and look at different strategies for injecting conflict into your narratives.
When: Saturday, April 9th at 10:00AM (the workshop will run between 90 and 120 minutes)
Where: GCC Main Campus, LA-141
Why: Because Jeff Really Needs This
This will be the final Saturday Workshop for the Spring semester, so we hope to see you there. Bring your friends, your aunts and uncles, your neighbors, your fitness instructors, and any random people you meet on Saturday mornings.
What do your characters sound like? What would they say in situations you haven’t anticipated them encountering? The answer might surprise you. Come to the dialogue workshop and find out what your characters really want to say. Learn how cultivating each character’s unique voice can help you uncover hidden personality traits. Discuss examples of effective dialogue from various genres and explore how you can use dialogue to create compelling plot moves and authentic character development.
When: Saturday, March 5th from 10:00AM to Noon
Where: GCC Main Campus, LA-141
Why: Because We Said So
The He Said, She Said workshop will be conducted by Jeff Sanger. Jeff studied writing at the University of Pittsburgh, but learned what he knows about dialogue from his work in community mental health. His play “Crazy” was based on some of those experiences and produced for the stage as part of the 2011 Pittsburgh New Works Festival. His work has also been published by Akashic Books, The Compleat Mother, Mt.Lebanon Magazine, and Souf Oaklin’ Fo’ Life. When he’s not teaching English composition for GCC main and north campuses he enjoys playing Minecraft with his three children and cooking with his wife. He’s been married for over 14 years, proof he knows how to listen to what people say!
The first Saturday Workshop of the spring semester comes your way on February 13th. David Nelson, one of our English and creative writing instructors at GCC, will cover concepts related to point of view in writing.
Where: GCC Main Campus, LA-141
When: 10:00AM to 11:30AM (the start time has changed from previous workshops)
When it’s a novel in short stories – that is to say, when it’s a short story sequence.
Gary Lawrence
A short story sequence is two or more short stories that share at least one important narrative element – plot, setting, character, or theme. Short story sequences are not new; but they are experiencing a resurgence today as “novels in short stories.”
As “novels in short stories,” short story sequences are unique, because they blend the best attribute of a short story (its autonomy) with the best attribute of a novel (its unity). Imagine, if you will, a novel where every chapter stands both on its own AND as an integral part of the overall story arc. The sum is therefore often more than its parts. Louise Erdrich’s 1984 classic Love Medicine and Phil Klay’s Redeployment (2014 National Book Award winner) are two of many successful modern examples.
This workshop will define the short story sequence form; analyze a modern short story sequence written by the workshop leader; and give student writers time and guidance to explore this “sequencing” option in whatever they write: stories, novels, CNF, and/or poetry.
After a 30-year management career in the aerospace industry, Gary Lawrence now teaches composition and creative writing at GCC and Cochise College. His short stories have appeared in Short Story America print anthologies (Volumes II and III) and Four Chambers literary magazine (Volume I). He self-published his short story collection Baffled in 2013. He was also interviewed by NPR in 2014.
Gary has an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BA in English fromRockford College. He is originally from Rockford IL and lives today in Sierra Vista AZ with his wife Linda and their Yorkie Poo Rocky.
Join our GCC CRW community for an inspiring and informative workshop on an aspect of creative writing. Topics this year include characterization and more!
The workshops are facilitated by our CRW faculty and talented community writers. These workshops are free and open to the public.
Next workshop: Saturday, October 10, begins at 9 AM in LA 141 on GCC’s Main Campus
Dr. Virgil Mathes — The Nitty Gritty: Research and Creative Writing
How do writers find out the nitty gritty details that sometimes come up in our fiction (Could you really DO that with a sucking chest wound? . . . How do you make a bomb?)
How do writers know all that they need to know to make their stories (and poems and scripts, etc.) believable and authentic? Dr. Mathes will discuss, in his usual lively manner, different methods for finding out this kind of information that will make your settings and plots authentic.
The CRW Saturday Workshop takes place in LA-141 at GCC Main from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Light refreshments are provided. Bring your own water and coffee.
for more information on Dr. Mathes: http://www.virgilmathes.com/writin-the-river/archives/06-2015
Our Saturday Morning Workshop Series can be planned by you! Take a moment to follow this link to a survey where you can tell us what you’d like to learn more about on Saturday mornings in 2016! It might seem far away, but it’ll be here before you know it!
Please join us for our first Saturday morning workshop.
Workshops are also open to community members. Bring a friend!
They are free! (And they come with juice and breakfast goodies. For this workshop only, bring your own coffee.)
Date: September 12
Time: 9:00-11:30 a.m.
Where: LA 141
Description:
Creating Believable Characters
Are you tired of dull lifeless characters? Do you want people to read your characters and be able to relate to them? Do you want to have fun writing dynamic characters? Join GCC’s Saturday Creative Writing workshop series September 12.
Screenwriter Mark Viquesney will give some helpful tips on breathing life into your characters no matter what genre you write in.
Please contact Kimberly Mathes for more information at Kimberly.Mathes@gccaz.edu.
Date: September 12
GCC Creative Writing 