Course For WFNB Members

THE CHARACTER GENERATED PLOT In Drama and Prose Fiction.

Kent Stetson (Governor General's Literary Award, 2001; Member of the Order of Canada, July 2007) is pleased to announce a nine week character/story/plot workshop for prose fiction and drama writers in New Brunswick.

After his successful WFNB workshop this past April at the Marshlands Inn, frequent requests have prompted the inauguration of this thorough study of the mechanics of dramatic fiction, be its final form the page or the stage.

Eighteen hours of exploration of the craft of story and plot arising from solid character work will be conducted by internet telephone (VOIP), and e-mail beginning October 20, 2007. Eight places for WFNB writers at all levels of their personal or professional practice are available. A special rate per person applies.

The design the Character-Generated Plot In Drama and Prose-Fiction series arises from
similar courses offered by Mr. Stetson in Provence, The National Theatre School of Canada, McGill and Concordia Universities, and private workshops county-wide. Familiar through professional practice and publication with both prose fiction and drama, Stetson's craft-oriented course helps writers solidify the architecture of their work. Exercises designed by Stetson foster the development of well-considered, well-rounded characters whose desires create the story they are compelled through their actions, and those of others with whom they interact, to tell. Further exercises, based on group interaction such as listening exercises, i.e., what the
writer actually said as opposed to what we might have heard, and in-depth text exploration assist in the construction of the individual writer’s plot. The difference between plot and story? E. M. Forster tells us in his wonderful collected essays on drama and prose fiction, Aspects of the Novel. “The king died, the queen died is the story,” he says. “The king died, the queen died of grief is the plot.”

Like Forster, Stetson believes the essentials of character, story and plot are common to both forms. "Character generated story and plot rely on equal measures of action and reflection in both prose and drama. It is the form of the telling of the tale where-in the difference lies."

The current course is designed for members of the Writers Federation of New Brunswick who are embarking on new works, or are currently engaged with the ongoing development of works in progress.

Visit www.masterplayworks.com for detailed course description. Telephone 514 270
1948 for further information, or e-mail: playwork@isn.com.