Character, Story, Plot and Adaptation Workshops

MASTERPLAYWORKS©® announces the autumn, 2008 online, live, interactive, Character, Story, Plot, and Adaptation Writer’s Workshops.

Conducted by Governor General Award winning author and Member of the Order of Canada,
Kent Stetson, C. M.

"I don’t know what you’re thinking, or what it’s like inside you and you don’t know what it’s like inside me. In fiction, I think we can leap over that wall . . . I feel human and un-alone, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, that I’m in a deep, significant conversation with another consciousness . . . in a way I don’t with any other art." -- David Foster Wallace
* Globe and Mail, September 20, 2008, quoted by Rick Groen

STAGE AND SCREEN DRAMA:

The Character Generated Story: An introduction.

Beginning Saturday, October 18, 2008, once weekly through Saturday, December 14.

10:00 am-12:00 pm, est (Canada).

How to write well? Begin by learning your craft. Whether you’re a seasoned writer exploring a new genre, or a dramatist just starting out, The Character Generated Story workshop takes you quickly, with depth and precision, to the heart of your characters and the story you need them to tell. We spend eighteen hours (nine sessions, each two hours in length) investigating the craft of character development and story construction. Each session begins with a half hour of instruction on the basics— the craft— of dramatic writing. Ninety minutes of writing and listening exercises follow. You’ll emerge with a carefully worked, thoroughly assessed 750 word story, a one page synopsis suitable for marketing/fund raising, and a three page ‘producer’s’ outline.

Three participants minimum, six participants maximum.

THE PLOT:

How and Why things happen in Drama and Narrative Fiction.

Beginning Saturday, October 18, 2008, once weekly through Saturday, December 14.

2:00 pm-4:00 pm, est (Canada).

The Plot workshop is designed for writers who have mastered basic story and character craft elements of dramatic and narrative fiction. In drama and prose fiction, plot drives the story. What your characters do causes conflict. Conflict forces action. Action has implications. As A. Pope puts it, "Alps on Alps arise." We look at forward movement, lateral spread, and rising action. We mine your plot for the Holy Grail of all narrative fiction, the over-arcing metaphor. And we seek the theme . . . what’s the big idea? How does it effect details of the plot? The greater your understanding of the theme of your work, and the dynamic of metaphor, the more powerful your writing. We’ll explore your 750 word story with an eye to understanding the dynamic forces already at work. We’ll explore pace and rhythm. We’ll consider the narrative arc. We’ll begin plotting scenes and/or chapters. We’ll make a map and point you to your final destination.

Three participants minimum, six participants maximum.

ADAPTATION:

Drama to Prose, Prose to Drama;

You Can Get There From Here.

Beginning Sunday, 2 pm, October 19, 2008, once weekly through Sunday, December 15.

This new, first-time offering explores literary transformation. On my publisher’s invitation, I transformed a two act stage play to a 385 page novel. What a great gig it was! I’m still processing my insights. I discovered story migrates relatively easily: the who, what, where and when of the source material held. The characters resemble their original selves, but function differently in the new world. The plot undergoes the greatest transformation. The how and why of fictive narrative, prose or drama, must be re-considered, re-imagined and re-invented. You must know your point of departure intimately, ransack it, take what’s useful and discard the rest. We’ll go from long or short form narrative fiction to drama (stage or screen), and/or drama to long or short form fiction. Whether the material adapted is your own, or a piece you’ve secured the right to adapt, if it intrigues you and chews at your internal scenery, demanding to be re-invented, the Adaptation course will help you decide which elements to pack for the journey, and which to leave behind.

Designed for four to six participants.

Join from anywhere in the world:

All you need is a high-speed internet connection.

Award winning novelist and playwright Kent Stetson, C. M., is pleased to announce the third in a series of workshops for writers of drama and prose fiction.

The three courses begin October, 2008.

Requests from participants in introductory workshops for an extended course of advanced study have been gratifying. Hence these thorough online investigations of the mechanics of dramatic fiction, be the final form the page, large or small screen, or the stage.

The inaugural online courses have a great success (see Endorsements, below) the participants keen and engaged, the exchanges vital and expansive. For those of you who could not participate because of timing or late application, and those of you who have expressed interest since, we’re doing it again!

Places for participants at all levels of their personal or professional practice are available.

LEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STORY AND PLOT.

E. M. Forster, in his collected essays on drama and prose fiction, Aspects of the Novel, states:

The king died, the queen died is the story; the king died, the queen died of grief is the plot.

Kent Stetson believes, like Forster, that the essentials of character, story and plot are common to both prose fiction and drama. In both drama and prose fiction, action speaks louder than words. The arrangement of events— what the characters do, not only what they say— shapes the story. Action drives the forward motion of the load-bearing plot.

Like Wallace in the quote above, Forster tells us the essence of all art boils down to two simple words: Only Connect.

"No tears in the writer," Whit and Halley Burnet tell us in The Fiction Writers Hands Book, "No tears in the reader. No joy in the writer, no joy in the reader."

Writing can be perilous, some say must be perilous. It must not, however, to be undertaken lightly. Nor can it be allowed to become debilitating. Audacity and courage must be balanced with craft and a stable, sustainable practice.

EVERY PROJECT ADVANCED. EVERY QUESTION ANSWERED. EVERY VOICE HEARD.

The online vocal and written exchanges are communal and intense . . . no more than six participants per group, each group meeting for two hours weekly, for nine weeks. Polished work and follow-up comments are exchanged between participants by email, and live, online.

In-depth exploration of character through perspective exercises help expand the individual writer’s understanding of her or his emerging story and plot. The exercises are based on live, group interaction. Assessment is careful, considered, respectful and rigorous: we determine what the writer actually wrote as opposed to what we think we heard.

The sessions are real time, computer to computer via. VOIP (voice over internet protocol.) I use Skype, which is free, easy to download — and simple to use. The sound quality is extraordinary. It really feels like we are all in the same room together. And you don’t have to leave the house! (Note: We can work between computer and land line, if you prefer.)

PLOT IN DRAMA AND PROSE FICTION

The design of the live, on-line workshop series arises from popular, successful courses offered by Mr. Stetson at L’Atelier La Roque Alric in Provence, the National Theatre School of Canada, McGill and Concordia Universities, the Quebec Writers Federation, the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society, writer’s organizations across Canada, private workshops, and one-on-one dramaturgical sessions countywide.

Developed in tandem with his personal practice and his publication/production history with both prose fiction and drama, Stetson's craft-oriented courses help writers strengthen the dynamics and architecture of their work.

The great strengths of the all the courses are the timed, hand written character perspective exercises, which are assessed live on-line by the group in positive, supportive, challenging exploration. Theory and practice, craft and imagination play off each other in lively, informed discussion moderated with insight and good humour by Kent.

ENDORSEMENTS

Montreal translator and first-time dramatist Lesley McCubbin. . .

It's obvious that Kent has VAST amounts of knowledge and insight to draw upon. Plus, his skill at being able to constantly pinpoint the vital elements in the work, draw out the things that made it work (or not), reference it to deeper ideas, open it up to a bigger picture -- this amazed me. And he was able to critique the work without ever undermining anyone. An enormously demanding job, extremely well executed. . . It seems to me that whether you are a seasoned writer or trembling greenhorn (like me), you'll come away from this course with fresh insights into the process of penning a narrative -- and renewed enthusiasm for the process of writing! Kent takes his vast knowledge, experience, and listening skills and uses them to illuminate the question of, not just craft, but also the broader currents that underpin any narrative. Enormously stimulating and rewarding.

Senior actor, columnist, broadcast journalist and essayist Bill Carr says . . .

Taking the course was a leap of faith, not in Kent, but in myself. It jump started my creative spirit and then offered me specific elements of craft with which to create and give expression to that spirit. The work with the group, the solitary work, and the mentoring by Kent combined to make this an invaluable creative and deeply artistic adventure.

Novelist Irene Larkin writes . . .

I had an idea for a novel but I couldn't find the storyline. The live, on-line "Character Generated Plot" workshop opened up the story, the plot and the characters for me in an all encompassing way. Kent has a wonderful 'hands off' attitude toward your writing (there is only one person writing your material and that person is you), while his affirmation and encouragement bring out the very best you have to give. . . I am now editing my earlier novel and the excess and superfluous is just falling off under my pen.

APPLICATION AND ELIGIBILITY

The online workshop is offered to writers of drama and prose fiction who are embarking on new works, or are currently engaged with the development of works in progress.

For complete course description, application procedure & costs, email: kent.stetson@sympatico.ca

Visit www.MasterPlayWorks.com for additional information on Stetson’s background, his CV, teaching methods and more endorsements.

*A special rate applies for members of professional writer’s organizations, and writers I’ve worked with already.

For persons who might prefer to work one-on-one on-line or in person with Mr. Stetson, arrangements can be made.

Application deadline, October 14, 2008.