Deadline to register for March workshops with Catherine McNamara is Friday March 15, 2019.
Saturday March 30 – A Practical Guide to Submission and Revision, 10:00 – 12:30, €65
Where are you with regard to submitting your work? Do you try too hard to perfect your text? Do you dash off work without carefully considering guidelines? Do you show your work around before you submit? How do you handle rejection? In this workshop I will speak about the 100-rejection Challenge which will help you get over the defeat of rejection. I will talk about submission strategy and objectives with regard to literary reviews and competitions, dealing with short stories and flash fiction. I will give you a rundown on UK, European and American literary reviews, and point out websites that carry key information. I’ll also talk about the reality of finding an agent who believes in your work, and the road to publication. What is real in the business of writing, and where will you find meaningful satisfaction?
Saturday March 30 – Sensuality in Writing: A Study of Restraint and Explicitness, 2:00 – 4:30, €65
Some of the clunkiest writing occurs when authors give us sex scenes. Why is this? Why does too much become hilarious or vulgar, while some writers find an arousing balance between suggestion and representation. How is this done? In this workshop we will do a series of exercises to learn this craft, to find a balanced voice to explore this central but tricky subject. We will be comparing texts of the great sensual writers – Anais Nin and Henry Miller, James Joyce – with more contemporary writers such as Haruki Murakami, Mary Gaitskill, Aimee Bender, Toni Morrison, Milan Kundera, James Salter, and Kristen Roupenian, author of last year’s New Yorker phenomenon, ‘Cat Person’. We will also glance at the Guardian’s Bad Sex Award – why do these texts written by capable writers strike a dud note? How can we avoid this in our own texts?
Sunday March 31 – Location, Voice and Authenticity, 10:00 – 2:00, €120
Many of us who travel or live abroad are drawn to characters and stories that belong to these different worlds. How can we tell these stories with authenticity and respect? What aspects of a location should we convey, to avoid cliché and add to the story? How do we make an environment convincing to the reader, one that is not our birthplace or where our birth tongue is not spoken? How do we effectively adopt the voice of a member of a different gender, persuasion, race, age, origin? All fiction relies upon story-telling that convinces and transports the reader, but what are today’s rules? In this workshop we will consider the topic of cultural appropriation and ask ourselves, do we have the right to tell another’s story? What must we keep in mind? We will examine Kazuo Ishiguro’s story ‘Crooner’, set in Venice, from his collection Nocturnes, a sublime example of voice and location, and the many voices in Nam Le’s book The Boat. We will also discuss some of my own stories set in West Africa, the search for authenticity, and the risks and riches of using personal experience in your work. How does one create the new reality of fiction, from events or places in life? We will also be doing a series of exercises about each aspect of the topic – location, voice, authenticity – to help give you the bones of a new story or project.
Classes are limited to 10 participants. 10% discount if you sign up for all 3 workshops.
Deadline to register for March workshop: Get your Brand Noticed is also March 15, 2019
We’re living in an online world that is full of noise. Your customer’s attention span lasts for less than 8 seconds, so you better make every single word you write count – no matter if it’s on your website, social media, a newsletter, or on a landing page-you want the voice to represent your brand.
Setting your tone of voice is the baseline of creating a strong brand, writing great copy, and creating content that converts into customers.
Your tone gives your brand a personality that your customers can rely on and learn to trust. It’s not about what you say – it’s about HOW you say it.
In this workshop, Olivia Scheibelreiter, Copywriter, Content Creator, and Founder of ‘Say it right’, will walk you through what a brand’s tone of voice is and how to go about finding yours.
Workshop ‘take-away’
- Understand why finding your tone of voice and keeping it consistent is essential for your brand
- Have tips and tricks on how to find your brand’s tone of voice
- Learn how you can keep your tone of voice consistent even if your company or team starts to grow
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Who should attend this workshop?
- Small business owners, entrepreneurs, soloprenuers, writers
- Marketing/content managers looking to improve their copy/content/brand
- Anyone interested in:
- branding
- copywriting
- content creation
- Non-native English speakers looking to find their brand’s tone of voice when writing English content
When: Tuesday March 19, 2019
Time: 18:00-20:30
Where: Döblinger Hauptstrasse, 1190 (close to U6, trams 37 and 38)
Price: €70
Greetings from Kirsten and Ranya!
Send inquiries to office.writenow@gmail.com
More information: writenow.at
