The Historical Story
Back to the Past (in two parts)
Facts can be found with research. What's harder is portraying the culture of the period in a way that does not alienate modern readers but allows them to experience the past from deep within our character.
Pam Foster, whose literary western features a Civil War soldier suffering from PTSD, knows how to create that time bridge. Pam's Bio
Pam's workshop is offered in two parts. Take one or both.
These workshops will help you whether you are writing a novel set in the 1890s or your memoir set in the 1990s.
Writers' Night Out always welcomes anyone interested in writing.
(Bring your Scrabble Dictionary if you have one.)
From the Director . . .
A True Story:The scene was set in 1997. I had the facts right. Princess Di's funeral was on TV. I had carefully reminded myself what teenagers were wearing.
But I missed the correct mindset of the character. Yes, it was a backwater Kansas town, dying in the center. But, despite the fact that the television was on, I failed to allow for the impact that television had on the fifteen-year-old character. He knew a lot more about the world than I gave him credit for.
My writer/reader friend—and everyone should have one such good friend—said, "Throw this away." I had the facts straight, but the scene did not ring true. It felt more like 1967 than 1997.
Even though I lived through 1997 in a small American town, I didn't get it right. Because as we live through this stuff, few of us are making notes for the memoir or novel we will write in 25 years. And the decades blur together.
Whether memoir or fiction, the historical story is tricky.That's why we are having a two-part workshop series on February 14. Info here.
There are lots of fun things happening in Eureka Springs that weekend. My personal favorite is the Victorian-style illusionist show on Saturday evening. There's also a music festival on Friday night and great food all over town.
You can have fun AND get your historical story right. So no one has to say,
"Throw this away."
Quick Tips
Pub Ops On Writing
This small press is looking for suspense, mystery, thrillers.
Body Trauma: A Writer’s Guide to Wounds & Injuries by David Page Make characters suffer & get the details correct. Detailed descriptions of all types of bodily harm from gunshots to heart attacks.
Greg Sherar is currently writing a memoir. He is a member of a monthly Memoir Writing Circle led by Rebecca Mahoney (Skyped in from N.H.). Greg regularly attends Writers' Night Out, many of our Saturday Workshops, and distributes our publicity posters in NW Arkansas.
Around Our Villages
A fun evening last Thursday night when Alex shared how two pages won him a truck!
Thanks to the Conway newspaper for a greatarticle on our new program in Maumelle.
Our new culvert,
paid for by Village Friends,
gives us a 2nd exit.
Congratulations to our screenwriting instructor, Carole Parker, who was just hired to write COW TOWN, a cable/streaming dramedy pilot.
Social Media Links The MISSION of the Village Writing School is to foster a vibrant literary community in Northwest Arkansas and to provide resources for ALL writers who seek to improve their craft.
S U P P O R T O U R M I S S I O N
THE VILLAGE WRITING SCHOOL IS A 501c3 ORGANIZATION.
Jan 29 - Writers' Night Out 5-7
