Advanced Fiction
ZOOM: Tangier Sound Breakout Room
9:15 AM
Laura Oliver is the author of The Story Within (Penguin Random House) selected as one of the best writing books of the year by The Writer Magazine and Poets and Writers Magazine. She has taught creative writing at the University of Maryland, St. John's College, and The Writer's Center. Oliver's fiction and essays are published in national newspapers, magazines, and literary reviews. She is the recipient of a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in Fiction, an Annie Award for Literary Achievement from the Anne Arundel Arts Council, is a Glimmer Train author and two-time Glimmer Train fiction award finalist and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Oliver holds an MFA from Bennington College and has completed writing seminars in creative nonfiction at the University of Iowa. Webpage: www.thestorywithin.com 10:30 AM
Tara Campbell is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, and fiction editor at Barrelhouse. She received her MFA from American University in 2019. Previous and upcoming publication credits include SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review, Wigleaf, CRAFT Literary, Jellyfish Review, Booth, and Strange Horizons. She's the author of a novel, TreeVolution, and two collections, Circe's Bicycle and Midnight at the Organporium. Her newest book, Political AF: A Rage Collection, will be released by Unlikely Books in August 2020. Webpage: www.taracampbell.com 11:45 AM
Setting is a critical part of story in fiction, in nonfiction, and often in poetry. For many of us, creating it can present challenges. How do we give enough detail to immerse our readers without losing the flow of our story-lines? How do we avoid the info dump trap? Where is the line between "enough" setting work and "too much," and how do we decide? This session will explore how to bring your settings to life and use them in ways that go beyond creating a sense of place. Setting can reveal character, become character, and serve as a crucial part of the story's energy. Join us for an in-depth exploration of this essential and fascinating part of writing and learn new ways of engaging with it. Kris Faatz's short fiction has appeared in various journals, including Baltimore Review, Kenyon Review Online, and 100 Word Story, and has received recognition in various competitions, most recently winning Tiferet Journal's 2020 fiction contest. Her first novel, To Love A Stranger (Blue Moon Publishers, 2017), was a finalist for the 2016 Schaffner Press Music in Literature Award. Kris has been a teaching fellow at the Kenyon Review Writers Workshops and a preliminary round judge for the Flannery O'Connor Short Fiction Award. She teaches creative writing with the Community College of Baltimore County, the Baltimore County public library system, and Writopia Lab DC, and is also a performing pianist. Webpage: www.krisfaatz.com | 2:15 PM
John DeDakis - Journalist, novelist, and writing coach John DeDakis (pronounced: deh-DAY-kiss) is a former senior copy editor on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer." DeDakis is the author of five novels in the Lark Chadwick mystery-suspense-thriller series. His most recent novel, Fake, is a winner of the 2020 Reviewers Choice Award. In Fake, Lark is a White House correspondent dealing with "fake news" in the era of #MeToo. DeDakis regularly teaches novel writing online and at literary centers, writers' conferences, and bookstores around the country and abroad. DeDakis is also a jazz drummer. Website: www.JohnDeDakis.com 3: 30 PM
Meg Eden's work is published or forthcoming in magazines including Prairie Schooner, Poetry Northwest, Crab Orchard Review, RHINO and CV2. She teaches creative writing at Anne Arundel Community College. She is the author of five poetry chapbooks, the novel Post-High School Reality Quest (2017), and the poetry collection, Drowning in the Floating World (2020). She runs the Magfest MAGES Library blog, which posts accessible academic articles about video games. Find her online at www.megedenbooks.com or on Twitter at @ConfusedNarwhal.
SESSION SUMMARIES by TRACK Beginning Fiction - Advanced Fiction
|
Time Capsule: How to Tell the Story 
Are you a fiction writer or memoirist who would like to discover a new source of inspiration? We often avoid writing about events and relationships that contain our best material. But our resistance contains riches. Learn how to embrace the experiences that you have neglected to explore. Learn how writing about the past transforms it. The result? A genuine voice with compelling authority telling the story only you can tell.
Science fiction is not just about men in a lab or robots in space--it's also about us, all of us, our families and our communities. Developments in science and technology affect people of all genders, races, and nationalities, so we should all have a voice in exploring the changes we'll face. What lies in your future? How will climate change, genetic manipulation, or artificial intelligence affect you in the decades to come? Join us to start imagining--and writing--the world of the future!
A key scene is an essential building block in any work of fiction. In this session, you'll learn tips and strategies for making the scene you see in your head come alive on the page so that your reader is compelled to keep turning the pages rather than turn out the light. Writing exercises will give class members a hands-on feel for how to add texture, dynamism, and drama to a story. The session also provides practical, hands-on guidance about the rewriting process. An added benefit: giving and receiving critical feedback.
Every place has a story, but to find it, we often must use the power of natural objects. As writers, we can plant clues and seeds for our reader through objects, which can give us story more efficiently and powerfully than exposition. In this workshop, we'll talk about place and the natural object, then dive into a writing exercise that allows us to explore and invent stories through the details of a landscape.
