The Silver City Public Library and the Southwest Word Fiesta (formerly the Southwest Festival of the Written Word) will host two free writing workshops led by Kendra Griffin, M.A., novelist and professor at Aims Community College in Colorado. The first workshop will be Friday, February 12, 2021, 2:30-4:30pm, on Writing Authentic Dialogue. The second workshop will be Friday, March 12, 2021, 2:30-4:30pm, on Editing Your Novel. The workshops are free. Those interested are asked to register in advance in order to receive the Zoom link. To register, contact librarian Lillian at [email protected].
The Writing Authentic Dialogue workshop will help you understand which words your characters should be saying and how those words should sound when coming out of their mouths. We’ll explore character voice, sentence types, style of expression, and knowing how and when to trim or use summarized speech. An excerpt is helpful to bring to the session, but not necessary.
The Editing Your Novel session will help you approach novel/memoir editing in three ways. First, we’ll discuss how to decide what revision aspects you might want to focus on initially. Then we’ll review common storyline arcs, such as the “story beats” from Save the Cat. Lastly, we’ll help each other make a realistic plan to carry us forward in our task. An excerpt or synopsis is helpful to bring to the session, but not necessary.
Kendra Griffin has a passion for writing about underdogs, family relationships, social inequality, diverse ensemble casts, and teenage characters who develop strong identities despite all societal pressure to the contrary. She recently published The Pox Ward, the first in her dystopian, post-plague YA series. The sequel, Apocalypse Thoughts, arrives in February. Kendra is also a singer-songwriter and occasional poet who loves to encourage others in their creative process. Kendra teaches writing for Aims Community College, frequently hosts creative writing workshops in her community, and was the winner of the 2020 N0CO Jerry Eckert Scholarship. Learn more about Kendra at kendragriffin.com.
