Here are the writing workshops we offered at Context in 2008.
Friday Workshops
Michael A. Arnzen: Fiction in a Flash(Friday, September 26th, 7:30-9:30 pm)
Join award-winning writing professor Mike Arnzen as he leads a 2-hour workshop on writing flash fiction.
Flash fiction – short-short stories no longer than 1500 words – is a form that is becoming more and more popular in genre publications, especially online, where tight stories that can fit on one or two screens are the ones that sell. A good short-short – like a good hit of espresso – can be a potent form of storytelling that not only excites a reader, but also helps the writer sharpen and hone his/her skills to a fine point.
In "Fiction in a Flash" we will analyze successful flash fiction, discuss the strategies that writers can employ to approach this form like an expert, and critique one another's "sudden storytelling" written live (with help) in this two-hour workshop. Bring a pen and paper. $15.
Gary A. Braunbeck: Short Story Masterclass(Friday, Sept. 26th, 7:30 - 10:30 pm)
This small-group short story critique workshop is intended for writers who have sold at least one short story. Students should submit a story of up to 6,000 words at least 1 month before the convention; submission details will be sent to students after they register.
This is an intensive, hands-on workshop, so come prepared to participate. Bring your laptop (if you have one) or pen and paper. In addition to in-class Milford-style peer critique, students will receive a written critique from Mr. Braunbeck. $50.
Saturday Workshops
Paula Guran: Novel Package Critiques(Saturday, Sept. 27th, times TBA)
Editor Guest of Honor Paula Guran will be offering individual critiques of novel submission packages. Fantasy, horror, cross-genre, and paranormal manuscripts will be accepted. To participate, you will need to submit the first three chapters and a one-to-five page synopsis of your novel between August 1st and September 5th; submission details will be sent to students after they register.At the convention, Ms. Guran will meet with you individually to discuss your manuscript. In addition to the discussion, she will give you a written critique of your work. Students will be scheduled for their 20-minute sessions during the morning and early evening Saturday based on other workshop scheduling. Not for those with easily hurt feelings as comments will be direct. $85.
Tim Waggoner: Story/Novel Excerpt Critiques(Saturday, Sept. 27th, times TBA)
Prolific author and writing professor Tim Waggoner will be offering individual critiques of short stories or novel excerpts of up to 6,000 words. Any genre is acceptable. You must submit your manuscript at least three weeks before the convention.At the convention, Mr. Waggoner will meet with you individually to discuss your manuscript; in addition to the discussion, he will give you a written critique of your work. Submission details will be sent to students after they register; students will be scheduled for their 20-minute sessions during the morning and early evening Saturday based on other workshop scheduling. $50.
Diana Botsford: Creating Compelling Plots(Saturday, Sept. 27th, 9:00am-12:15pm)
Join award-winning screenwriter and instructor Diana Botsford for a rigorous 3-hour workshop on creating compelling storylines for long works such as novels and screenplays. Participants will learn how to incorporate enough twists and turns to create a well-constructed plotline of the dramatic, emotional, and thematic elements of your project. While using a wide variety of tools – from 'hanging lanterns' to 'backshoveling' to tapping into the foundation of mythic structure – workshop attendees will complete this intensive workshop with a personalized plot map.Bring your laptop (if you have one) or pen and paper. This workshop should be helpful for those ramping up for a new work or preparing for a rewrite. $20.
Diana Botsford and Chun Lee: Creating the Comic Book Series(Saturday, Sept. 27th, 2:00-4:00pm)
Join Chun Lee and Diana Botsford, authors of the new FE comic book series,
The Fracture, in this 2-hour workshop on creating and writing a comic book series for publication. Learn how to write a proposal for a series, how to write a 'pilot' issue, what it takes to collaborate with others (illustrators, inkers, colorists, etc) and most importantly, how to tell a story visually.Attendees will create opening scenes and sequences, and participate in writing exercises to get the collaborative juices going. Bring your laptop (if you have one) or pen and paper. $15.
Gary A. Braunbeck: Creating Character Through Dialogue(Saturday, Sept. 27th, 1:00pm-4:30pm)
Join award-winning novelist/short story author Gary A. Braunbeck for his acclaimed 3-hour workshop on creating well-rounded, believable characters through the use of dialogue. You'll learn not only how to create good dialogue, but how to recognize the different types of dialogue and which one best suits your own writing style.Mr. Braunbeck has written nearly 200 published short stories and over 14 books; his fiction has won the Bram Stoker Award and the International Horror Guild Award. This is an intensive, hands-on workshop, so come prepared to participate. Bring your laptop (if you have one) or pen and paper. $30.
Tobias Buckell: Effective Blogging(Saturday, Sept. 27th, 4:30pm-6:00pm)
Blogging. Everyone is doing it ... should you? And what are some of the best tools, practices, and approaches? Join noted blogger and SF author Tobias Buckell as he shares his blogging tips. This workshop is FREE. No formal registration is required, but space is limited to 30 people, so get there promptly!
Sunday Workshops
Timons Esaias: World-Building Workshop(Sunday, September 28th, 10am-1pm)
World-Building isn't just charts, maps, forms, voids, clans and tedious courses in orbital mechanics. And it's not just for SF/F/H, either. We'll discuss when to do it and how not to let it bog you down; world-building resources; techniques for designing and developing your world; and then selling it to the reader. Exercises will focus on
your project, with chocolate and malt-ball rewards for sharing. Emphasis on craft rather than details, though we will address the Moon Muddle, the Pack Animal Question, and other specific pitfalls. Not to mention those charts, maps, orbits, lineages and social structures. $20.
Jackie Gamber: Novel Package Critiques(Sunday, Sept. 28th, times TBA)
Jackie Gamber of Meadowhawk Press will be offering individual critiques of novel submission packages. Science fiction, fantasy, supernatural, alternate history, or magic realist manuscripts will be accepted. To participate, you will need to submit the first three chapters, a cover letter and a one-to-five page synopsis of your novel between August 1st and September 5th; submission details will be sent to students after they register.At the convention, Ms. Gamber will meet with you individually to discuss your manuscript. In addition to the discussion, she will give you a written critique of your work. Students will be scheduled for their 20-minute sessions during the morning and early afternoon Sunday based on other workshop scheduling. $50.
Erin Hoffman: Interactive Narrative and Game Design(Sunday, September 28th, 11am-2pm)
This workshop explores the fundamentals of video game design through the use of interactive fiction, exploring the places where interactivity and storytelling overlap. No technology or game training is necessary, though a laptop computer is highly recommended. Attendees will be provided with advance reading and will create a small interactive fiction game using the Inform7 Engine. Erin Hoffman has been working in video games since 1999 on an assortment of genres from massively multiplayer online games to Nintendo DS titles for young audiences to action-RPGs for PC, XBox, and PlayStation2. $20.
Tobias Buckell and Paul Melko: Writing Great Openings(Sunday, September 28th, 2pm-5pm)
The most important part of any story is its beginning. Without a strong opening, you risk losing your reader's interest. Strong openings become even more important when it comes time to try to sell your story or novel, since many editors won't read past the first page or even the first paragraph if you don't enthrall them right away. Tobias Buckell and Paul Melko will give you tips and exercises to help you write prose that grabs your reader from the first sentence and doesn't let go. $20.
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At Context 20 in 2007, we offered seven short workshops geared toward the specific interests of attendees. This page includes the descriptions as they appeared on our website.
"I thought your Context '06 writing program was great. And Gary Braunbeck's workshop on dialogue was one of the top five writing workshops I've attended. Ever. Some writers can write but their knowledge doesn't necessarily translate to the classroom. Gary can both write and teach. He was a dynamo!"
– Sammi Soutar, Context 19 workshop attendee
Friday Workshop
Michael A. Arnzen: Writing SF/F/H Poetry
(Friday, September 28th, 7-10 pm)
Join award-winning poet and writing professor Mike Arnzen as he leads a 3-hour workshop on crafting poetry for science fiction, fantasy, and horror markets (which, unlike literary journals, actually do pay and don't charge annoying reading fees!). SF/F/H poetry, in Arnzen's view, is not simply aplayful exercise in rhyme or an expression of emotion, but a "thoughtexperiment" in the genre. "Free verse" (or open form) poetry will beemphasized in this workshop, but writers of all forms and all levels ofexperience -- from novice to published -- are warmly welcome to participate,as we explore the elements of good poetry through discussion of providedexamples and fun, creative, in-class exercises.
However, you have an (easy!) assignment: bring a ROUGH draft of a shortpoem (any style, fifteen lines or less) to the workshop, inspired by thefollowing phrase, which must be the title of your poem: "Blood is not Redon the Moon".
Participants are encouraged to share their work at the open poetry reading,which will be held Saturday night of the convention. $15.
Saturday Workshops
Timons Esaias: World-Building Workshop
(Saturday, September 29th, 9am-noon)
World-Building isn't just charts, maps, forms, voids, clans and tedious courses in orbital mechanics. And it's not just for SF/F/H, either. We'll discuss when to do it and how not to let it bog you down; world-building resources; techniques for designing and developing your world; and then selling it to the reader. Exercises will focus on your project, with chocolate and malt-ball rewards for sharing. Emphasis on craft rather than details, though we will address the Moon Muddle, the Pack Animal Question, and other specific pitfalls. Not to mention those charts, maps, orbits, lineages and social structures. $15.
Gary A. Braunbeck: Maintaining Emotional Realism in Speculative Fiction
(Saturday, September 29th, 1pm-4pm)
Join Bram Stoker Award- and International Horror Guild Award-winning author Gary A. Braunbeck for an intensive 3-hour workshop on creating and maintaining emotional realism in fantastic fiction through characterization, dialogue, and the small, telling human nuances that can reveal so much about a character's emotional state without them having to say a single word. The workshop will focus on various methods writers can employ to summon the emotions needed to tell an effective – and affecting – story, and how to avoid easy (and lazy) manipulation. All workshop participants will be given a (short) pre-workshop assignment to write and bring with them. $15.
Tim Powers: Plotting The Novel
(Saturday, September 29th, 4:30-6:00pm)
Join World Fantasy Award- and Philip K. Dick Memorial Award-winning novelist Tim Powers for his seminar on plotting novels. A Q&A will follow Tim's talk.
Sunday Workshops
Diana Botsford: The Art and Business of Adaption for Visual Media
(Sunday, September 30th, 9am-noon)
From the printed page to the silver screen. A practical exploration of howto adapt anything (novel, short story, comic, article, or idea) into ascreenplay. This 3-hour workshop will focus on both the craft and thebusiness of creating a screenplay derived from pre-existing materials –whether they're your own or someone else's. Participants will learn thesteps involved with transforming a novel into a two-hour screenplay,including streamlining plot and character as well as the legal issues ofadapting someone else's work. Currently head of the screenwriting program at Missouri State University, Diana Botsford's writing/producing/VFX credits include Star Trek: Next Generation, Spiral Zone, Dusk 'Til Dawn, Harts of the West, Nightmare on Elm Street, and other film and television projects. $15.
Tim Waggoner: Writing Great Openings
(Sunday, September 30th, 1-3pm)
The most important part of any story is its beginning. Without a strong opening, you risk losing your reader's interest. Strong openings become even more important when it comes time to try to sell your story or novel, since many editors won't read past the first page or even the first paragraph if you don't enthrall them right away. Veteran author and writing professor Tim Waggoner will give you tips and exercises to help you write prose that grabs your reader from the first sentence and doesn't let go. $10.
Tobias Buckell and Paul Melko: Writing Cover Letters and Synopses
(Sunday, September 30th, 3-5pm)
Your cover letter is the first thing an editor sees -- is it helping you break out of the slush pile, or is it sending the wrong message? And while cover information is sometimes optional for short markets, letters and synopses are crucial when it comes time to sell your novel. If you've ever felt boggled at the thought of boiling a 100,000-word novel down into an engaging 2- or 3-page synopsis, you need this workshop. Tobias Buckell and Paul Melko are here to show you how to craft letters and synopses that will make the best first impression on editors. $10.
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The following exists for archival purposes; workshops like these may be offered at Context in the future.
Do you have a completed short story or novel chapter you want to whip into publishable shape? Then this is the workshop for you! Charles Coleman Finlay, Tobias Buckell, and Paul Melko, who directed the 2005 much-praised workshop, are back on board to lead the Mega Writing Workshop. Up to 24 writers can submit short manuscripts for professional critique and participate in this workshop, which will run 6-8 hours total over two days. This workshop requires internet access; manucripts will be submitted and initial discussions will be held online. The actual, in-person workshop will be held on Saturday and Sunday and will ensure that every member has a small-group (3-4 person) session with one of the pros.
There were also shorter Mini Writing Workshops offered on specific subjects. These workshops required no advance preparation on the part of participants.
Gary A. Braunbeck: Creating Character Through Dialogue (Sunday)
Join novelist/short story author Gary A. Braunbeck for his acclaimed 3-hour workshop on creating well-rounded, believable characters through the use of dialogue. You'll learn not only how to create good dialogue, but how to recognize the different types of dialogue and which one best suits your own writing style. Mr. Braunbeck has written nearly 200 published short stories and over 14 books; his fiction has won the Bram Stoker Award and has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award. This is an intensive, hands-on workshop, so come prepared to participate. Bring your laptop (if you have one) or pen and paper.
Diana Botsford: Screenwriting (Saturday)
Join award-winning screenwriter and instructor Diana Botsford for an intensive 3-hour introduction into the world of writing for television and film. Gain an understanding of how the script process affects the development of plot, character development and theme. Through discussion, viewing and hands-on exercises, learn how to use the visual (and aural!) medium to tell your story beyond the printed page. Ms. Botsford has written for Star Trek, was visual effects director for From Dusk Till Dawn, and has produced a variety of other television series and movies.
Tim Waggoner: Writing Media Tie-Ins (Saturday)
Thousands of people write fan fiction; do you want to become one of the few who actually get paid to write stories and novels about movie, TV and game characters? Learn the ins and outs of writing and publishing media-related fiction with Tim Waggoner, author of A Nightmare on Elm Street: Protege and Eberron: Thieves of Blood. Topics to be covered: the differences between visual and written media and making them work to your advantage, capturing the tone of a media property, respecting the property and the fans, maintaining originality in media-related fiction, and finally, landing tie-in contracts. 2 hours.
Rosemary Laurey: Writing Paranormal Romance (Friday night)
There's a huge market for paranormal romance, and the demand for "hot" fiction is fast expanding to include other types of SF, fantasy, and horror. Want to tap into these lucrative fiction markets? Novelist Rosemary Laurey will show you the differences between romance, romantica, and erotica, and will teach you how to blend these genres with speculative fiction to create stories readers (and publishers) will love. 2 hours.
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