7 – 9:30 PM, Thurs. Aug 20 – Sept 16.

Limited seating. Only 10 writers accepted. Enroll today!

$ 200.00 (general)
$150.00 (student w/valid ID)

7 – 9:30 PM, Thurs. Aug 20 – Thurs, Sept 16.

Returning participants may sign up for single workshops at a reduced rate of $25 per class. Individual instruction can also be arranged.

Participants should come prepared to revise/resolve a prior project or to draft a pre-existing idea. The workshop does not assign exercises, but rather use the students' own projects to instruct. The content of each workshop is, to a degree, plastic, molded by the questions and needs of its participants.

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"Three greasy brother crows wheel, beak to heel, cutting a circle into the bruised and troubled sky, making fast, dark rings through the thicksome bloats of smoke." This is the first line of And the Ass Saw the Angel, the debut novel from Australian rocker Nick Cave. Rhythmic. Resonant. It makes perfect sense that it was penned by a musician.

In The Spooky Art, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Norman Mailer talked about crisp words “clamping down…sticking.” In an interview shortly before his death, Noir author Raymond Chandler spoke of perfectly pitched sentences “walking off the page.” Despite using opposing metaphors, they are obviously describing the same thing. Good writing. A key focus of the class is this acoustical quality. The profound difference between how a sentence sounds and its mute presence on the page. Accordingly, a significant amount of time is dedicated to declaiming work. Students are not, however, permitted to read their own work, rather their work is "vocally published" by the instructor. The writer then becomes a critical part of the evaluating audience for his own piece, commonly noticing the same literary stumbles (and moments of grace) as his peers.

Too often budding writers are not regular readers or, indeed, read only work which is similar to what they intend to write. This workshop places strong emphasis on a varied literary background. To that end, short fiction by recommended contemporary and classic authors is included in a complimentary workshop packet. Throughout the duration of the workshop, students may stop by The Raconteur anytime during operating hours (10 AM - 10 PM) for consultation or to submit short work for review by instructor and borrow relevant books or films recommended by the instructor.

PLUS:

WRITE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE! WORKSHOP
(Ages 10 and up)
What do French fry contests, bullet ants, and the lost art of umbrella combat have in common with dead pirates, island treasure and an excoriated Titanic survivor named Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon? FIND OUT! Taking inspiration from both modern and classic YA books (including his own The Rapscallion Club), and from the lives of the men and women who wrote them, Raconteur proprietor/award winning author Alex Dawson provides suggestions that will spark the imaginations of both children and teens, prompting them to pen their own rollicking yarns. Find out how Robert Louis Stevenson found inspiration for Treasure Island in his bowl of porridge, or how J. R. R. Tolkien's amazing fantasy world began with a childhood game of making up words, or how Dawson himself got the idea for his high spirited swashbuckler while visiting his archeologist brother at The South American Explorer's Club in Peru. Whether you have an idea you'd like to draft, have a draft you'd like to revise, or think, as many wrongly do, that your life is too ordinary and you have nothing exciting to say, this workshop is for you. SIGN UP NOW! ADVENTURE AWAITS!

7 PM - 9 PM, Weds, Sept 9 - Sept 30

$100.00 (payable at first class)

Instructor Alex Dawson is assisted by published poet/fiction writer and former long-time workshop participant Daniel McNulty.

For additional info, or to register for either workshop, e-mail The Raconteur at raconteurbooks@gmail.com