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Get ready for an exciting writing workshop and craft chat this coming Saturday, May 30th!

Agenda

4:30 – 5:00 pm Writing Exercise
5:00 – 5:30 pm Craft Chat – Worldbuilding and Rule Creation
“How do you create a story world? What makes it real for your readers? How do you create rules and keep them consistent?”
5:30 – 7:30 pm Critique Workshop
Manuscripts have been emailed out to the members in good standing and will be critiqued.

(We are not affiliated with the Chico Writers Meetup Group*)

Chico Writer’s Group Craft Chat and Critique Workshop

“Describing Sounds”

Date: Saturday, May 16, 2009
Time: 3:30 – 6:30 PM
Location: 1108 Sherman Avenue, Chico
Room: Butte County Library – Chico Branch conference room (directly across the hall from the circulation desk)
Fees: None

Agenda

3:30 – 4:00 PM Free write – We always have a fun writing exercise assigned that inspires creativity (and has resulted in poems, short stories and even the beginnings of longer pieces!). Come join!
4:00 – 4:30 PM Craft Chat: Describing Sounds
What was that noise – and how can you describe it to your reader? Whether it’s the creak of a basement door, the babbling of a brook, or the rush of the wind, your characters encounter sounds. We’ll talk about ways to describe those sounds so your reader hears them too.
5:00 – 6:30 PM Critique Workshop
All manuscripts have been turned in and distributed to members in good standing.

*Chico Writers Meetup Group is through a paid membership site, Meetup. We do not have anything to do with this group and are not affiliated. We never charge membership dues or collect fees.

Craft Chat: Creating Suspense
You want your reader to both understand what’s going on and want to keep reading. How do you create mystery without either giving away too much or losing the reader?

Critique Workshop
This segment is only for members-in-good standing.  Manuscripts have been delivered, please be prepared to actively critique the three manuscripts.  We’ll be working in the following order:

• R. A. S.
• L. H.
• L. G.

Date:  Saturday, March 7th, 2009
Time:  4 to 7 p.m.
Place: Chico Branch Meeting Room
          (directly across from circulation desk)
          Butte County Library
          1108 Sherman Avenue (cross street 1st Ave.), Chico

Please note: members are requested to help put everything away after our sessions and check with the organizer before leaving.  Thank you.

Agenda

3:30-4:30 PM  Craft Chat and Writing Exercise

Physical Description of Characters
When we’re telling a story, we need to tell our readers something about our characters, and that often includes what they look like. How do we do that without making it sound like a police report? What kind of details are important? What’s best left to the reader’s imagination?

4:30 – 6:30 PM Critique Workshop

Manuscripts are distributed January 2nd to members in good standing.
Queue:  B. C.
              D. H. 
              R. A.
              N. J.
              K. L. 

Agenda 

2:00 PM: Craft Chat – Sentence Structure

What makes a complete sentence? Do you always have to use them? How do you learn to vary your sentence structures? Is it ever okay to use a run-on sentence to get your point across when it fits what you’re doing even if you’ve been told not to use them and that sentences need to contain only one solid idea? Fragments? We’ll talk about all of this and what sentence structure can mean for your story.

3:00 PM: Manuscript Critique Workshop

# # #

Upcoming Meetings
January – June 2009
(tentative)

Location: Butte County Library – Chico Branch
Saturdays (unless otherwise noted)

We now have a calendar with updated information, including manuscript deadlines. You can click on the link at the top of the navigation column (CWG Calendar) or click here to go there now.

We’ll be writing more flash fiction as a writing exercise on Sunday after our last experience went quite well.  Our topic for the craft chat will be the use of a metaphor to convey a theme.  Be sure to bring your laptop and/or a pad of paper and pen along with you as we’ll be writing!

We also have 4 pieces to critique, a short story that came from a writing exercise and 3 poems.  Chico Writer’s Group members have already received their copies and are expected to have read them, commented upon them and bring the printed out copy to our meeting to discuss and then return, with comments, to the original author.  If you did not receive a copy but would like to attend, leave a comment here (be sure to use a working, valid email address) and we’ll confirm your reservation.