Hey, Everyone!!
Just wanted to let you all know about my NEW class at Grub Street, “How to not STINK! A Look at Bad Storytelling and What Writers Should Do and Not Do”
It will meet for 6 Wednesdays from 10:30am-1:30pm at Grub Street headquarters, (162 Boylston Street, 5th Floor Boston, MA 02116) starting on April 3rd.
Here’s the official Grub Street Description from their website: http://tinyurl.com/crswkzu
The most important thing a writer can do to become a good writer is to avoid being a bad writer. In this multi-week, multi-media class taught by an award-winning novelist and nationally syndicated film critic, students will autopsy a string of really bad examples of storytelling so we can all figure out why they’re bad and how not to be bad ourselves in the same ways. Strategies will be developed in class to make rotten books and films no longer rotten, or at the very least a little less rotten, so that students will develop a toolkit for writing fiction and other narratives that are … y’know … actually good. Students must be prepared to read some really bad fiction and watch some really bad movies. Class time will also be spent on in-class exercises fixing bad narratives, and on the development of a practical toolkit for actual good prose writing that will address issues such as world-building, character development, the right ways to apply background research to a story, and the application of sound logic to plotting. There will be workshopping of students’ fiction, emphasizing the application of good storytelling techniques from the toolkit we’ll be developing. For students with prior workshop experience.
Here are some of the topics we’ll tentatively cover:
*How to avoid clichéd characters.
*The importance of clear character motivation.
*How to structure plots that are logical.
*How to create conflict that’s meaningful, and not just an excuse to get your plot rolling.
*How to avoid bad imagery and mood.
*How to avoid terrible exposition.
*How to not cheat your readers with bad endings and resolutions.
*Does your protagonist really BELONG in your story?
*How to not use product placements in the place of real world building.
*How to not let your really awesome and fun research get in the way of your storytelling.
To sign up, click here: http://tinyurl.com/crswkzu
If you have any questions, feel free to ask below!
Inside the mind of author Michael Marano 