How many times have you started writing a great story and gotten bogged down in the middle? How often have you chugged up that hill of rising action, only to lose steam?

It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with your story idea, but maybe you just haven’t asked the big question yet: what does my protagonist want? Character want is the engine that drives the story forward. Without this key bit of information, you can’t start the journey, throw believable obstacles in the way, build tension, or convince your readers to root for your character’s success. Without a want, it’s hard to know what success even means. In this class, we’ll examine character wants in film and fiction. We’ll also do some hands-on exercises to help you excavate your characters’ deepest desires, so you can rev that engine and get on with the story. Come with your protagonist in mind and be prepared to write.

TAKE THIS CLASS IF:

• You are writing long-form fiction or screenplays and you keep losing juice in the second act, or middle of the story.

• You are trying to find the heart of your story.

• You’re trying to figure your protagonist out, but don’t know where to start.

The deadline to register for this class is Wednesday, November 13 at 5:00 PM CST.

It’s another Hedgebrook team up! Sherri will be leading this online workshop as one of Hedgebrook’s VorTEXT retreats. This year’s focus is on getting back to basics and a better future. “The Octavia Notebooks” draw inspiration from Octavia Butler and Sherri’s own work with Enchantivism.

About the Workshop

Change.  Every great story deals with it – how it happens, and how we– for better or worse– respond to it.  But what makes for powerful fiction can also be a challenge in the real world.  If you are like many writers, the constant change of the past few years, from the pandemic and the social/political landscape, affected your writing.  Maybe it fired you up and changed the direction of a work-in-progress.  Maybe it left you reeling and unable to write.  Maybe a bit of both!  We are still on the rollercoaster ride of our times, raising the question: how do we write in the face of constant change?

In 1993, Octavia Butler grappled with the specter of Change in her speculative fiction masterpiece Parable of the Sower.  Set in 2024, Parable series proved prescient.  In the face of mass unrest and a presidential candidate running under the slogan, “Make America Great Again,”  Butler's protagonist, Lauren Olamina, develops a new belief system around a simple idea:  God is Change.  Through a series of journals, Lauren explores her belief that one can shape Change and thereby shape God.  

In this generative workshop, we will tap into the idea of shaping Change.  By gathering our worries, and tapping into our hopeful imagination, we will use journal keeping, dream tending, and utopian thinking to inform our writing, protect our hope, and plot to create better world.  Using quotes from more Lauren Olamina’s journals, as well as Octavia Butler's own inspirational journaling, this workshop will offer you tools to support writers through the upheaval of the election season, the rising worries of the global landscape, as well as your own character’s journey within your writing.  Suitable for all levels and genres.

How VorTEXT Retreats Work

Our VorTEXT intensive retreats suit writers at different levels of experience and phases in the writing process. The day begins with a chance for community connection during the half-hour Coffee Chat before the live writing workshop via Zoom. Writers are then encouraged and inspired to continue their writing on their own or in accountability groups, and the day wraps with a group share and structured feedback session facilitated by Hedgebrook staff. Writers also enjoy lovingly prepared care packages, mailed to your doorstep.

Join Sherri for this FREE Writers’ League of Texas panel!

The heart of any story is its characters. You could have the ultimate hook, an intricately plotted outline, and the perfect ending, but if your characters aren’t fully developed, your story will ultimately fall flat. But what does it mean to write fully realized characters? How do you write a character who is wholly unlike you? How do you find inspiration from the people around you in a way that’s authentic and ethical? How do you fully tap into the mannerisms, motivations, and moral compass of another — imaginary or not?

Our three author panelists — Sherri L. Smith, Alex Temblador, and Meg Vondriska (who have all written on and/or taught this topic) — will share their insights on these questions and more.

This conversation will be moderated by WLT Program Director Sarah Renee Beach.

Join this online visit to Melba’s Po’ boy’s Literacy Program!

This winter, the old Russian folktale "Vasilisa the Beautiful" will be our guide in grasping the spark that ignites our stories. Come sit by the virtual fire and walk this tale of a motherless girl who must navigate the darkness to face the frightful Baba Yaga with only the help of a little doll.

If you are writer who is navigating the dark and facing down fears, this might be the Path for you.

One City, Many Stories (OCMS) encourages the community to engage with the theme “Exploring Common Ground” through reading and discussion of books that are, in some way, related to this theme.

Join us for a virtual conversation with award-winning authors Danzy Senna and Sherri L. Smith, moderated by South Pasadena Poet Laureate Ron Koertge for our Citywide Reading Program One City, Many Stories (OCMS). 

Find out more about the authors and OCMS program at our website: www.southpasadenaca.gov/ocms

Join Penguin Teen Canada for a tea time full of HerStory as we chat with four amazing historical fiction authors!

FREE TICKETS AVAILABLE ON EVENTBRITE

Tea and books are the perfect combination so we're inviting you to a very special tea time: a celebration of HerStory with some of our favorite authors of historical YA fiction!

Elizabeth Wein (The Enigma Game), Sherri L. Smith (The Blossom and The Firefly), Virginia Frances Schwartz (Among the Fallen), and Stacey Lee (The Downstairs Girl) will grab their favorite cuppa and chat about all things historical fiction - the research, the writing process, and their inspirations.

Purchase their books from your local bookstore or favorite online retailer and get ready for a great conversation!

Is there a question you'd love to ask them? Email sdevotta@penguinrandomhouse.com with the subject line "HerStory Question" and we'll make sure to include it in our discussion!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Elizabeth Wein was born in New York and grew up abroad, and currently lives in Scotland with her husband and two children. She is an avid flier of small planes, and holds a PhD in Folklore from the University of Pennsylvania. Elizabeth is the author of Rose Under Fire, winner of the Schneider Family Book Award, and Code Name Verity, winner of the Edgar Award in the Young Adult category and a Printz Medal Honor Book.

Sherri L. Smith was born in Chicago, Illinois and spent most of her childhood reading books. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she has worked in movies, animation, comic books and construction. Her fourth novel, Flygirl, an historical YA novel set during World War II, won the California Book Award Gold Medal, was a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults, and has received fourteen State Award nominations.

Virginia Frances Schwartz grew up in rural Ontario, Canada, but now lives in Queens, New York, where she taught writing in the public schools before devoting her career to her own writing. She is best known for her novels for young adults which have been ALA Best Books for YAs, and winners of multiple Canadian awards including the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction, the Ontario Silver Birch Fiction Award, the Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award, and British Columbia Red Cedar Award. She teaches a creative writing course at UCLA Online.

Stacey Lee is a fourth-generation Chinese American. A Southern California native, she graduated from UCLA and got her law degree at UC Davis King Hall. Now she plays classical piano, wrangles children, and writes young adult fiction. Stacey lives outside San Francisco, California. She is also a founding member of We Need Diverse Books.

From the Tuskegee Airmen, or "Red Tail Angels" in Europe and Africa, to the Women Airforce Service Pilots on the US Homefront, and the Tokkōtai kamikaze pilots of Japan—Sherri L. Smith has delved into the lesser known stories of World War II aviators to deliver them to a young audience.  In this session, Sherri L. Smith will talk about her research and the very human stories behind the history.  From her trip to Japan, to serendipitous discoveries in the stacks of used book stores across America, she'll share the nuggets uncovered about these aviators and the sacrifices they made to protect the countries they loved.

Visit the National WWII Museum website for details on how to sign up!

Approximate Grade Levels:  6 - 12  (ages 12 to 17)*