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 a raucous round of Story Improv at the Henderson Reads Book Festival, “A stupendous literary showcase featuring award-winning and notable picture book, middle grade and young adult authors. Authors will present their selected books in addition to a book signing session. See below more author details. So many children's authors all in one place!  This is not to be missed!

Live readings and discussions

• Book signings

• Interactive activities

  • Where's Waldo?

  • Face Painting

• And MUCH More!”

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.

SIgn up for this online course with the International Women’s Writing Guild!

4 Mondays: April 8, 15, 22, 29

1:00–2:30 PM Eastern / 10:00–11:30 AM Pacific

REGISTER even if you can't attend all four sessions "live," because we will promptly email you the recording of each session.

After 40, I began to wonder why Judy Blume, author of the famous Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret—every 80s girl’s guide to puberty—hadn’t written a sequel for the peri- and post- menopausal set. After all, we don’t just come “of age” when we’re teens; it happens at every stage of our lives. In this workshop, we’ll delve into what it means to write coming-of-age stories for Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood, and the Golden Years. We’ll explore myths, rumors, archetypes, and rites-of-passage for each of these stages. Then we’ll mine our own memories and fears to tell the sorts of stories that serve as companions, confidantes, mentors, and friends for readers of every age.