Hudson Valley Writers' Center Fall Workshops Begin

The end of summer brings new possibilities.  As the nights come earlier and the parks and beaches are less of a destination, the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center begins its fall workshop session, offering many paths to personal and professional growth.  

Most of the classes meet in Sleepy Hollow, in the converted and restored with its stunning view of the Hudson.  Teachers are experts on the art of writing novels, comedy for television, poetry, blogs, memoir, and more.  Beyond the craft of writing, there are classes that focus on the business of getting an agent, doing a reading in front of an audience, breaking into magazine writing, conducting interviews, even bookbinding to make your own chapbook. 

Many classes meet several times, and others are one or two day workshops.  The full list of offerings can be found at www.writerscenter.org, and while Hurricane Irene interfered with online registration for several days, the system is up and running now.  Phone and mail registration are possible, too.

HVWC is open to students at all levels.  In some cases, professional writers have attended, to stretch their capabilities.  A journalist might want a little help making up dialogue for a novel, for example.  At the other end of the spectrum, youngsters can begin to see the world through writer’s eyes in afterschool or Saturday classes. And if times are tough for you, thanks to the Shirley Altman Scholarship Fund, students of all ages may apply to take one workshop per year for free.  See the Classes and Workshops page on the HVWC website for details on how to apply.

Weekday classes for adults can fit into busy schedules, with some meeting mornings, others afternoons or evenings.  Others happen on Saturdays, such as Real Fiction, with David Surface, which focuses on how to “develop characters who walk right off the page,” and meets on six Saturdays, or Writer’s Boot Camp: How to Get a Literary Agent, which is one day only, but gives you plenty of tips on making your submission stand out from the competition and researching which agents might be interested in your work.

How to Write Page-Turning Fiction is taught by accomplished mystery writer Joanne Dobson, who provides information on creating compelling characters and keeping the suspense going whether in a mystery or any other type of novel.  Students bring a few pages of their work to read each week, and everyone is encouraged to comment and make suggestions.  Many students continue in her class for years, slowly developing their books while juggling their writing with family and job responsibilities.  Often real-life experiences are transformed into fiction, with lawyers creating fictional counterparts who are lawyers, social workers creating fictional social workers, mothers creating other mothers.  

Mary Carroll Moore’s class, Your Book Starts Here, teaches how to “take your book from idea to publication, using ‘islands’ (dramatic moments), storyboarding, and a three-act structure…” for memoir, fiction or non-fiction.  For those with more developed manuscripts, she teaches a class on revising “content, structure, and language.”

B.K. Fischer, Kathleen Ossip, and Amy Holman each have poetry classes for adults.  Study how to write The Versatile Personal Essay with Herbert Hadad, or memoir writing with Susan Hodara or Mindy Lewis.  Ilana Arazie’s class aims to help you make your blog more readable and better-known.   Explore the question “Where is the border between fiction and non-fiction?” with Peter Bricklebank or write songs with Kinny Landrum (this one meets at JCC on the Hudson.)  Learn how to write for children and young adults, and how to market the manuscript.

Instructor John Marshall’s class, Comedy Writing Secrets Revealed! is based on his twenty years of experience writing for shows such as The Chris Rock Show, Politically Incorrect, and Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn.  Steven Sher’s class, Ritual Writing, deals with “moral and ethical concerns; spiritual training; tradition and rituals; family and communal values…building a ‘personal mythology.’”

In October and early November, HVWC will partner with the William E. Cottle School in Eastchester to offer two workshops open to the general public, one for 6^th-8^th graders, taught by Kate Gallagher, and one for teens age thirteen and over, taught by Brenda Connor-Bey.  These classes will meet at the William E. Cottle School.

The full list of classes and more information about them can be seen on the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center website. 

For those who’ve been reading a good book or poem, hearing a song or watching a TV comedy show and thinking “I wish I could do that” or “I could do that if I just had a little help,”  the door to the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center leads to a cozy room--and possibly a world of new opportunities.