Description
For those who have been trying to construct book-length projects in terms of chapters, Susan Brown, Ph.D., teaches the important distinction between a scene and a chapter and how to build a well-constructed scene for a memoir or fiction project. A “chapter” is made up of scenes. A “scene” is a mini-narrative—dramatic, based on action, with a beginning, middle, and end; it depicts an event that has an impact on the protagonist (in a memoir, the author; in a novel, the main character). The reader needs to feel present, see the action, hear the characters, and watch the events unfold—as in a movie. This is the essence of “show, don’t tell.” We will study the essential elements in a dramatic scene and practice the approach used by the masters—drafting the elements of a scene separately and then assembling them in different arrangements to finalize a dramatic structure. This will save hours and hours and produce exciting results.
About Susan Sutliff Brown
To her sold-out workshops, Susan Sutliff Brown brings decades of experience as a professional writing coach, private editor, book doctor, and collaborator for critically acclaimed fiction and memoir. She has a long career of welcoming beginning and unpublished writers as well as prize-winning authors to work with her in developing memoir or fiction projects from concept to manuscript. And she has for 35 years taught college creative writing and literature courses. As a publishing James Joyce scholar with a doctorate in modern literature, Brown introduces her clients to the secrets of the world’s greatest authors. Also, as a lover of trash lit, Brown encourages writers to aim for a literary blockbuster, a canonized work of literature that sells over 28 million copies, something that hasn’t been done in 70 years. In her workshops, she shares ways to merge the methods of the masters with the secrets of bestselling commercial writers without sacrificing quality.
susansbrown.com
