Month: December 2009

Shallow into deep

Monika Bartyzel at Cinematical has a great post on recognizing — and therefore bringing more attention to — unconventional roles for women. You know, the kind where women are strong, heroic, active, and maybe even over 40! (— Oh my god, Martha, what did she just say? My brain is melting! — Just breathe, George, just breathe. Remember it’s only a blog.)

No, it’s more than that, George. The day of strong, varied, tough, angry, competent, heroic, tragic, big-as-life grown-up women is coming, and I aim to be there. Because it all starts with the script. I’ve talked before about the kind of women I want to write… and you know what? I should be doing some of that right now.

But before I get busy, let me point you to Bartyzel’s post. Be sure to follow her link to the Hollywood Reporter article that sparked her thinking, and then read her post on the feedback-cycle possibilities for making the pool deeper and wider for women’s roles.

Me, I’ll be working on that. Enjoy your day.

Hugo House Write-O-Rama

Seattle’s Hugo House hosts a Write-O-Rama fundraiser on Saturday, December 5. I’ll be leading writing workshops at 2:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon — so find a few sponsors and please join me there!

It’s fine to just show up — no pre-registration is required. All workshops that day are free to Write-O-Rama participants. You just have to commit to raising at least $45 for Hugo House, and in return you get a full day of writing, free food, and a party. Should be fun!

As I write this, the Hugo House Write-O-Rama page has listed a completely wrong description for my workshop. It’ll be fixed soon It’s fixed now, but it’s funny, so I thought I’d share.

Here is what I will not be doing at Hugo House: This workshop will focus on how to write angrily, yet effectively, using more imaginative language than run-of-the-mill curse words. Useful for when you’re trying to plot out a good fight between characters or when you simply need to write the ultimate scathing ‘œDear John’ letter.

And here’s the real deal:

Write-O-Rama Workshop: “It’s Not Just What You Say” (2 PM and 4 PM)
 
Dialogue is much more than what characters say. We’ll look at how people communicate between the lines (or without them), and learn tips and techniques for visualizing and writing specific physical action and body language to carry the conversation.

It sounds a little less exciting, and you know what? I think that’s a Good Thing. I don’t want a roomful of Angry Writers!

Also, as a reminder, I’ll be teaching a six-week class on short fiction at Hugo House starting at the end of January. I’ll post details, registration and scholarship information next week.

Hope to see some of you at Hugo House soon!