Making you a better writer in fiction or creative nonfiction for novels, short stories, biographies, and memoirs.
Hello Writers,
Thank you for your interest in the Writer’s Workshop. This is a SIX-DAY or SIX-WEEK course of one, three-hour session, per night or per week, from 7 PM to 10 PM (or a time agreed upon). Six to eight participants.
I will help bring out the best possible writer within each person by utilizing the experience I’ve had in the years I’ve been writing, attending classes, seminars, workshops, writer’s groups, writing books read, contributing to writing books, and the years I spent in the film industry working on films to see the creative process in full swing. I’ve published 8 novels and written 20 screenplays.
THE WORKSHOP
We will work on:
Structure
Character
Plot
Theme
Exposition
Timing and Timeline
Flashbacks
Inner Mind
Omniscient Observer
First Person
Third person
Present Tense
Past Tense
Subtext,
Back Story
Changing Scenes
Entering and Exiting Scenes
Ideas
Synopsis
Loglines (usually for film, but can help focus prose writing)
Before the first class, each writer will submit two double-spaced pages from anywhere in their story or anything they would like to work on.
1) From the first session, I will tailor writing assignments where each writer creates two double-spaced pages based on the topics we have just discussed. Everyone will use the same template. At the last session, each writer will create a two double-spaced story based on everything we’ve covered so I can evaluate, and tailor a direction for your progress. (Your stories can be longer than two pages, but I will only correct two pages.)
2) A writer may work on their own material if they prefer, rather than taking part in the assignments. Each week, you will write a different segment from your own stories. We don’t need to know your complete story, unless we are working on the overall structure, plot layout, or synopsis.
3) For those of you that need work on structure, plotting, and story concept ideas, we will discuss that in conjunction with synopsis, so you can see your story in a bigger picture.
4) Between classes, I will give a line-by-line critique of the first two pages, covering every detail, and where need be, include examples.
5) At each class, we will discuss the work, only reading aloud some elements we are working on.
6) I will lead the class, but everyone will participate. Everyone should share information, questions, and knowledge.
7) The workshop is not a debate. I am there to give my opinion garnered from my experience and knowledge of writing. It’s up to each person to evaluate what I offer.
8) I am, however, demanding. I want to know why you take a certain stance, use a specific word or phrase, why a character does this or that, and so on. Good writers know why they do everything they do. Every word on the page is there for a purpose. There are writing styles that don’t follow rules, but we won’t use those styles.
Naturally not everything can be covered in one short writing course. Still, it is a powerful beginning.
Best regards,
Stuart Land
The course commences whenever there are six confirmed participants.
Six sessions: $210 per writer
Please email me at stuart@studioSL.com for schedules, to register or for other pertinent information.
Stuart hosted a fantastic workshop for us at The Content Castle. He was personable, funny, relatable, and of course informative. Our class participants really enjoyed his classes and spending time with him in our space. Thanks again Stuart!
I attended Stuart’s creative writing workshop on Koh Samui and found it very useful. Stuart covers all the basic elements of good fiction writing, with the key concept of “show don’t tell.” Readings from his novels help you understand how to write realistic interesting dialogue and develop strong memorable characters. Weekly 1-2 page writing assignments and the critique by Stuart and your fellow students help you practice what you learned. This workshop is suitable for beginner and advanced writers who want to hone their craft.
I really enjoyed Stuart’s workshop, which took place at Koh Samui’s first-ever writers’ mansion – The Content Castle. Each class he took the time to teach novel tricks (which were SO helpful) and now I have a notebook filled with informative notes from him. He clearly is an expert!
Each class he gave us an assignment and the next class he would give us helpful feedback on what we’d written! He used his expertise and taught me how to SHOW not tell, how to write proper dialogue and develop interesting and unique characters (CRUCIAL), and he generally helped to smooth out my writing (he taught a lot more, but those were the areas I needed most work on). Now my fiction work flows WAY better than it did before. I wrote with a lot of adverbs before … now I don’t. Woo!
I highly recommend his workshop. He puts a lot of effort into every session and then goes above and beyond when he edits your work! His feedback/edits were so beneficial. He genuinely care about helping you improve. It’s great!