Writing Workshop Archives

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How Stories Work: Writing Workshop #68: Six Ways a Scene Can Fail

by Stone Soup Editors

Published June 3, 2023

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #67: Translation

by Stone Soup Editors

Published May 20, 2023

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #66: Ekphrasis

by Stone Soup Editors

Published May 12, 2023

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #65: Long Sentences

by Stone Soup Editors

Published May 6, 2023

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #64: Voice

by Stone Soup Editors

Published April 23, 2023

An update from our sixty-fourth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, April 22 Conner started off the workshop by asking the question, "What is voice?" Participants answered the...

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #63: Ways to Begin

by Stone Soup Editors

Published April 20, 2023

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #62: Spring

by Stone Soup Editors

Published April 6, 2023

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #61: Seven Narratives

by Stone Soup Editors

Published March 31, 2023

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #60: Tongue Twisters

by Stone Soup Editors

Published March 21, 2023

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #59: Automatic Writing

by Stone Soup Editors

Published March 18, 2023

How Stories Work: Writing Workshop #68: Six Ways a Scene Can Fail

Post Published June 3, 2023 by Stone Soup Editors

An update from our sixty-eighth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, May 27 In the last workshop of our spring season, Conner outlines six ways a scene can fail. Number one: it starts too early. It's better to start late, to skip greetings, and to start when the events actually become important to the reader. Number two: it ends too late.

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #67: Translation

Post Published May 20, 2023 by Stone Soup Editors

An update from our sixty-seventh Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, May 13 We began the workshop by discussing the etymology of translation. Translation comes from the Latin phrase, “to be carried across.” Conner encouraged us to adopt a more “experimental view of translation.

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #66: Ekphrasis

Post Published May 12, 2023 by Stone Soup Editors

An update from our sixty-sixth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett and special guest Emma Catherine Hoff A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, May 6 This week, winner of the Stone Soup 2022 Annual Book Contest Emma Catherine Hoff instructed the workshop. To start, Emma told workshop participants that ekphrasis is “when you write a poem or story about or based on a work of art.

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #65: Long Sentences

Post Published May 6, 2023 by Stone Soup Editors

An update from our sixty-fifth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, April 29 In this week’s workshop, we talked about long sentences. First, Conner showed us two paintings. The first one was Christ Breaking Down the Gates of Hell by Hieronymous Bosch and the second one was The Flight Between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #64: Voice

Post Published April 23, 2023 by Stone Soup Editors

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #63: Ways to Begin

Post Published April 20, 2023 by Stone Soup Editors

An update from our sixty-third Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, April 15 In this week’s workshop, we talked about different ways to begin a story. Conner began by saying we often feel the need to start a story with exposition—to start with loads of background information.

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #62: Spring

Post Published April 6, 2023 by Stone Soup Editors

An update from our sixty-second Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, April 1 The workshop started with Conner showing us four paintings that all involved some element of spring—glee, excitement, flowers, calm, peace, etc. Before we began to read some examples of poetry about spring, we asked ourselves what we think of when we think of spring.

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #61: Seven Narratives

Post Published March 31, 2023 by Stone Soup Editors

An update from our sixty-first Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, March 25 To start the workshop, Conner told us about the book The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker. However, before we jumped into what those plots were, we explored the meta-plot, which Booker argues every story uses in some way.

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #60: Tongue Twisters

Post Published March 21, 2023 by Stone Soup Editors

An update from our sixtieth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, March 18 Conner began by asking the question, “What is the purpose of language?” Some of the answers were to communicate and to represent or describe things. Throughout the workshop, we learned more about what language is really meant for, especially in stories and poems.

How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #59: Automatic Writing

Post Published March 18, 2023 by Stone Soup Editors

An update from our fifty-ninth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, March 11, plus some of the output published below This week, we learned about automatic writing, a fun exercise and an effective strategy to overcome writer's block. Automatic writing was born out of the surrealist movement of the early 20th century.

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