Calendar of Events

Character vs Story: A Simple Approach to Planning Chapter One of Your Next Novel

Many writers worry about where to start their novel. How do you know if the pace is fast enough, or if the reader understands what is going on? It’s possible to end up in a circle of early revision, re-writing chapter two again and again until it feels right. In this workshop, writing teacher Daniel David Wallace will describe his "character-first approach" to beginning a novel or long story and will use examples from Great Expectations, The Age of Innocence, Jack Reacher, and Gideon the Ninth to illustrate the technique. Daniel will also provide an online writing prompt to help you try out the approach and sketch out your next novel.

Daniel Wallace completed his PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Tennessee, where he spent four years researching new ways to teach fiction writing. He is editor-in-chief for Burlesque Press and host of the annual "Escape the Plot Forest" writing conference. His work has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Tampa Review, Air Schooner, and Fiction Writers Review. His online classes have led aspiring and experienced authors alike to call him "the novel whisperer" and the "literary midwife."

Saturday, Feb 27, 10 AM – noon
Register today! https://knoxvillewritersguild.org/events/feb21workshop/

Reduced prices for this online class: $10 students, $20 members, $30 nonmembers. You must register by midnight Thursday, Feb. 25. You will receive an email from our webmaster with the link the morning after registration closes.