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Fiction Writing Masterclass with Elizabeth George and Susan Wiggs

This dynamic one-day workshop is designed to inspire writers at all levels, from emerging authors to practicing professionals.

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Fiction Writing Masterclass with Elizabeth George and Susan Wiggs

Fiction Writing Masterclass with Elizabeth George and Susan Wiggs

This dynamic one-day workshop is designed to inspire writers at all levels, from emerging authors to practicing professionals.

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Registrations Closed

About

This dynamic one-day workshop is designed to inspire writers at all levels, from emerging authors to practicing professionals.

Bring your best idea, your work-in-progress, and your burning questions along with paper and pen, and prepare to dive into your project. This is your day to put aside all the responsibilities of your regular life and focus on writing. Leave your inner critic at the door, because this is all about finding your authentic voice. 

We’ll provide writing prompts and proven craft strategies geared to bringing out your most powerful storytelling. Explore the most important elements of a novel: an irresistible premise and plot, relatable characters, a clear and consistent point of view, a well-drawn setting, and a compelling theme. We'll share techniques that even seasoned writers return to again and again. Our goal is for you to leave with fresh inspiration and  the muscle memory to bring yourself to your writing project not for just one day, but for all the days it takes to finish. 

End the day with a roundtable discussion of what to expect in the real world of commercial publishing.

Optional–linger after class to network with fellow writers, and leave time to explore Bainbridge Island's library, art museum, bookshop, and gathering places. 

Class Policies

Ages 14 and up are welcome.

Instructor
Elizabeth George

Elizabeth is the New York Times and internationally best-selling author of 20 British crime novels featuring Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his unconventional partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Her crime novels have been translated into 30 languages and featured on BBC television. She's also the author of a young adult series set on the island where she lives in Washington state. A longtime instructor of creative writing, she has taught at colleges, universities, writers' retreats, and conferences internationally. She most recently taught a live, online creative writing class for Hedgebrook Women's Writers' Retreat on Whidbey Island. She is the recipient of the Anthony Award, the Agatha Award, France's Grand Prix de Literatture Policiere, and Germany's MIMI. She has twice been nominated for an Edgar Award, and is the recipient of an honorary doctorate of humane letters from California State University Fullerton, and an honorary MFA from Northwest Institute of Language Arts (Whidbey Island MFA Program). She wrote "Write Away," a longtime best-selling creative writing book, edited two volumes of short stories, and is executive chair of the Elizabeth George Foundation, which makes grants to poets, emerging playwrights, and unpublished novelists.

Instructor
Susan Wiggs

Susan's life is all about family, friends … and fiction. She lives at the water’s edge on Bainbridge Island. In good weather, she commutes to her writers’ group in a 21-foot motorboat. She’s been featured in the national media, including NPR, PRI, and USA Today, has given programs for the US embassies in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, and is a popular speaker locally, nationally, internationally, and on the high seas. From the start, her writings have illuminated the everyday dramas of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. Her books celebrate the power of love, the timeless bonds of family, and the fascinating nuances of human nature. Today, she is an international best-selling, award-winning author, with millions of copies of her books in print in numerous countries and languages. According to Publishers Weekly, Wiggs writes with “refreshingly honest emotion,” and the Salem Statesman Journal adds that she is “one of our best observers of stories of the heart [who] knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book.” Booklist characterizes her books as “real and true and unforgettable.” Wiggs is a former teacher, Harvard graduate, avid hiker, amateur photographer, a good skier and terrible golfer, yet her favorite exercise is curling up with a good book.

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