Character development: it’s not just essential to story; it is story! In this workshop, we will learn the eight vital elements that make a compelling character. We will then practice these skills by tuning our writers’ sensibilities to an iconic American form: rock music videos of the 1980's! Believe it or not, deconstructing these neon-lit, hair-sprayed, moon-walking narrative gems provides a fun, innovative, sometimes silly avenue towards the serious practice of prose. We will use the videos as starting points for short writing exercises, and then extend to our own writing. Writers of all genres all welcome. Please bring a short section of your own work in progress, and join us for some writing and rockin’ in this fun afternoon of revisiting (or discovering!) some MTV glory day throwbacks. Shake it up!
Lydia Peelle is the Whiting Award-winning author of the novel The Midnight Cool and the story collection Reasons For and Advantages of Breathing, a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice book which received an honorable mention for the PEN/Hemingway Award and was a finalist for The Orion Book Prize. Peelle is also a recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, an O. Henry Prize, the National Book Foundation's "5 Under 35" honor, and the Anahid Award for Armenian-American writers. She teaches on the faculty of the Mountain View Low Residency MFA program at SNHU.
Lydia was amazing. She instilled in us the fundamentals of writing and critiquing writing. We knew what to expect for each class but she still made each session unique and exciting.
Lydia was kind and thoughtful and gave wonderful insight.
Lydia is a great teacher - she uses innovative ways to show us how to use "tools" to keep moving our writing forward. When she demonstrates a tool, it is by having us use the tool, rather than just telling us about it.
