New Workshop Date!
Columbia Basin Trust, in partnership with Selkirk College are hosting writer's workshops on Saturday February 27th for those interested in submitting their short stories to CBT's SCRATCH Writing Challenge.
This free workshop will be held on Saturday, February 27th at:
• Castlegar Public Library 1-4pm
• Nelson & District Youth Centre 12-3pm
• Trail Selkirk Campus 12-3pm
Deadline for Registration is noon, Monday February 22nd. To register for a session email or contact Michelle 1.800.505.8998.
This free workshop will be held on Saturday, February 27th at:
• Castlegar Public Library 1-4pm
• Nelson & District Youth Centre 12-3pm
• Trail Selkirk Campus 12-3pm
Deadline for Registration is noon, Monday February 22nd. To register for a session email or contact Michelle 1.800.505.8998.
Writing Tips
The story you submit must be an original work (3000-5000 words) set in the Columbia Basin (or partially set in the Basin. The characters need to reveal the complexities of human nature and when they speak they need to be believable within the universe of the story being told. If you can summarize the theme of your story in one sentence you are definitely on the right track. Write a story that reveals the voice, imagery, and style of a generation!
Be sure to have your work proofread by someone else and use spell check.
Do you know your Elements of Fiction?
Fiction (Latin: fictum, "created") is a branch of literature which deals with events that are not true at the time of writing. You know the deal: "The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event"
• A character is any person, persona, identity, or entity whose existence originates from a fictional work or performance.
• A plot, or storyline, is the rendering and ordering of the events and actions of a story, particularly towards the achievement of some particular artistic or emotional effect.
• Setting is the time and location in which a story takes place.
• Theme is the broad idea, message, or lesson of a story.
• Style includes the multitude of choices fiction writers make, consciously or subconsciously, as they create a story. They encompass the big-picture, strategic choices such as point of view and narrator, but they also include the nitty-gritty, tactical choices of grammar, punctuation, word usage, sentence and paragraph length and structure, tone, the use of imagery, chapter selection, titles, and on and on. In the process of writing a story, these choices meld to become the writer's voice, his or her own unique style.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Be sure to have your work proofread by someone else and use spell check.
Do you know your Elements of Fiction?
Fiction (Latin: fictum, "created") is a branch of literature which deals with events that are not true at the time of writing. You know the deal: "The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event"
• A character is any person, persona, identity, or entity whose existence originates from a fictional work or performance.
• A plot, or storyline, is the rendering and ordering of the events and actions of a story, particularly towards the achievement of some particular artistic or emotional effect.
• Setting is the time and location in which a story takes place.
• Theme is the broad idea, message, or lesson of a story.
• Style includes the multitude of choices fiction writers make, consciously or subconsciously, as they create a story. They encompass the big-picture, strategic choices such as point of view and narrator, but they also include the nitty-gritty, tactical choices of grammar, punctuation, word usage, sentence and paragraph length and structure, tone, the use of imagery, chapter selection, titles, and on and on. In the process of writing a story, these choices meld to become the writer's voice, his or her own unique style.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SCRATCH Writing Challenge Selection Committee
Almeda Glenn Miller is the author of the acclaimed novel Tiger Dreams. Her short stories and personal essays have been published throughout North America. Her second and third novels are currently under construction while she is enjoying writing poetry and book reviews for the Globe and Mail. She teaches writing and literature at Selkirk College and is the coordinator of the Southern Interior Writers Project.
Luanne Armstrong, MFA, Ph.D, is a writer, editor and teacher. She is deeply interested in writing about place and nature. Her book, Blue Valleys, An Ecological Memoir, a book about growing up in the Kootenays, was published in 2007 by Maa Press and her next book of essays, The Moss Room, is due out in the spring of 2011. She has published creative nonfiction in many journals and magazines including Tessera, Geist, Event, and Creative Nonfiction. She has also published novels and young adult books and poetry. Her work has been nominated for the Silver Birch Award, the Red Cedar award, the Chocolate Lily award, the Surrey Schools Book of the Year award, the Moonbeam Award, the Relit Prize for Fiction, and the Sunburst Award. She presently lives on her organic heritage farm on the east shore of Kootenay Lake. She teaches creative non-fiction and Teaching Creative Writing in the UBC Optional Residency Creative Writing MFA program.
Angie Abdou was born and raised in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. She received an Honours B.A. in English from the University of Regina, an M.A. from the University of Western Ontario, and a Ph.D in English Literature from the University of Calgary. Angie currently teaches at the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook, British Columbia and makes her home in Fernie with her husband (Marty), children (Ollie and Katie), and dog (Brock). Her work has been published in several Canadian literary journals, including Other Voices, The Windsor Review, and Grain. She has also published two books -- Anything Boys Can Do (a collection of short stories) and The Bone Cage (a novel). The Bone Cage was chosen by Kootenay Library Federation for the 2009 "One Book One Kootenay" celebrations. Angie has recently finished a novel about mountain culture; it is tentatively called The Canterbury Trail and will be published Spring 2011 by Brindle & Glass Press.
Heather Maisel is the Library Director at the Castlegar & District Public Library. She has a B.A. in sociology and anthropology, and a Masters in Library and Information Studies from UBC. She has lived in the Kootenays for three years with her husband, dog and cat. Heather reads widely, and especially enjoys non-fiction, chick lit, and travel writing.
Luanne Armstrong, MFA, Ph.D, is a writer, editor and teacher. She is deeply interested in writing about place and nature. Her book, Blue Valleys, An Ecological Memoir, a book about growing up in the Kootenays, was published in 2007 by Maa Press and her next book of essays, The Moss Room, is due out in the spring of 2011. She has published creative nonfiction in many journals and magazines including Tessera, Geist, Event, and Creative Nonfiction. She has also published novels and young adult books and poetry. Her work has been nominated for the Silver Birch Award, the Red Cedar award, the Chocolate Lily award, the Surrey Schools Book of the Year award, the Moonbeam Award, the Relit Prize for Fiction, and the Sunburst Award. She presently lives on her organic heritage farm on the east shore of Kootenay Lake. She teaches creative non-fiction and Teaching Creative Writing in the UBC Optional Residency Creative Writing MFA program.
Angie Abdou was born and raised in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. She received an Honours B.A. in English from the University of Regina, an M.A. from the University of Western Ontario, and a Ph.D in English Literature from the University of Calgary. Angie currently teaches at the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook, British Columbia and makes her home in Fernie with her husband (Marty), children (Ollie and Katie), and dog (Brock). Her work has been published in several Canadian literary journals, including Other Voices, The Windsor Review, and Grain. She has also published two books -- Anything Boys Can Do (a collection of short stories) and The Bone Cage (a novel). The Bone Cage was chosen by Kootenay Library Federation for the 2009 "One Book One Kootenay" celebrations. Angie has recently finished a novel about mountain culture; it is tentatively called The Canterbury Trail and will be published Spring 2011 by Brindle & Glass Press.
Heather Maisel is the Library Director at the Castlegar & District Public Library. She has a B.A. in sociology and anthropology, and a Masters in Library and Information Studies from UBC. She has lived in the Kootenays for three years with her husband, dog and cat. Heather reads widely, and especially enjoys non-fiction, chick lit, and travel writing.