Workshop: How to Build Your Story

Saturday, March 31, 2012 - 10:00am

Appleby United Church,
4407 Spruce Avenue
Burlington , ON
L7L 1L9

This workshop will show you how writers plot a novel. You’ll also get the best tips on writing short stories, where to get them published and how to win contests. Best yet, you’ll see how to apply the story-building techniques you’ve learned to your own writing.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years and publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers. He teaches at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Moncton. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.

Guest speaker Lynda Simmons has published eight novels. Her most recent novels, Island Girl (2010) and Getting Rid of Rosie (2009), were published by Berkley Books, a Penguin USA imprint.

With books like Getting Rid of Rosie, Lynda has built a reputation for herself as an outstanding comic novelist. However, Island Girl represents a departure for Lynda in that it's a much more serious book.

Set on the Toronto Islands, the novel recounts the emotionally riveting story of a 55-year-old mother, Ruby Donaldson, who fights to reunite her family as she struggles with the diagnosis of early on-set Alzheimer's and her determination to control her own future.

Before going mainstream, Lynda served her apprenticeship as an author by writing six romance novels, published by Harlequin, Silhouette and Kensington. Lynda specializes in comic novels and her presentations are known for their humour. At the workshop, she'll share her insights into plotting novels and creating a character arc.

Fee: $38.94 + 13% hst = $44 paid in advance or $42.48 + 13% hst = $48 if you wait to pay at the door

To reserve a spot now, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca