The Six Secrets of Creative Non-Fiction

The Six Secrets of Creative Non-Fiction:

A Workshop with William Powers

Saturday, April 16, 9am-3:30pm

Location: Santa Fe, NM; Specific location to be confirmed

Participation Fee: $95 registration fee (includes lunch); $85 without lunch; $40 optional 1/2 hour personal writing consultation following workshop on Saturday or on Sunday, April 17

Contact and registration: melissa@williampowersbooks.com

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Creative nonfiction is the genre of vivid true stories, told using dialogue, beats, scenes and other techniques normally used by poets and novelists.  Whether it’s memoir, essay or narrative journalism (like travel writing), creative nonfiction gives you the power to capture real life with the intensity of cinema and the integrity of fact.

In this day-long course, William Powers uncovers the six basic elements to unleash your core creativity and publish this year.  These elements include but are not exclusive to:

Story Craft and Technique: Plot, character, dramatic momentum.  The source of all drama.  The few dramatic forces that create compelling real life stories.

The Creative Process: Overcoming doubt, fear, and panic. Techniques to overcome resistance, stop fighting yourself, and get the flow going the moment you sit down.

The Essence of Real Life Characters: What’s needed to bring characters to life in all their depth and complexity. How to make the deepest, most personal connection to your characters.

Self-Coaching and Self-Editing: Learn to stop torturing yourself when it doesn’t come out the way you wanted.  Learn to trust your own emotional radar to find that dramatic potential that’s always in your work and learn how to use it to bring your story to life on the page.

Rewriting Techniques: Turning drudgery into excitement and inspiration. Rewriting is the best part. Once you know how, rewriting becomes re-exciting.

Managing Time: Where to find it (yes, it’s there) and how to use it. Learn how to write the first draft of a novel in just minutes a day in one year, regardless of your busy schedule, and have fun doing it.

Powers has developed an effective teaching style he’s developed through a blend of Montessori, Howard Gardner, and various meditative / contemplative traditions.  The course will also include tips for marketing finished work.

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About the Instructor:

William Powers is an accomplished author and teacher of creative nonfiction.  He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, the Sun, and Slate, among other publications, and has appeared on

NPR’s Fresh Air, Newsweek, ABC and NBC TV.  He has taught and continues to teach at many writing conferences around the country.  Powers is author of Blue Clay People and Whispering in the Giant’s Ear, both from Bloomsbury-Macmillan, and the new memoir, Twelve by Twelve, a Library Journal national “Green Living” Bestseller now in its fourth printing.

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Registration:

If you are interested in joining us for an inspiring day of writing and reflection with William Powers, contact melissa@williampowersbooks.com to register.

Full payment, or a minimum deposit of $45, will hold your space in the workshop. Kindly send a check made out to William Powers to the following address:

c/o The Drapers/ 2327 Calle Halcon/ Santa Fe, NM 87505

Registration will close on April 13, 2011.