Writing Center
with the SUU English Department's annual Creative Writing Contest for High School Students
March 24 Workshop Descriptions
Each workshop will begin at 11 a.m. and continue after lunch at 1 p.m.
Creative Nonfiction/ Giving Voice to Personal Landscape
by Dr. Wynne Summers
Dr. Wynne Summers taught creative nonfiction for two years at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and has taught creative nonfiction for two semesters at Southern Utah University. Her book, Women Elders' Life Stories of the Omaha Tribe: Macy, Nebraska, was published through the University of Nebraska Press early this year. She has also published poetry in Plains Song Review, a journal of creative writing. She is currently working on a memoir involving her mother's stories called Women's Survival Narratives: Tales my Mother Told Me.
Writing Close: Vocabulary and Character in Fiction Writing
by Dr. Todd Petersen
Once you have a plot and some characters, the next most important matter to decide upon is the perspective you'll be writing from. Standard first- and third-person point of view is a good start, but there is an important middle ground where a writer's language morphs into their narrator's and their characters' as well. In this workshop we'll be looking at the craft of "free indirect writing" in fiction--how to spot it and how to pull it off in your own work.
Dr. Todd Robert Petersen teaches creative writing in the English Department at Southern Utah University. He was an SUU Distinguished Educator in 2007 and the Outstanding Scholar in 2008. His second book, Rift, was published in 2009.
The World In Fiction
by C. Joe Willis
Winston Smith and 1984 England, Batman and Gotham City, Frodo Baggins and Mordor. The best fiction includes people and places that we remember long after we have stopped reading. For any aspiring writer, creating these believable individuals and locations is one of the most important, and sometimes difficult, parts of the writing process. This workshop will highlight the method of creating fully realized characters and places. We will focus on methods like; “Writing What You Know,” “Inventories,” and “Digging”. Students are encouraged to bring characters and story ideas to be discussed and workshopped.
Joseph Willis teaches composition and rhetoric at Southern Utah University. As part of his master's degree course work, he finished his first collection of short stories, Help Wanted. He has recently written two plays for 24 Hour Theater at SUU, and his fiction has appeared at the Sigma Tau Delta honor society's international conference, and in Thin Air Magazine, and the Arts and Words Journal.
Playwriting: “Translating” Your Essay/Poem/Story into a Play
by Dr. Nozomi Irei
Have you ever had an idea, feeling, or image that you wanted to communicate in more than one way—for example, through an essay, poem, short story, or photograph? In this workshop, we will discuss the specificity of each medium of communication and focus on how playwriting can be one way of exploring new kinds of presentation for ideas, feelings, and images you may have tried to communicate before. The workshop will introduce the basic components of playwriting, with emphasis on the techniques of how to dramatize an idea, image, etc., for the stage. Participants are welcome to bring any of their writings to the workshop.
Dr. Nozomi Irei's areas of interest include drama/theatre from different traditions; and literary and theatre theory.
Poetry/ Exploring Fascinating Forms
by Dr. Bryce Christensen
Meter, rhyme, stanzaic pattern—What can these traditional elements of prosody still offer in an age dominated by free verse? Find out in an exploratory session conducted by Dr. Bryce Christensen, whose own poetry has appeared in The Formalist, First Things, Snakeskin, and other publications.
Dr. Christensen, who teaches a variety of writing and literature classes at SUU, has published widely. In addition to the poems mentioned above, his most recent published works include a novel and scholarly essays.
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