Workshop Participant’s Needs – What do the participants wish to get out of the workshop, and what are they working on?
Hands-on means that each participant gets to develop their own story, while Margo uses her story PS Don’t Tell Your Mother as an example.
Research – Why it’s important, and how Mind Mapping can help a writer quickly get their points on paper.
Mind Mapping was invented by Tony Buzan in the 1960s – It’s a quick, easy, and colourful way to connect ideas, thoughts, and images.
Process – How does one do research? Set realistic goals, budgets, timelines and evaluate as you go along.
Genre – What genre, and what era? Why research is important for writing in all genres.
Ideas – Help to form the story. Is one idea enough for a book, poem, short story, novella, essay, article or a Tweet?
Experience – A variety of ways to experience your research: live it, talk to someone who was ‘there’ or create your own world and live in it. (For a while … though you’ll have to come back for the book launch.)
Story Line – How straight is the storyline? Events – Important, interesting, incidental, in the waste basket? Knowing the difference.
Characters – Writing what they look like is one thing. Writing what they are like is … hard work. In what way do they react to a positive or negative situation? Become close friends with your characters. You’ll get to know them, for better or for worse.
Story Outcome – Then what happened? Is it really the end?
