Fiction Writing Workshop: Online Class! with Robert Kent

Instructor: Robert Kent
Date:  5 Thursday Sessions: April 16, 23, 30; May 7, 14
Time: 6:00-9:00 p.m.
Location: Zoom (virtual workshop)*
Cost:
$400 nonmembers (join IWC for discounted rate on the class!)
$265 members
$235 member discount for student, teacher, senior, military, librarian IWC members

*The cost of this class includes a $25 critiquing fee, to be remitted by IWC directly to the instructor, for work critiqued outside of class time.
*Class size limited to 10 students

For five Thursdays, you’re invited to become part of an elite fiction writing community. This workshop is limited to no greater than ten participants, so every writer will get individual attention. We’re going to encourage each other and hold one another accountable to meet a firm writing and reading goal each week through daily emails. You can write any genre, any age group, (Robert Kent writes both middle grade books and adult horror stories) and any fiction narrative, be it short story, novel or other.

Every writer will be expected to critique the work of their peers and produce a minimum of 2,500 words each week. That’s only 358 words you’ll need to write per day or 500 words per day if you take two days off. Weekly submissions for critiquing have no minimum length, but will be capped at a maximum of 4,000 words.

Please have your first submission ready by the first session. You won’t need to submit it ahead of time, but you will need to have it prepared to be work-shopped during the second week’s session. Submissions should preferably be Microsoft Word documents as we’ll be using track changes for critiquing. If a Word document is unavailable, the student will be responsible for printing enough copies (no more than ten) for the entire workshop.

Manuscripts must be double-paced and in 12-point font, preferably Times New Roman, Arial, or Courier. The author’s name must appear on the first page. Each page must be numbered. Maintain a 1 -inch margin on all sides. Use actual paragraphs, typical punctuation, etc. In other words, manuscripts must be formatted as though they were about to be submitted for publication. Don’t make your fellow writers suffer through abnormalities in formatting.

This is a workshop for those who are serious about their writing. Every participant needs to be prepared to produce new writing of their own every week in addition to providing written notes and in-person feedback about others’ writing during workshop sessions. This is a workshop for writers strong enough to take criticism like a professional. Personal criticism will not be tolerated, but your fiction will be broken down and rewritten until it is killed or cured. Weak writers need not apply.

*You will receive instructors on how to:
1. Set up a Zoom account if you haven’t used Zoom before
2. An invitation to the Zoom meeting in the class confirmation sent a few days before the class. This invitation will include a link to the meeting, a meeting ID, and a password.
3. We will be available to help you should you need any assistance along the way.