A workshop fur all writers
Ever since Jack London let White Fang speak for himself, animal characters have made indelible impressions on human readers. And if you’ve ever thought you could represent what animals are thinking beyond “Feed me,” and “I need to pee,” the upcoming one-day online writing workshop “Creating Non-Human Characters,” might be right up your alley (cat).
Presented by the Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manazanita, the Saturday, July 18, workshop explores not only animals but also landscapes, mythical creatures and inanimate objects using lectures, class interaction and writing exercises.
“Non-human characters can bring a depth to your story not achievable with human characters,” reads the workshop description. “By exploring four elements: point of view, intelligence, behavior, and “The Wilding,” a term adopted from Garth Stein’s “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” you can follow in the footsteps of authors like Jack London, E.B. Webb, L. Frank Baum, and Lewis Carroll to create unforgettable non-human characters that readers identify with and love.
Writers of all experience levels and genres are welcome to join the presentations, headed by authors Katherine Quevedo and Elizabeth Beechwood.
Quevedo’s fiction has appeared in Short Édition’s Short Circuit, Factor Four Magazine, Apparition Literary Magazine, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and Thrilling Words. Her nonfiction has been published in the official blog of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She was born and raised in Beaverton and holds an MBA from Portland State University and degrees in English and Business Economics from Santa Clara University.
Beechwood pens her fiction, fantasy, magical realism and genre-bending stories from the western fringes of Portland. She has an MFA in Popular Fiction from the University of Southern Maine and her fiction has been featured in Nightscape Press’s Nox Pareidolia, Third Flatiron’s Hidden Histories, Not a Pipe Publishing’s The Year of Publishing Women’s Short Stories series, Crossed Genres and Every Day Fiction.
The workshop will be held on Zoom from 10 am to 1 pm. Tuition is $50. For more information, go to hoffmanarts.org.