Young Writers Workshops

Available workshops

Please choose from the following workshops (You may choose as many as you would
like; the workshops are scheduled so that they do not conflict with one another):

Registration information

Registration begins immediately and lasts until workshops fill up. Seats are limited.

Each workshop costs $150 for two, two and one half hour sessions.

Download registration form

Workshop descriptions

Writing the Short Story: Oscar DeLosSantos

This seminar will provide students with an overview of the elements that are integral to writing the short story.  We will discuss the differences between mainstream fiction and speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy and horror).  Students will write short stories and receive feedback from the instructor and their peers in a workshop setting.

Oscar DeLosSantos is the current chair of the Department of Writing, Linguistics and Creative Process at WCSU.  He is the author of Hardboiled Egg, a short story collection, Spirits of Texas and New England, a collection of folklore stories,the co-author with David G. Mead of Infinite Wonderland, and a contributer of short stories and essays to Connecticut Review, New York Review of Science Fiction, and Extrapolation.  Contact him at jekyllhyde@snet.net.

 

Memoir Writing: Elizabeth Cohen

Writing about your life can be more than writing in a diary! Try your hand at writing memoir, a popular style of non-fiction prose that taps personal experiences as material. In this workshop we will learn what memoir is, a few elements that make good memoir and try our hands at a memoir exercise.

Elizabeth Cohen is a professor at WCSU and the author of The Family on Beartown Road, an award- winning memoir about a year she spent caring for her baby daughter and her father, who had Alzheimer's disease.

 

Advanced Poetry Writing: Lou Orfanella

This workshop is designed for students who have mastered fundamental elements of the creative process. Students are encouraged to draw on their backgrounds and experiences to shape their writing. Students with varying degrees of experience can be successful in this course, while students of advanced levels will be expected to achieve a higher level of proficiency.

Lou Orfanella is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama including A Cabin in the Pines: A One Act Play, Shoot the Unicorn: Reading, Writing, and Understanding Poetry, Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear, In a Flash: Twenty-One Short Short Stories, Excursions: Poetry and Prose, Streets of New York, How I Happened, Allurements and Lamentations, Composite Sketches, and Scenes from an Ordinary Life: Getting Naked to Explore a Writer’s Process and Possibilities.  His work has appeared in publications including The New York Daily News, College Bound, English Journal, World Hunger Year Magazine, Discoveries, Teacher Magazine, and New York Teacher.  He holds degrees from Columbia University and Fordham University and teaches writing at Western Connecticut State University and English in the Valhalla, New York school district.  He has presented dozens of public readings of his work and offers individual and group writing workshops.  He can be contacted at LORFANELLA@hotmail.com.

 

Feature Writing: Kelly L. Goodridge

Like an artist, the feature writer must create a likeness of a person, a recognizable image.  Instead of paint, feature writers make use of physical description, quotations from and about the subject, examples, anecdotes and factual information.  A profile is a portrait in words.  Writing a profile requires writers to combine the skills of exposition, narration, and analysis.  This workshop will focus on finding a good feature idea and how to mold it into a story.  We will also cover how to research story ideas and how to write and edit feature articles (lead, the nut graf, the body, and the conclusion).  Feature writing appears in magazines, newspapers and online publications.  Students will write a five- to seven- page profile of publishable quality.

Kelly L. Goodridge teaches journalism, literature and creative writing courses at Western Connecticut State University and Naugatuck Valley Community College.  She contributed film and literature essays to When Genres Collide and Reel Rebels.  Kelly has written for The Ridgefield Press and Lewisboro Ledger.  Her fiction is featured in Seasons Light and Dark.  Possessions, a new short story collection, will be published in 2010.  Kelly welcomes your comments at kellyhasclass@sbcglobal.net. 

 

College Admissions Essay: Lynne Paris Purtle

With stiff competition for seats at top schools, the admissions essay has become a very important piece of a college application.  In this workshop, the instructor willl help students choose interesting topics and write unique essays that will catch the attention of admissions officers.  Students will leave with  polished essays ready to send out.

Lynne Paris-Purtle has taught English and writing at Western Connecticut State University for 28 years.  She also serves as an essay scorer for the university.  Her college admissions business, Campus Connections, has worked with students to gain admission to Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, Vassar, Bard, UConn, and many others.  She is the author of Dragonfly Wings, a poetry collection and Death Masques,an upcoming poetry collection.  She is also writing a parenting book entitled The Disadvantage Advantage: Raising Academically Successful Kids in Hard Times.


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