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Winter 2006 Workshops at Writers & Books
For Children and Teens
Young Writers’ Club
- Grades 3 - 6
- WY6-M2C1
- Instructor: Sally Bittner Bonn
- 11 Wednesdays, 3:45–5 p.m.
- January 18 through April 5; No Class February 22
- $114 W&B members / $119 general public
- Class limit: 12
You know you are a writer. You could use the support of a good writing instructor, a time and place to focus on your writing, and a group of friends who are also writers. In Young Writers’ Club, we will play with many creative forms including different styles of poetry, fiction and journal writing. We will get acquainted with techniques used by great authors, try in-class exercises to get our writing minds purring along, and learn how to give each other feedback that is helpful for revising and finishing our pieces. And, finally, we will publish a small book of our work and look at other places we can send pieces to be published.
Register online
High School Ages
Teen Poets’ Slam Team
- WY6-D6L9
- Instructor: Reenah Golden
- 6 Thursdays, 6:30–8 p.m.
- January 12 through February 16
- $80 W&B members / $85 general public
- Class limit: 12
A slam team supports each other and appreciates that each poet brings different strengths to the team. Slam poetry is poetry spoken and performed in a variety of crowd-pleasing formats. Participants will study the art of the spoken word through a series of pieces shared by the instructor and through video excerpts from professional slam poets from the famous Nuyorican Café and Def Poetry Slam. During the course of the workshop, each poet will develop their own original piece or personal adaptation of an existing text using the group’s feedback and encouragement. You’ll have the option of videotaping your performance to give yourself feedback. Our slam team will then take it on the road and perform live as a team! Whether you were born to slam or just want to put more life into your presentation skills, we will be on your team! You will also have an opportunity to perform locally and to compete in the Teen Grand Slam, April 27.
High School Ages
Write Who You Are: Teen Women
WY6-N6C9
Instructor: Karen vanMeenen
6 Saturdays, 10 a.m.–Noon
March 4 through April 8
$99 W&B members / $105 general public
Class limit: 12
Teen women have experiences, problems, feelings, dreams and hopes that are unique. In this circle of teen women, we will explore these personal and cultural issues through poetry, personal essays, sharing life stories, and writing from journal prompts. Participants will be given the opportunity to write from the heart and share who they are and what they experience with a supportive group of other young women. We will also read selections from insightful books, including Ophelia Speaks: Adolescent Girls Write About Their Search for Self, The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, Odd Girl Out, and Women Who Run With the Wolves, and discuss their
relevance in our lives.
February Break
The maple sap is rising in the veins of the trees, and everything in nature is secretly starting to stir. Should you be sitting on the couch all week? Take part of your break to write creatively! Early drop off or late pick up can be arranged by calling Wendy Low at (585) 473-2590 x109.
Ages 7–9
Magic Tree House Readers’ Club
- WY6-R2C1
- Instructor: Marna Rossi
- Monday–Friday, February 20–24, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
- $159 W&B members / $165 general public
- Class limit: 12
Take part in wonderful magical adventures from the Magic Tree House Series, as Annie and Jack solve problems and help people as they travel through the world and through time. Like Annie and Jack, we will learn about the animals and people in each environment we visit. We will read some of the stories and act out some of the scenes. Through trips to libraries and museums, we will explore how we can learn about animals, landscapes, and peoples in other times and places. You will illustrate stories through art activities, and, with a team, create your scenes and act them out for your friends and family. You and your friends and family will also have a chance in spring to join with classmates at a Magic Tree House Picnic at the Gell Center of the Finger Lake’s amazing new Classroom in the Trees. Note: This session features new examples and research, including researching Rochester in the 1850s (Erie Canal boom town, anti-slavery movement) as a possible place for Jack and Annie to go next. We will write to author Mary Pope Osborne with our story suggestions. Pack a bag lunch each day.
Register online
Grades 4–6
Write a Book in Just Three Days!
- WY6-F2W1
- Instructor: Wendy Lowe
- Tuesday 2/21, Wednesday, 2/22, and Thursday 2/23 of February Break, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
- $99 W&B Members / $105 general public
- Class limit: 12
One of the major complaints of beginning writers is that they have difficulty finishing a story plot. We will guide you in the creation of a story from beginning to end, using special techniques developed especially for young writers. You will leave with a first draft of a complete story for later elaboration and editing. Pack a bag lunch each day.
Teens
Poetry for Publication (Intensive)
- WY6-P5N5
- Instructor: Karen vanMeenen
- Monday 2/20, Wednesday, 2/22, and Friday 2/24 of February Break,10 a.m.–3 p.m.
- $99 W&B Members / $105 general public
- Class limit: 9; by submission only
This intensive course is designed for poets who are ready to deepen their skills and are ready to put their work out into the world. You must submit three poems for consideration. We are not looking for perfection, just for poets who seem ready to be encouraged to take it to another level. The focus will be on taking your work in new directions and getting feedback on pieces in order to revise and polish them for publication. We will produce a small anthology from this class. Price includes two free copies of the anthology and a free beverage at Starry Nites Café for the final anthology layout planning meeting. You can pack a lunch each day or buy from neighborhood restaurants. Please submit three poems with your registration to be considered for this class.
High School Ages
Essay Writing Skills for the
College-Bound Student
- WY6-N5S8
- Instructor: Jeff Jones
- Monday–Friday, February 20–24, 10 a.m.–Noon
- $99 W&B members / $110 general public
- Class limit: 14
Get past that blank page! You can write effective essays through a simple, reliable, four-step process, which you can adapt to your own style and needs. Approach the new SAT essay, college application writing, and any school or test essay with comfort and confidence. We will break down the task and then practice, practice, practice. In a supportive environment we will cheer each other on, and learn from each other as we reflect on what has worked best in our practice essays. Each student will get an individual conference. There will be approximately an hour of homework each day, Monday through Thursday.
April Break
Spring is an inspiring time to write! All-day classes will get out and about in the Neighborhood of the Arts and find inspiration all around them. Early drop off or late pick up can be arranged by calling Wendy Low at (585) 473-2590 x109.
Ages 7–9
Magic Tree House Readers’ Club
- WY6-R2C2
- Instructor: Marna Rossi
- Monday–Friday, April 17–21, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.
- $159 W&B members / $165 general public
- Class limit: 12
Take part in wonderful magical adventures from the Magic Tree House Series, as Annie and Jack solve problems and help people as they travel through the world and through time. Like Annie and Jack, we will learn about the animals and people in each environment we visit. We will read some of the stories and act out some of the scenes. Through trips to libraries, archives and museums, we will explore how we can learn about animals, landscapes, and peoples in other times and places. You will illustrate stories through art activities, and, with a team, create your scenes and act them out for your friends and family. You and your friends and family will also have a chance in spring to join with classmates at a Magic Tree House Picnic at the Gell Center of the Finger Lake’s amazing new Classroom in the Trees. Note: This session features new examples and research, including researching Rochester in the 1910’s (women’s rights movement, immigration, George Eastman) as a possible place for Jack and Annie to go next. We will write to author Mary Pope Osborne with our story suggestions. Pack a bag lunch each day.
Register online
Ages 9–13
Word on the Street
- WY6-N2D4
- Instructors: Reenah Golden and Shabaka Collier
- Monday–Friday, April 17–21, 9 a.m.–4p.m.
- $184 W&B members / $189 general public
- Class limit: 12
There’s a reason why Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Peter Parker work for newspapers: it’s where the action is! Our news team will scour the streets to uncover “the scoop” and cover recent events in the Neighborhood of the Arts and in popular culture. We will read and critique articles from popular magazines, entertainment TV shows, City and the Democrat and Chronicle brought in by the instructor and participants. After nosing around the neighborhood, you, the news staff, will propose feature stories, personal profiles, and art, music, dance, book and restaurant reviews. We will go out as teams to investigate those stories we choose to write and photograph. At week’s end, we will publish an exciting newsletter for distribution in shops and cafés along ArtWalk. Pack a bag lunch each day.
Register online
Ages 13 and up
Fiction Writing
- WY6-F3E8
- Instructor: Camy Sorbello
- Monday–Friday, April 17–21, 9–3 p.m.
- $154 W&B members / $159 general public
- Class limit: 12
Do you have stories to tell? Are they funny? Sad? Absurd? Mysterious? As long as a book? By looking at the world around us and into our imaginations, we’ll learn how to generate ideas—and how to use the ideas we already have. We’ll look at examples to learn how well-written stories are put together. Whether you’re learning more about your inner storyteller, or just starting out, this workshop will help you, an aspiring writer, try new techniques and improve your work. Learn revision lessons that the pros know, such as how to avoid cliché, what to cut, how to “show, not tell,” and how to choose just the right word or phrase. We will work together to become better writers, revisers and editors. Pack a bag lunch each day.
High School Ages
Essay Writing Skills for the
College-Bound Student
- WY6-N5S9
- Instructor: Jeff Jones
- Monday–Friday, 10 a.m. - Noon
- April
- $99 W&B members / $110 general public
- Class limit: 14
Get past that blank page! You can write effective essays through a simple, reliable, four-step process, which you can adapt to your own style and needs. Approach the new SAT essay, college application writing, and any school or test essay with comfort and confidence. We will break down the task and then practice, practice, practice. In a supportive environment we will cheer each other on, and learn from each other as we reflect on what has worked best in our practice essays. Each student will get an individual conference. There will be approximately an hour of homework each day, Monday through Thursday.
Grades 5–8
Take a Hike: Poetry at the Gell Center of the Finger Lakes
- WY6-P3G9
- Instructor: Sally Bittner Bonn
- Saturday, April 29, 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
- $49 W&B members / $53 general public
- Class limit: 9
A day in the woods with poetry. What could be better? Our environment is a powerful tool which can inspire and stretch us as writers. Look. Listen. Feel. Smell. (We’ll even taste some natural treats of the area!) We will make the most of our surroundings, soaking up the natural world and recording our observations and experiences by writing poems. We will read poets known for their writing about nature, like Robert Frost and Mary Oliver, as well as haiku poets. We will discover two secret writing retreats, a cabin and a tree house in the woods, where we will try our hands at writing poems from nature. Come, take a break from your regular Saturday routine and open your senses to the natural world. Please bring writing supplies and a lunch, wear good walking shoes and dress weather-appropriate. Parent chauffeurs are welcome to hang out in the lodge, which has an extensive library or explore the grounds. If you are interested in carpooling, please indicate this when you register.
Register online
Ages 11 an Up
Fiction Basics for the Young Writer
- WY6-F4X5
- Instructors: See below
- Saturdays, February 4 &11;
- March 4 & 11, times as listed below
- Take all four courses (below) for $111 W&B
- members, $125 general public
These four classes (Show, Don't Tell;Character Building;Creating a World;and Threading the Maze of Plot ) combine solid information on fiction technique with intriguing exercises to help you put new skills to work in your writing. Manuscript consultation is also available for a separate fee.
Register online
Ages 11 and up
Show, Don’t Tell
Instructor: Wendy Low
Saturday, February 4, 10 a.m.–Noon
$17 W&B members / $19 general public
Writing teachers always say “show, don’t tell” and “give me the details so I can picture it.” Using examples from favorite writers, we will look at how to show setting, character, and action in such a way that the reader can make a movie in their mind. Fun exercises will let us practice what we’ve learned.
Register online
Ages 11 and up
Character Building
- WY6-F4X2
- Instructor: K. Howard
- Saturday, February 11, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
- $36 W&B members / $39 general public
Compelling characters and how they respond to their circumstances are often what draws us to good books. We will examine some of our favorite characters and what attracts us to them. We will look at where ideas for characters come from and at how we grow them into characters that seem fully alive to readers. Writing exercises will help us create new characters and deepen existing ones. Bring a bag lunch.
Ages 11 and up
Creating a World
- WY6-F4X3
- Instructor: K. Howard
- Saturday, March 4, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
- $36 W&B members / $39 general public
Setting and atmosphere can be crucial to bringing your reader under the spell of a story or a novel. We’ll examine how setting contributes to the development of character and plot. We’ll look at ways to give the most important details so that the reader creates a clear mental image of our setting, while skipping what the reader can easily fill in. We’ll look at pacing our revelation of setting so that it is not one overwhelming description at the beginning. These skills are especially important in such setting-rich genres as science fiction and fantasy. Bring a bag lunch.
Ages 11 and up
Threading the Maze
of Plot
WY6-F4X4
Instructor: K. Howard
Saturday, March 11, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
$36 W&B members / $39 general public
Do you enjoy starting stories but never know how to finish them? We’ll take a look at some standard underlying plots that occur over and over in literature. When you know these plot lines, you can play with them to catch the reader by surprise, as well. (Don’t feel like you are cheating if you need help coming up with good endings. The most famous author in English, William Shakespeare, stole all his plots from older authors; it is what he did with those plots that makes us remember him better than the original authors.) We will also look at how character and conflict drive plot and try two exercises to help with endings. Bring a bag lunch.
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