Non-Fiction Book, Magazine, and Travel Writing
July 19 - 22, 2008
9am - 3:30pm
Instructor: Daniel Wood
Early Bird Fee: $387 + $19.35 GST (if paid by June 15th)
Regular Fee: $430 + $21.50 GST
Good writing comes at you. It leaves the page in a hurry. It contains passion and electricity. The trick for the non-fiction writer is to weave real people, real situations, and real data into a dramatic order that both involves and informs the reader. Today, non-fiction --- whether as a feature magazine article or within a book’s chapters --- usually has a narrative shape. It often reads like a movie. That’s because contemporary, creative non-fiction book and magazine writing employs the elements of plot, scene, drama, dialogue, inner monologue, and characterization once believed to be strictly the province of fiction. Nowadays, people and narrative are central to storytelling.
The goal of this non-fiction writing course is to produce:
1) a magazine story proposal: or
2) a draft of a complete article; or
3) a section of a larger book proposal; or
4) a revision of a book’s chapters; or
5) a section of non-fiction memoir, short story, children’s story, or essay.
The course is aimed at both those interested in improving their writing, and at prospective book and feature magazine writers. (At least 20 published books and many more published magazine articles have previously been workshopped by students of Daniel Wood’s Simon Fraser University courses.) Course topics include:
1) finding story ideas;
2) identifying focus and voice;
3) developing a narrative line/story structure;
4) getting the right material;
5) the importance of acquiring experiences (walking the walk);
6) interviewing techniques;
7) the role of emotions and close observation in modern non-fiction;
8) creating characters;
9) the qualities and skills of successful writers;
10) polishing and editing.
As well, for those writers and travellers hoping to turn their journeys into marketable stories, this course is also filled with practical advice and first-person accounts from a writer who has been on assignment to most places on Earth. Find out exactly what newspapers and magazines want and what book publishers are looking for in travel stories. Examine how to propose articles and how to write animated travel stories. Topics include story proposals, dealing with editors, components of a successful article, various types of travel stories, writing traps to avoid, taking photos that sell, who pays what, new travel destinations to explore, and how to get free trips.
There will be time in the course for writing, small group appraisal, and tough editing. Most important, the course will be fun.
Vancouver’s Daniel Wood is one of Canada’s best-known magazine writers, and winner of 31 regional or national writing awards. He’s also the author of 14 books. His stories often deal with conflicts around social justice, environmental abuse, and the outsider’s role in a doctrinaire world. He has taught writing at Simon Fraser University for 20 years, and is one of the founders both the Western Magazine Awards and the Federation of B.C. Writers. In recognition of his work, the Western Magazine Awards gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000, the only writer so honoured. 