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Our next IDC is scheduled for Thursday, March 14, 6:30 – 9:00 pm. Deadline for submission of up to 4000 words is a week prior to the meeting.  (Members will receive an email from Dave Gourdoux with date of deadline. Others, please email Dave. See SUBMISSION GUIDELINES below.) Work may be fiction, non-fiction, essay, play, or poetry. If the piece exceeds the word limit , please submit an excerpt in keeping with the word limit and provide a brief synopsis of what the reader needs to know.

All submissions will be emailed to participants about a week or so before the meeting. At the meeting, the author reads a page to a page and a half of the piece. The critique format consists of 3 rounds.

1st round:  participants point out what’s working in the piece and what they especially liked.

2nd round:  participants may ask questions and comment on problematical areas. The author does not comment or reply during the first two rounds.

3rd round:  the author answers and/or ask questions, and may comment on the feedback received.

Participants may print out and write their comments on submissions, or bring their laptops with pieces downloaded and provide verbal critiques.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

• Word Document, sent as attachment
• Double spaced, 12 pt., Courier font, pages numbered
• Include your name and title at the top of the first page, and include what form the piece is (short story, novel excerpt, poem, etc.)
• Send work to Dave Gourdoux:  djgourdoux@gmail.com

 

 

 

1. Join us on Thursday, February 14th, for a workshop conducted by the KWG’s very own psychotherapist, the Notorious Doctor Payne.  Bring the characters you are working with in your writing and have them spend some time on the good doctor’s couch. In the process, you will learn how to make your characters more believable, and come to understand some of the reasons they’re behaving like they are.

The Doctor has asked that you fill out the questions below for each character you’d like to analyze (and no insurance cards are required!)

It would help me to analyze your story’s character and you to know her/him better if we look at his/her feelings, thinking, attitudes, and fears.

The questions below give some suggestions for bringing out those characteristics. Not all are important, but some are. Write your statements on this questionnaire, and I’ll use your observations to reveal more about your character.

 

1) What complaints does your character make?

 

 

2) What is your character worried/anxious about?

 

 

3) Has your character had any significant traumas (e.g. hospitalization, imprisonment, time in a mental institution, live with a writer.)

 

 

4) Experienced any significant loss?

 

 

5) What thing/person is he/she attracted to?

 

 

6) Is she/he empathic or more self-absorbed?

 

 

7) What does your character want?

 

 

8) Does your character argue for/against any particular political view or religion?

 

 

9) Any conflicts, crises, challenges, internal or external?

 

 

10) What is your character’s gender, age; who does he/she live with?

 

 

11) What do you question or not understand about your character?

 

 

 

KWG member Dave Gourdoux wrote the introduction to Undertow, the first collection of writing by members of the Guild.  To read it, click here:

Welcome Home

Why do you write and for whom? What gets your creative juices flowing? Where do your ideas come from? Do you have a writing ritual? Write everyday? Wait for inspiration?
What role does setting play in your work? How do you create real and unique characters?

Outlines…deadlines…where do you draw the line?

Join us for an interactive workshop focusing on the writing process.
Share what works for you and learn what works for others.

Meet in room 196 of the Straz Bldg. April 13th. 6:30 P.M.

 

 

This month’s second Thursday meeting will feature Chris Deguire conducting a scene-writing workshop. Chris will use techniques that he applies as a professor in the Department of Creative Writing at Columbia College in Chicago. Whether you are blocked or having trouble moving your story form point A to B or you just want to learn something from a talented and experienced  professional, Thursday’s meeting promises to have something for you!

Please note that our assigned meeting room  has changed for the Carthage College 2016 fall semester. Effective Thursday, September Eighth, meetings will be held in room 196 of the Straz  building.

 

Tony Bowers, author of “On the Nine,” joins host Chris DeGuire for the August recording of Speaking of Our Words. The show also includes writers Richard Bell, Dave Gourdoux, Mary McDonald, Troy McDonald, Irene Pyskir-Bilak, and Jeff Sturycz.

Tonight’s Storytelling Part-2 Workshop is postponed due to weather.

Stay tuned for details regarding its rescheduling.