Writing Workshop

I was thumbing through the newspaper this morning and I caught a blurb advertising a drop-in writing workshop at the Log Cabin Literary Center in Boise. (Yup, it's an actual log cabin.) I haven't done much creative writing lately, but I felt the whim hit me and decided to take the description to heart and just drop-in. I'm so glad I did.

It was headed up by Tamara Shores, a local author who was as sweet as pie. I confess I had never heard about her before, but she's a BSU graduate who went on to have a play produced at the Kennedy Center, and then later adapted as a short film that got some play on Starz and Encore. What mattered to me, however, was that she was super-supportive, friendly, and a great instructor.

The objective was fairly simple. She gave us a writing prompt, starting with a list of character-types (biologist, realtor, virgin, etc.) We picked two. Then we picked a common interest that the two characters would share (from a list of common interests.) Then we were given a conflict idea. The two characters want to be like each other... Find the conflict inherent in such a situation.

I picked the realtor and the virgin. They both share a love of musicals, especially Phantom of the Opera. Then, after that, I couldn't believe how quickly the details started to gel. At the end of our two hour session, I had a whole story plotted out. (I ain't gonna tell you any more cause I want to write it and I don't want to spoil it.)

Suffice to say, it was an incredibly rewarding workshop... Everyone there was very cool and had great ideas. I'm so glad I listened to impulse and just went in.