Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. San Francisco
$95 members/$110 others (this class is not currently scheduled)
How many times have we heard the aged expression, “We’ll see what she says about that!”There’s anticipation in hearing someone express themselves, and the same is true of fiction and creative nonfiction (personal essays, memoirs): our characters need to speak, voice their opinions, woes, aspirations, biases, phobias, regrets.“We can write lovely exposition,” says instructor Joshua Mohr, “but readers need to hear what our characters sound like, what their preoccupations are.That way they can sculpt their own conclusions about them.”
In this workshop, students will read examples and work on in-class prompts geared toward honing their ear for dialogue.“We’ll work on giving each character a nuanced voice,” says Josh.“We’ll select the right words to push the plot forward, generate subtext, strip our dialogue down to its meaty essentials; when each line of dialogue bolsters the story, we’ll have established a connection between character and reader.”
Josh Mohr is the author of the novel Some Things that Meant the World to Me. His second novel, Termite Parade, is due out in June 2010. He has an MFA from the University of San Francisco, and also teaches through UC Berkeley’s ASUC studios and a local halfway house, and has also published numerous short stories, including one, “Dressing the Dead” that was featured in the New Short Fiction Series’ emerging American writers show in Los Angeles.