R174. A Thread through the Labyrinth: Learning and Teaching Plot

Room 208 A&B, Level 2
Thursday, April 9, 2015
12:00 pm to 1:15 pm

 

Too much plot? None at all? Writers well-trained in other aspects of writing fiction are often confused and daunted by plot, lost in its maze of possibilities. Panelists will share their experiences learning how stronger plot invention enhances character, structure, and meaning in novels and short stories, and will suggest approaches to teaching how to perceive, discuss, and evaluate plotting. They will offer charts, maps, and other techniques for devising and envisioning a plot’s twists and turns.


Participants

Moderator:

Lynne Barrett is the author of the story collections Magpies (gold medal, Florida Book Awards), The Secret Names of Women, and The Land of Go, and co-editor of Birth: A Literary Companion. She teaches in the MFA program at Florida International University and edits the Florida Book Review.

Joy Castro is the author of the novels Hell or High Water and Nearer Home, the memoir The Truth Book, and the essay collection Island of Bones, and she edited the collection Family Trouble: Memoirists on the Hazards and Rewards of Revealing Family. She teaches at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Lauren Grodstein is the author of four books: A Friend of the FamilyThe Explanation of EverythingReproduction is the Flaw of Love, and The Best of Animals. Her essays and reviews have been widely translated and anthologized. She directs the MFA program at Rutgers University, Camden.

Daniel Wallace is a British writer and PhD student who lives in Tennessee, where he devises new techniques for teaching fiction. He was the Toni Brown scholarship winner to the 2012 Winter Getaway. His work has appeared in McSweeney's, Tampa Review, Fiction Writers Review, and Air Schooner.

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