Saturday, September 19

CWC Monthly Meeting

10 am - noon

Swerve: Writing into the Unexpected

~ Elizabeth Stark ~

September 19

Elizabeth Stark

Swerve:

Writing into the Unexpected

Story is about moments of surprise, overturned plans, disrupted routines—in other words, the unexpected. Managing expectations is an overlooked pillar in the art of storytelling. How do we not only break expectations but build them? How do we lean away from the direction the story is going, in order to create the roller coaster momentum that propels great tales? This happens on every level, from the great swerve that is the primary arc of the whole, to the twists and turns of scenes, to the small beats of intention and action, event and reaction, interiority and dialog.

In this talk from novelist and filmmaker Elizabeth Stark we will play with all of these, giving us the chance to explore how the unexpected might manifest in our own work, making it engaging, page-turning, and immersive.

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Elizabeth Stark (aka Elizabeth Stark Powers) is a writer and filmmaker. Her first novel, Shy Girl (FSG and Seal Press), was a finalist for the Ferro-Grumely and Lambda Literary Awards. She co-hosts the podcast Story Makers Show, co-directs and teaches at Sonoma County Writers Camp and StoryMakersAcademy.com, and serves on the advisory board for the Bay Area Book Festival. She earned her MFA from Columbia University, and her work has appeared in The New York Times and The Rumpus. She lives in Sebastopol and Berkeley, with her partner, Angie Powers, their two dogs, and sometimes their two college students. Join Elizabeth and her film producer/ writing coach sister Nanou Matteson for a writing retreat on the island of Antiparos in Greece in June 2027. Information is posted at StoryMakersAcademy.com.

NOTE: There was a recent scandal about a book with the same title—but a different author and a different book!

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Join us in person at

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Hope Lutheran Church
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600 42nd Ave.
San Mateo, CA 94403