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Off Campus Writers' Workshop - OCWW

Ellen T. McKnight—Orchestrating Tension

  • April 07, 2016
  • 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka

Registration

  • OCWW members receive significant discounts on workshop fees. Join today!

Registration is closed

Tension may well be the storyteller’s deepest magic. Tension is the secret to both your hook and your hold: the pulse that keeps readers turning the page. Tension can range from subtle and psychological to big and action-based – the stuff of profound literary work or gripping genre fiction or wonderfully addictive stories for kids. Once established, tension reverberates under the surface, akin to a movie score. You can build it up or quiet it down, blending different kinds of tension like music. As author, you’re both the composer and the conductor. This workshop will cover the various sources of tension in fiction and ways to exploit and combine them.

Ellen T. McKnight is a fiction writer and poet. Her publications appear in literary journals and anthologies, and she recently completed a novel, The Ex-Mom, which made the Finalist Short List in the Faulkner Writing Competition as a novel-in-progress. She teaches writing workshops, critiques manuscripts, and hosts a blog about writing – Connecting through Story – at ellentmcknight.com. Follow her @EllenTMcKnight on Twitter.

Ellen will be happy to critique fiction manuscripts. Only OCWW Members are eligible to submit manuscripts for critique. For manuscripts to be considered for critique, and to do them justice, manuscripts must be submitted by no later than Monday, April 4, 2016, earlier will be appreciated. Payment for critiques are: $15 up to 15 pages, or $25 up to 25 pages. Payment for critiques at $15 or $25, plus your April 7, 2016 Workshop attendance fee of $10, can be paid on-line through PayPal (click here for details). Manuscripts for critique can be submitted to Melissa Weidner, Board member, OCWW, who will provide them to Ellen for critique.

 

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