“Choices in Narrative Voices” Workshop ENCORE, 12 Sept 2009

On Saturday, 12 September, I'll be speaking at the ENCORE 2009 mini-conference on writing for children, co-sponsored by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators of New England and the Alliance for the Study and Teaching of Adolescent Literature (ASTAL) at Rhode Island College in Providence. Visit SCBWI New England's webpage for complete information and a registration form.

Here's the description of my workshop:

"Choices in Narrative Voices" (1-hour workshop)

An author can describe the same series of events involving the same characters in many different ways. From one character's point of view or several? In the first person or third (or second)? In the past tense or present? From an immediate perspective or years later?

In this workshop, J.L. Bell lays out six building blocks of all narrative voices: Person, Point of View, Perspective, Past & Present, Paper Trail, and Presence. Understanding all the choices available will help you select the narration that serves your stories best.

And I'm looking forward to the other workshops that will follow:

• "What's So Funny--and Why?" by Ellen Wittlinger
• "Writing the Middle Grade Series" by Lisa Papademetriou
• "Before and After," about submitting to a publishing house, by Erica Zappy, Associate Editor at Houghton Mifflin