$10.00
MFA For A Day
Presentor: Tena Laing
On Demand Replay |~ 2 hours: brief lecture/explanations/examples of concepts followed by short exercises and discussion, sharing if attendees with and a few Q&As at the end.
Description
MFA For A Day
Presentor: Tena Laing
On Demand Replay |~ 2 hours: brief lecture/explanations/examples of concepts followed by short exercises and discussion, sharing if attendees with and a few Q&As at the end.
About this Session:
Have you ever considered a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing but balked at the years of graduate study and the thousands in tuition, not to mention the grueling and competitive application process? In the middle of her own journey as an MFA, Tena will share some of the key takeaways from her post-graduate education about what a story needs. Want to complicate your characters, deepen your dialogue, and structure your story? Have you considered the three levels of antagonism, the three journeys of story, and the three-act structure or an alternative story architecture? Is your story awash in abstraction or grounded in the kind of concrete sensory detail that invites a reader in? Have you sorted the circumstances/context from the story itself? What are your protagonist’s opening and closing belief systems? What are your aesthetic goals for the story? These are some of the topics we’ll explore.
Bring a pen and notebook, or perhaps a handy keyboard, so you can participate in a few short exercises that will elevate your craft as you prepare to write your next (or first!) novel.
About our Presenter:
Tena Laing
After many years of teaching English and Humanities (and five Muskoka Novel Marathons) Tena is now pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing full time at the University of British Columbia in the Optional Residency Program. Originally from Newfoundland, she lives and writes in Toronto, but has also called Halifax, Quebec, Tokyo, Calgary, and Texas home. Tena is an alum of The Banff Centre, The Humber School for Writers, Sage Hill, University of Toronto Literary Novel Master Class, and The Bard Institute for Writing and Thinking, as well as a regular presenter at the Local Writers event, at the Writers at Woody Point Festival. Her mentors and instructors have included Miriam Toews, Wayson Choy, Alison Pick, Alyssa York, Merilyn Simmonds, Wayne Grady, Nancy Lee, Alix Ohlin, and John Vigna. Tena is on the editorial board of Prism International Literary Magazine, and since September, 2020, she has been the Graduate Teaching Assistant for the three popular UBC/edX online writing courses: How to Write a Novel: Structure & Outline, How to Write a Novel: Writing the Draft, and How to Write a Novel: Edit & Revise. She is currently revising three of her “first” novels, one of which won Best Novel in the Adult category at the 2014 Muskoka Novel Marathon Manuscript Contest, as well as working on a collection of short stories for her MFA thesis.
