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Day Four
8/5
Wednesday
8:00 a.m.
Breakfast
9:00 a.m.
Seminar 10: Debunking the Traditional Advice on Writing Great Dialogue
Seminar 11: Story Trumps Structure: How to Write Unforgettable Fiction by Breaking the Rules
10:15 a.m.
11:30
Seminar 12: Troubleshooting Your Novel: What You Need to Know and Film Discussion
12:30
Lunch
1:30 p.m.
7/16
Tuesday
Personal Time: Writing, Peer Critiques, One-on-one meetings, Excursions
4:00 p.m.
Seminar 13: Secrets to Maintaining Believability (Even in High Stakes Stories)
5:15 p.m.
On-the-spot critique 5
5:45 p.m.
Dinner
6:30 p.m.
On-the-spot critique 6
7:15 p.m.
Scene Study in Film
Day Five
8/6
Thursday
Breakfast
8:00 a.m.
Seminar 14: The 8 Lacks that Torpedo Good Manuscripts (Don)
9:00 a.m.
10:15 a.m.
Seminar 15: Emotional Resonance: The Interplay of Authenticity, Honesty, and Voice
Seminar 16: Heroes and Villains: How to Bring out the Best (and Worst) of Your Characters
11:30
Lunch
12:30
1:30 p.m.
Personal Time: Writing, Peer Critiques, One-on-one meetings, Excursions
4:00 p.m.
Seminar 17: Creativity and Idea Wrangling
5:30 p.m.
On-the-spot critique 7
6:00 p.m.
Dinner
6:30 p.m.
On-the-spot critique 8
7:00 p.m.
Q&A with Donald Maass
“Steven James is one of our most sought-after teachers and talented speakers. He presents his extensive knowledge of storytelling in an entertaining and informative manner. He lives story, and thanks to his sage advice, his students’ stories come alive.”
—KIMBERLEY HOWE, Executive Director, International Thriller Writers
Day Six
8/7
Friday
8:00 a.m.
Breakfast
9:00 a.m.
Seminar 18: Writing the Moments Only You Can Write (Don)
10:15 a.m.
Seminar 19: Salmagundi and Closing Thought
11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
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Advanced Fiction Institute
A tentative schedule of the week.
“Steven is both a deep thinker about story and someone who can make amorphous concepts as easy to understand as an Aesop fable.”
—DONALD MAASS, renowned literary agent and fiction instructor
Day One
8/2
Sunday
4:00 p.m.
Check in
5:15 p.m.
Orientation
6:00 p.m.
Dinner
Seminar 1: The Temporal Aspects of Story & their Advantages and Drawbacks
6:45 p.m.
Social event
8:00 p.m.
Day Two
8/3
Monday
Breakfast
8:00 a.m.
Seminar 2: Delve, Pivot, Propel: How to Create Memorable and Stunning Plot Twists
9:00 a.m.
10:15 a.m.
Seminar 3: Peer Critiquing: Mastering the CROWN Technique
Seminar 4: The First Ten Pages: What You Need to Know, Include, and Avoid
11:30
Lunch
12:30
1:30 p.m.
Personal Time: Writing, Peer Critiques, One-on-one meetings, Excursions
4:00 p.m.
Seminar 5: Webbing: the CHAIR Technique, and What It Means for Character Development
5:15 p.m.
On-the-spot critique 1
5:45 p.m.
Dinner
6:30 p.m.
On-the-spot critique 2
7:15 p.m.
TBD
8:15 p.m.
Social Time
Day Three
8/4
Tuesday
8:30 a.m.
Breakfast
9:00 a.m.
Seminar 6: Scenes and Interludes: How They Differ and How to Weave Them Together
10:30 a.m.
Seminar 7: How to Write Yourself Out of a Corner (and Why You Should Write Yourself into One First)
11:30 a.m.
Seminar 8: Suspense Essentials: How to Ratchet Up the Tension No Matter What Genre You Write
12:30 p.m.
Lunch
1:30 p.m.
Personal Time: Writing, Peer Critiques, One-on-one meetings, Excursions
4:00 p.m.
Seminar 9: Moral Dilemmas: How to Shape Moments that Challenge, Reveal, and Shape Your Characters
5:15 p.m.
On-the-spot critique 3
5:45 p.m.
Dinner
6:30 p.m.
On-the-spot critique 4
7:15 p.m.