Member Price: $15
Non-Member Price is $25
**This event will be recorded. Registrants can access the recording for 30 days.
**We are changing our registration systems, so reminders may look a little different from normal after we migrate to the new platform.
Description: What’s going on when you fiddle with a sentence and suddenly it’s sharper and stronger, exactly what you want? It’s not magic; it’s syntax. The study of syntax (word order) has gone the way of foolscap and fountain pens, but it has a lot to teach modern writers about clarity, emphasis, anticipation, and rhythm. Join us as we dust off some intriguing sentence-level techniques and explore how they can punch up your writing.
Outcomes: The key to mastering the sentence is to move beyond intuition—a vague sense of what works and what doesn’t—to a more systematic understanding of sentence structure. This webinar will examine sentences from all angles through examples, discussion, and exercises. After a brief review of English syntax, participants will learn a few common syntax pitfalls; explore three basic variations and three special techniques; and consider ways of keeping sentences lively. Topics include when to prefer passive voice (yes, you read that right), periodic versus cumulative sentences, the power of paring down, and rhetorical techniques such as ellipsis and isolation.
Audience: This webinar is for intermediate to established writers who are looking for systematic yet creative ways to revise their work at the sentence level. Writers who’ve been at their craft for a while can diagnose any sentence ruts they’ve fallen into and pull themselves free. The session’s focus on sentences, words, and even syllables makes it suitable for writers of prose and poetry alike.
Presenter bio: Frances Peck is a long-time editor, ghostwriter, and instructor who lives in North Vancouver. She’s a co-author of the HyperGrammer website and the author of Peck’s English Pointers, a Language Portal of Canada resource. Her first novel, The Broken Places, was a Globe and Mail best book of 2022 and a finalist for the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. Her second novel, Uncontrolled Flight, made 2023 book-of-the-year lists at 49th Shelf and Consumed by Ink.
Digital doors open at 1:55 pm, event starts at 2:00 pm
Join us for a Writers' Social on Tuesday, April 9 from 7:00 - 8:15 PM PDT by registering here (bcwriters.ca/events-for-writers) and a Zoom link for the event will be sent to you. When it’s time for the event you can click on the Zoom link to join the event.
Many of us strive for a connection with our fellow writers. This members-only monthly event is designed to bring us together for casual chats with breakout rooms. Join us to talk craft, career, and connection for about 75 minutes over Zoom. Meet new people and get the most out of being a part of a provincial organization! Below are the proposed discussion groups for April's meeting (subject to change). Please consider which discussion group you would like to join before you arrive, and email meaghan@bcwriters.ca if you would like to suggest a future discussion topic. See you soon!
Discussion Groups:
Memoir & CNF Writers Connect
Self-Editing Strategies
Kid Lit Writers
All About Poetry
Overcoming our Writing Fears
Mini-Critique Group: bring the first paragraph or first three sentences of your project. Be prepared to get - and give - constructive feedback.
General Writing Discussion
Digital Doors Open at 6:55, Event Starts at 7:00 PM PT
Description: Aristotle’s Poetics was the first book to offer advice as to what makes a story . . . a story, and what makes for a great story, and it is as relevant today as when gods strode the earth. We will learn his top twelve tips, how to build our own tragedy, how to show moral ambiguity, and how to create characters who will make your readers cry their eyes out.
Audience: Anyone and everyone.
Presenter bio: Claire’s first novel, The Reckoning of Boston Jim (Touchwood Editions) was nominated for the Giller Prize as well as for the BC Book Prize. Her second novel, The Dark (Random House, Double Day), was nominated for the Canadian Author’s award. Claire’s award winning short fiction has been published in Writer’s Magazine, The Hourglass, Canadian Author, The Tulane Review, The Dalhousie Review, Grain, The Antigonish Review, amongst others. She teaches historical fiction at Uvic’s Continuing education dept and offers editing and monthly classes through her website: www.mulliganmethod.ca.
Email us at hello@bcwriters.ca
PO BOX 3503 Courtenay, BC, V9N 6Z8
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