Just finalized today: I’ll be conducting a full two-hour version of my most popular workshop, Conflict and the Mechanism of Story, next Monday at 7:00 pm in the Layton Barnes and Noble (1780 North Woodland Park Drive, Layton, UT).  The event is being held by the Wasatch Writers chapter of the League of Utah Writers and is free to all who would like to attend. 

Anyone interested in storytelling (even if you aren’t a writer) who hasn’t attended this workshop really should consider it.  It’s quite different from most other workshops on writing or story that you’ll ever attend in that it tackles how components and facets of narrative work together in a systematic way for effect.  If the system isn’t right, the story isn’t right, and too often we talk about and teach writing by addressing facets or elements in isolation.  Every single time I’ve given this workshop at least one person has come up to me afterward to say that I either helped them solve a problem in the story they’re working on or helped them improve the story by taking it someplace they never would have reached alone.

I’m firmly convinced that anyone, regardless of natural talent, can write great stories; I’m just as convinced that the way to do so can be taught.  For those who are interested in learning—for free—drop in next Monday.  If anyone wants, I’ll also sign copies of GDC if you bring them or buy them that night.