Growing Pains with Kelly Fiore

When writing for teens how do you 'keep it real'? Do teens even say 'keeping it real' anymore? Find out in this three-week workshop aimed at writing for a teenaged audience.

Your Instructor: Kelly Fiore, author of THICKER THAN WATER and TASTE TEST

Where: Online — Available everywhere!

When: This class is not currently enrolling. To be notified when it is offered again, Click Here

Enrollment: 16 students

Price: $250

Class Description

**Due to personal circumstances, this class will be postponed. We will update with a new start date as soon as we can.

 

When writing for a teens, how do you 'keep it real'? 

Wait, do teens even say 'keep it real' anymore?

When writing for a younger audience, part of your goal is to embody the experience. But how can you do that when your own teen years are in the (distant or not-so-distant) past?

In Growing Pains, young adult author Kelly Fiore will help you with creating a timeless AND timely story. You'll focus on meaningful and realistic dialogue, visceral setting, and intense plots and themes that empathize and build on teen life.

Workshops will discuss aspects of manuscripts that change based on the focus—aspects like language and slang, pacing and timing, and use of popular culture to build a believable world in your narrative. There will be writing assignments, critiques, Q&A, and even a trip out into the field. 

And in the end, you'll have a better sense of the modern day equivalent of 'keeping it real' for your readers. 

What This Class Covers

Week One: Observation Deck

Writing for teens and young adults can be a cathartic and rewarding experience—but if you’re not around young adults on the regular, it can be challenging to create a fundamentally real and rewarding manuscript. By starting with observation of your target reader (and target subject) you can create a fantastic, dialogue-heavy written text that will be quickly paced and accurately conveyed.

Assignment: Go out to a place where teens frequent and SPEAK OUT LOUD. Listen to at least 90 minutes of teen dialogue. Then, use that experience to write 2,500 words that include at least 50 percent dialogue spoken by teens. In workshop, you'll discuss authenticity in dialogue and how to convey youth without relying on slang.

Week Two: Identifying the “Universal Experience”

Despite how different teen lives are from the lives you led years ago, there are rites of passage and universal experiences that all teens still go through—these include proms and dances, getting driver’s permits and licenses, starting and ending relationships, and graduation. These universal experiences may change in their surface details, but the emotions remain the same.

Assignment: Using your personal memories, or memories of your children/grandchildren, write a universal teen experience in 3,000-4,000 words. The experience itself should be the action and the focal point. In workshop, you'll consider ways each experience can be made new or different with details.

Week Three: Timelessness – including popular culture without “dating” the material

Time is tricky, and being timeless is even trickier. You certainly want readers to relate to your teenagers, but overloading your manuscript with slang and pop culture references can only make teens “uncool” radar start pinging. The best way to combat this is by going out and doing the legwork.

Assignment: Using your observation experience from week one, and your universal experience from week two, write 2,500-3,000 words using dialogue and rite of passage that has implemented some current, timely references without making those references the focus of the story. Some examples would be adding in cell phones and text messages, stars like Beyoncé, or technology like Twitter or Facebook. These references should be subtle and well integrated.

Goals Of This Class

  • Identify the importance of realistic dialogue, including appropriate slang.
  • Develop a relationship with your characters and tap into their experience.
  • Create a connection between rites of passage and your character’s motivations.
  • Expand on personal experience with teens through observation and “field work.”
  • Highlight the importance of dialogue-heavy narratives to add urgency and interest.
  • Recognize how pacing can make or break any teen-based story.
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