NOVEL AS DISCOVERY - with Jac Jemc

LSD. The slinky. X-Rays. Penicillin. What do these things have in common? They were all created by accident. So often, when we're writing, we can get hung up on the end goal that we don't notice the opportunities evidencing themselves along the way. Or we might so closely edit ourselves and our ideas, that we never get to see what might have developed out of the initial mess. Writing a longer work can become a lot easier if we get out of our own way and allow for both stages of a two-step process: 1) Chaos and 2) Organization. By following Rebecca Solnit's advice, we can find so much more than we ever knew to anticipate: “Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.” 

Want to explore more alternative methods of generating material for your novel? Then make sure to attend Jac’s workshop June 26-28th at the David R. Collins Writer’s Conference at McCarthy Hall on the St. Ambrose University campus in Davenport, Iowa. The workshop will also encourage you to follow tangents, explore characters, find the intersection of multiple storylines, and let the language lead you to free yourself and write your novel more quickly and organically.

Jac Jemc’s novel, MyOnly Wife, was a finalist for the 2013 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and winner of the Paula Anderson Book Award. Her collection of stories, A Different Bed Every Time, is due out from Dzanc in October 2014. She's the poetry editor for decomP and web fiction editor for Hobart.

The conference also features other three day workshops on memoir, poetry, essay, and flash fiction. Critiques, pitches, and free evening events open to the public are also planned. Discounts are offered for MWC member and early bird (before June 15th) registrants. Click here for moredetails. The conference is made possible by our generous sponsors: Modern Woodman of America, St. Ambrose University English Department, Illinois Arts Council Agency, and Genesis Health Systems.

Novel writing workshops with Amy Hassinger offered at this year's conference

Amy Hassinger, author of two highly acclaimed and award-winning novels, will be leading two novel-writing workshops at this year's David R. Collins Writers' Conference.

One of the three-day workshops entitled, "Mindfulness, or How to Write a Good Scene and Achieve Inner Peace in Five Easy Steps," will lead attendees on an exploration of developing convincing moment-by-moment scenes through meditation and writing exercises. It will be held during the 8:45 to 10:15 a.m. slot on June 27th, 28th, and 29th. Her second three-day workshop fills the 3:30 to 5 p.m. slot and is titled "The Novel as Machine of Desire: A Crash Course in Story Structure." Participants will examine openings of successful novels with an eye toward character desire as well as analyze and rework the structures of their novels in progress.

Amy grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, and graduated from Barnard College and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she received her MFA in fiction writing. Her book, The Priest's Madonna (Putnam 2006), was translated into Dutch, Spanish, Russian, and Indonesian and was named a May, 2006, Book Sense Notable pick. Amy's work has appeared in many publications, including The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Common Online, South Dakota Review, and Fourth Genre. She is also the author of a history textbook, Finding Katahkin: An Exploration of Maine's Past (University of Maine Press, 2001).

The 2013 David R. Collins Writer's Conference will be held June 27th through 29th at New Hall at St. Ambrose University located at 518 W. Locust Street in Davenport, Iowa. The conference also features three day writing workshops on a variety of topics including novels, creative non-fiction, reading as writers, speculative fiction, freelancing, poetry, and literary collage; critique sessions; luncheons; and free events. Discounts are offered for MWC member and early bird (before June 15^th) registrants. Click here for more details. The conference is made possible by our generous sponsors: Modern Woodman of America, St. Ambrose University English Department, Illinois Arts Council, and Genesis Health Systems.