Tag Archives: Wits University

Workshops on Creative Writing With David Chislett

WITS Writing Centre is pleased to announce a 4-session series of workshops with David Chislett. David has published 6 books since 2001, both through publishers and independently. In this 4-week programme with WITS Writing Centre he shares his knowledge and experience in a series of 2-hour sessions.

The 4 sessions run from 4pm to 6pm as follows:
March 19 Basic intro to Creative writing: where does it come from?
April 9 Planning a book: some structural tips
April 16 Dealing with Publishers: Where are you at?
April 23 Marketing yourself as an independent

The series of seminars will run on Tuesday evenings from 16:00 to 18:00 at the WITS Writing Centre, Ground Floor, The Waternweiler Library, WITS East Campus. Attendance of the seminars is FREE but seating is limited. To pre-book your place please email a sample of your work to Pamela.Nichols@wits.ac.za and we will respond with a seat confirmation.

“The sessions are not intended as writing master-classes per se,” Explained David of the events, “But rather to help equip writers with structural and procedural know-how that will help them leverage their writing by understanding their own processes and the way the industry works.”

Issues covered will include:
• So I have an idea, where do I start writing?
• How do I approach a publisher?
• I am good, but nobody knows my work
• How can I tap into my creativity to write more consistently?
• How do I know where to take my story next?

David won the Ernst Van Heerden Prize for creative writing in 1998 and began his career in publishing in 2001 with the release of Urban 1, a collection of short stories for previously unpublished writers that he compiled and contributed to. This series ran to 3 volumes before being discontinued. Then in 2009 he released his debut solo volume of short fiction entitled, A Body Remembered. In 2010, the music industry textbook, 1,2,1,2: A Step By Step Guide To The SA Music Industry and in 2012, For You Or Someone Like You, his debut collection of poetry.

In addition, Chislett has worked in all facets of the South African media and ran his own PR agency for four years. In these sessions he combines his craft and practice in writing with his knowledge and experience in marketing, publishing and creativity to bring a 4 part series of sessions together that will equip any aspiring writer to not only write better but also to navigate the challenges that come before and after writing.

Attendance is not limited to students and is open to the public and is FREE but seating is limited. Please pre-book your place by sending an email with your query and a sample of your work to Pamela.Nichols@wits.ac.za and we will respond with a seat confirmation.
For more info:
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The Wits Writer’s Club – The third session

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Focus – writing process as a metaphor!

Everyone is requested to think about their writing process. How would you define that process? When you say that you are waiting for a ‘spark’ to ignite the creative juices, do you know what that spark is? How it looks like? Feel like? Taste like? What do you wait for or to understand first before you can unleash your ink on the page? Is it an image of a character? A specific setting? A line? A face?

 Whatever it is, do you understand why it is so important to your writing? To your process? Do you want to understand it? Do you want to control it? Take charge? Or at least make an attempt? If yes, I’d like you to think of a metaphor that would explain the process. How does the metaphor capture the different stages of your writing? How would it communicate that process to someone? Can you give a parallel analysis of how the metaphor not only mirrors but gives a detailed breakdown description of the process? This information should enable me to follow step-by-step instruction of how you work. Is this possible? How detailed can you be? How much can you unlock? I.e. Someone once told me that their writing process is like a kite (metaphor). When they begin a new writing they envision the process to be like building a kite. First you need material; plastic, sticks, string, pins, etc. These in their writing process mirrors research. For instance, you need your grounding data or evidence – sticks hold or provide the basic structure for a kite. So they will look for them first to build the skeleton of a kite. In their writing, this could mean key grounding literature. If you are writing a book about Zombies, what are the basic elements which you must adhere to or establish for your story to hold? Etc… One can go on to explain how the metaphor reveals how and where the writer places themselves in their writing and defines a sense of direction.

If you’ve never did this before, take the challenge and you will see it will start to show you, at the very least, how well you understand or have taken some things for granted in your writing. This process might be spontaneous and mysterious for many but within that there is great room for a writer to understand the workings behind it. Try new things, learn how to stimulate yourself and your writing. We might not have figured out the secret to teach writing but we know how to enable the process. So take a chance. Write a metaphor you think would best explain your process and post it here. You might be amazed at something small you discover about your writing.

Is this important?
Well, you decide.
Date: 4 March 2013 (5 – 8pm)
At The Wits Writing Centre
See the link below for more info:

Writing Works

WritingWorks is a joint initiative undertaken by the Wits Writing Centre and MistryWorks.

The goal of this website is to provide a platform for new and established writers and poets in South Africa to interact, publish their works and exchange ideas. You can publish your work, share ideas with other writers, connect and broaden your network.

Please visit the website below:

http://www.writingworks.co.za/

 

 

The Wits Writer’s Club

About

The goal of this webpage is to provide a platform for new and established writers and poets in South Africa and internationally to interact, publish their works and exchange ideas.
 
Description

If you have your own writings you want to read during the session, then the facilitator must be notified so that we can plan it into the programme. We don’t want the sessions to drag without any sense of direction, so for each meeting I will select a facilitator who will prepare a guideline for us. We want you to get the best out of each session!

The facilitators will be from a range of writing disciplines so that we can cover everyone’s particular interest: poetry, short stories, novels, playwright, scriptwriter, song writers, essayist, journalism, etc.

 
General Information

We meet twice every month.
Each session will be led by a writer who will take us through their approach, techniques and general process as a writer.

 
Membership
The Wits Writer’s Club is for anyone (Witsie or not) who wants to work on their writing.
If you think that writing is a critical skill that needs to be nurtured and developed, then this platform is for you. Come and share your writing and ideas with us!

For more info, visit our FB page below:

http://www.facebook.com/WitsWritersClub