RIDGEFIELD WRITES

G et P ublished I n T he 21 st C entury
to
H ow
Have you ever thought,
“Maybe I’ve got a book
here,” “So-and-so
says I should share my
knowledge with others,”
“Maybe my story could
help other people,” or “I
think I’ve got a great idea
for a novel” ?
In December, the Library
will present a panel
entitled How to Get
Published in the 21st
Century. The panel will
Pictured are, standing left
to right:
Nina Nelson of Fairfield, and
Jessica Bram of Westport.
Seated, left to right:
Lucy Hedrick of Old Greenwich,
Prill Boyle of Westport
(not pictured: Denise Marcil)
Wednesday, December 10
7:00 PM
Dayton Program Room
be moderated by Jessica
Bram of Westport, NPR commentator,
owner of the Westport Writers Workshop,
and author of Happily Ever After Divorce:
Notes on a Joyful Journey.
Additional panelists include
Lucy Hedrick of Old Greenwich, five-time
nonfiction author, on the nonfiction book
proposal; Prill Boyle of Westport, author of
Defying Gravity: A Celebration of LateBlooming Women, on the coincidence,
intuition and synchronicity of publishing;
Nina Nelson of Fairfield, author of the
Young Adult novel, Bringing the Boy Home,
on entering and winning contests; and
Denise Marcil of Stamford, President of the
Denise Marcil Literary Agency, Inc.
Registration not required.
Special Thanks
These programs
are free thanks to the
generosity of
Ridgefield
s
e
t
i
r
W
The Friends of the
Ridgefield Library
&
The Wadsworth
Russell Lewis Fund
Pen to Paper
The Ridgefield
Library
472 Main Street
Ridgefield, CT 06877
Creative Writing Series
Fall 2008
The Ridgefield Library
472 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877
Registration is not required.
Saturday, October 4
10:00 AM
Dayton Program Room
Story
C. Coco De Young is an award-winning author, freelance writer, speaker,
and storyteller. Her work has been translated into Spanish and Korean.
Carmine Coco De Young Ms. De Young is a former educator and holds an MA in Writing Popular
Fiction.
Week I: Characterization
& Point of View
Who is telling your story and how is it
being told? This session will help you flesh
out the characters by what they say and
how they say it.
Week II: Setting
How important is the “where” of your
story? This session will help you decide
if the setting of your story is mere
background or a focal point of the story.
Week III: Plot
Piece together the parts of your story. This
session will explain the use of action and
conflict as the heartbeat of the story.
Week IV: Style
It’s not what you say but how you say
it. This session will “show, not tell” how
the use of mood and imagery affects the
overall tone of the story.
Registration is required for this 4-session workshop.
Call 203/438-2282 or e-mail lalambton@ ridgefieldlibrary. org
Saturdays,
October 25, November 8, November 15 & November 22
10:00 AM - Noon
Dayton Program Room
workshop will help hone
your writing to its finest
edge. To be published in
today’s competitive market
your writing must be at
its best. Geared to fiction
and nonfiction writers, this
workshop uses the six “Rs”
of editing: reading, revising,
rewriting, reconstructing,
Adele Annesi research
and rereading to
make your writing its creative best. Issues
that will be addressed include, what to
change, how to change it and how to know
when you’ve reached your goal.
Editing
Bring your work in progress, ideas, and enthusiasm to this
four-part series, From Idea to Story, and watch your story
take shape as you frame an idea, connect the pieces,
and fill in the missing parts.
The Art of Editing
of
Puzzled by an idea for a story?
Does it resemble the loose pieces of a
jigsaw puzzle?
to
will be led by Ridgefield author
Thea Devine, the program will
cover the most common mistakes
writers make while also offering
advice on how to make your
manuscript stand out from the
crowd.
In the 25 years before she
became a full-time writer, Thea
Devine was a freelance manuscript
Thea Devine reader (and editor) for four
major mass market publishers
and an agent. Based on her extensive reading
of manuscripts and her work as an editor, Ms.
Devine will talk about the nuts and bolts of getting
published. She will share tips, techniques and hardwon author experience on how to make proposals
more readable and more saleable.
“A proposal really has to be fabulous, with
characters primed and motivated, and every
working part meshing and speeding that story to its
inevitable conclusion,” said Ms. Devine.
Ms. Devine will also address how to build plot,
templates, trends, and what writers can do to shore
up the “sagging middle” of a story. The life-cycle
of the manuscript once the editor buys it - or what
writers can do when the editor rejects it - will also
be discussed.
From Idea
How Not to Write a Book
How Not to Write a Book
Creative Writing Series
The Art
R idgefield W rites — P en to P aper :
Adele M. Annesi edits and writes fiction and
nonfiction for online and print publications
worldwide. She is an award-winning editor
with Gartner, Inc., and has worked as a
development editor for Scholastic Publishing.
Adele is also a press correspondent and features
writer whose essays and short stories have
appeared in various literary journals. She has
just completed her second novel.
Registration is not required.
Saturday, December 6
10 AM
Dayton Program Room
These programs are part of the Library’s Ridgefield Writes series in celebration of Ridgefield’s 300th Anniversary.