Schedule

Listen in as TV and feature writer Kyle Arrington (The Originals) talks with FGCU writing instructor Allison Dieppa about some of the pressing issues surrounding writing for television.

Want to learn the basics of TV Writing? The incredibly effective form has quickly become the most popular in the film industry, and while there are hundreds of shows ranging from 30 to 60 minutes, comedy to drama, from network shows with act breaks to streaming shows with no acts whatsoever, the craft of TV Writing adheres to pretty strict principles. Join me as we go over the philosophy of story structure, the form of a TV script, and watch as I do a live breakdown of an incredibly effective pilot episode of TV. You'll leave with solid insight into the fastest growing form of storytelling.

So here’s what we’ll be doing. We'll demystify the writing process, which may once have seemed intimidating. Writing is work; it's a physical, if sedentary, activity. Writers write even when the writing’s not going well — especially when the writing’s not going well. We’ll discuss the craft of storytelling, explore the elements and techniques of short fiction, and examine the qualities that make for vivid and compelling flash fiction. You’ll read exemplary short-short stories that will inspire, provoke, and serve as models for your own stories. You’ll write up a storm following the prompts and exercises. You’ll play with found forms and invent your own. You’ll get writing and you’ll keep writing. You’ll learn that your characters, your settings, and your themes are out there in the world. You’ll learn to look, to listen, to pay attention, and to notice, the fiction writer’s first job. The act of writing itself, you’ll realize, the act of making up people you come to care about, the fun of playing with words and with worlds, is its own reward. And the more you write, the more you’ll want to write.

Using Pablo Neruda’s “Ode to things” (“Oda a las cosas”) as our maxim, we will explore arrivals to the sublime via naming and detail. William Carlos Williams wrote, “No ideas but in things,” and Pound applied “imagism” to H.D. who was influenced by Sappho’s compressed lyrics. This is to say there are many ways to achieve what Mark Doty calls “metaphor meaning — and meaning intensely.” We will generate poems and seedlings for poems via prompts that oblige us to pay attention to precision. Participants should bring a family photo, family of origin or family of choice (for one of the prompts).

Writing a story meant to be told out loud is like writing any story, except your listener only gets one chance to hear it. In this workshop, students will write a first draft. It can be ugly. It can be terrible. But it must be true because the best stories start with the truth. We’ll discuss tips for capturing your listener. These tips also work on the page. We'll gently workshop students’ stories and practice telling them out loud. This workshop is guaranteed to be so much fun or no money back! All levels welcome.

Too much plot? None at all? Confused about how to handle the past or strengthen your story? In this workshop we'll look at the elements of plot and structure and how they are interrelated. Topics covered will include conflict, complication, resolution, reversal, the roles of characters, presentation of time, and narrative design. Through examples, exercises, and discussion, participants will learn strategies for assessing drafts and revising productively. Note: This class serves fiction writers and those working on memoirs, narrative nonfiction, or any dramatic form.

Through interactive discussions, exercises, and close readings of exemplary poems, we’ll take a deep dive into the golden rule of show don’t tell, the modulation of line breaks, the power of figurative language, and musicality. Open to the poetry-curious and actively writing poetry, and as a refresher with new insights for seasoned poets.