DATE: September 11, 2012
CONTACT: Lezlie Evans
LOCATION/TIME: American Legion Hall; 3939 Oak Street; Fairfax, VA 22030 / 7:00 to 9:30pm
Jessica Leader, author of Nice and Mean, (Simon and Schuster, 2010), will be our featured speaker. Her talk “Am I Done Yet?: Strategies for Completing Your Character's Journey will focus on crafting the ending of your novel. Her presentation is a version of the graduate lecture she gave at Vermont College of Fine Arts, for the Writing for Children and Young Adult program.
Program details: We all know that at the end of a satisfying novel, the protagonist has changed and grown. But as you approach the end of your manuscript, are you at the end of your rope? How do you know whether your protagonist has said and done enough to show growth—or said and done too much? In this presentation, we will look at several character-driven novels and analyze how their structures suit their endings. We'll then use this framework to identify how our own works-in-progress are structured and outline appropriate endings of our own.
Jessica Leader’s Nice and Mean appeared on the American Booksellers Association’s IndieNext List and was a finalist for the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award in the Mid-South. In addition to being a writer, Jessica has worked as a middle-school English and drama teacher. You can learn more at www.jessicaleader.com
Cost: $35. (Includes a buffet dinner) Pre-registration required. (Registrations postmarked by September 1 are eligible for a $5 early registration discount.) The registration form for PAL members is posted on the Advisor's Blog.