BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–Join the Berkeley County Library System (BCLS) for a series of writer’s workshops featuring special guest speaker, C. Hope Clark, a freelance writing expert, author of the Carolina Slade Mystery Series, the Edisto Island Mystery Series, and the editor of FundsforWriters.com (a weekly newsletter service reaching over 40,000 writers).
The workshop series will offer a 6 workshops during the first three weeks of May, each highlighting a different topic pertinent to developing, publishing, and marketing one’s work of writing.
The first workshop will focus on the “Habits of a Successful Writer” on Monday, May 2, from 5 – 6 pm at the St. Stephen Library. In this workshop, you will discover the pleasure of writing, learn to plan a daily schedule to fulfill your personal writing goals, see how writing can be done in small chunks of time as individual tasks, and recognize how reading is a necessary tool to being a writer.
The second workshop will discuss “Telling the Story You Want to Tell – Plot Development” on Tuesday, May 3, from 6:30 – 8 pm at the Daniel Island Library. What is story telling versus showing? Plot development is basic and very similar from genre to genre. Learn the three formulas for a short synopsis which is the bare bones beginning of your plot, helping you stay on task, and understand different ways to outline your plot.
The third workshop will demonstrate tips for “Character Development” on Monday, May 9, from 5:30 – 6:30 pm at the Goose Creek Library. Discover the types of characters you need in a story besides the main character. Learn how to determine the proper point-of-view for the story, why a character arc is important, and how to define three-dimensional characters. Lastly, understand why dialogue can make or break your character, your scene, and the entire book.
The fourth workshop will provide tips for “Successful Editing” on Tuesday, May 10, from 5 -6 pm at the Hanahan Library. This workshop will show you how to start with self-editing and then move out to peers, mentors, beta readers, and professional editors. Learn the different types of editing and how to recognize those flaws that differentiate the writings of a novice from a veteran.
The fifth workshop will help you “Get Your Story Out There! – Getting Published and Marketing” on Monday, May 16, from 6 – 7 pm at the Moncks Corner Library. Find out why having an online presence is essential in order to be successful and get published, regardless of the route you take. There are pros and cons when it comes choosing between indie and traditional publishing you need to know. Learn the differences between indie/self-publishing, small press traditional, larger press traditional, and hybrid.
For those who were not able to attend the first workshop, the “Habits of a Successful Writer,” will also be featured on Tuesday, May 17, from 5:30 – 6:30 pm at the Sangaree Library.
This series of workshops is brought to you by the Berkeley County Library System with support from the S.C. New Writers Partnership. The S.C. New Writers Partnership is supported by The Humanities Council and spear-headed by the Calhoun County Library System. This multi-county project brings resources and support to local writers across the state. Partners of this project include the following agencies: The Humanities CouncilSC, South Carolina State Library, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Calhoun County Library director, Kristen Simensen, explains, “[The S.C. New Writers] project speaks to the value, not only of what public libraries can do for individual customers and organizations in the community, but also serve a new and critical role. The ‘Library as a Community Anchor’ is a role that [libraries] increasingly find themselves in through business development and creative opportunities. So while, we have long been positioned to be the important centers of literacy development and community engagement, we now step into this new role of community anchor, impacting individuals who may never step foot in the library.”
The Berkeley County Library System joined the S.C. New Writers Partnership in September of 2015 offering writer’s groups at several of its library branches, as well as a large community festival, The Tri-County Literary Celebration, which drew over 70 local authors to meet and greet with the community this past February. Currently BCLS offers two groups. The first group is hosted by local author Crystal Klimavicz, whose most recent book, The Days of Not So Long Ago, features a collection of short stories from some of the oldest residents of Daniel Island, SC. This group meets every first Tuesday of the month from 6:30 – 8 pm at the Daniel Island Library. The second group is hosted by local authors Olivia Washington and Stephen Case and it meets every first Monday from 5 to 6 pm at the St. Stephen Library. Washington is best known for her young adult fantasy series: Jupiter.
The South Carolina State Library has brought several new resources to Indie authors and aspiring writing though the S.C. New Writers Partnership including a new online self-publishing tool, SELF-e. The South Carolina State Library is the first state library in the country to make the SELF-e digital self-publishing platform available to all libraries and their customers in the state for free. SELF-e, a partnership between Library Journal and BiblioBoard, enables the Darlington County Library to help indie and aspiring authors get published. Authors can upload their works for free to a SELF-e’s online e-book collection called IndieSC, allowing library customers to read the e-books on any device at any time. The works of some IndieSC and other “indie” project authors will be selected by Library Journal to become part of a unique library of indie published books available to libraries across the country.
For more information about the S.C. New Writers Partnership, the new SELF-e resource, and a full schedule of workshops, please visit us at berkeleylibrarysc.org/writers-groups
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