Nancy Klann-Moren
The Art of Short Story Writing
Monday-Friday
1:00-3:30 PM
Terrace II
Writing short stories is truly an art, limited by word count that can sometimes sacrifice either character development or motivation. During this week we will explore what it takes to sacrifice neither.
The key to a well-written, compelling story can be broken down into five essential elements. Character, Setting, Plot, Conflict, and Theme. We'll start each class with a discussion on one or more of these building blocks, and move on to a spirited read and critique of your work.
No matter where you are in your writing progress, trust that you may ask questions in the supportive environment of this workshop. There will be handouts on the subjects covered, and participants may bring work-in-progress to share. The goal is to kick your writing to the next level by exploring the options in the novel toolbox.
Bio
Nancy Klann-Moren is the author of, The Clock Of Life, and a collection of short stories, Like The Flies On The Patio.
Her short fiction garnered awards and publication, and eventually, her first short story collection was complete. One short story grew to novel length at the suggestion of longtime SBWC workshop leader, Sid Stebel. The Clock of Life has received awards from Writers Digest, Next Generation Indie Awards, Readers Favorite Book Awards, Kindle Book Awards, and more.
In 1997 she embarked on her writing journey at SBWC while working as an advertising and marketing executive. She has been returning ever since because of the friends and confidence she found at this conference.
She teaches a popular writing class, "Awaken the Writer Within."
Favorite Writing Tip:
Elmore Leonard’s brilliant “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.” AKA, “Skip the boring parts.”
The inspiration for her teaching
“I remember the first day in my first creative writing class, at UCI. There were a lot of smarty-pants who somehow knew what the teacher was talking about. They threw out words like “omniscient,” and “POV,” etc. I didn't feel I could ask, so I wrote the terms down and looked them up at home. I create a workshop environment where all these questions can be asked.”
