Regular Meeting
At Palmer Library and VIA ZOOM
ZoomLink at bottom
Any person under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to attend this or any other GLVWG event.
9:00 - 10:00 Board Meeting
10:00 - 10:50 Success Stories, Introduction of new members, Officer reports.
Regular Meeting Agenda: Sent via GLVWG group email
11:00 - 12:00 Morning Program:
Laurel Wenson:
WRITING FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES: An overview
In order to successfully write for younger audiences, one first needs to understand not only the writing differences, but the developmental, psychological, and cultural differences in each age group. During the hour we’ll look at the pre-adult audience categories and how they came to evolve, and then briefly explore the elements of writing for each category: age, word counts, point of view, conflicts, themes, and more. Examples of popular fiction from each category will illustrate the differences. We’ll end with a few mystery excerpts from books for the group to try and categorize correctly.
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1:30 - 3:00 Afternoon Workshop (You must register for this workshop)
Laurel Wenson:
So if Young Adult isn’t a genre, what the heck is it?
How many of us have said to another writer “Tell me about what genre you write,” only to hear “I write Young Adult” as the reply. While we often accept YA as a genre in today’s world, it’s actually an audience classification which encompasses countless genres. We’ll start off this afternoon exploring a more in depth look at the history of Young Adult fiction and how much it has changed over time. We’ll then look closely at various excerpts from numerous genres to discuss the many considerations needed in writing for younger audiences, including topics of point of view, popular conflicts and themes (and why they are key to this age group), dialogue and language, and most importantly, characters that younger adults can relate to immediately.
After exploring key works of young adult fiction, each person will be invited to then create a character, along with a few traits, a major conflict, a genre (can include setting), and a short plot idea. As time allows, we’ll ask for people to share their ideas to get a little feedback. Anyone who has something already written is free to use that information in this part of the exercise.
NOTE: All registrants will be emailed an outline to follow along a few days prior to the workshop, and images used by the presenter will be emailed to all within a few days afterwards.
Laurel Wenson is the author of the Caldwell series: A Promise to Keep, A Heart to Heal, A Family to Cherish, and A Place to Belong – all written for a YA audience. She has taught in the homeschool community and various performing arts venues for over fifteen years, teaching English, theater, and various electives to students from pre-school through high school. She currently runs her online business Lessons by Laurel, focusing on English classes for all ages, private tutoring for high school and college students, and online coaching for other writers who need help with self-publishing. She lives in Bethlehem, PA with her husband (fellow author Robert Wenson), two adult daughters, and one clueless feline.
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Date: Afternoon Program, Jan 22, 2022
Time: 1:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Zoom meeting link and password will be sent when you register.
Member Free
Non-member: $15
REGISTER HERE FOR YOUNG ADULT WORKSHOP
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