Day One of SCC's Mini-Borderlands Press Writers' Bootcamp

Today marked the opening day for Seton's Borderlands Press Writers' Bootcamp Experience, which has been made possible by a grant through our local Discovery Center and their "Arts Partners" Program.  Our Visiting Authors for the next two days will be New York Times Bestselling author F. Paul Wilson and USA Today Notable Author Tom Monteleone, owner of Borderlands Press and director of the prestigious Borderlands Press Writers' Bootcamp.  

Thursday and Friday, Tom and Paul will meet workshop style with my Creative Writing Class (21 students), sharing their critique of my students' work.  Each day will end with presentations detailing each writers' respective careers which will be open to the general student body.  Tom Monteleone will speak Thursday, Paul Wilson Friday.

Today, we met with Tom and Paul in our library.  They talked with us about the fundamentals of Craft - POV (Point of View), Narrative Voice, Dialogue, Form, Show-Don't-Tell, Setting & Description.  They provided a sound foundation for what my students can expect over the next two days, talked about how important it is for writer-hopefuls to develop thick skin, to endure criticism of their work. They also shared some of the pitfalls &  bad habits of new writers, as well as methods for overcoming those bad habits, also the absolute NECESSITY for writer-hopefuls to master the fundamentals of writing.

In the next two days, my students will rotate through the following workshop stations:

F. Paul Wilson:  Dialogue/Narrative Voice/POV
Tom Monteleone: Setting/Plot/Logic
Kristin Kinner (9th -11th English):  Grammar/Structure
Kevin Lucia (me - 9th - 1oth English): Word Economy/Usage

We're hoping that the next two days may provide turn-key moments  for several of my students.