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Deb Carlen offers writing courses

Deb Carlen, local writing coach/instructor and communications professional in Sonoma, is offering 10 short courses on the elements of fiction writing at Readers’ Books. The course series started October 26.

            Carlen, a Sonoma resident since 2000, teaches writing classes at Sonoma Valley Adult School [SVAS]. Not everyone can commit to a six-week course, and not everyone wants all the topics. So we’ll try hour and a half courses on single topics at—where else—Sonoma’s indie bookstore. Writers, books: it makes sense,” says Carlen. “I’m very grateful to Andy Weinberger and Readers’ for hosting the classes.” Each class costs $20, or a series of any five for $82. Tickets are available at Readers’ or from Carlen.

            Carlen taught creative writing in several states before moving to California, where her first writing class launched at SVAS in January of this year. The initial class became an intermediate class, and Carlen is publishing a book of their work before the end of the year. Known for a rapid-fire delivery and professional editing and annotation, she has worked with California writers for more than seven years. “The publishing world has undergone huge changes in the last decade, and I’m interested in those trends as well as the nuts and bolts of strong fiction in any genre,” she says. “Every time I hear someone complain that there are no markets for fiction any more, I get a little crazy. In the courses I’ll talk about how to access the resources for publication. This decade is a pivotal time for storytelling—you see in broadcast advertising, in classrooms, in almost any business discipline that requires capturing the attention of a listener, buyer, or decision maker. Writing is a tough, solo endeavor, but rewarding.”

            The courses take place on Wednesday evenings from 6:30—8:00, and will take a break for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Topics and dates are:

October 26              Create memorable characters
November 2            Dialogue: put the words in their mouths
November 9            Point of view: who tells the story
November 16          Problem-solving clinic and marketing: part one
November 30          Herein lies the PLOT
December 7            Conflict! Action! Tension!
December 14          Setting: era and place
January 11              Problem-solving clinic and marketing: part two
January 18              Editing and peer review
January 25              Grammar, punctuation, and commonly misused words
           
            Carlen first published at the age of 15, and her career in journalism, marketing, and communications has produced a hundreds of articles, stories, and poems. She owned an advertising agency in Atlanta, and later taught seminars and workshops in marketing, publishing, and related topics all over the United States and Canada. She has also held director-level positions in firms and non-profits.

For more information call Deb Carlen at 939-1215 or email to: dkcarlen@comcast.net.