A two-day workshop aimed at any writer who wishes to include sex scenes in their work
Dates and times: Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 May 2013, 10am-5pm
Overview
Erotic writing has never been so popular. Last year EL James's Fifty Shades of Grey topped book charts around the world, and the popularity of the genre shows no sign of subsiding. But sex scenes are among the hardest things for an author to write: done well they add a frisson of excitement to any narrative, done badly they leave readers cringing. This two-day course will consider character, plot, dialogue, point of view and narrative technique – all with a specific focus on erotic content – to help writers avoid embarrassment and make the sexual content of any story appear seamless, appropriate and exciting.
Students will come away with a knowledge of what makes successful erotic fiction and an understanding of how their erotic fiction works for contemporary audiences and how it might be improved.
Course description
Day One includes a mixture of theory and practice. After discussing the balance between literary, commercial and personal erotica, writers will start work on a single erotic scene from a plot of their own devising. Day One will also include an overview of character as writers explore appropriate erotic terminology for their narrative style. All of this writing will be supported by peer feedback, criticism and appraisal.
Day Two will begin by considering ways to stimulate ideas for inspiring new and original erotic fiction. There will be a reprisal of erotic characters, an overview of dialogue, and learners will be given opportunities to experiment with dialogue and description. The course will conclude with a lecture on the current markets for erotic fiction.
Tutor profile
Ashley Lister is the author of How to Write Erotic Fiction and Sex Scenes (How to Books), a step-by-step guide to writing erotic fiction. He has published more than two dozen pseudonymous novels, with the UK's leading erotic imprints: HarperCollins Mischief, Xcite Books, Virgin's Nexus, Chimera Publishing and Silver Moon.
Aside from producing short stories, published in world-class anthologies, Ashley is a regular contributor to the Erotica Readers & Writers Association blog: a successful collaboration of UK and US blogging authors, aimed at readers and writers of erotica and erotic romance. He currently teaches creative writing to HE students and is an occasional performance poet.
To book
Details
Dates: Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 May 2013
Times: 10am-5pm
Location: The Guardian, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU
Price:£400 (including VAT, booking fees and refreshments)
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