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Saturday, September 29, 2012

LA Storytelling Shows and Inherited Trait Writing Prompt

By Marilyn Friedman

Wow, I blinked, and we are only two days away from October. How did that happen? Do I always say that?

I have been very busy loading up the fall schedule with fantastic classes on both East and West sides of LA, my dears. So I'm sorry that it's been a few weeks since I posted.

I have taken a few respites from work to attend fantastic storytelling shows like Sit n Spin where our instructor and Emmy-award winning writer Jeff Kahn performed a hilarious essay from his new memoir and Taboo Tales where Writing Padder Julie Evan Smith read a funny, very moving essay on her search for love. Other terrific storytelling shows that I like to go to in LA include Pinata at Bang, Tongue and Groove, and The Moth. They are inexpensive, entertaining, and a great place to showcase yourself as a writer if your essay gets accepted!

Speaking of showcasing yourself as a writer, you automatically get booked in two storytelling shows (optional) and get feedback on an essay if you take Moth Me Baby next Sunday with Pinata curator and Pushcart Prize nominee Christine Schoenwald. If screenwriting is more your bag, learn what it takes to move your pilot to the green light pile and how to get a staff writing job in Let Your Pilot Take Off with Cartoon Network' and 3 Arts Entertainment's Julie Whitesell this Monday. And we haven't forgotten about you fiction writers either! Multi-award-winning writer Maureen McHugh will help you whip a novel chapter or short story and get it published in her Fiction Bootcamp starting this Tuesday.

A full list of our classes is below. Click on the links to sign up before they are full, my darlings. I hope to see you soon. Note: classes with an asterix will be held at our new, posh Westside location in Westwood!

Classes Starting This Week/Next Week
Let Your Pilot Take Off: Crafting A Compelling TV Show (2 Day)*
Fiction Bootcamp: Mastering The Art of The Tale Tale*
So You Want To Be A Writer?
Finishing School
From Bedtime Stories To Tales Of Teenage Woe: Writing For Kids And YA*
Punch Up Your Prose: Extracting Comedic Gold
Moth Me Baby: A Performed Essay Workshop

This is one of the traits that I inherited from my mother. Scroll down for a writing prompt that capitalizes on inherited traits.

Book Publishing
Fiction and Memoir
You Wanna Get Theoretical?
Pitching For The Press: A Query Letter Clinic
You've Been Featured: Writing The Big Story
You In 1200 Words: Writing and Publishing The Personal Essay (5 Wk)*
Personal Essay II: The Advanced Class*

Writing for Actors
Get Truthy: A One-Person Show Intensive
Do Re Mi, Baby: Humorous Songwriting Made Easy

Screenwriting




Writing Prompt: Inherited Traits
Trapped in your house because you are afraid of Carmageddon 2? When LA traffic is too hellacious to fathom, it's the perfect time to write, my loves. Make a list of your 5 things that you have inherited from your mother (father, grandmother, etc.). For instance, you could write down the way you and your brother always leave the cabinets open, the big, pear shaped butt you got from your mother, or the eerily similar laugh that you and your father share. Pick one. Add a sensory detail to it (e.g. smell, taste, sound, touch). Now write for 10 minutes and post the results in the comments of this blog to be entered into the contest for a free class at Writing Pad!

I am going to write about either my pear shaped Friedman fanny or the intense bossiness I inherited from my mother. I try to hide my bossiness from most people, but in reality, I am so bossy that my husband has given me the nickname, Bossy Bear, which is an actual cartoon character with her own picture book.

I can’t wait to see what you come up with (feel free to email me if you want to remain anonymous but still enter the comment contest).

Write about those pesky, or not so pesky, inherited traits!  Post your 10 minute write in the comments of this blog, and you could win a free class!

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