1999 Fiction-Writing Intensive

James N. Frey

Have you always wanted to write a novel? Do you have one started? If so, get it out, dust it off, and polish it up. The Heartland Writers Guild is sponsoring a fiction-writing intensive workshop June 8-13, 1999, at which time University of California - Berkeley writing instructor and author James N. Frey will return to the heartland for five days of intense, structured writing instruction and dramatic critique.

The Frey Fiction Intensive will be held at the rustic Wildwood Springs Lodge in Steelville, Missouri, beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 8, and continuing through 1 p.m. Sunday, June 13. This working retreat will include an intense schedule of writing tutelage during the morning sessions, writing assignments in the afternoons, and comprehensive critiques in the evening hours.

Enrollment is limited to 20 writers who will be chosen by Mr. Frey based on manuscript samples. The deadline for submitting an application is March 31, 1999. The cost of $500 includes five nights' lodging and three meals per day as well as professional fiction-writing expertise and intensive manuscript critiques. The fee may be paid in two installments, due by March 31 and May 15.

Frey's widely read How to Write a Damn Good Novel and its sequel, How to Write a Damn Good Novel II: Advanced Techniques, are two of the most often-used guides ever published for aspiring authors. A thorough knowledge of the subject, combined with the ability to entertain while communicating that knowledge earned Frey Honored Teacher of the Year in 1994 for his Novel Writing classes at the University of California-Berkeley Extension. His students have published novels of virtually every genre. He also serves on the staff of the elite Squaw Valley Writer's Conference.

As many local writers learned when he was the featured speaker at a one-day workshop for the Heartland Writers Guild in 1997, Frey has a rare talent for being able to explain to the beginner and professional alike how writing techniques work -- and why. HWG member Trudy Coleman professes, "I was so impressed by this workshop that I flew to the West coast to attend the Oregon Writers Colony Frey Intensive Retreat that summer. I can't wait until Jim returns to the midwest to see if I've properly applied all the skills I learned two years ago and to show him how much my writing has improved thanks to his instruction."

The Fiction Intensive workshops at Berkeley and in Oregon draw writers from all over the country and have become so popular they've expanded to include "re-Frey'd" sessions for writers who have previously attended from 1-3 Intensives and "deep-Frey'd" sessions for those who have attended four or more of the five-day workshops. We are fortunate indeed that Mr. Frey has consented to bring that same extraordinary event to Missouri.

(Please note: this event is over and is presented here as part of the HWG activities archive.)