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Featured Online Writing Class

Gila Green

WRITING FICTION: SETTING AND DESCRIPTION: One-on-One Instruction with Gila Green

START DATES: Tuesday, October 22, 2019

DURATION:  4 weeks

COURSE DESCRIPTION:  Great story has a memorable sense of place. In this four-week course you will discover why setting and description are the keys to making your story come alive for the reader. Writers will explore how to describe the worlds of their stories in concrete physical detail to create sensory, subjective environments. You will learn why setting must be authentic for the reader and why setting is so important for building author credibility. This course offers the opportunity to produce a short story or novel opening (up to 2,000 words).

Who should take this course:  
This course is for anyone with a work in progress, short story, novel, flash piece or memoir.

Thank you for this class and for your very valuable feedback on the two drafts I sent you. Your class rekindled the fire that I felt was beginning to fizzle out in my writing. ~ Clare Hart

Thanks for a great class! I’m so glad I signed up—turns out that I still have a brain and you made me use it. :) I appreciate your advice as well as the thought-provoking lessons you provided . . . In that short amount of time I feel more confident going forward with my writing . . . I wish you the very best, and thank you again for sharing your knowledge! ~ Andrea H.

Gila Green’s class was my first online writing class. I was impressed with the quality of the material Gila provided and her weekly lessons were clear and easy to understand. She also provided enough flexibility in her lessons to tailor the class to the individual needs of her students. I always felt open to ask questions or linger over lessons and critiques that I felt I needed more time to comprehend and work through. I look forward to learning from her again. ~ Donna Kortes

Gila had a very straightforward way of explaining by giving examples in our own work, and pinpointing a subject for clarity. She was very encouraging and her critiques were always thoughtful and constructive. She pushed me to dig deeper and work harder and I believe it shows in my writing. If I am ever fortunate enough to make it in this business, I will definitely name Gila as one of the reasons for my success. ~ Barbara Florenza

WEEKS AT A GLANCE:

Week 1: Authentic Settings: Characters come from setting, not the other way around.

Your character is a product of where she lives and when. In week one we will read a variety of excerpts that reflect characters as products of their times.

Assignment: Read the three assigned short stories, respond to at least one discussion question, complete two brief writing exercises, submit one of the exercises to the instructor.

Week 2: Locate the Reader

From the macro to the micro setting, the writer must be the ultimate tour guide. This week we will examine your story on a micro level and continue to zoom out until we have a picture of the wider world of your story.

Assignment: Read the two assigned short stories, respond to at least one discussion question, complete at least one of the writing exercises, submit this story-in-progress to the instructor (700-word limit). Provide feedback on short participant assignments.

Week 3: Vivid Relevant Description

It doesn’t matter if you’ve really visited the world of your story or not, the reader must believe you’re the expert. The nighttime sounds are not the same in a big city as they are in the country. Different places have different weather patterns, diction, and local customs. Today we’ll focus on the sensory and explore the tasted, touched, smelled, heard and seen.

Assignment: Read the two assigned short stories, respond to at least one discussion question, complete the writing exercise. Provide feedback on short participant assignments.

Week 4: Credibility and Research

Different times, imaginary worlds, historical, futuristic, how does this affect your setting? Fictional settings take more work, but real settings mean you have to get your facts straight.

Assignment: Read the three assigned short stories, respond to at least one discussion question, complete two brief writing exercises, submit your final draft to the instructor of up to 2,000 words. Comment on participant drafts.

Materials needed:  All written materials in the form of lectures, ebooks, story links, etc. are provided by the instructor.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:  Canadian Gila Green is an Israeli-based writer and editor. She is the author of Passport Control (S&H Publishing), and a novel-in-stories, White Zion (Cervena Barva Press, April 2019). Her first novel is King of the Class. She is working on an eco-young adult series for release September 2019 with an independent eco press in Australia. Gila has published dozens of short stories in literary magazines. Please visit: www.gilagreenwrites.com

COST:  $150, which includes email support and feedback from your instructor, weekly assignments and critiques.

BUY NOW:  WRITING FICTION: SETTING AND DESCRIPTION: One-on-One Instruction, by Gila Green (4 weeks, starting 10/22/2019) Limit: 8-10 students. Early registration is recommended.

This class is now closed. Please check here for our current schedule.

For Class Session Starting 10/22/2019

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Notes:  Upon successful completion of payment, your name, email address, and contact info will be submitted to your instructor. Just before class begins, she will e-mail you with instructions on how to get started.

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Additional Testimonials for Gila Green:

I've enjoyed this course. I like your directness when you needed to make a point about my work. I also appreciate that you encouraged making changes; but only if it "resonated" with me. That showed a lot of respect. ~ Eileen Kent

I am new to the craft of writing and Gila Green’s class was my first on line writing class. I was impressed with the quality of the material Gila provided and her weekly lessons were clear and easy to understand. She also provided enough flexibility in her lessons to tailor the class to the individual needs of her students. This allowed for those in the group with more experience, to continue forward at a faster pace without someone like myself feeling left behind. I always felt open to ask questions or linger over lessons and critiques that I felt I needed more time to comprehend and work through.

The critique process has been intimidating in the past, but Gila encouraged me in my strengths while helping me identify areas to improve. Her feedback was a valuable part of her class and my writing reflects it. I look forward to learning from her again. ~ Donna Kortes

When I began this class I was not sure what writing devices were, but with Gila’s guidance I am now clear about their definitions and how to use them in my writing. She had a very straightforward way of explaining this by giving examples in our own work, and pinpointing a subject for clarity. She was very encouraging and her critiques were always thoughtful and constructive.

Her guidance on my personal work has also been helpful. Again, she had a way of instructing by example that made the whole revising process so much more effective. Her suggestions were always spot-on and it was obvious that she took the time to read each piece submitted. She pushed me to dig deeper and work harder and I believe it shows in my writing.

If I am ever fortunate enough to make it in this business, I will definitely name Gila as one of the reasons for my success. ~ Barbara Florenza

Gila’s fiction writing class gave me more confidence as a writer. I’ve taken several online fiction classes with well-known online entities and with those that are lesser known. Gila’s class was the first that I took with WOW! I had never heard of the site before, nor had I heard of any of the writers, but I was willing to give it a chance because the price was very reasonable. Compared to more well-known or expensive online writing classes that require you to use more non-user friendly sites to post your work this is the one with which I was and still am most impressed. Gila’s teaching method is very concise and could only derive from years of experience. Her lectures and the accompanying exercises challenged me to write my story and the characters in a way that helped to add more layers and to make them more believable. Gila’s feedback was very in-depth. She was always available for questions and comments. She strongly encouraged that we take advantage of peer critiques. I’d done peer critiques in other classes, but I felt that with Gila I was given more tools to workshop others’ writings. I learned how to look for strategies that work better than others. For example, typically when writing less is more and it’s more effective. To me, Gila’s fiction writing class was more multifaceted than others and was more like a brick and mortar university course. With the tools that I learned from Gila I felt that I had better direction and I learned how to look at my writing more critically. In Gila’s class I was able to take my short story to the next level. ~ Conswalia Marie Green

I have taken many courses in writers centers before and never got ANYTHING out of them. The main thing I got was formulaic responses that hindered my writing rather than deepening my approach. I loved Gila’s course so much I am reregistering. ~ Janet Lowenbach

I am really satisfied with this course. I have already learned a veritable TON. In my opinion, you’re doing a wonderful job of addressing important areas, discussing/explaining the material, encouraging and acknowledging group/individual participation, and I bet this isn’t all you do is it (work wise)? You are actually attending and assisting in a birth of sorts...the rebirth of my passion for writing. The rebirth of believing I can do it. Hallelujah! ~ Elana Baxter

I’ve learned more in your writing class than I have with any other instructor, and I’ve taken quite a few. ~ Kathryn Beer

I am really enjoying your tips and advice. I really loved your idea about how to get into a story, with “What is a noun?” So simple, but so good. ~ Rachel Gurevich

I really enjoyed the feedback and communication in this class. ~ Dana Shoemaker

It was a really worthwhile class. I especially liked learning from the short stories. ~ Susan Remson

I feel much more confident now about my writing. ~ Amanda Searcy

When I was looking for excellent guidance on a new genre, I turned to Gila Green; it was a good decision, one that I recommend to a writer who is serious about her craft. ~ Leah Kotkes

In Gila's workshops you learn three important things about writing:
- how to look deeply into your heart
- how to read many other works critically
- how to apply newfound skills to your own work
For all those reasons, Gila's writing workshops are a writer's path to creative exploration that you shouldn't miss. ~ Ilene Bloch Levy

I am so SO Happy that I was able to come to your class, thank you for your teachings and your willingness to share your knowledge. I want to thank you for providing your wisdom to those in attendance. I am grateful. From a future writer. ~ Savannah Sav

My personal thanks to you for bearing with me as I begin my writing journey. As an instructor, mentor, and writing ally you have far exceeded my expectations. WOW! is very lucky to have you on their instructor roster.

Here’s what I loved about this class:

  • I felt safe (of paramount importance as a writer and as me)
  • I felt my questions and contributions were valued
  • I received no-nonsense feedback and advice from you
  • The assignments were well presented and well prepared
  • The information within each assignment was incredibly useful and not overwhelming

Here’s what I loved about you as the instructor:

  • You always took the time to answer my questions, even the ones that were more personally oriented
  • You are direct and have realistic expectations of students
  • You are encouraging and supportive
  • You know your stuff

Gila, thanks ever so much for entering my life as an instructor.
~ Elana Baxter

Questions? Email Marcia & Angela at:
classroom[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com

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