Sometimes we must sacrifice words for the benefit of a story. But what if our darlings—characters, scenes, quotes, plot threads, or turns of phrase that we hold dear—don’t really need to be killed? This interactive workshop will discuss how to recognize which elements of a story are worth saving and how to make them count. We’ll explore how literary devices like metaphors, motifs, backstory, and world-building can be used to breathe life into our literary darlings. And we’ll take inspiration from iconic darlings (books and film) that were narrowly saved from the cutting room floor.
Advance prep for attendees:
Think of something from one of your own stories—fiction or nonfiction—that is precious to you, but which doesn’t quite belong in the story you’re trying to tell. Come ready to fight for it—to make it worth saving—through a series of thought-provoking exercises. (But be warned: just as not all stories have a happy ending, not all darlings can be saved!)
Takeaways you can expect from this workshop:
* How to weave a seemingly unimportant element deeper into a story
* How to differentiate between valuable and extraneous content
* The story-enriching value of iterative editing
* Getting the ideas in your head to shine on the page
* Knowing when to let go (RIP)
Mark Cameron, Workshop Leader:
Mark Cameron is an author, poet, and musician who writes across a broad range of genres and forms. He has self-published two novels and is currently working on two book-length projects: a Young Adult speculative fiction novel and a creative nonfiction book about navigating modern overwhelm. A resident of New Westminster, BC, Mark recently earned a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction. An aspiring writing instructor, he also co-chairs the Wine Country Writers’ Festival in Penticton, volunteers with Pulp Literature magazine and the Creative Nonfiction Collective, and occasionally blogs at markofwords.com.
Brian Isaac’s powerful debut novel All the Quiet Places is the coming-of-age story of Eddie Toma, an Indigenous (Syilx) boy, told through the young narrator’s wide-eyed observations of the world around him. It is the story of what can happen when every adult in a person’s life has been affected by colonialism; it tells of the acute separation from culture that can occur even at home in a loved familiar landscape. Its narrative power relies on the unguarded, unsentimental witness provided by Eddie. It was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award, longlisted for the Giller Prize, and winner of the 2022 Indigenous Voices Awards’ Published Prose in English Prize.
