Writing Outside the Box: Using the World Around Us to Create New Stories

A 3-Part Creative Writing Workshop with Kirsten Rohla
Saturdays March 7, 14, 21
10:00am – Noon
Fishtrap – 107 W. Main St. – Enterprise
Registration $120 or $110 for Fishtrappers

Is the registration fee an obstacle for you to attend this workshop? Fishtrap offers a limited number of scholarships to help with the cost. Contact Program Director Mike Midlo for more information. mike@fishtrap.org

This three-part series will help you learn new ways to come up with story ideas, develop strategies for writing conflict, and generate fresh stories by turning something old into something new. 

Session One: Gamify Storytelling – Saturday, March 7

• In this session, participants will use games in ways they weren’t meant to be used: as brainstorming tactics, assists in fight scenes, and outlining in short story or novel writing. The primary method will be through using tabletop RPG games to write difficult scenes and develop characters, but we will also explore how board games such as Monopoly and chess can also be used to create stories.
• Students will leave with strategies for story idea creation and balanced character development as well as several scenes they have written focusing on character conflict, such as fight scenes and overcoming obstacles.

Session Two: Pictures as Stories – Saturday, March 14

• It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this generative writing session, we will prove that point. Using a variety of historical paintings, students will develop their own methods for using classic works as the inspiration for contemporary writing. We will discuss the original inspirations for the paintings, but primarily focus on our own interpretations and creative freedom.
• Students will leave with new strategies for developing a fleshed out story and either a finished flash fiction piece or beginning to a longer story.

Session Three: Fractured Fairy Tales – Saturday, March 21

• Some tales are as old as time, and equally recognizable. In this session, participants will learn how to tear any well-known story, fairy tale or otherwise, down to its base parts, then rebuild it into an unrecognizable original story. This session will also touch on the modern trend of looking at classic stories through the lens of another character, often the villain, how that changes the original message, and methods to do it ourselves.
• Students will leave with a complete outline for a story as well as either a finished flash fiction piece or beginning to a longer story.

Kirsten Rohla lives in Joseph, OR, and has been writing stories since she could form words on paper. She has also earned degrees from the University of Montana and Black Hills State University, is currently pursuing a second master’s through Central Washington University, and has taught for almost two decades, recently partnering with SOU in their dual credit program. While she loves to write in all genres and is currently working on an epic fantasy series, she has recently fallen back in love with short form fiction and poetry.