How to Get a Spot in a QWF Workshop
Eight-week workshops: $170 per course ($150 for QWF members)
All-day Saturday workshops $75 each (plus a $5 materials fee for Radio workshop)
Two-hour Saturday workshop $20
Call or email the office to see if there's still space available, and register. Pay for the workshop by cheque, cash or via PayPal.
Pmt by cheque to:
Quebec Writers' Federation
1200 Atwater, Suite 3
Montreal
H3Z 1X4
or by cash at the QWF office (by appointment).
For more information:
(514) 933-0878
info@qwf.org
www.qwf.org
If you're paying with PayPal:
You must contact the office first to get registered.
Note that there is a small service charge for the convenience of paying through Paypal - to pay $170, send $176. To pay $150, send $155. To pay $80, send 83. To pay $75, send $78. To pay $20, send $21. For any other amounts, please contact the QWF office at 514-933-0878.
Log on to www.paypal.com and click "Send Money." Recipient's email address is admin@qwf.org In the "Note" box, provide your full name, email address, daytime phone number and the name of the workshop you're registering for.
Quebec Writers' Federation Workshops
Spring Session 2008
Develop your writing with the mentorship of an acclaimed professional writer and feedback from your peers.
Workshops take place at the QWF office, Suite 3, Atwater Library unless otherwise indicated.
MAKE ’EM LAUGH: THE ART OF COMEDY WRITING
Eight Thursdays, 6:00-8:00 p.m. (March 6–April 24 – No meeting March 20; to be rescheduled)
1200 Atwater Avenue, Suite 3
Workshop leader: David McGimpsey
This workshop will focus on strategies for effective comedy writing, whether for stand-up, television, newspaper columns, fiction or even songwriting. We will start talking about some of the basic tools of comedy writing (jokes, monologues and sketches) and move towards exploring how these tools can help enliven one’s writing (even when one’s primary aim is not to elicit laughter). In a fun and relaxed environment that supports the aspirations of the participants, we will look at a variety of literary and comedic material (from classic short stories and poems to comedic rants and newspaper spoofs) and apply highlighted principles to our own efforts.
The objective of the course is to appreciate some of the basic principles of comedy writing and to demonstrate how they apply to writing of different styles and sensibilities. Workshop participants do not have to be would-be stand-up comedians - just people interested in how comedy can make their writing more effective and engaging.
Participants will be expected to share their original work and to share in a process of giving constructive and helpful feedback. The workshop leader will assign a few, short discussion-starting assignments and will lead the discussions about original work submitted to the class.
To prepare for the class, it would be helpful if participants brought in samples of their own writing to read for the first meeting. It would also be helpful to give some serious thought to the question “What makes you laugh?”
David McGimpsey has been called “one of the leading humorists from this country” (Malahat Review) as well as “the city’s funniest writer” (The Montreal Hour). He has a PhD in English literature and has published widely as a poet, a fiction writer and a journalist. His travel writings appear frequently in The Globe and Mail and his column about sandwiches is a regular feature in EnRoute magazine.
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Eight-week workshops: $170 per course ($150 for QWF members) • All-day Saturday workshops $75 each (plus a $5 materials fee for Radio workshop) • Two-hour Saturday workshop $20 • Call to register and for cancellation policy • Payment by cheque to Quebec Writers' Federation, 1200 Atwater, Suite 3, Montreal H3Z 1X4, by cash at the QWF office (by appointment) or by PayPal. Note additional Paypal fees - to pay $170, send $176. To pay $150, send $155. To pay $80, send 83. To pay $75, send $78. To pay $20, send $21. For any other amounts, please contact the QWF office at 514-933-0878.
TO REGISTER, CALL (514) 933-0878
QWF gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts.
