Workshops and Classes

  1. Events
  2. Workshops and Classes

Views Navigation

Event Views Navigation

Today

Workshop: Who Do You Listen To? Building a Successful Writing Partnership

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

As a writer, how do you sift through all of the noise to find feedback that resonates? As a reader, how do you provide feedback that matters? Authors and writing partners for fifteen years, Bren McClain (author of One Good Mama Bone) and J.C. Sasser (author of Gradle Bird) will discuss the give and take of a successful critiquing partnership, what makes it work, and what makes it sustainable and helpful over time. They'll share their own story and offer you ways to attract and [...]

$25

Workshop: Tapping Your Creative Genius: A Workshop for Fostering Inspiration

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

We are each born with unique gifts. As a result, we have individual opportunities and responsibilities to share our gifts with others in meaningful ways. Learning to recognize and nurture one’s idiosyncratic talents can lead to a lifetime of inspiration and focused creativity in writing or other arts. Join River Journey Life Guide Susan Madison in this engaging workshop that will explore the inherent connectivity between creativity and purpose to help you tap your inner creative genius and give you the tools you’ve been searching [...]

$25

Workshop: Tell Me a Story… in Verse: The Continuing Appeal of Narrative Poetry

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

“Well, if I’m Athena, you’re my Apollo—the god of poetry, truth, and music. Your natural language is poetry. You write sentences that are like an incantation. You observe every nuance of human behavior and dig deep down to the truth, presenting it in all its glorious and stubborn complexity.”—Barbra Streisand, letter to Pat Conroy (2015) According to Pat Conroy, “the most powerful words in English are ‘Tell me a story.’” But to tell a story most powerfully, most memorably, he well understood that we need [...]

$25

Workshop: Writing and Illustrating for the Children’s Book Market

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

Have you ever thought about writing a children’s book? Or illustrating one? How hard can it be to create a successful 32-page picture book? Let’s find out. Join children’s book author and artist (and Pat Conroy’s daughter) Melissa Conroy as she shares instructive stories from her own paths to publication and discusses the children’s book market as she was experienced as both the author and artist of Poppy’s Pants and also the author of Grandma Is an Author. Open to interested creators at any level [...]

$25

Workshop: Creative Organization for Writers

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

Finding time for writing is a challenge for many, so let’s learn to make the most of limited time through being better organized for creativity. This class offers productivity advice and tools on how to get started and keep going for maximum creative flow and minimum technical frustration. Novelist and writing teacher and consultant Stephanie Austin Edwards will guide participants through making and maintaining a writing schedule; organizing documents and files for consistent easy access; formatting work for submission to editors, agents, and publishers; discussing [...]

$25

Workshop: Book Publishing & Marketing – An Insider’s Guide

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

You’ve written a book! Now what? Rockelle Henderson, a New York publishing insider and founder of the Bluffton Book Festival will outline the steps toward publishing successfully among today’s many options. This workshop will teach writers how to position their books for the appropriate target audience by first understanding and committing to that audience. The class offers insight into what it really means to be published in a market in which publication can take an increasing number of forms, and how marketing and distribution play [...]

$25

Workshop: Welcome to Travel Writing

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a globetrotting travel journalist—or what it takes to become one? Travel journalists Lynn and Cele Seldon (www.seldonink.com) have the answers. With more than 45 years of experience between them, the Seldons travel the globe and average more than 100 feature articles annually for a wide variety of publications

$30

Workshop: Write into Your Heart – Look Within and Grow

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

You already have all the answers to the questions that arise on your life’s path. Does hearing this make your eyes roll…especially when you’re trying to answer one of those seemingly unsolvable questions on the road to emotional, mental and spiritual growth?

$30

Workshop: Creative Organization for Writers

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

Finding time for writing is a challenge for many, so let’s learn to make the most of limited time through being better organized for creativity. This class offers productivity advice and tools on how to get started and keep going for maximum creative flow and minimum technical frustration.

$30

Workshop: More than One Write Way – Independent Publishing

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

Innovative changes in publishing options available to authors and would-be authors make this an exciting time to be a writer and a reader. The self-publishing industry offers independent writers the opportunity to retain creative control and rights to their work.

$30

Workshop: Celebrating Southern Cooking – Demo and Luncheon – SOLD OUT

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

Join caterer and cookbook author Debbi Covington for a gourmet boxed luncheon and cooking demonstration featuring some of her favorite lowcountry recipes. You’ll get to sample some southern oldies-but-goodies with new twists, be privy to easy shortcut secrets...

$50

Workshop: Life Stories – Approaches to Memoir Writing, Part 1 -SOLD OUT

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

"The strands are all there: to the memory nothing is ever really lost," Eudora Welty says, and memoir writing is a great way to discover and explore some of the strands in the rich tapestry of memory we all carry. These two sessions will introduce you to the process of writing memoir by focusing on an important person or moment in your life.

$50

Workshop: Introduction to Screenwriting

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

Chris Offutt has written screenplays for the award-winning cable TV series True Blood, Treme, and Weeds. Offutt’s Screenwriting Basics workshop offers participants an overview of the skills necessary to write a successful screenplay for TV or film. Topics will include (but are not limited to): software and formatting, techniques for using...

$30

Workshop: Tiny Cracks – Writing for Character Development – SOLD OUT

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

Here’s the deal: Any one thing contains its opposite. It’s true of characters, too. No one is all good or all bad. All weak or all strong. I got this expression from Pulitzer-Prize winning author Rick Bragg, who used it in an interview about his biography of rock n’ roller...

$30

Workshop: Pat Conroy – The Book Collector

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

Learn how Pat Conroy became a book collector and what you need to know to become one too. Immortalized in Conroy’s My Reading Life, Cliff Graubart of the Old New York Book Shop treats you to the ins and outs of collecting, how to spot a first edition, and the pitfalls to avoid when...

$30

Workshop: Life Stories – Approaches to Memoir Writing, Part 2 – SOLD OUT

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

"The strands are all there: to the memory nothing is ever really lost," Eudora Welty says, and memoir writing is a great way to discover and explore some of the strands in the rich tapestry of memory we all carry. These two sessions will introduce you to the process of writing memoir by focusing on an important person or moment in your life.

$50

South Carolina Writers Association’s Beaufort Retreat – October 31-Nov 3

Old Bay Marketplace - Beaufort, SC 917 Bay Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

Thursday, 10/31, to Sunday, 11/3, Old Bay Marketplace (917 Bay St., Beaufort). Workshops led by Amber Wheeler Bacon, Megan Mayhew Bergman, Stephanie Austin Edwards, Jon Pineda, Dana Ridenour, Jason Ryan, and Cassie Primo Steele. Pre-registration required...

Pat Conroy Festival: Workshop Novel Incubator

Online Virtual Event Online, Beaufort, SC, United States

In this workshop, we’re going to take a different approach. Each participant will conceptualize and begin a concrete plan for writing a novel that will lead first sentences, first paragraphs, and beyond.

$60

Pat Conroy Festival: Workshop Finding a Storytelling Voice

Online Virtual Event Online, Beaufort, SC, United States

Whether you're writing a novel, a memoir, stories, or narrative nonfiction, the voice you use to tell your story is crucial. We'll look at examples of great storytelling voices, including the inimitable Pat Conroy's, and try out short scenes in different voices.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: Workshop Writing the Short Story Cycle

Online Virtual Event Online, Beaufort, SC, United States

This workshop will explore the process of linking stories together in such a way as to make the whole of a collection greater than the sum of its parts.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: Workshop Writing What Haunts

Online Virtual Event Online, Beaufort, SC, United States

Exploring the work of poets Robert Hayden, Terrance Hayes, Sonia Sanchez, and others, we will find avenues into writing what we work so hard to keep locked away.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: Characters Who Grow from Where They’re Planted

Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen St, Beaufort, SC, United States

Guided brainstorming will be implemented to build characters for our fiction work; we’ll practice with timed drills to flesh out aspects of their personality and generate possible plot angles. After writing examples of these aspects of character, participants will read some of their work and give each other feedback; Participants will leave with tangible detail of at least one character that will enable them to begin constructing a story or fleshing out a character in a novel or short story.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: The Healing Art

Online Virtual Event Online, Beaufort, SC, United States

Research has shown that mindful reflection and a daily writing practice can facilitate the immediate processing of our emotions, even during the most turbulent times.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: The Lowdown on Elevating Your Memoir

Online Virtual Event Online, Beaufort, SC, United States

Award-winning writer and veteran workshop instructor Judy Goldman will tell you everything she wishes she’d known when she started writing memoir.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: Songwriting with Jennifer Daniels & Jeff Neal

Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen St, Beaufort, SC, United States

Join Jennifer Daniels and Jeff Neal for ninety minutes of fast-paced, interactive tips and tricks for songwriting. We'll run exercises that will empower you to pursue your own unique voice with confidence.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: Poetry as Superpower

Technical College of the Lowcountry 104 Reynolds Street, Bldg 12, Beaufort, SC, United States

Learn how poets slow down time, travel back into the past, reflect the world, and illuminate stories previously invisible. In this workshop, we explore the benefits of poetry for readers, writers, and communities.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: Sense of Place

Technical College of the Lowcountry 104 Reynolds Street, Bldg 12, Beaufort, SC, United States

In this workshop, we will navigate multi-sensory poems, play with poetic synesthesia, and explore a writer's sensorium to activate your creative writing.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: Creating the Discipline

Technical College of the Lowcountry 104 Reynolds Street, Bldg 12, Beaufort, SC, United States

So you want to be a professional writer? Join us as we share the tools we use to win the battle we all love so much—getting the stories and poems out of our heads, onto the page, and into publication.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: Personal Growth through Journaling

Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen St, Beaufort, SC, United States

What do we invite into our life? Let's frolic in the creation of a fruitful, customized practice to observe and write in ways that welcome and celebrate opportunities for peace, passion and joy!

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: Make a Scene, Why Don’t You!

Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen St, Beaufort, SC, United States

Scenes are the building blocks of stories and novels. Mastering scene-writing is a powerful way to develop characters and to increase tension and suspense. In this workshop, you will gain a deeper understanding of how you can use scenes, alongside summary, to build stories and novels that have dramatic power and emotional impact.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: Fiction Can Fix Things

Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen St, Beaufort, SC, United States

This is a generative workshop, so bring your "what really happened" and let's apply some real pressure. Let's put your characters in the driver's seat and see what they're capable of. I'm telling you -- that's the sweet, sweet glory.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: Kick-Start Your Manuscript

USC Beaufort Center for the Arts 801 Carteret Street, Beaufort, SC, United States

Thinking of writing a book? Whether you’re contemplating a novel, a memoir, or a collection of stories, embarking on a book-length manuscript of prose can be daunting.

$45

Pat Conroy Festival: Hunting Island Trail Walk

Hunting Island State Park 2555 Sea Island Parkway, St Helena Island, SC, United States

Whether it’s your first time in the forest, or you’re an avid nature-lover, learn techniques to deepen your personal ease and heighten your connection with the intuitive guidance within nature.

$100

Pat Conroy Festival: Memories to Memoir

Zoom

Award-winning writer and veteran workshop instructor, Judy Goldman, will tell you everything you need to know to begin writing memoir — or, if you’re already engaged in writing memoir, how to take your work to a deeper level.

$45

WORKSHOP: Say What? A Playful Dialogue Workshop Led by Valerie Sayers

Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen St, Beaufort, SC, United States

We’ll take a good look at dialogue that takes off with examples from the masters, including Raymond Chandler, Flannery O’Connor, Toni Morrison and, of course, Pat Conroy. We’ll question how realistic dialogue can and should be, and we’ll explore how many ways there are to weave speech and action and description together.

$45

WORKSHOP: From Bad to Good to Unputdownable Led by Sean A. Scapellato

Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen St, Beaufort, SC, United States

This workshop will explore that process of taking a story from bad to good to great. We’ll analyze the toughest problems in backstory, dialogue, and description (by “leaving out the parts most readers skip” says Elmore Leonard), the vexing issues of character and plot, and challenges to quality writing time.

$45

WORKSHOP: The Gift of Family Led by Freya Manfred

Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen St, Beaufort, SC, United States

I'll explain that talking about "process" is antithetical to how I think and work, or play. My "process" involves remembering as much of what I see and hear as I can and trying to describe it; for me the process of writing means getting lost in watching something or someone, rarely knowing what will happen next, and then writing about it.

$45

WORKSHOP: Excavating Memory into Poetry Led by Jennifer Bartell Boykin

Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen St, Beaufort, SC, United States

In this workshop, we will excavate memory to build poems that stitch together a new quilt of experience. We will examine ways in which we can structure a memory poem around time and space.

$45

WORKSHOP: Writing a Great Fiction Query Letter Led by Carrie Feron

Pat Conroy Literary Center 601 Bladen St, Beaufort, SC, United States

Learn from one of the top editors in New York on how to structure a persuasive introduction to you and your work. What in your biography or experience is likely to get an agent or editor’s attention? How much plot description is enough or too much?

$100
Go to Top