Toronto Writers' Centre Presents: The Writer's Workbench

You’re working on your novel, screenplay, or short story but things just aren’t coming together. Maybe you don’t know where to start, maybe your characters feel like they’re on rails, or maybe you’re bogged down in the Second Act.
You’re not destined for failure and your ideas aren’t bad! You just need the right tools.
The Writer’s Workbench will put those tools in your hands. It’s a practical course, teaching a specific approach or technique each week. It’s not your traditional prompt-based program. It’s a shop class for story, style, and voice.
The Instructor:
Alexander Saxton has spent a decade running professional writers' rooms in digital media, TV, and audio. He knows how to help new writers bring their best ideas to the fore, and how to hold a space that’s safe, easygoing, and exciting. He can’t wait to be a fan of your work.
Where:
The Toronto Writers’ Centre, 500A Bloor St West, top floor. This space is not wheelchair accessible.
When:
Monday nights 7:00-8:30 PM, November 4th to December 9th (6 Sessions)

How Much:
$200+Fees/HST
CURRICULUM
WEEK ONE: IMPULSE
In week one, we’ll focus on capturing the impulse and energy that leads us to write, while identifying the false narratives & pain points that lead to paralysis. Drawing on a bit of modern psychology & Taoist philosophy, we’ll learn to write in sprints and generate the all-important ‘vomit draft’. Finally, we’ll focus on capturing that rare & elusive thing known as ‘A Vibe’.
WEEK TWO: THEME & ANTITHEME
Vibes are great and you can have a whole career coasting on vibes alone. But what gives a story weight is its point of view. In week two, we’ll focus on the terrifying question ‘what’s this story about?’, and find out how to use a single idea to shape worlds and cut through analysis paralysis. We’ll also use a large wooden spoon to remove the idea of ‘story structure’ from our heads.
WEEK THREE: AGENT & ARENA
This week we’ll move from ‘what’s this story about’ to ‘who’s this story about’. Since those two questions have a lot in common, we’ll play with using theme to find character, character to find theme, and both theme & character to build the world.
WEEK FOUR: BEAT & SCENE
This week, we’ll move from the grand design to the nuts and bolts. We’ll learn to think about beats and scenes as simple machines that make a story function, and we’ll learn to approach editing the same way you’d approach small engine repair. (No experience repairing small engines necessary).
WEEK FIVE: GAME
How do I make a story stand out? How do I make it fun and interesting? How do I find cool set pieces and memorable moments? This week we’ll learn to think about story as a game or act of play between the author and the audience. We’ll learn to use format as a way to build or destroy a reader’s expectations, and we’ll use a pipette to drop tiny amounts of story structure back into our brains again, just for the high.
WEEK SIX: REFLECTION
In this final session, we’ll review the course and reflect on our experiences and takeaways. We’ll field questions, indulge in wide-ranging philosophical discussions, and also talk a little bit more about how to actually improve your work by editing, instead of just making a bunch of sideways moves.
FORMAT
Each session will be an hour and a half. We’ll begin with a short reflection on the previous week’s homework exercises, then pivot into some group and individual exercises followed by a short lecture. Simple! Elegant!

TESTIMONIALS

"A fantastic, fun, and loose class that gives you effective tools to overcome writers’ block and quickly improve any story you’re working on." -- SUSAN H.

"Alexander has a very easygoing and approachable attitude towards writing, which made things very fun and made it easy & safe for us to share what we were struggling with in our own writing." -- ALLIE F.

"Alexander put on an outstanding course that most every burgeoning writer could benefit from." -- DAN Z.

"An excellent entry into building a personal set of tools for writing. The course was nicely balanced between conceptual and practical discussion." -- SABLE P.

"I’m excited to leave this class with new, surprising tools." -- SARAH L.

“I’ve taken writing workshops that are great for inspiration and getting into flow but don't teach much from a craft building perspective. And "how to" books overwhelm me with the amount of tools they provide. This class hit a sweet spot of making me feel like I had enough to make a story work." -- AIDA A.
"I loved getting to be part of such a creative & supportive group. We learned, we shared ideas, we worked through problems, and I came out of it at the end with new tools to write better stories." --ERICA C.

Host or Publisher Toronto Writers' Centre