Writopia Lab Manhattan Quick Facts Our Manhattan winter and spring workshops meet weekly for 10 1 & 1/2 hour after school sessions or for 8 2-hour Sunday sessions at 189 West 89th Street. Summer writing workshops meet five days in a row for three-hour sessions. Go to Schedule of Classes, the Price Menu, and How to Join in order to sign up for workshops! (Or arrange to have us lead a 10-week in-school creative writing seminar at your school.)   The Highlights Every few months, NYC workshop participants are invited to read their polished work at Barnes & Noble or Bryant Park. During this exciting event, Writopia Lab's writers share their work with friends, relatives, and with others who come in response to listings in various media. The Workshops Workshops house a maximum of six participants. Weekly sessions are peppered by original and fun writing exercises, but focus primarily on writing--and completing--stories. Each time we meet, students bring copies of the newest drafts of their work to share with the group. They quietly review each other's work--circling the parts or lines they enjoy most along with the sections that they think can be improved--and then share these ideas with the group. Within a few sessions, students comfortably and easily provide insightful feedback to their peers. Workshops typically focus on one or two genres, but teen writers often explore two or three genres depending on their interests including: Fiction (realistic fiction, fanstasy, science fiction, or historical fiction) Non-fiction (memoir or journalism) Screenwriting and Playwriting (short or long, comedic or dramatic scripts for film or stage) Poetry NEW! Introducing this summer: Op-Ed-Only workshops and Science Fiction/Fantasy-Only workshops taught by well-known authors and experts in those fields!! (See the summer schedule for more information)     In the fiction and memoir workshops, students brainstorm story ideas, discuss the logic of various structural choices and the virtues of applying key literary tools such as metaphors and similes. Ultimately, students complete polished pieces of writing. These workshops culminate in public readings at local bookstores. Students who choose to write journalistic pieces learn how to write (and pitch!) feature stories and opinion pieces, and, by the end of the workshop, some may publish their stories in school papers or publications of their choice. In the playwriting and screenwriting workshops, students learn techniques, gain tools, and master the structure of each form. By the end of the workshop, students will have turned ideas into scripts, moving from the page to the stage. The workshops will culminate in staged readings of the students' work at a theater in New York City. Students may also submit their work to festivals and competitions such as Stephen Sondheim's Young Playwrights Inc. National Competition. While we do not offer a specific poetry workshop, each workshop group has the option to schedule a short poetry session at each meeting. Prestigious writing competitions serve as motivational and inspirational devices for most of the writing workshops. Over the last three years, dozens of Writopia Lab's students have won silver and gold regional and national awards from Scholastic's Art and Writing Awards in almost every genre of writing. Rebecca is a regional and national judge for this competition. Dan is a judge for (and 2002 winner of) The Philadelphia Young Playwrights Festival, and was a 2003 Finalist in Stephen Sondheim's Young Playwrights Inc. National Competition. Most importantly, though, the workshops have enabled a community of young writers to find each other, connect via their literary passions, and have lots of fun. IN THEIR OWN WORDS: "The workshop was amazing! I learned so much about writing short stories, articles and poetry in just two weeks. It was wonderful having this experience and a great time all at once. I'd do it again for sure!" —Rebecca, 14, A.J. Heschel Middle School, Scholastic Silver Keys Winner in Poetry and Short Story, 2007 "The workshop was an amazing experience! While expressing your creativity and building your skills, you were chilling and laughing the whole time! I am so glad I was a part of it... My work began to transform to art." —Milana, 14, A.J. Heschel School, Scholastic Regional Gold Keys Winner for two memoirs, 2007 "Rebecca has amazing lingual intuition – she knows how words feel and sound, and this enables her to work with all kinds of writing, from short stories to poems to essays... When she makes a suggestion, she is not offended if you don’t agree. She listens and considers your perspective as the writer. She can give general ideas and overall feedback as well as specific analysis, so that the writer is free to use her ideas but interpret them and write them their own way... Rebecca is an awesome (for lack of a more specific word of praise) editor and writer, and an equally amazing person. The gift of working with her is a double bonus – her amazing skill as a writer and editor, and her warm, smiling, funny, happy, wonderful personality." —Noa Bendit-Shtull, 15, Bard College High School, Scholastic National Gold Key Winner, 2006. Check out Noa's story on the Scholastic site.