Six Writing Workshops with Harrie Farrow

See separate event posts for each workshop to register.

Harrie Farrow is a novelist, poet, and editor. Her  workshops will be geared towards fiction/novel writers who are in the earlier

stages of their writing careers, but these classes may be helpful to others as well.

Each workshop is a one-day course.

5/3 How to Meld Your Life Experiences into an Inspired Novel

In this workshop, you will:

• Get to the essence of why you want to write and what you hope to convey—what it is about your experiences that make them extraordinary or meaningful for others, and what messages, ideas, lessons, or feelings, are at the core of your intent.
•  Consider examples in fiction that illustrate how real-life experiences are used in novels without the story becoming a memoir or autobiography.
•  Discuss how to share a message without sounding preachy or manipulative to your readers.
• Learn the importance and how-to of weeding out the irrelevant.
• Discuss various genres and how to figure out which format might be the best fit for your story.
• Explore what characters, plot, and conflict might best work for your book.

5/10 Delicious Fiction

In this workshop, we will explore the use of preparing and eating food as creative opportunities to:

•  Develop characters.
• Highlight setting.
• Create pacing and build suspense.
•  Set the psychological scene for conflict, romance, and other turning points in characters’ lives.
• Express emotion and interpersonal dynamics in dialogue.

5/24 Show Don’t Tell

Have you frequently heard the advice “show don’t tell” but are never quite sure how to consistently

apply this to your own fiction? Having a firm grasp, or not, on this fundamental aspect of good

storytelling can make or break you as a writer.

In this workshop, you will:

• Learn the differences between the language of showing and that of telling.
•  Learn how to spot telling instead of showing in your own work.
•  Find out when and where it’s occasionally useful and appropriate to employ some telling.
• Get direct practice in transforming snippets of writings from drab tell style to dynamic show passages leading readers through action and emotions in impactful ways.

5/31 Getting Past Writers’ Block

We’ve all seen images of a writer crumpling yet another sheet of paper and dejectedly throwing it in the

trash. Unfortunately, too many of us can relate to the frustration of stymied creative production. This

workshop targets overcoming the dreaded roadblocks that sometimes appear in the face of a blank

page, opening scene, unruly paragraph, or unresolved plot development.

In this workshop, we will:

•  Gain tools for examining what might be thwarting creative endeavors.
•  Review centering and focusing techniques.
• Explore activities designed to spark writers out of creative impasses.
•  Engage in writing exercises created to push beyond the traffic jams and inspire fruitfulness.
• Share some of our breakthroughs and insights.

6/7 Bring Characters to Life

Creating believable three-dimensional characters is essential for successful creative writing. This

workshop will help you bring your story’s personalities alive in ways that will capture readers’

imaginations. Your fans will feel like they know and love (or hate) your fictional beings so much that they

become fully invested in their dramas, traumas, and joys.

In this workshop, we will:

• Discuss how and why to avoid the pitfalls of stereotypes and tropes.
• Learn the importance of details, idiosyncrasies, and consistency.
•  Explore how to use dialogue for character development.
• Acquire and utilize tools that help you get to know your characters at their core.
• Discuss and employ a variety of skills and techniques that allow your characters to bloom and

soar.

6/14 Sensitivity in Writing

This workshop addresses how to not harm, alienate, or enrage a community you are writing about. If

your work includes people, groups, or traditions you are not intimately familiar with, whether it’s a

cultural or religious celebration, LGBTQ characters, a disabled individual, or a historically marginalized

community, it’s way too easy to make a blunder that you could regret. This course will help you

minimize that likelihood.

This workshop is not a space to debate the concept of political correctness (PC), trigger words, or the

idea of “cancel culture,” but rather is about acknowledging our current climate and successfully

navigating and working within that reality in crafting fiction.

In this workshop, you will learn:

• How to step back and be patient about this topic.
• How good intentions with little understanding can equal big blunders.
• What the consequences for your work and reputation can be if you’re not mindful.
•  Why words matter.
• Some basic terminology/vocabulary words useful for discussing these issues.
•  What the consequences for a community you’re writing about can be if you’re not mindful.
• Common pitfalls to avoid when creating characters and plots.
• General tips on how to write with sensitivity.
•  The role of sensitivity readers.
• How to know when you should seek outside consultation.
• Who to consult, who not to consult—and why—and how to seek the right help.

Harrie Farrow is a novelist, poet, and editor with a background in investigative reporting, feature

writing, and blogging. She brings to her work an eclectic personal history including growing up in the

Virgin Islands, spending her 20s in San Francisco and owning a fine dining restaurant in the Ozarks. She

has also traveled extensively in Europe and the Caribbean. Harrie has varied experiences with advocacy

and activism, including being arrested several times for civil disobedience in Washington D.C., and is also

a thrice-elected official who represents Eureka Springs in county government.