Local scribes, take note: a creative writing workshop soon at the P.J. Ahern Home seeks to provide writing insights and get your ideas flowing.
Author Michael Hawron, who hails from New Boston, Texas, will lead a creative writing workshop from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Feb. 24. Hawron has written two books, the memoir "Entertaining Detours" and his newest work, "The Little Town with the Big Heart."
This workshop aims to teach how to turn a writer's idea for a novel into reality, so participants, whether they're teens or adults, are asked to bring their idea for a novel. Attendees will learn several things: how to deconstruct a novel, how to create characters and develop the plot, and how to both write and edit up to 20 pages of work.
Hawron says his idea originated from the Girl Scouts having a merit badge they can earn that involves writing. "They need to learn how to write interesting, memorable characters. They need to learn how to deconstruct a novel," he said.
Although that was the inspiration to hold a workshop, anyone who wants to write can participate in this novelist workshop, he said. He starts the workshop with a listening exercise, and he says that people need critical thinking skills, imagination, an audience and experience in order to write.
"You need something to draw on," Hawron said.
Another exercise will teach how to develop characters, getting into the habit of making one memorable. "So they see that process," he said.
Hawron, who's run workshops before and mentored, will supply a workbook to use. Both writing materials and refreshments are provided at the workshop.
"I'm very happy to see young people interested in writing," he said. And he's also happy to help develop skills that benefit society. "Communication is what makes things work in a society."
Attendees should also expect that the historic P.J. Ahern Home will be used to stir the imagination during the exercises. "That will be fun," Hawron said.
Writing can happen through serendipity, he believes, and anything in our lives can be used as a doorway to write. Writers will swap papers with other participating writers during the session with a nod to giving constructive criticism. That's on the premise that good writers are also good readers.
Although Hawron has been writing off and on for all of his adult life, it's only in the past decade that he's written and published books. His past experience includes work for a Hong Kong publisher.
(Admission: $8. Tickets are on sale through the P.J. Ahern Home page on Facebook. The P.J. Ahern Home is located at 403 Laurel St. in Texarkana, Ark. More info: 903-793-4831.)