Making a Scene: How to Craft the
Most Powerful Scene in Your Memoir
with Elizabeth L. Silver in Encino/Sherman Oaks
One Saturday
10:00 am to 2:00 pm
March 30, 2019
Every book has "the scene”: that moment you can't forget, the confrontation of the characters, the action-packed climax, the emotional epiphany. Whatever the memorable moment, it usually comes in the form of a scene. But what exactly is a scene, and how can you craft one that will leave readers with a searing memory of the moment? In this one-day seminar, we will focus on writing the most important scene from your memoir and bringing it to life. How do you balance the interior with the exterior? How do you know how much dialogue to use or where to begin the scene? By reading sample chapters and exploring tools of dialogue and flashback, we will reach into memory to craft the scene that readers will remember.
This seminar is open to students of all levels. The class will be held in Encino, where coffee, sparkling water, and light snacks will be served.
Enrollment limit: 8 students
$130 for new students; $120 for returning students
Elizabeth L Silver is the author of the memoir, The Tincture of Time: A Parent's Memoir of (Medical) Uncertainty (Penguin Press, 2017) and the critically acclaimed novel, The Execution of Noa P. Singleton (Crown, 2013), which was the Amazon Best Debut of the Month, an Amazon Best Book of the Year, Kirkus Best Book of the Summer, and published in seven languages. Elizabeth’s writing has appeared The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, Lenny Letter, New York Magazine, Literary Hub, The Rumpus, The Los Angeles Review, The Millions, The Dallas Morning News, among others, and she has received fellowships and residencies from Ucross Foundation, Ragdale, Byrdcliffe Artist Colony, A Room of Her Own Foundation, and the British Centre for Literary Translation. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, the MA program in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia in England, and Temple University Beasley School of Law, Elizabeth lives with her family in Los Angeles. Visit her online at www.ElizabethLSilver.com.
Reviews
The Tincture of Time: A Parent's Memoir of (Medical) Uncertainty
“A delicate weave of cultural analysis, personal history, and religious teachings in a meditation on the limits of science and the boundless capacity of the human heart.” —O, The Oprah Magazine
“Silver brings to this moving personal account a novelist’s pacing, a poet’s lyricism and a researcher’s meticulousness for fact.” —The Dallas Morning News
“Smartly conceived and well written. . . . An excellent book.” —Publishers Weekly
The Execution of Noa P. Singleton
“Compelling debut . . . A clever examination of the nature of destiny and the choices we make, this thought-provoking book is reminiscent of John Grisham’s The Confession in its exploration of the death penalty. Silver has successfully written a suspenseful, absorbing tale. This is a special treat for mystery fans.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“[A] searing debut . . . This devastating read stands less as a polemic against the death penalty than as a heartbreaking brief for the preciousness of life.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Bracing and combative . . . a classic slow-burn, with Ms. Silver spinning the web . . . and masterfully revealing the threads that connect [the characters] to each other and to the crime . . . The novel proceeds to its heart-wrenching conclusion by a series of feints and betrayals that would make Gillian Flynn stand and applaud.” —The Wall Street Journal