Writer’s Studio Craft Talk with Ben Marcus: Pay Attention

As writers, we need our readers to pay attention. We ask a lot of our readers to get through to the end of our stories and novels. How actively are we meant to be courting our readers, and can this even be done? This talk will focus on the various charms and seductions and beguilements we use in our work in order to capture, and keep, our readers’ attention. We will attempt to understand, as well, how we read, and what exactly happens when our own attention fails: what has gone missing, or what is there too much of? When we are bored, what exactly has happened, and what are doing as writers to stave off that experience in our readers? We will wonder about what is most transfixing in the opening sentences of a work of fiction, and what is extraneous, and then try to implement some of these insights into our own work.

Saturday, October 3, 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM at Lighthouse Writers Workshop (in the Grotto), 1515 Race St.

For tickets visit our website.

Ben Marcus will sign books, available for purchase at Lighthouse through the Tattered Cover, following the craft talk.