Creating Fictional Worlds: A Three-day Creative Writing Workshop for Teen Writers (age 13-18)
with Joy Baglio

3-day workshop on July 8, 10, and 12 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) from 6-8 pm at ACW

$75 – $150 Sliding scale

Over the course of three class meetings, we’ll dive into an exploration of how to create a compelling fictional world (and all the moving parts it contains), with a goal of creating our own worlds by the end of the workshop and beginning a story set in that world. You do not need to have a world or story in mind before the class begins; rather, we will begin with some imaginative writing exercises and group brainstorming, and move into exercises that guide writers through map-sketching (think Tolkien!), writing origin stories, character creation, and more! We’ll spend time looking at short excerpts from the masters, learning about new tools of worldbuilding and storytelling, writing in response to short in-class prompts and exercises, and working on our own worldbuilding projects, which we will share with the group on the last day of class. You’ll leave with a number of “beginnings” that can be continued, as well as tools and techniques that will help you continue to build your magical worlds and tell their stories.

Rough Schedule
:
July 8: Intro to worldbuilding & storytelling; map-sketching; begin worldbuilding project
July 10: Writing origin stories, mythology; continue work on worldbuilding project 
July 12: Creating characters; choosing a protagonist; work on projects; presentations; next steps

Joy Baglio is a writer of reality-bending fiction and founder and director of Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshop in Northampton MA. Her short stories have appeared widely in such places as Tin House, The Iowa Review, American Short Fiction, and elsewhere, and have recently been options for film and TV. Joy has been awarded fellowships, scholarships, and residencies from Yaddo, The Elizabeth George Foundation, Ragdale, Vermont Studio Center, The Kerouac Project, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and Sewanee Writers Conference, among others. She’s at work on a novel about two half-mermaid sisters.