There are still seats available at both AGM Conference Workshops. Workshops will be
held at the Listel Hotel, 1300 Robson Street in Vancouver, on Saturday, May 10 (details
below). Contact the Federation office at bc*******@sh**.ca for registration forms. *************************

A First Date with Screenwriting
Instructor: Michele Adams
Saturday, May 10, 9 am to noon
$75 for Fed members
Registration fee includes complimentary notebooks & pens, and light refreshments.

Many novelists, short fiction writers, memoirists, and poets are attracted to the idea of writing
for the silver screen. Why? Fun, glory, money–because they “see” this narrative unfolding as
a film, because they want to be part of the primary storytelling mode of our culture, because
Vancouver is “Hollywood North”–or even all of the above! A feature script can be an exciting
creative achievement, but it’s also a lot more than a great idea. Screenwriters need to develop
special skills to connect the images, emotions and words that will bring their visions to life on
the page; skills that, while they relate to the work of prose writers and poets, are in some
ways unique to the screenwriter’s craft. In this morning workshop, we’ll explore some basics:
writing visual, screenplay formatting and vocabulary, developing active protagonists, etc. —
with a special focus on transferring skills from other writing practice.

Michele Adams is the author of Bright Objects of Desire, a collection of short stories,
published by Biblioasis Press. In 2006 her story “Infinite Speed” won the Fiddlehead fiction
prize and was also listed in Best American Short Stories 2006; her fiction has appeared in
literary journals, and has been adapted for short film and radio. In 2007 her novel manuscript
Grim Sausages was shortlisted for the Metcalf Rooke Award. Two of her feature scripts: Lady
S and Sex Lives of the Saints , won the SFU Praxis screenplay competition; both have
subsequently been optioned and in development with production companies. She also works
as a script analyst and story editor, and teaches screenwriting for SFU’s School for the
Contemporary Arts.
The Art of the Sentence Workshop
Instructor: Stephen Osborne
Saturday, May 10, 1 to 4 pm.
$50
Registration fee includes complimentary copies of Geist, notebooks & pens, and light
refreshments.

Good writing begins with good sentences and Stephen Osborne knows where to find them
and how to write them. Learn about good verbs and bad verbs, and even those pesky
adverbs. This combination lecture-workshop will provide you with techniques to improve and
revitalize your writing immediately. Bring along a sharp pencil and you’ll leave with some great
sentences in your pocket. Read what others have to say about The Art of the Sentence:
http://www.geist.com/events/art-sentence-workshop

Stephen Osborne is the editor of Geist and author of Ice & Fire: Dispatches from the New
World . He is a recipient of the Vancouver Arts Award for Writing and Publishing, the CBC
Literary Award for travel writing, the National Magazine Award for Outstanding Achievement
and the Western Magazine Award for Lifetime Achievement. He founded Pulp Press Book
Publishers (now Arsenal Pulp Press) in 1971. Read more about him at
http://www.geist.com/phototaxis/ **********************