Sponsored by the English Department within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and held on N.C. State University's campus, the Young Writers' Workshop nurtures the creative spirit and teaches creative writing skills and techniques to young writers ages 10 -14 going into grades 5 -8.
The Young Writers' Workshop is a two-week, non-residential summer camp with daily afternoon sessions to help young people develop and explore their creative writing talents.
NC State Young Writers Workshop is one of the oldest workshops for young writers in the nation and remains one of the most affordable options for academic programs. We offer generous financial aid packages.
Students will also meet working authors and get the opportunity to win copies of their published books.
Courses
This summer's course offerings will be in poetry, prose, dramatic writing and special topics. Each student will select their top three course preferences and will be placed in two courses.
Dramatic Writing - This workshop will focus on playwriting for the stage, as well as screenwriting for film. In this class, students will learn some of the basic techniques of writing plays and/or screenplays, such as setting a scene, creating characters, constructing a plot, and moving a plot forward through dialogue in their own one-act plays or screenplays.
NOTE: Students who would like to work in dramatic writing, please note in your application if you have a preference between writing plays or screenplays. Our instructor will accommodate your interests.
Poetry is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a "composition in verse or some other patterned arrangement of language in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm." Students will learn and experiment with a variety of poetic forms and techniques in this class.
Genre Fiction - This workshop is a specialized fiction workshop that will explore a variety of literary genres, such as sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism, adventure, and mystery.
Students will learn the basics of world building, extended metaphor, plot structures, suspense, persona, and how to use different genres as vehicles to talk about complex topics.
Fiction - This workshop will consist of fiction. Students in this class will write narratives in an artful way and learn the fundamentals of fiction such as character development, dialogue, point of view, and construction of plot.