Follow the journey of a story at KFPL’s short story writing workshop

Kingston Frontenac Public Library (KFPL) is inviting area writers to follow the journey of the story through a short story writing workshop.

“Who better to learn short story writing from than Patricia Robertson, former Kingston Frontenac Public Library Writer-in-Residence?” the library asked in a media release dated Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021.

Robertson will lead the workshop Sentence by Sentence: the Journey of the Story at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, via Zoom.

For those who have no writing experience or are worried that they don’t already have a detailed outline in mind before beginning to write, the library said that’s not a problem. At this workshop, writers will learn how the very process of writing can help them discover what they want to write about, according to the release.

“It’s a misnomer to describe writing as ‘discovering what you want to say.’ The fact is that you don’t know what you want to say in advance of the journey,” explained Robertson. “You’re taking a leap into the unknown. All you know is what to take with you — your laptop, a cup of coffee, and your imagination. Believe it or not, whole novels have been written using this method.”

“As the American novelist E.L. Doctorow said, ‘Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way,’” she shared.

Robertson is an author and editor, and instructor at the University of Winnipeg. She was KFPL’s Writer-in-Residence in 2014 and has led many popular writing workshops for the library.

The workshop is open to anyone 16 or older. Registration opens on Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021, and participants can sign up online at https://calendar.kfpl.ca/event/5801131 or (613) 549-8888. Registrants will be emailed the link immediately upon registration and will need to download Zoom in advance.