THE WRITTEN WORD: Workshops a meeting of the minds for writers
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Alanna Lungren
August 10, 2005
With a chuckle, local writer and legend Oakley Hall
mentions that he doesn't lecture as much anymore at the Squaw Valley
Community of Writers, as he has been raised to "Olympian heights."
As
one of the founders of the writing conference that takes place every
summer in Squaw Valley, Hall is still very involved, but allows the
younger authors to offer their wisdom and knowledge of the trade.
Now
directed by his daughter, Brett Hall Jones, who in her youth used to
make sandwiches for the writers, the Squaw Valley Community of Writers
is in its successful 36th year. The competitive conference spanning two
weeks in July and August offers workshops on poetry, fiction,
non-fiction, memoir and screenwriting. The intimate setting of these
workshops is what attracts many of the students.
From an
applicant pool of close to 400, only 45 percent of submissions are
accepted. Writers must submit a manuscript of a work in progress.
Participant Jenny Hedley, from Long Beach, Calif., is involved in the
screenwriting workshop. Her work, titled "XYY," has already made it
past the first round of Sundance's screenwriting competition, and to
prepare it for the second round of cuts, she is working on it at this
summer's conference, she said.
"The screenwriting staff are all
working professionals, it is interesting to hear their real life
experiences, instead of some professor lecturing about the writing,"
Hedley said.
Hall Jones said that the structure of the workshops are what really help the students come away with something.
"The roundtable discussions and the process of
reading other's work, rather than commenting on your own," are what
benefit the writers, she added. The Community of Writers is one of the
leading workshops and uses the same structure every year, Hall Jones
said. Many of the poets and writers use Squaw Valley's submission date
as a deadline of their own, and many writers return year after year.
Anne
Wallace McAndrews, Hedley's mom and also a published writer, has been
to the conference three times, beginning in 1989. Though not a
participant this summer, Wallace McAndrews, who collaborates with her
daughter on writing projects, encouraged her to attend. On her
experience, Wallace McAndrews said "it changed my writing life, and
here [my daughter and I] are, working on something together."
"The
greatest thing is the motivation, it makes you kick into gear, being
around all these people who are so passionate about writing - it is
contagious," Wallace McAndrews added.
Wallace McAndrews, who's
been published in L.A. Times Magazine, is a contributing editor at the
Tribune's Golf Living, a new golf travel magazine, and West Coast
editor of The Green Guide, heard about the workshop through her
brother, also a writer.
Hall Jones explained that most of the
marketing for the Community of Writers is through word of mouth. They
are the only writing conference not directly associated with a college
or graduate program for writing, making them unique.
In addition
to the workshops organized specifically for the students at the
conference, there are a series of public events that take place in the
evenings. Well-respected authors discuss and often read from their work.
"It is a great resource for the locals, to see some
wonderful authors," Hall Jones said. In the past, famous writers such
as Anne Rice, Alice Siebold and Anne Lamott have been special guests.
Amy Tan, author of "The Joy Luck Club," once a participant, returns
every year, and newly published authors like Janet Fitch, who wrote
"White Oleander," are some of the successful former students.
Hall Jones highlighted the help and support of the community of Squaw Valley.
"We
are like a traveling circus, we move in and set up from scratch,
bringing in chairs, desks and lamps," Hall Jones said. "Squaw Valley
Ski Corp. is very good to us, we'd be priced out if not for them."
Writing
better is not the only outcome most students of the conference
experience. For many, it is the friends they make while participating.
Hall Jones stressed the significance of communal living, suggesting the
positive experience of "making coffee in the morning and discussing
your manuscript" with other writers.
Hall, still a successful
writer, publishing an average of one book per year, remarks that the
conference has "done very well, and, gets better and better."
The writers "mingle together in ways that don't anywhere else," Hall said.
And, importantly, they all seem to want to come
back to the Community of Writers, either as staff and special guests or
as students.
Oakley Hall, author of "Downhill Racer,"
which later became a movie starring Robert Redford, has several new
books. The latest in his "Ambrose Bierce" series, is available at local
bookstores, and his 1958 work, "Warlock," is set to be re-released.
For more information on the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, visit their Web site at www.squawvalleywriters.org or call (530)581-5200.
