Untitled Document

An intuitional, 'secret story' writing workshop conducted by S.L. Stebel, successful playwright, screenwriter and novelist, whom Ray Bradbury calls "the best writing teacher that ever was!"

This weeklong session has been designed for all those writers, whether coffee house scribblers, journal memoirists, or published authors, who have ever felt the pull of a story struggling to emerge from what seems an ocean of words. Though knowing full well this is a story only one person (you) can tell, and in a voice uniquely your own, you have been forced to fall back, frustrated, unable to determine your story's direction before it slips from your grasp and is lost, seemingly forever. But your story is not irretrievable. Using simple but powerful techniques developed over the past few decades in workshops he has conducted in the U.S. and abroad, Stebel will help participants realize their maximum creative potential as writers and individuals.

The Process
First I dream the painting, then I paint the dream -- Vincent Van Gogh

First, we dream.
Through a sequence of simple exercises, details of which may be found in the recommended text, based on the philosophies of mankind's greatest creators, participants will be asked to produce, during that twilight zone between sleep and waking, the kind of purposeful, inner-directed automatic writing that comes from the subconscious. Next, with input from the other participants, under guidance from the moderator, each individual author will attempt to decipher what, at first glance, may appear to be nothing but random meanderings. During this process a story begins to emerge. Whether comedic or tragic, light-hearted or dark, this story will be emotionally meaningful not only to its author, but to its audience as well. By its creator connecting in this deeply felt way with the story, the story will connect in a similar way with its audience, becoming, almost by definition, profound, its meaning thereby universal. Painting the dream. Once the author's story has emerged, s/he can bring to bear all the story telling talents (the craft) of which s/he is capable. Using guidelines first espoused by Aristotle, as amended and expounded upon by Stebel in the recommended text, a variety of structural devices and story telling techniques for enhancing the story will be discussed, with the goal of choosing those that will best realize the story's potential.2007 dates TDB. C ontact the Esalen Institute at 831-667-3005 or visit www.esalen.org.