The first page - prose writing workshop

An evening of prose writing. Learn three practical tools, write a page of your own and share it in a small, friendly group of fellow writers The first page is an in-person prose writing workshop. Join us to explore the art of getting started and put words on the page. Do you have a first page in a drawer, or an idea you never started? Join author, actress and director Rosa Braber for an evening of prose writing in the cosy setting of Hafi Books + Coffee in Vienna. In just under three hours you will learn three practical tools that make your writing more vivid, try them out in short exercises, and write the opening of a scene of your own. You leave with a page you wrote, a take-home checklist and a clearer sense of your own voice. The workshop is held in English, but English does not have to be your first language. We write at your own level, and the exercises work just as well for beginners as for people with a manuscript in progress. Questions we tackle • How do I start, and how do I keep going? • Why does my writing feel flat, even when the idea is good? • Whose voice is this, and is it mine? • How do I write from my own life without writing a diary? Or, how do I enter a world that is completely different from my own? Tools you take home • The concrete detail. Trade general statements for the one specific thing a reader can see. • Point of view. Who is telling this, and how close do they stand? • The timed sprint. A repeatable warm-up that gets you past the inner editor. Programme • 19:15 Welcome, introductions and a first low-stakes writing prompt • 19:35 Tool 1: the concrete detail, with a short exercise • 20:15 Tool 2: point of view and voice • 20:55 Break, with time to browse the shelves • 21:10 Your own page: write the opening of a scene, with individual guidance • 21:40 Reading aloud (optional) and closing Times are approximate. Reading aloud is always voluntary. Who is it for? Anyone who wants to write prose: short stories, novels, personal essays or something you have not named yet. No experience needed. If you already write, you will get new tools and fresh feedback. Please bring a notebook or laptop. About the facilitator Rosa Braber is a Dutch writer, actress and director. She graduated from the Toneelacademie Maastricht in 2012 and moved to Vienna in 2013. Her poetry and prose are regularly published in Dutch literary magazines. She was writer in residence at the Jan van Eyck Academie and at the Akureyri Art Museum in Iceland. In Vienna she makes productions with her performance collective 'Wolf Collective' and works as a director at the Wiener Konzerthaus. In the Netherlands she is represented by literary agent Jelte Nieuwenhuis, and she has just completed her debut novel. Practical information • The workshop takes place in the bookshop after closing time. Please arrive from 19:00; the door opens for participants then. • Drinks: available to buy on the evening. Tea and cookies are included. • A book table with fiction and craft-of-writing titles will be available. • Cancellation: full refund up to 7 days before the event; after that, you may pass your ticket to someone else. • Questions? Contact [email protected]