Workshops & Presentations, Writing Consultation
"GLOWING! You gave one of the best, most articulate presentations about writing I have ever experienced, at any venue. I highly recommend you to writers’ groups and as a conference keynote. Your perspective is very grounding,
informative, inspiring, and current. Write on!"
—Cindy Pavlinac, Vice President, California Writers Club Marin Branch
"The Writing Mamas have had lots of authors talk to our group over the last four years. Molly Dwyer was one of our favorites. She is so approachable; her words of wisdom make sense; she is funny, as well as generous in sharing the story of her struggle and her ultimate success in getting published. Some writers just have "it." Molly is one of them."
— Dawn Yun, Founder, The Writing Mamas @ Book Passage, Marin County
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Fireside Chats
Story Stalking: Synchronicity & Dream
SYNCHRONICITY is meaningful coincidence, an inexplicable paralleling of inner and outer events. Dreams often portend synchronicity and feed it. Furthermore, there's usually a pot of gold at the end of the synchronicity rainbow—especially for writers. Molly will discuss how to recognize, encourage and respond to synchronicity and dreams. She'll share how they have helped her discover deeper truths and more powerful storylines.
Paris Anyone?
CREATING THE ATMOSPHERE of place and time is central to believability in fiction. Molly will discuss strategies for research from the internet to travel. She’ll discuss her writing-related experiences in Europe, England and Asia, and talk about how story emerges for her out of the land, the architecture, and the artifacts of the past.
Workshops & Seminars
Apprenticing the Masters
WHAT MAKES IT WORK? What keeps us turning pages? Why has it lasted? Good writers are influenced by good writing—we learn from outstanding literature. In this workshop, we’ll analyze a selection of audio excerpts with an ear to understanding what makes for remarkable storytelling. We’ll explore the expertise and creative insights of the greats, and write variations and improvisations of our own: mimicking, imitating, deviating, discovering our capacity for creativity and daring through mindful apprenticeship.Apprenticing the Masters II: Dialogue
USING AUDIO BOOK EXCERPTS, we’ll examine how the masters create and annotate dialogue to expose character and plot. We'll explore dialogue as a means of getting beyond the blank page, using exercises and techniques that exploit conversation to capture character, atmosphere and sense of place. We’ll look at the movement between conversation, action and reflection, and practice the art of finding balance between the natural flow of conversation and the forward movement of the storyline.
Story Stalking: The Workshop
SYNCHRONICITY is meaningful coincidence, an inexplicable paralleling of inner and outer events. Learning to recognize, encourage and respond to synchronicity and dreams is central to powerful storytelling. Through hands-on exercises, we'll explore synchronicity as a source of creative insight and inspiration, and see how it deepens the truth and power of any storyline.Story Stalking II: Archeology & History
CREATING AUTHENTIC EXPRESSIONS of time and place is central to believability in any work of fiction. Molly will offer strategies for research from the internet to travel. The workshop will focus on tracking historical accuracy in voice, manner and setting. Molly will share her writing-related experiences in Europe, England and Asia, and present hands-on exercises that will challenge participants to find stories in the land, the architecture, and the artifacts at hand.
Healing the Wounded Imagination
DESIGNED TO STRENGHEN THE IMAGINATION, this writing workshop is not about the creation of external “product,” but rather about the process of internal alchemy. Our port of call is the nexus where our private inner world bumps against the creativity inherent in the universe—that mysterious font of synchronicity. Our medium is language and story, the written and spoken word; our goal, the magic and power of authentic creativity.It Takes a Village: Critique Facilitation
NEED FEEDBACK ON YOUR LATEST WRITING PROJECT? Writing grows under the influence of sensitive, in-depth critique. Molly is available to facilitate writing group meetings where participants present writing and everyone engages in the process of evaluation. The focus is on improving writing through revision, and on learning how to offer meaningful and supportive critique.Presentations & Slide Shows
MARY SHELLEY
& THE ROMANTIC IMAGINATION
ACCORDING TO THE ROMANTICS, expressions of creative genius not only reflect our ability to create new unity out of existing things, but to become one with the source of all, that which brings nonexistence into existence. Romanticism tell us that neither the human, nor human imagination stands apart from Nature, that imagination has been present as the power in Nature from the beginning of creation. Imagination is a force, a capacity, not simply to produce imagery, but to manifest, to visualize or speak into being. And God said, let there be light: and there was light. John Keats is credited with some of the most famous—and analyzed—lines about the Romantic Imagination: “I am certain,” he wrote, “of nothing but of the holiness of the Heart’s affections and the truth of the Imagination—what the imagination seizes as Beauty must be Truth—whether it existed before or not… The imagination may be compared to Adam’s dream—he awoke and found it truth.” Keats is referring to Milton’s, Paradise Lost, (VIII, 460-490) where Adam dreams of the creation of Eve, and awakes to find her there.
THE ROMANTIC IMAGINATION is not a human capacity, so much as is the human aptitude for experiencing mystical union, or in more secular terminology, aligning oneself with the creativity of the universe. For the Romantic, imagination is the generating force of the universe. William Blake explained it thus: imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow. Romantic Imagination emerges from the nexus of human consciousness and the fertile void that birthed the Big Bang—what religion calls the Divine.
SYNCHRONICITY & SENSIBILITÉ
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.—Goethe
SYNCHRONICITY IS MEANINGFUL COINCIDENCE, an inexplicable paralleling of inner and outer events, and there’s usually a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow—especially if you’re a writer. Committing yourself to a story can awaken synchronicity. Mysterious coincidences begin to occur, forming a fragile, but identifiable structure of guidance and inspiration that can lead to unforeseeable incidents, meetings, and magic—both inside and outside the confines of your manuscript. Molly will share how she learned to recognize and respond to synchronicity, and how it helped her discover deeper truths as she researched her newly released novel Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein, about the life of Mary Shelley.
HEALING THE WOUNDED IMAGINATION
BY UNDERSTANDING THE MIND and its relationship to the cosmos as a whole, we can strengthen our capacity to create. Molly puts cosmology in play in this exploration of the nexus where one's inner world bumps against the creativity inherent in the universe—that mysterious font of synchronicity. Using language & story, visual art, and music, Molly sheds light on the magic and power of authentic creativity. She focuses on how each of us can deepen our capacity to consciously participate in the unfolding creativity of the universe and ride the waves of creativity that are moving in our midst.
- One-on-One: Writing instruction, coaching, mentoring & support—both for academic and creative work, fiction or nonfiction.
- Editing: manuscripts & articles, fiction and nonfiction
Molly has been an educator for twenty years. Besides book signings, she is available for presentations, slide shows, workshops, seminars, fireside chats and panel discussions. If you're interested in having Molly speak to your book club, writers group, English or Women's Study class, or at a literary or writing conference, book festival, fundraiser or other public event, please contact her. If you don't see a topic that suits your needs, Molly will work with you to design a custom event. Contact her at molly@mollydwyer.com.
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