Sunshine Place launches a new creative writing workshop beginning January 26, 2023.
Prof. Oscar Peñaranda, Instructor of Sunshine Place’s most attended and well-loved Memoir workshops at Sunshine Place collaborates once more with Sunshine Place in this blended workshop (mix of online and in-person sessions) that consists of seven sessions scheduled on January 26, February 9, 16 and 23, and March 2, 9, and 16, 2023 from 10:00 am — 12:00 noon.
Through this Short Story Writing Blended Workshop at Sunshine Place, Senior Recreation Center students will be able to have a chance to learn about literary techniques for crafting interesting and captivating stories that will engage readers.
Participants will discover the difference between memoir and short story writing. They will explore the answers to what is fact-telling and how far does it stray from the truth when there is a biased storyteller.
This workshop is also recommended to participants of Sunshine Place’s Level 1 and 2 Memoir Writing Workshops and Pre-Conference Writing Workshop who have honed their writing skills.
In fact-telling, one can just say, ‘hey, don’t doubt me. It happened’. But in a story, one cannot say, ‘it happened, so it does not matter whether it is plausible or not!’ One has to show why it was believable that it happened. On the former (what actually happened), the emphasis is on the unusual; on the latter (fiction), the emphasis is on plausibility.
Writing short stories is a great way to exercise one’s story-telling skills. In this workshop, participants will learn about the elements of a story and ways to interpret them.
They will understand how to read stories as they are writing them, and write them as they are reading.
Oscar Peñaranda, an award-winning short-story writer, poet, essayist, playwright, and educator, will be conducting another batch of a six-session memoir writing workshop.
Peñaranda is a recipient of Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas Award, a prestigious award given by the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL). He earned his B.A. in Literature & M. A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. He helped found the San Francisco Chapter of the Filipino American Historical Society and was its first President.
For inquiries please call T. (632) 856-4144 / 856-4162 and M. (+63917) 515-5656 or email: online.sunshineplace@gmail.com.