Join award-winning author Whitney Scharer for the Concord Festival of Authors 2020 Historical Fiction Writing Workshop online! All CFA 2020 Writing Workshops are sponsored by Be Well Be Here.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21 at 4:00 - 5:30 pm Register for your Zoomline
Turning Fact into Fiction
Historical novels based on real people or real events abound, but incorporating historical events and figures into a narrative can be complicated and confusing. Writers wonder: how much research do I have to do? How can I successfully write about a place and time that feels utterly different from my own life? What are the rules for fictionalizing the life of a real person? The truth is that there’s no one right way to write fiction about the past, but there are tools and guidelines you can use to be comfortable with your choices. In this interactive talk, we’ll discuss the purpose of historical fiction, take a look at some examples of successful projects, discuss research techniques, and more.
Space is limited at a discounted rate of $15. Apply for a scholarship here.
Whitney Scharer’s first novel, The Age of Light, based on the life of pioneering photographer Lee Miller, was a Boston Globe and IndieNext bestseller and named one of the best books of 2019 by Parade, Glamour Magazine, Real Simple, Refinery 29, Booklist and Yahoo. Internationally, The Age of Light won Le prix Rive Gauche à Paris, was a coups de couer selection from the American Library in Paris, and has been published or is forthcoming in over a dozen other countries.
Whitney has been awarded residencies at the Virginia Center for the Arts and Ragdale, a St. Botolph Emerging Artists Grant, and a Somerville Arts Council Artists Fellowship. Her short fiction, essays, and interviews have appeared in numerous publications including Vogue, The Telegraph, The Tatler, and Bellevue Literary Review. She holds a BA in English Literature from Wesleyan University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington. Whitney teaches fiction in the Boston area and is a co-founder of the Arlington Author Salon, a quarterly reading series. For more information, visit WhitneyScharer.com
