Writing With the Anxiety Curve
 1-30 Nov, 2008  
Course Cost: $30

INSTRUCTOR: Sally Walker

CLASS DESCRIPTION:  Living Creatures survive because they respond to threats to their status quo. Human beings have the capacity to reason HOW they need to respond by considering the potential consequences of their choices. Stress causes many degrees of anxiety according to the person's awareness of those consequences. Thus human beings function somewhere on "The Anxiety Curve" with uncaring Apathy at one end and totally thoughtless Panic at the other. Normal humans day-in, day-out swing from one side of the curve to the other, never lingering, always seeking balance that has been disrupted by change. But the magic of good storytelling is that the writer can REALLY disrupt the balance and challenge the character. The responses to that challenge is the story.

This four-part program will discuss building plot and character according to "The Anxiety Curve." Participants will examine concepts of what elements have the most anxiety potential to motivate fictional characters. Next they will focus on how lead characters can be given depth through their coping mechanisms and awareness. The third session will look at creating the ebb-and-flow of subplots through supporting cast's responses to anxiety. The final session will then discuss how to bring all the characterizations together to create the most suspenseful, anxiety-driven plot from the set of circumstances the writer has chosen. The final session will provide an review and specific suggestions for student-stated problems.

Lesson Plans

• Nov 3, Lesson One: Basic Concepts of Character Anxiety
• Nov 6, Lesson Two: Developing Lead Character Anxiety
• Nov 10, Lesson Three: Supporting Cast & Subplot Anxiety
• Nov 13, Lesson Four: Pacing the Anxiety-Ridden Plot
• Nov 17, Review & Conclusion

Lesson Format:  Definitions, Elaboration, Examples,  Definitive Directives, Concluding Exercises  Sally's responses to posted  questions will be shared with the entire student list, though students can ask questions of her off-list.

INSTRUCTOR BIO:  When Sally Walker started her full-time writing career over twenty years ago, she quickly won acclaim for her stage plays & screenplays, internationally published poetry, non-fiction, and fiction.  Amazon.com lists her novels, as well as two adult literacy anthologies, TELL ME OF LOVE and THE REAL WEST, containing her work.

Currently she is Editorial Director for The Fiction Works, a small publishing company now in partnership with the renowned special effects studio WonderWorks to develop TFW material for the film industry. After six years of writing craft articles for SCREENTALK magazine, she has been hired as a staff writer for the international magazine MOVIESCOPE out of London.  

Recommended for her analytical skills by members of the UCLA Film Department, she serves as a screenplay judge for one film festival and a national competition. Signed with both a literary agent and a screenplay agent, she maintains a rigid writing schedule and has written 23 screenplays to date. Her writing affiliations include a 21-year-old study-critique group called the Nebraska Writers Workshop, Romance Writers of America, Western Writers of America, the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. She is the '07-09 President of the prestigious Nebraska Writers Guild. Sally presents writing seminars on a regular basis for her local community college and has taught at RT's annual convention and on-line for KOD. 

REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE: Click Here