Hallie's back from Tuscany

HALLIEEPHRON: I’m just back from a ten days in Tuscany, teaching a writing workshop for MINERVA EDUCATION. Rhys taught there last year.

Here's me arriving at the Florence airport and being met by... just kidding, though I am at the airport.

Seriously, it’s a rare gift to get to work with a small group of writers long enough to really understand the book they’re trying to write, help them grapple with their story, and see the revisions they’re capable of. This group completely blew me away. I look forward to hosting on Jungle Red each of them on Jungle Red when they publish their books.

Here are some of a few of my take-aways:

- Alora... this is my new favorite word. Italians use it to preface just about anything they're telling you. I think it's equivalent to "So..." which is my favorite crutch word. Saying it, they stretch out the middle syllable (alorrrrra). 

- Opening scenes are brutally difficult to write. There’s so much to establish (characters, setting, situation) for the rest of the novel to work, and yet… you have to capture the reader’s attention without bogging them down with information.

- Arcs are elusive. They're what presented these writers with the biggest challenge. It’s one thing to write a great sentence of paragraph or page. It’s the arcs that kill you—the changes that take place, the before/after. Related to this is the realization that “The king died and the queen died” is not a plot; “The king died and the queen died of grief” is. (Per E. M. Forster)

Every novel needs one major and several minor overarching arcs that stretch from beginning to end. Ever scene needs one. Every main character needs one. If you know what they are when you set out to write, then you’re lucky. For most of us it’s a voyage of (painful, laborious) discovery that involves writing and rewriting and rewriting again. I felt as if in the week we worked together, these writers found their arcs.

- Uniqueness is every writer's gift. Every writer’s story is uniquely their own, even when they’re writing fiction. In this group, if you spent 10 minutes with each of the writers and then read their pages, you’d have no trouble matching the person to the work. It’s what makes their work so special but it also makes it harder to “murder your darlings.” Every single writer in this group was up to that task.

- It’s easier to critique than it is to write. ‘Nuff said.

MINERVAEDUCATION is the 6-year-old brain child of Pier Raimondo Baldini and Cajsa Baldini. They’re both professors at Arizona State University. They are charming, amazing organizers and lovers of good writing. The workshops are based in the absolutely gorgeous Hotel Colle Etrusco Salivolpi (a so called agriturismo, a converted ancient farm house). We worked most days on this porch overlooking vineyards, an Etruscan tomb, and a valley that stretched to the horizon.

The hotel is walking distance from the delightful Castellina in Chianti, with charming restaurants, churches, shops and services. We made regular pilgrimages for gelati and leather goods. Meals most nights were at a restaurant just up the road where we all fell in love with pici al cacio e pepe—fat spaghetti-like local pasta that’s rolled by hand and perfectly coated with cheese and pepper. Simple. Delicious. It's what Italian food is all about.

Alora... next year, Cajsa and Piero have lined up Ann Cleeves to instruct. All I can say is, count your pennies and if you possibly can, sign up and sign up early. When they say small group they mean small.

Have you treated yourself to a working vacation? Where did you go and, looking back, what was your before/after arc?