Sifting and Sorting: Developing Fiction from Family Anecdotes with Diane Gonzales Bertrand

Online via Zoom: Wed, July 14 & 21, 6:30-8:30pm
Cost: Nonmember $125; Member  $105; Student: $75

Who hasn’t listened to a family anecdote and thought, Wouldn’t that make a great short story or a novel? But how does the transformation begin? How do you shake the anecdote loose from its form? How do you shift from “telling” into writing? What practical tasks build confidence in your ideas as they develop?

In this class, you’ll explore a family anecdote of your own with a fiction writer’s imagination. You’ll learn how to pursue essential details; add character, setting, sequence and thematic elements; and amplify color, action, and motive as the characters move through the world you build.  Come to class with 1-2 anecdotes you want to reinvent as your next fiction project.

Diane Gonzales Bertrand currently sifts through family anecdotes, history websites, and books about San Antonio to begin work on a new novel. She recently retired as English professor and Writer-In-Residence at St. Mary’s University.  Bertrand published the award-winning novel, Trino’s Choice, its sequel, Trino’s Time, and The F Factor; a short fiction collection, There’s a Name for this Feeling and a dozen picture books.  A life-long resident of San Antonio, Bertrand teaches her fourth class for Gemini Ink.