To register for the Saturday, Feb. 3, Foolscap Writing Workshops

  1. Purchase your Foolscap membership.
  2. Email workshop@foolscap.org and tell us which of the sessions listed below you want to attend.

Space in the sessions is limited; register soon!

Workshop Sessions

We are pleased to welcome for 2018 instructors Sienna Saint-Cyr ("Building Sex Scenes with a Purpose") and Mark Teppo ("Writing Fight Scenes"). Note that the Saturday evening "Sex Scenes" workshop will be limited to attendees 18 or older — be prepared to be carded!

10 - noon

Them's Fightin' Words

Join Mark Teppo for a few hours of talking about fighting. Writing fight scenes in fiction can be an incredibly daunting task, especially when there are many, many ways to do it poorly. Mr. Teppo has spent a lot of time translating fight choreography into written scenes (for better and worse), and he's going to take you through a hands-on seminar about how to make your fight scenes sing.

Instructor: Mark Teppo

Mark Teppo is the author of more than a dozen novels that run the gamut from historical adventure fiction, eco-thrillers, urban fantasy, and experimental narrative. Recently, he was the showrunner for The Foreworld Sag, which involved a great deal of collaborative world-building and getting hit on the head a lot with a sword. He is a synthesist, a trouble-shooter (and -maker), a cat herder, and an idea man. His favorite Tarot card is the Moon, and he has a preference for Fiore dei Liberi's style of longsword fighting.

7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

Building Sex Scenes with a Purpose

Sex scenes vary depending on genre, desired tone, and the author’s purpose for adding sex into their story. Will the scene reveal deep, emotional aspects of the characters? Is the sex there to leave the reader pleasantly turned on when they close the book? The workshop will address tone, word choice to fit the genre, details vs. fading to black, keeping the scene believable, and how including a sex scene can add depth to a story. Authors will have the opportunity to tease apart the purpose of their sex scene, including the mechanics needed depending on genre and the reason for the scene, then work toward writing their scene.

Instructor: Sienna Saint Cyr

Sienna Saint-Cyr writes erotic and romantic fiction for the Love Slave series, Sexy Little Pages, Melt, Haunt, and the Getting It series. She also writes nonfiction and flash fiction for several naughty and delicious websites that shall not be named. Sienna owns and edits for SinCyr Publishing, an erotica company with a focus on shifting rape culture one sexy story at a time. She also runs a nonprofit writing workshop and writes dark SF and literary fiction under her legal name.

Remember: To register for the Writers Workshop, buy your Foolscap membership and then email workshop@foolscap.org. Space is limited; register soon.