Below is our 2024 week. All classes and sessions are held at Calvin Theological Seminary.

(3233 Burton St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546)

Note the Advanced Writing (Early Bird) Class offerings for this 2024 Workshop. These have very limited spaces and fill quickly. Register soon if you are eager to add this option to your busy writing week.

Pre-Workshop Task

May 20, 2024 Participants submit their workshop submission. (See UPDATES page for details.)

NOTE: Participants who register shortly before or later than May 20 are NOT TOO LATE. Just submit your material for the Workshop Groups as soon as possible, and we'll connect you with the best workshop group for your genre.

2024 Advanced Writing

(Early Bird) Classes

Early Bird Sessions are focused, Advanced Writing classes offered Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings from 7:15-8:20 AM. You will be able to register for the workshop and an Advanced Writing (Early Bird) Class at the same time.

Yes, that's early! Bring your coffee/tea mug and we will provide "muffins".

2024 Advanced (Early Bird) Class Options with Scriptoria registration:

1. Gary Schmidt: Writing for Middle School = $95 with full week; $125 if only Early Bird class (limit 10)

2. Kevin Washburn: Advanced Editing Skills =$95 with full week; $125 if only Early Bird class (limit 15)

3. Vinita Hampton Wright: Advanced Fiction Craft =$95 with full week; $125 if only Early Bird class (limit 10)

See what people are saying about our Advanced (Early Bird) Workshops

Workshop Schedule

Scriptoria 2024 Schedule

The Workshop Week

Lectures through the day serve different purposes:

The Writing Life: explore writing habits and strategies, creative care, or topical concerns
Editor’s Chat: conversations with editors about vital issues
Genre Focus: explanation, development, focus on particular genres
Craft Applications: examine a craft element with exercises

Monday, June 10

7:45 a.m. Registration Opens/Calvin Seminary

Sign up for scheduled time slots with publishing experts

8:30 a.m. Welcome & Overview with Gary Schmidt/Seminary Chapel

Morning Prayers

9:15 a.m. Coffee Break/The Gathering Place

9:30 a.m. Workshop 1: Peer Review Master Class/Assigned Workshop Rooms

Participants attend assigned workshop class

11:00 a.m. Coffee Break/The Gathering Place

11:30 a.m. The Writer’s Life with Daniel Nayeri /Seminary Auditorium

12:30 p.m. Lunch Break

2:00 p.m. Genre Focus with Jason Stevens/Classroom 141

“Tragedy and Comedy: The Foundational Patterns of Story and Life”

What might the classic genres of tragedy and comedy teach us? Explore beyond their literary meaning to the story elements that build a tragic or a comedic plot and how these story patterns interact. Applying timeless insights from Aristotle’s Poetics, this talk will examine foundational dramatic concepts like Imitation (mimesis), Action (praxis), Reversals (peripeteia), Recognition (anagnorisis), and Catharsis. We will see how these elements that structure tragic and comic plots—action rooted in choice, aimed at a worthy end, and containing recognition (or lack thereof) of errors in judgement—are the same elements that structure and shape our lives.

Craft Applications with Dan Mancilla/Classroom 241

“More Than Words: Re-visioning the Function of Dialogue in Your Narratives”

Learn how to write natural-sounding conversations, access your characters’ inner lives through their speech, and incorporate dialogue into a well-constructed scene. We will consider some literary and cinematic uses of dialogue, discuss how and why these examples work, and practice using dialogue to greater effect in our own writing. For fiction and nonfiction writers.

3:00 p.m. Coffee Break/The Gathering Place

3:15-4:15 p.m. Writing Recess

4:15 p.m. Scheduled One-on-Ones

5:30 p.m. Dinner (Participants on own)

7:15 p.m. Reading with Daniel Nayeri/Seminary Auditorium

Tuesday, June 11

7:15 a.m. Early Bird Advanced Workshop/Limited Enrollment

1. Gary Schmidt: Writing for Middle School

2. Kevin Washburn: Advanced Editing Skills

3. Vinita Hampton Wright: Advanced Fiction Craft

8:30 a.m. Morning Prayers/Seminary Chapel

News & Updates

9:00 a.m. Workshop 2: Peer Review Master Class/Assigned Workshop Rooms

11:00 a.m. Coffee Break/The Gathering Place

11:30 a.m. The Writing Life with Dr. Neal Plantinga/Seminary Auditorium

12:30 p.m. Lunch Break/Services for Writers in Gathering Place (today only)

2:00 p.m. Proposals with Kathleen Kerr/Classroom 141

“Putting Your Heart in a Word Document: Crafting a Book Proposal”

Crafting a proposal is the weirdest kind of writing you’ll ever do. The process can feel self-congratulatory and pompous, and it can feel too heavily weighted toward business when you just want to share your story. But a proposal is an essential tool not just to get your idea in the hands of publishers, but to conceptualize what your project is all about. In this workshop, we’ll discuss the key elements of a strong book proposal, and we’ll work together on identifying your audience, crafting punchy benefit statements, and summarizing your book into an overview with a strong narrative arc.

Craft Applications with Vinita Hampton Wright/Classroom 241

“The Characters You Live With”

Delve into rich sources for characterization. Recognize the characters around you and within you. Allow them to speak their mind, and develop practices for paying attention to their details. Become freer to meet complex characters and bring them to life in story.

3:00 p.m. Coffee Break/The Gathering Place

3:15-4:15 p.m. Writing Recess

4:15 p.m. Scheduled One-on-Ones

5:30 p.m. Dinner (Participants on own)

7:15 p.m. Readings with Poet Linda Nemec Foster & Friends (Seminary Auditorium)

Open Mic for Participant Readings

Wednesday, June 12

7:15 a.m. Early Bird Advanced Workshop/Limited Enrollment

1. Gary Schmidt: Writing for Middle School

2. Kevin Washburn: Advanced Editing Skills

3. Vinita Hampton Wright: Advanced Fiction Craft

8:30 a.m. Morning Prayers/Seminary Chapel

News & Updates

9:00 a.m. Workshop 3: Peer Review Master Class/Assigned Classrooms

11:00 a.m. Coffee Break/The Gathering Place

11:30 a.m. The Writing Life with Agent Kathleen Kerr & Author Amanda Hope Haley/Seminary Auditorium

“An Agent and Her Author Talk about Writing & the Writing Biz”

12:30 p.m. Lunch Break

2:00 p.m. Genre Focus in Poetry with L.S. Klatt/Classroom 141

“What Flannery O’Connor’s Words Would Say in the Mouth of Another”

Poet L.S. Klatt will read from his forthcoming poetry book, Saint with a Peacock Voice, based on the recycled works of Flannery O’Connor. Each poem harvests language from a particular O’Connor story, essay, or letter, and recasts a subset of these words (unaltered for tense, number, or grammar) into lyric expression. These poems aren’t intended merely to restate what O’Connor has delivered already but to explore what else her diction, in another’s mouth, might say. Klatt also will discuss what he learned about O’Connor and will explore with the audience questions (aesthetic and moral) the project raises, including why anyone would want to compose in another author’s register and how authentic such an exercise can be.

Craft Application in Nonfiction with Amanda Hope Haley/Classroom 241

“Distinguishing Your Voice in Nonfiction”

In nonfiction, it isn’t enough to want to be an “author.” You must be passionate about your chosen topic, know what interests your readers, and make yourself an expert on the subject. This often means very little time is actually spent writing new content. This hour focuses on the importance of thoroughly researching primary sources, adopting a tone that makes tough information accessible to all readers, and finding the balance between your voice and your editors’ professional influences.

3:00 p.m. Coffee Break/The Gathering Place

3:15-4:15 p.m. Writing Recess

4:15 p.m. Scheduled One-on-Ones

Optional: Creative Arts session with Prof. Anna Greidanus

5:30-8:15 p.m. Dinner (Together)/The Gathering Place

A Man Had Two Daughters, Seminary Chapel

Thursday, June 13

7:15 a.m. Early Bird Advanced Workshop/Limited Enrollment

1. Gary Schmidt: Writing for Middle School

2. Kevin Washburn: Advanced Editing Skills

3. Vinita Hampton Wright: Advanced Fiction Craft

8:30 a.m. Morning Prayers/Seminary Chapel

News & Updates

9:00 a.m. Workshop 4: Peer Review Master Class/Assigned Workshop Classrooms

11:00 a.m. Coffee Break/The Gathering Place

11:30 a.m. The Writing Life Panel Discussion/Seminary Auditorium

12:30 p.m. Lunch Break

2:00 p.m. Craft Application with Debra L. Freeberg/Classroom 141

“Embodied Scripture Workshop: To Find Something True, To Understand God's Word & Share It”

How can Scripture be translated into performances for worship? In small groups, participants will gain knowledge of and then practice “embodying” Scripture, specifically Luke’s parable of The Prodigal Son. Discussion will illuminate how playwright Freeberg translates this parable into the evening performance of A Man Had Two Daughters.

Genre Focus with Michael Stevens/Classroom 241

“Wendell Berry and the Art of the Introspective Story”

This talk will explore the idiosyncratic style that Wendell Berry often uses in his fiction, with the narrative voices (both first-person and third-person) ruminating for long-stretches, both in real time and across long bounds of time, in the place of the more traditional formula of action and dialogue. Why does Berry offer such disproportionate ruminations at the center of his storytelling? And how does he avoid the pitfall of stories becoming simple philosophical and ideological mouthpieces (a charge that he has weathered over the years)? By investigating excerpts from the stories and samples of these various voices, we will discover the quiet strength and stirring intimacy of Berry's pondering style.

3:00 p.m. Coffee Break/The Gathering Place

3:15-4:15 p.m. Writing Recess

4:15 p.m. Scheduled One-on-Ones

5:30 p.m. Dinner (Participants on own)

7:15 p.m. Reading with Scriptoria Faculty (Seminary Auditorium)

Open Mic for Participant Readings

Friday, June 14

8:30 a.m. Morning Prayers/Seminary Chapel

News & Updates

9:00 a.m. Workshop 5: Final Peer Review Master Class/Assigned Workshop Classrooms

11:00 a.m. Coffee Break/The Gathering Place

11:30 a.m. The Writing Commission with Gary Schmidt/ Seminary Auditorium

The Scriptoria Awards

Lunch (Together)/Gathering Space