[NEohioPAL] Chagrin Valley Writers' Workshop Winter Session

[Scott Lax]

The Chagrin Valley Writers’ Workshop

"The CVWW"

www.scottlax.com • info at scottlax.com

"The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we  
are unable to say.”
- Anaïs Nin

  Workshops, Seminars, Lectures, Manuscript & Screenplay Consultations

In Chagrin Falls Village, Ohio

* * *

2010 Winter Session Offerings at the CVWW

Workshop 1. HOW TO TELL A STORY: Find, Translate, Shape

Cost: $250 for six sessions

Consecutive Tuesdays from 7:15 PM until 9:15 PM. Jan. 5, 12, 19, 26;  
Feb. 2 & 9.



How do you access the writer inside yourself – your “writerly  
self”? How do you use the written word to tell the stories you want  
– and need – to tell? Using Scott Lax’s FTS Writing Method,  
students are encouraged and coached to Find their story; to Translate  
the story into written words; and finally to Shape their story into a  
potentially publishable work of nonfiction or fiction. An important  
aspect of this workshop is that Scott Lax can help students think like  
writers and integrate how they write with who they are. Each class is  
different; each class is challenging. There are writing exercises,  
lectures, free-form discussion, and more. To learn how students have  
benefited from Scott’s method, go to www.scottlax.com and click on  
“Teaching and Testimonials.”
LIMIT: 15 STUDENTS PER SESSION. Register early to assure your spot.

* * *

Workshop 2. MANUSCRIPT WORKSHOP: See Your Work with Fresh Eyes

Cost: $300 for six sessions plus one-on-one manuscript critique

Consecutive Saturdays from 1 PM until 3 PM. Jan. 9, 16,23, 30; Feb. 6  
& 13.


Students must submit a ten to twenty-page nonfiction or fiction  
manuscript for this workshop. Each student will receive a one-hour all- 
class workshop critique led and participated in by Scott Lax. This is  
a serious but courteous workshop, where students may gain tremendous  
insight into their work, and move to new levels of writing.


LIMIT: TEN STUDENTS PER SESSION. Register early to assure your spot.

* * *

TESTIMONIAL: “Scott Lax is a gifted teacher and writer who manages to  
bring knowledge and sensitivity to the critiquing process. His  
insights and commentary foster a nurturing workshop environment within  
which noticeable creative progress can be and is achieved. The number  
of returning students who repeat his workshops is a testament to his  
skill and appeal as both an instructor and purveyor of the written  
word.” – Michael Ferrari, two-time student of Scott Lax and the  
author of Born to Fly, winner of the 2007 Delacorte Yearling Award for  
middle grade fiction. Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Reviews and Booklist  
critically acclaimed his novel. (Please see Teaching & Testimonials at www.scottlax.com 
  for more.)


NEW & EXCLUSIVE TO THE CVWW

  									3. PRODUCER SCREENPLAY ANALYSIS WITH TYLER DAVIDSON
Cost: $300

Description:  Award-winning producer Tyler Davidson will review  
students’ completed feature film screenplays, providing detailed,  
written “script notes” consistent with the highest film industry  
standards.  This evaluation will include an assessment of the  
screenplay’s technical elements, such as format, dialogue, action and  
description; story structure; character development; tone; the  
script’s overall effectiveness relative to the writer’s intent; and  
an appraisal of its financial and production prospects in the current  
marketplace.  After considering the notes, students will meet with  
Tyler one-on-one for further discussion of their screenplay.

NEW & EXCLUSIVE TO THE CVWW

4. MANUSCRIPT LINE EDIT & CONSULTATION WITH SCOTT LAX

Do you have an essay, short story, nonfiction manuscript or novel that  
needs something – but you’re not sure what – before you send it  
out to agents, editors or publishers? Scott Lax will read your  
manuscript, line edit it, and suggest possible changes in plot,  
character development, setting, pacing, dialogue or, where  
appropriate, leave it alone and let you know what works. Consultations  
are based on Scott Lax’s availability and initial consultation as to  
whether he thinks he can be of help.

The fee for this service is $5.00/page, with a 20-page minimum and 400- 
page maximum. The service includes a post-edit and written report  
consultation, not to exceed one hour for book-length manuscripts, and  
half-hour for short story and essays.

ABOUT SCOTT LAX

FICTION: Scott Lax recently completed his second novel, Village  
Triangle. His first novel, The Year That Trembled, was called  
“Powerful,” and named one of 1998’s best works of fiction by The  
Denver Post. He was awarded the Walter E. Dakin Fellowship in Fiction  
Award from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference for the novel, which was  
the Vermont Novel of the Year, runner-up.
FILM: Scott Lax was source-writer and producer for the feature film,  
The Year That Trembled, called “The most important movie of the  
year” by the Ithaca Times. Released in theaters in 2002, it is now in  
international DVD release. He is the winner of four international film  
festival awards, including “Midwest Filmmaker of the Year.”
PLAYWRITING: As a playwright, Scott Lax had his adaptation of The Year  
That Trembled debut at University School in 2003. Critic Julie Hoke  
wrote, “A classic coming-of-age story…kudos on an ambitious and  
successful world premier.”
NONFICTION: In nonfiction, Lax is the first-place winner of the 2009  
Best Essay, 2009 Best Feature, and second-place 2009 Best Series from  
the Ohio Professional Writers. He won honorable mention for best  
single essay at the 2007 Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards. Scott  
was the 1993 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Bernard J. O’Keefe  
Scholar in Nonfiction.
TEACHING: Scott Lax has taught, lectured, and been writer-in-residence  
at schools, universities and writers’ conferences throughout the  
country, such as the Wildacres Writers Workshop in NC, The Western  
Reserve Writers Conference, and University School. In 2008, The Hub  
City Writers Project of South Carolina announced The Scott Lax Prize,  
an annual, full-ride scholarship to the Wildacres Writers Workshop.  
The prize, established in 2008, is underwritten by Hillcrest  
Publications of Spartanburg, SC “to honor novelist Scott Lax of  
Ohio." Scott Lax’s FTS Writing Method is exclusive to his workshops.

ABOUT FILM PRODUCER TYLER DAVIDSON

Tyler Davidson is the co-founder and principal of the Los Angeles- 
based production company Strange Matter Films, and an award-winning  
feature film producer who has worked extensively in many areas of film  
and television production.  He most recently produced the acclaimed  
feature “Swedish Auto,” the 2007 Cleveland International Film  
Festival Opening Night presentation, now in distribution with IFC  
Films, which stars January Jones (of AMC TV’s smash hit “Mad  
Men”) and Lukas Haas (“Witness”).  Variety called the film “A  
study in state-of-the-art indie filmmaking.”
Davidson, who graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in  
English, began his entertainment career in 1998 with Ohio-based Novel  
City Pictures, where he served as senior vice president and producer  
of the award-winning feature “The Year That Trembled,” based on the  
novel by Scott Lax.  Among other honors for the film, Davidson  
received the Midwest Independent Filmmaker of the Year Award at the  
2002 Cleveland International Film Festival. He subsequently served as  
president of the LA-based film and television production company, the  
Lab Entertainment Group, overseeing the company’s full slate of  
projects, including the documentary, “Hitting the High Notes: 2004  
High Sierra Music Festival,” for CMH Records.

Davidson has read nearly a thousand screenplays in his career, working  
through the script development process with dozens of professional  
writers.  He is currently developing several feature films with  
Strange Matter Films, including “Shelter,” “A Complete  
Unknown,” and “The Bar Mitzvah King.”

HOW TO REGISTER:

  E-mail info at scottlax.com to request registration form, payment  
information, classroom location and any other questions. Students must  
be at least 18 years old. Repeating Scott Lax students receive a 10%  
discount. Register before December 1, 2009 to receive a 10% discount.



  
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