Writing Co-Lab

Join screenwriter/teacher Lauren Veloski for a 2-hour writing “playdate” filled with all the upending possibilities of the speculative genre. The spooky season surrounding Halloween is of course primetime for ghouls and monsters and menace. We can ALSO consider this time of year a portal for ALL flavors of stretched and scrambled reality. This workshop is your invitation to peer more deeply through the looking glass towards Maximum Expansion in your writing. Together, we’ll try our hands at the speculative genre—moving your craft towards curious, irreverent, and fantastically unhinged ideas!

A “realistic” ( = genre-less) rendering of life presents rooms just as we expect them, skies just as we expect them, the sun setting on an infallible clock, the moon rising with no complaint or rebellion, and on and on.

The moment something “strange” is afoot, we’re suddenly on new terrain—which feels

dangerous. It’s why so many of the “speculative genres” are about fear. But dropping the floor out from beneath your characters is about more than scare tactics—it’s the gateway to unlocking your wildest imagination and sharpening your narrative choices. Even non-fiction writers can benefit from “spooky” play!

Together we’ll:
—Demystify speculative writing by looking at the writing in vital, pop culture artifacts like “Widow’s Bay,” “Severance,” “Stranger Things,” “Donnie Darko,” and more.
—Challenge genre exclusivity/gatekeeping by dispelling the assumed “rules” of the speculative genre.
—Practice disrupting the sturdiness of “realistic writing” with “ONE THING AMISS” thinking. Simply flipping a switch on one aspect of the “ordinary” transports your reader/viewer into genre rebellion.

Everything is possible if we aren’t afraid to reshape “the facts” into “the fantastical.”

To get there, we’ll:
—Do bite-sized (but big-hearted) generative WRITING EXERCISES using fun & freeing PROMPTS
—Share any fears & insecurities about pushing beyond our comfort zone into blazing GENRE
—Notice where the “UNREAL” meets the “UNCANNY” and hone this special sauce for our own inventions
—Celebrate the POWER-INVERTING POSSIBILITY of “the spooky” by spitballing reality-inverting premises!

This is not a screenwriting class, and NO screenwriting experience is necessary! “Spooks, Portals, & the Upside-Down” is open to ALL writers. Come ready to play!