Writers Workshop: Jim Auchmutey

Name of class: Writing for Scene

Time: 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22. Class will last 2-3 hours.

Description: Scenes are the building blocks of narrative storytelling. Think of any book or movie you've loved, and you probably remember, second only to an indelible character, a vivid scene that captures the conflicts of the story and conveys the mood and emotions. In this class, we'll examine the art of scene-writing -- especially gleaning the telling details that put a reader there. Participants are invited to send a piece of writing to the instructor before the class. We'll also walk outside for an exercise in scene-writing during the class.

Instructor: Jim Auchmutey is the author of two books that were named Books All Georgians Should Read by the Georgia Center for the Book: The Class of '65: A Student, a Divided Town, and the Long Road to Forgiveness and Smokelore: A Short History of Barbecue in America. They both begin with scenes. He wrote for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for almost 30 years and was twice named the Cox Newspaper chain's writer of the year.