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/ '" > . | 649 FOURTH UNE, OAKVIUi, 905-815-8444 Skinless C h icken $ g 9 9 Breast Cutlets s^tTkg. See the W eek-end papa tor more speauJs Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 5559) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: rjerred@haltonsearch.com ARTSME ' train I W Hurls CURRENT POW ER M ACHINERY IN C . 1661 Lakeshore Rd. M LH H Peter C. McCusker · Oakville Beaver Brian Henry, above left, was in Oakville recently to lead his w orkshop titled 17 Secrets o f Writing Great Fiction. The creative w riting teacher at Rverson University and G eorge Brown College offered a variety of tips to his eager audience. Above, centre, C ynthia Aston listens carefully to H enry's advice, while Nancy H endricks gets going w ith h er initial d raft of a story. The w orkshop was conducted at the Oakville C entral L ibrary. Aspiring writers gather to hear tips from a pro C reative w ritin g tea ch er im p a rts w o rd s o f w isd o m throu gh fic tio n w o rksh o p s By Craig MacBride SPECIAL TO THE <)AKVILLE BEAVER early 50 eager, aspiring writers gathered recently at the Central Library to learn how to write great stories. Led by Brian Henry, a creative writ ing teacher at Ryerson University and George Brow n College, the 17 Secrets o f Writing Great Fiction workshop left most participants with a renewed enthu siasm for their works-in-progress. Henry's clear and simple tips left many scratching their heads, amazed not only by the obviousness of the secrets, but by the fact that they, them selves. hadn't realized them before. N "People are reading for the scenes." Henry told the group, made up of main ly older people, who always wanted to write but only recently found the time to do so. Since the scenes are what people read for. the narrative. Henry said, is what holds the scenes together and makes the scenes worthwhile. "Every scene must advance the plot." he said, "through complication, threat, promise or decision." It didn't take long for the class to open up. teasing one another and laugh ing together about ideas for the small scenes Henry asked them to write. When one woman, asked for an idea for a scene with two characters, offered "a female doctor and a male nurse." a man in the room quickly quipped, "issues." The issues com m ent became an ongoing, lighthearted gag among the group. The loose atmosphere was estab lished early by Henry, who worked a lot of humour into the workshop and stopped to answer questions in mid-sentence. making the class into more of a discussion than a lecture. During a break. Henry said "the interesting part is not the teaching part, but working with the writers and dis cussing the plots. Henry, who leads seminars every weekend, except during August and December, enjoys the seminars, which he has been holding for seven years. He conducts workshops from Kingston and Sudbury to Hamilton, giving people the necessary tools to get the stories from their minds onto the page. Tammy, who did not wish to give her last name, attended the seminar. She is a nurse and mother by day. and she was hoping that Henry could help her write a novel loosely based around her life caring for sick children. "1 want the story to be realistic, because really tough things happen there." Tammy said before the work shop. "But at the same lime. I want it to have a good message, so people aren't totally depressed." Henry couldn't go as far as imagin ing the stories for the students, but his secrets for literary success were helpful. "Make each o f your characters inter esting, unique. Every character, includ ing the characters that are in just one paragraph." Henry said. "Make them passionate about some thing. We don't remember names, but . we remember quirks." Henry's 17 Secrets o f Writing Great Fiction alone won't turn anyone into Hemingway, but they do point writers in the right direction, giving an outline for what makes great stories work. Henry will be back in the area for another seminar in the near future. He's at Oakville Central Library for How to Write Great Characters, on July 12 . The seminar begins at 1 p.m. and costs S32. G row ing so cial g rou p o ffe rs ta s te fu l even ts Oakville Wme Society' provides ch a n ce to network and m eet other like-minded e n th u s ia s ts By Liz Campbell SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Just about a year ago, the Oakville Beaver ran a story about a small group of people who wanted to start a wine society. "We had such an incredible response, we ended up with 110 mem bers with 50 more on the waiting list," says Pam Palmer, one of the founders. During its first year, the group was constrained by the size o f the space available for its meetings. But recently they found a new venue at the Hilton Garden Inn and decided to expand the membership. So pay attention, wine lovers. The Oakville Wine Society meets monthly except for July, August and December, and each meeting features w ine tastings as well as an opportunity "It's really people like me who don't know a lot about wines and want to taste some good ones before buying. The atmosphere is very relaxed. W e're all there to enjoy the evening." In fact, for most, the club has become very much a social group. For many it's even a networking opportuni ty, but for all. it's a means to meet oth ers who are also enthusiasts and to learn more about their favourite tipple, wine. At every' meeting, a distributor or winery provides an expert or wine con sultant who can talk knowledgeably about the different vintages they will be tasting. These are always entertaining, says Palmer and not the sort of dry intellectual discussion she had feared they might be. "W e've had some o f the funniest presentations." she says. "We learn and we taste." Notable meetings this year have included a tasting of vintage cham pagnes and a lesson about the bubbly beverage. Another brought the chance to taste six wines w hich rated a score of 90 per cent or higher by world wine connoisseurs. These were selected vintages which were very' much out of the ordinary and the opportunity to taste them all was a rare privilege says Palmer. Indeed, the club has had opportuni ties to taste wines which have had lim ited circulation or which come from private reserves. Some have not yet been released in the market. The wines they taste are often pro vided by the wineries or distributors and may come from many different parts of the world. "They're actually asking us about doing tastings," says Palmer. "They recognize that Oakville is the right dem ographic for them. Even the Vintages shop here sells a lot of wine." Membership in the Oakville Wine Society involves an initiation fee of $30 which goes towards helping the club to build up its own wine cellar. The annual fee of $75 per year pays for the monthly food and wine tastings. Occasionally, members have to pay a little extra for the evening, as with the two events above which featured cham pagnes and rare wines. Members can bring a guest to the meeting - there's a charge of $10 for the visitor for regular meetings. The first meeting of the 2003/2004 season took place last Friday. Thomas & Vaughn Vintners presented its `Big Bold Reds' - an opportunity to sample some really superb red wines. A limited number o f membership places are now available. For more information, check the Web site at w ww.oakvillewinetasting. homestead, c om or e-mail them at oakvillewine@ hotmail.com. Barrie Erskine · Oakville Beaver Pam Palm er, founding d irecto r of the O akville W ine Society, D m ytro M arushkevych, also a founding director. Ruth M onkm an. m em bership co o rdinator. Peter H ow ard, food and beverage director at the Hilton G arden Inn. and Cindy Sim m ons, director of sales for Hilton G ard en Inn g ather to prom ote the O ak\ilIe W ine Society . to hear experts talk. And w ines are always served in Waterford Vintage stemware. According to experts, fine crystal enhances the wine tasting experience, But, stresses Palmer, this is not an elite group. "It's not snooty at all." she laughs. E m a il a w a t e r fig h t b e fo r e e v e ry o n e 's d ry . C o g e c o H igh Speed Internet. Share pictures faster w ith fa m ily an d friends. Call 1- 8 6 6 - 5 4 8 - 0 1 0 0 n o w o r visit w w w . c o g e c o . c o m / m y s p e e d T h e r e ' s m o re in y o u r c a b le