Mature Topics in Young Adult Literature

Cory Doctorow has a new article arguing the mature subjects such as sex have a valuable place in young adult books.

There’s really only one question: “Why have your characters done something that is likely to upset their parents, and why don’t you punish them for doing this?”Now, the answer.

First, because teenagers have sex and drink beer, and most of the time the worst thing that results from this is a few days of social awkwardness and a hangover, respectively. When I was a teenager, I drank sometimes. I had sex sometimes. I disobeyed authority figures sometimes.

Next Workshop – Nov 1st

Hello to everyone whose seen our book Every Second Sunday, or heard me on the radio, seen news articles, or what have you.  Our next workshop is on November 1st, from 1-5pm at Hello Beans Cafe in Itaewon.  Check out the details on Facebook here.

The format works like this.  Members who want their writing critiqued need to upload the file (in .doc, ,pdf or .txt) to our private network by Thursday at 9am.   Members who will be attending should download the files and mark them up with grammar, spelling, and other points.  On Sunday, we will begin with a short writing prompt exercise (assuming there are not too many submissions, in which case we will skip that), then go through the pieces one by one.  If there are more than 10 submissions, we will divide the group into two pods with half the writers in each group.

If you have any questions, please email us at seoulwriters@gmail.com.

Next Workshop

Our next workshop will be on October 18th from 1-5pm at Hello Beans Cafe in Itaewon.  If you are on Facebook, you can view the event info here.

Submissions may be up to 3000 words. Fiction, poetry, screenplays, or creative non-fiction are acceptable. We ask that members do no submit magazine or newspaper articles, school assignments, or textbook material for critique.
Documents should be in .doc, .rtf, or .pdf formats. Some people cannot open .docx files.

Please note: new members are more than welcome to attend and observe/critique, but cannot submit at their first meeting. We always look forward to welcoming new writers!

Submissions must be uploaded by 9am Thursday morning. Anything not uploaded by this time will not be considered for discussion.

Please read all the submissions, ESPECIALLY if you have written something for discussion.
Also, please do not submit writings that are substantially over the word limit. A little leeway is given for finishing a scene, but please be considerate.

If you submit something to the discussion, PLEASE ATTEND. If you can not attend, please post that on the message so people do not waste time reading something that will not be discussed.

Launch Party Map

Launch Party

Good Novels Don’t Have to Be Hard

Found this over at Boing Boing:  Good Books Don’t Have to Be Hard

Author Lev Grossman examines a trend in book sales; well reviewed literary fiction like Nam Le’s The Boat sell very few books, but Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series sell boatloads.  Are reader being lazy, or is something else going?  Grossman argues that, in fact, most readers are looking for good, old fashion storytelling.  The article is worth reading, even if you just want to get good and angry.

Scavenger Hunt Ad

Here is the ad for our Scavenger Hunt on September 12th.

Scavenger Hunt! September 12th

Seoul Writers’ Workshop is proud to present Scavenger Hunt 2009!

The event will be on September 12th.

Calling all performance artists, Seoul experts, photographers, video makers and anyone else out for a good time!

Show off your creative talents – there will be twenty items to collect, twenty photos/videos to be taken and twenty riddles/questions to be answered.

Start: 12:30pm for a 1pm ‘Go!’ at Hello Beans Cafe, Itaewon (Exit 1 Itaewon Station, walk straight – it is between the Nike and Adidas Stores).
Finish: Solutions to be in by 6pm at Tony’s Aussie Bar and Bistro, Itaewon (see map to be posted later). Points to be tallied and winners announced as soon as tally is completed (by 7pm).

Teams: Max. five people per team.
Prizes: Members of the winning team will each receive a prize pack including vouchers, books, tickets to events towards the end of the year and stacks more goodies!

Entry: 8,000 won per person OR for 10,000 receive a pre-purchase coupon for the 2009 edition of Every Second Sunday (the SWW anthology) and entry to the scavenger hunt.

Profits from the event will be going to MoonBears.org (working to stop the bear bile trade in Korea) and the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Centre (advocacy and support for Korean nationals and foreigners who are subject to sexual violence).

Keep checking back for details on how your team can gain bonus points, and for further details on our fabulous prizes!

See you there!

Note: Thanks to Tony’s Aussie Bar and Bistro and Hello Beans for their generosity – we greatly appreciate their continued support!

Cover Design Contest

After much deliberation (i.e. several beers), we have chosen to keep the name Every Second Sunday for our annual publication. We hope that this will establish something of a brand for the anthology.

To that end, we are happy to announce a contest for the cover art. Flex your artistic muscles and come up with an interesting, arresting image for our cover.
Details:
* The title is Every Second Sunday.
* The text “2009 Anthology”, “Seoul Writers Workshop” as well as the SWW Circle logo should appear. You can download the logo here: http://bindlestiffs.com/images/misc/sww_logo.jpg
http://bindlestiffs.com/images/misc/sww_logo.psd
* “Edited by Angela McLaughlin” must be included.
* The exact size has not yet been finalized, but should be similar to last year’s dimensions: 170mm x 230mm.
* Files can be submitted as either PDF, PSD, or AI, with 300dpi. Email your entry to seoulwriters@gmail.com
* The images you submit should be of your own creation. DO NOT use images or artwork without permission! The winning entry will be considered property of Seoul Writers Workshop and cannot be used for any commercial purpose while the anthology remains in print (1 year, typically). Ownership or entries that are not selected revert to their individual owners.
* The contest is open to members of Seoul Writers Workshop, or individuals living in Korea. If you have an artistic friend who is not a SWW member, please let them know about the contest. Collaboration is also acceptable.

The deadline for the contest is midnight, September 5th. The winning contestant will receive a gift certificate for a local restaurant and 2 movie passes, as well as acknowledgment in the anthology.

Night of a Thousand Plays

Pamela from Seoul Players alerted me to this opportunity for writers going on now: Night of a 1000 Plays.

The actual event will be in October, but at the moment they are collecting the ‘1000′ plays.  Anyone is free to contribute a short piece of up to 3 minutes in length.
I wasn’t able to go the Night last year, but I heard it was great.

Contact Pamela or Seoul Players via the link above.