Author Ward Kehoe Teaching Free Teen Writer Workshop

Woodinville resident Stasia Ward Kehoe whose first book, Audition, is being published this fall, is teaching a free workshop for teens at the , Wednesday, Aug. 24 at 6 p.m.

This is the first writers workshop Kehoe has taught in Woodinville. The workshop will include theater games and writing exercises to explore the connections between actions and words. She will also talk about what it’s like to get your book published. Ward Kehoe’s book, Audition, will hit the bookstore Oct. 13.

Ward Kehoe said the workshop stems from her memories of sitting in high school English classes, working on essays about classic novels. “The worst was when I was asked to relate what I had read to my own life,” she said. “That was simply getting too personal.”

“As an arts educator, lifelong writer, and mom of teens, I know that the teen years are a time when sharing one’s own stories can be challenging, even painful,” she added. “Truth-in-fiction paradigms don’t always work for young adults writing as much to protect their identities as to complete assignments.”

Understanding that need for privacy that many teenagers have, Ward Kehoe structured the workshop to attack the challenge of writing from the outside-in. 

“I like to start writers standing up, doing very short writing warm-ups, such as describing actions and landscapes (not feelings),” she said.  “Inviting teens to brainstorm 'escapes' from traditional writing prompts and writing monologues about disliking famous literary figures are other strategies that create a kind of safe distance from personal anxiety that leads to terrific, honest writing.”

The upside-down writing strategies that she says are so much fun in teen workshops are ones she also uses in writing her own fiction.

“Especially when I am trying to find fresh ways to understand characters. Writing what you don’t know can be as compelling and ultimately as telling as the inverse but it feels different. And feeling different is something teens can certainly understand.”

Ward Kehoe’s forthcoming book tells the story of “17-year-old Sara's dream of becoming a star ballerina is challenged when she falls for Remington, an older choreographer. Instead of success onstage, she becomes Rem's muse, which is a future she never considered--and one that threatens to break her heart,” according to the website.

Ward Kehoe is well versed in the emotions surrounding auditions. In high school she studied ballet as well as performing in school musicals. Later, at Georgetown University, she studied playwriting and joined a joined a modern dance company. After graduate school at New York University, Ward Kehoe began working in the publishing business. Through it all, she never stopped writing.

No registration required. For more information, call 425.788.0733