Since 2023 the Edmonton Writers' Group has been in a partnership program with the Edmonton Public Library and offering a series of seminars on fiction writing. To date these have only been offered at the Capilano Branch, but we are hoping to expand to other branches in the future. These seminars were repeated in 2024 & 2025 with a few changes.
The 2026 version will be moving into more of a workshop format, which will still be held weekly. The workshops will be separated into two sessions, with time between the sessions for participants to write their stories.
Participants will be given homework to do on their stories, and their stories will be shared within the group to give each other feedback.
Session I
This session will get you started in the writing process by examining your story idea(s), and briefly looking at the role of genre, etc. We will then go into an in depth session on your characters, followed by plotting and planning your story, then how to actually start your story, and get readers interested. Then we will continue by looking at researching your background material and world building.
January 31, 2026: I-1: Genres & Story ideas
February 07, 2026: I-2: Characters I – Your Protagonist & Antagonist
February 14, 2026: I-3: Characters II & Plotting and Planning I
February 21, 2026: I-4: Plotting & Planning II
February 28, 2026: I-5: Time to Start Writing
March 07, 2026: I-6: Researching material for your stories
March 14, 2026: I-7: World Building
Intersession - Come Write With Us
March 21, 2026 through May 23, 2026
Someone from Edmonton Writers Group will be at Capilano library in the afternoon to assist you with writing your story. We also welcome others who are interested in writing to join us for the drop-in sessions during this time.
Session II
Session 2 moves on from Session 1, and takes into account the intersession and the work you have done on your story. We will first look at how to keep your readers reading, and then how to end your story. Following this we will have a double session on editing your story, followed by a session on publishing and promotions.
May 30, 2026: II-1: Middles – Keeping your readers reading
June 06, 2026: II-2: Ends – Ending it all, in a good way
June 13, 2026: II-3: Editing I – The Second Step Towards Publishing
June 20, 2026: II-4: Editing II & The Next Steps
June 27, 2026: II-4: Publishing & Promotions
Preregistration for these sessions is required. Please contact the Edmonton Writers' Group for further information The session are also listed on the Edmonton Public LIbrary's website under the What's On tab for Capilano Branch. Just select the date and you will see the registration page. Please note that registration is for the whole program.
These workshops will be dealing with mature themes, so potential participants should be prepared to be exposed to alternative viewpoints on various topics.