Fiction Writing New York

New York Story Night #90

New York Story Night is a literary community event based in Manhattan founded to provide creative writers, amateur and professional alike, a stage on which to share their stories and an audience with which to road test their works. Consider an open mic for stand-up tragedy, stand-up horror, stand-up drama if you will. A night of bedtime stories for adults. **For those who wish to share a story, please arrive before 6:50pm and sign-up for a reading slot.** (Find Aïss at the front of the second floor event space.) For those who wish to be an audience, get a drink, find a favored spot, chit-chat with fellow story lovers if you like! At 7pm story night begins. **Each writer gets 20 minutes in front of the microphone. (15 minutes for the story + 5 minutes for workshop/Q&A with the audience)** We have a 10 minute intermission at the end of every hour. **Rules for stories:** * Stories must be under 15 mins (around 2,300 words) * All stories must be written pieces * Stories can be fiction or non-fiction but must contain a narrative arc * No poetry, no essays We encourage you to email us at newyorkstorynight@gmail.com if you have questions or concerns on if your story is a good fit for our event. If you cannot attend this particular event but would like to be in tune with our next ones join our MeetUp group or email us at newyorkstorynight@gmail.com to be added to our e-mailing list! New York Story Night is a free event. *\*By attending, you acknowledge that you may appear in photos and videos used for social media or promotional purposes.*in

New York Story Night #91

New York Story Night is a literary community event based in Manhattan founded to provide creative writers, amateur and professional alike, a stage on which to share their stories and an audience with which to road test their works. Consider an open mic for stand-up tragedy, stand-up horror, stand-up drama if you will. A night of bedtime stories for adults. **For those who wish to share a story, please arrive before 6:50pm and sign-up for a reading slot.** (Find Aïss at the front of the second floor event space.) For those who wish to be an audience, get a drink, find a favored spot, chit-chat with fellow story lovers if you like! At 7pm story night begins. **Each writer gets 20 minutes in front of the microphone. (15 minutes for the story + 5 minutes for workshop/Q&A with the audience)** We have a 10 minute intermission at the end of every hour. **Rules for stories:** * Stories must be under 15 mins (around 2,300 words) * All stories must be written pieces * Stories can be fiction or non-fiction but must contain a narrative arc * No poetry, no essays We encourage you to email us at newyorkstorynight@gmail.com if you have questions or concerns on if your story is a good fit for our event. If you cannot attend this particular event but would like to be in tune with our next ones join our MeetUp group or email us at newyorkstorynight@gmail.com to be added to our e-mailing list! New York Story Night is a free event. *\*By attending, you acknowledge that you may appear in photos and videos used for social media or promotional purposes.*in

Writing group meeting in Washington Heights

Wanna know what makes me happy? When a longtime member of this group moves to a new apartment and the first thing they tell me is that it'll be a great spot to have a meeting, that puts a big-ass smile on my face -- and that's the situation here. Ryan hosted multiple times at his place in East Harlem, and now he's welcoming us to Washington Heights. The night before we meet, I'll send all the details to people on the RSVP list. For now, just know that the place is wheelchair accessible, and also, if you plan to bring snacks, DO NOT bring anything with nuts because our host is very allergic. That's it for now. See you there! -Zack

Writers Meetup & Critique @OUTRO NYC - Bring pages from your screenplay

Bring pages from your novel, screenplay, short story, poetry or non-fiction - read out loud and get immediate feedback on your project. Get together with your fellow authors, screenwriters and filmmakers and talk through any hurdles or roadblocks. ***This meetup is free and open to everyone. Outro NYC asks that everyone buy at least one drink.*** UPLOAD YOUR SCREENPLAY OR STAGE PLAY TO https://scriptca.mp/feedback and check the box for "NYC Table Reads" UPLOAD YOUR NOVEL, SHORT STORY OR POETRY TO https://wordca.mp/feedback and check the box for "NYC Live Readings" Ideally 2000 words / 10 script pages or less. It may be possible to read through longer projects depending on the number of submissions. Also ok to just listen in if you don't have anything to submit. Look for Holloway, Peter or Ace on the patio - Holloway will be in a ScriptCamp t-shirt.

Writers Meetup & Critique @OUTRO NYC - Bring pages from your screenplay

Bring pages from your novel, screenplay, short story, poetry or non-fiction - read out loud and get immediate feedback on your project. Get together with your fellow authors, screenwriters and filmmakers and talk through any hurdles or roadblocks. ***This meetup is free and open to everyone. Outro NYC asks that everyone buy at least one drink.*** UPLOAD YOUR SCREENPLAY OR STAGE PLAY TO https://scriptca.mp/feedback and check the box for "NYC Table Reads" UPLOAD YOUR NOVEL, SHORT STORY OR POETRY TO https://wordca.mp/feedback and check the box for "NYC Live Readings" Ideally 2000 words / 10 script pages or less. It may be possible to read through longer projects depending on the number of submissions. Also ok to just listen in if you don't have anything to submit. Look for Holloway, Peter or Ace on the patio - Holloway will be in a ScriptCamp t-shirt.

Write the Role Only You Can Play: A Self-Made Actor Lab™ Intensive

# **ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP** You became an actor to tell stories—not to spend your entire career waiting for someone else to give you permission to tell one. **Self-Made Actor Lab™** is an intimate, hands-on intensive for actors who are ready to stop waiting for the perfect role and begin creating work of their own. Led by award-winning actress and filmmaker **Sakinah Iman**, this workshop will help you identify the experiences, perspectives and natural talents that make you uniquely compelling—and begin transforming them into an original cinematic monologue written specifically for **you**. This isn't about writing a random scene just so you have something to perform. **Your life is creative material.** Your humor. Your heartbreak. Your culture. Your relationships. Your contradictions. Your career. Your weirdness. Your talents. The things you've survived. The things you can't stop talking about. Those are often the very things that give an artist a point of view. Sakinah's own career changed when she stopped waiting for someone to write the perfect role for her and began creating films around her own voice, talents and lived experiences. **Now she'll teach you how to begin doing the same.** *** # **WHAT YOU'LL LEARN** ### **1\. Find the Story Only You Can Tell** Through guided exercises, you'll explore your experiences, perspective, personality and natural talents to uncover material that could become compelling original work. Maybe you're also a dancer, rapper, comedian, athlete, martial artist, musician, parent, chef, poet—or you simply carry a life experience and perspective nobody else can reproduce. You'll learn to ask: **What makes *me* interesting before I ever step into character?** ### **2\. Turn Your Truth Into a Cinematic Monologue** You'll learn how to take raw personal material and begin shaping it into a structured monologue with character, stakes, conflict, specificity and emotional movement. The goal isn't simply to tell your life story. It's to transform truth into **cinematic storytelling.** ### **3\. The Art of Believability** A powerful monologue isn't just about the words. It's about whether we believe you. We'll explore performance choices that can help personal material feel lived rather than recited, including emotional connection, specificity, listening, intention and truthful on-camera behavior. ### **4\. Stop Thinking Only Like an Actor\. Start Thinking Like a Creator\.** What happens when you stop seeing yourself only as the person auditioning for someone else's project? You'll learn how self-created work can become an artistic and career asset—and how actors can begin thinking like the writers, producers and creative executives of their own material rather than waiting exclusively for auditions. ### **5\. Film Festivals: What Happens After You Make the Film?** Creating the work is only part of the journey. You'll learn the fundamentals of positioning and submitting an independent short film to festivals, including festival fit, submissions, materials and how to begin building a strategic festival plan. And just as importantly: **What do you do with the film after you've made it?** We'll discuss ways original work can support your reel, artistic brand, online presence and future opportunities. *** # **WHAT YOU'LL WALK AWAY WITH** By the end of the intensive, you'll leave with: * A clearer understanding of your unique artistic point of view * A personal story or concept selected for development * The foundation/draft of an original cinematic monologue * A framework for developing that monologue into a short film * A beginner-friendly understanding of film festival strategy * A clearer plan for using self-created work to increase your visibility as an actor *** # **LEARN FROM AN ACTOR WHO CHOSE HERSELF** **Sakinah Iman** is an NYC actress, writer, director and producer with nearly two decades of acting and performance experience and more than a decade of independent filmmaking experience. After years of working as an actor, Sakinah began creating original vehicles that showcased her own voice and talents rather than waiting for someone else to create those opportunities for her. Her work has since earned **28 film festival awards, screened at more than 70 film festivals worldwide, and been licensed and distributed on major television and streaming platforms, including Showtime, Paramount+, Hulu, Apple TV and Prime Video.** Her spoken-word short film, *He Wants to Know My Number*, grew directly from her own voice and lived experience—one example of what can happen when an actor stops asking, *“What role will someone give me?”* and starts asking: **“What can I create that only I could make?”** But this workshop isn't about teaching you to copy Sakinah's story. **It's about helping you discover yours.** *** # **WHO THIS IS FOR** This workshop is for the actor who knows they're capable of more than the opportunities they've been given. The actor who's tired of waiting for the “right” role. The actor whose current reel doesn't capture the full depth of what they can do. The multidisciplinary artist who has another gift—music, dance, poetry, comedy, athletics, martial arts, writing or something completely unexpected—and has never considered building original work around it. And the actor who knows they have something to say but hasn't yet figured out how to turn it into a story. **You don't have to wait for someone else to write the role that finally lets people see you.** **You can write it yourself.** *This is intentionally a small-group experience so there is room for discussion, writing and individual exploration. Space is limited.*

The Writing Group – West Village Session

**Itinerary** Our social hour starts at **6 o'clock**, and you can come and meet other writers, enjoy a happy hour, socialize and hang out as you like until 7 when we will start readings. At **7 o'clock** we formally get together as a group to listen to readings from those looking for feedback. * We do not select readers based on order of arrival or a sign-up sheet, so if you have work until late but still want to come and read, you can! * Each reader gets five (5) minutes to read, so please select a section of work which is appropriate for that time limit. * We welcome narrative prose (fiction and non-fiction), poetry, and scripts (be they for screen or stage), so long as it is writing that you're serious about. * We'll then spend another five (5) minutes in discussion. This is time for the listeners to provide feedback on the reading and discussing the craft in general. We welcome (and encourage) constructive criticism, so long as it is done with respect. This is just as important as the reading, and is done as an open conversation not lead by the reader or the host, so no hand raising required! * We try to get to as many people who want to read as we can, so if there are a lot of attendees we will be very strict on time. * We take a short break at **8 o'clock** . At **9 o'clock** we finish readings, but you are welcome to stick around! Meet new friends, connect with old ones, exchange longer works for review, or just let loose.

The Writing Group – Williamsburg Session

**Itinerary** Our social hour starts at **6 o'clock**, and you can come and meet other writers, enjoy a happy hour, socialize and hang out as you like until 7 when we will start readings. At **7 o'clock** we formally get together as a group to listen to readings from those looking for feedback. * We do not select readers based on order of arrival or a sign-up sheet, so if you have work until late but still want to come and read, you can! * Each reader gets five (5) minutes to read, so please select a section of work which is appropriate for that time limit. * We welcome narrative prose (fiction and non-fiction), poetry, and scripts (be they for screen or stage), so long as it is writing that you're serious about. * We'll then spend another five (5) minutes in discussion. This is time for the listeners to provide feedback on the reading and discussing the craft in general. We welcome (and encourage) constructive criticism, so long as it is done with respect. This is just as important as the reading, and is done as an open conversation not lead by the reader or the host, so no hand raising required! * We try to get to as many people who want to read as we can, so if there are a lot of attendees we will be very strict on time. * We take a short break at **8 o'clock** . At **9 o'clock** we finish readings, but you are welcome to stick around! Meet new friends, connect with old ones, exchange longer works for review, or just let loose.

Writing Under the Influence - the Keep

Drunk driving is not cool, but drunk writing is! This is a community event for writers, with drinks! Work on your own projects or use the creative writing prompts provided. Join us at the beautiful Keep bar, where we will have focused 20 minute writing sprints, with breaks in between. The Keep bar is at 205 Cypress Ave in Ridgewood. Please RSVP online! Bar is CASH ONLY. 21+ Bring photo ID. Keep in mind, there is also an online version of this group, which meets concurrently but has a separate event notice. The Keep version will be hosted by Jonathan, Nicole, and Cici, and the online version will be hosted by Meghan!! Be sure to RSVP to the correct event:)

Fantastic Fiction at KGB

JCW Writing Marathon (In-Person)

• What we'll do Come join other friendly writers and hardworking procrastinators! Open to any and all genres. Give yourself two hours to get some work done; no prompts, no critiques. If you can't seem to get any writing done when you're left to your own devices, come! If you have a deadline for a workshop or The Full Story, come! Or maybe you just want to work in the quiet company of others. So bring your laptop or notebook and SEIZE THE PAGE! • What to bring Your writerly self and whatever writing instruments work best for you! • Important to know We will meet on the first Monday of each month. We're located at **157B First Street, Jersey City NJ. A keycard is required to get into the building, so we will look for people downstairs until 7:15 at the latest, so please be on time!** If you know you're going to be later than 7:15, please comment below and I will make arrangements to meet you downstairs. Supported by public funds from the Jersey City Arts and Culture Trust Fund.

Short Story Salon: The Inner Room - Robert Aickman (In Person)

**NO ENTRY AFTER 7:15 PM!** **The Inner Room** **by Robert Aickman** **Get the story here:** https://docs.google.com/document/d/12QH7NeZhocI5y65ZHLZHt96zVLZVjyxxurDFoFJyf1Y/edit?usp=drivesdk Join us for a good old-fashioned Parisian salon…in Jersey City! Once a month we gather to do a deep dive into a famous, not-so-famous, or even notorious short work of fiction. Our salon is a guided discussion intended to deepen our collective understanding of effective storytelling. Suggest a short story to be featured by emailing me at emilyfea9@gmail.com. **What you need to know:** * All short pieces for the salon are published pieces. Unpublished works are for JCW workshops. * Please read the story before the salon! **We will NOT be reading it out loud.** * We will NOT be providing printouts. Feel free to bring your own. * Wine and beer only. Please no spirits. * We would love a donation but it’s not mandatory to attend. * All writers are welcome. All writers are to be respected. Be kind. **Monthly Schedule for Tuesday:** * **1st Tuesday of the Month: JCW Short Story Salon** We give the salon treatment to a famous, not-so-famous, or even notorious short work of fiction every month. * **2nd Tuesday of the Month:** **Roundtable Workshop** Constructive criticism of unpublished work from JCW members. MUST SUBMIT IN ADVANCE. * **3rd Tuesday of the Mont**h: **Power Prompts** Constrained writing at its quirkiest. * **4th Tuesday of the Month:** **Roundtable Workshop** Constructive criticism of unpublished work from JCW members. MUST SUBMIT IN ADVANCE. Supported by public funds from the Jersey City Arts and Culture Trust Fund.