By Maggie FitzRoy
mail@floridanewsline.com
Novelist Kevin Pettway has been writing for 20 years, but he spent half that time learning and developing his craft before realizing his dream of becoming a published author. Part of his education involved attending writing workshops led by other writers, and on Feb. 22 he led a “Humor in Writing” workshop at the Ponte Vedra Beach branch library to teach a room full of fellow writers how to add humor to their work.
Whether writing fiction or nonfiction, “humor adds variety, like in soup,” said Pettway, who writes funny fantasy books full of adventure, friendship and more. “Humor, like salt, is a flavor enhancer. Any genre of books can be enhanced with humor.”
Pettway’s workshop was hosted by the Florida Writers Association, a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to provide writers with knowledge, opportunities and connections to support their goals.” The Ponte Vedra Writers branch meets at 11 a.m. the fourth Saturday of every month and hosts free workshops on a wide variety of topics. Upcoming meetings include “How to Sell Books to Hollywood,” on May 24, and “Meandering Memoirs,” on June 28.
“Writers Helping Writers is the motto of FWA,” said Vic DiGenti, FWA (Florida Writers Association) regional director, who has also been group leader of the Ponte Vedra Writers for 17 years. He has a mailing list of 800 writers in the Northeast Florida area, which includes groups in Nassau, Clay, St. Johns, and Duval counties.
The Ponte Vedra meetings are open to the public and you don’t need to be a member to attend. DiGenti said as many as 40 to 50 writers may show up in any given month.
“It’s remarkable how many writers there are in the area,” he said. “They come because they want to improve their craft.”
Pettway, who lives in Riverside, said for the first 10 years of his writing career, “I mostly wrote and rewrote the same book over and over again.” He feels his experience is typical of a lot of writers because there is so much to learn. “Typically, you will write three, four, or five novels before you are ready,” he said. “I call them trunk novels. Nobody ever sees them. You toss them in the trunk and move on.”
He says he is glad he did that “because by the time I met my publisher, I was ready.”
He’d also discovered that he was good at writing funny, which involves techniques that he learned by studying comedy and which he was happy to share with others during his PowerPoint presentation. His advice included using humor as a trust-building tool; using humor to make characters relatable; and using the rule of three to create and then subvert expectations.
“Humor deepens the story no matter the genre,” he said. “It’s a tool that makes you a better writer.”
Workshop attendee Cherry Lindholm said she attends monthly meetings depending on the topic, and that she was interested in learning how to incorporate humor in her work.
“I like the process of writing,” she said. “It’s very involving.”
Andy Reistetter has been a regular attendee at the Ponte Vedra meetings since 2008. A golf and travel writer as well as an author of inspirational and spiritual books, he said he enjoyed Pettway’s presentation.
“It was good,” he said. “All the workshops are good. Very educational.”
CUTLINE
Photo courtesy Maggie FitzRoy
Florida Writers Association Northeast Florida Regional Director Vic DiGenti leads a Ponte Vedra Writers meeting Feb. 22 at the Ponte Vedra Beach branch library.
