Mary-Rose returns to the historic Virginia G. Piper Writers’ House, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona to lead two one-day workshops:  ACTION IS CHARACTER (which explores characterization) and ARE WE THERE YET?  YES WE ARE!  (discussing the incorporation of sensory detail such as light, sound, smell, touch and taste in order to enrich a sense of place).   

All writers – beginners or more experienced, whether working in fiction of non-fiction – are invited to apply.  Story-telling techniques are universal and apply to any form of writing, whether a novel, a report, a brochure or a memoir.  After all, it’s all about identifying an audience, drawing them in, then holding their attention and making them want to find out more.  

These mini-courses are described in detail on the CURRENT WORKSHOPS page of this site.

Workshops will be small, supportive and informal, in the delightful Writers House on Campus  just off the Palm Walk.  For information on enrollment:  www.asu.edu/piper/workshops and scroll down.   

Who comes to Peralta?  I’m increasingly noticing that our participants are seekers and creative  adventurers who have completed one stage of their lives and are moving on to the next.  They are comfortable in the world and deeply appreciate beauty;  many are painters and photographers ready to explore a new  direction in the arts.

At work in Fiore’s studio, 2010

Mary-Rose’s novels have been translated into fifteen languages and have regularly been
 Doubleday Book of the Month and Literary Guild main selections. AMETHYST (E.P. Dutton, 1991) was chosen as a Time/Life bestseller 
 condensation.

 Her current project is a trilogy with the working title PATHS TAKEN.
 The story is set in England and the United States, spans more than half a century from
 1939 – 1997, and is overshadowed by the resonances of two world wars and the 
Vietnam conflict.

“I really do believe that a writer is born and not made,” says Mary-Rose, who began to 
write as soon as she knew how, at the age of six.  “You may not like it, but you can’t help
 it.”

She attributes her love for language and the written word to growing up among writers
 and artists, “and to a period in early childhood living in a remote country house with no
 TV, spotty radio reception, and constant electrical blackouts.”  Entertainment involved
 reading aloud and the writing of plays, to be performed in the living room both by her
 family and various relatives, and by houseguests who included, among numerous others,
 a London theatrical director and the archbishop of Johannesburg.

The talk is included in the ‘Healing Through the Arts’ segment of SHOUT! — a three-day annual event organized by Swords to Plowshares to celebrate and support women  veterans.

Mary-Rose is a military daughter and grand-daughter.  Her father, a naval officer serving on convoy escort duty in the North Atlantic during World War II, began writing crime fiction as a respite for continuous stress;  after the war he launched a new career as a successful author of suspense novels.

Last year, when Mary-Rose read a newspaper article about two soldiers stationed at a remote hilltop position in Afghanistan, one of whom began reading the classics he’d never bothered with in high school while the other took up short-story writing, her mind lit up like the proverbial light bulb: “Clearly, as shown by my own family history, writing instruction could benefit both the serving military and returning veterans,” and she at once contacted Swords to Plowshares.

Mary-Rose strongly believes in the nurturing power of creation and self expression when it develops under conditions of trust and support.  She also stresses that writing is the simplest of art forms: “You don’t need a piano, an easel or a dance floor, just a pad and pencil.  You can write anywhere, anytime.  You can tell your own story in your own way.  You can influence the way people think — you can even change the world!”

Mary-Rose compares the craft of writing to building a house, and believes that great things can happen once construction is underway.  “One can be given the raw materials and left to get on with it, but it certainly helps to know how to set a nail, lay a brick or sheet-rock the ceiling!  And then comes the fun stuff:  the decoration with fine, colorful words, and the characters, both real and imagined, who are invited to visit.”