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Making the Everyday Magical / Making the Magical Everyday (Yarmouth) with Julian Mortimer Smith

This workshop lies at the intersection of speculative fiction and realist fiction. Julian Mortimer Smith applies techniques from fantasy and sci-fi to realist narrative—and vice-versa. The goal is to “cross-pollinate,” offering useful techniques to writers working in any fiction genre.

The first workshop session will focus on bringing a sense of the fantastic to realistic fiction and creative nonfiction. Julian’s favourite writing imbues everyday events with a sense of magic. The right metaphor or turn of phrase can make even the most realistic prose seem magical or otherworldly. We’ll analyze some of those moments and examine what makes them special. Then we’ll try to create some of those moments ourselves using literary techniques that force readers to see everyday events in new ways.

The second workshop session will focus on bringing the everyday into speculative writing. The small details of domestic life may seem boring compared to dragons and spaceships, but they are often essential to making an imagined world feel real. By focusing on the texture of everyday life, fantasy and sci-fi writers can deepen immersion and make the speculative elements of a story seem more believable. We’ll explore how to integrate these details into a story without bogging down a plot with dull exposition.

About the instructor: Julian Mortimer Smith is an award-winning writer of speculative fiction. His stories have appeared in many of the world’s top science fiction and fantasy magazines and anthologies, including Asimov’s, Terraform, Lightspeed, and Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. His first book, The World of Dew and Other Stories, won the 2020 Blue Light Books Prize and was published by Indiana University Press. Julian is an experience writing instructor who had led workshops for the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia and the Western Counties Regional Library. He has also been an invited guest at Hal-Con, Y-Con, and other fan conventions. He believes that speculative fiction allows us to imagine different ways the world could be, which is an ever-more-important skill. He lives in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

Recommended experience level: New and emerging fiction writers, including those more experienced in other forms (About recommended experience levels)

Participant cap: 12

Location: Small Meeting Room of the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Library (405 Main St, Yarmouth, NS)
     [This library is a wheelchair-accessible venue with a wheelchair-accessible, nongendered washroom.]

Dates of 2-week workshop: Saturdays, Nov 29 + Dec 6, 2025 (1:00pm to 3:00pm)

Registration for 2025 General Members: $109

Registration for non-members: $109 (includes discounted fall 2025 General Membership in WFNS)

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Simultaneous Submissions

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) administers some programs (and special projects) that involve print and/or digital publication of ‘selected’ or ‘winning’ entries. In most cases, writing submitted to these programs and projects must not be previously published and must not be simultaneously under consideration for publication by another organization. Why? Because our assessment and selection processes depends on all submitted writing being available for first publication. If writing selected for publication by WFNS has already been published or is published by another organization first, copyright issues will likely make it impossible for WFNS to (re-)publish that writing.

When simultaneous submissions to a WFNS program are not permitted, it means the following:

  • You may not submit writing that has been accepted for future publication by another organization.
  • You may not submit writing that is currently being considered for publication by another organization—or for another prize that includes publication.
  • The writing submitted to WFNS may not be submitted for publication to another organization until the WFNS program results are communicated. Results will be communicated directly to you by email and often also through the public announcement of a shortlist or list of winners. Once your writing is no longer being considered for the WFNS program, you are free to submit it elsewhere.
    • If you wish to submit your entry elsewhere before WFNS program results have been announced, you must first contact WFNS to withdraw your entry. Any entry fee cannot be refunded.

Prohibitions on simultaneous submission do not apply to multiple WFNS programs. You are always permitted to submit the same unpublished writing to multiple WFNS programs (and special projects) at the same time, such as the Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program, the Emerging Writers Prizes, the Jampolis Cottage Residency Program, the Message on a Bottle contest, the Nova Writes Competition, and any WFNS projects involving one-time or recurring special publications.

Recommended Experience Levels

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) recommends that participants in any given workshop have similar levels of creative writing and / or publication experience. This ensures that each participant gets value from the workshop⁠ and is presented with information, strategies, and skills that suit their career stage. The “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the following definitions used by WFNS.

  • New writers: those with less than two years’ creative writing experience and/or no short-form publications (e.g., short stories, personal essays, or poems in literary magazines, journals, anthologies, or chapbooks).
  • Emerging writers: those with more than two years’ creative writing experience and/or numerous short-form publications.
  • Early-career authors: those with 1 or 2 book-length publications or the equivalent in book-length and short-form publications.
  • Established authors: those with 3 or 4 book-length publications.
  • Professional authors: those with 5 or more book-length publications.

Please keep in mind that each form of creative writing (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and writing for children and young adults) provides you with a unique set of experiences and skills, so you might consider yourself an ‘established author’ in one form but a ‘new writer’ in another.

For “intensive” and “masterclass” creative writing workshops, which provide more opportunities for peer-to-peer feedback, the recommended experience level should be followed closely.

For all other workshops, the recommended experience level is just that—a recommendation—and we encourage potential participants to follow their own judgment when registering.

If you’re uncertain of your experience level with regard to any particular workshop, please feel free to contact us at communications@writers.ns.ca