Workshops for Writers
This is a sample of the writing workshops I teach writing groups. I hold an MFA in Writing for Children and Young adults, published with a Big 5 publisher and indy paths. Interested in having me teach your group? Just use the contact form below to start a conversation.
Plot Challenged?
Are you a pantser not a plotter? Or has an agent or editor told you your book is too quiet? As a founding member of plotless anonymous, I had work hard to discover the most effective plotting strategies. You will learn about the want model, Act 1-Act 2-Act 3, and hero's journey plots.
Get them Talking: From Dialogue to Scene
The biggest mistake beginning writers make is page after page telling a story rather than showing the reader a story in scenes. Scenes? Yikes. How do I do that? Easy. Just get them talking. Scenes are merely dialogue with stage direction. Free-write a page of dialogue then edit it to perfection or bring your first chapter for intensive revision. Includes a detailed hand-out with a bonus dialogue punctuation guide.
Brainstorm your Prose into Shape: Revision 101
I'm a line-editing maniac. My critique buds love me for it. In this session, I share creative techniques that will make your prose pop off the page--a brand new take on self-editing. It doesn't have to be a nasty chore. Learn to tighten, expand, and play with your words like a kid in the sandbox. Includes a free-writing experience. Can add punctuation basics if needed.
From Faith to Fiction: from your Inner Truth (but don't wreck it)
Jane Yolen says stories must be based on a writer’s inner truth. But, doing the very thing Jane Yolen tells us and our heart urges us to attempt can lead to errors that turn your fiction into something you didn’t intend--propaganda rather than fiction. When I was trying to do this and making an awful mess of it, I turned to Katherine Paterson’s work, artistic and critical, for advice. Katherine has always been public about her faith and is not shy about discussing how it impacts her work. Hallelujah! I studied her and that study became the basis of my MFA critical these. I share my discoveries and get participants to delve into their own inner truth with brainstorming and free-writing exercises.
The Art of the Cut: Everything I learned from my New York Editor
By the time I sold Taken by Storm it was seriously over weight--closing in on 90,000 words. My editor wanted me to cut a third of the novel. Some of my favorite scenes and chapters got the ax. In this workshop, I define seven reasons a scene must go: dribble, tension killers, an embarrassment of riches, pet projects, timeline compression, weak versus strong, and editor detestation.
Gleaning from Reality to make Characters Breathe
Write what you know? Bleck. When I was younger, I detested this age-old advice to writers. What did I know? Would anyone really want to read about a pig farm in a tiny town on the Idaho edge of Washington? And the grumpy Mormon girl imprisoned within its walls? Write what I know? Yuck. I was too busy fleeing to even consider that. I am positive, “Write what you know,” gave me writers' block for decades. But when I found myself at Vermont College of Fine Arts with a mandate to create, what did I do? I went home.
I don’t want you to experience decades of writers block or end up writing a horrid self-absorbed tale that is great therapy but lousy art, so I pass this adage on to you with a twist, a cautionary tale, and my favorite techniques for inspiring realistic characters with what you've gleaned from your own reality.
I don’t want you to experience decades of writers block or end up writing a horrid self-absorbed tale that is great therapy but lousy art, so I pass this adage on to you with a twist, a cautionary tale, and my favorite techniques for inspiring realistic characters with what you've gleaned from your own reality.