Learn how to use suspense, action, and that all-important
ingredient—pacing, to create a page-turner.

Whose story is this? Should I use first person or third? Can I use omniscient? What about multiple points of view? How do you handle point-of-view shifts? Or keep the point of view from sliding all over the place? How does POV relate to narrative voice? This workshop explores answers to all these questions and more.

Understanding how dialogue provides action, portrays character, and influences scenes. Explore the issue of who wins the scene, and whether such an adversarial view of scene structure is always advisable. Learn what the Set-up, Turning Point and Payoff are, and how they can intensify the drama in your scenes and dialogue.

Started to write your memoir, but bogged down? Discover effective ways to draw boundaries around the most compelling events and insights of your life. This workshop also covers techniques of creative non-fiction and personal narrative to enhance your writing.

Fiction writers continually make decisions on how to combine facts and historical truths into their writing. We will examine classics and current bestsellers by Melville, Steinbeck, Grisham, and Dan Brown, etc. and consider how this process shaped their work. What responsibility does the writer have when they draw from the historical record? We will consider these questions and others about how fact, fiction, and history intersect.

Discover the opportunities available in newspapers for beginning and experienced writers. Learn how writing for newspapers is different from writing for other types of publications. We will discuss how to find markets, how to come up with ideas that fit the newspapers' needs, and how to pitch, write and sell those ideas. Through in-class exercises, students will develop a plan to start or re-energize their newspaper freelance work.

There are far more article markets out there than most people realize. Discover the many types of articles and places to publish them, including magazines, newspapers and online publications. We'll discuss how to find ideas, analyze markets, write queries, research and write articles and deal with the business aspects of freelancing. Expect to do some in-class exercises.

What motivates real-life villains and how do you transform their psychopathic behaviors to the written page.

Know the characteristics of a sharp detective. What makes them tick? How do they differ from their uniform-counterparts? How do they know a suspect is lying? How do they obtain confessions? Do they really have a sixth sense? Do undercover detectives carry weapons? What is it like to work undercover? This workshop delves into the secretive world of police detectives and how they really solve cases.

We've all felt the pulse-pounding drama of a good story, caught up in a story so real, so powerful, we feel as though it is happening to us. What makes a story come to life? Strong, vivid scenes. Learn how to use this basic and crucial story element in your own writing. Fiction and non-fiction writers both.

You have a novel inside but you just can't commit. It's too long, too complicated, what if you get bored? This class will show you how to be fearless in the face of so many words. Get bite-sized, practical tips and tricks on structure, play with exercises and commit to the novel within you.

You hear it over and over. "Write your book, then revise it. Now revise it again. Don’t submit your manuscript until it’s ready." So your first draft is stacked neatly on your desk and organized into files on your computer. You're committed to revising, and you're ready to attack. But where do you start? Avoid the most common big (and little!) problems in manuscripts. Learn the concrete tips and techniques for taking your novel apart and putting it back together—better, stronger, and publishable!

Master the elements of scene and strengthen your story. Whether you are writing a memoir, novel, screenplay, or nonfiction, this checklist of essentials makes the writer aware of what is there and what is still missing.

The author of Blockbuster Plots Pure and Simple explains how to interweave the plot threads of history, action, character, and theme into a cohesive and gripping story.

Write the truth and still be invited home for the holidays. Bypass the inner critic and use different voices to create a textured memoir, without making your family angry. Other topics include: structure, timeline, writing to heal, and issues facing memoir writers.

Bring your story to life! Understand the differences between a ho-hum scene and one with the elements that captures the reader’s imagination.

Attendees are invited to bring a one-page sample of your work for feedback.

Write a poem and you'll hear your imagination speak. Write a poem and all you didn't know you knew will spill onto the page. Poetry's dream put into language. It's your mother's voice calling. It's the lover you long for. We'll spend our time discovering what we most need to say.

To sell copies of your book outside your circle of family and friends, you’ve got to build a market. Even if you have a premiere publisher, the onus to make sales falls on you. Don’t expect any co-op marketing dollars to help you buy advertising and produce direct-mail campaigns. So unless you’ve got money to burn, you need new tools and 21st-century techniques to cut through the clutter and be discovered by your prospective readers. That’s not a problem…once you understand how to use the Internet effectively.

Learn from these agents how to be irresistible to agents and publishers and sell your book fast for top dollars.

Why do you write a query letter? Not to sell your book—your book has to sell itself. The purpose of a query is to convince an agent or editor that they WANT to read your story, even just the first ten pages. You’ve already written a three-hundred page novel. How hard can it be to produce a simple letter? For many authors, writing a query letter can feel as overwhelming, or more difficult, than producing an entire manuscript. This workshop will explain what a query letter has to do, and show you how to produce a tight, convincing query of your own.

Acquire an agent and publisher by working with a literary consultant/developmental editor to position your project, focus, style, polish, and structure your manuscript, prepare a proposal with a hook the sales and publicity people can quickly understand, and establish a career plan that places your work within a long term campaign to build a "franchise" for your "brand."

This comprehensive workshop provides key information on many "must know" issues, including:

• the principles of copyright law as the underpinning of all writing
• how agents and lawyers function
• the process of obtaining an agent and a lawyer
• when and why an agent is necessary
• the content of a typical collaboration agreement and three reasons why it is an absolute necessity
• a detailed review of a typical publishing agreement--royalties, advances, rights granted, and rights withheld, etc.
• the editing process—what options the writer has to disagree with a publisher's edits
• the manuscript's acceptance, publication, promotion, and publicity.

Bring all your questions concerning the business of being or becoming a successful book author--they will be answered.