Writing Classes
Are you a published writer? Or are you looking to get published? We are here to help. We have some wonderful people who volunteered their time and their talents to help you with your quest in this field.
These seminars are free and are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
March 7-13
Show Not Tell presented by Michele Drier
Bring the reader into your story by understanding and using techniques that show the action.
Showing not telling brings readers into the action and characters of your story. This class will teach you ways to use active verbs, body language and dialogue tags to pump up your writing through examples, exercises and critiques.
You’ll look at body language, (“I don’t get it.” He picked up a pencil, turned it over and scratched his head.) instead of “I don’t get it,” he said.
Active verbs include ways to eliminate (at least limit) auxiliary forms of “to be” (e.g. was).
Reducing gerunds and using appropriate verbs (a grown woman doesn’t “scamper”. Just because it’s in a Thesaurus doesn’t mean it should be used.
There will be short writing exercises (no more than a paragraph) and peer critiques.
February 20th – 24th, 2017
Anti-plotting: Strategies for Pantsers and Plotters
Seminar Host: Ruth Kaufmann
Your imagination and your characters can show you the way to a better manuscript if you know how to let them. Via lecture, exercises and discussion, I’ll cover an overview of plotting vs. pantsing, changing your mindset to understand who’s really steering the ship and why, how to free your mind and yourself from the demands of pre-plotting and the dreaded synopsis, ways to come up with more ideas more quickly and avoid writers block, how to go deeper into POV, tips for avoiding author intrusion, how to go beyond the story to move forward and more.
February 24th – 25th
Marketing Tips for Authors
Seminar Host: Elaine Calloway
Book marketing tips that I’ve learned since taking the plunge in self-publishing. I started with zero readers (except my mom!) and eventually became an Amazon bestselling author with a following and now my books pay my expenses and travel every month.