craft

Writing a book is a hard work, but writing a page-turner is even harder. Steve will teach the secrets that authors who write thrillers use to grab the reader from the opening sentence until the end. This workshop will show you, How to grab your reader from the opening paragraph The three...

Show don’t tell, deep point of view, too many adverbs! How do you make your writing tighter, punchier, and hit all those tick-boxes? In this week-long workshop I’ll take you through the six steps to make sure your romance writing is everything you want it to be.

Throughout this 3-week workshop, writers will learn the ins and outs of worldbuilding and how to properly integrate information into their story. Week one will focus on macro-worldbuilding: how the world is shaped, what political powers are in play, and how religion and technology appear in the...

We’ve all heard it: show, don’t tell. But what exactly does that mean? Award-winning author L. C. Hayden will address this and other important concerns. She will define the concept, show the reader how to tell which mode he’s in, and how to fix the problem. Hayden will then go an extra step...

Conflict is the reason stories happen. Conflict is keeping a romance from blossoming, a hero from reaching his goal, a villain trying to stop a hero, or even a killer from being stopped. Nine times out of ten a book falls flat because the conflict is non-existent and in this one-week course...

You know how important it is for a character to have internal integrity – and how difficult that can sometimes be. Here’s a helpful system from classical myths. Warrior, Monk, Scientist, Magician, Lover – find and develop the best ArchePath for your characters, regardless of gender...

Are you interested in writing for the travel industry? Do you want to visit great places and pass on what you learned to others who are hoping to visit that very place in the near future? Do you want to learn how to write travel articles about places right in your own neighborhood? Do you want...

Every writer, but especially beginning writers, have trouble keeping their plots moving. We've all heard about the "sagging middle" and other gotchas authors run into, but how do you avoid these pitfalls? In this workshop you'll learn tried and true techniques for making sure your reader...

Fascinated with end-of-the-world stories? Or what it might be like to live after the end? Or societies gone wrong? This workshop will help you to explore these types of fiction so you can write stories of your own. Exercises will help you to develop your own ideas and draft a short story or...

Our Writer's Voice is more than how we write – it’s also about what and why we write. An understanding of our journey from consumer to creator can have a major impact on a career. From choosing projects to understanding and moving through blocks to creating an authentic and unique brand, your...

In this month-long online class, New York Times best-selling author Angela Knight discusses how to write a beginning that will have readers clicking the BUY button. Knight examines the elements that engage the reader’s curiosity and make her care about your characters. She will explain how to...

Chris Redding will show you how movie making and scriptwriting techniques can make your novel come alive. She will cover the three act structure of most movies and instruct you on how you can use movie magic including shot lists to make your novel a bestseller. No need to write anything special...

Shows like Scandal and The Walking Dead pride themselves on the jaw dropping final few seconds of the show which have viewers eager to tune in the next week. Never hear another complaint about a cliffhanger ending again when you learn to plot your serialized novel like a season of a television...

You’ve written a book and you want to give it one last spit polish before submitting to editors and agents, but grammar isn’t exactly your strong suit. No problem! Two professional editors give some tips and tricks for how to self-edit, including checking for common errors, to help you make your...

In this workshop, you’ll delve into the secrets of writing amazing science fiction short stories. Some of the topics covered are: Creating original and intriguing sci-fi premises that hook readers Techniques used in the most successful science fiction Secrets of writing time travel, first...

Do you read Young Adult novels? Do you find a real affinity in the story lines? Do you find that young adult fiction provides a wonderful escape for you, even when your life seems a bit in tatters? Do you like hanging out with teens or do you perhaps have a teenager at home? If you answered any...

You've probably heard of the Snowflake Method of writing, pioneered by award-winning writer Randy Ingermanson. Its premise is that you begin with a a single sentence that represents the theme of your book and then add complexity building outwards from that sentence until you have a full-blown...

L.C. will show you how to create characters that live in the readers’ mind long after finishing your novel. The workshop will feature how to, Create vivid minor characters Give and handle your characters’ backstory Strike an emotion between the characters and the readers Build characters your...

The first draft of a novel needs consistency and continuity: the more the better the novel will be. Mind-maps offer a way to gain that consistency. What if you knew how to create mind-maps to ensure that consistency? And that continuity? What if you had a way to make sure your characters...

Whether you want to write a long-term mystery series, a romance saga featuring one or two families or a fantasy trilogy that spans time and space, the joy of writing a series can be both challenging and rewarding. Readers may fall in love with one book and then want to read more with those...