Master Classes

Virtual and Recorded We all know the question “where do you get your ideas,” but once you have them, how do you know what to do with them? For this workshop, bring all your random story musings, half-remembered dreams, sentences on scraps of paper, trunk stories that never quite gelled, and fiercely held beliefs looking for a way to be expressed on the page. We’ll go through ways to identify the core of an idea, figure out which kind of story engine will get your work from start to...

Virtual and Recorded Join us for "Reclaiming the Hero’s Time," a master class focused on using timelines to construct a rich and satisfying hero’s journey for developing your story. Learn how to map out your protagonist's arc, from the inciting incident to the climax and resolution, ensuring a cohesive and compelling narrative. Discover techniques for integrating key plot points and character development, making your hero’s journey resonate deeply with readers. Dive into the art of...

Virtual and Recorded In this workshop authors will understand what trauma is and how it can impact a life. They will learn about the different types of trauma, and the how childhood experience can shape a person's life. Participants will also learn about trauma reactions, reminders and how they manifest in the body as well as impact thoughts and behaviours.

Virtual and Recorded How do you find the right character for a story? You can audition characters through exploratory writing. Where the character comes from makes a difference in how they respond to problems. So what happens when you flip an axis of power like gender or education? In the workshop, you'll practise swapping attributes such as character class and intrinsic motivation to find the right character to drive your story.

Virtual and Recorded The publishing world is complex and always changing, and it can be tough for new writers to find their way in. From the essential vocabulary, to the people you'll work with, to a comparison of indie vs traditional publishing and beyond, join best-selling author kc dyer for a marathon, information-packed tour through the wilderness of publishing today.

Virtual and Recorded Whether you write fantasy or mystery, literary fiction or non-fiction, setting is an integral element of the narrative. A well detailed, believable setting makes the world within which the story or narrative is set come alive, compelling the reader to walk inside the pages, and inhabit the world of the writer alongside their characters. A setting can be real or imagined, and can draw on elements of culture, geography, history, environment, climate, economy, society –...

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded Maintaining story tension across a series can be challenging, and the way we set up our characters, plots and settings will play a role in making sure the readers keep turning those pages whether you're on book 3 or book 13. We'll break down each of these 3 cornerstone story elements—plot, character, setting— and look at how your choices in each of these areas can be used to help create and maintain flexible, and durable story tension and conflict....

In Person, Live-Streamed, and Recorded Storytelling when applied to film or TV is one of the most exciting mediums to explore. It not only improves a writer’s ability to structure story, but it provides the opportunity to look at the art of story from a different perspective. This masterclass is an interactive and engaging ‘how-to’ guide for structuring a film script, including plotting, character development, dialogue, and film theory. We’ll analyze existing film scenes and scripts while...

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded As you are getting ready to write a novel, we'll look at the questions you should be asking and practical ways of sketching out an outline/synopsis/scene list and character arcs/goals and setting up a working notebook/journal to use as reference point. This master class is an excellent NaNoWriMo prep session or for those looking to dive into new project after conference or find starting a new book a struggle.

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded One of the most daunting things about writing a novel is the pre-writing phase. Whether one works via the pantser method or needs a complete outline, there is a lot of initial work to be done before a writer is ready to write the first chapter. How does one take a germ of an idea and shape the characters, setting, scenes, and larger set pieces into a form that will make a complete novel? In this workshop we will create and organize the essential...

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded People often say, "I know it when I read it", but what really is the divide between calling a novel literary or commercial fiction? And what how can you determine if your fiction manuscript hits one or the other, or falls in that coveted space of "Upmarket"? It's far more than plot driven versus character driven, but we'll analyze what those terms really mean, along with active vs. passive readers, prose differences, thematic structure, “postcards”,...

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded Are you a pantser or a plotter? Do you love outlining, or does it leave you running for the hills? Some writers love to outline their entire book, because they believe they have to map out every twist and turn in order to write a coherent whole. Other writers hate outlining, because they believe it robs them of their creativity and they would rather write their way to an understanding of their story. Join Mia P. Manansala, certified teacher...

In Person, Live-Streamed, and Recorded A creative life is more than any one book or project. It’s how you move in the world as an artist. But in a world filled with a busy day job, family demands, and the sometimes harsh world of publishing- how do you keep your creative spark going? This workshop helps you explore what ignites your creativity and how to feed and maintain that fire. We’ll dig into what can keep you creating, practical tips to move forward, and how those same deep...

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded This masterclass will discuss the structure and goals of short fiction and the difference between a short story, anecdote, vignette, and scene. We will examine experiments in form and content, and analyze a few pieces of current ground-breaking short fiction to see what makes them tick. Finally, we will discuss trends, venues, and best practices for submitting short fiction.

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded Beyond plot problems and arc of change lie aspects and influences on characters that most manuscripts do not touch. Hidden wants and needs, story world influence, the journey of the self, stages of life, how great characters become great humans…learn advanced levels of character development in this hands-on workshop with longtime master class instructor Donald Maass.

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded How do you write omniscient pov without making readers dizzy with all the headhopping? How do you withhold information without feeling like you’re cheating? How do you even choose what to include? All this and more in a session where I’ll talk about what I learned so far from writing three novels in this pov and what its strengths and weaknesses are. You will come away with a better understanding of the POV, how to work with it, and tools for doing...

In Person Only, Not Recorded Strong scenes not only move the plot forward, they give readers new information to help them become immersed in a story’s world. From the first line of a scene to the end, a writer’s aim is to pique a reader’s interest and draw them in. Through understanding the purpose of each scene and the intentions of each character, we can craft scenes full of emotional beats, tension, focus and heart. By considering a number of trusted techniques including dialogue,...