Due to an unprecedented number of Workshops in the month of September, all October Workshops except On-Going Critical Life Labs have been suspended until I recover. Heavy infusions of chocolate are being applied.
I just finished a one-hour Dialog Workshop with Victoria. She analyzed our scenes and showed us how the dialog either helped nail or dilute the hook and climax of each. I was able to ask her real-time questions about where to use or cut dialog and dialog tags, and we discussed how to handle pesky transitions from scene to scene. I came away with a tidy, lean piece of dialog and a transcript of her advice that I can refer to when I’m writing new scenes.
—Amy Carey
ON-GOING EVERY WEEK—SUSPENDED
Due to full monthly Workshops throughout September, the weekly Workshops must be suspended. Sorry!
Weeklong sessions over email
Dialog Workshop
In-depth study of dialog, including purpose, structure, design, punctuation, word choice, and revision. Make friends! Influence enemies! BYOD (up to 250 words). $10
Action Workshop
In-depth study of action, including goal, motivation, results, cause-&-effect, and the external illustration of internal conflict, as well as how to find that Characteristic Gesture. The ultimate Show, Don’t Tell! BYOA (up to 250 words). $10
Description Workshop
In-depth study of description, including visuals, imagery, metaphor and simile, and Flannery O’Connor’s Three Strokes/Five Senses Rule, as well as how to find that Telling Detail. In a world of your own. BYOD (up to 250 words). $10
Exposition Workshop
In-depth study of exposition, including the arts of narrative and backstory, with epiphany, illumination, and internal conflict, as well as how to tell whether or not you’re profound. Ever wonder? BYOE (up to 250 words). $10
Character Workshop
In-depth study of character, including exterior, interior, dialog, action, and description, with special emphasis upon motivation and tension. A bundle of body parts and a bolt of lightning—the Frankenstein magic. BYOC (up to 250 words). $10
Plot Workshop
In-depth study of plot, including hook-developmental-climax on all levels, from cosmology (master plan) to quantum physics (detail). That’s holography! Be a fishhook in your reader’s jaw. BYOP (up to 250 words). $10
AUGUST 31 — SEPTEMBER 25
Four-week sessions over email
Fictional Elements Workshop — CLOSED
Character, action, dialog, description, and exposition, focused on forward movement, necessary detail, hints, and revelations—two assignments/week. Walk the walk, talk the talk. $80
Fictional Structure Workshop — CLOSED
Hook, development, and climax on all levels, holographically, including overall plot, chapter, scene, and microstructure, based on the all-important principles of tension and epiphany—two assignments/week. Behold the world in a grain of sand. $80
Fictional Life Workshop — CLOSED
The writing life and the writer’s personality (with reference to canonical books on writing), special focus on handling rejection, as well as cover letters and magazine submissions, agent query letters and synopses, and realtime experience—two assignments/week. Do you have the gumption to submit to someone who doesn’t already love you? Not for the faint-hearted! $80
Grim Reaper Cutting & Trimming Workshop — CLOSED
Don’t fear the Reaper! Cutting and trimming your manuscript, revealing the amazing novel you really wrote. What to cut, what not to cut, and how to tell the difference. One week on cutting exposition and internal dialog, one week on cutting individual phrases and words, one week on analyzing what’s left, and a final week on reorganization and reassembly, including the Donna Mixon Secret Proofreading Trick for Self-Editors—two assignments/week. What happened between your imagination and the page? Get what you imagined! $80
Critical Life Workshop Laboratory — CLOSED
The art and science of peer critiques, covering the differences between copy, line, and developmental editing and spanning the permutations of character, action, dialog, description, and exposition as well as holographic hook-development-climax, in a practical, hands-on lab where you learn the Golden Rules of critiquing—two assignments/week. Good, and good for you! $80
On-going Critical Life Clubs — NEW IN OCTOBER
Revel in a safe, friendly, dynamic miniature critique circle for on-going constructive criticism and support, under the active supervision of a professional editor and veteran critiquer. You choose the size: $10/month to belong to a club of Six of One, Half-Dozen of the Other, $15/month for a Gang of Four, $20/month for a Triad, $30/month for your own personalized Pair. Active supervisor involvement and scheduled IM or Twitter club chats every week. I will not let you give each other bad advice! Improvement guaranteed. (Strong words, I know.) Prerequisite: Critical Life Workshop Laboratory
SEPTEMBER 7 — OCTOBER 2 — CLOSED
Four-week sessions over email
General Fictionalism Workshop
One week on plot, studying hook-development-climax, with an emphasis upon tension and forward movement; one week on revealing character in both action and dialog; one week on description and exposition and how (and where) to express epiphany; and a final week on focusing and revision, with special attention to Transcendental Motivation or How to Survive Critiques and Rejection—two assignments/week. The whole shebang, for the option-paralyzed. $80
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