Building Your Author Brand With Newsletters
Everyone tells you to start one. Nobody tells you what to include.
You're an author. Maybe you're published, maybe not. Everyone says you need a newsletter, but almost nobody tells you what to write about or how often to send it. And what does a newsletter actually do for you? For your books? Where do you even begin??
Join Erin Dionne for an evening that covers it all: the benefits of a newsletter, how to think about content, which services are worth using, and how to get your newsletter off the ground. You'll leave with content ideas and a list of resources, the tools you need to get started.
Bringing Minor Characters to Life
Minor characters are not just props for your main character's story.
Every character in your book deserves a life of their own. Minor characters aren't just there to serve the protagonist. When they're fully realized, minor characters’ storylines add depth to your protagonist’s drama and to the manuscript as a whole.
In this seminar, Erin Dionne looks at how to breathe life into minor characters: what makes them well-rounded, how their storylines can strengthen your protagonist's, and how to build the kind of secondary character readers remember. You'll leave with concrete tips and tools for assessing and building your supporting cast.
You Should Take It Personally: Creating and raising internal stakes
The most important stakes are the personal ones.
Stakes keep readers turning the pages. But stakes are as varied as the stories that carry them. Maybe the entire galaxy is at risk of imploding. Maybe the farmer's market will be out of pears if your hero arrives late. Whether you're writing something plotty and exciting, quiet and tender, or narrative nonfiction, the most important stakes are the personal ones. External action creates plot, but emotional stakes are what connect readers to a story and keep them reading.
Evan Griffith is the author of award-winning middle-grade novels and picture book biographies, and a faculty member at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA. In this seminar, he'll show you how to identify your character's internal stakes, and how to raise them so your reader fundamentally cares and wants to read more.
Scene Structure: Key elements in the building blocks of your story
The scene is the basic building block of any story.
The scene is the basic building block of any story. But what makes a great one? Laurie Calkhoven will use mentor texts to walk through the key elements that go into writing great scenes: stage setup, characters and their motives, large and small actions, dialogue, and point of view, all working together toward a scene climax.
Laurie spent twenty years in children's publishing, including time as an executive editor at Scholastic, before writing more than fifty books of her own. Examples are drawn from popular works of middle grade and YA fiction, and you'll leave the workshop with a new scene.