Craft Classes

Class Title: How To Get Them Talking

Instructor Name(s): Lisa Hall-Wilson

Price: $30.00 USD

Date: June 20, 2013 7:30 - 9:00 PM EST

Where: WANA Virtual Classroom

Class Description:

Whether you're writing fiction, non-fiction, articles, or blogging, take your writing to the next level by interviewing experts, professionals, or people who have already been there and done that. Learn from a journalist on how to get the interview, craft questions, get a source talking, how to ask the hard questions without offending, and best practices.

Lisa Hall-Wilson is an award-winning journalist and freelance writer for the Canadian faith-based market. She's interviewed best-selling authors, JUNO-winning musicians, comedians, drug addicts, former prostitutes, police officers, firefighters, pastors, and people with a great story to tell.

The live webinar will be recorded and made available for six months, so even if you can't make it you can still listen later at your convenience.

Class Title: Just The Facts: Create Winning Nonfiction Proposals

Instructor: Amy Shojai

Price: $40.00 USD

Where: WANA Virtual Classroom

Date: June 22, 2013, 2:00-3:30 PM EST

Class Description:

Nonfiction Book Proposals is a 90-minute PowerPoint class designed to help beginning to experienced writers interested in submitting nonfiction books for publication to agents and/or "traditional" publishers. Unlike fiction projects that should be completed before submission, nonfiction books typically are sold based on a proposal along with samples.

I sold six nonfiction books with proposals to "traditional" publishers on my own, and more than a dozen more after landing a high-powered agent. Along the way I made every mistake possible--and also learned what worked, thanks to a nit-picky-cranky-ire-inspiring (and awesome!) editor or three. Although much of publishing remains in flux, the sales tool--the nonfiction proposal--remains a mainstay for "selling" both agent and editor on your idea.

This session also includes (SQUEE!) CUTE PET PICTURES and shows you how to choose saleable topics, build an impressive bio, query (or not), and craft the proposal. There are many kinds of nonfiction, from memoir and biography to prescriptive advice and "creative nonfiction" stories. You'll learn what components make up the proposal and how to compose them, how to format the proposal, and create your competition/market survey. You'll also learn tips for finding expert sources, building your 'brand' and leveraging your platform.

Class Title: Your First Five Pages

Instructor: Kristen Lamb

Price: $60.00 USD Bronze Level/$75.00 USD Gold Level

Where: WANA Virtual Classroom

Date: July 7, 2013, 8:00-9:30 PM EST

Class Description:

The first five pages are the most essential part of the novel. It’s how you will hook agents, editors and readers. This class will cover the most common blunders and also teach you how to hook hard and hook early. This class is 90 minutes long, 60 minutes of instruction and 30 minutes for Q&A.

Your First Five Pages Gold Level

This includes the webinar and a detailed critique your first five pages.

Class Title: Mastering Showing and Telling in Your Fiction

Instructor Name(s): Marcy Kennedy

Price: $45.00 USD

Where: WANA Online Classroom

When: July 20, 2013, 2:00-3:30 PM Eastern

Description:

You’ve heard the advice "show, don’t tell" until you can’t stand to hear it anymore. Yet fiction writers of all levels still seem to struggle with it. 

This live webinar will...

* help you clearly understand the difference between showing and telling

* provide you with guidelines for when to show AND when to tell

* give you practical editing tools for spotting and fixing telling in your writing

The webinar will be recorded and made available to registrants, so even if you can't make it at the scheduled time, you can sign up and listen later at your convenience.

Marcy Kennedy is a multiple Writer's Digest contest winner and an award-winning journalist, as well as a freelance fiction editor. Registrants who sign up a week or more before the class date may submit a paragraph from their current work-in-progress for analysis during the webinar. (Slots for this live critique are on a first come-first serve basis and are limited due to the time constraints of the webinar.) This sample could be a passage you believe is a good example of showing, a passage you're confused about as to whether it's showing or telling, or a passage of telling you don't know whether to change or keep.

Class: Creating Tension and Conflict on EVERY Page 

Instructor: Kristen Lamb

Price: $55.00 USD

Where: WANA Virtual Classroom

Date: July 20, 2013, 8:00-9:30 PM EST

Class Description:

Creating Tension and Conflict on EVERY Page

Conflict is the beating heart of fiction. No conflict? No story. As humans, we tend to avoid conflict, but what works in life is death for fiction. There are many reasons a story can lack conflict and tension and that’s what this class will explore. If we don’t generate dramatic tension, we end up with drama’s inbred cousin “melodrama.” This class is 90 minutes long, 60 minutes of instruction and 30 minutes for Q&A.

Class: Bastards, Bitches and Baddies--Understanding the Antagonist

Instructor: Kristen Lamb

Price: $75.00 USD - Bronze Level / $135.00 USD- Gold Level

Where: WANA Virtual Classroom

Date: July 23, 2013, 6:00-8:00 PM EST

Class Description:

All fiction must have a core antagonist. The antagonist is the reason for the story problem, but the term “antagonist” can be highly confusing. Without a proper grasp of how to use antagonists, the plot can become a wandering nightmare for the author and the reader. This class will help you understand how to create solid story problems (even those writing literary fiction) and then give you the skills to layer conflict internally and externally using the core antagonist and scene antagonists.

Understanding the Antagonist Gold

This is a personal workshop to make sure you have a clear story problem and a solid antagonist. And, if you don’t? I’ll help you create one and tell the story you want to tell. This is done by phone or Big Blue Button and by appointment. Expect to block off a couple hours.

Class Title: Writing Like Cats & Dogs: Turn Niche Writing Into A “Brand-New” Career

Instructor: Amy Shojai

Price: $95.00 USD

Where: WANA Virtual Classroom

Dates:   August 10, 2013, 2:00-4:00 PM EST
             August 17, 2013, 2:00-4:00 PM EST

Class Description:

Niche Writing is designed for beginning to intermediate writers who wish to leverage special interest(s) to build author brand, generate content for blogs, articles, columns and books, (or use blogs for book content!) and more.

This fun PowerPoint two-part workshop (with SQUEE! cute pet pictures!) is structured in 2-hour lectures with time included for questions and answers, as well as brain-storming to figure out your individual writer-ly map for success. Students learn why niche writing is more important today than ever before. This workshop teaches writers how to create credibility as the go-to “expert” in their field, including:

*Finding "it" topics
*Writing columns, articles, essays, blogs and books
*Finding markets and who to "pitch"
*Research tips and finding experts
*How and when to query
*Are you a professional?
*How to become an "expert"
*Building your bio, focussing your brand
*Marketing for writers

Class Title: Writing Moms (and Dads!)

Instructor Name: Natalie C. Markey

Price: $30.00 USD

Where: Emailed Lessons

Date: Sept 2, 2013 - Sept 30, 2013 (Unless otherwise specified by the instructor, ALL times and dates are in EST)

Description:

Plot, character arc, transitions, climax, revise, rewrite, make that deadline, blog, check social media sites, continued education, volunteer for local writing group, read critique partners manuscript, research agents/publishers, read books within your genre, read a craft book and network.  These are ALL things that go through writers’ minds on any give day. But what if you had to add: Make bottles, keep up with diaper/Gerber/ formula supplies, feed baby, playdates, bathe baby, wipe up thrown sweet potatoes, shower to get sweet potatoes out of your hair, more playtime, hope for a naptime (for baby, you must write,) read to baby, and hope baby actually goes to bed at the designated time.

For many writers, this is reality. In fact, many full-time writers are made because of a child being born. Some amazing mothers write late at night, around their day job. However you do it, being a writing parent is a challenge but very doable and rewarding. Learn easy self study tactics, time management tips and suggestions from a ten-year freelance journalist, published author and speaker who also has a one-year-old daughter and a high maintenance dog. You can have it all without losing your mind.

Class Title: Writing Moms (and Dads!) Personal Consultation

Instructor Name: Natalie C. Markey

Price: $40.00 USD

Dates: September 2 - 30, 2013 (Two 45 min. phone consultations. The first consultation will be within the first week of the four-week Writing Moms (and Dads!) workshop. The second will scheduled prior to completing the workshop. Unless specified otherwise by the instructor, ALL times are EST.)

Description:

Take what you learn from the Writing Moms (and Dads!) workshop and get one-on-one guidance on developing the best plan for making you a smarter writer. The first consultation will be a detailed interview followed by a discussion of time constraints. The second will be about developing the best plan for you based off your first consultation discussions. You will also get personalized methods for implementing, testing and carrying out your plan.

Class: Show Me Your Fastball: Crafting Your Logline, Tagline, and Pitch 

Instructor: Marcy Kennedy

Price: $45.00 USD

Where: WANA Virtual Classroom

Date: September 21, 2013, 2:00-3:30 PM EST

Class Description:

Whether you want to self-publish or traditionally publish, you’ll need a logline, a tagline, and a 60- to 90-second pitch to use as marketing tools. Not only will you use these at conferences, in query letters, on social media, as your back cover copy, and as your Amazon page description, but it’ll also prepare you for when a potential future reader asks, “So what’s your book about?”

In this webinar, we’ll walk through a detailed lesson on the elements of a standout logline, including extensive examples, and then, after a chance for questions, move on to turning that logline into a killer pitch. As a bonus, we’ll also discuss taglines, pithy sentences you can add to the front cover of your book.

This class is also ideal for people at any stage of writing their novel. Being able to sum up what your book is about will give you a guidepost for writing the next 50,000-100,000 words.

The webinar will be recorded and made available to registrants, so even if you can't make it at the scheduled time, you can sign up and listen later at your convenience.