The Black Moment: When All Is Lost with Rachel Bailey
Course Dates: 1–28 May, 2017 Cost: RWA Member—$30. Non-RWA Member—$80. The Black Moment is the point in your story when all hope is lost, when crisis peaks, when things seem bleakest and we start to think the characters won’t be able to find their HEA. But how do you make it powerful while still being the right one for your story? And how do your characters deal with their loss during the following scenes—the Dark Night of the Soul? Using examples from romance novels and movies, we’ll explore the techniques authors use and apply them to your own work. The …
The Dark Art of the Blurb with Ainslie Paton
Course Dates: 1–28 May, 2017 Cost: RWA Member—$30. Non-RWA Member—$80. They are tricky those few sparkling sentences, groovy phrases and quick-baked emotions that comprise a blurb. They’re the pitch, the deal, the promise and the shortcut to satisfaction. Like a cover, they can heavily influence a book buyer’s perceptions and actions. Powerful for all their 150-word punch because of their ability to make us do things: one-click that link, open that wallet, pay that pal, read that sucker. Blurb-writing uses the techniques of copywriting, and the more you blurb, the easier it gets. Come learn the dark arts. Course would …
A Thrilling Guide to Producing Awesome Book Trailers
A Thrilling Guide to Producing Awesome Book Trailers Presenter: CT Green/PressedPear (Spielberg eat your heart out!) Whether you’re a novice or more seasoned writer (mmm, seasoned), most authors face a major challenge: ‘How to successfully promote hundreds of pages of written text into one effective cover image, blurb, post, tweet…’. So how does a creative, motivated and talented writer (yep, we mean you!) bring a story to life? To engage with the reader, immersing them into the world of your fantastically crafted book? The answer is simple: You create a Book Trailer of epic awesomeness! Video has become such a powerful …
Edit your own novel: Backburning Backstory, Climbing the Staircase of Turning Points and using the 13 Main Scenes
Presenter: Ebony McKenna In the dark about editing? Let Ebony McKenna show you how to edit your own manuscript with this intensive online course. All welcome! This is for writers who have written a novel in a month and need to know what to do next. Or for writers who have a few manuscripts in the ‘early draft’ stage but can’t figure out how to fix them. It’s also for writers who are great at starting new stories, get stuck and end up abandoning them. In this OWL, participants will use the editing techniques I’ve developed over the decades to look …
Build Your WordPress Author Platform | Feb/Mar OWL
How to Build Your WordPress Author Platform From the Ground Up Presenter: Lana Pecherczyk Take control of your career and learn how to manage a simple WordPress website and blog then turn it into a successful self-managed powerhouse for your author business. Learn via easy walkthrough videos as Lana builds an author website before your eyes, and talks about content creation, e-commerce, traffic acquirement and more. Downloadable PDFs and worksheets will be available so you can revise at your leisure. Whether you’re a digital immigrant or an author just wanting the latest hot tips on WordPress, you can get the author …
Bring your story into focus: why ‘show don’t tell’ is a layer cake | February/March OWL
Bring your story into focus: why ‘show don’t tell’ is a layer cake Presenter: Sandy Vaille ‘Show don’t tell’ is the lynch-pin of great writing. I’m sure you’ve all heard the term, but are you applying it effectively? Delve into the vivid realm of showing, and realise a balance between description and brevity that will captivate readers and not let them go. This course is aimed at beginner to intermediate writers. During this workshop participants will: Discover when to show, and when it’s okay to tell. Identify and banish info dumps. Practice infusing the story with details that will engage readers. …