Creating Better Heroes: Male POV for the Romance Writer
July 26, 2011 by Marianne H. Donley in category Archives tagged as Online Class
with Sascha Illyvich
August 15 – August 28, 2011
Note: this is a two week class
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassAug11.html
COST: $10 for OCC members, $15 for non-members
Enrollment deadline: August 13, 2011
If you have specific questions, email occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com
About the Instructor:
Coming in September is Show and Tell: An Interactive Workshop with Shannon Donnelly Both showing and telling are valuable tools for any writer–writers need both narrative passages as well as dramatic scenes, so each has its own place within any writer’s skill set. Learn when to show and when to tell. Enrollment information: http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassSept11.html
Check out our full 2011 list of workshops: http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html
Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure you’re signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group! Sign up at the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html or send a blank email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ********** permission to forward **********
Breaking Things Down Into Threes
June 26, 2011 by Marianne H. Donley in category Archives tagged as Beth Daniels, Online Class, pantsers, plotters, PlottingWith Beth Daniels aka Beth Henderson, J.B. Dane
About the Class:
Plots require organization – even those written by Pantsers. Why? Because all storytelling requires a flow, a smooth transition from one scene to the next. Getting it doesn’t require an outline though. All it requires is a system. A system of breaking everything down into thirds.
Three is a magic number. It’s used in art, music, interior design, and in literature. After all, doesn’t every story have a Beginning, a Middle, and an End? Three things.
But we need to go further. Need to section the various elements of our storylines into smaller and smaller divisions of three. Many have already have done this in writing essays at school, or in a public speaking class. Opening either a essay or a speech by telling the audience
- here’s what has occurred before and what we need to change,
- here is how we can change it or why we should change it, and
- the problem is this because of this and that and we need to do this to correct it.
Storylines in fiction do exactly the same thing, they simply use characterization, action and reaction to move along. Scenes can be broken down into threes; chapters can; POVs can. And in thinking by threes to create each tale, each element of a tale, story flow results.
Participants should have a work in progress, but it can be in any state of development – thinking about, early chapters, middle, or heading toward the conclusion. Thinking by threes works at any level, including editing. It can also help identify things that aren’t really needed in the book, the sort of things editors delete.
This class is for writers at any point in their writing career from unpublished to midlist.
About the Instructor:
Beth Daniels currently writes as Beth Henderson and J.B. Dane, though she answered to Lisa Dane and Beth Cruise in the past as well. She has worked with editors at Berkley, Zebra, Leisure, Harlequin/Silhouette, and Simon and Schuster’s Aladdin Paperbacks, done e-books for a now defunct company (not her fault, she says), and began her writing life with hardcover books slated for library use with a publisher that got out of the romance business (again, not her fault). More recently she’s had a number of articles about writing picked up by e-zines, saw a short story published in a mystery and suspense magazine that turned up its toes the next year (really, really not her fault), and has a story in the MOTHER GOOSE IS DEAD anthology slated for publication by Dragon Moon Press in 2011.
For over a dozen years Beth taught college level composition, both in the classroom and online, and a credit course on Novel Writing. Twenty-six of Beth’s manuscripts have appeared in print or e-book format, and in 12 different languages in over 20 countries. At the moment she is working on various manuscripts, some fiction, some non-fiction but related to writing.
She is a member of Romance Writers of America, and an active member and volunteer with the Kiss of Death Online romantic suspense chapter, and a fixture at SavvyAuthors.com.
Website: www.RomanceAndMystery.com
Breaking Things Down into Threes with Beth Daniels aka Beth Henderson, J.B. Dane
Date: July 11 – August 6, 2011 this is a four week class
Cost: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-OCC members
Enrollment Information: http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassJuly11.html
Enrollment Deadline: July 9, 2011
If you have specific questions, email occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com
*******************************
Upcoming classes:
August 15 – August 28, 2011
Writing from the Male Point of View to Create Stronger Heroes with Sascha Illyvich
September 12 – October 8, 2011
Show and Tell: An Interactive Workshop with Shannon Donnelly
Check out our full list of workshops. http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html
Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure you’re
signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group! Sign up at the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html or send a blank email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
********** permission to forward **********
0 0 Read moreAgents/Editors: We Don’t Bite . . .Muchâ€
June 7, 2011 by Marianne H. Donley in category Archives tagged as Agents, Editors, Online ClassCan’t go to conference in NYC?
Take our online class: Agents/Editors: We Don’t Bite . . .Much†with editor Lynn Price instead.
June 13 – June 25, 2011 This is a two week class
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassJune11.html
Cost: $10.00 for OCC members, $15 for non-members
If you have specific questions, email occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com
ABOUT THE CLASS
Learn about the publishing business and the submission process from the agent’s/editor’s viewpoint. Lynn Price, editorial director for Behler Publications, is not only going to cover the basics of what to include in a cover letter, synopsis, biography and promotion plan, she’s also going to answer your questions about:
• What’s a Print On Demand publisher?
• Can a vanity press get my books on store shelves?
• What’s the advantage to going e-book?
• Should I care about distribution?
This fast-paced, two-week look at the publishing world will cover the whole enchilada so writers can become better at their craft and understand how the industry works.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
The editorial director for a publishing firm that specializes in personal journey stories with socially relevant themes, Lynn Price is herself a published fiction and non-fiction author. Her reference book, The Writer’s Essential Tackle Box: Getting a Hook on the Publishing Industry, provides an “insider’s view geared to inform and educate writers as to how we work, why we work, and the pitfalls to avoid.” She also addresses many issues facing today’s writers with her lighthearted but very much to the point Behler Publications blog –http://behlerblog.com/
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassJune11.html
COST: $10 for OCC members, $15 for non-members
Coming in July 2011– Breaking Things Down Into Threes with Beth Daniels
July 11 – August 6, 2011
Plots require organization– even those written by pantsers. Why? Because all storytelling requires a flow, a smooth transition from one scene to the next. Getting it doesn’t require an outline though. All it requires is a system – a system of thirds. This class is for writers at any point in their writing career from unpublished to midlist.
Check out our full list of workshop at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html
Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure you’re signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group! Sign up at the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html or send a blank email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
0 0 Read moreAgents/Editors: We Don’t Bite…Much
May 26, 2011 by Marianne H. Donley in category Archives tagged as Agents, Editors, Online ClassInstructor: Lynn Price
“Breaking Things Down Into Threes”with Beth Daniels
********** permission to forward this information **********
10 Commandments of Grammar for Fiction Writers” with Grammar Divas – Annie Oortman & Darlene Buchholz
March 26, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Online Class********** permission to forward **********
Hi everyone! Check out the exciting online classes offered by the
Orange County Chapter of RWA!
“10 Commandments of Grammar for Fiction Writersâ€
with Grammar Divas – Annie Oortman & Darlene Buchholz
April 11 – May 7, 2011
Love grammar? Hate grammar? Love to hate grammar?
Contrary to popular belief, grammar is not a sinister conspiracy plot designed by evil English teachers (the Grammar Gods) to ruin every writer in the free world’s fun by screwing with personal style. (Seriously, it’s not.)
However, good writing requires good grammar. Without it, you can’t really be sure your reader will understand the information you’re trying to convey, the story you’re trying to tell, and the mental picture you’re trying to paint. Which kind of defeats the purpose of fiction writing, right?
So what rules are the most important ones for a fiction writer to follow and which ones are kinda-follows? From subject-verb agreement to passive voice, faulty construction to misplaced modifiers, word choice and usage to quotation marks and commas, the Grammar Divas (an English teacher and a professional copywriter) sort through the all the rules and share in a fun yet informative way the ten most important grammar issues every fiction writer should understand and practice.
About the Instructors:
Grammar wasn’t Annie Oortman’s first love (actually, it was a cute boy in her second-grade class named Henry Talley) or even her second (avoiding barn work). However, after getting an A for content but an F for readability on a third-grade book report, she learned having great ideas was one thing, communicating them well on paper another. Annie became a disciple of the church of Proper Grammar. Nowadays, she aspires to become a romantic suspense author, diagrams sentences for fun (yes, for fun), and argues with Darlene on the acceptability of ending a sentence with a preposition. Don’t do it!
Darlene Buchholz fell in love in the first grade with a boy named Neil. He shared his crackers and milk at recess after someone took her snack and never got caught. By the third grade, she discovered Nancy Drew mysteries and developed a great passion for perky heroines who drove convertibles (proof they were in charge of their own lives). She’s written about romance and intrigue ever since. Darlene never thought of grammar as a challenge. It was, instead, a tool to help her express the ideas she felt passionate about, especially on the acceptability of ending a sentence with a preposition. Yes, you can!
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassApr11.html
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Coming in May, 2011
“Some Like It Hotâ€
with Louisa Bacio
May 16 – June 11, 2011
Let’s talk about sex. Whether you’re writing a short story, novella or a full-length novel, an erotic thriller, paranormal or historical romance, the basics of the Erotic Romance remain the same: it’s all about plot and keeping it hot.
This workshop will cover the basics of characterization and motivation, and then delve into the heart: The sex scene(s). When writing about the physical aspects of love, it takes more than the cliché of “putting tab A into slot B.†The love scenes need to come organically from the work that’s being created, and the reader needs to believe in the connection.
Adult Content: Note that with the subject matter of this workshop, the language may become explicit. Come with an open mind, and be prepared to learn.
Erotic romance writer Louisa Bacio released her full-length novel PHYSICAL EDUCATION through Ravenous Romance and to quote Happily Ever After Reviews: “Ms. Bacio cleverly crafts a world of wicked pleasure and mystery that pulls the reader into this erotic thriller.†She’s currently working on an erotic paranormal set in New Orleans, and a sequel to Physical Education.
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html Check out our full list of workshops.
Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure you’re signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group!
Sign up at the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html
or send a blank email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
********** permission to forward **********
0 0 Read moreFeatured Books
THE CONSPIRACY
When family ambition turns deadly Chase Garrett must keep Harper safe and both of them alive.
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