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Workshop October 8 – Finish Your Book in Three Drafts


Sunday, October 8, 2023

Time 9:30 – 3:30

Location Cattlemen’s, Rancho Cordova, 2409 Folsom Blvd.

Stuart Horwitz
Stuart Horwitz

Stuart Horwitz

Finish Your Book in 3 Drafts

Crafting Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction with

the Book Architecture Method

Buy Tickets Here

It’s the age-old battle between the outliners and the pantsers – those who meticulously script every writing session, and those who pilot solely by feel. Finding your unique approach requires a method rather than a formula. The Book Architecture Method has helped bestselling writers transform their messy manuscripts into polished books. Accomplished and aspiring writers alike will learn the secrets of how to painlessly create a complex narrative such as:

  • what “plotting” actually means, and why there isn’t one narrative arc but several
  • how to make sure your book has one “theme” – and one theme only
  • how to separate your work into scenes and use this disassembly to diagnose what’s going wrong with your manuscript
  • the secret to why some narratives feel like they are all coming together at an emotional pay-off while others do not.

This workshop will introduce writers to a process for organization and revision that includes in-depth exercises to be completed throughout the day so that attendees leave with a new perspective on their book’s core, its structure, and where the work of revision lies most clearly. The workshop assumes nothing of a writer’s previous knowledge of technique, nor how much of his/her manuscript is complete.

Stuart Horwitz is a ghostwriter, independent editor, writing coach, and founder of Book Architecture (www.bookarchitecture.com). His clients have reached the best-seller list in both fiction and non-fiction, and have appeared on Oprah! The Today Show, and in the most prestigious journals in their fields. He is the author of three acclaimed books on writing: Blueprint Your Bestseller: Organize and Revise Any Manuscript with the Book Architecture Method (Penguin/Perigee), which was named one of the year’s best books about writing by The Writer magazine, Book Architecture: How to Plot and Outline Without Using a Formula, which became an Amazon bestseller, and Finish Your Book in Three Drafts: How to Write a Book, Revise a Book, and Complete a Book While You Still Love It.

Horwitz holds degrees in literary aesthetics from New York University and East Asian studies from Harvard University. He is also an award-winning poet and essayist. He recently relocated to California with his family from New England, something he should have done years ago.

Seminar Details:

Where: Cattlemen’s Rancho Cordova, 2409 Folsom Blvd.,

When: Sunday, October 8, 9:30 a.m. – 3:30

Cost: $149, includes: plated lunch, snacks, coffee.

Early bird rate for CWC members: $129 price by September 1.

Buy Tickets at the Early Bird Rate!

Filed Under: Special Events, Writing AcademyTagged With: california writers club, cwc sacramento, writers club

WRITERS: DON’T MISS: CWC Writing Academy workshop on plot

Wednesday, March 28: Martha Alderson will be interviewed by Dr. Andy Jones on Dr. Andy’s Poetry and Technology Hour on KDVS 90.3 at 5 p.m., Pacific time.

Event featured in the Examiner and Sacramento News & Review

Plot Intensive: Transform Your Writing Through the Universal Story –2012 CWC-Sacramento Writing Academy Presents

Plot at the Overall Story Level

***Exclusive Appearance in Greater Sacramento Area!***

Renowned Plot Whisperer and International Plot Consultant

Martha Alderson

plotwhisperer.blogspot.com – Rated “Top 101 Websites for Writers” by Writer’s Digest

WHAT: Confused by plot? You are not alone. Plot springs from character in conflict and is the most challenging aspect writers face. Plot demands an interweaving of dramatic action, character emotional development, and thematic significance. Learn to apply universal story structure to your project:

7 Key Scenes in Every Great Story  Character Emotional Development/Emotional Change  Cause and Effect  Thematic Significance, Mood, Pace, Authentic Details  Long- and Short-term Goals  Scene Development

Stories are lived, and character revealed, in the answers to three questions: What does the protagonist want? What stops her from attaining it? What is she willing to do to get it? Learn the answers to story questions in this interactive workshop. Stand back from your novel, memoir and screenplay to see the deeper meaning.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Writers desiring to deepen their writing; writers at any level with imagination and interest in any genre; readers, artists, novelists, screenwriters, memoirists, and creative nonfiction writers in search of insights to structure narratives from a well-constructed plotline.

Look at the dynamics of cause and effect to create scenes that lead to a solid plot. Explore how well-constructed characters in conflict act as the driving force behind an exceptional story. Delve into theme for lasting meaning. A clearly formulated plotline will guarantee that you make it to the end. Bring characters and a list of scenes in your story. If not yet started, we will provide everything you need. Though Plot Intensive has a unique focus, you are guaranteed fellowship with other writers in a safe setting.

The workshop consists of lecture, time for development of plotlines, and movement. The lectures give consideration to the dramatic (action), emotional (character development), and thematic aspects of story, but all aspects of a successful project must be integrated into the total structure to create unity; unity is the writer’s goal.

WHEN:     Saturday, April 7, 2012, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m

WHERE:   Dante Club of Sacramento, 2330 Fair Oaks Blvd. (near Howe Ave.), Sacramento 95825

~ ~ ~ See Back Page For More Info and Registration Form ~ ~ ~

COST:        Early Bird, Register by March 10: $85 for CWC Members; $95 for Non-Members

Starting March 11: $99 for CWC Members; $109 for Non-Members

Includes morning coffee and bagels, and lunch buffet.

EARLY REGISTRATION ENCOURAGED AS MARTHA’S SESSIONS SELL OUT.

LUNCH:     Lunch buffet included; special menu from the highly-regarded Dante Club.

ABOUT MARTHA ALDERSON: Martha Alderson, M.A., is founder of the award-winning blog “Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers,” which is rated “Top 101 Websites for Writers” in Writer’s Yearbook 2012 by Writer’s Digest, the Blockbuster Plots for Writers–http://www.blockbusterplots.com and International PlotWriMo–http://plotwrimo.com. She also has created several plot DVDs, eBooks, and the Blockbuster Plots Scene Tracker Kit. She is author of The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master and Blockbuster Plots: Pure & Simple. With a client list that includes best-selling authors, New York editors and Hollywood movie directors, Martha finds that the more people she works with and the more novels, memoirs and screenplays she analyzes, the more convinced she is that every scene and every moment is part of a Universal Story. Her new book, The Plot Whisperer, is based on plot consultations with writers worldwide. She has drawn lessons about how stories unfold to include the lives of the writers with whom she works. She expands those lessons to include anyone interested in reclaiming a miraculous and mysterious way of living. Martha will have autographed books available for fans interested in purchasing them.

http://plotwhisperer.blogspot.com/Best Writing Advice blogs as awarded by Writer’s Digest 2009, 2010 & 2011

~~HOW DO I PLOT A NOVEL, MEMOIR, SCREENPLAY? 27-step free tutorial~~

http://www.youtube.com/user/marthaalderson

 

**Pay online through PayPal by March 31 for discount**

Workshop registration

Or if you prefer, mail payment with this form:
& – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Sign me up for Plot Intensive: Transform Your Writing Through the Universal Story –

Plot at the Overall Story Level

Print, clip & submit with payment to: Robert Cooper, CWC Treasurer, 829 Haggin Ave., Sacramento CA 95833.      Make check payable to CWC Sacramento Branch. You will receive e-mail confirmation.

 

Name:________________________________________________  Genre:________________________________

Address:_____________________________________________________________________________________

City/State/Zip:________________________________________________________________________________

Email:_______________________________________________    Phone:________________________________

 

Early Bird Fee Register by 3/10/2012: ___$85 CWC Member, _______________Branch     ___$99 Non-member

Fee starting 3/11/2012: ___$95 CWC Member, _______________Branch    ___$109 Non-member

 

Questions? Contact Margie Yee Webb at Margie@CatMulan.com or 916-213-0798.

Filed Under: Writing AcademyTagged With: cwc, how to write a novel, learn to write, martha alderson, new writers, sacramento, writers club, writers sacramento, writers workshop, writing academy, writing class

All new 2012 CWC Writing Academy Series!

Make the New Year Special with Four Exciting Sessions!

CWC Writing Academy 2012

May 12 – “SuperCharge Your Writing Like a Pro” with Karen Sandler – Saturday, May 12, 9:30 AM-2 PM. Register by April 28 for discount.
Questions on Workshops?

Contact Margie Yee Webb or 916-213-0798.

Filed Under: Writing AcademyTagged With: fiction workshop, how to get published, jennifer basye sander, karen sandler, martha alderson, melanie bowden, plot whisperer, publishing, writing classes, writing workshop

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