Who are the key players? What do they want? What about imprints and smaller presses? These are some of the questions Brandon will tackle in his presentation.

Join Piper J. Drake to learn how to use mind mapping techniques to brainstorm by visually organizing your plot, character, world-building, and other ideas. Three (3) students will be selected to mind map their way through a current story idea – all others are encouraged to audit and learn how mind mapping can be used […]

Getting your words on the page and marketing your books effectively while also juggling a day job, family, chores, and everything else life throws at you can seem like an impossible blizzard of things to do, but this workshop will help you get a handle on that chaos. Learn task management secrets on how to […]

No matter what you’re writing, the principles of psychological horror can spice up your conflict, your tension, your character flaws, your character growth, and everything else that makes a story great.

Bring your favorite snacks and learn from Piper J. Drake how food can be a key aspect of character development. From your character’s favorite food and what memories those tastes unlock to the way they react as they encounter new tastes and textures–including cuisine in your writing can be so much more than a passing […]

Storytelling isn’t just about what you say, but how you say it. This class will look at the nitty gritty of word choice, and show you how a careful consideration of very specific words can have a huge impact on the feel and flow of your writing.

If COVID-19 and a renewed global call for racial justice have taught us nothing else this year, it is that we can radically rethink the world around us. In this workshop, we’ll explore ways that writers can reimagine the fictional world and create new narrative realities, whether it’s by foregrounding consent in stories of romance, […]

In this workshop, we’ll look at three ways to make money through writing – freelance writing work, arts grants, and direct appeals to fans and readers through platforms like Patreon and Substack. For each, we’ll explore how to find and create opportunities for yourself, assess whether the work you’ll put in is worth the potential […]

Being an author requires an online or public presence which may cause problems for a private life. This class discusses how to balance the two in ways that are healthy and keep you creating.  

The habits and patterns you build into your life can have a huge impact on your creativity. This presentation shares some specific things you can do to make more space for your creative work.

In this workshop we’ll explore the elements that go into crafting a novel that readers can’t put down. Including the setup, characters with competing goals, orchestrating the plot twists and revelation of secrets to drive the story forward, raising the stakes, as well as tips and tricks for modulating momentum. There is a handout for […]

What makes one crime novel a thriller, another a mystery, and another suspense? If you’re writing a crime novel, where does yours fit in? In this workshop, we’ll dissects the differences among these main crime fiction genres, what makes them tick, and how to know which one you’re writing. There will be examples to illustrate […]

Join Liza Palmer to learn tips and tricks to tighten up that saggy middle.

Liza Palmer discusses how to craft a surprising third act, including how to make your ending suprising yet inevitable.

What makes our blood run cold and how do you use that fear to make your thriller as nail-biting as can be?

Most of us are conflict adverse, but in fiction you want to have as much as possible. This workshop will look at how to increase conflict for the characters, the different sources of conflict that can exist in the novel, and consider how your character responds to conflict.

There are a lot of theories out there about how to handle pacing for novels, but how do you do it when length constrains you? It turns out that many of the same rules-of-thumb apply, but in a proportionally smaller space they look very different. Learn how to structure your beginnings, ends, and of course, […]

We’re in the golden age of middle grade fiction. There’s more demand for diversity than ever before, but writing the Other is hard. In this workshop we’ll discuss how to avoid clichés and stereotypes when writing diverse characters, and how to do it right. Bring your works-in-progress (or create a brand new character), and a […]

Join your host Renée Saklikar for a welcoming and open space to read your poetry. Poets and respectful audience members are welcome. Please have a printed copy of what you’d like to read on hand so you don’t have to flip between a document file and Zoom during the session. You will be on camera […]

Great hooks keep readers turning pages and turn novels into unforgettable ‘must’ reads. Learn how to find the best moments in your book and use them in multiple ways to write a riveting read.

ROI. B2B. Profit Centre. Supply Chain. Qualifying the Customer. If these and other business-related phrases strike fear in your heart, this workshop is for you. Learn the business basics you really need to jumpstart your writing career. Note: This class is not about the publishing business. It focuses on the skills you will need as […]

Once your characters are set into motion, it’s easy to lose track of times of day, days of the week, and the overall scope of the story. Add flashbacks, or multiple points of view, or any number of small complications, and you’ve got a timeline that’s tricky to manage. In this session—aimed both at pantsers […]

This course will look at the work of acclaimed writers Amitav Ghosh (Gun Island) and Richard Powers (The Overstory) and explore how to address climate change in your fiction writing.

…or why backstory is the spine of your story and how to use it to make your story stand tall. In recent years backstory has gained a bad reputation. This has to do with how the backstory is communicated to the reader (backstory dump, anyone?) rather than with the backstory itself. Sonali believes that there […]

Dreaming of writing a memoir? Join bestselling memoirist Laura Bradbury to learn how to weave your memories into a book that inspires and sells.

Your story’s theme—its central message—may be something you’re aware of when you start to write, or may reveal itself more gradually, but once you can identify it, there are ways to play with it; to weave it through your characters and settings, and to polish and refine it. We’ll explore these, and discuss how they […]

This course will offer practical advice on how to create worlds and settings that don’t depend on colonialist stereotypes about “savagery,” “primitivism,” “civilization,” imperialism, and invasion motifs. It will also provide resources for writers interested in more complex and respectful understandings of Indigenous peoples, as well as guidance for navigating the ethical concerns regarding Indigenous […]

With Google now indexing podcast episodes, and people consuming more audio and video than ever before it’s time to add a few new tools to your audience building toolkit. Video Blogging, Live Streaming, Podcasting and the rise of voice simulation technology means it’s a brave new world for authors. Learn what opportunities these mediums may […]

Bob will teach you that novel dialogue is not “real” dialogue. He’ll teach you that less is more, dialogue tags and how dialogue can bring action to your narrative and help you avoid the deadly interior monologues. Dialogue is action and action is dialogue. Learn the techniques to write dialogue that is believable and memorable.

Now you’re finished. Or are you? Once you’ve finished that manuscript how do you make it better? What are the common mistakes novelists make and how to fix them before an agent or editor sees them. Learn Bob’s systematic approach to power editing your manuscript includinh – Making an objective assessment of your novel’s beginning, […]

Reading your work publicly can be a huge boost to your appeal among readers, editors, and publishers. In our new era of COVID-19 there’s been an increase in events featuring authors using platforms like YouTube Live, Zoom, and Crowdcast. These platforms offer the opportunity for authors to reach much wider audiences across the country and […]

What’s your publishing personality? There isn’t a one-size-fits-all “right way” to get published. This workshop will explore the hidden differences between various publishing options and give you the tools to determine which paths to publication are a good fit for YOU based on your personal goals, strengths, and situation. Presenter Gigi Pandian is a USA […]

Join Anne Perry for a chat about the books we love. Why are they your favourites? What do they have in common? What we can learn from them to inform our own writing? This event is meeting style, so you will be on camera and mic unless you turn them off.    

Join author Diana Gabaldon for a discussion of storytelling and a little Practical Magic for writers.

As important to a novel as plot is a protagonist’s arc of change, his or her inner journey. Learn how that parallel plot is built, in practical steps, for a more emotionally involving novel.

Bring your hand crafts and join writer and knitter Elizabeth Boyle for an informal writing chat. This session will be run as a meeting, so you will be on camera and microphone unless you turn them off.

Feedback from critique partners and beta readers, editorial letters, and Revise and Resubmits can feel even more overwhelming than completing a first draft. But the magic for most books happens in revisions. See how to transfer feedback into action items for revising your manuscript from examples of how Sonali does this in her own work. […]

Have you hit a creative wall within your manuscript? Feeling like a character or plot point won’t bend to the power of your artistic will? We have the solutions. Join Sean Cranbury for a session on allowing external inputs to influence your creative process and generate breakthroughs in your manuscript. As creators we are also […]

Whether you’re a gardener or an architect writer, outlines are helpful. In this workshop, I’ll share my process for writing a high-level outline. Tackle a work-in-progress novel or start a new one. It all starts with one word! This session has a handout available on the handouts page accessed from Media in the header menu.

You know emotions when they hit you. Your eyes mist with tears. Your heart aches with sorrow. Your breath quickens with desire. Human emotion is the electricity that powers our existence. But how do we harness this energy to capture our readers? This session will be run as a meeting, so you will be on […]

Stopped by Fear? Paralysed Self-Doubt? Laura Bradbury was too for an entire decade. Learn how she got over herself to become a prolific and successful writer.

This workshop will break down the bourgeoning book-to-screen market across television and feature film. Attendees will learn just HOW books are optioned and who’s in involved, as well as what to expect (and not expect) from the adaptation process. We’ll take about what makes books, articles, podcasts, and more interesting as potential intellectual property…and just […]

Join Elizabeth Boyle to look at the numerous roles secondary characters take in stories–as foils, as friends, lovers, and enemies–and learn how to give them depth and meaning beyond the stereotypes.

Very often, writers get to the two-third or three-quarter mark in a work and bog down, sometimes abandoning it to move on to something shinier. Why does this happen? It’s a place at which we move from raising questions for the reader to needing to answer them. This change in mode requires a different set […]

kc dyer is the author of eight books for teens and adults, including an Amazon number one bestselling novel in Romantic Comedy. But along the way, she’s made mistakes. So. Many. Mistakes. In this workshop, kc will address some of her biggest blunders — in research, writing, communicating, and more — in hopes of helping […]