Get to the Heart of Your Story
Are you partway through your manuscript and feeling a little lost? Have you completed a first draft and still don't know exactly what your protagonist needs or wants? Or, perhaps you are still at the beginning, struggling to figure out how this story is going to work.
Wherever you are in your work in progress, this workshop will help you examine the purpose and role of your beginning, middle and end. Master instructor and award-winning author Leah Henderson will use prompts, questions, texts and exercises to help you develop, reflect upon, and enhance your current project.
Each of our four sessions will focus on four different story elements: the before-the-beginning, the beginning, the middle, and the end. We’ll study what goes into strong opening lines, paragraphs, and scenes as well as what holds a reader’s attention through often murky middles. We’ll examine how to create intentional and memorable endings. We’ll delve into character, setting, pacing, plot, emotion and other key elements that come together at each stage of the writing process to help you create engaging stories.
You will complete the workshop with:
- Knowing what's at the heart of your story
- A deeper understanding of your plot, characters, and story
- New tips and techniques to enhance your works in progress
- A better grasp of what holds a reader's attention
- Richer scenes and passages in your work in progress
This workshop is for you if:
- You're struggling to get to the heart of your story; you know something is just missing
- You’re feeling a little lost with your manuscript
- You’re an author in any stage looking to improve your craft
- You’re an author looking to hone your skills
Classes will run approximately 90 minutes, and workshop sessions will be recorded if you are unable to attend a session.