Teaching on the Coast!

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be teaching at the Oregon Coast Children’s Writers Workshop this year, from July 11-15, 2016!

This is an intensive workshop for those who are not only passionate about children’s book writing, but who dream of publishing their own children’s books.Getting attendees published is the end goal. The course is designed for beginner, intermediate, and advanced writers. It consists of presentations by eight full-time instructors, gobs of writing, group manuscript sharing, and intensive consults with instructors. The instructors are five professional children’s book authors, two children’s book editors from major publishing houses, and a full-time children’s book agent. 

Instructors include:

• Kaylan Adair, editor, Candlewick
• Erica Finkel, associate editor, Abrams
• Susan Cohen, agent, Writers House
• Christine Fletcher, author
• David Greenberg, author
• Ruth A. Musgrave, author
• (Me)
• Stephanie Shaw, author

I’ve never done anything like this before, which makes it both exciting and terrifying. (I believe “terrorciting” is the correct term.) I’ll be teaching two sessions during the workshop:

Crafting Compelling Action

Action can be as simple as a character spilling her coffee, as sweet as a first kiss, or as earth-shaking as two armies meeting in an epic battle of good versus evil. Most people associate action and action scenes with plot, but in this workshop we’ll discuss action’s true purpose: a pulse-pounding way to deepen and elucidate character. We’ll cover voice, rhythm, and pace — including ways to manipulate time itself in order to tell more compelling stories.

Steeped in Character

Point of View isn’t only what characters say and do, but how they see the world based on their past experience, their current situation, and their emotional state. We’ll discuss ways to infuse even the quiet spaces of your manuscript with character using word choice, sentence structure, and rhythm. There will be a few short, fun exercises if we have time.

Do they sound good? I hope so! And boy, am I looking forward to attending all the other sessions. (Free classes, w00t!) Maybe I’ll see some of you there.