​S. Jane Gari author of Losing the Dollhouse
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PAST EVENTS
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Webinar: "Writing Memoir: The Art of Editing Your Life"
Webinar description:
Biography and memoir are often lumped together, but memoir is a more subjective animal. Memoir delves into one slice of your story and the events and people who shaped that slice. Crafting a memoir involves being willing to edit your life to shape a deliberate and compelling narrative arc with a unifying theme. In this workshop, you’ll explore techniques for finding those stories and choosing the best gateway to your narrative. We’ll look at various examples of what works from successful memoir authors and answer tough questions about our personal histories and motives for writing about them. Learn how to: find your voice; decide on your story’s beginning, middle and end; take creative license without lying; shape family and friends into “characters”; lend humanity even to people who’ve wronged you; avoid being sued while still maintaining your integrity. Memoir writing is an empowering genre—it enables you and others to find themselves through storytelling.
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Webinar: "First Pages: Solid Beginnings that Hook Readers"
Watch here for free.
There's also a Power Point Presentation that summarizes the main points of the webinar. You can view that here.
Webinar description:
A book’s opening pages must command the reader’s attention. Those first sentences make the sale. They seal the pact between author and reader: there is a journey in these pages, and it will be worth your time. In this webinar, we’ll explore techniques for drafting and polishing first pages that engage readers from the first sentence and offer the best gateway to your story. You’ll learn how to avoid the common pitfalls that kill tension and break promises to readers. We’ll look at various examples of what works from successful authors. Learn how to conquer the blank page, get started, and create first pages that hook readers.
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