Writers for Diversity - January 2021 master class
I'm presenting a Protagonist/Antagonist master class for Writers for Diversity on 30 Jan 2021. Many thanks for joining us to flex your craft muscles!
ZOOM link: Dynamic Duo: worthy adversaries (a Writers for Diversity workshop)
We're going to have a hefty session covering a lot of content; I know people sometimes forget to note book titles and such, so if you're interested in additional recommended craft or critical reading I have some suggestions below. There's also more information about my Verbalization method here.
SInce all of this happening online, I wanted y'all to have easy access to digital copies of my handouts which I've hotlinked below including a couple extras.
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Saturday Master Class: Dynamic Duo (protagonists/antagonists)
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Extra handout: Sample Verbs...Actions & Tactics
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Extra Handout: Character Behavior
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Extra handout: Reverberations Worksheet
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Extra Handout: Pride & Prejudice Verbalization
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n.b. These handouts did not fall from the sky. Please don't share the files or this link with anyone who didn't attend the January 2021 WfD masterclass.
THE BOOKS
After much nudging and prodding from workshop students, I finally sat down and wrote a guide for authors looking to amp their stories and streamline their writing process. Verbalize is a guide to characterization and story planning which eschews the bandaids and quick-fixes that plague writing instruction, in favor of simple, practical language-based solutions that make an instant difference to the process and product of your writing at any experience level.
Verbalize presents a new approach to character and structure that jumpstarts drafting, crafting, revision, and pitching. Blast past overused tics and types with storycraft that busts your ruts and awes your audience. Whether you like to wing it or bring it, this writer guide offers a fresh set of user-friendly tools to populate your pages and lay the foundations of unforgettable genre fiction.
Additionally, students have been asking for a thesaurus of transitive verbs specific to genre fiction, and it launched 16 April 2019. Activate is an author's thesaurus of active, transitive verbs for use in verbalizing stories in any genre. This guide offers 5,300 unique character actions, sorted alphabetically, as well as by genre and direction, to help writers energize their process and projects at every stage. The ebook edition contains over 190k links for easy navigation.
Book Recommendations:
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David Corbett - The Art of Character: creating memorable characters for fiction, film, and tv
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Nicholas Corder - Creating Convincing Characters
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Lisa Cron - Wired for Story: the writer's guide to using brain science to hook readers from the very first sentence
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Will Dunne - The Dramatic Writer's Companion
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Maren Elwood - Characters Make Your Story
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William Flesch - Comeuppance: Costly Signaling, Altruistic Punishment, and Other Biological Components of Fiction
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Jeff Gerke - Plot Versus Character: A Balanced Approach to Writing Great Fiction
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Constance Hale - Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing
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Rayne Hall - Writing About Villains: How to Create Compelling Dark Characters for Your Fiction
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James A. W. Heffernan - Hospitality and Treachery in Western Literature
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Karl Iglesias - Writing for Emotional Impact: advanced dramatic techniques to attract, engage, and fascinate the reader from beginning to end
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Donald Maas - The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface
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Mary L. Mercer - The One Hour Guide to Better Antagonists: How to Write Stronger Stories Using the Power of Opposition
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Mary L. Mercer - Standout Characters: how to write characters who make readers laugh, cry, and turn the next page
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Leigh Michaels - On Writing Romance: How to Craft a Novel That Sells
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Jessica Morrell - Bullies, Bastards, and Bitches: How to Write the Bad Guys of Fiction
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Roz Morris - Writing Characters Who'll Keep Readers Captivated (Nail Your Novel)
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Anatol Rapoport - Fights, Games, and Debates
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Jordan Rosenfeld - Writing the Intimate Character: create unique, compelling characters through mastery of point of view
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Damon Suede - Activate: a thesaurus of actions & tactics for dynamic genre fiction
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Damon Suede - Verbalize: bring stories to life & life to stories
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K.M. Weiland - Creating Character Arcs: the masterful author's guide to uniting story structure, plot, and character development