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The Writer's Voice
2 to 7 hrs

Why are 90-95% of manuscripts rejected without being read? Why do most rejections say, "We're looking for a fresh, new voice"? What is voice? How does it differ from style? Tone? And how do you get it? Enjoy group exercises that lead you to explore the elements of voice and expand your options in ways you haven't considered before.  

(Depending on total time scheduled, this session may be considered a Master Class and may also incorporate one or more of the following choices--plus this Bonus:  How to make clichés and twists of language work for you.)

Power Dialogue
1 - 1.5 hrs

Putting quotation marks around talk does not make it dialogue. Learn the 7 keys to effective dialogue plus the 7 energy-sappers to scrap — and grab agents' and editors' attention with your skilled use of Power Dialogue and the Resistance Effect™.

Body Language Spoken Here
1 hr

Learn to replace the easy-to-spot signs of amateur writing with original, character-revealing behaviors. Concludes with a fun, role-playing game.

Show or Tell? What's the Real Diff, and When Do I Use Each?
1 hr

The second-most common comment scrawled on rejected manuscripts (when comments appear at all) is: "Show, don't tell." Do you know exactly what to do? Where? And when? Enjoy interactive exercises that show, not tell, how you can learn to use this essential fiction-writing skill most effectively.

The Art of Revision
1.5 to 3 hrs

Congratulations on completing your first manuscript! Don't rush to send it off to the friendly agent you met at the last conference, who is not waiting impatiently to receive a slightly polished draft. Learn to evaluate your submission the way a first reader does and take charge of boosting your odds of acceptance.

       In any 3-hour master class, attendees may bring their first pages for feedback (write ahead for instructions).

Introduction to Book Publishing 
2 to 2.5 hrs
(an ideal program for a free, public library audience)

Learn how to find a publisher, whether you need an agent and how to get one, what to send, and a hundred other essentials for surviving today's highly competitive submission process. Session may also include "Beginners' Questions Answered" (below).

Beginners' Questions Answered 
1.5 hrs

How to find and approach an agent, how to format a manuscript, and other essentials. Bonus: The mystery of "that" vs. "which" revealed.

OTHER OFFERINGS:
Conference Roundtable Discussions
    1 hr each

One or more 1-hour small group discussions in addition to workshops, limited to between 6 and 10 participants. Each group meets in a classroom or over a meal with Chris, who gives personalized answers to questions about writing and getting published. (Some conferences charge attendees $10 extra to participate.)

Critiques

• For writers conferences, a full edit and critique are offered for approximately 6 or more consecutive opening pages of a novel or short story, when prepared according to the formatting specifications posted on http://sn.im/mustformat (or http://writersinfo.info/smf.html), and submitted by its author a month or more in advance of the event to the conference coordinator (who double-checks all entries and mails them to Chris to arrive at least three weeks before the event).
  Nonfiction is also accepted, though subject matter should be queried in advance.
  Each author receives a 15- to 20-minute private meeting with Chris at the conference, the times to be arranged for mutual convenience.
  Dates for 2011 and 2012 are booking now. 2010 is filled. Please see: www.writersinfo.info/training.html
  
  All workshop handouts and exercises are copyright as part of these registered trademarked programs.
  One exception are the following quotations from many authors contained in the handout THE WRITER'S VOICE:
  

  "Finishing a first draft is the easy part. It's how you revise that makes you a writer. . . . Anybody can spit out 80,000 words. It's choosing the right 80,000 in the right order that will get you published. . . .

  "[Voice is] the conversational quality of your writing, the way you “talk” to your reader. It’s as important in writing as it is in conversing aloud with someone or speaking to a group. If your voice isn’t confident, assured, authoritative, natural, and appropriate for your characters and story, the writing will feel stilted, forced, ragged, weak, awkward.

  "Many editors will tell you that the most important thing they look for in manuscripts is the strength and quality of the voice."

  —From "The Mystic Art of Agent Hunting" by Jason Pinter, former St. Martin's Press editor, author of the Henry Parker series.
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  "Perfection is achieved, not when there’s nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

  —Antoine de Saint Exupéry

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  "In my opinion, 'voice' is the most important ingredient in a successful book. The plot may be clever, but if the voice doesn't engage us, how can we care?"

  —Margaret Maron writes the Judge Deborah Knott Mysteries. She’s won every major mystery-writing award since the first in the series, The Bootlegger’s Daughter.

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  "I think there is a difference [between voice and style], though it’s difficult to get at. To me, voice is closer to attitude and the emotional quality of the prose, reflecting the personality of the author—angry, lost, tough, intelligent, world weary, arrogant, and so on. It’s a deeper quality, connected to who the author is and how he or she sees life and " To me, style is how you put it all together on the surface—fast-paced, spare, elaborate, light, serious, slick, more literary in the use of language and word choice, and so on. In the end, I think, the important thing is not to overthink style or voice or get too cerebral about it, but simply to write a lot.

  "Eventually, you’ll find your natural writing voice and style. . . . There are no hard rules about this. In the end, each writer has to find his or her own way, by doing it."

  —John Morgan Wilson writes the Benjamin Justice mystery series, winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award (“the Edgar”) from Mystery Writers of America and three Lambda Literary Awards.

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  "There’s a lot of stuff out there and much of it sounds familiar."

  —Jim McCarthy, literary agent

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  "The steps to finding and developing your voice begin with:
  1. learning to identify the ineffective writing habits and techniques you’ve picked up over the years; 2. working to get rid of them.
  Such habits smother your natural voice, weaken it, and make it sound like most beginning writers sound. Each habit is a clue to what editors call amateur writing. I call it average. Whatever you call it, average writing is rejectable writing."

  —Chris Roerden, who helps writers uncover their voice in her workshops and books:
  *Don’t Sabotage Your Submission (2009 Benjamin Franklin Award; two Royal Palm Awards from Florida Writers Association: Best Educational Book and 2009 Book of the Year; and ForeWord Magazine's Bronze Medal for Writing Book of the Year).
  *And the original Don’t Murder Your Mystery (Agatha Award; Anthony & Macavity finalist).