August On-Line Classes at Writer U

MASTER CLASS: Building Bolder Scenes
by Alicia Rasley
August 6-17, 2012
$55 at www.WriterUniv.com

Prerequisite:
Must have finished a manuscript previously and have a book started to work with in the class. (It can be the completed novel if you're willing to revise.)

Scenes are what the reader remembers long after your plot and character names are forgotten. "Remember the chocolate chip cookie scene? What about the scene in the mall where she saw the earrings and realized her husband was cheating?" Powerful scenes will make your stories vivid and your characters come alive. In Alicia Rasley's premier master class on building bolder scenes, students will work on designing scenes for greater drama and emotion. Some aspects of the work will include:

* Designing the scene conflict for drama
* Forcing characters to be active by setting/attempting scene goals
* Using cause/effect to keep "scene beats" plausible and clear
* Keeping the characters -- and the readers -- off balance with complications
* Powering up scene endings to make readers start another chapter
* Building suspense and humor with the Magic Rule of Three
* Creating an emotional arc for intense emotional moments

Alicia Rasley is the author of The Power of Point of View and The Story Within Plotbook. This RITA-award-winning author and nationally known writing workshop leader is also a small press editor and a writing instructor at Ivy Tech State College and the University of Maryland. She blogs on editing at www.edittorrent.blogspot.com and has writing-craft articles archived at www.rasley.com. Her novel, The Year She Fell, was released in winter 2010 by Bell Bridge Books.

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MASTER CLASS: Dialogue That Dazzles
by Lori Wilde
August 20-31, 2012
$55 at www.WriterUniv.com

Prerequisite: Must have completed at least one manuscript.

Dialogue that dazzles is about creating the most exciting, compelling conversations you've ever written. Stellar dialogue can make your story leap to life the way nothing else can. If you've gotten comments from editors and agents that your dialogue is trite or stilted or dull, this workshop will teach you how to write fresh, natural, dazzling dialogue. Focusing mostly on dialogue from television and movies, because screenwriters are adept at creating dialogue that "shows" instead of "tells," you'll learn new techniques to make your dialogue stand out and dramatically increase your chances of selling your book! Topics include:

* What exactly is great dialogue?
* Using dialogue to breathe life into your characters
* How to create expressive language
* People rarely say what they mean--subtext
* Structuring dialogue to match real conversations
* Dusting your book with dazzling dialogue
* Examples of dialogue that dazzles

New York Times and USA Today best selling author Lori Wilde has sold 69 novels and novellas to four major New York publishing houses. She holds a bachelors degree in nursing and a certificate in forensics. A past RITA finalist whose novels have been translated into 22 languages, she has won numerous honors including including four Romantic Times Reviewers Choice and the BestBooks of 2006 Book Award.