April Writer-U On-Line Classes

April 4-29, 20011
"Love Your Voice"
by Julie Rowe
$30 at WriterUniv.com

Every writer wants a fabulous voice. This workshop helps identify what makes your voice special, and shows how to capitalize on your natural strengths, with a look at the seven key elements of every author's unique voice. Participants will see specific examples of how each one works, followed by writing exercises that provide them with the tools to refine, polish, and -- depending on the kind of writing they want to pursue -- possibly even change their Voice.

The elements include:

* Emotion: How much? What kind? How do you show it?
* Core Story/Theme: The core idea that inspired your novel
* Setting & Description: Environment is a critical element of Voice
* Pacing: An art of its own
* Conflict: What characters want and why they can't have it
* Characterization: Who you write about and how you develop them
* Mechanics: The rules of writing and when to break them

Julie Rowe discovered the power of "voice" when she double-finaled in the 2006 Golden Heart. Her investigation into what makes some books stronger than others led to RWR's "Love Your Voice" article and conference workshop. She teaches communication workshops at Keyano College in Alberta, and her work has appeared in numerous magazines such as Today's Parent, Reader's Digest (Canada) and Canadian Living. Her first book, Icebound, will be released by Carina Press in fall 2011.

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April 4-29, 2011
"NLP For Character Building"
by Mary O'Gara
$30 at WriterUniv.com

Readers clamor for books by authors whose characters are believable, as well as for characters that feel right to the reader. Neuro linguistic programming (NLP) studies show you how to make your characters' words and body language resonate, and how to make conflicts so deep that the reader understands why the character is torn apart by them. As you learn about characters, you'll also be learning simple tricks to make your life easier and more creative, including:

* Why no two witnesses describe an event the same way
* Connections between language, eye movement, body posture and emotions
* How memory works and what real change requires
* Sensory choices that make a hero strong: Schwarzenegger's process
* Motivation-what motivates both you and your character
* Metaphors and humor that work
* Four stages of learning and seven levels of change
* Proven ways to increase creativity and make writing easier

Mary O'Gara, Phd, is an award-winning writer who is also a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner. She is a professional astrologer and psychic who studied NLP herself in order to learn more about creativity and intuition. Mary is a creativity coach and has been teaching writing workshops online for more than fifteen years.

October On-Line Class Writer U

October 4-29

"How To Identify & Maximize Your Voice"

by Alicia Rasley

$30 at http://www.writeruniv.com/



This workshop gives you an editor's view of voice, and helps you create one that deepens your story and doesn't alienate editors. Using interactive discussions and exercises, and lectures based on experience, we will work on finding your own voice, and/or your story's voice (the not necessarily the same voice), and refine it so that you impress and do not annoy editors and agents.



Some of the topics covered will be:

* Character or author voice - which is right for your story?

* Discovering the genre of your default voice

* Discovering your own story voice

* The story world-view and voice

* Sentence construction and paragraph design as voice

* Grammar, punctuation, and word choice as aspects of voice

* Impressing the editor vs. annoying the editor



Alicia Rasley is a nationally known workshop leader and the author of The Power of Point of View, released by Writer's Digest Books. Her articles on writing are at http://www.rasley.com/ and her editing blog is at http://www.edittorrent.blogspot.com/. She teaches writing online and at two state colleges.