In Person

WRITING WORKSHOPS

by Annette Blair

STORY MAPPING:

Annette Blair's Story Mapping Workshop is a tool for creating the story structure for a romance in a fill in the blanks format. For each story idea, a map of your story will unfold. Points covered include: Plotting, Story Development, Goal, Motivation & Conflict, Help for the Middle, Theme and Premise. Handouts are usable fill-in-the-blank story structure layouts. 

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE—A LIFE RAFT OF SOLUTIONS:

The beginning of a romance is an easy quarter of the book—set up the story.  The end is an easy quarter of the book—tie up the story. But in the middle is a mire of muck, a vast expanse of, well, mud, which is supposed to fill half the book and lead us to the perfect solution. Hello! This is not easy. Annette will lay out the necessary components for every story middle, then she'll offer a series of twists, sparks and complications, a preponderance of possibilities, to help bring your story to life. Fill-in-the-blanks handouts will be provided.  A Natural but more comprehensive component of Storymapping.

SPICE UP YOUR ROMANCE NOVEL:

Want to add more spice, sex and sass to your stories as you move the story forward? Then this is the workshop for you. Sit down and loosen up while we explore the recipe for a luscious read which lies in choosing the right spices in the right amounts and combinations and at the right time. Move your hero and heroine through the sexual arc of their unique story as they grow, resolve their conflicts, and fall in love.  Handouts are usable fill-in-the-blank sheets.

PAINTING COLORFUL CHARACTERS:

Characters: Weep with them, laugh with them; know them better than you know yourself. Annette will present a variety of angles from which to build, view, know, love and hate characters, including how a writer, through characterization, draws emotion from a reader. Handouts will include fill-in-the blanks character charts.  Now comes with an Otherworldly/Magickal/Paranormal Character component.

SWITCHING GEARS...WITHOUT GETTING CAUGHT IN THEIR TEETH:

How to write in several genres and stay sane, a study in mindset, madness and methodology.  Switching gears isn’t about chasing the latest trend but about writing the story that grabs you by the heart, in whatever genre, especially if you’re contracted to write multiple series in different genres. This method also works if you'd like to switch genres and don't know where to start. Methodology is defined as a body of methods and rules employed by a discipline, a set of procedures or the analysis of the principles in a particular field.  This workshop details switching mindset and putting DISCIPLINE and ANALYSIS into practice.

WHAT I WISH I'D KNOWN BEFORE I STARTED WRITING

Prepared for the University of Rhode Island, this workshop covers blank pages to first drafts to multi book contracts to prints runs, promo, and everything in between. It's a knowledge wish list garnered over twenty years of experience. Questions particularly during this workshop are encouraged. An important component is the audience.

SYNOPSIS IN A SNAP:

This is a unique tool for organizing your story into a synopsis that will serve as a selling tool and a point of reference as you write your book. With fill-in-the-blank handouts you can copy and use again, Annette will tell you what to put in, and what to leave out, as she leads you safely through the maze of details that editors need to know as they consider your work.

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Keynotes.

Spring 2007:  Luncheon Keynote, the New England Chapter of RWA's LET YOUR IMAGINATION TAKE FLIGHT CONFERENCE. 

Spring 2011: Luncheon Keynote, the New England Chapter RWA, Salem MA.  Friday & Saturday, April 29th & 30th.