How to combine showing action with effective telling

The Master Emotive Storytelling workshop is for fiction writers who want to decipher the contradictions in the old ‘show don’t tell’ mantra so they can avoid author intrusion and maximize evocative actions and sensory details.

Both showing and telling are valid tools. Showing creates drama and movement while telling conveys information succinctly and poetically. I will help you find a balance between action and brevity that will captivate readers.

Active showing is one of the fastest ways to improve your writing and get your stories noticed. You’ll have emotive prose in no time!

What you will learn

This workshop will give you the skills to:

• Understand the difference between showing and telling.
• Discover when to show, and when it’s okay to tell.
• Explore how action can tell the story and engage the reader emotionally.
• Identify and banish information dumps.
• Infuse your story with relevant details and emotive actions.
• Use secondary characters and the antagonist to show.

Who should take this course?

This workshop is for aspiring fiction writers from absolute beginners to experienced authors, who want to polish their craft and make sure they are adding the maximum emotional punch to their stories.

Sandy Vaile is passionate about making sure participants fully understand concepts, so there will be plenty of opportunities to apply what you’ve learnt to your own work, examples, colourful handouts and free resources.

Curriculum

Week 1

• What does ‘show don’t tell’ mean?
• Successful telling
• Make a decision whether to show or tell

Week 2

• Avoiding information dumps
• Successful showing
• Be specific with details

Week 3

• How to reveal the layers of your character
• The showing superpower of dialogue

Week 4

• Make the most of secondary characters
• Fresh descriptions
• Putting it all together

What students are saying about Sandy’s workshops

"Helpful, practical and inspirational, Sandy's workshop took my writing to the next level."

"I loved Sandy's dedication to giving the best feedback possible. It's made a huge difference to me already."

“I credit this teacher with a quantum shift in my writing. I can literally see the difference!"

​“I liked the friendly nature of the learning experience.”

“Sandy Vaile’s teaching is clear, concise and encouraging.”

Teacher

Sandy Vaile is a motorbike-riding daredevil who isn’t content with a story unless there’s a courageous heroine and a dead body. She writes romantic-suspense for Simon & Schuster US and empowers modern writers to produce commercial quality fiction.

Sandy is an experienced course presenter with a decade of experience in the industry. She prides herself on providing a nurturing learning environment that enables participants to truly absorb the material and apply it to their own work.

In her spare time, Sandy composes procedures for high-risk industrial processes, judges competitions, runs The Fearless Novelist Facebook group, and offers mentoring and critiquing services.

www.fearlessprose.com

Also connect with Sandy on Facebook and Twitter

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