SPEAKER CONNECTION: REGION THREE (Southeast)

Tonyia/T. L. Gray
E-mail address: tlgray31@insightbb.com
Website Address: home.insightbb.com/~tlgray31/
Location: Louisville, KY

Special Operations: Delta
Research.
Length of workshop: 1 1/2 hours
Everything you ever wanted to know about a unit that doesn’t exist.  Using this detailed information, you can give your main and secondary characters solid backgrounds and jobs within the Special Forces community. Includes handouts and pictures; training, vocabulary, combat plans, weapons, transportation; example missions; command/rank makeup; operational support; resources. This workshop given at 20005 RWA National conference.

Dissecting the Scene
Craft.
Length of workshop: 1 hour
In this workshop you’ll learn to dissect a random scene from a published book and how to apply this model to your own scenes to make sure they are fully loaded.

Creating Memorable Characters--WE NEED TO KNOW THE PEOPLE IN THE CAR BEFORE WE SEE THE CAR CRASH.
Craft.
Length of workshop: 1 hour
The reader wants to fall in love with at least one of your characters.  As a romance writer, they must love the hero and heroine. Creating a fascinating character will get you there. The best conflict comes from great characterization. And if conflict is grounded in characterization, you won't need to worry about plot, it will come.

Basic Elements of Suspense—
Craft.
Length of workshop: 1 hour
Ways to build and deepen suspense in your story.

Sparking Up Your Dialogue
Craft.
Length of workshop: 1 hour
Dialogue can make the difference between a boring scene and one that jumps off the page.  Maintaining tension throughout the book is key.   Coherence and logic are not the goals of dialogue.  The emotional effect on the reader is what you're striving for.  If the reader's emotions aren't involved, he/she will lose interest in the book and the characters quickly.  One way of maintaining tension is to make sure your dialogue is confrontational
or adversarial in nature.

So, You've Got Yourself A Serial Killer: But Do You Really Know Him?
Research.
Length of workshop:  1 hour
Research class that targets the myths and general characteristics of Serial Killers

The Writer's Jewel Box: Using Figurative Language to Make Your Writing Voice Sparkle
Craft
Length of workshop: 1 hour

In the competitive publishing industry, it's not enough to have a great story.  Editors and agents look for authors with strong, unique writing voices.  By identifying that nebulous quality called "voice," analyzing examples that incorporate figurative language, and a short writing exercise, Catherine will show attendees how to enrich their own writing voices.  Workshop includes handouts.

Self-editing and grammar for writers

Don't let poor grammar or weak writing hold back your riveting story from publication.  You can be your own grammar cop when editing your manuscript by recognizing and correcting the top writing mistakes:

•     Misuse of apostrophes and hyphens.

•     Noun-verb agreement errors.

•     Using the wrong word or spelling.

•     Lack of pronouns and antecedents agreement.

•     Excessive use of quotation marks and other punctuation problems

•     Faulty comparisons and convoluted, wordy sentences.

•     Vague word usage and other weak writing.

•     Misplaced and misleading modifiers.

Cheryl Norman writes a column for her local chapter From the Files of the Grammar Cop and has conducted workshops about grammar, self-editing, and show-don't-tell.

For a complete listing of speaking credentials (which can be adapted for novel inclusion) involving police procedures, women's police issues, self defense, martial arts or child endangerment issues, contact me at CandaceSams@mchsi.com or go to the RWA National 'Speakers Register'....
 or from www.candacesams.com or www.cschatterly.com

Extreme Pitch Makeover
Craft.
Length: 1 hour
In this workshop, Kelley defines four types of pitches and helps you decide which method works best for your particular book. You’ll start by learning the GMC Pitch. This can also be referred to as your “elevator pitch” or mini-pitch. For fans of Debra Dixon’s Goal, Motivation and Conflict, you’ll find this pitch is the perfect starting point for your agent or editor appointment. Then you will learn about elaborating on that GMC Pitch and generating your Cover Blurb Pitch. After those pitches are mastered, you’ll move on to the “Naked Pitch,” Kelley’s nickname for the High Concept Pitch. You’ll learn why she dubs it “naked” in the course.  And finally, she’ll cover the Multi-hook Pitch, another form of the popular Cover Blurb pitch.  By the end of the workshop, you’ll be ready to face that agent or editor appointment with gusto—your smile in place, your confidence soaring, and your response ready: “Sure, I’ll be happy to send the full!”

Dazzle ‘Em with Description
Craft (hands on)
Length of workshop: 1 hour / 2 hour versions available

Do your words sometimes lie lifeless on the page?  Vivid, sensory description can be the cure for many a writing woe - from turning a mundane love scene into an adventure of sizzling sensuality to painting such vivid images that rapt readers feel transported to the world you have created.  Join NY Times and USA Today bestselling author, CL Wilson for a fun-filled, hands-on workshop and learn how to describe everything from the funny to the fantastic in ways that make images leap off the page.

The Wonders of Worldbuilding
Research.
Length of workshop:  2 hours (abbreviated 1 hour version available)

Paranormal and fantasy writing has been a mainstay of storytelling since before authors chiseled words on a stone tablet. From winged horses and the gods of Olympus, to shapeshifters, wizards and fur-footed Hobbits, to spaceships, lightsabers, and Spice, fantasy worlds and fantastic creatures have enthralled audiences and unleashed imaginations in ways no other form of storytelling can.

But in order for fantastic tales to truly captivate, the fantasy elements have to be much more than just window-dressing. Successful worldbuilding requires a solid foundation, a well-drawn and detailed set of blueprints, a healthy dose of creativity, and most of all, tight and inextricable integration with your story.

NOTE: This workshop is not just for fantasy/paranormal/sci-fi writers. Non-fantasy writers just call worldbuilding by different names, chiefly research, setting, and characterization. Though the emphasis of this workshop will be on the creative imagineering of worlds, the techniques of the worldbuilder can be applied to every work of fiction.