14 October 2019 | CSUB | Evening with Poet Lindsay Wilson
Events
19 October 2019 | Featured speaker Nancy Ellen Dodd | Writing Dialogue
Would you like to learn how to write better dialog that is authentic to your characters? You will have the opportunity to sharpen this skill at the Writers of Kern monthly meeting on October 19th. Author and screenwriter Nancy Ellen Dodd will walk us through the process in a fun and highly interactive workshop.
Nancy is inviting participants to volunteer dialog they have written for their own stories, for use in this presentation. Fear not! This won’t be a critiquing exercise, but is intended to be fun and engaging. It’s a great opportunity to receive feedback relevant to what you are writing! And you will come away knowing how to give your dialog greater impact and make your story more powerful.
If you choose to share, here are Nancy’s instructions:
- Please email one double-spaced page of dialogue from your story. This could include a (conversation between two people or a monologue).
- On that one page, please include a brief description of your character/s
- State permission to use your page as an example in the PowerPoint presentation.
- From these submissions, examples will be chosen that best illustrate what is being taught. This will be a friendly and positive teaching/learning experience, it’s not about critiquing, but rather about adding a new layer to your writing skills.
Email: [email protected] – in the subject line write “WOK Dialogue”.
Ms. Dodd offers us a wealth of experience. In addition to holding a MPW (Master’s in professional writing) and an MFA (in playwriting) from USC, Nancy is currently earning her Ph.D. in Global Leadership and Change focusing on the impact of storytelling. She teaches advanced screenwriting at Seaver College, Pepperdine. She is the author of over 130 articles and has recently published a book, The Writer’s Compass: From Story Map to Finished Draft in 7 Stages (Writer’s Digest).
Don’t miss this! Click here to pay the meeting fee online.
To learn more about Nancy, check out her blog at http://www.thewriterscompass.com/
15 June 2019 | Featured Speaker, Author Esther Hatch – The Pros & Cons for Small Press Publishing
This presentation will cover the advantages and disadvantages of small press publishing.
There are more options to publishing than just self publishing or publishing with an agent and hoping to land a book with a big publishing house. Sometimes the middle road can be the right road.
Advantages: agents may not be required, quicker publishing timeline, close knit group of people you come to know and the ability to hit a niche market.
Pitfalls: smaller press runs, smaller budgets, some small presses may not do enough advertising and marketing to really sell your books in the way you imagined.
Click here to purchase tickets to the meeting online.
Bio: Esther Hatch grew up on a cherry orchard in rural Utah. After high school she alternated living in Russia teaching children English, and attending Brigham Young University in order to get a degree in Archaeology. Always an avid reader, she began writing when one of her favorite authors invited her to join a critique group. The only catch was she had to be a writer. Not one to be left out of an opportunity to socialize and try something new; she started on her first novel that week.
18 May 2019 | Annual Celebration | WOK Honors Dinner
WOK Members and Competition Winners are Celebrated
Writers of Kern Member achievements, our incomparable WOK Volunteers, Young Writers of Kern (YWOK), and Peggy Connelly Scholarship winners are honored and celebrated at this annual affair.
Join us at Hodel’s , located at 5917 Knudsen Dr. Bakersfield, CA 93308.
Doors open at 6 pm. Dinner starts at 6:30 pm.
13 April 2019 |Featured Speaker, Jeanne De Vita – aka The Book Genie
| Jeanne De Vita │Essential Master Class in Writing Romance Novels: Arc, Beats, and Craft |
Jeanne De Vita is pleased to present a master class on the essential craft of writing a romance novel. Commercial fiction is an enormous market but how do you know if your story has the structure to stand up and the soul to attract and keep readers? Developmental editor and writing instructor Jeanne De Vita will share the often overlooked essentials of romance novel craft: creating a character arc through correctly placed character beats and the essentials of the craft. Practical and accessible, this workshop will introduce new authors to concepts and tools while also challenging experienced authors to improve their mastery of the genre.
Click here to purchase tickets for the meeting online.
MFA, award-winning author, and editor with an extensive background in publishing. Ms. De Vita is currently a Developmental Editor for Waterhouse Press, and previously worked as both an Acquisitions Editor and a Managing Editor. She counts several New York Times best-selling authors among her clients.