Have you ever felt like writing teachers wax poetic about craft but hardly ever offer practical writing and publishing advice?
Are you tired of the familiar workshop model where students get feedback on their work but aren’t given the tools necessary to take their work to the next level without direct supervision?
Stephanie understands how frustrating and expensive it is to study with published authors who seem to only ramble on about their own “process” without providing any tangible tips, and she’s here to reveal to you the insider secrets she learned from close to two decades as an editor in the book publishing business.
Stephanie earned her MFA from The New School, where she studied the teaching of writing. She has since gone on to appear on panels and teach writing workshops at the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) Writing Conference (NYC), BinderCon (NYC), the Festival of Faith & Writing at Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI), the Festival of Women Writers (Hobart, NY), Publishing in Color at Drew Theological School (Madison, NJ), and the Redeemer Writers Group (NYC).
Writing a Killer Book Proposal
To land a book deal you need more than a good manuscript. Get insider tips as we go step-by-step through the elements of a proposal. Discover how to market through social media and network with agents and editors. Even if you haven’t written a single page of your book, now is the time to build your readership. Open to any genre, this workshop will include writing exercises to help you develop your proposal.
The Heroine’s Journey
Joseph Campbell describes the hero’s journey as someone who ventures away from the common day to decisively win a victory that he can share with his fellow man. How can stories of heroines’ journeys further the cause of the Women’s March, #metoo, and Time’s Up? How might stories of female heroes be different from their male counterparts? How do issues of race, immigration, class, sexuality, and age impact the journey? In this writing workshop, we will look at examples of heroines across genres to explore how we can use this storytelling template to inspire and empower readers. In-class writing exercises will teach the craft of creating memorable heroines. We’ll also discuss ways you can be an everyday heroine.
Cut-ups, Jazz-Poetry, and Picture Poems: Writing under the Influence of the Beat Generation
Come prepared to write! In this hands-on Workshop, we’ll experiment with Beat Generation techniques to blaze our own writing paths—whatever your genre. We’ll explore Neal Cassady’s and Diane di Prima’s confessional writing; Jack Kerouac’s spontaneous prose and jazz-poetry style; William S. Burroughs’ cut-ups; and Gregory Corso’s picture poetry.
Wild Women on the Road
Bohemians, rockers, and nature lovers throughout history have blazed their own paths, inspiring generations of women to put the pedal to the metal—and the pen to paper. So why is women’s writing so often derided as “domestic,” and why do so many women’s travelogues read like chick lit? We’ll discuss ways to elevate the genre in terms of both substance and style as we take a fast-paced ride along with Manal Al-Sharif (Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman’s Awakening), Lynne Cox (Swimming to Antarctica), Waris Dirie (Desert Flower), Patti Smith (M Train), and other women who defied conformity. Geared towards those who want to advance plot while maintaining artistic style.
The Role of Place in Your Literary Life
You heard it in elementary school: setting is key to any story. In this workshop, we’ll be looking at the role of place in the literary life. We’ll discuss how where we write impacts our writing and how to experiment with it to impact your writing style. Then, we’ll take a look at several passages then do some writing exercises that explore setting. You’ll be given a resource of works (fiction, poetry, nonfiction), as well as optional take-home writing exercises that will encourage you not just to carefully consider the role of place in your writing but that will challenge you to see how writing in different locations affects your style and content
Stephanie Nikolopoulos 