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The top­ics below are avail­able for inter­ested groups:

Outlines for peo­ple who hate ‘em

Often writ­ers neglect or refuse to use out­lines to struc­ture their book-​​length man­u­scripts because it hear­kens back to school days spent out­lin­ing in English class. However, out­lines can make the dif­fer­ence between a novel lan­guish­ing in the prover­bial dusty drawer and a fin­ished man­u­script ready to be sub­mit­ted. This work­shop shows you how you can make out­lines work for you in what­ever capac­ity you wish. Bring exam­ples of your work, and an out­line if you have one already.

Making the most of Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a pow­er­house of tools that can increase the pro­duc­tiv­ity, speed, and pro­fes­sional qual­ity of your writ­ing projects. This work­shop is designed to open your eyes to tools you may not be aware of, teach you how to access and use them, and show you how to mod­ify them to make the most of their pos­si­bil­i­ties. Feel free to bring your laptop.

Innovative pitch­ing

Oftentimes, we come with pre-​​conceived notions about what agents and edi­tors want to know about our projects when we pitch them in con­fer­ence con­sults. This work­shop explores a vari­ety of approaches that you can employ based on who you are pitch­ing (edi­tors vs. agents) and how (groups vs. one-​​on-​​one). Come pre­pared to prac­tice your pitches and get feedback.

Formatting to standard

Most writ­ers spend years per­fect­ing their writ­ing projects, but pre­cious few devote much time and research to for­mat­ting their man­u­scripts. Such atten­tion to detail can make the dif­fer­ence between rejec­tion and accep­tance. Learn how to for­mat every doc­u­ment in your fic­tion sub­mis­sion pack­ages to increase your chances for suc­cess. This work­shop focuses exclu­sively on the style­book “Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript.” Bring a chap­ter of your work.

Here’s what recent atten­dees are saying . . .

“In many ways yours was the best ses­sion I attended. You intro­duced me to free think­ing about the art of writ­ing. You con­veyed pas­sion and excite­ment and fun about your writ­ing project and those of the audi­ence as well. I believe that I will remem­ber and apply your sug­gested tech­niques for a long time to come.”

—Sue Heublein, Molalla Writers Faire

“Cheri, lovely to hear from you and receive your most help­ful book on out­lin­ing. I’ve saved it to my desk­top and know I will refer to it often.

Your workshop—and I do hate outlining—was a pleas­ant sur­prise, as was your way of answer­ing ques­tions! Your method of out­lin­ing is truly lib­er­at­ing. Your tech­niques will be put to good use, as I’ve writ­ten the first chap­ter of a new book and get­ting to “The End” is still fuzzy. Thank you for a great presentation!”

—Alice Lynn, Author of Wrenn: Egypt House

Rhythm: A study

Adding sound and style to your writ­ing is essen­tial to break­away fic­tion, and sub­tle tech­niques can help you hone your prose to a musi­cal high. By study­ing the mas­ters of rhyth­mic fic­tion, we will sharpen our own prose to the grind­stone of their tech­niques. Bring exam­ples of your own work.

Fiction from film

Film writ­ers are known for their skill­ful struc­ture, their pithy dia­logue, and their eye for the visual. This work­shop will teach you how to employ these pow­er­ful tech­niques to raise your fic­tion to another level. Bring exam­ples of your work.

If you would like me to speak to your group or orga­ni­za­tion on one or more of the top­ics listed to the left, please email or call me.

 

Bio Information

An edi­tor of fic­tion and non­fic­tion for over 15 years, Cheri Lasota has recently fin­ished writ­ing her first novel and is work­ing on its sequel. Cheri honed her edit­ing and writ­ing skills work­ing for three school news­pa­pers, includ­ing a stint as editor-​​in-​​chief of The Vanguard, a weekly stu­dent news­pa­per at the University of South Alabama. After receiv­ing a B.A. from USA in film, she pur­sued a career in editing-​​first non­fic­tion, and then exclu­sively fic­tion. Her par­tic­u­lar areas of spe­cialty are his­tor­i­cals, romances, and fan­tasies. She also writes a bimonthly newslet­ter for writ­ers on var­i­ous aspects of the craft.

Workshop on “Outlines for People Who Hate ‘Em” at the Mollala Writers Faire