Master The Art of Picture Book Plotting & Pacing with Holiday House Editor Elizabeth Law (The replay will be available for 30 days if you can't attend the workshop live.)

Learn the secrets behind crafting a well-paced, emotionally engaging story that keeps young readers turning the pages. Join us for this incredible opportunity to improve your craft AND have your picture book considered for Holiday House's list! In this workshop, we’ll delve deep into:

✔ The Core Elements of a Great Picture Book Understand how to create emotional involvement, a compelling narrative, and the all-important "page-turning" quality in just 500 words.

✔ Pacing and Plotting Techniques: Discover how successful picture book writers maintain a taut, engaging pace, and how you can apply these techniques to your own work.

✔ Avoiding Common Pitfalls: Learn about subtle mistakes that can slow down your story and how to avoid them, ensuring your manuscript shines from start to finish. Plus, an exclusive submission opportunity for all registrants to send a project directly to Elizabeth!

The Lyceum Series are free monthly workshops held on the third Saturday of the month, offering writers of every genre and skill level an opportunity to learn, experiment and develop their craft. This month, we're excited for Ready, Set... Dialogue: Writing For The Stage facilitated by Janelle Gray!

HOW PLOT AND CHARACTER
WORK TOGETHER

Date: Saturday, July 13th, 2024

Time: 11am - 1 p.m. CDT

Location: Grapevine Public Library

We are pleased to announce our next Writers Bloc event for Saturday, July 13th, at 11 am at the Grapevine Public Library! This event is free and open to writers of all experience levels. This one-hour craft class will be followed by an optional social hour at a restaurant near the library (location TBD).

Our speaker is the New York Times Best-Selling Author and winner of the Philip K. Dick Award, Carrie Vaughn. Her topic will be "How Plot and Character Work Together”.

More about our speaker! Carrie Vaughn's work includes the Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel Bannerless, the New York Times Bestselling Kitty Norville urban fantasy series, over twenty novels and upwards of 100 short stories, two of which have been finalists for the Hugo Award.  Her next novel, The Naturalist Society, is about 19th-century ornithologists, awkward love triangles, and the magic of binomial nomenclature. An Air Force brat, she survived her nomadic childhood and managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado. 

The Writers Bloc is a great way to prepare your writing project to be published. The DFW Writers Conference is a great place to meet agents and editors.

WRITERS BLOC

The Writers Bloc is a semi-annual program offered by the DFW Writers Workshop. Our meetings combine a one-hour class on the craft or business of writing taught by a top-notch professional followed by a networking social-hour.

We believe in supporting every writer at every stage of their career and fostering connections within and between our local writing communities. Best of all, we are free and open to the public. Join us!

The Lyceum Series are free, monthly workshops held on the third Saturday of the month, offering writers of every genre and skill level an opportunity to learn, experiment and develop their craft. We hope you’ll join us!

The Graphic Novel Experience: From Concept to Creation will explore the dynamic world of graphic novels. Participants will explore the art and narrative techniques unique to this medium. Throughout the course, participants will analyze and discuss seminal works, including “Maus” by Art Spiegelman and “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi. Participants can also create their own graphic novel concepts, focusing on character development, visual storytelling, and thematic depth. At the end of the course, learners will present their main storyline and portagonist and receive peer feedback, enabling a collaborative and creative learning environment.

Bahar Momeni is an Iranian-American award-winning writer, poet, translator, and human rights activist. She’s working toward her Ph.D. in Literature at UT Dallas, where she teaches creative writing and literature.

She has published works in both Farsi and English. Her writings explore themes of women’s resilience and everyday resistance, contributing to ongoing conversations in modern literature. In 2023, Bahar received the “Outstanding Emerging BIPOC Creator Award” from UT Austin, highlighting her impact as a BIPOC creator. She also receives the “2024 Future Art Writers Award” from MOZAIK Philanthropy and San Francisco State University. Currently engrossed in her debut semi-autobiographical graphic novel, The Trees We Carry, Bahar aims to extend her discourse on identity, displacement, and resistance.