“Novel Lab” – An Intense Writing Laboratory for would-be Novelists and for writers of Narrative Nonfiction
During this 5-day “work-off-the-flab, kill-your-darlings” workshop, you’ll get line-by-line feedback on the first chapters of your novel in progress, with emphasis on how the first chapter fits the novel as a whole. Toni will focus on such vitals as Character, Backstory, Dialogue, Plot, Pacing, Rate of Revelation, and Reader Feeder, the stuff writers force-feed readers and shouldn’t, and other skills that must be mastered, i.e. self-editing. (This tough love writing instructor has witnessed enough stuff that didn’t sell to make her an expert.) Every writer attending will come away knowing how to block scenes and revise any manuscript.
Writers will gain a sense of what it’s like to work with an editor in a publishing house, and what to expect when the book finds a home with a publisher. In the bargain, you’ll get a realistic notion of what an agent does, and does not do, for instance, working magic on your novel when in fact it needs revision.
For most of this rare and remarkable workshop writers will find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Toni has vast experience with unpublished writers, did hands-on editing at three major publishing houses. Toni will line-edit your pages and discuss them and the rest of the novel with you, as well as lead you through the reefs and shoals of the necessary scenes toward completion.