A Fun Day Once Again
Some Questions and Some Fun…
Took most of the day off to play. And got into some warmth. Amazing how the long winter here is still affecting us. It felt great to go over to the valley with the 90 temps because here it was gray and 61. Normally I like the temperature. Just needed a touch of warmth today.
And I got to do some picking. The really fun find this time was about 60 kids and young adult books for the store. $15 for all of them.
Some Questions on Writing into the Dark workshop
Mostly, the questions were around how much different this workshop will be than the lecture. Basically about 50 times more stuff. The lecture was surface and limited. This will be six weeks with five assignments.
The second question I got is how much the workshop will focus on teaching how to write clean first draft. My answer… A great deal. If you are writing sloppy, you are just hurting yourself. But there are techniques that will help you write clean the first time through. Not magic, just stuff you wouldn’t know.
One observation in the comments was great. About how all the rewriters and outliners go to conventions and shout to the heavens their methods while the writers who are prolific and write into the dark clean copy don’t say much at all.
The reason is that those rewriters and outliners feel that if they are suffering for their art, others should as well. I personally would rather have fun telling stories, and that is what this workshop is mostly about, bringing the fun back into your writing.
Almost no one signed up so far. But it is the middle of August, the worst time.
Either that or everyone is afraid of this workshop or think they already know how to do it. Anyhow, here are the details again…
WRITING INTO THE DARK…
Learn how to write clean, first-draft novels and stories without ever outlining or rewriting.
Yes, it can be done and most long-time professional writers do just that.
Learn how to bring the fun of storytelling back to your writing and become more prolific along the way.
This class will be full of techniques, myth-busting, and exercises to help you learn to write clean, first-draft novels that never need to be rewritten.
If you automatically thought that can’t be done, you really need this workshop.
If you are trapped in the myth of rewriting things until they are mush, you really need this workshop.
If writing is no longer fun, you really, really need this workshop.
Everyone teaches the myths of outlining and rewriting. This class shows there is another way. A better and more fun way.
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September workshops are now taking sign-ups
Class #25… Sept 5th … Depth #3: Research
Class #26… Sept 5th … Writing into the Dark
Class #27… Sept 5th … Business
Class #28… Sept 5th … Endings
Class #29… Sept 5th … Writing Fiction Sales Copy
Class #30… Sept 5th … Writing and Selling Short Stories
Class #31… Sept 6th … Depth in Writing
Class #32… Sept 6th … Advanced Character and Dialog
Class #33… Sept 6th … Cliffhangers
Class #34… Sept 6th … Pacing Your Novel
Class #35… Sept 6th … How to Edit Your Own Work
Class #36… Sept 6th … Writing Fantasy
For information go to https://deanwesleysmith.com/online-workshops/
4 Comments
Chong Go
>Amazing how the long winter here is still affecting us
Um, Dean? At this point, I think you might have just switched to the next one! (I couldn’t believe how cold it gets out there. It sure was a shock coming from central Washington.)
Jamie DeBree
I am definitely interested in the Writing into the Dark workshop…I’ll be signing up for one of the sessions this fall. I’ve pretty much been doing this since the beginning – just writing off without a plan, outline, etc, and it works okay for me, but I do see some deficiencies in my stories that I’d like to learn to recognize and correct as I go, rather than having to go back and revisit them after the draft is done. I hate revising – it’s my least favorite part of writing, which means I don’t do nearly as much as my stories probably warrant at this point. I need to learn to recognize and do that on the first draft, because that’s my favorite part of writing. I guess I’m looking for a better method of “pantsing” than the one I currently have.
Not sure if I’ll be able to sign up for the Sept. session or wait until the Oct., but I’ll be catching one of them, for sure. Looking forward to it!
Philip Smith
Your book Writing Into the Dark changed my writing life for good. I wish I had money to attend the workshop, but I’ll save up for the next time it comes around.
dwsmith
Philip, it’s online and will be offered almost every month. So lots of time. It won’t be going away. And thanks for the kind comments. Keep having fun with the writing.