Author: Sharla Yates

Stop worrying if your work falls into a particular category and just write your story.

for Memoir, Essay, Literary Journalism, Hybrid

Memoir, essay, lyric or informational? Just write! Learn how combining various nonfiction modes helps tell your story as best you can, using the most advantageous tools. 

With examples ranging from Claudia Rankine to Joan Didion to Robin Wall Kimmerer, we’ll explore how long and short, familiar and uncommon forms might combine to create memorable work, surprising work, lively work, and work that is eminently publishable. 

With prompts and friendly nudges, this webinar will spark fresh ideas for memoirists starting something new and those stuck on a current project. 

Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.

In this webinar, you will:

• DISCOVER how memoirists break genre rules all the time, and how doing so invigorates the work.
• EXPLORE the role of curiosity and improvisation in creating lively nonfiction. 
• LEARN how unexpected approaches and points of view—what Emily Dickinson calls “telling it slant” —deepen your storytelling.
• FREE UP your style. 

This webinar is ideal for writers at any level who:

• Worry that their writing is predictable and unremarkable
• Feel stuck
• Are adventurous
• Are willing to branch out into new approaches
• Would like their work to immediately capture the attention of editors, agents, and readers

Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER

Dinty W. Moore is the author of the memoirs Between Panic & Desire and To Hell With It, and the writing guides Crafting the Personal Essay and The Mindful Writer, among numerous other books. He has published essays and stories in Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. He is founding editor of Brevity, the journal of flash nonfiction, and has taught nonfiction writing for more than 30 years.

Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com

FULL REFUNDS ARE AVAILABLE before the replay is sent out. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.

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Creativity calls for intention and connection. Let’s show up together.

for All Writers and Creative Types

You’ve probably heard of The Artist’s Way—maybe it’s on your shelf, maybe you’ve cracked it open once or twice, maybe you’ve promised yourself you’ll return to it “someday.” Well, here’s your chance! We’re gathering for a chill, no-cost, weekly meetup to work through the first four chapters. That’s it. No grand declarations. Just four weeks of showing up for one hour on Zoom to be writers in community.

We’ll talk about morning pages (whether you’re doing them or just dodging them), artist dates (how to make them happen and where you might take yourself), and the strange, wonderful ways creativity starts to wake up when we give it a little room.

We’ll ask questions. Share ideas. Probably write a little. 

It’s not a class, not a critique group, not therapy—just people committing (again or for the first time) to bringing writing and creativity back into their routine. You don’t even need to consider yourself “a writer.” If you’re drawn to the creative practice, you’re welcome to join.

We recommend borrowing The Artist’s Way from your local library and reading the first chapter, “Recovering a Sense of Safety,” before our first meetup. If you’d prefer your own copy, we suggest this edition: The Artist’s Way: 25th Anniversary Edition by Julia Cameron. There’s also a companion workbook—but it’s completely optional. One note: Julia Cameron talks a lot about spirituality and the idea of a creative force greater than ourselves. You don’t have to subscribe to that, but if it’s a turnoff, this might not be your jam. That said, it’s free and friendly, and you’re welcome to pop in and see how it feels.

Can’t make every session? No worries—join us the following week.

In this webinar, you will:

• EXPLORE the first four chapters of The Artist’s Way
• BUILD momentum with weekly creative check-ins
• FIND support and CONNECTION with other writers and creative types
• DISCOVER practical ideas for tackling resistance
• WRITE together in a low-stakes space
• REFLECT on the link between creativity and habit
• BE INSPIRED to keep going—even after the four weeks are up

This webinar is ideal for those who:

• Are feeling stuck, stalled, or disconnected from their work
• Want to rebuild (or build) a sustainable creative habit
• Are curious about the practices of The Artist’s Way
• Need a gentle nudge to reengage with morning pages or artist dates
• Crave creative conversation
• Are seeking inspiration, not necessarily instruction
• Want to explore their ideas without the pressure or need for perfection

Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER

SHARLA YATES is the program director of CRAFT TALKS, a webinar series for writers on writing, and the former director of education at the Creative Nonfiction Foundation, where she led a robust weekly webinar series and online writing program. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh and is a multi-genre writer and experienced instructor.

Sharla is the author of the poetry chapbook What I Would Say if We Were to Drown Tonight (Stranded Oak Press, 2017). Her nonfiction essay “Address” was a finalist for the 2015 Columbia Journal Writing Contest and the 2016 Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award and was published by Short Reads. She also co-hosts The Writers Bridge, a free monthly platform-building series for writers, alongside Allison K Williams.

Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com

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Incorporating research can enliven our narratives, add resonance to the stories we tell, and make the personal universal.

for Creative Nonfiction, Narrative Nonfiction

Amy Shea’s powerful essay in the Massachusetts Review, “Deaths of Disparity,” weaves personal experience, narrative, and research into addiction and treatment to explore questions of human dignity. What makes this essay so effective, and how can you figure out when, how, and how much research to include in your creative writing? 

Join Amy Shea as she pulls back the curtain on her process and deconstructs her long-form essay. We will explore why to include research, how hard facts and cultural context can improve an essay, considerations on how to format and present those facts, the balance of critical and creative elements, and how to enhance braided research and narrative through literary elements such as voice, tone, and register. 

Class will include time for close reading of other examples and writing practice.

Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.

In this webinar, you will:

• LEARN to identify when research can serve your story—and when it might distract
• EXPLORE ways to weave facts seamlessly into a narrative without losing emotional impact
• EXAMINE well-integrated research in creative nonfiction 
• GAIN INSIGHT through a behind-the-scenes look at the presenter’s process and essay
• PRACTICE incorporating research into your own writing through guided exercises

This webinar is ideal for writers at any level who:

• Want to move beyond purely personal narratives
• Are interested in weaving research into essays without losing their creative voice
• Are ready to transition from short pieces to longer-form work
• Want to explore braiding multiple elements in a non-chronological structure
• Enjoy studying other writers’ processes to deepen and inspire their own practice

Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER

AMY SHEA is an essayist and is the author of Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins. Her work has appeared in The Missouri Review, Pangyrus, Portland Review, The Massachusetts Review, Spry Literary Journal, Fat City Review, From Glasgow to Saturn, and the Journal of Sociology of Health & Illness. She works as the Writing Program Director for Mount Tamalpais College, a free community college for the incarcerated people of San Quentin.

Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com

FULL REFUNDS ARE AVAILABLE before the replay is sent out. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.

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When nothing feels at risk, readers stop caring. Learn how to build compelling stakes that keep readers turning pages.

for Personal Essay and Memoir

Low stakes are the #1 reason personal narratives get rejected. As writers, we’re faced with a dreaded question: So what? How do we get a stranger to care about our lives—and why should they? How do we encourage readers with short attention spans to keep turning pages?

Learn 5 key tools for building tension and emotional stakes in personal narratives. Using works by writers like Natasha Trethewey, Kristen Iversen, and Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, we’ll crack the code on how nonfiction writers build high stakes and sustain them throughout their narratives. Then we’ll apply these techniques to your own manuscript through hands-on exercises: defining internal and external stakes, creating obstacles that keep readers engaged, using strategic time shifts to build suspense, and more.

You’ll leave with a complete toolkit for building and sustaining stakes that keep readers engaged from start to finish.

Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.

In this webinar, you will:

• LEARN 5 tools for ramping up the stakes in your memoir or personal essay, making readers feel instantly invested 
• EXPLORE how nonfiction writers use stakes & suspense to keep readers turning pages 
• APPLY new stakes-building techniques to your own narratives
• BUILD a toolkit of strategies for defining stakes, seeding conflicts, and building suspense, to make your pages stand out to agents, editors, and readers

This webinar is ideal for writers at any level who:

• Want to ramp up the emotional stakes & tension in their story 
• Are getting rejections and need tools for making their work more compelling and high-stakes
• Are struggling to identify the larger “so what?” of their personal story

Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER

KATIE BANNON is a writer, editor, and educator whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Rumpus, ELLE Magazine, Narratively, and more. Her memoir manuscript, which charts her journey as a compulsive hair puller, was a finalist for the Permafrost Nonfiction Book Prize. A graduate of GrubStreet’s Memoir Incubator, she holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from Emerson College. She loves helping memoirists and essayists tell their most vulnerable, taboo stories. She lives in Central Massachusetts with her partner and two cats.

Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com

FULL REFUNDS ARE AVAILABLE before the replay is sent out. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.

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You need a synopsis to sell your book to agents and publishers. Writing it now can solve plot and structure problems, determine which characters belong, and create a map to finish your book.

for Creative Nonfiction, Nonfiction and Fiction

Writers often dread distilling their beautiful story into a dry synopsis—and they’re right! It’s not creative and fun. But the synopsis is not only a requirement for querying and publishing, it’s also a valuable tool to shape your story and get closer to “The End.” A good synopsis gives an overview of your whole book, in an easy-to-process form. By examining turning-point scenes, character objectives, and the underlying dramatic question that propels your book, you’ll know where you’re going and how to get there. 

You’ll be able to send a draft of your working synopsis in advance. Allison will use volunteer examples to show what makes a synopsis work (and what doesn’t!). Then she’ll live-edit participant synopses to show how to reverse-engineer your manuscript from your synopsis to create more tension, power, and literary might. (Please note, she won’t get to everyone: examples will be chosen to benefit the whole group!)

Suitable for writers with a manuscript in any stage from messy early draft to ready-to-query.

This is a TWO HOUR class, with 20 minutes of writing time in the middle.

• 40 minutes – Learn how to write a synopsis, using images, turning points, and character objectives. Allison will use submitted examples and synopses of already-published books to show what works and what doesn’t.
• 10 minutes – Q&A to fully understand and apply the information.
• 20 minutes – Revise your synopsis with new tools and knowledge. Allison will continue taking questions in the chat. OPTIONAL: volunteer for live-editing and upload your scene as a Word doc or docx.
• 40 minutes – Allison will live-edit some of the shared synopses, showing where the writer is succeeding, and what revisions she suggests. During live edits, she’ll call out specific techniques and tips for everyone to apply to their own work, right away. 
• 10 minutes – more Q&A and planning your writing from here.

In this webinar, you will:

• UNDERSTAND why agents and publishers need a synopsis—and how they use it to assess your manuscript
• LEARN how opening and closing images anchor your synopsis and your book
• DISCOVER how “Chekhov’s Gun” makes your synopsis actually interesting!
• USE “but, because, therefore” to write a rough synopsis
• DEVELOP a working synopsis to guide your writing process
• REFINE your synopsis for querying your book

This workshop suits …

• Writers of fiction and nonfiction who intend to traditionally publish
• Novelists stuck in the “messy middle”
• Memoirists whose draft has “gotten away from them” and needs shape and focus
• Writers working on a second book… who’d like the process to move faster this time!
• Writers hearing feedback that their book lacks tension, needs a stronger hook, or the story is “hard to follow” or “didn’t grab the reader”
• Developmental editors who want to understand synopses and better communicate that knowledge to their author clients.

You’ll receive the slides and prompts to take this work into your manuscript

Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER

Allison K Williams is the author of Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro From Blank Page to Book. She’s helped writers sell to Big Five and literary publishers, hit the NYT Bestseller list, and sign multi-book deals. She’s guided essayists and humorists to publication in media including the New Yorker, Time, the Guardian, the New York Times, McSweeney’s, Refinery29, Hippocampus, the Belladonna and TED Talks. As Social Media Editor for Brevity, she inspires thousands of writers with weekly blogs on craft and the writing life.

Allison works with literary and commercial fiction and nonfiction, and is familiar with the conventions of most genres. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Western Michigan University and spent 20 years as a circus aerialist and acrobat before writing and editing full-time.

Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com

FULL REFUNDS ARE AVAILABLE before the replay is sent out. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.

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You have a story to tell. But how do you convince the publishing industry that people want to read it?

In a world where an estimated two to three million books are published every year, your memoir needs to stand out, not just with compelling storytelling, but with a marketable hook that expands its audience. Enter memoir-plus, a powerful approach that blends memoir with something more, making it bigger, bolder, and more irresistible to readers and publishers alike.

This idea-packed webinar will help you explore new ways to frame your memoir, whether you’re still brainstorming or deep into drafting. You’ll leave with fresh inspiration, actionable insights, and a clearer path toward a memoir that stands out in a very crowded field.

Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.

In this webinar, you will:

• LEARN the distinction between traditional memoir and memoir-plus, and why it matters
• ENCOUNTER standout memoirs, discovering how their marketing copy positions them as “pluses”
• GET INSPIRED with over 20 different “pluses” you can add to your memoir
• FIND OUT where to highlight your memoir-plus elements in a book proposal, to attract agents and publishers

This webinar is ideal for you if You’re …

• Just getting started and want to build a memoir concept with marketability in mind from the beginning
• In the muddy middle and feel called to reframe or reimagine your project to make it bigger, bolder, and more marketable
• Ready to pitch your memoir-plus and need strategies to make it stand out

Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER

Jennifer Leigh Selig is an LBGTQ+ teacher, international speaker, book publisher, and author whose writing and teaching career spans four decades. She’s the author of dozens of newspaper articles, book reviews, essays, journal articles, short stories, screenplays, and books, including the Nautilus Gold award-winning book, Deep Creativity: Seven Ways to Spark Your Creative Spirit, The Writer’s Block Workbook: A Psychologist’s Guide to Working With and Through Writer’s Block, and Deep Memoir: An Archetypal Approach to Deepen Your Story and Broaden Its Appeal.

Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com

FULL REFUNDS ARE AVAILABLE before the replay is sent out. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.

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Thousands of writers are jumping on the Substack bandwagon every month. Learn how to break in with your newsletter.

Regular email newsletters allow writers to build an organic audience based on direct connection with readers, and this kind of platform can be attractive to literary agents. Substack has more than 20 million active subscribers, and over 17,000 writers are being paid for their writing on the platform. But with thousands of writers joining every month—many of them famous—how can a new writer break in?

After nearly four years writing her Substack Between Two Things, Lindsey DeLoach Jones has learned lots of lessons the hard way. In this presentation, she’ll give tips for writing essays that will succeed in the email format, building an audience (using Notes and other features), and connecting with other like-minded writers. She’ll also help you think through your newsletter goals (from earning money to practicing your skills to building an email list that supports your writing and publishing).

Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.

In this webinar, you will:

• EXPLORE various ways to interact on Substack
• LEARN how to write a newsletter people want to read 
• SET goals for your newsletter.

You should take this webinar if you

• Are new to building a platform
• Have considered moving to Substack
• Want to better reach your audience
• Are unsure how to tackle the Substack essay format

Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER

Lindsey DeLoach Jones is a writer living in Greenville, South Carolina. She often finds herself inside the tension between seemingly opposed forces—the spiritual and the practical, the mysterious and the mundane, the Mother and the Artist. In this spirit, she has been writing a Substack called Between Two Things since 2021.

Lindsey holds a BA and MA in English and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction. She has served as the Writer-in-Residence at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and has taught literature and writing at Clemson University. Lindsey currently teaches writing online and in person at Writeshare, the writers’ network she co-founded in Upstate SC, and for organizations such as CRAFT TALKS. She previously served as Editor of Emrys Journal and Edible Upcountry.

Lindsey’s essays have appeared in HuffPost, HuffPost Parenting, Split Lip, Under the Gum Tree, and Motherwell. She is a recipient of the Vandermey Nonfiction Prize, and an essay nominated by Pigeon Pages was recently a finalist for Best of the Web.

Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com

FULL REFUNDS ARE AVAILABLE before the replay is sent out. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.

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Great writing isn’t just about plot, characterization, or story—it’s about how your words sound, move, and resonate with the reader.

for Creative Nonfiction, Nonfiction, and Fiction

This webinar dives deep into the craft of sentence-making, helping you develop powerful prose that is not only clear and compelling but also rhythmic and dynamic. Through close reading of masterful sentences, you’ll explore the power of sound in writing, the impact of rhythm and pacing, and the art of sentence-level subtext.

We’ll also examine how to devise strong openings for sentences and how to close sentences, ways to harness the energy of precise verbs, and strategies for using rich detail and energized elaboration to create vivid, engaging prose. Whether you’re just beginning your writing journey or looking to refine your style, this class will give you the tools to make every sentence sing.

Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.

In this webinar, you will:

• EXPLORE how sound, rhythm, and pattern build riveting and memorable sentences.
• DISCOVER the impact of word choice and syntax in capturing a reader’s attention.
• LEARN HOW mirroring the rhythm and structure of fabulous mentor sentences can strengthen your writing and increase acceptance rates.
• ANALYZE common “problem” sentence types and apply these insights to refine your prose.

This webinar is ideal for writers who:

• Wish to finesse their style
• Want their work to stand out as fresh, evocative, clear, and memorable
• Seek to improve the subtlety and sophistication of their sentence work

Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER

One of CRAFT TALKS’ most popular presenters, for her insightful and inspiring webinars, HEATHER SELLERS is the author of 11 books, including four books on craft, a memoir, a children’s book, a collection of short stories, and four volumes of poetry.  She teaches in the MFA program at the University of South Florida, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, Reader’s Digest, The Sun, and The Best American Essays.

Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com

FULL REFUNDS ARE AVAILABLE before the replay is sent out. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.

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Learn to make scenes sizzle with specifics, stakes, characterization, and drama—while staying grounded in your story’s truth.

for Creative Nonfiction and Fiction

Filmmaker Howard Hawks said, “A good movie is three good scenes and no bad scenes.” Substitute “movie” with “short story,” “novel,” “essay,” or “memoir,” and we have a prescription for how to inject your story with dramatic, cinematic flair. In this seminar, we’ll look at great examples of scenes—or “live moments”—where things are happening, characters are interacting, stuff is being said, action is going on, and big things change, with clear dramatic beats and an arc.

Whether you’re working on novels and short stories or narrative nonfiction and memoir, we will look at tools that fiction writers use to create gripping moments on the page. Scenes include dramatic beats and an arc, and both fiction and creative nonfiction writers need the same tools screenwriters use to create gripping moments on the page.

Learning from master writers like Jaquira Diaz, Michelle Kuo, Stephen King, Steve Brusatte, Bill Bryson, Cheryl Strayed, and others, you’ll discover powerful tools to craft your own scenes. You’ll learn to gradually build tension; create structures for your scenes with a beginning, middle, and end; build in clear conflict, stakes, and interiority; and make the world of the scene real via description.

In-class exercises will allow you to practice your new scene-writing techniques and begin to write a new, scintillating scene you can apply to a current writing project.

Can’t make it live? No worries—a replay will be available to all registrants.

In this webinar, you will:

• EXPLORE the key elements of scene writing via examples from masters in the craft
• DISCOVER how to tap into your perhaps-unrealized scene writing skills
• ENHANCE your narratives with new scene-writing tools

This webinar is ideal for writers at any level who:

• Worry their scenes lack drama
• Want to harness the craft of fiction for their personal narratives—and find powerful truth in their fiction 
• Struggle with punchy dialogue and concrete setting
• Aren’t sure how to write a scene they can’t fully remember
• Want to understand how a scene contains dramatic beats and an arc

Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER

ETHAN GILSDORF is a writer, teacher, performer, and the author of the Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Esquire, Wired, Salon, O the Oprah Magazine, Brevity, Electric Literature, Poetry, The Southern Review, among other publications, and named “Notable” by The Best American Essays. He teaches workshops in essay, creative nonfiction and memoir at GrubStreet in Boston, where he leads the Essay Incubator program,  and at LitArts RI. He is also on the faculty of the Solstice MFA Program at Lasell University.

Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com

FULL REFUNDS ARE AVAILABLE before the replay is sent out. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.

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