BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Craft Talks - ECPv6.17.0//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Craft Talks
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://writingcraft.com
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Craft Talks
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20270314T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20271107T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260701T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260731T235959
DTSTAMP:20260720T143736Z
CREATED:20250825T195635Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260720T143736Z
UID:10000055-1782864000-1785542399@writingcraft.com
SUMMARY:REPLAY | Beyond Description: Creating Powerful\, Realistic Characters in Fiction and Memoir
DESCRIPTION:The most powerful characters on the page are complex and multi-layered\, and they both surprise and convince readers with (and within!) their reality.\n\n\n\nREPLAY INCLUDES: VIDEO\, SLIDES\, CHAT\, PROMPTS\, HANDOUT\, AND TRANSCRIPT \n\n\n\nFor Fiction and Memoir \n\n\n\nNovelists create characters from nothing\, who must feel as real as anyone we’ve met. Memoirists must pack a lifetime of knowledge into selected details to show readers the people they engaged with\, as those people truly are. But too often\, writers default to physical description—characters pausing in front of conveniently reflective surfaces—or narrating our own judgements of the people we know\, rather than allowing readers to make those discoveries themselves. As an actor\, playwright\, and director\, Allison K Williams has explored character creation inside and out. \n\n\n\nIn this special 2-hour webinar\, you’ll learn how to use tools from theatre to analyze your own text and create stronger characters on the page. With examples from fiction and memoir\, we’ll examine how objectives\, passions\, and foibles drive characters and deepen their dramatic impact; how qualities of movement are expressed in verbs and adverbs; the difference between high-context dialogue and “stuff I needed the reader to know so I made a character say it”; and even dive into how punctuation can shape a character’s emotion in a scene. \n\n\n\nYou’ll raise your craft level and gain a tool kit to help you present all your characters\, real or fictional\, as fully rounded beings\, regardless of their word count\, and make each one memorable and worthy of their time on the page.  \n\n\n\nIn-class writing time and live editing will give you a chance to apply this to your writing right away. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThis is a TWO-HOUR class\, with 20 minutes of writing time in the middle.\n\n\n\n\n45 minutes – Learn the tools of character analysis\, and key writing techniques to show character on the page\n\n\n\n10 minutes – Q&A to fully understand and apply the information.\n\n\n\n20 minutes – Revise a scene that introduces one of your key characters to heighten the character’s impact on the page and more skillfully show who they are\, what they want and why they matter. Allison will continue taking questions in the chat. \n\n\n\nOPTIONAL: volunteer for live-editing and upload your scene as a Word doc or docx to a Google Drive (link will be provided in class\, no pages will be accepted before they are called for).\n\n\n\n40 minutes – Allison will live-edit pages shared on screen\, noting where the writer is succeeding and what revisions could make the prose even more effective. During live edits\, she’ll call out specific techniques and tips for everyone to apply to their own work\, right away. \n\n\n\n10 minutes – Q&A and planning your writing from here.\n\n\n\n\nThis webinar will cover\n\n\n\n\nHOW the interplay of passion and foible creates conflict and tension within and between characters\n\n\n\nThe “CHARACTER ZERO” of Commedia Dell’ Arte and how it relates to modern prose\n\n\n\nSHOWING villainous\, abusive\, narcissistic and harmful behavior in ways that allow the reader to judge—and why moments of “good” give evil more impact\n\n\n\nWORLDBUILDING through character action and dialogue\n\n\n\nWHEN\, HOW\, and WHY to use adverbs (hint: “in a _____ tone” is needlessly verbose! Bring on the adverbs!)\n\n\n\nThe ACTOR’S TECHNIQUE for bringing to life the most minor of characters—and how to use it in writing.\n\n\n\nOBJECTIVES and OBSTACLES\, and how they make characters active in every scene.\n\n\n\n\nThis webinar is ideal for\n\n\n\n\nNovelists with a large cast of characters who need distinction; or only a few characters who must hold the reader’s attention throughout the book\n\n\n\nMemoirists who want to write vivid characters without getting lost in their own emotional past experience\n\n\n\nCreative writing students and graduates of MFA programs who want to expand their writing craft with conscious practice.\n\n\n\nDevelopmental editors who want to grow their knowledge of characterization in prose and better communicate that knowledge to their author clients.\n\n\n\n“Plotters” struggling with bringing a character dossier to life on the page \n\n\n\n“Pantsers” who need to fill in background and personality without info-dumping\n\n\n\nWriters hearing feedback that their characters blend together\, or are too “black-and-white” and need more depth\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe live event happened in October 2025. \n\n\n\nABOUT YOUR PRESENTER\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAllison K Williams is the author of Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro From Blank Page to Book. She has edited and coached writers to Big Five and literary/university publishing deals and the New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists. 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. \n\n\n\nBefore turning to writing and editing fulltime\, Allison was a classically-trained actor. With a BA in Theatre and an MFA in Playwriting\, she has acted and directed with American Stage\, The Kentucky Shakespeare Festival\, Eckerd College\, Western Michigan University\, and many more. Her plays for young actors have been noted by Dramatics Magazine as top-ten most produced worldwide\, and her multi-character solo show TRUE STORY won Best of Fringe at the London Fringe Festival and toured the USA and Canada. \n\n\n\nQuestions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com \n\n\n\nBecause the replay is delivered instantly upon purchase\, all sales are final. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegistration Info\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Organizer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLocation
URL:https://writingcraft.com/event/beyond-description/
LOCATION:Zoom
CATEGORIES:Webinars
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://writingcraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Event-Template-1-6.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260728T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260728T140000
DTSTAMP:20260721T165214Z
CREATED:20260721T155924Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260721T165214Z
UID:10000141-1785243600-1785247200@writingcraft.com
SUMMARY:The Writers Bridge | Author Website 101: Building Your Homebase with Lynda Hammes
DESCRIPTION:Do you actually need a website\, or is social media enough?\n\n\n\nA website is the one piece of your author platform you actually own—and it might be the most underused sales and discovery tool authors have. \n\n\n\nEvery author eventually asks the same question: do I really need my own website\, or can I just live on Instagram and Substack? The honest answer is that social platforms come and go\, algorithms change overnight\, and none of it belongs to you. A website is different. It’s your one-stop business card\, mailing list nerve center\, and permanent home base—the one place readers\, agents\, and editors can find the real\, current story of who you are and what you write. \n\n\n\nWe’ll cover what actually belongs on an author website (and what doesn’t)\, why an email sign-up matters more than almost anything else on the page\, how a website helps new readers discover your books through search\, and how to keep readers engaged between releases. We’ll also talk through the practical build question every author faces: pay for a custom build\,  DIY on a platform like Wix\, Squarespace\, or WordPress\, or use an author-specific tool like Tertulia\, built to make author websites easy and fast. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin us TUESDAY JULY 28 at 1PM EASTERN – live and FREE on Zoom\, all welcome! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOur special guest \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLynda Hammes is the co-founder of Tertulia\, a platform reimagining online book discovery and community\, and an all-in-one website\, email marketing\, and direct-sales builder made specifically for authors. Her career spans journalism\, magazine publishing — including her tenure as Publisher/Chief Revenue Officer at Foreign Affairs — and brand strategy and growth marketing consulting. That background in content\, audience\, and digital growth now shapes how Tertulia helps authors build a real\, lasting connection with readers. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nJoin your hosts Allison K Williams (SEVEN DRAFTS)\, Sharla Yates (CRAFT TALKS) and our special guest for this lively\, funny hour of frank talk about writing careers\, publishing realities\, and how authors can position themselves and their books in the world. \n\n\n\nFREE\, all welcome! Sign up to receive the Zoom link the day before. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEnjoy past recorded sessions here\n\n\n\nClosed captioning is available. ✔All registrants receive the recording. ✔ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nABOUT YOUR PRESENTERS\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAllison K Williams has edited and coached authors to publishing deals with Penguin Random House\, Knopf\, Mantle\, St. Martin’s Press\, and numerous small presses. An expert in author marketing and community building\, her platform includes the Brevity Blog (80k+ followers)\, Instagram (10k+)\, a mailing list (12k+)\, and Facebook (5k+)\, with publications in the New York Times and appearances on NPR and CBC. Her book\, Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book\, sold on proposal. She leads the Rebirth Your Book writing retreats and co-hosts The Writers Bridge. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSharla Yates is the author of the poetry chapbook What I Would Say if We Were to Drown Tonight\, published by Stranded Oak Press (2017). She hosts a webinar series\, CRAFT TALKS for writers on writing\, and co-hosts The Writers Bridge with Allison K Williams. Her nonfiction essay\, “Address” was a finalist for the 2015 Columbia Journal writing contest and the 2016 Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award. She is the former Director of Education at the Creative Nonfiction Foundation and teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nQuestions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegistration Info\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLocation
URL:https://writingcraft.com/event/bridge-author-website-101/
LOCATION:Zoom
CATEGORIES:Writers Bridge
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://writingcraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/TWB-logo-2023-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260729T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260729T163000
DTSTAMP:20260723T141946Z
CREATED:20260624T153352Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260723T141946Z
UID:10000131-1785337200-1785342600@writingcraft.com
SUMMARY:WEBINAR | Nature Writing Reimagined: Cultivating Observation & Connection in Every Genre
DESCRIPTION:Nature writing is often treated as a genre of its own\, but the natural world belongs in every story\, essay\, or poem. Move beyond viewing nature as a backdrop\, and weave it meaningfully into your writing.\n\n\n\nFor All GenresIncluded in the Season Pass \n\n\n\nDiscover what happens when we stop treating nature as scenery and begin to recognize it as an active presence in our narratives\, woven into every story we tell. Through a selection of historical and contemporary readings\, we’ll look at the many ways writers have engaged with the living world and consider how those approaches can enrich our own work. \n\n\n\nTogether\, we’ll explore the idea of de-othering nature and its implications for our writing\, from setting and imagery to metaphor\, character\, and point of view. Through lecture\, close reading\, and a generative writing exercise\, you’ll experiment with new ways of bringing the natural world onto the page—not simply as background\, but as a vital part of the work itself. \n\n\n\nWhether you write fiction\, nonfiction\, or poetry\, you’ll leave with practical techniques for creating more vivid and immersive landscapes\, a deeper awareness of the relationships between people and place\, and fresh inspiration for your creative practice. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn this webinar\, you will:\n\n\n\n\nEXPLORE how writers across time have represented the natural world\, from historical texts to contemporary voices reshaping the genre\n\n\n\nREIMAGINE nature’s role in your work and how de-othering the environment can transform your imagery\, figurative language\, and sense of place\n\n\n\nSTRENGTHEN your craft with tools for creating rich\, memorable landscapes \n\n\n\nINTEGRATE environmental awareness into your creative practices\n\n\n\n\nThis webinar is ideal for writers at any level who… \n\n\n\n\nstruggle with settings and world-building\n\n\n\nwant to explore a new way of writing from a new point of view \n\n\n\nwrite about the natural world but don’t want to be pigeonholed as “nature writers”\n\n\n\nare garden-obsessed\, dirt-under-the-fingernails\, seed-catalog-collecting\, hiking-boot-wearing aficionados who wonder what else there is to write about\n\n\n\n\nClosed captioning is available. ✔All registrants receive the recording. ✔ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nABOUT YOUR PRESENTER\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA high-energy teacher noted for deep historical dives and technical side quests that always bring more understanding\, Megan Baxter has won numerous national awards\, including a Pushcart Prize. Her essay collection\, Twenty Square Feet of Skin\, was longlisted for the 2024 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay.  \n\n\n\nMegan has published three books of creative nonfiction and is currently writing short stories and novels. Her short story collection ‘The Off-Season’ debuts in Spring 2027 from Jada Ibis Press. She lives in New Hampshire\, where she runs her own small farm and teaches creative writing through online courses and lessons. \n\n\n\nREFUNDS (less a $10 processing fee) 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.  \n\n\n\nThere are no refunds after the replay is sent.Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegistration Info\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Organizer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLocation
URL:https://writingcraft.com/event/nature-writing-reimagined/
LOCATION:Zoom
CATEGORIES:Webinars
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://writingcraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/baxter.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260801T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260831T235959
DTSTAMP:20260724T160436Z
CREATED:20260724T160435Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260724T160436Z
UID:10000140-1785542400-1788220799@writingcraft.com
SUMMARY:August REPLAY | The Ideal Sentence: Your Voice\, Your Tone\, Your Pace
DESCRIPTION:Every beginning sets a tone\, establishes a voice\, and signals the quality of the language that is to come. Your beginning is one of your most important writing choices—learn to make it powerful.\n\n\n\nREPLAY INCLUDES: VIDEO\, CHAT\, HANDOUT\, AND TRANSCRIPT \n\n\n\nFor All Genres \n\n\n\nWill that language be complex and tangled? Plain-spoken? Vanilla? Lavender? Will it zing like jazz or sing like a lullabye? Will it feel lethargic\, or will it clop\, or will it swashbuckle? \n\n\n\nIt’s always time to think about sentences—to explore the ways they work (and sometimes don’t)\, the ways we bend them to get closer to the truth\, and the ways we work on patterns and rhythms so that the pages remain alive.  \n\n\n\nProse from Hilton Als\, Michael Ondaatje\, Jean-Dominique Bauby\, Jia Tolentino\, Annie Dillard\, Olivia Laing\, Carmen Machado\, Terry Tempest Williams\, and Mark Richard will inspire us and lead our way. \n\n\n\nExercises presented will be focused on voice\, tone\, mood\, and pace. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn this webinar\, you will:\n\n\n\n\nREFINE your writing voices\n\n\n\nEXPERIMENT with mood\, tone\, and pace\n\n\n\nDEVELOP powerful new beginnings\n\n\n\nCREATE a better understanding of your writerly strengths\n\n\n\n\nThis webinar is ideal for writers who:\n\n\n\n\nare intent on capturing the attention of agents\, editors\, and readers.  \n\n\n\nare keen on perfecting their work.\n\n\n\nwish to build more dimension into their writing.\n\n\n\nWant to learn more about sentence craft and explore their writing voice.\n\n\n\n\nClosed captioning is available. ✔All registrants receive the recording. ✔ \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe live event happened in May 2025.ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOne of our favorite presenters\, BETH KEPHART\, is the award-winning writer of memoir\, children’s books\, young adult novels\, and craft books. She is also a paper artist. Her new book\, her first novel for adults\, is Tomorrow Will Bring Sunday’s News: A Philadelphia Story. Please join her Substack journey at The Hush and the Howl. More at bethkephartbooks.com \n\n\n\nQuestions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com \n\n\n\nQuestions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com \n\n\n\nBecause the replay is delivered instantly upon purchase\, all sales are final. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRegistration Info\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Organizer\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLocation
URL:https://writingcraft.com/event/the-ideal-sentence-2/
LOCATION:Zoom
CATEGORIES:Webinars
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://writingcraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Event-Template-1-copy-2.png
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR