Writers,
If you enjoy researching interesting topics and sharing information, writing nonfiction for kids and teens may be the perfect match for you. Publishing opportunities include books, magazine articles and educational materials.
Author Sue Bradford Edwards is teaching an online class that will help you with the first step in taking your place in this market: learning to do the research. She’s a nonfiction author with over
600 sales to her credit including 24 nonfiction books for young readers. Take advantage of her expertise and learn how to become successful in the area of children’s nonfiction that suits you best.
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Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults
with author Sue Bradford Edwards starts Monday, May 4, 2020 and runs for four weeks. Students will learn how to research markets and possible topics/slants, as well as locate accurate source materials. This course will help you develop the skills you need to take on these tasks with confidence. Enrollment includes weekly assignments and feedback from the instructor.
In today’s newsletter,
Sue discusses how to research your nonfiction setting, including options for when you can’t physically go there (like these days of sheltering in place). She shares three ways you can get to know your location without leaving home. These tips would work for fiction writers too!
Write on!
Marcia & Angela
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By Sue Bradford Edwards
There’s no doubt about it. When researching your nonfiction setting, the best thing you can do to get a feel for your location is to go there. Unfortunately, even when travel is possible, it can be expensive, and some locations, like the International Space Station, are accessible only to a chosen few. When travel is impossible, the next best thing is to share someone else’s experience. Here are three ways that you can do that.
Youtube. One day I was writing about ptarmigan when I realized that I had only a vague idea what their tundra home looked like. I popped over to Youtube. Soon I was watching stout speckled birds on their nests as well as winter white birds scratching for food. Gazing at the varied landscape, I realized how generic and inaccurate my earlier vision of tundra had been. In addition to seeing how a location looks, through a video you can sometimes gain insight into its sounds as well.
Maps. Need a feel for the larger landscape? Pull up a map. Both modern and historic maps are available online. Try to match the time frame you are writing about with when the map was made. This is essential because both manmade and natural landscapes are subject to change. Google your location and see what your search engine pulls ups. Among my favorites for historic towns and cities are the
Sanborn Fire Insurance maps. These maps include street names, building locations, business type (Grocery or Co. Court House), the number of stories, and building materials (adobe vs brick veneer).
Photos. Another great way to get a feel for the lay of the land is photographs. I Googled Terlingua, Texas and got photos of both the town and the “ghost town,” the remains of the Chisos mercury mine. Photos are more common than maps in that lots of people took them and have posted them. Like videos, photos are a great source of small details that won’t show up in maps.
As always, proceed with caution if you aren’t sure a source is accurate. A source may even be unintentionally inaccurate if someone thinks they remember where they took X photo or which museum houses a specific display.
Spend some time getting to know your location. It will enliven your writing and, as you come to know the place you are writing about, you will better be able to spot inaccurate sources. Research and writing – it’s all about what you know.
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Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults
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Instructor: Sue Bradford Edwards
Workshop Length: 4 Weeks
Dates: Monday, May 4, 2020 - Sunday, May 31, 2020
Location: Email with group
Feedback: Instructor critique and feedback
Cost: $90, which includes weekly assignments and individual feedback from the instructor.
Limit: 10 Students
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Description: Nonfiction for children and teens lines the bookshelves of libraries and bookstores, fills magazines and e-zines and is used in classrooms around the world. The first step in taking your place in this market is learning to do the research. That may sound relatively simple, but done right it includes researching markets and possible topics as well as locating accurate source materials. This course will help you develop the skills you need to take on these tasks with confidence.
View the
full listing
for testimonials and a week-by-week curriculum.
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About instructor Sue Bradford Edwards
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Sue Bradford Edwards is a nonfiction author with over 600 sales to her credit including 24 nonfiction books for young readers. Sue has also published numerous crafts, activities and how to pieces of various kinds. Her most recent books for children and teens are
The Who (Abdo, 2020),
The Murders of Tupac and Biggie (Abdo, 2020),
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (Abdo, 2020),
The Evolution of Mammals (Abdo, 2019),
The Evolution of Reptiles (Abdo, 2019),
Labradoodle: Labrador Retrievers Meet Poodles! (Capstone, 2019),
Puggle: Pugs Meet Beagles (Capstone, 2019),
Stem Cells (North Star Editions, 2019),
The Dark Web (Abdo, 2019), and
Earning, Saving and Investing (Abdo, 2019). In addition, her children’s nonfiction has appeared at Education.com, in Gryphon House anthologies, in Harcourt and Houghton Mifflin testing packages and also in
READ and
Young Equestrian Magazine. Her nonfiction for adults has been published in
Writer’s Market,
Children’s Writer newsletter,
WOW! Women on Writing,
Writer’s Digest,
The Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market, T
he Writer’s Guide, and
Magazine Market’s for Children’s Writers. Sue is also a dedicated blogger, writing for the Muffin as well as her own personal blog,
One Writer’s Journey.
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Check out two of Sue's forthcoming titles! She's working on these now, but they are available for pre-order from her publisher,
Abdo.
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Sponsor: live webinar series from Jessica Brody!
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Learn the language of storytelling to craft and perfect your own story.
Join us for the very first Save the Cat!® Storytelling Masterclass, presented LIVE, by the best-selling author of
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel
, Jessica Brody!
The Storytelling Masterclass consists of 3 live webinars, each 2.5 hours.
During the three sessions, Jessica will take you beat-by-beat through the world’s most popular storytelling approach to help you learn how to create engaging stories, compelling character arcs, and themes that resonate.
Anyone who attends live will have the opportunity to ask Jessica questions.
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Upcoming WOW Classes & Workshops
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Below are some classes and workshops that are starting soon. Click on the links to be taken to a full listing that includes a week-by-week curriculum, testimonials, instructor bio, and more. Keep in mind that most class sizes are limited, so the earlier you register the better.
All the classes operate online--whether through email, website, chat room, or group listserv, depending on the instructor's preferences--so you do not need to be present at any particular time (unless a phone chat or webinar is scheduled and arranged with your instructor). You can work at your own pace in the comfort of your own home. If you have any questions, please reply to this email or email us at:
classroom@wow-womenonwriting.com. Enjoy!
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Ongoing - Starts Upon Ordering:
Submissions Consultation
| Return time: 1 Week | $25 | Submit up to 12 pages (4,500 words) of your writing and receive 5 or more suggestions of where to submit your piece and formatting for each market | Editor: Chelsey Clammer
Starts the First Tuesday of Every Month (next date: May 5):
How to Write a TV Pilot
| 4 Weeks | $150 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Limit: 10 Students | Instructor: Christina Hamlett
Starts the First Friday of Every Month (next date: May 1):
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Imagery Power: Photography for Writers
“Fiction, like dreams, exists in images... Fiction must exist in images, not abstractions,” wrote John Dufresne. Indeed, the ability to develop imagery is important in all forms of writing, from poetry to essays and all sorts of descriptive writing. The art of photography, an evocative visual art, frequently helps authors hone our image-seeking and development skills. From camera phone to digital, this class is about cracking open the everyday extraordinary, about the kind of seeing and focusing on detail that will enhance your writing and spark ideas for months to come.
4-week class with Melanie Faith
May 1 - May 29
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Writing Short, Writing Deep: Prose Poetry, Short Memoir, Epistolary, Flash Non-fiction, Flash Fiction, and More
Writers will read from samples of “lyric memoirs” and “lyric novels” built from smaller pieces as well as selections from authors who write moving vignettes, prose poems, flash fiction and flash nonfiction. Not only is there a growing market for short writing, writing short helps us get quickly to the best writing we have inside. Over six weeks, you’ll produce six pieces and create many more ideas for future short writing as well as learn where these pieces are found and may be published.
6-week workshop with Sheila Bender
May 25 - July 5
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May 1, 2020
Imagery Power: Photography for Writers | 4 Weeks | $155
| Location: Private Facebook Group and Email | Feedback: Instructor feedback and critique on all assignments
| Limit: 10 Students | Instructor: Melanie Faith
May 4, 2020
Writing is Revising: How to Become a Better Editor | 4 Weeks | $150, plus a 30-minute phone consultation
| Location: Private Website | Feedback: Weekly instructor feedback and edits with weekly or bi-weekly peer feedback
| Limit: 10 Students | Instructor: Chelsey Clammer
Blogging Made Easy
| 4 Weeks | $97 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Limit: 10 Students | Instructor: Karen Cioffi
May 25, 2020
June 1, 2020
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Transform Your Memories into Memoir in 5 Weeks
Excavating the terrain of memory in search of that one good idea that awakens the writer in you can make all the difference! Since most memories come to us in little fragmentary pieces, rather than whole, it’s a pretty big accomplishment when you can transform a memory into a scene, the building block of memoir. That’s where this online course comes in. In this class, we’ll push ourselves to first identify then transform that really good idea into a scene that will be the backbone of your memoir. We’ll focus on the following aspects of craft including structure, characterization, and plot. From experience I’ve discovered the way towards clarity is to have thoughtful discussions, coupled by exercises and gentle thoughtful feedback.
5-week workshop with memoirist Dorit Sasson
June 1 - July 8
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What Our Bodies Have to Say: Writing About, Writing With the Body
The body is an unavoidable fact of our lives. As writers, we also know that the need to write is also an unavoidable fact of our lives. In this four-week class, students will read a variety of authors to explore the different ways that the body can be a part of our writing. Participants will be provided with 2-3 essays to read every week that will get us to explore different narrative structures. We'll also look at a number of craft techniques such as juxtaposition, tone, use of metaphor, integrating research, and gestures that can all influence the essay in subtle, yet very significant ways. The goal of this workshop is to discover how the way we decide to tell a story is just as important as the story itself.
4-week workshop with Chelsey Clammer
June 8 - July 5
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Autofiction Workshop: Exploring Hybrid Writing
What is autofiction? It’s not memoir, fiction or personal essay, but might have elements of all three. Auto-fiction is a genre for writers who want to write about their experiences and personal insights without being held back by the “facts.” Autofiction allows writers to pen personal experience without the constraints of traditional autobiography. We will explore some of the techniques of writers who have reconstructed events from their own lives using methods borrowed from other genres to create new forms. There will be weekly readings that we will use to discuss different elements of craft in terms of narrative, structure, genre, tone, narrator, character and theme. We will also have a weekly writing exercise based on the reading as well as group and instructor workshopping of participant work.
6-week workshop with Gila Green
July 5 - August 16
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Writing the Picture Book
Picture Books are the most beloved story form of children’s writing. But how easy is it to write one? In this class, we’ll look at how to create a memorable child character, how to craft a simple plot to be read multiple times, explore pacing, and do a little researching into the current picture book market. The class includes instructor feedback on all assignments, and a draft of an 800-word picture book. Students will be encouraged to spend an afternoon at their local library or elementary school reading picture books. The class is designed for those interested in learning how to write a picture book story and is very beneficial for illustrators wanting to know how to write a picture book.
4-week workshop with Mindy Hardwick
July 2 - July 29
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June 3, 2020
June 8, 2020
June 15, 2020
Creating the Five Minute Memoir
| 6 weeks | $180 | Location: Private Google Group | Feedback: Detailed Instructor Feedback and Encouraging Peer Workshop
| Limit: 10 students | Instructor: Sheila Bender
July 2, 2020
Writing the Picture Book | 4 weeks | $125 | Location: Private Facebook Group and email | Feedback: Instructor feedback on all assignments | Limit: 10 Students | Instructor: Mindy Hardwick
July 5, 2020
July 6, 2020
The Power of Storytelling: Writing for Publication
NEW! | 6 weeks | $150 | Location: Video with final live webinar, and Facebook group | Feedback: Both peer critique and instructor critique, via Facebook throughout the class, and during the live webinar | Limit: 10 students | Instructor: Barbara Noe Kennedy, long time
National Geographic Publishing editor
Blogging Made Easy
| 4 Weeks | $97 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Limit: 10 Students | Instructor: Karen Cioffi
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The Power of Storytelling: Writing for Publication
When all is said and done, great writing is about great storytelling. Whether you’re writing an essay, newspaper travel story, nature blog, magazine feature, or food story, you need to be able to tell a story for your writing to be memorable and poignant. So how do you do this? In the simplest terms, the secret sauce is to share your personal experiences, your vulnerabilities, your humanity. Connect to the universal concerns that all of us can relate to, whether it’s being scared or determined or simply curious, and your story will come alive. But there’s more. The power of storytelling also is about knowing the “tricks of the trade,” so that your words pop off the page (or screen). Each class we’ll take a deep dive into one important aspect of great storytelling, using successful examples from all walks of nonfiction writing.
6-week workshop with Barbara Noe Kennedy, longtime editor of
National Geographic Publishing
July 6 - August 10
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Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults
Biographies, science, history, how-to, and more. Nonfiction is published in book form, online and in both magazines and e-zines. Not only do teachers and school librarians seek nonfiction for their students, children and teens read it for fun. In this course, you will learn how to organize your material, write and revise not only the manuscript you workshop in class but future projects as well. Weekly topics include: planning your manuscript, organizing your research material, drafting using fiction techniques to build scenes, rewriting and revising, and including extras that can help make the sale. Taught by Sue Bradford Edwards, a nonfiction author with over 600 sales to her credit and 25 traditionally published nonfiction books for young readers.
4-week class with Sue Bradford Edwards
July 6 - August 3
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July 8, 2020
August 3, 2020
August 5, 2020
August 10, 2020
August 26, 2020
September 1, 2020
September 2, 2020
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1-2-3 Personal Essays and Weekly Feedback
Do you love writing personal essays? Are you looking for personal feedback on your essays? Have you already taken a “how to” class on personal essays and want to start producing more pieces for submission? This class is for you! The value of this class comes with working one-on-one with the instructor on your individual essay(s). For each of the 3 weeks (1-2-3!), you can submit a new essay (600-1,200 words) or re-submit an essay you’ve revised. You might also consider using pieces you’ve already written and use this class for personal feedback and a professional editor’s eye to polish them. At the end of three weeks, you will have at least one completed essay ready to go out on submission.
3-week workshop with Kandace Chapple
Sept 9 - Sept 30
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Face Your Fears: Women Writers Anonymous
Face Your Fears II: Women Writers Anonymous is a 6-week online creative nonfiction class in which all of the participants are anonymous (with the exception of the instructor). Students will face the stories and situations in their lives that they swore they would NEVER write about, and then not only write them, but also receive feedback based on craft, not content. Students will read assigned essays to see how authors have written about traumatic/shameful events. By the end of the class, students will have a complete draft of their brave essay, as well as the knowledge and skills to help them revise a personal essay in a more objective way.
6-week workshop with Chelsey Clammer
Sept 14 - Oct 25
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September 7, 2020
Blogging Made Easy
| 4 Weeks | $97 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Limit: 10 Students | Instructor: Karen Cioffi
September 9, 2020
September 14, 2020
Face Your Fears II: Women Writers Anonymous | 4 Weeks | $200
| Location: Private Website | Feedback: Weekly instructor feedback and edits with weekly or bi-weekly peer feedback
| Limit: 10 Students | Instructor: Chelsey Clammer
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Food Writing for Fun and Profit: Blogs, Restaurant Reviews, Recipes, Fiction, Memoir, and More
Famed epicure James Beard once wrote, “Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” In this five-week course, we will explore the wide and exciting range of food-themed genres. Via the instructional text,
Will Write for Food 3rd edition, by Dianne Jacob, students will find inspiration for their own weekly writing assignments. In addition, students will read food writing from some of the top journalists and food bloggers in the industry in
Best Food Writing 2017, edited by Holly Hughes. Each week, students will submit a prose assignment based on an exercise from our class text for constructive and supportive instructor feedback. A variety of writing prompts and tips, both in the texts and at the private class group, will be provided. Join us for this cuisine-filled course!
5-week workshop with Melanie Faith
Sept 18 - Oct 23
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Writing Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction: A Study and Workshop
If you’re currently writing or want to write a middle-grade or young adult novel, this is the course for you! Margo has written both, edited tons, taught workshops on how to write these, and shared novels in classrooms and assemblies with kids, too. In this course, you will learn what makes a middle grade or young adult novel successful, how to plot one, how to relate to the audience, and popular novels that kids and teens love. Margo will be referring to popular novels such as
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,
Holes,
Twilight,
Hunger Games, and more. Finally, you will receive a critique on the first two chapters of your novel or up to 20 pages. When you finish this class, you will have a novel plan, understand the genre you are writing and the audience you’re writing for, and have one to two chapters written with feedback.
6-week workshop with Margo L. Dill
Sept 30 - Nov 10
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September 18, 2020
September 30, 2020
October 5, 2020
October 12, 2020
October 14, 2020
October 30, 2020
Fundamentals of Graphic Novel Creation
NEW! | 4 Weeks | $155
| Location: Private Facebook Group and Email | Feedback: Instructor feedback and critique on all assignments
| Limit: 10 Students | Instructor: Melanie Faith
November 2, 2020
Blogging Made Easy
| 4 Weeks | $97 | Location: Email | Feedback: Instructor Feedback | Limit: 10 Students | Instructor: Karen Cioffi
November 4, 2020
November 9, 2020
December 2, 2020
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