In this two-hour, hands-on workshop, Francine helps writers and illustrators turn their long-term creative hopes into concrete goals over a five-year period. Participants begin the workshop by defining five-year visions for their careers. But just as the idea for a novel doesn’t turn into a book without a plot and outline, careers must have detailed roadmaps delineating the work that must be done, at what pace, and in what order. Five-year visions are turned into annual goals, and those annual plans give way to quarterly, monthly and weekly tasks.
The Art of Journaling: Reclaiming Your Life One Page at a Time
In this introduction to journaling, Francine presents a number of journaling and notebook techniques to suit individual styles. Francine explains the benefits of consistent journaling and how it can be used to unearth buried dreams, create order, establish priorities, and set achievable plans.
Loving and Living the Creative Life
Committing to a creative career is often viewed as a luxury or a hobby. In this workshop, Francine leads participants through such discussion topics as how to tap into one's true creative voice and individual strengths/passions, as well as how to fully commit to the work of a creative career, structure work and stay on task, handle fear at the beginning (or end) of a project, and use accountability partners for personal and professional support.
Drastic Second Drafts
In this hands-on workshop, Francine teaches participants how to write a fresh, strong second draft from scratch. She teaches writers how to extract the most important details from their first drafts (story arc, key points and details from their characters, plot and subplots, voice, theme and dialog). Using this detailed information, the writer is equipped to rewrite from scratch.
Character Development for MG and YA Writers (Beginner/Intermediate)
Taking advantage of the multitude of character development tools readily available to writers, Francine helps participants discover which techniques they prefer and then guides them through outlining, and developing the key players for their novels. She will also discuss unconventional tools to use when refining characters.
Where Should I Begin? An Analysis of Book Beginnings and How to Set Your Own Book's Starting Line
Have you ever been told your story doesn't start in the right place but you're not sure exactly where to set the starting line? In this workshop, we'll take a look at multiple novels and timelines (including backstory shared with the reader) and assess each for where the author chose to draw the line in the sand for the opener, how that decision dictated the story, and how a different starting point could have changed the outcome and/or purpose of the novel.