Description
Eight Wednesdays, Mar 12-Apr 30, 7-9pm
Open to all
Limited to 12 participants
Online Workshop*
The Internet has boosted demand for articles, photo features, website text and niche content for both online and print outlets. The technical skills to post, blog, tweet and upload are common – especially amongst the younger generation!
Less common, however, is the combination of these skills with the ability to write clear, concise, targeted, interesting and well-structured prose suitable for small screens, short attention spans, F-pattern skim reading and search engines.
Conducted by a professional journalist, author, freelance writer and PR lecturer, this workshop is designed to enhance the communications skills of freelancers publicists, bloggers and other writers. Plus the business and survival smarts if you want to earn money from your writing.
Variations of this workshop have been delivered online and live, for credit and non-credit purposes at McGill University, UCLA, Shaanxi University and arts groups.
Through discussions, examples, simulation exercises and peer review, workshop sessions are conducted in a “real life” context, that aims to get participants published after the course.
Exercises are written and reviewed during sessions to mediate feedback and prepare participants to work within time limits. The instructor will set a main ‘homework’ assignment, to be reviewed before it’s submitted for publication:
- A third-person profile, based on an interview, which describes an interesting person, their occupation and achievements.
Or
- A researched, first-person narrative analyzing a subject of topical interest.
Sessions will cover all aspects of choosing, planning, pitching, writing and editing the article.
Participants enrolling in this workshop should have a clear idea why they want to write, what they want to write and for whom. They should also consider whether they intend to sell their writing to external outlets, give it away or use it for personal, career/business development.
Workshop schedule
Week 1
- Course introduction
- Overcoming writer’s block and generating story ideas
- Choosing the right topic at the right time
- Differences between print and online writing
Week 2
- Analysis of techniques, tone and content of publications
- Inverted pyramid writing
- Researching and selecting relevant material
- Search engine optimization
- Online vs print reading patterns
Week 3
- Writing catchy leads, headings and subject lines
- Basic writing structures
- Show don’t tell – writing for the senses
- Similes, metaphors, allusions and other writing devices
- Cutting jargon and superfluous words
Week 4
- Interviewing techniques and psychology
- Turning an interview into a profile
- Use of quotations
- Choosing a publication for your article
- Pitching stories
Week 5
- Working with editors
- Building your network
- Caption writing,
- Sourcing, choosing and editing pics
- Travel writing
Week 6
- Publishing and marketing a fiction/nonfiction book
- Literary agents
- Self-publishing/hybrid publishers/traditional publishers
- Book launches and tours
- Library placement and consignment sales
Week 7
- Writing as a business
- Quoting for jobs
- Tax and invoice issues
Week 8
- Course review
- Preparation to submit workshop article for publication.
*This workshop will take place online via Zoom. Registered participants will receive a Zoom link around two weeks prior to the start of the workshop.
