Jonathan Maberry

Workshop Descriptions and Dates

DESCRIPTION: Scary is back and even the big publishing houses are gobbling up novels for the mainstream audience. Horror anthologies bring new stories to hungry readers. Horror comics sell big. And even horror poetry has a growing audience. Telling spooky tales –in fiction or nonfiction—is big business, and that market is growing. This masterclass covers a lot of ground, from research, to writing, to finding markets to sell your spooky tales. 

Included in the program: 

• What is Horror? (And Why do We Love to be Scared!?)
• Terror vs Horror
• Cultivating Suspense
• Pacing and atone for Horror
• Building the Perfect Beast: Crafting an Eerily Credible Monster
• Research for Horror Fiction –from Folklore to Science
• The Psychology of Fear
• Character Creation for Horror
• Setting and Place; Crafting and Sustaining Fear
• Subgenres of Horror
• Finding Markets for your Horror Fiction
• How to Talk about Horror with the Public, and more.

WRITING SUCCESS 101

DESCRIPTION: In this challenging economy it’s tough to build a career by being a one-trick pony. Writers who want to build a thriving and lucrative career look for all kinds of creative outlets and forms that pay. Novels, short stories of all kinds, essays, magazine features, greeting cards, game writing, comic books, tie-in fiction, poetry, freelance editing, and more are doors just waiting for writers to open. NY Times bestseller Jonathan Maberry (author of 55 novels, 200 short stories, 30 graphic novels, 28 nonfiction books, 1200 feature articles, as well as poetry, plays, and more) will take you through the steps to build a bigger and stronger writing business that can shift with economic changes. The moneymaking writer is one who is open to taking creative risks and grow the kind of skill set that opens all those doors! Start the new year like a pro!

We’ll discuss:

• Understanding your skill set
• Building your skill set
• Understanding the Business of Publishing
• Cross-Platform Publishing
• The Novel Market and how to Crack it!
• Short stories, Novelettes, and Novellas -what to write and where to sell it
• The Nonfiction Book Market- How to develop and pitch nonfiction
• The Magazine Market- Idea development, pitching, and selling to multiple markets
• The Poetry Market- adding a bit of magic to your writing
• Game Writing- The ABCs of what you need to know
• Media Tie-in- Writing and selling to licensed markets
• Comic Books and Graphic Novels—selling in today’s market

WRITING AND SELLING SHORT STORIES 

DESCRIPTION: The short story is exploding and it’s a market constantly hungry for new talent and new voices! Short fiction is a great way to build your writing career and increase your professional income, it can also help you stretch as a writer. Short stories offer more creative opportunities than any other form of writing. We’ll discuss:

• The short story structure (and its many variations)
• Building compelling characters
• Knowing where to start (and how to end with a punch!)
  
• Strategies for great dialogue
  
• Developing a compelling opening hook
  
• Research for short fiction
  
• Finding Markets (including places you’d never think to look!)
  
• Writing for Magazines, Anthologies, Collections, and more
  
• How Short Story writing can help you write a better novel!
  
• Short Stories as your ticket to Hollywood!
  
• Strategies for finding paying markets
  
• And much more!!

PITCH & SELL NOVELS, COMICS, SHORT STORIES, AND MORE!

The publishing world changes constantly, and writers who want to make sales and make $$ need to change with it. Luckily, that process can be fun and very rewarding!

This newly updated masterclass show you how to prep and pitch any kind of writing, and how to start racking up the sales that will bring in cash and build your career.

We’ll cover a lot of ground, including:

• THE QUERY LETTER: new forms and strategies
• THE VERBAL PITCH: how to make a face-to-face pitch fun and successful
• SELLING SHORT STORIES: Finding and pitching to magazine and anthology markets
• SELLING COMICS: How to prep a pitch, where to find editors, and what materials you need
• TALKING POINTS: How to identify those story elements that make a pitch come alive
• HOLLYWOOD PITCHES: Everything from how to craft a presentation/pitch deck to finding a book-to-film agent.
• THE MARKET: How and where to learn about the changes in the market and newly opened doors!
• CHANGES in the publishing landscape and how to work with (rather than against) them.
• PITCHING TIPS AND GAMES: How you and your writer friends can have fun preparing to meet agents and editors
• And much more!

HEROES AND VILLAINS: Building Complex and Compelling Characters

DESCRIPTION:   Great fiction is all about the people. The characters, and particularly the antagonist and protagonist. The best stories aren’t about the big events or crisis. Good stories are about the CHARACTERS. They are about the ‘people’ in your story. They drive the narrative, engage the reader, and make any story come alive!

• What makes a Villain –from deep backstory to the bleeding edge of crisis?
• How does a Hero earn the right to stand up to your villain?
• How to use real people as templates for your characters
• Merging traits to create unique and interesting main and supportive characters
• Personalities for Protagonist and Antagonist
• Personality types as they relate to your story
• Character arcs
• Unique character voices
• Motivation that really drive your characters
• Physical details for unique characters
• “Interviewing” your characters to better understand them
• Empathy and Sympathy with your characters
• And much more!

HOW TO MAKE MONEY AS A WRITER

DESCRIPTION: There’s a lot more to being a successful writer than being good at the craft. Publishing is a business and to succeed you need to know how the business works. In HOW TO MAKE MONEY AS A WRITER we’ll discuss:

• Work Habits for Writers
• Time Management
• Setting and Accomplishing Realistic Goals
• Developing Marketable Ideas
• Understanding the ABCs of Publishing
• Social Media Branding for Writers
• Finding new Markets for Your Work
• Finding a Literary Agent
• Working with Literary Agents
• Working with Book-to-Film Agents
• Business Etiquette
• Taking Meetings
• Growing Your Business
• Incorporation
• Contracts
• Managing Deadlines
• Royalties, and much more!

WRITING IN OTHER PEOPLE’S WORLDS: Writing and Selling Media Tie-in Fiction

DESCRIPTION: To build a compelling story –whether a novel, short story, or comic book, scenes are the unsung heroes. There are so many ways to take an idea and flesh it out to construct scenes that drive the narrative, build compelling and three-dimensional characters, tell a more complete story, influence and moderate pace, world build, weave multiple storylines, allow for sharing information with the reader without info dumps, raise the overall quality of storytelling, and much, much more. This brand-new masterclass explores the art and craft of developing ideas into rich stories, and how to create scenes –powerful moments—within the story that really sell your narrative and engage readers.

Topics covered include:

• The Journey from Idea to Storyline
• The Hidden Purpose of Your Scenes
• Shifting POV to Tell a Richer Story
• Complexity vs Confusion –How to Get it Right
• Character Moments
• Incidental Characters
• Single Step-away Scenes that Highlight Key Emotional Moments
• Developing Character in Unique Scenes
• Experimenting with Voice
• Tone and Style
• Subtle Uses of Figurative and Descriptive Language
• Unexpected Narrative Shifts to Raise the Stakes
• Deep Character Point of View
• And much more!
  

WRITING IN OTHER PEOPLE’S WORLDS: Writing and Selling Media Tie-in Fiction

DESCRIPTION: A lot of top writers made their bones writing novels, comics, and short stories set in worlds they did not create. Licensed worlds like Aliens, Predator, Dune, Star Wars, Assassins Creed, Star Trek, The Avengers, CSI and many others offer open doors for both established and new writers. NY Times bestseller and president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, Jonathan Maberry, is your tour-guide to understand this part of the publishing world and all of its many opportunities.

Topics covered include:
• The World of Tie-in Writing and Licensing
• The Novelization and How it Works
• Original Works in Other Worlds
• Short and Long Tie-in Fiction
• Media Tie-in Anthologies
• Media Tie-in Nonfiction
• Comics
• Working with Established License-holders
• Expired Licenses and Why They Can be Career Gold
• Media Tie-in and Comics
• Getting Involved
• Making the Fiction Your Own (while Respecting the License)
• The Edit Process
• Finding Helpful Experts in Key Licenses
• Taking Creative Risks
• Emerging Licenses
• Finding Markets
• And much more!

WRITING FIGHT AND ACTION SCENES 

DESCRIPTION: Well-written fights and chase and action scenes can turn a book into a red-hot page-turner…but they have to be done right. Join NY Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry for a no-holds-barred workshop on how to write believable and riveting fight and action scenes. Included in this program:

• The Difference Between Martial Arts and Self-Defense
• Myths and Misconceptions About Fighting
• Types of Martial Arts
• Understanding Street Fighting
• Choreographing a Realistic and Effective Fight Scene
• Fights Scenes for Impossible Worlds (Vampires, Dragons, and Ghouls, oh my!)
• Armed and Unarmed Combat
• Building Tension in Action Scenes
• The Moral, Legal and Psychological Consequences of Self-Defense
• Avoiding Cliché in Fight Scenes
• And much, much more!

BESTSELLING PACING 

DESCRIPTION: Novels can be short or long—and in some genres very long—but they should always move along at a brisk yet compelling pace. NY Times bestseller Jonathan Maberry, author of over fifty novels in multiple genres, is your tour-guide for a journey through the art and science of PACING. Topics covered include:

• Genre-Specific Pacing, Plot & Subplot Pacing
• Plotting vs Pantsing
• Building a Story Chronology, Plotting for Rhythm
• Narrative Hooks
• Action Set Pieces
• Variable Length (chapter, paragraph, and sentence)
• Research that Drives your Narrative
• Crafting Scenes that Move the Story Along
• Building Compelling and Useful Characters
• Dialogue and Pacing
• Foreshadowing
• Plot Complexity
• Overlapping Storylines
• The Importance of Supporting Characters
• Pacing in a Single Character POV and Ensemble
• Shifting POV
• Parsing Info Instead of Dumping
• Varying Forms of Dialogue
• Building a Story Chronology
• And much more!

BUILDING A BETTER MONSTER: Writing and Selling Original Horror Fiction 

Description:  We’ve seen just about every version of vampires, werewolves, zombies and ghosts, right? Actually…no. The versions of monsters so often used in movie, TV and novels are the Hollywood versions. Sanitized, romanticized, and—after all these years—not all that scary anymore. To really frighten today’s jaded readers the trick is to go old school. There are thousands of monsters in myth, legend and folklore that would scare Dracula and send the Wolfman running with tail between his legs. In this workshop, we’ll discuss:

• Monsters we haven’t seen before
• Variations on Popular Monsters
• Standing out from the horror crowd with unique stories and themes
• Research for horror writers
• Finding experts
• Resources for writing new kinds of horror
• Taking and reshaping popular tropes
• Setting expectations in horror
• Using folklore in science fiction and fantasy
• The New Suspense –messing with reader expectations to create a richer experience
• Finding markets for monster-driven horror fiction
• Monsters in books, short fiction, nonfiction, comics, and movies
• Having fun while scare the heck out of the reader
• Using your own fears as a guide to tell compelling and saleable horror fiction
• And much more!

THE NOVEL: FROM FIRST DRAFT TO BOOKSHELF

DESCRIPTION: You’ve finished a first draft. Great! But…now what? 

The journey from that raw draft to bookstores all over the country is filled with twists and turns. NY Times bestselling and 5-time Bram Stoker Award winning author Jonathan Maberry will be your guide in this Masterclass. This intensive program includes:
• Beta readers and Freelance Editors
• Revision Strategies -Turning a Rough Draft into a Saleable Property
• Building your list of Possible Agents
• Pros and Cons of Peer Critique Groups (and how to make them awesome!)
• Pitching to Agents -Query Letters and Direct Pitches
• Business Etiquette for Writers
• Building and Branding your Writer’s Social Media Platform
• Setting up a Writing Business (Taxes, Deductions, Incorporation, and more!)
• Multiplatform Writing: Audio, eBook, eZines, and Print
• Exploring other Media to Expand your Business: Comics, Games, TV/Movies, and more
• Promoting your Work
• Building your Writers Network
• Resources for Writers
• And sooooo much more!

WRITING AND SELLING SHORT STORIES 

DESCRIPTION: The short story is exploding and it’s a market constantly hungry for new talent and new voices! Short fiction is a great way to build your writing career and increase your professional income, it can also help you stretch as a writer. Short stories offer more creative opportunities than any other form of writing. We’ll discuss:

• The short story structure (and its many variations)
• Building compelling characters
• Knowing where to start (and how to end with a punch!)
• Strategies for great dialogue
• Developing a compelling opening hook
• Research for short fiction
• Finding Markets (including places you’d never think to look!)
• Writing for Magazines, Anthologies, Collections, and more
• How Short Story writing can help you write a better novel!
• Short Stories as your ticket to Hollywood!
• Strategies for finding paying markets
• And much more!!

REVISION STRATEGIES FOR WRITERS!

Revisions are what make a story come alive! Throughout the writing process we are required to do various KINDS of revisions –early drafts of the work; polished drafts for submission; revisions based on notes from critique groups, agents, and editors; post-sale revisions; line edits; structural edits; and proofreading. At each stage, there is important work to do, and at each stage there’s an opportunity to make your work shine brighter.

This new masterclass - REVISION STRATEGIES FOR WRITERS!—will show you how to transform your work through different drafts, but also how to work with editors, interpret and apply their notes, and craft something that has the best chance of selling in today’s market.

We’ll cover a lot of ground, including:

• THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF REVISIONS
• DRAFT-BY-DRAFT REVISIONS
• THEMATIC EDITS
• TIME MANAGEMENT FOR REVISIONS
• WORKING WITH EDITOR NOTES
• EDITOR/AUTHOR ETIQUETTE
• THE TRICK OF THE ROLLING EDIT
• UNDERSTANDING CRITIQUES
• HOW TO CREATE A TRULY EFFECTIVE PEER CRITIQUE GROUP
• EDITING ON A DEADLINE
• INSIDER TRICKS FOR REVISIONS
• LEVELING UP WITH REVISIONS
• REVISION GAMES
• REVISING WITH A PARTNER
• REDUCING REVISION TIME WITH FUTURE PROJECTS
• And much more!

WRITING AND SELLING COMIC BOOKS 

DESCRIPTION: Nothing is hotter than movies and TV shows based on comics. The comics industry is constantly changing, growing, developing new markets and forms. We live in an age of print, digital, webcomics, comics formatted for phones, comic-book tie-ins to video and board games, and much more. And there are a lot of movies and shows most people don’t know were based on comics –300, V for Vendetta, Ghost World, Road to Perdition, From Hell, The Crow, A History of Violence, Men in Black, Snowpiercer, Persepolis…not to mention all of the superhero stuff, ranging from Doom Patrol, to The Boys, Umbrella Academy, the Marvel and DC Cinematic universes, and so much more. This masterclass discusses:

• The evolution of graphic storytelling
• Visual storytelling
• Pitching
• Story Development and Beat Sheets
• Scripting
• Panel Layout and Art Direction
• Working with Editors
• Working with the Art Team
• Pace and Tone
• Character development
• Short and long form storytelling
• Etiquette of the comics industry
• Finding markets
• New Formats and Markets
• What to expect in the business
• And more! 

THRILLS AND CHILLS 

PITCH & SELL NOVELS, COMICS, SHORT STORIES, AND MORE!

The publishing world changes constantly, and writers who want to make sales and make $$ need to change with it. Luckily, that process can be fun and very rewarding!

This new masterclass - PITCH & SELL NOVELS, COMICS, SHORT STORIES, AND MORE!—will show you how to prep and pitch any kind of writing, and how to start racking up the sales that will bring in cash and build your career.

We’ll cover a lot of ground, including:

·      THE QUERY LETTER: new forms and strategies

·      THE VERBAL PITCH: how to make a face-to-face pitch fun and successful

·      SELLING SHORT STORIES: Finding and pitching to magazine and anthology markets

·      SELLING COMICS: How to prep a pitch, where to find editors, and what materials you need

·      PITCHING TIPS AND GAMES: How you and your writer friends can have fun preparing to meet agents and editors

·      TALKING POINTS: How to identify those story elements that make a pitch come alive

·      HOLLYWOOD PITCHES: Everything from how to craft a presentation/pitch deck to finding a book-to-film agent

·      THE MARKET: How and where to learn about the changes in the market and newly opened doors!

·      And much more!

ART OF THE PITCH

Join NY Times bestseller Jonathan Maberry for a class on THE ART OF THE PITCH. We’ll cover query letters and verbal pitches for novels, novellas, comic books, and specialty projects. And we’ll discuss how to make book pitching FUN instead of frightening!

ACT LIKE A WRITER

“Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others.”
- Groucho Marx

If you’re going to meet an agent, do a book signing, give a talk, interview, or any other real-world, face-to-face event as part of your writing career, an author needs a public face that has to be authentic, consistent, and compelling. A reader’s trust in an author is based on the fulfilled promise of the author’s brand. While readers buy individual books, their loyalty rests with the author. In today’s uber-connected world, an author becomes a public figure in an instant, and being ready for that moment is essential. ACT LIKE A WRITER provides tools, strategies, and insight for creating an authentic, consistent, and compelling author’s brand.

Developed by New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry and actor/author Keith Strunk, this workshop focuses on how to be a celebrity even if you’re not famous yet.  Discover your public persona that draws people to you and your words through fine-tuning your own personal style as a public presenter, interview subject, and reader/interpreter of your own work. You will learn how to build a brand that creates trust and builds loyalty among readers.

PITCHPREP WRITERS WORKSHOP

“Be great in act, as you have been in thought.”
-- William Shakespeare, King John

Crafting a pitch that perfectly captures the heart, power, and poetry of your work is perhaps as daunting as writing the work itself.  Writers’ conferences provide the opportunity to pitch directly to agents and editors.  The right pitch connects the vision of your imagination with the reality of the marketplace to start a conversation that leads to publication. All this in less than two minutes!

Pulled from the popular ACT LIKE A WRITER program developed by New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry and actor/author/producer Keith Strunk, this workshop focuses on how to draw agents and publishers to you and your words with a face-to-face pitch that taps your own personal style to create an authentic, consistent, and compelling message that stimulates curiosity and conversation about your work.

WRITING DIALOGUE THAT WORKS

“The character of a man is known from his conversations.”
--Ancient Greek comic dramatist, Menander

In Hamlet, Shakespeare advises the actor to “suit the action to the word, the word to the action.”  Sounds simple enough, but it’s the writer who must first heed Shakespeare’s advice. WRITING DIALOGUE THAT WORKS explores the tools needed to create honest, compelling, real dialogue that drives your story and brings your characters to life through their words.

THE AUTHOR AS THE STORYTELLER

“Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”
 -- Mark Twain

Readers expect an author that writes a good story can tell a good story.  Whether it’s from your book, your life, or your imagination, an audience wants you to engage them with your words.  This workshop explores the essential elements for telling a good story, reading an excerpt of your work, or sharing a bit of slightly re-written history.

BEING A COMPELLING PUBLIC READER

“In the tale, in the telling, we are all one blood.”
-- Ursula K. Le Guin

This hands-on workshop explores the essential elements for presenting a compelling public reading of your work.  The workshop draws elements of the actor’s craft distilled into easily understood tools for breathing life into your readings and leaving your audiences enthralled with your words and wanting more.  Participants will have the opportunity to prepare and read a cutting of their work in the workshop with direction from the workshop leader.

PRESENTATION SKILLS WORKSHOP

All the World’s a Stage (and where the Hell’s the exit?)

When thrust upon the public stage, your success is dependent upon understanding three main components driving the presentation: the venue, your content, and your delivery.  This workshop provides hands-on discussion and practice of the tools used to master all three components with focus on techniques for managing nerves, structuring content, and improving delivery.

Keith Strunk is an actor, author, teacher, producer, and partner in Interlude Group LLC, a company specializing in effective interpersonal communication and presentation.  His work experience includes teaching at Rutgers University and Ursinus College, film and video production in NY and regional markets, freelance writing, and corporate training and development.  He is co-founder and Managing Director of River Union Stage, a professional Equity Theater based in Frenchtown, NJ, and a founding member of The Liars Club.

Keith holds an MFA in Theater from Rutgers University.  An award-winning scriptwriter, he has written a variety of scripts for both corporate and artistic venues including a stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol.  He is the author of Prallsville Mills and Stockton and The Delaware River Scenic Byway both from Arcadia Publishing, and “What Lies Between” in the LIAR LIAR Short Story Anthology available in print and audiobook formats. Corporate clients have included Chase Automotive Finance, King Pharmaceuticals, Medco Health Solutions, New York Board of Education, Nurture Nature Center, Princeton University, Prudential Financial, and Sika Corporation.

He's presented at numerous conferences including The Philadelphia Writer’s Conference, The Write Stuff Conference for the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers, and the Writer’s Digest Conference in New York.  Keith’s workshops cover a range of subjects and include an interactive performance-based program for 4th and 5th grades in Shakespeare produced through River Union Stage and in its 19th year of operation.