Five Ways
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Upcoming Workshops

Picture of a grey cat looking upward from a box. The inside lid reads "Hey good looking". The cat's name is Clark.
The message approved by the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers marketing department.
I’ve been rearranging the school somewhat, and part of that is a plan to continue doing multi-session classes, rather than a mixed bag of single session ones. Most of these will be on Saturday morning/afternoons, but I will try to mix things up a bit here and there so people in different time zones don’t have to get up at 3 AM.

Right now, I’m teaching my Extended Novel Workshop, aimed at people who have a novel in mind and want to work on preplanning and creating a schedule in which to execute it. We’re on week four of that right now, and today’s session will focus on worldbuilding. I’m really enjoying this workshop, and it’s such a great group of talented people. I can’t wait to read some of these books. So I definitely want to keep giving this each year.

I also want to do my Writing F&SF Stories workshop, and I’ll offer that in the Jan/Feb 2025 timeframe. That will feature six sessions on writing short stories, including writing and critiquing stories.

I’ve switched to a two months on, two months off model, which gives me more time to focus on writing and also helps me replenish my internal extroversion fuel. So I’ll offer one other extended workshop in the May/June period but I’m still figuring out what I want to do with that. Possibilities include:

  • an advanced Writing F&SF Stories workshop
  • a survey class on 20th century F&SF stories that would be reading & discussing multiple stories from a specific era each session
  • a multi-session workshop on increasing emotional depth and complexity in your work
  • a multi-session workshop focusing on literary techniques

I’d also like to do something on teaching writing sometime, but I don’t know if that would be one session or several.

Please tell me what you think. Are these appealing? Is there something you’d like to see me teach? As always, Patreon subscribers will get first chance to sign up for and a discount on these classes.

Moving from Idea to Finished Draft

Find multiple ways to take a story idea and flesh it out into a complete draft, looking at different ways in which ideas may manifest, such as plot, character, literary device, theme, scene, title, prompt, historical moment, collaboration, tribute to another writer, and more. Each section discusses a specific way an idea can appear, what that provides the writer, pitfalls to watch out for, and possible next steps, along with writing exercises designed to let the reader test each technique and idea and one of Rambo's stories that started in that way.

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Want access to a lively community of writers and readers, free writing classes, co-working sessions, special speakers, weekly writing games, random pictures and MORE for as little as $2? Check out Cat’s Patreon campaign.

Want to get some new fiction? Support my Patreon campaign.
Want to get some new fiction? Support my Patreon campaign.

 

"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."

~K. Richardson

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Preparing to Move

movingWe are preparing to move and in some ways are inadequately prepared, while in others we are more than ahead. I hadn’t unpacked a good couple of dozen boxes from the study, so those can pretty much just go straight back out (this time we’re hiring movers rather than doing it ourselves).

It’s weird prepping to move again, to hope that this time we’ll manage to achieve escape velocity. We’ve got a renter for this place, and a year’s lease on the new one, so we’ll see. Today I’ll go through cupboards, try to sort out some stuff to pitch rather than take with us, take advantage of the opportunity to declutter and cull some old and faded spices, discard dingy rags, ditch old magazines, etc.

I have tried not to overburden us in preparation, to jettison instead, but there will be some things we’ll need to pick up once there: an ironing board and iron, a table for the sewing machine, a second bath mat, more towels, etc. Instead I’ve been mostly picking up bits for a Halloween costume this year; trying to do something worthy of a SFWA president. I did also breakdown and buy the sourdough its own crock, but that was because Value Village was having 50 percent off day.

I finished one collaboration last week and am picking away at finishing up a bespoke story right now, then more on the novel, because I am so ready for that to be done. I’m also working on the updated Creating an Online Presence for Writers as well as adapting the Character Building and Editing 101 classes for the Fedora platform to go with the shiny new on-demand version of Literary techniques for Genre Writers.

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Cussin' in Secondary Worlds

swearing-294391_1280Cussin’ in Secondary Worlds
Saturday, June 10, 9:30-11:30 AM Pacific Time

Cursewords, expletives, and more – those things your characters say when nothing else will do – tells you more about the world (including issues of class, cultural taboos, and more) than you might imagine. How cussing and worldbuilding interrelate. AKA the class where we say F*ck a lot.

Join Norton Award winning author Fran Wilde, author of Updraft, Cloudbound, and The Jewel and Her Lapidary for a workshop that will leave you ready to swear magnificently.

Classes are taught online via Google hangouts and require reliable Internet connection, although in the past participants have logged on from coffee shops, cafes, and even an airplane; a webcam is suggested but not required.

To register for this class, mail me with the following details:

  • The email address associated with your Google account
  • Which class or classes and the dates
  • Remind me if you have already taken a class with me so you can get the former student rate ($79). Otherwise the cost is $99.
  • Whether you would prefer to pay via Paypal, check, or some other means.

Upon receiving that, I will send you an invoice.

Important! Remember every class has at least one Plunkett scholarship for students who could not otherwise afford the cost. To apply for a Plunkett, mail me and tell me why you want to take the class in 100 words or less.

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