Bestselling author Jenny Colgan will discuss how to polish your first book and navigate commercial publishing. Come with all the nitty-gritty questions! TIFA’s Creative Writing Masterclasses offer the opportunity to learn how to craft compelling stories and bring captivating characters to life through hands-on lessons from acclaimed authors and industry experts. This is a 90-minute […]
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THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT Want your happily-ever-afters to feel hard-won? Join USA Today Bestselling author Bailey Hannah as she explores how to turn character wounds, desires, messy emotions, and external obstacles into heartfelt conflict and delicious tension. Bring your characters and their baggage, and get ready to make them (and readers) feel everything. TIFA’s Creative Writing Masterclasses offer […]
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT Join Nisha J. Tuli, USA Today Bestselling author of Trial of the Sun Queen, as she talks about the fundamentals of writing romantasy, including how to balance the fantasy and romance aspects of your plot, how to create characters that your readers want to root for, and how to sustain […]
Do you dream of writing hilarious meet-cutes and heart-warming happily ever afters, but don’t know where to start? Look no further! Join bestselling author Holly Cassidy aka Hannah Mary McKinnon for a Writing Romance for Beginners workshop. Explore the romance genre, discover your audience, develop your characters, and learn about pitfalls to avoid. This 90-minute […]
James Baldwin once described himself not as a writer so much as a re-writer. Too often we expect our stories to come to us in flashes of inspiration. The ideas do, eventually leading to words on the page. But good, publishable prose is constructed through painstaking, top-to-bottom rewriting. We will discuss the significance of rewriting […]
How do bestselling authors keep readers turning the pages? They make the reader see, hear, feel, taste and touch what the protagonist is experiencing in real time. In this Masterclass, Internationally bestselling author Alka Joshi walks you through the craft of sensory writing with tips, tricks, and exercises you can use to hone your narratives. […]
Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, HP Lovecraft, Stephen King – all great writers who know that the stories that have the biggest impact are often the scariest. In this masterclass, we will look at techniques to elicit fright on the page, dissecting a few famous passages to see what makes them so effective. From there, participants […]
We tend to think that a meaningful writing practice must include hours set aside every day, with ambitious word counts and project deadlines propelling us to completion on a set timeline. But for many writers, both aspiring and established, this isn’t possible, let alone sustainable. In this talk, we will examine how one builds a […]
Discover the art of bringing real lives to the page, and explore the craft of biography, including how to research, shape a compelling narrative, and balance fact with storytelling. Whether you’re working on a biography, memoir, or creative non-fiction, this session with acclaimed writer Francesca Wade will provide insight and practical tools to help you […]
A storytelling rule of thumb: the wilder and more otherworldly the setting, the more the writer has to do to make it feel real. This workshop looks at how we can bring imagined worlds to life by world-building through character and setting, so the reader feels they are truly living in a created world. We […]
In some literary circles “politics” is treated almost like a dirty word. Politics gets a bad rap because political literature can often come across as didactic, pedantic, perhaps with images of characters on a soapbox raging against the machine. Who, in their right minds, wants to read that? But done the right way, political literature […]
We sometimes think of poems as being expressions of ideas we’ve already figured out, but poems can also be wonderful ways of working through confusion, conflict, ambivalence, and the moment where our feelings change. We’ll explore ways to reflect these dynamic moments in poetry, and look at some inspiring examples. TIFA’s Creative Writing Masterclasses offer […]
The first draft of a book is the clay, and in the edit, you sculpt your material into its final form. After your first draft is complete, you will need to figure out what questions your book is asking, and read to assess how, and whether, those questions are being answered. Freeing yourself of dead […]
Picture books have hardly any words, so writing one must be easy, right? Not at all. In fact, they are one of the most difficult forms to tackle. In this masterclass with the bestselling author of The Misewa Saga, On the Trapline, and the recent memoir All the Little Monsters, you will explore the process […]
Ramona Emerson’s crime series with forensic photographer Rita Todacheene has captured the hearts and imaginations of readers. In this masterclass, Ramona will outline the keys to her success from finding the hook for her hero, blending genres of crime and the supernatural, and how her background in media arts brought a unique imagery to her […]
This masterclass will explore how to research and investigate a true crime story. France’s leading true crime journalist and authors of The Alice Crimmins Case, Anaïs Renevier, will share her approaches on investigating true crime, from cold cases to recent crimes, drawing on the case studies featured in her books. She will cover a range […]
Plot twists are some of the most exciting moments in storytelling, but pulling them off successfully takes careful planning and strategy. Over the years, bestselling British crime writer, Jane Corry, has honed the art of crafting twists that leave readers gasping and eagerly turning pages. In this class, Corry will guide you through the process […]
Every great story pulses with tension. It propels readers forward, keeping them on the edge of their seats, eager to find out what happens next. Learn from master storyteller Denise Mina the essential techniques for introducing and maintaining tension, while mastering the art of pacing to captivate your audience from beginning to end. MOTIVE’s Creative […]
The wonderful thing about the world is how unique each of us is and yet how much we share. In this masterclass, Maureen Jennings, author of over 13 novels and creator of the Canadian icon Murdoch Mysteries, will take you through a series of exercises that will connect you with your own individual voice. Discovery […]
You have a great story, maybe something you published in a magazine or a newspaper. But how can you turn that into a book? A book is not just a much longer version of what you have already written, it’s a different beast altogether. This workshop with Julian Sher, investigative journalist and author of nine […]
