Smack Dab News

Michele Weber Hurwitz will be teaching a five-week online class with The Writing Barn, focusing on the fundamentals of middle grade fiction. The class will be taught completely online in a fun "Brady Bunch" screen format through the Barn's Zoom virtual classroom.

The sessions will be held each week on Mondays from 7 to 9 p.m. CST, beginning September 17 and ending October 15. The course will dig deep into the areas of setting, plot, character, voice, dialogue, conflict, theme, and pacing, utilizing a combination of lecture, discussion, writing exercises, group critique, and Q&A. Participants can work on an existing manuscript or start something new during the class. Click here for more info and to register. All of the sessions will help build technique and offer suggested guidelines for tackling revisions, rough spots, and writer's block. Michele is the author of four middle grade novels, published by Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. More on Michele at micheleweberhurwitz.com.

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An intimate workshop for middle grade and young adult authors looking to explore or revise and polish a work in progress.

GETTING YOUR MIDDLE GRADE AND YOUNG ADULT NOVEL UNSTUCK | NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 8, 2018

Whether you’ve jotted down ideas for a novel but can’t get your story off the ground, you’re stuck in the middle of a draft with no idea of where to go next, or you’ve written most of the book but can’t figure out the ending, this workshop is designed to help! Two award-winning, New York Times best-selling authors--Chris Tebbetts and Julie Berry --along with their guest, author Hannah Barnaby, will share their writers’ toolbox for getting unstuck, with a focus on character development, plotting and outlining, revision, journaling, and improvisation/play. 

Participants will receive an initial one-on-one critique as well as individual “ask the editor” meetings with our guest editor, Kate Prosswimmer of Sourcebooks, with time for revision and additional writing in between. Please include a five-page writing sample with your application. Accepted students will then be asked to submit 10-12 pages from a work in progress and a brief synopsis or story description for critique.

Click here for more info! Application deadline is September 15.