Softboiled, hardboiled, and “Just the facts, ma’am.” A sleuth is born. Which comes first? The plot or the egghead? “The grandest game in the world.” Its rules. Whodunit tricks and traps. A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in an enigma. The three basics of suspense. “I can’t put it down!” Why? Flatfoot and gumshoe. Elements of the police procedural. Sax and violins. How much sex and violence? Blood runs cold: fear, shock, and horror. Research. How to live your plot. Verisimilitude and suspending disbelief. The mystery of history. Skeletons in the closet. Setting is more than just a place. He said, she said. How to write dialogue. Screaming pitch. The eye of the storm. Building a story arc. Genre bending. Fight the good fight. Write the good fight.

Bring your imagination and your questions, and you’ll leave with all the basics you need to write.

Join master storyteller Jack Whyte as he deliniates the differences between the oral art of storytelling, (in which the aural combination of voice, intonation and delivery can carry the tale while completely disguising a fundamental lack of understanding of literacy on the part of a gifted storyteller) and the written craft of storytelling, where that fundamental understanding of the rules of language, syntax and grammar is the sine qua non of success.

Premise blah? Characters flat? Plot so-so? Current draft a mess? What makes a novel irrisitible not just to agents, editors and readers but to you? Literary agent and popular workshop presenter Donald Maass leads you out of the doldrums to a story that zings. A hands-on workshop. Bring a novel in progress and writing materials.

Honor the muse, but keep your mechanic on speed-dial. Immerse yourself in both the art and craft of writing with Jacqui Banaszynski. This hands-on master class will drill down to the DNA of writing through “literary forensics,” a diagnostic tool that reveals your individual writing habits, reconnects you with the cause-and-effect of language use, and arms you to become your own best editor — or gives editors language to elevate promising but problematic writers. We will then soar to the ether, exploring some of the secrets that can make writing seem magical. We’ll examine show vs. tell, listen to the rhythms of pacing and parallel construction, and climb the Ladder of Abstraction.

NOTE: Writers should bring printouts of 3 original, unedited stories. The copy needs to be your original work, not yet edited by someone else. Editors should bring 3 unedited drafts from a writer they work with. Also bring 3 or 4 highlighters in different colors.