Workshops
If you’d like me to speak at your event or give a workshop for your writing group or reading group, or for some other community event, email me at: misa@misaramirez.com.
Some workshop topics include:
~Enneagrams: What are they and how can they help you with character development?
~Finding your Voice-This workshop discussing the abstract topic of voice, what it is, and how to identify yours.
~Goal, Motivation, Conflict, and Disaster-what it all means and how to make sure each of your scenes has these four crucial elements.
~The Nuts and Bolts of Publishing-Want the facts, and nothing but the facts? This lecture will help you understand what you’re up against and how to traverse the rocky publishing road.
~Using World Building to Develop a High Concept-This hands on workshop takes participants through world building exercises and into the the realm of high concept.
~Marketing and Promotion-It’s never to early to think about marketing and promoting yourself, whether you’re targeting e-publishing or print publishing. Co-presented with Nikki Duncan.
~The Hero’s Journey-Understanding the hero’s (or heroine’s) journey is key to character arc and to a satisfying ending for your story. This workshop takes participants through the key elements of the hero’s journey (based on Christopher Vogler’s book, The Writer’s Journey. Concrete examples are given, and participants will come away with a new understanding of how the hero’s journey is used in fiction and movies. Also included is an overview of the hero archetypes and how they contribute to the hero’s character development and growth.
For more details and course descriptions on the workshops, read on:
Understanding Scene: How Goal, Motivation, Conflict, and Disaster Factor into It
According to Dwight Swain, author of Techniques of the Selling Writer, a scene is identified by action. The sequel is the reaction. But what does this mean in terms of your writing? What goes into a scene? Heck, what IS a scene?
The short answer is:
A scene is a representation of a conflict as it plays out for the protagonist of the scene.
Every scene has 4 basic elements:
The point of view character’s goal, motivation
The conflict that stands in his or her way
The disaster, which brings into question whether the hero/heroine will succeed
A series of scenes and sequels combine to form your complete story
This online course will take you through the process of understanding the elements of a scene and will introduce the concept of sequel. You will use your favorite fiction to identify how authors use Goal, Motivation, Conflict, and Disaster, as well as write your own scene(s) using these crucial 4 elements. You will come away with a PDF file detailing everything discussed in the course.
Nuts and Bolts of Publishing
Course Description:
Did you know that there are more than 300,000,000 people in the US?
And did you further know that more than 80% of these Americans want to write a novel?
What makes you different?
What will help you succeed?
Knowledge is power. Knowing the facts about the publishing industry, from statistics (did you know that 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book?) to the low down on what happens after you get ‘the call’, will help you navigate the rocky terrain of your journey.
This online class will:
Give you the facts from what you’re up against,
What the competition is,
What to expect as you traverse the path to publication, and more.
Finding Your Voice
Course Description:
“Books want to be born: I never make them. They come to me and insist on being written, and on being such and such.” Samuel Butler
Finding your voice is perhaps one of the most difficult things a writer must do. It’s not as if you’ve lost it and it’s hiding under the bed, waiting to be rediscovered. And you can’t copy someone else’s.
Your voice is the single most important element in your writing because it makes your work distinctly yours.
It’s a combination of your style, your phrasing, your unique vernacular, and how you create tension and build plot. Put it in a blender, mix it up, and voila! you have voice.
This online workshop will be interactive and will take you through exercises to help you find your voice within the genre you write. Be prepared to share snippets of your WIP and/or writing exercises as you delve deeper into your voice.
Enneagrams: What Are They and How Can I Use Them in my Writing?
Course Description:
Enneagrams are a fun and effective tool to use when crafting your characters. Character growth must happen, right? But how do we stay focused on who our characters are and stay true to their personalities with that growth? People develop their personality types early in life and those traits stay with them. What changes is the understanding we have of the personality we’ve had all along. Our personalities frame how we respond to situations.
This is true for your characters, as well.
Is your hero a Reformer?
Or a Helper?
Or maybe he or she is a Motivator.
What is their shadow self?
Enneagrams help identify psychological motivations. They are used as a diagnostic tool to look at one’s emotional outlook.
This online workshop will teach you:
Enneagram Basics
How to apply them to crafting your characters
Help you use these identifiers as you traverse your turning points so that you stay true to who your character is as they grow.
Your character development will never be the same!
Instructor Bio:
Misa Ramirez is the author of the Lola Cruz mystery series: Living the Vida Lola (January ’09) and Hasta la Vista, Lola! (February 2010) from St. Martin’s Minotaur. A former middle and high school teacher, and current CEO and CFO for La Familia Ramirez, this blonde-haired, green-eyed, proud to be Latina-by-Marriage girl loves following Lola on her many adventures. Whether it’s contemplating belly button piercings or visiting nudist resorts, she’s always up for the challenge. Misa is hard at work on a new women’s fiction novel, a middle grade series, is published in Woman’s World Magazine and Romance Writers Report, and has a children’s book published.
Read more about Misa at her website: http://misaramirez.com and http://chasingheroes.com
