Just in time to inspire us before our summer break, Catherine M. Brady, Academic Director and Professor at USF, will speak on revisions. Brady is the author of Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction (2010), as well as three short story collections: The End of the Class War (1999), finalist for the 2000 Western States Book Award; Curled in the Bed of Love (2003), winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction; and The Mechanics of Falling (2009), winner of the Northern California Book Award for Fiction. She has also written a biography, Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres: Deciphering the Ends of DNA (2007). Visit her website at www.catherinebradyauthor.com.
Catherine Brady on Revisions
May 23, 2012 By
Andrew Peterson on Plot
April 30, 2012 By
Andrew Peterson will discuss plotting and writing thrillers at the next TVW meeting. The author of two novels, First to Kill and Forced to Kill, Peterson began writing fiction in 1990. He sold a short story, “Mr. Haggarty’s Stop”, to San Diego Writers Monthly in October, 1992. He continued to write exploring both the novel form and screenplays. After attending his first writers’ conference in 2005, he became serious about telling the Nathan McBride stories. First to Kill was released in September 2008. He is currently working on the third novel in a planned series featuring the brutally effective Marine Corps scout sniper and CIA operations officer.
While on a book signing journey, Andrew took time to visit VA hospitals and sit with our nation’s veterans. He gave away hundreds of books. In Phoenix, he had the pleasure of meeting a Pearl Harbor survivor and one of the last remaining Navajo code talkers. He’s also donated over 2,000 books to our troops serving overseas and to our wounded warriors recovering in Naval and Army hospitals all over the world.
He and his wife live in Monterey County with their two giant schnauzers. Visit his website at http://www.andrewpeterson.com.
James Warner on “The Capture of Dreams”
March 21, 2012 By
James Warner will show how to thrive as a writer with his talk “The Capture of Dreams: How to retain perspective, keep challenging yourself,and grow your readership in uncertain times.” He will discuss craft, marketing, and how to maintain a healthy attitude to writing, looking at what it means and what it takes to write fiction today.
Warner is the author of the literary novel All Her Father’s Guns. His short fiction has appeared in Narrative, AgniOnline, Ninth Letter. He writes an almost-monthly literary column for the political webzine openDemocracy,and organizes the San Francisco reading series InsideStorytime.
Karen Joy Fowler, Kissing The Blarney Stone – Tips from a Professional Liar
February 20, 2012 By
Karen Joy Fowler will focus on how to bring a sense of authority and believability even to the most preposterous of stories with “Kissing the Blarney Stone – Tips from a Professional Liar.” The key is in the details.
Ms. Fowler is author of The Jane Austen Book Club, which spent thirteen weeks on the New York Times best sellers list and was a New Your Times Notable Book. Her previous novel, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Her debut novel, Sarah Canary, was New York Times Notable Book, as was her second novel, The Sweetheart Season. In addition, Sarah Canary won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian, and was short-listed for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize as well as the Bay Area Book Reviewers Prize. Fowler’s short story collection Black Glass won the World Fantasy Award in 1999. Her most recent release is What I Didn’t See and other stories. Fowler and her husband, who have two grown children, live in Davis and Santa Cruz. Visit her web page at www.karenjoyfowler.com.
Veronica Rossi, Writing High Concept Fiction
January 23, 2012 By
What exactly makes something high concept fiction and why are agents and editor searching for it? How can you apply the tenets of high concept fiction to your own writing? Novelist Veronica Rossi, author Under The Never Sky, will show you what you need to know to make your own writing more appealing to agents, and more exciting for readers. Under The Never Sky was just released by Harper Collins, and it has already been optioned for a movie. New York publishers, and Hollywood, love high concept stories like hers.
Veronica Rossi writes young adult fiction from her Bay Area home. She is a member of the California Writers Club Mount Diablo Branch. Under The Never Sky is her debut novel. Her blog can be found at www.veronicarossi.com.
Winterfest
January 11, 2012 By
We’re starting the new year with a celebration of writers – our own! Join us to hear our members read their recently published work from Voices of the Valley: First Press, the very first Tri-Valley Writers anthology. We’re also featuring members who have been published in Tapestries and the Los Positas College anthology. In addition, we have planned a little contest to test how well you know your fellow writers. We’ll read a section from a mystery piece, and see how many of you can identify the author. There will also be time to socialize over dessert. Join us to relax and re-energize, and start out 2012 on the right writing foot.
Voices of the Valley: First Press is available at www.amazon.com or www.createspace.com/3739063.
Adina Senft, World Building Through Your Character’s Eyes
December 17, 2011 By
Building a world is more than paragraphs of description of a prairie town or the mean streets of steampunk London. It’s how your character sees your story world and how it in turn reflects him. It’s how the environment influences and changes your character—and how your character changes her environment—during the events of the plot. Award-winning author Adina Senft will show you how to build a setting from the top down and from the inside out so that your world becomes as much a character as your people. She’ll also talk about how to research a believable setting, even if you’re making it all up.
The author of 18 novels published with Harlequin, Warner Books, and Hachette, Adina Senft holds an M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania, where she teaches as adjunct faculty. Writing women’s fiction as Shelley Bates, she was the winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award in 2005, a finalist for that award in 2006, and, writing young adult fiction as Shelley Adina, was a Christy Award finalist in 2009. Three of her books have shortlisted for the American Christian Fiction Writers’ Carol Award for book of the year. Of her books, publisher and industry blogger W. Terry Whalin says, “Readers will be lost in the vivid world that [she] paints with incredible detail and masterful storytelling.” A transplanted Canadian, Adina returns there annually to have her accent calibrated. Between books, she enjoys traveling with her husband, playing the piano and Celtic harp, and spoiling her flock of rescued chickens.
Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada, 6 Cs for becoming a successful writer in the digital age
November 19, 2011 By
Ready to take your writing to the next level by learning from and networking with experts? Want to get your dream book published? Legendary West Coast literary agents Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada (www.larsenpomada.com), who are members of the Association of Authors’ Representatives, will spend a humor-filled day with writers and others wanting to tell their story. You will gain first-hand insight into how agents, editors, and publishers work; how to develop and refine your work; make a commitment to achieving your goals, and understand why now is the best time ever to be a writer. Best of all, the last part of the event will be devoted to 3-minute, one-on-one sessions in which you can pitch your book, get feedback on the first page of your proposal, and ask questions.
Since 1972, the renowned Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents has sold adult fiction and nonfiction to more than 100 publishers. Working in a beautiful Edwardian Painted Lady atop San Francisco’s historic Nob Hill, the husband-and-wife team is eager to find new writers. Mike handles non-fiction; Elizabeth represents memoirs, and commercial, literary, genre, and women’s fiction including romance, mysteries, thrillers, and suspense. (Their colleague Laurie McLean handles romance, fantasy, science fiction, horror, westerns, mysteries, thrillers, suspense, children’s middle-grade and young-adult books.)
Michael is author of How to Get a Literary Agent, now in its third edition, and How to Write a Book Proposal (fourth edition, Writers Digest). He co-authored Guerrilla Marketing for Writers: 100 Weapons for Selling Your Work. Mike and Elizabeth are co-directors of the Nineth San Francisco Writers Conference, which will take place February 16-20, 2012, www.sfwriters.org, Michael’s blog: sfwriters.info/blog.
Included in the cost for this full-day seminar is continental breakfast, buffet lunch, and twenty pages of valuable hand-outs.
Sign me up for 6 Cs for Becoming a Successful Author in the Digital Age!
Name:___________________________________________________________________________________
Address:_________________________________________________________________________________
City/State/Zip:____________________________________________________________________________
Email:________________________________________ Phone:____________________________
Amount enclosed: ___$99 ___$85 Member, CWC Branch:________________________________
Clip and submit with payment to: California Writers Club, Box 10993, Pleasanton, CA, 94588.
Catherine Coulter, “Stranger in a Strange Land: Publishing Today”
October 15, 2011 By
Catherine Coulter will present an insider’s look at the publishing industry and how to join the game in her talk, “Stranger in a Strange Land: Publishing today.” She has written 67 books and has over 70 million books in print worldwide. Moonspun Magic, a historical romance, hit the New York Times Bestseller List in 1988 and she has continued to hit The List 65 times. False Pretenses, her first contemporary suspense, appeared in hardcover in 1988. Her widely popular FBI suspense thriller series got its start with The Cove in 1996, and the 15th book in the series, Split Second, came out on July 19th, 2011. Coulter continues to write both historical romances and the FBI suspense thrillers, enjoying humor and mysteries equally in both the present and the past. She and her husband love to travel and ski and watch professional football. They live in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area with their three cats Cleo, Peyton and Eli.
Nora Profit, Why Your Book May Never Get on the Shelf
September 17, 2011 By
Nora Profit, director of The Writing Loft, will reveal the clues that mark the difference between trained writers and amateurs. Publishers and editors are willing to look at new writers, but they are leery about taking a chance on a writer unfamiliar with the rules of the craft. “With the right information, anyone can write well and get published,” says Nora. She has had more than 400 articles printed. Her broad experience in the world of writing includes everything from books, articles, newsletters, and short stories to newspaper columns, interviews, pamphlets and brochures. She is a featured author in Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul, and Chicken Soup: Living Your Dreams. Her own books include 10 Glaring Mistakes Amateur Writers Make and How to Avoid Them, The Ultimate Novel Writing Workbook and numerous how-to booklets on the craft of writing. She graduated with honors from San Jose State University with a degree in Journalism.
“Writers are on the forefront of bringing meaning and significance to the events that influence our lives. That’s why writing well and with impact is so important.” This belief is the cornerstone of The Writing Loft, Northern California’s only creative writing school, founded by Nora in 2001. The Writing Loft is a unique writing school with a practical approach to skill and craft that is easy to internalize and easier to implement. It is a place where she is changing the way would-be writers think about their artistic abilities, the craft of writing and the business of being an author.
Please note this will be the first meeting at the Four Points by Sheraton, 5115 Hopyard Road, in Pleasanton. Reservations are required. Call Annette Langer at (925) 484-5924.
