Session Handouts
Increase Your Word Count (11-5-2024)
Handout from Stan's presentation on tips for increasing your writing speed without decreasing the speed of your path to a publishable novel. Mastering Comma Usage (9-17-2024) Detailed handout from Stan's presentation on an extensive list of general comma rules, with examples. The Costs Involved with Self-Publishing your Books (9-3-2024) In this session we to take an honest look at all the different costs involved in publishing as an indie author, including tools, learning, cover design, book formatting, editing, and marketing. Create your Author Media Kit (8-20-2024) Handout from Stan's presentation on how to assemble an author media kit and make it available on a file sharing site to Google Drive. How to Write a Good Series Book Ending (8-6-2024) Handout from Stan's presentation on writing endings to books in series. Passive and Active Voice in your Writing (5-21-2024) Handout from Stan's presentation on passive and active voice, when to use each style, and practice examples. Introduction to Indie Publishing (3-5-2024) Handout from Stan's presentation on various aspects of independent publishing (self publishing). Formatting Dialogue (2-20-2024) Handout from Stan's presentation on punctuating and formatting dialogue, including em dashes and ellipses. Mastering Point of View (2-6-2024) Stan's handout from his presentation of Point of View. Authors, Back Up Your Digital Files! (12-19-2023) Handout from Stan's presentation on a variety of strategies for backing up your writing files. Using Body Position to Show Emotion (11-21-2023) Handout from Goldie's presentation on body language. ChatGPT for Authors (9-19-2023) List of ChatGPT Prompts Demonstrated Handouts from Stan's presentation on using ChatGPT for editing, brainstorming, world building, and much more. Putting the Woohoo in Characterization (9-5-2023) Handout from Goldie's presentation about developing strong characters. Creating a Compelling Antagonist (7-11-2023) Handout from Stan's presentation about story antagonists. Beta Readers, ARC Readers, and Advance Reviewers (1-3-2023) Handout from Stan's presentation overview on beta and ARC readers, how to find them, and how best to use their help. Creating Surprising—and Believable—Plot Twists (12-6-2022) Handout from Stan's presentation on writing good plot twists. NaNoWriMo PowerPoint Presentation (10-25-2022) PPT file from Dan's overview/pep-talk on the upcoming National Novel Writing Month in November. Some of the content is from the NaNoWriMo website. Em Dashes and Ellipses (10-4-2022) Handout from Stan's discussion of properly formatting these two useful forms of punctuation. Write a Killer Author Bio (8-16-2022) Handout from Stan's presentation on how to write an engaging author biography. Writing Rules You Can Break (8-2-2022) Handout from Stan's presentation on writing "rules" that can (and should) be broken. Online Courses for Authors (5-17-2022) Handout from Stan's presentation about a selection of online courses (mostly free ones) that authors can take. Author Websites - Why, What, and How (4-19-2022) Handout from Stan's presentation on the importance of having an author website, as well as ideas for what to include on your site. Mastering Commonly Confused Words (3-15-2022) Handout from Stan's presentation on words that are often confused. Using Figurative Language While Avoiding Clichés (3-1-2022) Handout from Stan's presentation on being creative with figurative language. Creating a Unique Voice for Your Character (2-1-2022) Handout from Stan's presentation on planning how to give a character a creative and unique voice. Punctuation Trivia Review (11-2-2021) Handout containing all the questions and answers from Goldie's punctuation trivia review activity. Capitalizing Names, Nicknames, and Animal Names (10-19-2021) Handout from Stan's presentation on some rather confusing capitalization guidelines. Amazon Author Pages and Amazon A+ Content for Authors (9-21-2021) Handout from Stan's presentation providing an overview of these important author tools for authors publishing on Amazon. Creating Settings for Places You've Never Been (9-7-2021) Handout from Stan's presentation on tips for researching and writing convincing settings for locations you have never been to. Writing Scenes where your Characters Meet for the First Time (8-17-2021) Handout from Stan's presentation on writing those all-important first-meeting scenes. Stop Procrastinating and Write Your Novel! (Time-Saving Tips from Start to Finish) (6-12-2021) Handout from Stan's first presentation at the WoW Novel-Writing Workshop on June 12. Crafting your Fictional World (6-12-2021) Handout from Stephanie's presentation at the WoW Novel-Writing Workshop on June 12. Planning, Writing, and Marketing a Series (6-12-2021) Handout from Stan's second presentation at the WoW Novel-Writing Workshop on June 12 I’m Published—Now What? (6-1-2021) Handout from William's presentation focusing on tips and ideas for selling books at conferences and book fairs. Defining Your Target Readers (5-18-2021) Handout for Stan's presentation on identifying what types of readers will like your book(s). Showing versus Telling (5-4-2021) Handout for Stan's presentation on how to show instead of tell. Web Resources for Names and Descriptions (3-30-2021) Handout for Stan's presentation about useful reference websites. Creating Suspense in your Writing (3-16-2021) Handout for Stan's presentation about writing suspenseful stories. Using BookBrush to Create an Authorly Facebook Cover Image (2-16-2021) Handout for Stan's presentation on using the site BookBrush to create professional-quality promotional images. ProWritingAid Overview (12-19-2021) Handout for Stan's presentation providing an overview of the useful editing software ProWritingAid. 2021 Writing Goals (1-5-2021) Goldie's guide to help you set your writing goals for the new year! Goal-setting and WoW Meeting Calendar for January 2021 Jason's 2021 Calendar for Tracking your Daily Word Count Download and print this handy tracking calendar! Mastering Hyphens (12-8-20230) This is the handout Stan used in his lesson on Hyphens. For this session we met online with Zoom Words to Remove from your Writing (9-1-2020) This is the PowerPoint William used in his lesson on eliminating unnecessary words. For this session we met online with Zoom. That Pesky Word "That" (8-4-2020) This is the handout for a session on understanding the word "that," when to use it, and when to eliminate it. For this session we all met online with Zoom. Publishing your Book to Amazon Get Your First 1,000 Readers - Part 8 (7-21-2020) This is the handout for the eighth portion of the multi-session series on writing, editing, and publishing a Reader Magnet (usually a short story). For this session we all met online with Zoom. How to use Bookfunnel Get Your First 1,000 Readers - Part 7 (7-7-2020) This is the handout for the seventh portion of the multi-session series on writing, editing, and publishing a Reader Magnet (usually a short story). For this session we all met online with Zoom. Formatting your Book for Ebook and Print Get Your First 1,000 Readers - Part 6 (6-16-2020) This is the handout for the sixth portion of the multi-session series on writing, editing, and publishing a Reader Magnet (usually a short story). For this session we all met online with Zoom. Writing the Tagline and Description for your Book Get Your First 1,000 Readers - Part 5 (6-2-2020) This is the handout for the fifth portion of the multi-session series on writing, editing, and publishing a Reader Magnet (usually a short story). For this session we all met online with Zoom. Getting a Cover for your Reader Magnet Get Your First 1,000 Readers - Part 4 (5-19-2020) This is the handout from the fourth portion of the multi-session series on writing, editing, and publishing a Reader Magnet (usually a short story). For this session we all met online with Zoom. Editing Your Reader Magnet Get Your First 1,000 Readers - Part 3 (5-5-2020) This is the handout from the third portion of the multi-session series on writing, editing, and publishing a Reader Magnet (usually a short story). For this session we all met online with Zoom. Staying Focused on Writing During a Pandemic (4-21-2020) We discussed these tips during our virtual meeting. Planning your Reader Magnet Get Your First 1,000 Readers - Part 2 (3-17-2020) This is the handout from the second portion of the multi-session series on writing, editing, and publishing a Reader Magnet (usually a short story). This document includes the entire session because we could not meet in person this time. The Reader Magnet Challenge Get Your First 1,000 Readers - Part 1 (3-3-2020) This is the handout from the first portion of the multi-session series on writing, editing, and publishing a Reader Magnet (usually a short story). Mastering Prepositions (1-21-2020) How to deal with those pesky prepositions. When to use them, when to delete them. Making Writing Goals for the New Year (1-7-2020) A handy guide for setting your writing goals for the next year. Writing in Scrivener (10-15-2019) A brief guide for using one of the best writing tools available. Editing Tips - First Draft to Publication (8-16-2019) A brief summary of how to edit a manuscript. Book Cover Design (6-16-2019) A summary of tips (from Stan Smith's perspective) on procuring high-quality book covers. Plotting versus Pantsing (5-19-2019) A summary of the benefits of plotting out your stories (outlining) versus writing by the "seat of your pants." Writing Dialogue to Develop Characters (5-7-2019) A guide for using dialogue to strengthen the characteristics of your characters. Why Every Author Needs an Email List (3-19 and 4-2-2019) Besides your books, your email list is your most important asset as an author. This is a brief guide. Why Every Author Needs a Web Site (3-5-2019) Your web site is the Grand Central Station of information and resources related to you as an author. This is a brief guide. |
2024 NaNoWriMo
Calendar of NaNoWriMo Events for Writers of Warrensburg
Thanks to Dan Brigman for organizing all these events to help us stay on task in November! 2024 Anthology Documents
Anthology Handbook for Authors
Everything you need to know to contribute a story to our next anthology. Anthology Story Submission Form You must complete this form and submit it before you start writing your story. Anthology Publication Timeline (updated on 7-31-2023) Lists all the important dates and deadlines. Online Tools
Fantasy Name Generator
This site has FAR more than just fantasy names. Check it out! Facial Expressions in Writing A great list, arranged by specific emotions. Master List of Facial Expressions Another good list, this one arranged by parts of the face (such as the eyes, the mouth, etc.). Master List of Gestures and Body Language You can simply browse and choose something. Defining Your Characters: 150+ Character Mannerisms Another helpful list for describing character actions. The Nonsense Generator This is a great way to generate story ideas or ideas for twists in your existing story. Creative Writing Prompts A slew of ideas. Just move your cursor or finger over each number. This Person Does Not Exist Randomly generates photos that combine features of different people. You can use the photos for anything because they don't really represent a real person. A good way to come up with character appearances. The Gigantic List of Character Descriptions (70+ examples) Exactly what it says! Another good list for ideas. Google Books NGram Viewer An amazing site where you can compare the relative frequency of use of different phrases over time. Incredibly useful to authors! Free Amazon Book Description Generator Easy-to-use tool for quickly creating the code needed for your book description on the book's Amazon page. WordKeeper A nice app (for iOS) for tracking your daily word count. WriteTrack A free online app for tracking your writing progress. Character Profile sheet (5-19-2019) This is from Reedsy.com (just enter your email to download the file). A good, detailed sheet for developing your characters. Articles
Book Cover Sites
GetCovers
This Ukrainian company creates custom covers quickly and for a very reasonable price (they created our Hawthorn Creek anthology cover). GoOnWrite Hundreds of high-quality covers for only $30 each! The Book Cover Designer Another one-stop site for reasonably-priced pre-made covers. Joanna Penn's Book Cover Design Resources Lots of good ideas and links here. Jake Caleb Clark (jcalebdesign) Stan's favorite cover designer. Jake has created 12 covers (and counting) for Stan's books. Learning Sites
Kindlepreneur
Dave Chesson's incredible collection of useful articles and tools. One of the best, most comprehensive sites for indie authors. Self Publishing Formula Mark Dawson's collection of useful articles, courses, and other resources. The Creative Penn Joanna Penn's collection of useful articles and resources Podcasts
The Sample Chapter Podcast
Jason Meuschke, one of our members, hosts this amazing podcast. There is a wealth of wonderful information and stories here! Audio Books
From WoW member Dan Brigman, who is creating his first audio book:
For those interested in creating an audiobook through Audible: https://www.acx.com/ Submission requirements are here: https://www.acx.com/help/acx-audio-submission-requirements/201456300 |
