Program Options
Below is a list of varying program options for school, library, or workshop visits. Many of them can be tailored for time and age. Please feel free to contact Sarah with any questions regarding these programs. For more information, and rates, click here.
YES! YOU, TOO, CAN WRITE!
Have you ever wondered how your favorite author, comic writer, director, or actors come up with their ideas? Do you ever watch your favorite TV show and wish you could create something like that? Then this is the presentation for you! Sarah will take students on a path of brainstorming, showing them useful steps and ways to come up with the basic building blocks of a story (including but not limited to: character, problem, and setting.)
Audience: Grades 6- 12
Details: Geared toward audiences who are interested in writing, or who have begun writing on their own. Contains writing exercises, audience sharing, and author Q&A
Great For: Middle School or High School class visits
Time: About 1 hour (can be longer with an extended author Q&A.)
HOW TO BECOME AN AUTHOR
Do you ever want to know how someone becomes a published author? Look no further! Sarah will take you on the journey of how she began writing in 8th grade and reached the goal of becoming a published author. This presentation is coached in the manner that anyone can become a writer if they so choose, interspersed with anecdotes and personal stories of Sarah’s own path to publication.
Audience: Grades 6- 12
Details: Geared toward audiences who are interested in how someone becomes a published author. This presentation contains no writing exercises or audience sharing
Great For: Middle School or High School class visits
Time: About 1 hour (can be longer with an extended author Q&A.)
GHOULISH, GHASTLY, AND GHOSTLY GOOD TIMES
Everyone has something they're scared of. Monsters. The dark. The light. And as long as people have been telling stories, we've been telling stories about what scares us.
Discovering your fears and capturing them in short stories and novels is what the horror genre is all about. Come spend time with the things that go bump in the night, or the things that whisper your deepest secrets, and learn how to write a story that will make your readers keep their lights on.
Audience: Grades 6- Adult
Details: Contains writing exercises for generating horror/scary story ideas, and audience sharing.
Great For: Halloween
Time: About 1-1.5 hours. Can be adjusted to run longer, with added author Q&A.
EXPLORE EVERYTHING: SIX QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU BUILD YOUR FANTASY WORLD
When building a fantasy world, whether that world is a magic one, one hidden within our own, or not set on earth at all, it's the details that make the world seem big and full and deep and real.
This workshop will focus on asking yourself six questions when world building to bring out hidden depths in your manuscript. Your answers to these questions and your depth of knowledge about your world will trickle into your story and encourage your readers to turn the page, knowing they can find so much more hidden behind your words if they just keep reading.
Audience: Grades 7- Adult
Details: Geared toward audiences that are interested in the craft of writing, especially fantasy fiction. Contains world building writing exercises, and audience sharing.
Great For: Writing Groups/Clubs
Time: Presentation has a long or short version. Short: about 1 hour. Long: About 2 hours. Can be adjusted to run longer with author Q&A and more audience sharing.
PRE-WORK FOR YOUR BEST WORK
Is writing your first draft a drag? Are you a pantser or a plotter and still struggle with getting that first draft done? Do you often face a mountain of revisions when you finally reach the end of that first draft? Then look no further! Pre-work may be the solution you’re searching for!
This workshop will focus on different pre-work methods in a mix and match style, allowing the writer the pick and choose what may work best for their process. Pre-work involves techniques and exercises the writer completes before starting their first draft to help ease the drafting and
revision process. Pre-work topics will focus on Character, Structure, and Story breakdowns and offers something for everyone, regardless of whether they outline their novels beforehand, or like to explore their story as they write.
With the right Pre-work completed, the writer may finish the first draft faster, and have a cleaner draft to tackle in revisions.
Audience: Grades 8- Adult
Details: Geared toward audiences that are focused and serious about writing. Contains writing exercises, and audience sharing.
Great For: Writing groups, or creative writing classes!
Time: About 1-1.5 hours.
QUEST FOR QUALITY QUERIES
Querying is not only one of the best ways to attract the attention of an agent or editor, it can also serve as a means to help your drafting process. But because querying is a skill many writers are born without, this session will teach you a tried and true method of writing a query by answering specific questions about your manuscript, and looking at the 4 Cs of successful queries. You, too, can become a query master.
Audience: Writers intent on publication
Details: Geared toward audiences that are focused and serious about writing. Contains query writing exercises, and audience sharing
Great For: Writing groups, or creative writing classes!
Time: Presentation has a short, long, or extra long version. Short: 1.5 hours (can be shortened by removing audience participation.) Long: 4 hours. Contains query draft writing. Extra long: Two, 4 hour sessions. Contains query draft writing and critique by Sarah.
YES! YOU, TOO, CAN WRITE!
Have you ever wondered how your favorite author, comic writer, director, or actors come up with their ideas? Do you ever watch your favorite TV show and wish you could create something like that? Then this is the presentation for you! Sarah will take students on a path of brainstorming, showing them useful steps and ways to come up with the basic building blocks of a story (including but not limited to: character, problem, and setting.)
Audience: Grades 6- 12
Details: Geared toward audiences who are interested in writing, or who have begun writing on their own. Contains writing exercises, audience sharing, and author Q&A
Great For: Middle School or High School class visits
Time: About 1 hour (can be longer with an extended author Q&A.)
HOW TO BECOME AN AUTHOR
Do you ever want to know how someone becomes a published author? Look no further! Sarah will take you on the journey of how she began writing in 8th grade and reached the goal of becoming a published author. This presentation is coached in the manner that anyone can become a writer if they so choose, interspersed with anecdotes and personal stories of Sarah’s own path to publication.
Audience: Grades 6- 12
Details: Geared toward audiences who are interested in how someone becomes a published author. This presentation contains no writing exercises or audience sharing
Great For: Middle School or High School class visits
Time: About 1 hour (can be longer with an extended author Q&A.)
GHOULISH, GHASTLY, AND GHOSTLY GOOD TIMES
Everyone has something they're scared of. Monsters. The dark. The light. And as long as people have been telling stories, we've been telling stories about what scares us.
Discovering your fears and capturing them in short stories and novels is what the horror genre is all about. Come spend time with the things that go bump in the night, or the things that whisper your deepest secrets, and learn how to write a story that will make your readers keep their lights on.
Audience: Grades 6- Adult
Details: Contains writing exercises for generating horror/scary story ideas, and audience sharing.
Great For: Halloween
Time: About 1-1.5 hours. Can be adjusted to run longer, with added author Q&A.
EXPLORE EVERYTHING: SIX QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU BUILD YOUR FANTASY WORLD
When building a fantasy world, whether that world is a magic one, one hidden within our own, or not set on earth at all, it's the details that make the world seem big and full and deep and real.
This workshop will focus on asking yourself six questions when world building to bring out hidden depths in your manuscript. Your answers to these questions and your depth of knowledge about your world will trickle into your story and encourage your readers to turn the page, knowing they can find so much more hidden behind your words if they just keep reading.
Audience: Grades 7- Adult
Details: Geared toward audiences that are interested in the craft of writing, especially fantasy fiction. Contains world building writing exercises, and audience sharing.
Great For: Writing Groups/Clubs
Time: Presentation has a long or short version. Short: about 1 hour. Long: About 2 hours. Can be adjusted to run longer with author Q&A and more audience sharing.
PRE-WORK FOR YOUR BEST WORK
Is writing your first draft a drag? Are you a pantser or a plotter and still struggle with getting that first draft done? Do you often face a mountain of revisions when you finally reach the end of that first draft? Then look no further! Pre-work may be the solution you’re searching for!
This workshop will focus on different pre-work methods in a mix and match style, allowing the writer the pick and choose what may work best for their process. Pre-work involves techniques and exercises the writer completes before starting their first draft to help ease the drafting and
revision process. Pre-work topics will focus on Character, Structure, and Story breakdowns and offers something for everyone, regardless of whether they outline their novels beforehand, or like to explore their story as they write.
With the right Pre-work completed, the writer may finish the first draft faster, and have a cleaner draft to tackle in revisions.
Audience: Grades 8- Adult
Details: Geared toward audiences that are focused and serious about writing. Contains writing exercises, and audience sharing.
Great For: Writing groups, or creative writing classes!
Time: About 1-1.5 hours.
QUEST FOR QUALITY QUERIES
Querying is not only one of the best ways to attract the attention of an agent or editor, it can also serve as a means to help your drafting process. But because querying is a skill many writers are born without, this session will teach you a tried and true method of writing a query by answering specific questions about your manuscript, and looking at the 4 Cs of successful queries. You, too, can become a query master.
Audience: Writers intent on publication
Details: Geared toward audiences that are focused and serious about writing. Contains query writing exercises, and audience sharing
Great For: Writing groups, or creative writing classes!
Time: Presentation has a short, long, or extra long version. Short: 1.5 hours (can be shortened by removing audience participation.) Long: 4 hours. Contains query draft writing. Extra long: Two, 4 hour sessions. Contains query draft writing and critique by Sarah.