Swati Avasthi

Presentations

As a teacher myself, I understand that school visits can provide a refreshing change of energy and can be a great way to get students to look at their curriculum in a different way.

I enjoy teaching to a variety of groups, from kids to adults, advanced writers to those just getting starting.

My visits fall into two categories: a traditional author’s visit and a writing class.

Traditional Author visit: We’ll discuss the writing of Split, do a Q & A, and get the kids’ pens moving too with a couple of writing exercises. I’m happy to tailor the exercises to the kids’ questions or to the curriculum the teacher is working on.

Classes: On tap, I currently have four classes I teach on craft:

Show me the Story

There’s a maxim in writing: show, don’t tell. But what does that mean? And why is it crucial to good writing? How do you show your character’s melancholy, fury, or passion, and how do you get the reader to feel those emotions along with your character? In this workshop we will define showing: find effective ways to show character using description, dialogue, actions, and narrative thought.

Discovering your Character

We all know that your characters are the foundation for fiction: whether we invest in them, know them, breathe with them is the distinguishing factor of good fiction. In this workshop, we will use a plethora of exercises designed to deepen your understanding of your character. This workshop is best suited for any fiction writer who is trying to make their characters more real. Please come with a character in mind and plan on leaving with a host of exercises that you can use time and again.

Pacing and Structure

Are you trying to see your piece as a whole, instead of in fragments? Looking for the forest through the trees? This workshop is designed for intermediate or advanced writers who want to organize their piece whether a short story or novel. We will learn how to storyboard or outline the story and use “the universal human question” theory to organize the piece. We will also examine pacing the scenes of the piece within the whole work and within scenes themselves.

Writing A Query Letter

Time to take your book to market? Writing a strong query letter is a skill in and of itself. We will begin by reviewing samples of successful queries, write our own, and then discuss how to use it. Agents or editors? How can you tell if they are a good fit for you and your work? We’ll discuss what resources you can tap for your research and what to do when you get that first bite of interest.