About

In this all-day workshop, veteran developmental editor Jason Black will lead you through a deep-dive of how narrative works and give you twelve hands-on skills for elevating your prose from good to great.

The morning session covers the bedrock technique behind narrative: “show, don’t tell.” This core principle behind powerful narrative is widely misunderstood. Jason will fix that, leaving you with a clear understanding of when, why, and how to show, rather than tell, in your own writing. 

The afternoon session delivers twelve crack techniques for self-editing and revision that will push your prose to new levels of clarity and elegance. The afternoon ends with an open-ended, “ask me anything” style Q&A on any questions relating to writing craft, story structure, and character development.

For both sessions, you should bring a scene from their current work-in-progress for the in-class exercises and discussions. Don’t forget to bring a laptop or notepad as well!

There will be an hour for lunch during the session. Bringing a sack lunch is a great idea.

Instructor: Jason Black is a Seattle-area developmental editor who has helped scores of writers find the best in their work over the past nine years. Jason teaches writing, story structure, and character development classes through the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. He is a regular speaker at the PNWA Writers’ Conference and a member of the Northwest Independent Editors Guild’s speakers’ bureau. In addition to his blog, Jason's articles on writing craft have been featured in PNWA's Author magazine and the literary journal Line Zero. Jason edits for novelists in all genres, though his own novels, Bread for the Pharaoh, Pebblehoof, and Blackpelt are all middle-grade fiction. Find Jason online at PlotToPunctuation.com, or on Twitter as @p2p_editor.