For conferences and groups. The fiction writer’s task is to create the experience of the story in the reader's mind, not to just write a report of what happens. Combining a technique called experiential description with action beats in dialogue, writers can turn description and speech into the experience of the story.

This workshop leads writers to think about how to write for effect—the use of writing technique to affect the experience the reader imagines. The workshop presentation is based on these chapters in Flogging the Quill:

• Writing for Effect, p. 8
• Make it experiential to characterize, p. 67
• Cooking up some tasty beats, p. 106

Writing exercises in the workshop:

1. Describing place and action through experiential description

2. Adding action beats to dialogue to bring it to life

Workshop details:

• Topic segment: fiction craft
• Course level: all levels
• Workshop length: 1.5 hours or 1.25 hours will work.
• Workshop format: presentation and writing exercises. Using examples from my book, Flogging the Quill, I illustrate “writing for effect” as a way to focus on delivering the experience of a novel. Then I discuss how to use “experiential description” of place and action to characterize and deliver a character’s experience, and how to interlace dialogue with action beats to make it more real while also characterizing and advancing story. Then attendees are given brief scenarios and apply the techniques (i.e. describing a place through the points of view of two characters), which are read aloud to the group.
• Expected outcome: a greater understanding of how to craft narrative and dialogue to bring to life the experience of the story in a reader’s mind.
• Presentation needs: ideally, handouts and a projector for my laptop (PC), but the workshop can be done with handouts only.