Layering Throughlines and Timelines Into Essays and Books to Pack a Punch

April 24

Whether you're crafting essays, memoirs, or full-length books, the ability to effectively weave throughlines and timelines is crucial for creating a compelling narrative. This live webinar will explore how to layer multiple storylines and timelines into your writing to build tension, deepen character arcs, and enhance the overall impact of your work. We'll delve into techniques that help you seamlessly shift between past and present, connect emotional beats, and ensure your story or essay feels cohesive while maintaining momentum.

Memoir and Personal Essay Writing Virtual Conference

April 25 - 27

Writer’s Digest University is pleased to present a one-of-a-kind online event for memoir and personal essay writers! Our WDU Memoir and Personal Essay Writing Virtual Conference will provide expert insights from SEVEN authors. Spend the weekend learning the finer points of writing memoirs and personal essays, and optionally participate in a query letter critique from a participating literary agent.

Build a Better, More Profitable Editing or Coaching Business

April 17 

Many writers, especially those with a decent track record of publication, supplement their income with freelance editing or coaching on the side. However, writers can easily subvert their efforts by being overly generic and expressing openness to every possible type of project. The key to success as a freelance editor is, in fact, to go narrow. Writers can develop a more successful freelance editing business by being more focused and strategic with the three Ps: positioning, packaging, and pricing. Learn more. 

The Fundamentals of Screenwriting: Give your Script a Solid Foundation

April 24 - May 22

Have an amazing idea for a movie, but don’t know how to begin writing it? Get your screenplay on the track to success with the Fundamentals of Screenwriting online course. This four-week class is the perfect introduction to the fantastic world of writing a script, from the fundamentals of the story down to the revision process. In this course, you will gain the tools to structure your scenes, your acts, and your plots. At each step, you will receive comprehensive feedback on assignments targeted to develop the skills you need to thrive as a screenwriter.

Writing Scary Stories: A Short Story Primer on Horror

April 17 - June 12

Do you like scary stories? Having trouble writing them? This four-week class will make sure you have the basics of short story telling down, and then show you how to use that pairing between terror and horror to immerse your readers in atmosphere, mood, tone, setting, and depth. It will also help you to understand the genre in greater detail—what’s selling now, the various subgenres, and how hybrid fiction can open up a wider range of markets for you. From an author, editor, teacher, and publisher who has been a Bram Stoker (twice) and Shirley Jackson finalist, this isn’t just theory, it’s execution, experience, and passion.

Point of View: Finding The Heart of Your Story

April 17 - May 15

Point of view is THE essential element that ties together all other components of any type or genre of story. It is, in fact, the very heart of story. As such, point of view (POV) can make or break a story, whether that story is romance, science fiction, fantasy, literary, mystery; contemporary or historical; written for adults or young adults… any story!

In this online writing course, you will learn the nuances of POV and how to avoid POV pitfalls, how time is an essential part of POV, how POV intersects with character, how to choose the right POV for each story, and how to handle unusual or tricky POVs.