Show Don't Tell: A Visual Guide to Cinematic Storytelling

May 1

Every successful screenwriter knows that writing for a visual medium can be much harder than it sounds. By using numerous examples, this live webinar illustrates the tried and true cinematic strategies professional scribes use to create compelling images in the mind’s eye of the reader and get their projects sold. Writers will come away from this webinar with a visual shorthand they can utilize to make their screenplays jump off the page and actively engage the reader’s imagination.

Finding Funds for Writers

May 8

Writers often enter the word business thinking if they write what they want, when they want, and submit often, that a luscious full-time living is within reach. In reality, writers often have to start one place to wind up reaching another, and sometimes they need sidesteps to reach a writing end game. Funding that book project may take alternate avenues. Whatever you do, realize that writing for a living is a learning curve and never what you expect. This live webinar will show writers how to earn an income as a writer and explain the diverse avenues for obtaining funds.

Short Story Writing Virtual Conference

May 16 - 18

Writer’s Digest University is pleased to present a one-of-a-kind online event for short story writers! Our WDU Short Story 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 critique of the first 500 words of your short story from a participating editor.

Sell Books on a Shoestring Budget

May 1 - 29

You're an author on a tight budget. Or, maybe you've got some money, but you're tired of wasting it on marketing that didn't work. You've poured everything into writing your book hoping to move thousands of readers with your words. You've dreamed, hoped, maybe even prayed, that your book sales would take off. But, that reality has yet to come true. It doesn't seem fair for your dream to die just because you don't have thousands of dollars to spend on marketing. Is selling a lot of books only reserved for the elite authors with big budgets? No.

It's possible to sell a lot of books - even on a shoestring budget.

12 Weeks to a First Draft

May 1 - July 24

Dive into the world of writing and learn all 12 steps needed to complete a first draft. In this writing course you will tackle the steps to writing a book, learn effective writing techniques along the way, and of course, begin writing your first draft. Our goal is to help you finish either a decently developed half draft (of half of your novel) or a rough “in-progress" full draft. However, you'll learn all the tools needed to complete the full first draft. At the end of this course, you will have accomplished every writer's goal—an “in-progress" working first draft.

Submitting Short Fiction: From Polished Manuscript to Publication

May 8 - June 5

You’ve written a short story and have maybe even revised it a dozen times. So... now what? If navigating the world of submissions feels like a maze of cryptic rules and rejection slips, you’re not alone. This four-week course is your step-by-step guide to getting your short fiction out into the world. Whether you’re submitting for the first time or hoping to boost your acceptance rate, Submitting Short Fiction walks you through the entire process, from final manuscript polish to crafting a professional submission package—including that tricky author bio—and hitting send.