Writer Bradley P. Beaulieu teaches comprehensive worldbuilding techniques.
Description:
Join Brad Beaulieu for a detailed discussion of the ins and outs of creating a compelling, vibrant world from scratch, extrapolating from history, or shading our own world slightly differently to create a unique setting for your novel. Track: GCWS Classroom.
Writer Bradley P. Beaulieu teaches techniques for the construction of powerful scenes.
Description:
Well-structured scenes make for compelling storytelling. How can you construct powerful scenes? And how do you string scenes together to create a vivid and stirring piece of writing? In this seminar, you’ll learn from author Join Brad Beaulieu how to structure scenes that work, whether you’re writing a short story or the next breakout novel. Track: GCWS Classroom.
Write Club is a regular game writing event held during gaming cons! It’s an improvisational writing challenge; offering opportunities to write humorous takes on topics game writers regularly face. The Gen Con edition, led by Alexander Bevier and Richard Dansky, will serve as a lighthearted chance for new writers to get a sense of game writing while also showcasing their sense of humor. Fun will be had by all! Track: GCWS Event.
Writer Katherine Monasterio teaches the narrative beats needed in the early scenes of your novel - to keep readers reading.
Description:
In this workshop, writer Katherine Monasterio will explore the narrative beats you'll need to cover in the first ~10% of your novel, including key character moments, plot points, foreshadowing, and more. Track: GCWS Classroom.
Writer Bryan Young explores how watching movies can enhance your writing.
Description:
We all watch movies, but decoding, analyzing, and understanding movies can help us become better storytellers, no matter what medium we tell our stories in. In this class, Bryan Young will show you techniques used in the cinema and how you can adapt them to your writing style to make it more effective and keep you learning for your entire life. Track: GCWS Classroom.
Writer George Jreije teaches techniques of marketing and selling children's books.
Description:
In this workshop, traditionally-published children's author George Jreije whose books sold at two six-figure auctions, will teach the keys to effectively writing, marketing, and selling children's novels to publishers, will centered on the experience of the teacher. Track: GCWS Classroom.
Writer Bradley P. Beaulieu teaches techniques of effective - and memorable - character creation.
Description:
Stories that work begin with characters. But crafting characters that connect with readers is difficult. In this talk, author Brad Beaulieu will discuss how to create characters that readers love or hate or love to hate. He'll also discuss how the cast as a whole works to create a compelling story that moves the reader emotionally. Track: GCWS Classroom.
Mastering Fiction: The Patterns That Lead to Compelling Stories and How to Use Them
Summary:
Writer Bradley P. Beaulieu teaches how to use patterns to craft next-level writing.
Description:
The ability to recognize patterns is a basic human trait. We use it over and over again in our fiction. In this seminar, author Brad Beaulieu will discuss how to use patterns to your benefit by both setting and breaking expectations. Learn how to draw your reader in by challenging their expectations, and take character building, plot progression, plot twists and setbacks, and world building to the next level. Track: GCWS Classroom.
Mastering Fiction: Plotting Techniques of the Professional Writer
Summary:
Writer Bradley P. Beaulieu teaches techniques of plotting and structure.
Description:
Plotting is one of the more difficult disciplines to master in writing. Some writers have an innate sense of what makes a story work, but most writers, particularly those early in their apprenticeships, will benefit from plotting. In this seminar, author Brad Beaulieu will focus on various plotting techniques, from basic structural concepts, initial plotting and eventual refinement, how to break the dreaded writer’s block and how to avoid it in the first place. Track: GCWS Classroom.
Learn about how to improvise long-form narratives and practice your performance skills putting together a one-act set of scenes from a world you'll create from a single-word suggestion.
Description:
In this event, you'll learn to improvise a narrative, as either a standalone performance or part of a persistent campaign "from scratch", using a single suggestion- a word or theme for you to build into a story like you might see in a short play or film. We'll cover the basics of unscripted theatre, genre and character conventions, and learn about how to use familiar storycrafting tools as a launchpad to build a living world to play in before putting it all together. You'll work together in small groups to create a distinctive setting for your adventure, build and play resonant characters who move through personal journeys, and by the end of the workshop, you'll perform scenes from your narrative and tell us your story! Complete beginners who have never tried either role-playing games or improvisation and enthusiastically welcomed!