Zara West’s Workshops, Classes, and Video Conferences
With a background in the arts, technology, and education, Zara offers a variety of presentations for book clubs, writing groups and for conferences.
I offer one-day and month-long online workshops. I also offer these as personalized, one-on-one online courses and as 1 to 2 hour ZOOM presentations.
Contact me below for more information and to schedule.
Here are my current listings.
Drafting Your Way to the End – Faster
Enrich Your Writing with Sensory Language
Graphic Design for Busy Writers
Laugh, Cry, and Throb: Writing Emotion
Online Resources Writers Can’t Live Without
Using the Arts to Develop Plot, Character, and Setting
Visual Journaling for Readers and Writers
30 Days of Revision Tips
You’ve done it! Reached the end of your draft. Wouldn’t it be nice if that was all you had to do? But unless you are a wonder writer, your initial draft will not be perfect. So, what comes next? Revision!
In this in workshop, you will receive a revision road map with a tip for revising your draft every day for thirty days. By the end of the month, you should be well on the way to having a more organized and polished draft.
So pull up that sloppy NaNoWri draft or the messy novel you have tucked away and let’s get to work.
Based on my book Revise Your Draft and Make Your Writing Shine.
Available for groups or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Build A Scene
Stories and novels are built from scenes. A scene is a contained segment of your story in which the characters engage in actions related to the story goal. Scenes have beginnings, middles, and ends, and rising and failing emotional arcs. In this workshop, we will explore the many different kinds of scenes, analyze their structure, and discover ways to increase emotional tension, character conflict, and flow as you build your novel scene by scene.
Available for groups or take it as a tutorial ($50)
Canva for Writers
This workshop focuses on using the online program Canva to design all the graphics an author needs to market their books. We will cover making reusable templates that are visually unified and that communicate your author branding. This is suitable for both beginners and those who have some working knowledge of Canva but want to streamline the design process.
Lessons include: 1. Introduction to Canva 2. Templates and Projects 3. Developing a Brand Set 4. Size and Color Consideration 5. Selecting Backgrounds 6. Placing Text 7. Adding Video 8. Organizing and Storing Your Graphics
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Creativity for Writers
Learn how to enter the wonderful state of creative flow and where to find inspiration when the words just won’t come. Based on the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Julia Cameron, this workshop delves into the nature of creativity and how to harness it when needed. Be prepared to do short mental, physical, and writing exercises as we play around with words.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Ways to Write More Powerful Descriptions: Learn how to create descriptions of your characters, your setting, and the plot actions in ways that deepen emotion, power up plot, and immerse readers in your story world. This workshop covers: 1. The Power of Description 2. How Much Description is Enough? 3. Where Description Belongs 4. Making Characters Unforgettable 5. Making Places Feel Real 6. Creating Descriptive Focus Points 7.Making Action Pop 8. Revising Description.
*Includes an edit of all description in one chapter of your WIP.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Drafting Your Way to the End – FASTER!
Write a novel in a month? Learn tricks and techniques for getting the words of your WIP draft down on the page in the quickest, most efficient way possible, so that the story makes sense and requires the least amount of revision. Perfect for people planning on participating in NaNoWri in November or April, or for anyone who needs a toolbox of ways to speed up their writing process. Based on my book Fast Draft Your Manuscript and Get It Done Now.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Design a Book Trailer or Two
Nothing is more fun or more frustrating to make than a book trailer for your book. In this workshop, you will learn step-by-step how to write a script, make a story board, and select the best images and music for your book. Then we will look at ways to make these flow together into a beautiful experience for the viewer through music, timing, and color usage. We will making two trailers, one short for social media, and one longer for uploading to YouTube and your website.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Enrich Your Writing with Sensory Language
Did you know that there are 7 senses? Or wait is that 8? At any rate, no matter how many there are, a great writer uses ALL of them in EVERY place possible in their writing.
In this course, you will learn about our senses, how they work, and when, where and how to use them in your current WIP to set the scene, deepen emotion, and spark up action. Many resources for describing sensory elements will be provided. Includes a sensory element critique of one chapter of your WIP. Based on my book Power Charge Your Language and Make Your Writing Sing.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial.($50)
Graphic Design for Busy Writers
Learn to make professional-looking ads, marketing graphics, promotional items such as bookmarks, and more using free software available on the web and programs already on your computer with a special emphasis on using Canva and its competitors effectively. In this workshop, you will start to develop the visual elements of your author brand and leave with a easy-to-use collection of templates for quickly putting together advertisements for your books. Note: This course does not address book cover design.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Laugh, Cry, and Throb: Writing Emotion
Laugh, Cry, and Throb: Writing Emotion: Discover new ways to show emotion on the page and touch readers’ psyches, using a rich mixture of sensory description, body language, close point-of-view, and visceral reactions.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Online Resources Writers Can’t Live Without
Online Resources Writers Can’t Live Without: Come explore some of the many free or almost free resources and tools available to writers on the web. From online editors to marketing tools, we will cover them all. Leave with a complete catalog of fantastic web resources, organized by topic.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial.($50)
Notion for Writers
In this workshop, we will explore the app Notion as a way to organize our writing lives. Notion provides ways to track writerly tasks, such as wordcounts, task management, story elements, timelines, character profiles, series, and more. You can even draft your stories in it. By the end, you will know the basics of creating an attractive Notion story bible for your book(s) that can later be converted into a website.
Available for groups or take it as a tutorial ($50)
Research for Writers
Whether you write historical fiction or contemporary novels, you need to be sure your facts are accurate. In this workshop, you will learn how to make sure your information is valid, follows copyright laws, and avoids plagiarism. Along the way we will discover ways to find that needed fact quickly. We will go beyond books, and explore photographs, artifacts, maps, and more. Includes a fact check of one chapter of your WIP. Based on my book Research Your Subject and Validate Your Writing.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial.($50)
Pre-Plan Your Novel
Pre-Plan Your Novel and Write it Faster (A Prequel to Draft Your Way to the End – Faster): Ready to start a novel? Whether you’re new to writing or are a multi-published author, this hands-on workshop will provide an opportunity for you to gather together everything you need to have on hand before you start drafting. Using your own story, you will review, select, and complete the best plotting templates, outlines, character profiles, setting materials, and more for your story.
Along the way we will look how these materials can be used to help you draft faster.
Perfect for anyone planning to do NaNoWriMo or take my Draft Faster Course.
Have a story bible? This course will help you fill it.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Power Up Your Prose
Power Up Your Prose: Explore power verbs, sensory language, literary devices, and more while uncovering creative ways to say that same old thing. In this workshop, you will learn how to turn clichés into pizazz, give ordinary names punch, and write full force description that makes your mouth water. You will also learn when to say it plain and simple. Participants will receive a a full chapter critique of their prose at the end of the workshop as well as extensive word lists. Based on my book Power Charge Your Language and Make Your Writing Sing.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Story Bible Workshop
Do you lose track of what you write? Can’t remember what color car the criminal was driving in your romantic suspense? Forgot the name of the tavern the coach stopped at in Book 2 of your Regency trilogy? Can’t remember the skill set of each of the six demons in your paranormal series?
Are you always searching back and forth through your draft or last book for this bit of detail or that? Are you writing a series with shared characters and setting, or a complex novel with multiple characters, subplots, and setting details? Take a trick from screen writers and create a Story Bible as you write.
In this workshop, we will look at a variety of analog and digital frameworks for creating your own Story Bible and then proceed step-by-step through the process of creating the documents needed to keep track of all those pesky story details in your current or planned WIP. By the end of the workshop, you will have the beginning of your own personalized Story Bible.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Textiles for Writers
Why in the world would an author need to know about cloth?
Well, maybe because we write about people who usually, except in certain X-rated or shape-changing scenes, wear clothing.
Knowing about cloth and how it is made and what it is made from and how it has changed over the ages will allow you deepen your descriptions and add to the sensory images you create in your stories.
So swish your skirts, hike up your trousers, roll up your sleeves or shuck it all and take a journey with me into the marvelous world of textiles. Perfect for historical fiction writers.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Theme, Trope, and Premise
In this workshop, we will explore what these hard-to-define terms mean and how to use them to form the underlying framework for powerful stories and impactful marketing. Learn how to twist tropes, weave in theme, and build a compelling premise that can be used in promoting the finished book.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Using the Arts to Develop Plot, Characters, and Setting
Have fun singing, dancing, and drawing while creating original takes on your plot, characters, and setting. In this hands-on workshop, we will learn about the power of the arts to unleash our creative flow. Based on brain research and many years of teaching and working in the arts, this workshop will leave you uplifted and with a tool box of fun ways to break out of writer’s block. Came be delivered either as a month-long online workshop or two-hour ZOOM presentation.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Visual Journaling for Readers and Writers
Can’t remember the title of the book you loved last month? Wish you could track your reading and discover which genre is really your favorite? Want to write reviews for Goodreads and Amazon? Or just want to journal your thoughts in a relaxing way.
Try visual journaling. It’s easy. It’s simple. It’s a creative way to express yourself, and organize your hectic writing life.
If you love doodling, if you love coloring books, you will love this relaxing workshop!
Email me to arrange a ZOOM videoconference presentation for your book club or writing group.
Zig Zag Plotting
Zigzag Plotting: Looking for a way to add rising and falling heartfelt emotion, conflict, and suspense? Whether you are a plotter, pantser, or a planser, you can apply this technique as you preplan, draft, or later during revision to up the conflict and tension in your story.
Available for groups or take it or take it as a tutorial. ($50)
Book Club Talks
Would you like Zara to come talk to your reading group or book club? Contact Zara today to have her speak to your book club about her books via a ZOOM video conference.