Workshops listed below are for 2014 and early 2015.

A few pieces of history and information on the workshops here.

First off, they are held in Lincoln City, OR, right on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Lincoln City is a long ways from anywhere, so the writers coming to these workshops are driven to learn and that’s the kind of writer we are looking to invite. This July 2013 in workshops we had a writer from Tokyo and another from Great Britain and another from Germany. At the same time there were four writers from Canada and a number from the east coast of this country.

My point is that very, very few people are within driving distance of these workshops.

Second, these are professional-level workshops. We do not teach beginners here at the coast, although we do offer online workshops for those just starting their career. Here at the coast we want to work with the writers who have gotten through their first million words, who maybe or maybe not have published some stories or books, and who are focusing on becoming a full-time fiction writer at some point in the future. Many of the writers attending have been full-time nonfiction writers and want to move to fiction. Many are writers driven who have started to sell. Many are well-published writers.

If interested, it never hurts to write me and see if you can get in. You might surprise yourself at where you really are on the road.

By the way, I use the term “workshop” to describe these events, but there are no critiques other than by the instructors. Writers attending will be reading the work of the others attending, but not critiquing anything. Kris and I do not believe in peer critiques and they do not happen here at all anymore. We work to help you get better. We are not here to tear anyone apart.

As you may have already gathered, these are invite-only workshops. Write me at dean@deanwesleysmith.com if you are interested. Or if you know someone who might be interested, send them to the workshop page here on this site for information.

The costs are the workshop fee, plus you pay for your own room when you arrive. A deposit or full payment is needed to hold your spot. Payment one month ahead of the workshop in full is required. (All money paid ahead is refundable for any reason if you can’t make it.)

All workshops are 8 days long. All of these workshops are limited attendance in one fashion or another. And honestly, the great networking and discussions that go on around these workshops and after the workshop each day is often worth the costs alone.

Some of these workshops are intense craft workshops such as the Thriller workshop or the Fantasy Workshop. You will be writing a lot during those workshops. Some workshops such as the Advanced Master Class are business and information workshops and you will take a notebook full of notes. Ask either by e-mail or in the comments if you are serious about any workshop and want more information.

Remember! We are doing online workshops as well.  Look under the Online Workshop tab for more information. Those will be limited to twelve and are NOT invite-only. Just sign up. First-come, first-served.

 

2014/2015 Workshop Schedule

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April 19th- April 26th, 2014

How to Write Thrillers 

Taught by Dean Wesley Smith. This is the first time for this workshop. This will be an intense writing workshop on all the varied techniques that go into writing in the hardest genre.

When you leave this workshop, what you learn in craft and pacing will transfer over to any story or genre you want to write in. Once you know the techniques and craft of writing a thriller, you can write almost anything and make it far, far more readable.

Workshop fee is $650.00 and room rate is $50.00 per night. (You pay the hotel rate when you arrive to the hotel.)

This workshop starts at 7PM on the first Saturday and goes late on the second Saturday, with check-out and travel home on Sunday.

(This workshop is now full.)

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October 18th- October 26th, 2014

ADVANCED MASTER CLASS 

Led by professional writers and editors Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Dean Wesley Smith, this workshop will be similar to the last Advanced Master Class in the summer of 2013. It will have many guests (to be announced over the summer) who will talk and give presentations.

This is a business workshop. No writing, but a notebook full of notes and a lot of training. In fact, every topic a writer can imagine needing to be covered will be in this week at one point or another by experts. From cash flow to increasing sales to SEO to web site design to cover and interior book design to blurbs to publisher catalogs to distribution of paper books to stores to production to learning how to write more to audio to overseas sales to contracts to bundles to… So much more.

This workshop will have a focus on selling more books, indie publishing, the business of indie publishing, and everything that has changed and progressed since the last master class.

Also, as occurred in the Anthology workshop in February this last year, there will also be a focus on networking between all the writers attending. Lunches with experts, group breakfasts, time to talk, small group sessions at times, and so on.

This will be over a year since the last Advanced Master Class and many, many things have changed and improved. To answer the question clearly some of you have right here:

If you attended the last Advanced Master Class, YES this will be worth coming for because it will contain so much more and so much has changed.

This will be a real event workshop.

Workshop fee is $650.00 and room rate is $50.00 per night. (First 21 paid will be confirmed in the Anchor.)

This workshop starts at 7PM on the first Saturday and goes late on the second Saturday, with check-out and travel home on Sunday.

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February 28th- March 8th, 2015

ANTHOLOGY WORKSHOP

Taught by professional writers and editors Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, John Helfers, Kerrie Hughes, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Dean Wesley Smith.

You will write stories ahead for anthologies for this workshop. Very intense and a ton of fun. And wow will the networking with other professional writers be fantastic in this workshop.

You will also be able to have lunch with one of the editors and three other attending writers. Maybe more than once. As well as other special guests. Just as we did last February and will do in the upcoming Advanced Master Class in October, there will also be a focus on giving all writers time to talk with each other, including small groups, group breakfasts, and so on.

So, if you haven’t had six professional editors argue over stories in front of you, you haven’t lived.

And as happened in February of this year, all six editors will be buying during the workshop for anthologies.

Workshop fee is $650.00 and room rate is $50.00 per night. (First 22 paid will be in the Anchor… That’s getting close.)

This workshop starts at 7PM on the first Saturday and goes late on the second Saturday, with check-out and travel home on Sunday.

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April 18th- April 25th, 2015

How to Write Fantasy in All Forms 

Taught by World Fantasy Award winner Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Kris also edited the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction for six years and is now one of the executive editors for Fiction River.

This is the first time for this workshop. This will be an intense writing workshop on all the varied techniques that go into writing in the fantasy genre. It will also have a reading list ahead of the workshop.

This workshop will teach you all the craft elements in writing fantasy of all types.

Workshop fee is $650.00 and room rate is $50.00 per night.

This workshop starts at 7PM on the first Saturday and goes late on the second Saturday, with check-out and travel home on Sunday.

Sign-ups now open.

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And don’t forget, we are now doing Online workshops. Check those out under the Online Workshops tab at the top of the page.