Ann Garvin, Ph.D. is the USA Today Bestselling author of I Thought You Said This Would Work (released May 2021), I Like You Just Fine When You’re Not Around, The Dog Year, and On Maggie’s Watch. She is in the process of writing Falling In Love Is The Easy Part which will launch in 2022.
Ann worked as an RN and after receiving her Ph.D. taught Exercise Physiology, Sport Psychology Nutrition, Stress Management, and Global Health for thirty years in the University of Wisconsin system. She currently teaches creative writing at Drexel University in their low residency Masters of Fine Arts program and has held positions at Miami University and Southern New Hampshire in their Masters of Fine Arts Creative Writing programs.
Ann is the founder of the multiple award-winning Tall Poppy Writers where she is committed to helping women writers succeed. She is a sought-after speaker on writing, leadership, and health and has taught extensively in NY, San Francisco, LA, Boston, and at festivals across the country.
Topics
Session 1: Can You Describe Your Novel in Two Sentences? If you can’t, you may be having trouble understanding the basics of storytelling as it relates to your project. Premise, character, story, and plot are paramount to talking about and writing your novel, but how are these different, and which comes first? It doesn’t matter where you are in your process; it’s never too early or too late to write your elevator pitch and a summary. In this interactive workshop, we will walk you through the process of distilling your book down into two sentences. On the way, we will examine what works, what should be clarified, and you’ll never have difficulty again when someone asks, “What’s your book about?”
Session 2. How to Plot Your Book with Ease. What’s the biggest mistake writers make? Often aspiring novelists start with a premise and move to plotting and writing their book. The key to good storytelling is merging the technical aspects of plot with character desire at the helm. Without these things working together, authors get rejected time and time again. In this workshop, participants will be challenged to use the character as the driver and traditional plot pacing to tell a compelling story. Participants will understand plot archetypes and never get stuck in the mushy middle again.
Garvin will also appear on a panel of authors to talk about the business of publishing and marketing.