POINT OF VIEW WORKSHOP COURSE FOCUS
POV is one of the main reasons readers and agents stop reading: you want it to be consistent and engaging. Get feedback on up to 1000 words of your manuscript through the lens of point-of-view (POV). Strengthen your understanding of how to use point of view to your advantage and tighten your story’s narrative. Learn from established writers as well as award-winning author, Britta Jensen. This class is limited to 25 participants. You’ll have access to the recording for a month after the class. We welcome participants from all over the world. Early submissions will be featured in class, with permission.
Register by Wednesday, August 4 to have your work considered to be featured in class (names removed). The last day to register is Monday, Aug 9 at midnight.
This class will be conducted over Zoom on Wednesday, August 11 from 12:00-1:00 pm CST.
This course will cover the following topics:
- What is point-of-view (POV) and how the different types of POV operate in fiction
- How to use POV to your advantage, particularly if you have multiple narrators or points of view
- Learn about common mistakes writers make with POV and how to avoid them
- Dive deep in exploring your narrator’s inner and outer world and how to show narrative layers or “psychic distance”
- Analyze how other authors use POV in a variety of genres.
- How to self-edit POV and work with editors on your developing POV.
- How editors & agents approach POV, with a live edit in class.
Who should take this course?
- Writers of fiction who are looking to strengthen their understanding of POV
- Fiction authors desiring feedback on their story’s POV and looking for critical but helpful feedback to help them to continue to holistically revise their work.
- Individuals wanting to take their narrative skills to the next level and engage their future readership by crafting characters that are believable and whose narrative is compelling.
- Writers interested in taking a live, online course with a focused group of peers.
- Previous experience is not required. You can be at the beginning stage of your writing process or very experienced. This workshop is designed for all levels.
What does the course include?
- All digital handouts (usually sent 24 hours before the workshop starts)
- All course readings
- All questions answered from the Q&A (even if we run out of time during the live class, all questions will be answered in the follow-up e-mail with the class recording, handouts, etc..)
- Exercises that could spur up to 500 words or more of new material.
- Explorations you can use in your writing again.
- Access to all the slides (in pdf) after the course concludes.
- Feedback on up to 1,000 words of writing (must be submitted by August 4 for consideration in the “live edit” portion of the course). Participants have until August 30 at 11:59 CST to submit their work for the feedback portion of the course cost.
Deliverables for Students
- Digital handouts
- Course recording
- Class slides
- Q&A answers
- Feedback on 1,000 words of your writing with notes in the margins focusing on POV.
PRICE $125 (Register by Aug 9 at 11:59 CST)
How do I know if the course is worth the cost?
This is a difficult question to answer, as live, online classes (with access to all of the above, after the course concludes) can range anywhere from $100-350+. A few important gauges in comparing costs are the two important features of this course: you meet live, online in real-time with the instructor and fellow students for one hour (and if something comes up and you cannot attend the live class, you have access to the recording later). The cost also includes the opportunity for feedback. When you factor in the opportunity to meet and talk with other writers, share your work in progress (if desired) and receive both instruction and formal feedback, this course is priced for a variety of budgets so that individuals from around the world can participate.
However, ultimately you decide if this form of investment in your writing is best for your budget, writing goals, and work. We hope that you will find value in Britta’s instruction (you can read more in her bio below).
About the instructor:
Britta Jensen has spent seventeen years in the literacy education and publishing world. She is the award-winning novelist of the Eloia Born series. She has also received numerous awards, including the General Sharp Award, for her teaching of creative writing and literature. Many of her stories explore themes of persevering through disability, parental separation and the intersection of various cultures in new worlds. She holds a BA in Acting Performance from Fordham University and an MA in Teaching of English Literature from Columbia University. Friends often refer to her as a polyglot—which is a product of living twenty-two years overseas in Japan, South Korea, and Germany before settling in Austin, Texas. She enjoys mentoring writers and editing books with The Writing Consultancy and Yellowbird Editors and teaches first-year writing at St. Edward’s University. (Photo credit: Peter Domican)
Testimonials from Previous Students
“The class was so rich with ideas and wonderful exercises…I also loved the advice to not focus so much on rewriting the beginning (which is something so many of us do!) but instead to try to finish a draft and then go back to rework the beginning.”–Maureen Turner Carey, author & librarian
“I like the way you provide a mechanism to explore what a character might do, not necessarily in the context of the story, but just behave if I extracted them from the story and watched them go.”–Sam Ritter, author
“So much revealed in so little time!”–Roanna Flowers, author of Dramedy Au Contraire
