For five Wednesdays in July and early August, award-winning author, Shana Burg will be with us at The Writing Barn teaching Writing for the Tween & Teen Markets. PW, in a starred review, said of her first novel A Thousand Never Evers, “It delivers and emotional wallop.” Her second novel, Laugh with the Moon, a recent addition to the Texas Bluebonnet List, releases in paperback June 11th!
Today, Shana sits down with us to talk about the class: it’s format, who should take it, and how and why she is ready to pass on her craft process and publication dos and don’ts to you!
Writing Barn: Shana, thank you for being with us here at The Writing Barn Blog. We are tremendously excited about your upcoming weekly class. Would you mind introducing yourself to our readers and sharing a bit how you came to be teaching Writing for the Tween & Teens Market.
Shana Burg: I used to teach sixth grade, and I loved the books we were reading as a class. I thought, “Hey, I want to write this stuff.” I was teaching my students the elements of fiction—plot, theme, character, conflict—and each night I would give them an assignment to help them develop their own original stories. I thought, “Hey, I’m going to do the homework too.” I started writing my first book, A Thousand Never Evers, by doing middle school homework.
I’ve had some amazing mentors on my journey to become an author, I’ve read lots of great books about craft, and I’ve developed many practical tricks I use to help me shape my stories and bring them to life. For years, I’ve mentored beginning writers, but now I’m ready to formalize the process and share all I’ve learned about writing for the tween and teen markets. You will come away from my class with new techniques for building stories that capture the attention of agents and editors, and captivate young readers.
Shana Burg: First, I try to give students very practical suggestions, exercises, and strategies for how to improve their stories. There is nothing abstract or theoretical. We talk about the elements of fiction, as well as techniques for structuring your work, and the ins and outs of bringing a manuscript to market.
Second, in this class each student has the opportunity to workshop ten pages of a manuscript in progress. In addition to the benefit of getting personalized feedback, I’ve found that I learn so much about writing by critiquing the work of other writers. I know students will benefit tremendously by participating in the workshop process.
And third, we examine some amazing literature in various genres to examine how middle grade and young adult authors capture the feelings, voices, and actions of tweens and teens. If you’re going to write for this market, you’ve got to understand what not only rings true for your audience but also ignites their imaginations.
WB: Who would benefit the most from taking your class and why?
Shana Burg: Anyone who wants to deliver a powerful story to a tween or teen audience can benefit from this class. It doesn’t matter if this is your first attempt at putting words on the page or you’re already published, this class will provide you with new tools to improve your practice and the inspiration to make it through your journey alive and ready to do it all over again!
Shana Burg’s Writing Barn class is not to be missed.
This workshop meets five Wednesday nights from 7-9pm: July 10, July 17, July 24, July 31 and August 7.
Class size is limited so REGISTER NOW! Here’s how: email info@thewritingbarn and an invoice for the cost of the class, $365 will be sent to the attendee. Payment is due upon acceptance to the class. There will be no refunds but class registration may be transferred to another writer if needed.
Shana Burg is the award-winning author of two novels for young readers. A Thousand Never Evers (Random House, 2008) was named one of the Top 10 Middle Readers by Amazon in 2008 and was the National Parenting Publications Award Gold Winner. In a starred review, Publisher’s Weekly said A Thousand Never Eversis “Gripping…delivers an emotional wallop.” Laugh with the Moon(Random House, 2012) is currently on the Texas Bluebonnet list for grades 3-6 and was named a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People by the National Council for Social Studies. This novel received a starred review from School Library Journal. Shana is an educator and can’t wait to teach her first class at The Writing Barn!