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In this video I'm going to talk about a workshop I recently finished with Dean Wesley Smith
and Kristine Kathryn Rusch and why their online workshops are some of the best writing courses
you can buy right now. Have you taken the time to practice your craft
lately? You can't go anywhere on the Internet without
getting assaulted by an online course. Even in the writing space, there's a course for
everything. How to sell more books. How to find better keywords. How to choose a topic
for your next book. But when you really think about it, how many
courses out there are purely for writing craft and the art of storytelling?
And no, none of those courses on "writing a bestseller in 6 seconds" count.
I can think of only a few professional writers who offer reputable craft courses.
Yet craft courses are the one of the most effective ways to invest in your business.
Learning from an experienced professional is ultimately what will help you sell more
books, not a marketing or business course. That's why I want to talk about the WMG Workshops,
run by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. They offer a number of courses geared
to help writers overcome common obstacles and become professionals both at their craft
and at the business of writing. There's something for everyone: character, plot, dialogue, genre
and even business courses. Smith and Rusch are professional writers with
over 25 years of experience with bestselling books to their names, and they both make a
living from their fiction. The courses are hands on, and they are affordable.
I recently took the Character Development Workshop. The focus was on creating living,
breathing characters that jump off the page. And boy did the course teach me to do just
that. It was 6 weeks. Each week has approximately
6-8 videos where Dean talks about a different component of character development. There's
also a homework assignment each week where you have to write a story opening that practices
the concepts that Dean teaches in the videos. Dean read all my assignments and commented
on them personally with great advice. And just about all of it was eye-opening. It's
one of the only Internet courses I've ever taken where the instructor actually works
with you. And if you're wondering, he really does read
the assignments because he will tell you if you nailed the assignment or if you missed
the point. Having done both, I can vouch for that.
I understand character development so much better after taking the course, and I can
point it out on the page. Before, I only thought of characters in terms of arcs, which is what
most writing books teach. This course completely changed that and helped me see deeper.
As someone who has read just about every craft book out there, I can honestly say that the
stuff Dean taught in this course isn't taught anywhere else. Not by a long shot.
In fact, every time I take one of the WMG courses, I feel like I'm discovering secrets
that 99% of authors don't know about. And it feels awesome, especially when the stories
I write afterward start to sell. Every time I've taken one of their courses,
I've sold more books. I can't think of any other investment that pays for itself so quickly.
WMG also offers classic workshops where you can watch the videos and do the workshops
at your own leisure without Dean reading them. They also offer video lectures which are cheaper
if you want to get a feel for Dean’s teaching style, which I would describe as blunt but
very helpful. WMG also hosts live, in person workshops on the Oregon Coast for writers
who want the in-person workshop experience. In full disclosure, I don't know Dean Wesley
Smith or Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and they're not paying me to make this video. But their
courses have helped me so much and I am so extremely appreciative of the great service
that these workshops do for authors that I feel more people need to know about them.
So go check them out. You won't regret it. That's it for this video. And if this is your
first time watching, I'd love to have you subscribe. And if this video helped you in
some way, do me a favor and share it. Thanks for watching.