You know when you’ve read a good story. Good stories touch your heart, stir your mind and move your emotions. Good stories leave you in a better place than before you started reading. And good stories echo important truths that sound inside you over and over again, long after you've finished reading them.

We want to share with aspiring fiction writers the secrets we've picked up over the years. Anyone who has tried to complete any story, much less a good story, knows just how impossible the task can seem to be!

That's why we've developed The Master StoryTeller workshop series to encourage and develop creative thinking and fiction writing skills. Our fresh approach takes a student from the concept and planning stage through the final draft and manuscript preparation.

The Master StoryTeller extended workshop series combines accepted creative writing guidelines with a proven, teachable and time-honored storytelling technique called the Master Plot Outline. Learn how to write a satisfying story and eliminate the possibility of writer's block before you ever write your first word!

Syllabus. The extended workshop consists of 14 to 16 weekly sessions in three sections. Sessions vary from 1 to 4 hours in length, with breaks.

• Section 1. Lecture, video and discussion sessions. (2 sessions, 4 hours each)
• Section 2. Discussion and planning sessions with hands-on writing exercises. (2-4 sessions, 2-4 hours each)
• Section 3. Write and review sessions to include drafting, editing, proofing and publishing. (10-12 sessions, 1-2 hours each)

Age Groups. Flexible sessions to accommodate middle to high school writing skill levels and up.

Format. Student must turn in computer type-written assignments. Email with attachments required.

Cost. The extended workshop is $695 per student, $895 per adult. Price includes printing and binding of story (one copy). Satisfaction guaranteed.

Contact Information. Please call John Jenkins at 1-703-691-8416.

Purpose. To write well requires that we write with a purpose.

• A good story is carefully designed to reach a specific audience.
• A good story is desgined around a simple idea that dramatizes a universal need or problem.
• A good story has themes that can be understood on more than one level.

Plan. To write well requires that we know what we are going to write before we write it!

• A story is divided into three sections: a beginning, a middle and an end.
• A story is the interaction of three elements: setting, plot and characterization.
• A story is shaped by its genre, point-of-view and tone.

Ponder. To write well requires that you thoughtfully and carefully consider which ideas in your plan best help you achieve your purpose.

• Create a theme summary.
• Create a plot, setting and character summary.
• Create the Master Plan Outline.

Sections, Chapters and Scenes.

• Suspend disbelief
• The director's chair
• Show, don't tell!

Scenes, Paragraphs and Transitions.

• Ebb and Flow
• Validation
• Expectations

Dialogue.

• Gives information and advances plot
• Characterizes speaker and reveals emotion
• Influences attitudes and behaviors

Style.

• Grammar and Syntax
• Punctuation
• Capitalization
• Spelling

Word Choice.

• Short, Specific
• Honest, Appropriate
• Active, Dense
• Familiar, Unexpected