Workshops
A dynamic speaker and presenter, Martha Engber has spent almost two decades helping aspiring authors achieve their writing dreams.
Besides teaching through SavvyAuthors and the California Writers Club, she’s taken part in prestigious events such as the San Francisco Writers Conference and the Las Vegas Writers Conference.
Her fully-developed classes are designed to enlighten and entertain and are suitable for fiction and nonfiction writers working in all genres and formats, from memoir to romance, and flash fiction to screenplays.
Her Craft of Writing courses cover character, plot and scene development; dialogue; show/tell; and the revision process. Her Business of Writing classes address format, editing and publication.
Upcoming Workshops
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Martha will be teaching the following classes during the San Francisco Writers Conference Feb. 17 - 20, 2022, at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco. Register now!
Grow Your Great Character and Plot!
(Master Class)
6 - 9 p.m. Thurs., Feb. 17
People aren’t simply vehicles for stories, they ARE the stories. Therefore it’s crucial we writers take the time to grow great characters people want to read about. Through discussion and writing exercises, you’ll do just that by seeding and growing your own character weatherfor a memoir, novel, screenplay or other project. Martha Engber, author of GROWING GREAT CHARACTERS FROM THE GROUND UP, will explain what makes characters great and how they can lead you toward irresistible plots and unforgettable stories.
By actively working on a character from your current work-in-progress, Martha will show you from start to finish how to make a character unique, complex and someone readers want to learn about. Once you understand the process, you’ll be able to follow that path in creating future characters. You’ll also see how the collision of those conflicting motivations of various characters can’t help but make plots more exciting.
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Edgy YA: Don’t Dumb It Down!
When Martha Engber wrote WINTER LIGHT, she didn’t set out to write a YA novel, and she’s sure that’s the reason the book won the 2021 IPPY Gold Medal Winner in Young Adult Fiction. In this workshop, Ms. Engber, author of Growing Great Characters From the Ground Up, will explain why authors often self-censor when writing realistic fiction for teens; why it’s imperative they avoid the trap; and she’ll give three techniques to help authors stay true to their characters. She invites participants to bring their current works in progress and will include short writing exercises to demonstrate the power of putting characters first.