Almost every editor’s wishlist states, “I’m looking for a manuscript with a strong, distinctive voice.” And yet voice is talked about in the vaguest terms, as if it were some mystical gift—rather than what it is, a craft element you can develop like any other.

In this hands-on workshop, students will discuss

–The difference between authorial, narrative, and character voice
–The elements that come together to make voice
–Voice and point of view
–How narrative voice can change and grow over the course of a narrative
–Strategies and exercises for finding your own unique voice

Bring a notebook or laptop, because students will also be doing exercises to find and strengthen voice in their own writing.

About the instructor:

Katherine Catmull is the author of Summer and Bird (Dutton Young Readers/Penguin), one of Booklist’s 2012 Top Ten First Novels for Youth and a TLA Spirit of Texas Reading pick for 2014-2015, and the YA fantasy, The Radiant Road, which has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal. She is one of four co-authors of The Cabinet of Curiosities (Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 2014), a collection of scary short stories. Catmull is also an actor, freelance arts writer, and a produced and published playwright.