Characterization, setting, voice and theme are important, but how do you tackle plot in your writing? How do you meet the demands of your audience and at the same time free yourself from what might otherwise feel formulaic? How do you use the alchemy of left-brain organization and right-brain intuition to create a story that is grounded but also natural and unique?

More and more, novelists as well as screenwriters are applying Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat screenplay beats to their work in order to create powerful plots, and there are methods to using these beats in authentic, organic ways.  

In this seminar, we will go over Snyder’s beats, give examples of them in film (Jordan Peele’s Get Out) and fiction (Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing), and look at other storytelling methods from Gustav Freytag, Vladimir Propp, Joseph Campbell and Maureen Murdock. Then we will combine formal beats with the intuitive imagery of the Tarot to create a story as a class. You will leave the seminar with the tools to structure or restructure your novel, screenplay or short story.

Freeing The Hanged Man: Structure Your Novel with Screenplay Beats and Tarot

Saturday February 5th, 4-5 PM PST

One-hour seminar includes PowerPoint, discussion, reading list and PDF.

No enrollment limit.