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marycarrollmoore
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How to bake a book: Start with a big love of words, add a generous helping of Mary Carroll Moore, mix with leavening from your peers, knead vigorously for twelve weeks, and voila! Your book has risen!
—Eric Utne, founder of Utne Reader

Mary’s online course was an astonishing experience. I am awed by her brilliance, compassion, knowledge, and ability to lead a group. Even as an MFA faculty member, I have learned so much about the outstanding capabilities of online instruction and mentoring in creative writing. I recommend her highly.
—Teresa Cader, award-winning author of the poetry collections History of Hurricanes, The Paper Wasp, and Guests

Mary taught me to listen and to sense the movement or stasis of my own words. I learned to step outside myself and see if a section carried me or dragged behind me. At first I wanted to protect the leaden parts because I had poured myself into them. But once I pick-axed and the pace quickened, everything felt lighter and better—my work as well as me.
—Carrie Barron,M.D., co-author of The Creativity Cure

Collaging my novel—one of Mary's many novel ideas!—helped me to excavate themes of my story that were buried deep in my unconscious and to get a clearer picture (literally as well as figuratively) of my protagonist.
—Prill Boyle, author of Defying Gravity: A Celebration of Late-Blooming Women

Watch the
Your Book Starts Here video series

Mary's guidance on structure gave me the practical tools to write my book proposal and, more importantly, a deeper understanding of my book. She is engaging, encouraging, and really knows her stuff. I highly recommend her to anyone who needs help putting shape to their ideas.

—Katherine Ozment, author of Grace without God: The Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Belonging in a Secular Age (Publisher's Weekly Best Books, 2016)

At the Loft Literary Center, I can always tell which students in my classes have taken Mary Carroll Moore’s class on book-writing. They talk about writing their book in "islands" and using storyboards to figure out how those sections relate to each other. When another student confesses to feeling overwhelmed by the material her memoir might include, they readily advise, “You should try Mary Carroll Moore’s method.” I second that.
—Cheri Register, American Book Award winner and author of Packinghouse Daughter

With storyboards, collages, image-based writing exercises, and charts, Mary Carroll Moore shows writers how to really see their writing in a new way. Her book-structuring method teaches them to zoom out from the detail level of sentences to see the big picture of the entire book. This ability to control focus— from words and sentences, to scenes and chapters, to the wide angle of themes and flow—is crucial. Your Book Starts Here is a valuable resource in developing this skill. —Roseanne Bane, creativity coach and author, Dancing in the Dragon’s Den: Rekindling the Creative Fire in Your Shadow

Need one-on-one help from a knowledgeable author? Coaching or editing for your manuscript-in- progress? Click here for more information on Mary's coaching for writers: manuscript review, editing, and personal accountability for your writing.

Weekend Workshops and Week-long Retreats

Your Book Starts Here: Learn to Storyboard Your Book!

Get to know your book—what it is about, how to structure it, how to finish it! Develop a step-by-step plan (with timelines, storyboards, and more) and learn ways to flow chapters, find holes that need filling, organize research, construct plots. Up-to-date information on agents and publishers, tips on editing your book.

Madeline Island School of the Arts , Lake Superior, Five-Day Retreat on a beautiful island off Wisconsin's north shore, July 30-August 3, or October 15-19, 2018. $775. (Certified for graduate credit through the University of Wisconsin. Please contact the Madeline Island school for more information on this.) Limited to 15 writers.

MISA West, Tanque Verde Ranch, Tucson, Five-Day Retreat at this deluxe resort in the Rincon Mountains, February 5-9, 2018, $775 Limited to 15 writers. Only 1 spot left!

Grub Street, Boston, One-Day Workshop, April 21, 2018, $150

The Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, One-Day Workshop, March 30, 2018, $105. (sliding scale available)

Independent Study for Book Writers

Independent Study at Madeline Island (July 30–August 3, or October 15–19, 2018), $775, and MISA West (February 5–9, 2018) SOLD OUT $775 . A week of unlimited writing time, with customized assignments and daily checkins with Mary. Feedback on up to 8000 words of your writing included. Limited to writers.

Winter Online classes

Writing Authentic, Amazing Dialogue for Your Fiction and Memoir—online class

Dialogue makes or breaks your fiction and memoir. Although some writers have a natural ear for writing authentic-sounding dialogue, most have to learn the technique: how to translate spoken dialogue (real life) to the page, bring in enough subtext to create tension, find voice and rhythm, and carefully employ tags and interruptions and stage directions. We'll analyze amazing dialogue by famous writers, then craft or refine our own using modeling techniques, weekly assignments, lively discussion, and feedback. Dialogue isn't easy, but once you learn the rules, develop your ear, and attune to dialogue's rhythms, you can write amazing, authentic dialogue for your fiction or memoir. Loft.org (The Loft Literary Center) Eight-Week Online Class starts February 14, 2018, $390.

Your Book Starts Here, Learn to Storyboard Your Book!—online class

An eight-week tutorial on storyboarding your book in any genre. Explore your book idea and its structure. Strengthen your writing practice with weekly accountability. Learn about the Inner Critic and develop a brainstorming list of topics to avoid being flattened by it. Weekly lessons include chapters from Your Book Starts Here and other material, along with in-depth writing exercises. Our lively online writing community gives you a safe space to share your work and get constructive and inspiring feedback from classmates and Mary. Loft.org (The Loft Literary Center) Eight-Week Online Class starts February 14, 2018, $390.

Spring in-person classes

Afternoon Character Intensive

Characters are the heartbeat of story—whether imagined or real, they must come alive on the page. Author Marilynne Robinson says that great characters create an almost "emotional entanglement" with a reader. But how do you, as a writer, work with characters? What if they are too mysterious or bore you? What if you can't imagine how to bring them to life? This afternoon class will let you audition the most compelling cast for your fiction or memoir, then free them from any conscious or unconscious paralysis (safe, stuck places), via in-class exercises, craft lessons, and sample reading. We'll explore key character-building skills such as longing and desire, external and internal motivation, physical appearance, community, values, secrets, backstory, gestures, and more. You'll begin to write characters who will last in your reader's memory and attract publishers. For memoir or fiction writers at any stage. Bring a bag lunch or get lunch before class from the cafe downstairs.

The Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, Thursday, March 28, 12:00–5:00 p.m., $87.50

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Past Classes—will be offered again!

Strange Alchemy: How Place, People, and Conflict Intertwine in Fiction and Memoir—online class

Good story engages readers because place, people, and conflict are not haphazard. They are aligned to create a certain alchemy. In this class you’ll learn how the three elements of place, people, and conflict must work together to make memoir and fiction writing come alive. Enough dilemma—or too much? Power positions of players working—or not? Does setting lend emotion—or is it flat? 24/7 access to classroom, weekly lessons and exercises, lots of feedback. Loft.org (The Loft Literary Center) Eight-Week Online Class starts October 25, $390.

Your Book Starts Here, Part 3—online class

This class is open to writers with a complete draft of a manuscript in any genre, at any stage, who feel ready for revision (instructor OK required if you haven't attended storyboarding workshop or class). Small workshopping groups help you learn the art of revision with two rounds of feedback on your chapters each week. Lessons include the techniques of pacing, voice, and theme, plus up-to-date publishing information. This a graduate-school-level workshopping environment can help you refine your book chapter by chapter. Weekly feedback from Mary plus private coaching via a drop box. Note: you must have a completed draft to qualify for this class. Loft.org (The Loft Literary Center) Eight-Week Online Class
starts October 25, $390.

Writing Your Life: How to Plan, Write, and Develop Your Memoir

Whether you are trying to write the story of your life for publication or as a family legacy, this class by the author of two memoirs will show you how to organize your stories into a readable, interesting work. You will be introduced to a simple formula that successful authors use to find the central conflict in their story, then plan, organize, and write scenes and chapters around it.

We'll explore essential book-writing techniques such as the value of themes, how action and reflection balance one another in memoir and creative nonfiction, and the author's voice versus the narrative voice. Bring a few rough-draft pages from your memoir to work on during the exercises, if you wish, or any notes you have so far.

Story in Progress: A Workshopping Class for Fiction or Memoir Writers—online class

Intermediate and advanced fiction and memoir writers will gather to serve up their first pages, opening chapter, and random selections of their project, short or long, exposing not-quite-working-yet characters, dialogue, setting, for workshopping and fixing. The goal is to leave you with ah-ha! moments about what to do next and renewed excitement in your writing.

The Art of Voice and Theme in Fiction and Memoir

Every writer craves an authentic voice and strong themes—two key elements that make writing stand out. Both voice and theme reveal emotional truth, linking writer and reader in a personal way. But how does a writer identify her or his unique voice, develop it, and use it to craft themes that matter? Through weekly readings, writing exercises, and feedback, we'll learn the difference between narrative voice and character voice, how themes emerge in a piece of fiction or memoir, ways to thread these themes for greatest impact, and how voice and theme weave together.

Rule of Three: Character, Conflict, and Your Story's Container

A fast-paced, hands-on workshop to explore how to refine the three main elements of your fiction or creative nonfiction writing: the people that populate it, the dilemma they create that drives the story forward, and the container, or setting that encloses it all. Get new perspectives on your work and a toolbox full of techniques for preparing your manuscript for publication.

Writer's Wheel of Ten: Upgrade Your Craft Skills in Fiction and Memoir

Spend a lively day exploring the ins and outs of ten essential writing tools professional writers never leave home without. Bring new vibrancy to a not-quite-there-yet memoir, short story, or novel. Fun exercises, short readings, discussion will help us see new levels of these basic tools--and how they improve your writing.

Dialogue Skills to Bring Characters to Life

Writing great dialogue is hard! Learn simple techniques to take your real-life and fictional dialogue to a new level of shine.

Fascinating and Flawed: Creating Vivid Characters in Fiction and Memoir

An eight-week online class to explore and refine characters. Characters are the heartbeat of story—whether imagined or real, they must come alive on the page. Author Marilynne Robinson says that great characters create an almost "emotional entanglement" with a reader. But how do you, as a writer, work with characters? What if they are too mysterious or bore you? What if you can't imagine how to bring them to life? This online class will let you audition the most compelling cast for your fiction or memoir, then free them from any conscious or unconscious paralysis (safe, stuck places), via readings, discussion, and innovative exercises. We'll explore key character-building skills such as longing and desire, external and internal motivation, physical appearance, community, values, secrets, backstory, gestures, and more. You'll leave knowing how to write characters who will last in your reader's memory and attract publishers. For memoir or fiction writers at any stage.