The DIY Workshop with Suzan Palumbo

When:  July 6 - 7th 2024 @ 4PM - 6 PM UTC (click here to convert to your timezone)
Can't make the live webinar? Register to get the recording after!
Where: Online over Zoom and Discord
Price:  50 - 125 USD (Scholarships available!)

Workshops can be a great way for a writer to kickstart their career and boost their writing skills, but they can also be incredibly inaccessible, whether due to expenses, timezones, geography, or all of the above. In this webinar, Nebula Award finalist Suzan Palumbo will be exploring what it is traditional workshops offer and how you might be able to recreate that experience and improve your craft on your own, all from the comfort of your home.

After this class students will:

• Have an understanding of what long-term workshops offer and strategies to mimic them.
• See how the instructor was able to improve her craft without attending a long-term workshop.
• Know how to get the most out of online critique sites.
• Begin to identify weak areas in their writing and create a plan for improvement.
• Have an awareness of free and low-cost resources available to them to help improve their craft.
• Have a bibliography of online and physical resources.
• Have practice with analyzing a piece of fiction and strategies for applying this analysis when approaching their own work.

Who Should Take This Workshop?

This class is for writers of colour who have no more than one professional sale credit, as defined by SFWA. If you have multiple professional sales, you’ll likely already have your own strategies and won’t get as much out of this course.

About the Instructor

Suzan Palumbo is a Trinidadian - Canadian, dark speculative fiction writer and editor. Her short stories have been nominated for the Nebula, Aurora and World Fantasy awards. She also co-founded the Ignyte Awards with L.D. Lewis. Her award nominated dark fantasy/horror short story collection "Skin Thief: Stories" is out now from Neon Hemlock and her novella "Countess" will be published by ECW Press 2024. Her writing has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, Fantasy, The Deadlands, The Dark Magazine, PseudoPod, Fireside Fiction Quarterly, PodCastle, Anathema: Spec Fic from the Margins and other venues. She is officially represented by Michael Curry of the Donald Maass Literary Agency and can be found on instagram @gothicsyntax. When she isn’t writing, she can be found sketching, listening to new wave or wandering her local misty forests.

Class Schedule & Registration Options

The class takes place over 6 - 7 July, 2024. The live webinar will be on July 6th from 4 – 6 pm UTC  (click here to convert to your timezone), consisting of a lecture followed by a Q&A session and live exercise. On July 7th, the class will move to Discord where students will post their answers to other exercises and discuss these together with the instructor.

This Live Webinar option costs 125 USD, and consists of participating in the live discussion as well as the analysis and exercises in Discord after.

If you cannot attend the class live, you can also purchase the Video-Only option. While you won’t be able to participate in the Q&A or Discord discussions, you’ll get a recording of the lecture and answers to the questions asked during the live class, plus any other materials such as slides or handouts. This option costs 50 USD, and you will receive the materials two weeks after the class concludes.

If you cannot pay for all or part of this class, don't fret! We have a number of full and partial scholarships available. Please fill out this form indicating what kind of scholarship you’re aiming for, and tell us a little bit about your project or how you feel this class will help your writing journey. The scholarship deadline is June 20th by midnight UTC, and we’ll get back to you by June 25th. Please don't self-reject!

Refund Policy

If you can no longer participate in the class, you can request a refund through Humanitix up to 14 days before the class starts and will receive a full refund, minus 10%. After that, the class will not be refunded, but we will send you the recording.

Technical Requirements

To participate in this class, you will need a working internet connection. The live discussion will take place over Zoom, so please ensure that your device is compatible with Zoom beforehand.

The asynchronous portion of the class will be over Discord, and you will need a Discord account. If you're unfamiliar with Discord, it's an instant messaging platform where we'll be creating a class server that will allow students to discuss their exercises and class content. It's free and easy to use, so click here to set up an account and download it.

Accessibility

This class will have Zoom's auto-generated closed-captions available. For more of Zoom's accessibility features, please click here. Discussions during the live portion of the class will be via voice or Zoom's chat feature.

Discord's desktop app has numerous accessibility features, which you can find more information on, including how to activate them, here.

If you have any questions, contact our class coordinator Yasmine at classes@carlbrandon.org and we'll get back to you ASAP!