CCW Presents a weekend workshop with C.s. lakin (NOV 1 & 2)

Supporting Central Coast Writers Means Supporting Your Community

Taking Your Fiction from Good to Great: A Workshop That Unlocks the Secrets to Publishing Success!

Want to master the fiction-writing techniques that catapult authors into best-seller success? If you want to take your manuscript from good to great, this intensive dive into craft is for you!

Fiction writers need to go beyond the obvious: compelling characters, masterful writing that nails genre, scenes that “show, don’t tell,” an engaging (riveting) story, and meaningful conflict that creates tension. Hugely successful novels have specific elements that set them apart and cause them to rise to the top of the pile and get readers enthusiastically telling their friends to read them.

While there are plenty of elements that novelists must master, it is the rarely discussed specific elements we are going to focus on that are often ignored or minimized. Yet, if writers nail these brilliantly, their novel will stand high above the masses published every day.

Today’s readers—across all genres—expect to be taken on a highly visual, sensory-rich, and emotionally packed journey with your characters. If you don’t have the skills and techniques to emotionally hook and move your readers, they will get bored and leave your story.

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR:

C. S. Lakin is the author of more than 30 published books, novels and nonfiction. She is a book copyeditor and writing coach living in California with her husband and an arthritic Labrador. Lakin’s novels include a 7-book fantasy series (The Gates of Heaven), a 6-book sweet historical Western series (The Front Range Series, pen name Charlene Whitman), and other novels of various genres including psychological suspense, women’s fiction and relational drama, YA sci-fi, literary fiction, and even dark comedy. Her titles have sold more than 250,000 copies, some published in multiple languages. Her nonfiction books center on craft for fiction writers (The Writer’s Toolbox Series).

Lakin has worked with more than 1,000 writers in 6 continents on their book projects, and more than 6,000 writers have taken her online master classes and courses at Writing for Life Workshops at cslakin.teachable.com. Her award-winning blog Live Write Thrive has more than 1 million words of instruction for writers. She has won awards for both her self-published and traditionally published novels, including the 2009 Zondervan First Novel Contest (Someone to Blame) and Digital Book Today’s 8 best Kindle books of 2014 (Conundrum).

the "deets" (details)

what will i learn in this workshop?

Day 1 (Saturday Nov 1): Gear up for a full day of learning. Sessions will run from 9 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with a lunch (included with the registration fee) break around noon. Here are some of the key topics you’ll be taught:

The secret ingredients that make a scene powerfully effective, such as microtension, indirect description, strategically inserted beats, significant character change, and so much more!
How to nail the purpose of your scene in the last few lines (and learning why working backward is the key!)
Ways to “manipulate” your readers’ emotions so they feel what you want them to feel as they read
How to break up your scene into specific visual segments as a blueprint to write from — developing the general scene action you have in your head to crafting a powerful visual moment-by-moment experience for your readers
Practical and effective revision technique that exposes the weak and strong aspects of your writing

Day 2 (Sunday Nov 2): On Day 2, you’re in for a treat! Sunday's session will run from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with a lunch (included with the registration fee) break around noon. We’ll move into workshop mode and apply all the masterful techniques you just learned the day before. You’ll bring your scenes, whether full drafts or simple summaries, and work them to perfection. We’ll take simple scene action ideas and flesh them out cinematically.

This will be a hands-on activity, with instruction all along the way. We’ll examine your scenes and together work on making them solid and powerful together and in small groups. No obligation to be “put on the spot”—but be prepared to share your insights, reactions, and suggestions with the group! You’ll see how brainstorming and revising can actually be fun!

Who will benefit from this workshop?

Anyone interested in mastering fiction-writing technique! Whether you are just beginning to write fiction or have penned multiple novels, you can immediately learn and apply these skills to your writing.

WHen and Where?

When: November 1 and 2, 2025

Where: Monterey Elks Lodge #1285, 150 Mar Vista Drive, Monterey, CA 93940. Easy access off Highway 1 in Monterey, CA. There is plenty of free parking on site. There are reasonable hotel accommodations nearby.

cost?

$175.00 BEST VALUE! The cost includes speaker fees, lunch each day on site, coffee/tea/water service and snacks throughout the day.

There is an "early bird special" discount available only to current members of the California Writers Club (which includes the Central Coast Writers) through October 1st (see Register and Reserve).

register and reserve now

early BIRD special - cwc members only

This option is to reserve a spot for a two-day attendance on Saturday and Sunday, November 1st and 2nd. Special pricing is available only until October 1st, and you must be a current member of the California Writers Club or the Central Coast Writers to use this option.

Pay Now

general public (active starting oct 1st)

This option is to reserve a spot for a two-day attendance on Saturday and Sunday, November 1st and 2nd. Registration is open to the general public (CWC or CWC membership is not required) starting October 1st.