Jess Wells

• "How to Create an Audio Book"
• "How to Write Historical Fiction"
• "Creating Credible Worlds: Settings That Work Hard for Your Story"  
• "Theme is Where the Art Is"
• "Making Time for Creativity: How to Write with a Full-time Job" 

Audio books are one of the fastest growing segments of the book market and, thankfully, it's now easy and inexpensive to produce your own, with access to wide distribution and larger profits. Author Jess Wells, who has narrated and produced three of her volumes, will take you through the equipment and software she uses, the changes to the manuscript required, the pitfalls of editing, and the opportunities to sell your own audio book.

Although historical fiction is an increasingly popular and legitimate genre, it has its own unique demands. You can’t just throw a tapestry over the flat screen TV in your scene and call it historical. There are real differences between modern life and life in the past, which require real differences in your writing. And that, to me, is the greatest thing about it: it’s like a three-dimensional chess game with the bottom layer as the character’s story, the middle layer as the unique historical setting and events, and the top game being played with language.

Either during the 1-day workshop or in each session of the 5-week class, we’ll have a lecture on an aspect of the craft of historical fiction (and great writing in general), some enjoyable in-class writing assignments, and a discussion on research opportunities.

Setting is not simple backdrop, like a green screen on which a film is shot. Setting in fiction plays an important role in theme, plot, genre, and even characterization. 

Whether your write sci-fi, historicals, erotica, or modern fiction, your setting can make or break your story. In this class, we’ll look at:

• What are the key to a well-drawn fictional world?
• What elements assist in creating an effective setting and better yet, an efficient setting that works hard for you in your story?
• How can a setting be drawn to challenge the protagonist in his/her quest?
• How can a setting allow the author to control movement of the characters and introduce diversity of events and characters?

Go from a wordsmith to an artist by understanding the key role that theme plays in your fiction. Deft handling of theme and its multiple facets is what drives plot, characterization, setting, in short…it’s the key to making art. Work with me on identifying the theme in your work, crafting the “only to discover that” moment in your plot/story-arc/characterization, and the way to make your characters the embodiment of theme.

This course has been offered as a Master's Class at the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, New Orleans.

Meeting rooms, construction sites and classrooms are filled with people who can't re-orient their priorities to make room for art in their life. Even those who identify themselves as artists are constantly plagued with a shortage of time to create. Students, ready to tackle a new life, need instruction on how to build a lifestyle that is conducive to their visions.

This workshop will help participants with practical, hands-on ways to carve out time for their art.