Need an author, guest speaker, panelist, or workshop facilitator? Let’s talk! Email me at events@kaitwells.com.
“Fantastic presentation! Thank you Kaitlyn for sharing your process on how to bring heart into a story. The heart mapping exercise brought about so many ideas and feelings. Thank you!”
— Dorothia Rohner
“Excellent webinar today with Kaitlyn Wells. Loved idea that we need ‘to get comfortable being uncomfortable with our own writing.’ She also gave strategies to strengthen the emotional thruline of a story. Exercises resulted in new PB for me!!”
— V.R. Sunshine
“This was an awesome presentation!!!! I actually was able to do some work on my WIP during the workshop!”
— Julia Wilder Banta
“This has helped me so much. I have written a manuscript that needed more emotions. This class had exercises that help me know how to proceed.”
— Suzy Z.
“I just did a brilliant The Writing Barn webinar with Kaitlyn Wells on adding heart to your writing. It was exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you!”
— Stephanie Gibeault
“I loved how Kaitlyn took a very touchy feely topic that is hard to quantify and gave us concrete steps to address it. I feel like I can put her advice into action right away in my current works in progress.”
— Anonymous
Mining the Heart: How to Emotionally Connect With Readers
Every bestseller emotionally resonates with readers. But how can you transform your manuscript into a book everyone is talking about? Use Heart. That once unteachable writing skill is broken into digestible parts in this interactive session. During this session, you’ll examine works by picture book authors like Derrick Barnes, Beth Ferry, Meg Medina, and more. Why picture books? You can’t succeed at writing about emotions until you understand how to speak to the inner child in us all. Only then, can you transform your work into a visceral experience for all writing forms. You’ll learn how to identify the emotional core of a story and how to ensure it beats alive on every page using the tried-and-true heart mapping method. Come prepared to use the entire emotional toolkit. And learn how to write so your work stays with readers long after that last page is turned. Tissues are encouraged.
Mastering KidLit Revisions: Self-Editing Essentials Every Author Should Know
We get it, it’s challenging for many writers to self-edit. But it doesn’t have to be. In this session, you’ll learn how to cut the fluff from your manuscript and get to the heart of your story. This interactive session features successful children’s books that use minimal text to tell compelling stories. You’ll walk away more confident in your self-editing abilities, and will receive a handout of common pitfalls to avoid and resources you can implement on your own time. You’re encouraged to bring a draft of your book manuscript (children’s book recommended) as some time will be set aside for live editing.
Two Truths and a Lie: How to Ensure Accuracy in Your Story
Every writer needs to understand on how to find compelling sources, experts and resources for their projects. But it’s easy to mistake fallacies for fact in the Internet age of Fake News. This session highlights several non-fiction picture books and how authors verified the facts within each. It then walks attendees through how to identify primary sources of information for their stories by showing them the best tools, tips and methods for verifying information online. It’ll also explain how to find diverse experts to interview for background information for their manuscripts. Lastly, attendees can ask for suggestions on how to hunt for the elusive answers to their manuscripts’ biggest questions. Attendees will receive a handout of the instructor’s favorite fact-checking resources.
KAITLYN WELLS 