Perfecting Your First Chapter

Live attendance is not required: enrollees can watch the recording at any time after the workshop!

From hooking your readers (and keeping them hooked!) to introducing your world and characters, your first chapter has a lot to do. Readers, agents, and publishers will decide within the first couple pages if they want to invest time in your story. Make that choice easy for them!

This workshop is designed to help you write and perfect that crucial first chapter. No matter your genre—from family saga to middle grade horror to high fantasy—your first chapter is the one aspect of your story that you can’t afford to rush.

Join acclaimed author Carly Stevens in a live 1-hour workshop where she’ll break down the critical elements of effective first chapters. Then, take a few days to work on your own first chapter using the things you’ve learned, before submitting it to Carly for written feedback on the first 1,000 words.

Can’t attend live? No problem! Live attendance isn’t required. This workshop will be recorded so you can watch it later. Submit your writing to Carly for feedback whenever you’re ready.

You’ll leave with the knowledge to write powerful openings to all of your future stories, and written feedback from an acclaimed author of ten novels on how to really make your first chapter shine!

To ensure everyone in the workshop gets personal attention and feedback from Carly, enrollment is strictly limited.

Some of Carly’s career highlights

Zoom schedule

Everyone enrolled in this webinar will receive a copy of the recording afterwards, so you can review it later in case you missed it.

• Saturday January 13, 2024 1:00pm US Central time — 1 hour

How this workshop works

This workshop is a live Zoom webinar. Sign in from anywhere in the world and participate live as the instructor conducts the workshop, with time for Q&A at the end.

Student praise for Carly Stevens

Thanks again for your engaging presentation yesterday to the mystery-writing women of Colorado. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and learned some new tricks and tips that will surely sharpen my writing. My future readers will thank you!

Very engaging and enlightening. Carly is a fun presenter (obviously from her time as a teacher). Fun exercises and great discussion.

This was wonderful in helping me to imagine how to enrich my stories via the setting.

Excellent presentation and content. Learned a few tips and was entertained to boot.

Best session. Carly is a teacher so she knows how to make the topic fun and engaging. The material and the checklist she gave out are crucial tips for any writer.

Very informative and well done!

Questions about this class?

We’re happy to answer any questions you might have!

• Contact us and a real person will get back to you ASAP.

About Carly Stevens

Carly Stevens is the author of more than ten books, including the Tanyuin Academy series (YA fantasy) and Laertes (a dark academia Hamlet retelling). Her books have been praised for their immersive worlds and complex, realistic characters. She has also taught high school English for over ten years and posts weekly videos on her YouTube channels, English Nerd and carlystevensbooks.

Other workshops starting soon

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