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JADEN TERRELL WORKSHOPS & SEMINARS
To schedule a
workshop or seminar, please contact Jaden at
[email protected].
For a schedule of upcoming workshops, click here.
One and Two-Day Workshops
Finish Your Novel Now
Have you always dreamed of writing a novel but didn’t know where
to start? Have you started a dozen (or a hundred) manuscripts,
only to bog down after a few thousand words? Maybe you’ve made
it halfway through your book, but gotten lost in a muddle of a
middle. This nuts & bolts workshop will take you from the
initial idea to a completed first draft. You’ll learn how to:
·
create the scaffolding (story structure) and a strong foundation
for your novel
·
create memorable characters with depth and complexity
·
use background and sensory details to bring the world of your
story to life
·
and much more.
This workshop gives you a step-by-step guide to getting ready to
write and follows up with practical strategies for getting the
book done. Whatever your genre, you’ll learn strategies for
starting and finishing the book of your dreams.
Make Your Book Better
There’s a lot of talk about marketing and promotion these days,
but the real keystone of a writer’s career is craft. A
well-crafted, well-edited book shows courtesy to and respect for
the reader. To that end, this seminar focuses on strengthening
story structure, deepening characters, sharpening dialogue,
heightening tension, and tightening and polishing prose. No one
can promise your book will be a bestseller, but whether you’re a
beginner or a pro, this workshop can help you make your book
better.
Half Day Workshops (Can be Adapted to Longer Workshops or 1- to
2-Hour Seminars)
Planning the Novel
This workshop is a step-by-step guide to getting ready to write.
A truncated version of the Finish Your Novel Now workshop listed
above, this session will help you take your book from the
initial idea through the planning stage and into the starting
gate. You’ll create the scaffolding and foundation for your
novel. Then you’ll learn how to deepen and develop your story.
At the end of the workshop, each student will receive a
day-by-day guide to completing the novel.
Crafting Characters
Think of your favorite book. What brought it to life? Chances
are, it was the characters. What is it that makes certain
characters stay with us for days or even decades after we’ve
turned the final page? This workshop focuses on turning paper
people into complex, well-rounded individuals who will live on
in your readers’ minds.
He Said, She Said, We Said, They said: Writing Effective
Dialogue
Effective dialogue is more than just what people say. It reveals
character, drives the plot, reveals subtext, and often evokes
emotion. It’s not speech. It’s an illusion of speech. When done
correctly, the mechanisms are invisible. This workshop will show
you how to write clean, crisp dialogue that brings your
characters to life and sounds more natural than the real thing.
Revision and Editing
You’ve written “the end,” but are you really finished? How can
you make that manuscript better? This workshop is a truncated
version of the Make Your Book Better workshop listed above.
The Storyteller Within: Unleashing the Muse
Whether or not you believe in writer’s block, whether or not you
believe the Muse is a delicate beast, there’s no denying that
sometimes we need to recharge our creative batteries. This fun
and inspirational infusion of creativity will revive your
excitement and help you jumpstart your novel or short story.
Guaranteed to awaken your inner storyteller.
30-Minute to 1-Hour Talks
Hidalgo or Secretariat:
The Power of Perseverance (Motivational)
Some people achieve their dreams with apparent ease, getting the
job after the first interview, the promotion after a few months,
the book contract within months of writing “the end,” the movie
deal a few weeks later. Those people are Secretariats, fast out
of starting gate, first to the finish line. Most of us are not
Secretariats. But remember this: Hidalgo also won his race. This
session focuses on the power of perseverance—not just staying
the course, but building and bettering ourselves as we travel
it. Not just pounding on the door, but finding the keys to make
it open.
First
a Compass, Then a Map: Knowing What You Want and How to Get It
(Motivational)
“If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when
you get there?” This session will help you focus your dream,
define your goals, and create a workable plan that will put you
on a path toward accomplishment.
Planning
Your Novel (How-to)
This is a truncated, “hit-the-high-points” version of the
Planning Your Novel session listed above.
Crafting Characters (How-to)
This is a truncated, “hit-the-high-points” version of the
Crafting Characters session listed above.
Dialogue
(How-to)
This is a truncated, “hit-the-high-points” version of the
Dialogue session listed above.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT JADEN TERRELL’S JARED MCKEAN NOVELS
Racing the Devil:
“The perfect combination of noir and human hope.” Sheila Deeth,
Café Libre
“These
characters are so good, they don’t need a plot. Fortunately,
there is a plot—a good one.” Betty Webb, for Mystery Scene
Magazine
“It’s a smart story, well constructed and well told. Jared is a
solidly designed lead character, and, given that the novel is
billed as “a Jared McKean mystery,” it seems likely the author
intends the private eye to anchor a series. Not a bad idea, if
subsequent novels can keep this one’s nice balance of character
and story." — David Pitt, Booklist
“This character-driven PI debut is intriguing
because of the protagonist’s complicated family. Their presence
is important to the story line and makes for a memorable read.
Watch for a sequel soon."
Library Journal
"Terrell’s promising debut introduces Nashville PI Jared McKean,
who finds himself caught in an almost perfect frame for
murder…Jared comes across convincingly as a savvy and
sympathetic urban detective who, despite his own difficulties,
is ever ready and able to defend people or animals in trouble."
Publishers Weekly
"Racing the Devil
by Jaden
Terrell is a compelling story you know you'd like to slow down
and savour, but there's no time--you must read on. Forget
laundry and gardening; once you begin the story, your afternoon
is done for. An ex-Nashville cop turned detective, Jared McKean,
the protagonist, is many things we’d like to be vicariously:
noble, chivalrous, attractive, and sexually conscious in a
(mostly) subtle, provocative way. Written in first person, we
hear his thoughts, unspoken wishes and reactions. This is the
real stunner in Racing the Devil: Jared’s voice. He has
an attractive humility, with touches of (possibly)
self-deprecating humour—the kind of voice which I associate with
the best books I have read . . . Days later, Jared is
still with me. An excellent adventure." Theresa de Valence,
Reviews by T de V
"This
is a first-rate PI novel that opens with one of the
best-constructed frame-ups I ever read -- positioning the hero,
ex-cop Jared McKean, dead center for a first-degree murder
charge -- and just gets better as it goes along. When even his
former friends on the police force doubt his innocence, McKean
finds himself in a three-hundred-sixty-degree nightmare, one
that (even to a second-guessing reader like me) seems to have no
way out. The setting is Nashville, but it's a real insider's
Nashville, as far from Music Row as it's possible to get.
Written in spare, note-perfect prose, with a knockout plot and
characters who don't go away when you close the cover, this is a
terrific book. I hope there's going to be a lot more of Jared
McKean.” -Timothy
Hallinan, author of the Poke Rafferty Bangkok
mysteries A Nail Through the Heart, The Fourth Watcher,
Breathing Water, and The Queen of Patpong.
“The stuff
Hollywood movies are made of. Suspense, intrigue, hi-fi
action—all the ingredients of a staple thriller are there in the
correct proportions in Racing the Devil…Terrell delivers a
punching thriller that's pure Hitchcockian in suspense.” -
Narayan Radhakrishnan, New Mystery Review
A Cup Full of Midnight
“If there's anything Terrell can't do, you wouldn't know it from
reading A Cup Full of Midnight. This is a riveting,
deeply felt novel with a terrific mystery at its core.” –
Timothy Hallinan,
Edgar nominee and author of the critically acclaimed Poke
Rafferty Bangkok thrillers
“Jared McKean, the Nashville cop-turned-private-eye, returns for
a second helping of action and intrigue . . . In the first
McKean mystery, the excellent Racing the Devil (2012),
Jared was a suspect in a homicide; here, it's his nephew. You'd
think this might lead to a case of the rerun blahs, but, despite
the thematic similarity to its predecessor, the book works very
well. Terrell gives Jared plenty of fresh detecting to do, and
he includes a meaty subplot involving the manipulative nature of
cults (especially on impressionable young minds). A worthy
successor to the author s top-notch debut. Fans of mainstream PI
novels definitely need to check out Terrell. --Booklist,
August 2012
“Author Terrell does not just tell a story, she plays with
language to permit the story to take on its own life as you
read. And her characters never lose their humanity, even as they
struggle with pain that is almost more than an individual can
bear.” --Suspense Magazine
"Saddle up for PI Jared McKean's welcome second appearance.
While successfully juggling a complex cast with numerous
minidramas, Terrell never loses focus on a case about troubled
teens, which [he] writes with sympathy" --Library Journal
“If you didn't read Jaden Terrell's Racing the Devil you
missed a really good mystery novel. But don't worry--you don't
have to have read it to be wholly enthralled and wholly
satisfied by this second Jared McKean mystery. A Cup Full of
Midnight is complete on its own, an intellectually thrilling
mystery, psychologically scary and real, filled with memorable
real-world characters and the sort of social commentary that
comes from genuine conversation and honest concern. Jared McKean
is a wounded protagonist with the strength to fight foes, the
honesty to know when he's beaten and the determination to get up
and carry on. He's frequently beaten but never down and out, and
his concern for client, family, stranger and friend crosses
boundaries of prejudice and bends the law with love . . . These
characters could live next door. These wounds could be worn by
neighbors anywhere. But a story this powerful is hard to find, a
mystery this intriguing, or a narrator as brutally honest and
generous and kind. I'm lucky to have read both novels of this
series. I'm eagerly awaiting more. – Sheila Deeth, Café Libre
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