Picture Books, with Joyce Sweeney
February 1st, 2023 - March 6th, 2023
with Kim Pfennigwerth
You'll submit your pages at the group start, then spend the next weeks critiquing peer stories. The agent submits their notes near the critique deadline. After critiques are complete, we host a live group debrief over Zoom, in which each writer gets individual time with the agent to dig into feedback, brainstorm next steps, and discuss any writing questions.
Our goal with these events is to help writers become stronger storytellers. That said, this workshop also comes with a submission opportunity.
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4f4146fa-7fff-8ed3-ad47-c6f8ac33b48f"><span style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">You may participate in up to one picture book workshop per season.</span></span><br></p>
Notes
Who this workshop is for: Writers are expected to be at an intermediate level of picture book writing craft or above. Writers may have achieved this through self-study of books and exercises, or organized instruction such as classes, workshops, or webinars. Writers should be familiar with elements of craft such as characterization, plot, internal arc, and pacing, in order to offer craft-rooted feedback to their peers.
Focus: Children's - Picture Books - Fiction - Children's - Picture…
Group size: 9 writers
Submissions: Submit one picture book. Fiction submissions should be under 900 words; nonfiction should be under 1600 words.
Fee
Members: $101; Non-members: $121
We are pleased to offer a spot free of charge to one of our winter agent workshops to a writer of color or from a historically marginalized group. Applications for this scholarship have closed.
About Kim Pfennigwerth
Joyce Sweeney is an author and literary agent for The Seymour Agency.
They have written fourteen young adult novels, many of which have won awards. They are also the author of two chapbooks of poetry. Most recently, they have been collaborating on graphic novels.
Joyce was a creative writing teacher, mentor and coach for over 25 years. They also published a plotting how-to book, Plotting Your Novel With The Plot Clock (Giantess Press, 2019). At this writing, they have successfully mentored 78 authors to traditional publishing contracts.
In 2020 they joined The Seymour agency, and represent picture books, middle grades and graphic novels.
Their hobbies are theater, collecting illustration art and animal causes of all kinds. They live in Coral Springs with their husband, Jay and cat, Nitro.
Schedule:
Second Round Participants: Thursday, March 23rd - Submissions due
Friday, March 31st - Critiques Due
Submissions may be posted anytime after March 16th. And a reminder that it is only us participating - Joyce will not be participating in the second round.
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