Writing Workshop: Reducing the Backstory and Jumping into the Action

Bad dates and poorly written books have something in common, believe it or not: too much backstory. Information overload can send even the most dedicated reader scurrying for the safety of hints into a character’s life via dialogue and action, not their entire life story. If you’d like to know how to move from “show” to “tell”, be sure to join us for our last writing workshop with Writer in Residence Dane McCaslin.

From January through March, the Mesa Public Library is hosting bestselling author and writing coach Dane McCaslin as its very own Writer in Residence. 

Dane McCaslin is the bestselling author of the Proverbial Crimes series, including A Bird in the Hand, When the Cat’s Away, and You Can Lead a Horse to Water. Dane is a writer, workshop facilitator, and former teacher with more than 20 years of teaching experience for students in middle school, high school, community college, and graduate school. Dane is presently working on a new cozy mystery series and has two of the three novels in the works as well as a brand new suspense trilogy. Follow her on Twitter: @mccaslin_dane.

This program is supported by the Arizona State Library, a division of the Secretary of State, with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.