Gail’s Short Presentations

1-1.5 HOURS EACH

Miss Carriger is an experienced teacher – articulate, insightful, and not afraid to make a fool of herself. To ask about rates & booking please drop us a calling card. Her perspective is as a bestselling full time six-figure hybrid author. This means she has successfully worked with traditional publishers (big 5 & small press) and self published as well has dealing with adaptations (film, graphic), translations, and more.

CRAFT OF WRITING

Overview of the Heroine’s Journey

What is the Heroine’s Journey (as opposed to the Hero’s) and what aspects make for compelling narrative and voracious readers? Where do these elements originate and how do we write them? This deck-style presentation covers briefly what the Heroine’s Journey is, how it works, one source myth, one pop-culture example, and how it can be activated by authors. 

Level: Beginner

Also available for academic and book group discussions. This is the Cliff’s notes version of Gail’s longer in-depth seminar on the subject. 

Gothic Roots of Genre Fiction

Did you know most genre fiction was born out of the Gothic literary movement? Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery and Romance novels all borrow tropes and archetypes from the Gothics. Gail discusses what it means to “write Gothic” and how to manipulate the roots of genre to manage reader expectations when writing for the commercial genre fiction market.

Level: Beginner

Peopling Fiction with Comedy 

Deck-style presentation on bringing character depth, narrative pace, and social subversion to fiction using comedy. NYT bestseller Gail Carriger addresses how authors can analyze and source humor, the many different ways to inject funny into fiction, and why you might want to do so. 

RESOURCES

• Comedy Author Looks at Humor on the Internet
• A Completely Biased List of Funny Books that Make Me LAUGH!
• Literary Technique ~ Lamplighting (lighthousing) in Comedic Writing
• Hidden Brain Podcast: Humor Us

Level: Beginner

BUSINESS OF WRITING

(Gail is willing to offer a combination of the following beginner & intermediate short presentations as one long 5-6 hr seminar.)

Things I Wish I Knew FIRST  

In this presentation NYT bestselling author Gail Carriger covers all the things she wished someone had told her when she first started out in publishing. She’ll explain those pesky concepts and terms that established authors and book industry professionals take for granted. She’ll review industry standards and expectations of authors, both in traditional and indie publishing. She’ll help you determine which path is best for your book and career: traditional publishing, self publishing, or a hybrid of the two. She’ll cover the things she believes EVERY author should have set up BEFORE their first book launches into the world. This is also your opportunity to pick her brain.

Level: Beginner

Branding Basics for Fiction Authors

What does it mean to be a brand as an author? How is that different from simply writing and publishing a book? Why is it important to know about branding ahead of time? How do you figure out your brand and why should you? What are some best practices for authors coping with this complex identity and online world? Gail will discuss exactly how to build an author brand that encourages reader loyalty.

Level: Beginner-Intermediate 

CONFERENCES PLEASE NOTE

Gail uses Keynote on a MacPro (2020 M1) laptop for her lecture presentations. She’ll need facilities with projection and the appropriate cables (HDMI). For Q&A sessions she also likes a whiteboard if possible.

One of her most successful writer’s conference offerings is always “pick a successful hybrid author’s brain.” Attendees love being granted access to ask questions they need help with and Gail loves answering them. This is run as a Q&A session.

“My cat must be very well educated – considering how many times I’ve practiced presentations on her. Then again, she always falls asleep in class.”

~ Gail Carriger