INSTRUCTOR: Beth Daniels
DATES: February 1st – 28th, 2011
COST: $15 - Members, $25 - Non Members
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: January 29th, 2011

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Toss another shovel full of coal on the fire, it’s time to get steamed up with steam punk, one of the newest “societies” around.

What qualifies it as a society? Let’s see, there are graphic novels, jewelry, apparel, home accessories, music, movies, video games, roll playing games, and, oh, yeah, novels all circling around the essence of steampunk. And if you loved the Robert Downey Jr. SHERLOCK HOLMES movie, enjoy Victorian settings or alternative history in your reading material, and a touch of the paranormal or magic, steampunk may be just up your alley…or mews. It could certainly intrigue your writing muse!

Now, while you may decide to reconfigure your computer to look like it was produced by a 19th century craftsman or want to don Victorian styled clothing when you sit down before it (in a comfy winged and tufted armchair, of course), if you are intrigued by steampunk’s growing popularity and are thinking of swinging aboard this particular locomotive, there are a few…well, quite a few, really…elements to take into consideration.

And that’s what this workshop aims to do.

We’ll look at the basic requirements for any steampunk tale. We’ll consider what’s been published, what’s been filmed, where to search out the historical data necessary, how to warp it into what we need it to be, and…well, get ourselves really steamed up over writing what looks to be a very promising land for new manuscripts.

There will be lists and lists and lists of books to read, be they the current crop of steampunk titles or the classics upon which the concept is founded – does the name Jules Verne ring a bell? Considering how “new” the genre appears to be, it’s been around in graphic novels, movies, and television series since before the 1980s. And in fantasy novels even longer. Steampunk is basically alternative history, taking inventions out of their time period and plunking them down in another, in time travel, the paranormal world, and in magic.

And because the setting is frequently (but not always) Victorian England, things can get shrouded in fog. But that’s what this workshop aims to do: clear the fog over the anatomy of a steampunk novel, and create a visual guideline on how to write steampunk fiction.

PRESENTER BIO
Beth Daniels currently writes as Beth Henderson and J.B. Dane, though she answered to Lisa Dane and Beth Cruise in the past as well. She has worked with editors at Berkley, Zebra, Leisure, Harlequin/Silhouette, and Simon and Schuster's Aladdin Paperbacks, done e-books for a now defunct company (not her fault, she says), and began her writing life with hardcover books slated for library use with a publisher that got out of the romance business (again, not her fault). More recently she’s had a number of articles about writing picked up by e-zines, saw a short story published in a mystery and suspense magazine that turned up its toes the next year (really, really not her fault), and has a story in the MOTHER GOOSE IS DEAD anthology slated for publication by Dragon Moon Press sometimes in 2010.

For over a dozen years Beth taught college level composition, both in the classroom and online, and a credit course on Novel Writing. Five of her former Novel class students are now published.

Twenty-six of Beth’s manuscripts have appeared in print or e-book format. These have been historical romantic adventures (6), romantic comedies (10), romantic-suspense (3), and young adult romantic comedy (7). Her titles have appeared in 12 different languages in over 20 countries. At the moment she is working on various manuscripts and attempting a collaboration with another RWA member on a contemporary/fantasy/romantic adventure. She also ventured into self-publishing to keep her out-of-print backlist in print, but previous e-books in print, and in frustration, to move beyond a manuscript she’d been reworking for editors for a decade with no bites, released a previously unpublished historical romantic adventure set in the American West.

She is currently/or has been a member of/or about to renew membership in Romance Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Novelist Inc., and Historical Novelist Society.