Keynoting a Conference
Conference, Convention, Reading Council, or Professional Development
Email Darcy Pattison about speaking at your conference.
Darcy has been invited to speak at a wide variety of events.
- National Science Teacher’s Association National Conference; two of Darcy’s books have been named NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books
- National Council of Teacher’s of English National Conference
- American Library Association National Conference
- Society of Children’s BookWriters and Illustrators National Conference
- Numerous state and regional conferences for science teachers, English teachers, librarians, educators.
- Over 20 years of professional development
I speak with science educators, ELA educators, librarians and teachers on Writing and Reading with Children.
Topics include:
- Using informational texts
- Reading and writing across the curriculum; developing science/social studies knowledge while reading and writing
- The Writing process, especially pre-writing activities
- Science + Literature
- Social Studies + Literature
- Common Core Writing
- Expository, opinion/persuasive, and narrative essays
- Kids Must Enjoy Reading and Writing
Email Darcy Pattison about speaking at your conference.
Teaching Writing: Novel Revision Retreats
Retreat Recommended by
Kirby Larson, 2007 Newbery Honor Winner
Email Darcy Pattison about a retreat in your area.
” I didn’t know anything about revising until I took Darcy’s Novel Revision Retreat. I finally ‘got it’ that reworking a manuscript is not revising. To revise something means to re-vision it, to see it through a new lens. The workshop and the Novel Metamorphosis workbook moved me from wordsmith to novel writer.”
Kirby Larson (www.kirbylarson.com), author of Hattie Big Sky, winner of the 2007 Newbery Honor Book Award (the highest award given to children’s novels by the American Library Association). Kirby had been writing for nearly 20 years and had published four chapter books and a picture book before writing, and revising, Hattie Big Sky (Delacorte). This story sold in ten-days-flat to the first editor who saw it.
Retreat Recommended by
Barbara Seuling, Author and Writing Teacher
“I found many books useful, but I found your NOVEL METAMORPHOSIS absolutely the best for a workshop. For the first time in 18 years of doing The Manuscript Workshop in Vermont, I offered one this year for novels – for those who had a first draft or more that needed revision. The most interesting session was the one where we dealt with the Shrunken Manuscript, and we were all really impressed about how much we learned from this hands on activity.”
Barbara Seuling, Director
The Manuscript Workshop in Vermont www.barbaraseuling.com
Email Darcy Pattison about a retreat in your area.
The Novel Revision Retreat
After twelve years as the conference director for the Arkansas SCBWI, I realized that the hardest thing to get help with is a novel. Most conferences are one-day events in which many different topics are covered briefly. Yet, year after year, someone would hold out a novel and ask, “What do you think of this?” Finally, there is a format in which this question can be answered!
The Goal of the Novel Revision Retreat: Every author will go home with strategies for revising their own particular novel.
The retreat is designed for maximum participation and advance preparation is required.
I Believe in Your Story
SPEAKER, TEACHER and AUTHOR, DARCY PATTISON
Email Darcy Pattison about a retreat in your area.
In 1999, speaker, teacher and author Darcy Pattison created the Novel Revision Retreat to meet the needs of struggling novelists. Since then, her passionate teaching has motivated writers nationwide as she encouraged them, “I believe in your story.”
- Teaching. Her teaching has taken to events around the nation: Hawaii, California, Washington, Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Oregon, and many other places.
- Blog. Her blog, Fiction Notes, which gives writing tips and discusses writing techniques, receives over 150,000 visitors per year.
Typical Retreat Schedule
A typical retreat schedule includes these sessions:
- Inventory
- Plotting: Macro to Micro
- Plotting
- Writing in Scenes
- Sensory Details
- Language
- Characterization and Dialogue
- Setting
- Character & Setting
- Adding Depth and Layers
- Making Voice a Conscious Decision
- Your Plan of Action
Want to Attend a Retreat, but Can’t?
Novel Metamorphosis: UnCommon Ways to Revise is the workbook for the retreat, the next best thing to being there. Order from Amazon.