Speaking to
Writers

Going Deep with Point of View: The classic writing style that made some of the bestselling novels of their day aren’t the best approach to engaging our audiences today. Readers want to be part of the action as a participant, not an observer. Learn how to make descriptions so real that a picture of rain will have readers looking for their umbrellas.

How to Write Captivating Stories: In whatever time will allow, from 45 minutes to 3 hours, Frank talks about the seven most-essential plot elements, writing dynamic dialogue, engaging readers with deep point of view, suspense and the ticking time bomb, and making your message matter.

Make Your Message Matter: If your life were an open book, would anyone want to read it? Make what matters to you matter to them, and the world will want to hear more.

Boost Your Writing Skills (Continuing series that can take all available time over any number of days)
No matter how good our writing is, we can make it better. And we need to, but how? The literary classic style won’t work for a modern audience. Even the best novels and nonfiction books often contain weak writing. Where are the good examples?
Frank will use great paragraphs from bestselling novels and walk you through the improvement process so you can apply those principles to your own writing. Better yet, submit your first page and some of your best paragraphs for a portion of our classroom work.
Submit your best stuff, and you are sure to learn how you can make your writing even better.

Pleasure, Perils, and Pitfalls: A Success Map for Beginning Writers — Writing, publication, and marketing can be as challenging as a climb to the peak of Mount Everest. With your life at stake, you want these tips to take the right steps and avoid disaster.

Transform Sermons into Books: The preparation that went into a wonderful weekend message can be used and re-used to produce a variety of articles and book chapters. Discover the essential elements of rewriting, cutting, and polishing that will give publishers a manuscript that even strangers and skeptics would love to read.

Why Kindle Direct Publishing? — Learn the quick, professional way to publish your first draft with no upfront cost or inventory investment and keep upgrading to what perfectly suits your market.

Hold Your Audience Hostage: How to Make Your Message Meaningful — Out of the millions of books sold, a huge percentage are never read. Since a Christian writer’s success depends on the message, not the money, you need to know the seven basic elements that are essential to captivate readers.

Sure Cure for Writer’s Block: Learn how to target your message to an audience with a passion that makes people want to hear what you have to say.

Fanning the Flames: Make Your Message Important to Those Who Don’t Know There’s a Fire. Your story can be a life-changer for those who hear you speak, but it won’t help those who didn’t show up. Frank will show you effective ways to let people know they can’t afford to miss hearing you.

Bring Your Stories to Life: Learn why stories change lives, where to start and end, and the seven essential elements for telling a captivating story.

Story Power: If you want your stories to captivate your audience and change lives, you need this class. ● How and When to Tell Your Story ● What Your Audience Wants ● Why Stories Change People When Preaching Won’t ● Seven Simple Steps to Storytelling

 

Going Viral: The simple steps to get your message published in a difficult market. An affordable and practical approach toward the right goal, considering what speakers and writers want and what the audience expects to get.

Create Blogs that People Want to Read: Share your voice—and your message—with the world. Learn how to come up with ideas for continual content. Discover tricks and tips for creating your own editorial calendar. See why your voice is important and why people need to hear your message.

The Nine Who Said No Thank You (Inspirational): Writing can be a thankless job. Frank talks about circumstances in which we are guaranteed an eternal reward for our effort. – 30 min keynote

Sense-able Writing: With details from history or news about what happened yesterday, readers are easily bored. With the right words, you can take them on a suspenseful journey they may never forget. “Sense-able Writing” stirs all five human senses and brings readers so actively into the story that when they hear the crack of thunder, they fear getting soaked.

Know the Reasons, Not Just the Rules: Explore some of the nuances of the writing and editing process that is largely subjective. Understanding the reasoning behind the publishing standards can reveal when a commandment should be followed and when it might, for good reason, be ignored.

Essential Content to Engage Readers: Follow a simple check list to be sure each scene has the seven essential components to make a message or scene captivating, holding attention and delivering an experience, not an observation, and teach a life-changing truth. Show how one thought, action, and reaction must lead to the next bigger issue, conflict, or dilemma in reaching the climax.

Common Weaknesses among Bestselling Authors: Look at what most appeals to modern readers as compared to what is highly published among classic literature and celebrity authors. Learn often-missed ways to build better sentences, creating tighter focus on the action.

Quick Fixes for a Deeper Point of View: Know what to look for in deepening the point of view without having to rewrite the scene. Begin with the most simple grammatical improvements that help the author “show, don’t tell.” Then look at possible sentence revisions that give readers a better feel for being in the scene, involved in the action.

Point of View: Write from the Best Storytelling Perspective. ● The Viewpoints that No Longer Work ● What Has the Greatest Impact on Your Readers ● Simple Edits that Will Deepen the Point of View ● How to Write Deep Point of View

Monetize Your Message: Learn Ways to Make Time Spent Pay Off. ● Collect on Small Successes ● Devotionals and Blogging ● Multiplying Your Efforts ● Building Celebrity

Learning from the Masters: You Can Be Better than the Best. ● Noticing Twists and Turns ● When Copying Isn’t Plagiarism ● Be a Writing Disciple ● Homework that Isn’t Work.

Discovering Your Style: Ever since the day when Adam and Eve sewed leaves together for clothing, people have wanted to look good. We may be flat broke, but we still want people to admire us as if we were kings and queens. As writers, the ability to impress our readers is an important strength, or they won’t stay with us for long.

Where Publishing Is Headed: We now have fewer traditional publishers buying fewer manuscripts, most frequently from celebrities and those with a proven, profitable platform. At the same time, self-publishing has never been easier or more affordable, which leads to a flood of poorly written books. Yet there are plenty of reasons to be excited about our future.

Tools for Self-Editing: Getting the words right isn’t easy, but it isn’t rocket science either. With these important tips, you can write like a pro.

Techniques for Great Storytelling: Learn to create an attention-grabbing beginning, a captivating middle, and a powerful end to your stories.

Follow the Emotional Journey: Emotional clarity and honesty bring characters to life, and without that, your characters will be artificial, something less than real.

Full-Time Focus for the Part-Time Writer: Without quitting your day job, make a career of telling stories that change lives.

Ready, Aim, Fire: How to prepare your story, choose a direction, and take shots that will stir readers to action.

Tools of the Trade: Doing Research — Where to Gather Ideas — Use of Microsoft Word — Tips & Tricks

The Write Goal (Inspirational Keynote): Writing is easy, but getting published is not. Frank Ball presents a realistic vision for writing success and shows what we must do to get there.

Smarter than We Think: Like Alice who was lost in Wonderland, we are born geniuses who have lost our way. Frank Ball shares experiences and insights that show why GPS is more important than IQ in choosing the write path and opening the write doors.

Be a Creative Genius: Most of us followed a traditional learning path in school, restraining our talents, so we still need to learn how to be creative. Made in God’s image, we have tremendous potential for innovation but must find the keys to unlock our individual strengths. Break away from the social paradigms and educational assumptions that have limited your thinking, and discover methods that will make your writing unique and refreshing.

The Pros & Cons of Self-Publishing: Self-publishing has become easier and more affordable than ever before, and it is often the best choice but not always. Learn the pros and cons of print-on-demand, vanity, subsidy, and royalty publishing so you can determine what best suits your needs.

Writing Devotionals: Use your life experiences to touch others so they can be encouraged, trust God, and rise above their problems.

Writing Memoirs: Glean ten important steps that will transform mundane memoirs and family histories into exciting adventure stories.

Critique Group Dynamics: Learn how to form an effective writer’s group, how to get the most from suggestions, and how to give critique.