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                                 Presentations


I've had many careers in my life: college counselor, college instructor, freelance writer, author. One of my greatest joys was teaching, whether it was a college level psychology course or an eight week career planning and life skills course. My style is informal, and I encourage audience participation and questions.
 
Please contact me at deborahlynnjacobs@gmail.com to discuss rates.

Below are four presentations. However, if these do not meet your needs, let me know. We can work on something different for your school or your event.
 
TEN YEARS TO WRITE A BOOK?
Audience: grades 8-12
Length: 50 minutes (flexible)
Preferred group size: a typical classroom size, but I’m flexible
Description: Ten years to write a book? You bet!
This presentation will describe the process of writing a novel, starting with the initial premise. I will cover writing a first draft, doing multiple revisions, finding an agent, selling the book, further revisions, and then the process of checking galleys, writing flap cover and so on.
My “props” will a box of old revisions, flowcharts, handwritten notes, marked up galleys, the ARC, and the finished product.
As I enjoy audience participation, I will encourage students to ask questions throughout my talk, and will have a question and answer period at the end.

DO AUTHORS PLAN ALL THAT STUFF? Audience: grades 8 to 12
Length: 50 minutes (flexible)
Preferred group size: a typical classroom size, but I’m flexible
Description: Scholars, and English teachers, are known for their delight in dissecting a novel and asking such questions as, "What is the theme? Which literary devices were used?"
The topic of this class visit is, "Do authors purposefully plan these things, or do they just write the book?"
The answer is, “Yes, sometimes we do build these things into our books.”
Drawing on my own experience, I will discuss the following:
--What do authors do all day? --What is the process of writing a book?
--Idea, premise, theme-what is the difference and do authors plan these?
--What's in a name?
--Plot-do authors plan ahead or write off the top of their heads?
--Symbols, imagery, metaphor, analogies-do authors build these in? --From first draft to publishable book-what's involved?

SPEAKING IN VOICES: WRITING A NOVEL IN MULTIPLE VIEWPOINTS
Audience: high school students, writers, librarians (I recently presented this at a Wisconsin SCBWI conference)
This one hour presentation will look at various young adult novels which have been written in two or more points of view, and will cover: ---One very good reason not to use multiple viewpoints
--A few reasons why multiple viewpoints might work for your novel.
--What are the rules? What are the dangers? Pitfalls?
--How does writing in multiple voices make your job more difficult?
--What is voice? Author’s voice, narrative voice, character voice.
--Choosing your point of view


POINT OF VIEW: WHAT ARE YOUR CHOICES AND HOW DO YOU CHOOSE?
Audience: high school students, writers, librarians
Length: I have a two hour presentation, but could shorten it (I presented this at the Great Lakes Writers’ Workshop in Milwaukee, in spring 2006)
Description: Your choices appear simple—first person, second, third. But add to that limited versus omniscient, past tense versus present tense, one viewpoint versus multiple viewpoints, and no wonder writers become frustrated! Let’s cut through the confusion and examine the pros and cons, and the rules, of each choice. After all, it’s up to you to decide what best fits your story. 


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