**Registration deadline extended! Register by May 11th, 2018. Join us for our first annual Pens ‘n Friends Luncheon & Peer Critique event! At the WCYR we are very excited to provide this fun and educational event to our members and friends. On June 10th, 2018 from 12-4pm, join us at the Newmarket Community Centre for (more…)
Rescheduled Event (from April 15th, 2018, cancelled due to inclement weather) Please note the change of venue. We will be at the Ray Twinney Recreation Complex (Lounge 1). As the number of published books grows exponentially, it becomes increasingly important to hook readers fast. This workshop will teach you how to find the best starting point (more…)
Start the new season with a bang! Join the WCYR for an open house meeting. WCYR members, friends and anyone interested in writing are welcome. Admission is free (please register below). Come celebrate the successes of fellow writers, enjoy networking and stay for a terrific workshop.This year we are truly spoiled to have both Gwynn Scheltema (more…)
**This is a FREE Members-only workshop. Space is limited. Please reserve your spot below. Some of our favourite books remain so not only because we love the plot but the characters feel real to us – even the villains… especially the villains. But how do you know if your “bad guy” holds up to serious (more…)
Setting is more than a pretty picture. It grounds the reader in a distinct time and place, whether that’s present-day Toronto, Egypt in the time of the pharaohs or a colony ship headed for Mars. But that’s not all. Setting can also boost and intersect with other literary elements, deepening conflict, motivation or theme. For (more…)
This hands-on, don’t-miss–it workshop will link your writing (whether published or not) into marketing resources that showcase its hidden potential. Participants will be asked to bring their own writing sample if possible and go through a process of finding its ideal marketplace. Learn about article marketing, the power of blogging and other author marketing ideas. (more…)
**This is a FREE Members-only workshop. Space is limited. Please reserve your spot below. We have too many tasks, too many choices, and too little time. How do we live an effective life and also find time to write? This workshop will use the best practices from the IT world to enable writers to optimize (more…)
Join the WCYR for an afternoon of fun, food, great literature and friends. Have a chance to wear those ugly holiday togs you keep hidden all year. Bring a short piece of your fiction, nonfiction or poetry to read aloud at our open mic. We’ll also have raffle prizes and a buffet lunch. NEW THIS YEAR: (more…)
One of our most basic tasks as writers, as Janet Burroway reminds us, is to “make them wonder”—to spark in our readers a sense of curiosity and awe, drawing them along line by line, page by page, and book by book. Daniel Scott Tysdal’s workshop will examine a range of strategies for inspiring this sense (more…)
**This is a FREE Members-only workshop. Space is limited. Please reserve your spot below. A significant number of writers create success and sales through reading their work aloud at various venues. Without needing to be trained actors, writers’ ability at the microphone, their capacity to vary pitch and tone, to engage an audience helps their (more…)
Do you know the rights of an accused criminal? What is the booking procedure? How long are police allowed to hold a suspect? Do Miranda rights apply in Canada? Writers can do a lot of research online, but nothing beats hearing from the source. Join the WCYR for a Q&A with a York Regional Police (more…)
What is story? Is a narrative simply a series of events happening to random people? No! Who is this story about is just as important as What is this story about! Characters are actually the most important components of any story. This two-hour workshop explores how to create a compelling and complex character through readings, (more…)
**This is a FREE Members-only workshop. Space is limited. Please reserve your spot below. Following on from Douglas’ workshop in October 2017 and drawing from his how-to book, Playing the Short Game: How to Market & Sell Short Fiction, this workshop focuses on the next phase in a short story writer’s career—when you start to (more…)
On May 5th, 2019 from 12-4pm, join us at the Newmarket Community Centre for lunch and a peer manuscript review session. We’ll begin with a light lunch of wraps, sandwiches and salads. Take this time to get to know some of your fellow WCYR members, network, and welcome guests. After lunch we’ll split into small (more…)
The writer and the reader are in an intimate bond that crafts the work of art. By sending a novel or short story into the world, the writer is asking the reader to complete the journey they have begun. The reader travels a bridge across time and space, a bridge built by the writer. It (more…)
