Creative Feature & Opinion Writing Bootcamp with Richard Warnica

About the Instructor

Register $150-$350 🇨🇦 (~$109-$255 🇺🇸)

Payment plan request

Join award-winning journalist Richard Warnica for one or both days of an intensive two-day bootcamp for writers to gain practical insights and techniques for crafting compelling narrative and voice-driven journalism. Perfect for both aspiring and experienced writers, this bootcamp will help you elevate your feature, opinion and essay writing and achieve professional publication.

Designed for writers of all levels, students may register for either or both days, or upgrade for a manuscript review (details below). Day 1 equips you with essential skills to pitch, report, and write rock-solid features and opinion pieces that newspapers and magazines will eagerly publish. Day 2 focuses on advanced methods to develop a distinctive voice, experiment with structure, and blend nonfiction forms like essays, reportage, narrative, and memoir.

Writers of all levels are invited to register for either or both days and have the option of upgrading to receive personal feedback from Richard on a work-in-progress (see registration and tuition structure below). Payment plans are available on request.

REGISTRATION & TUITION (SELECT SUITABLE OPTION AT CHECK-OUT)

Stream A: Day 1 Only – The Professional’s Toolkit ($150 🇨🇦 | $110 🇺🇸)
Stream B: Day 2 Only – The Creative Feature Writer ($150 🇨🇦 | $110 🇺🇸)
Stream C: Both Days ($250 🇨🇦 | $182 🇺🇸)
*Stream D: Both Days + Manuscript Review ($350 🇨🇦 | $255 🇺🇸)

* For an additional fee, students will receive a personal consultation from Richard. This includes detailed notes on a submitted draft of up to 2500 words plus a 50-minute, virtual consultation on pitching, selling (if the piece is unsold), editing, reporting, structuring and strategies for getting better going forward. Richard’s previous PanU students have placed stories in major publications around the world, including The New Yorker, The Walrus, Maclean’s, and more.

BOOTCAMP OUTLINE (Both days include one-hour lunch break)

Day 1 (Sat. Sept.14, 12pm-5pm EST): The Professional’s Toolkit

Learn how to pitch, report, and write rock-solid features and opinion pieces that newspapers and magazines will jump to publish. This session covers everything from story conception to pitching, reporting, structuring, and writing, with an emphasis on simplicity, strength, and saleability. We’ll explore profiles, short features, policy stories, op-eds and more.

Day 2 (Sun. Sept. 15, 12pm-5pm EST): The Creative Feature Writer

Go beyond the basics to write features and reported essays that readers will remember. This day focuses on advanced techniques for developing a distinctive voice, experimenting with structure, and blending nonfiction forms like essays, reportage, narrative, and memoir. Emphasis will be on the creative aspects of narrative writing, with a professional goal of publication.

TAKEAWAYS

• Master the essentials of pitching, reporting, and writing publishable features, op-eds and essays.
• Develop and refine narrative story ideas from conception to final draft
• Understand and apply different structures for various feature types
• Experiment with creative techniques to develop a unique voice
• Blend different nonfiction forms to create compelling narratives
• Gain insights into the professional standards and expectations of editors

REGISTRATION

After checkout, you’ll receive a receipt with a link to download your tickets, which will include Zoom passcodes and additional webinar information. You will also receive an emailed reminder a few days before the event.

ACCESSIBILITY & RECORDING

This webinar is designed for live participation but a recording of the webinar will be provided to all registrants to stream if they’re unable to attend in full or wish to view it again. Closed captioning is also available for both live and recorded video, however, it’s auto-generated and subject to error.