The Pay What You Want Workshop Series #1 - Characters

It's time. I'm excited to announce...

The Pay What You Want Workshop Series

Oh yes, it's a thing, I'm doing it, it's going to be great.

Workshop #1 deals with characters - what makes them good, what makes them bad, how to fix them, and what compromises memorable ones.


Here are the crunchy details:

1. The Workshop is on Tuesday March 19 at 7pm EST. It'll be about two hours - an hour or so of presentation, and time after that for questions and answers. Note: this is exactly the same format for my in-person Workshops.

2. The Workshop will be held via a Google+ Hangout. (Here is the link to say you're coming.)

3. Since I had a rather hard time (much harder than I expected) developed/discovering a good registration system - I wanted there to be a mailing list, tickets and pre-registration and either the individual costs were high or I couldn't get one element to play nice with the others - there will be a 'Limited' circle on Google+ for registration. As these things get rolling, and as I discover other methods for prepping online classes, I'll transition to something else.

That's it. On Tuesday the 19th, you just need to sign into Google Plus (http://plus.google.com) and if you've pre-registered (there will be a message thread on Google+ to do so), you'll get a link to the Hangout for the Workshop.

Here are the Payment details:

1. Before, during and after the Workshop, you Paypal (again, if there's another method, I'm open to suggestions) me whatever amount you see fit. I'll give you the Paypal address when you register for the Workshop.

I've tried to make this a pretty transparent and easy process (I have spared you the lengthy complaining about getting Eventbrite or DoAttend to cooperate), but if you have questions, write me an email.

See you all on the 19th.

Post #120 - The Pay What You Want Workshop(s)

Okay, so this is a big announcement.

As I talked about on my recent Jennisodes interview, I hear two major reasons why people can't attend a workshop or class I teach:

a) It's too expensive
b) The workshops are held in places that people in other states can't get to.

Today, I'm announcing that both of those reasons are invalid. Today I announce the Pay What You Want / Pay What It's Worth series of workshops.

Here's How This Works
In a week or so, there's going to be a list of dates and a Paypal button next to each of them on this blog. If there's a date that works for you, and you want to take whatever class is offered that evening (they'll be evenings), you click the Paypal button and pay some amount of money that works for you.

That's right. You pay what you can. Sure, the sky's the limit and you can go hog wild breaking the bank, and yes, you can be a jerk and pay a dollar. But I want you to pay what you're comfortable paying. What your budget allows for. What you feel it's worth.

Once you pay, you'll need to be online that particular night, and available for a Google+ Hangout.

That's it.

The Truth
I don't want anyone to have to choose between paying for groceries or taking a workshop. I don't want my work to be a "luxury" item for people. Believe me, I'm flattered when people save their cash and splurge on coming to panels or workshops, but what I do shouldn't be limited to rare occasions. Part of the reason I do it is to give back to the community of people that helped me get to this point in the first place.

The reason why the Paypal button and the calendar isn't up already is because I'm still working on the details. But here's what I've got so far:

1. The workshops will cover (in no particular order): Game Design Writing, Simple Edits You Can Do Yourself, Character Building, and Working With An Editor. If those four do well, I'll do four more
2. I need your help to make this work! Tell your friends, share the news. I want this to be a big deal, not just some small attempt at what could be something greater. Help me make this a big damned deal.

There will be more details to come. And more conversations to be had.

We'll talk soon.