I’m thrilled to share an exciting opportunity with you: Francesca Lia Block, the legendary author of over 25 novels (including my favourite magical punk fairy tale, the one and only Weetzie Bat), is leading a workshop on story structure that you won’t want to miss.
Francesca is known for her vivid and magical storytelling — she’s the Fairy Queen of Literature, folks!
This is a rare chance to learn from one of the most beloved and enchanting voices in literature.
These three seminars will use Francesca Lia Block’s “Twelve Question” method, along with screenplay beats and other traditional structural forms, to help you structure a novel, memoir or screenplay, or even a short story or essay collection, or a poetry cycle.
Structure Part I: The Twelve Questions
Francesca Lia Block will use her highly effective “Twelve Question” method to help you:
I ’m so excited to share what I’ve learned! Structure has become an obsession of mine and I think that learning about it will be a fun, inviting experience that can really enhance your work without taking away from the ephemeral magic that makes your writing personal and unique.
“Francesca is the most dedicated and inspiring writing teacher I’ve ever had. Her enthusiasm for writing is
energizing and she cares deeply about her students. She told me my novel wasn’t quite ready to query,
gave me incredible notes, and after implementing them—boom, I had an agent. I still think about her ‘12
Questions’ whenever I sit down to write. In a perfect world, I would write everything with Francesca’s
support and guidance.”
— Anna Dorn —
Author of Perfume and Pain
“Not only is Francesca one of the most gifted writing instructors I’ve ever had the honor to work with,
she’s also an astonishingly insightful editor—generous, supportive, respectful, and with a deep knowledge of story craft. Her novel writing workshop gave me powerful tools to hone in on the heart of my novel. To this day, I still rely on her ‘Twelve Questions’ technique to help find my way whenever my writing
becomes lost in a dark wood.”
— Kris Waldherr —
Author of The Lost History of Dreams and creator of The Goddess Tarot
“With knowledge and kindness, Francesca has motivated me to work harder and more consistently on my
writing. In the gentlest way, she pushes me to strengthen my characters and commit more fully to the truth of my story. Best of all, I now have the daily writing practice I’ve been dreaming about for 30 years. Thank you, Francesca!”
— Courtney Thorne-Smith —
“I’ve been profoundly impacted by Francesca’s work. I carried around her books for years. I knew of no
other writer who wrote about the interior lives of girls with so much empathy--and so much mystery.
Every time I get the chance to study with her, I take it. She brings that same empathy, that same ear for
lyricism, that same attention to every student’s manuscript. She’s a generous teacher, kind and creative and inspiring, just like you’d expect her to be.”
— Erica Lorraine Scheidt —
Author of Uses for Boys
“I first stepped into Francesca’s classes with no knowledge of how to write, but with a spirit that wanted
to write. I took classes with a few teachers over a couple years, but Francesca is 110% the best. Not only
does she carefully and methodically teach the craft, but she encourages the spirit behind the craft. I have
no doubt that without her, I would have become discouraged and quit countless times. But because of her
patience, enthusiasm, and love for her students’ work, I am a writer. Not only that, but I can write well, I get paid to write, and I can write from my heart. I am so grateful to have Francesca as a teacher.”
— Stacy Lee Niemiec —
“I couldn’t think of a better person to edit my first book. Francesca’s insightful suggestions imbued my manuscript with absolute magic.”
— Gala Darling —
Author of Radical Self Love
“Francesca is an amazing teacher! She breaks down the aspects of effective storytelling and
characterization, all while encouraging and supporting your dream of writing a book.”
— Anna Akana —
Actress, Writer
“A craft ninja, a story midwife, and punk fairy-godmother-of-prose rolled into one! Francesca gives you tools to demystify story-telling, helps you break your work down into manageable parts, and inspires you
to keep pushing towards ”the end” with her radiant enthusiasm. I’m starting to believe that this book will
get finished! ”
— Delphine Hirsh —
“Francesca Lia Block is not only one of the most gifted writers of our age, she’s an extraordinary teacher
as well. As a student, one has the feeling that FLB is regarding one’s work as tenderly and seriously as if
it were her own. Here is an artist committed to baring her heart again and again, as a writer and as a
teacher. Despite her numerous successes and years as a literary figure, she approaches the writing process with humility and an almost child-like joy. The opportunity to study with Francesca, as with reading one of her books, is an opportunity for transformation.”
— Clarissa Romano —
Writer/ Former Senior Fiction Editor at the LA Review of Books
“Francesca is a veritable fount of wisdom. She knows story inside and out, and possesses a keen ability to
cut straight to the heart of what’s working and what isn’t. She’s a literary legend, but she never lets that get in the way: as a teacher she is extremely generous, meeting every student exactly where they are. An hour with Francesca is worth its weight in gold.”
— Bree Barton —
Author of Heart of Thorns trilogy
“Francesca is an excellent teacher for novel-writers at every stage of the process. Balancing enthusiastic
encouragement with specific technical advice, she helped me finish my first draft. Her classroom is a safe and delightful space, especially for new writers. Her editing was truly insightful, pointing out adjustments I could make to improve my character arcs, structure, and tone. She’s efficient and a great communicator, and I hope to work with her again!”
— Susan Zeiger —
Professor of English, University of California, Riverside
Francesca Lia Block, M.F.A., is the author of more than twenty-five books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories and poetry, and has written screenplay adaptations of her work. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association and from the New York Times Book Review, School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly.
Her work has been translated into Italian, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Portuguese. Francesca has also published stories, poems, essays and interviews in The Los Angeles Times, The L.A. Review of Books, Spin, Nylon, Black Clock, The Fairy Tale Review and Rattle among others. In addition to writing, Francesca is a beloved and devoted teacher. She was named Writer-in-Residence at Pasadena City College in 2014 and in 2018-19 became a Visiting Assistant Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Redlands where she was a finalist for Professor of the Year award. Currently she teaches fiction at UCLA Extension, Antioch University, and privately in Los Angeles where she was born and raised.
Francesca can be found at francescaliablock.com.
