A deep dive analysis into commonly recurring literary and rhetorical devices and motifs in storytelling, colloquially, referred to as "tropes." Using dozens of examples, we'll learn how to use them to heighten readers' investment in and affection for your characters and stories.

About MM Finck:

I'd need ten lives for everything I want to do and learn. Alas, with only one... I devour music. (Always looking for recommendations!) I love tv and movies. Among my all-time favorite shows are Wonder Years, Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, Friday Night Lights, Weeds, Entourage, and Game of Thrones. I volunteer-teach creative writing to elementary and middle school students. I'm also involved in the Women2Woman ("W2W") mentoring program. I'd have a whole herd of dogs if I could. Alas, I only have two. I'm a theatre bug. I can act but can't sing a note or follow the simplest dance step. No number of lives could remedy my absolute lack of rhythm. I'm a soccer enthusiast. USWNT #1! World Cup 2015! I enjoy cooking and wine, fashion and scented candles. When I'm in a bookstore, super glue couldn't keep my wallet in my bag. I get my work ethic, love of reading, and blue eyes from my mom. I learned more about storytelling from my dad than from any class, workshop, or book. My sense of timing and laugh came from him.

Like all bestselling authors, my roots are in finance. [Palm smacks forehead.] The theatrical setting of my novel FORGET WE MET was inspired by my time as the Assistant Controller of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where I ate lunch in the balcony overlooking rehearsals of the Bolshoi Ballet and led business meetings while the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and Christine Baranski strolled by. Try concentrating on your agenda when that happens. I was also a fund manager for Georgetown University and an instructor for an arts management institute, and spent many years on both coasts for a consulting firm.

I've written for several regional and national publicatons including personal favorite skirt! magazine. I contribute reguarly to WomenWriters,Women[‘s]Books literary magazine where I also run the INTERVIEWS and AGENTS' CORNER segments.

I enjoy guest blogging which I do quite a bit (i.e., Writer Unboxed, Musings from the Mug, Writers in the Storm, FridayFictionFriend... ) Among my favorites is this one - THE CREATIVITY TRINITY: TRUTH|EMPATHY|HOPE.

​* Dates subject to change.