Instructor: Margaret Bates
Start Date: Monday, August 3, 2026
End Date: Friday, August 28, 2026
Type: Group.io
Duration: 4 Weeks
USD Fee: FF&P Member – $20; Non-Member – $25

With the variety of genres and subgenres emerging in ebooks, the lines between urban fantasy and paranormal romance seem to blur more than ever before. In this workshop, writers will learn what are the traditional differences between the two subgenres and the needed ingredients for both. We will also dive deep into reader expectations in PNR and UF, the way to include and then subvert character archetypes, and tips and tricks for keeping the pacing in these subgenres tight and rewarding.

About the Instructor: 

Margaret Bates graduated Magna Cum Laude from Duke University with a B.A. in psychology. Additionally, they were ABD while studying toward their Ph.D. in childhood development at The University of Alabama at Birmingham and hold a master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Baltimore. They have decades of experience in academic writing and editing. Also, they have worked with creative writing students as well as undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Baltimore’s writing center as an on-staff writing tutor.

Currently, they have returned to academia and are earning a master’s in professional writing from Towson University. Their research focus areas include both the ramifications of tropes in romance as well as how romance readers’ personal values drive their book-purchasing decisions. They also work with the Towson University Business Department as a writing tutor.

In the realm of fiction writing, they possess over ten years of experience as a ghostwriter and freelance editor, knowledge which gives them a keen eye for pacing, plotting, and character GMC based in psychological underpinnings. As an editor, they have contracted with Mascot Books and NineStar Press previously. They’ve also created a stable of well-respected writing workshops they’ve taught online for Contemporary Romance Writers and Savvy Authors. In October of 2024, they and Midnight Voss presented the workshop “Pacing, Plotting, and Pancakes: What Makes Readers Stop Reading” at the Maryland Writers’ Association annual conference.

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