All workshops and events will take place at the conference hotel, the Sonesta Irvine Hotel (formerly Wyndham), located at 17941 Von Karman Avenue, Irvine, CA 92614.
Workshops: Read & Critique
Early “Bard” Read & Critique (All-Genre)
Leader: TBA
Objective: Sunday 7 a.m. troubleshooting of potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
Query Letter Critique
Leader: Marla Miller
Objective: An exceptional query letter is what lands a manuscript request from an agent or acquisitions editor. But is the book you’re pitching in it an accurate description of the book you’ve written? Is it too long or filled with superfluous information that actually undermines a reader’s confidence in your potential? Bring in your no-more-than-1-page query letter and let “Pitch Witch” Marla Miller work her “magic” to make it the best it can be.
Read & Critique (All-Genre)
Leader: Grant Farley
Objective: Troubleshoot potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
Read & Critique (Memoir, Narrative & Straight Nonfiction)
Leader: Cherie Kephart
Objective: In this workshop, be prepared to experience reading and critiquing in a new way. Also, be ready to read aloud, listen intently, and support each other as we elevate our words to a more inspired level. Bring any writing up to five pages you want to work on. If you don’t have anything to share, you are absolutely welcome to join us, since there will be plenty of interesting of ways to participate and learn. While specifically geared toward non-fiction, fiction folks are welcome too.
Read & Critique: Perfecting Page One (All-Genre)
Leader: Gwendolyn Womack
Objective: During the workshop your page one will be read aloud by the workshop leader, followed by a group critique. Your page will remain anonymous. Please bring your page to the workshop and hand it over to Gwen at the door. Your page will be given a number, so that you can request the page back at the end.
Read & Critique (Cold Openings: Your First Five Pages)
Leader: Marla Miller
Objective: Most readers can determine if they’re in the hands of a quality writer within the first five pages. Experienced agents and editors require even less. Do your opening pages telegraph the story you’re trying to tell with skill and confidence or spell rejection out of hand? Let’s start at the beginning and find out in this troubleshooting workshop.
Read, Critique & Live to Write Another Day
Leaders: Melanie Hooks & Laura Perkins
Objective: Staff members and R&C vets Laura Perkins and Melanie Hooks walk you through critique-giving etiquette and their most helpful methods of interpreting ‘craft vs opinion’ notes, all while keeping your ego – and passion for your work – alive and well.
Rogue Read & Critique (All-Genre)
Leader: Laura Taylor
Objective: Troubleshoot potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
Rogue Read & Critique (Sci-Fi/Fantasy)
Leaders: Melanie Hooks & Laura Perkins
Objective: Troubleshoot potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
Workshops: Craft & Execution
Avoiding Stereotypes, Cliches, and the All-Too Common
Leader: Gayle Carline
Objective: Does your world-weary detective fight an uphill battle with his gruff police captain? Does your big-city young woman find true love when she moves back to her small hometown and opens a bakery? Maybe it’s time to think outside these boxes. This workshop will discuss the various ways to take the all-too common and make it special, crafting a unique story that will keep readers engaged.
Crafting Delicious Fiction Readers Will Crave
Leader: Kristine Fox
Objective: Have you ever wondered why readers are drawn to certain stories and books? Do you find yourself wanting to add that extra bit of spice? Learn what universal fantasy is, why to use it, and how to break every scene down and add that special flavor. Help readers connect more emotionally with your stories in tropes, characters, and plotline. We’ll practice different ways to flavor your fiction so readers can’t help but devour it.
Crafting Voice in Young Adult Fiction
Leader: Grant Farley
Objective: The first word. The first sentence. The first paragraph. It’s all about voice. The wished-for agent, the stern editor, and finally those faithful readers, are first drawn into your work through voice. It is what most separates one author from another. This is especially true in YA. But what exactly is voice? It’s not exactly style. Nor is it quite POV. We will explore voice through a close read of a variety of YA openings. Bring your own to share if you like. Writers of other genres are welcome, of course.
The End is Just the Beginning
Leader: Gayle Carline
Objective: If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never know when you arrive. Every writer has a different process for telling their story, but at some point, they need to know how it ends, and whether they’ve told the tale they intended. This workshop will discuss how to work toward a satisfying ending to your story, and what to look for in your manuscript to ensure it’s a tale told well.
Every Story is a Love Story
Leader: Ara Grigorian
Objective: Objective: Every story has an element of love, whether it’s a Romance (Outlander, Notting Hill), a story with a love interest sub-plot (Hunger Games), a buddy love (Jaws, Die Hard), or team love (Harry Potter, Avengers). In this session we’ll cover the various ways love is incorporated into all story types; how the theme of your story drives its heart and is tightly coupled with the lesson your main character(s) will learn during the journey; and explore how both structure and the associated story beats drive the love story. >>Details
Fine-Tune Your Fiction in a Flash: Techniques for More Impactful Writing
Leader: Mary Vensel White
Objective: Flash fiction is characterized by its brevity; these stories are often just a few hundred words or less. In this workshop, learn how writing in flashes can add depth, vividness and agency to your work. With examples and concentrated prompts, we’ll practice what the best of flash fiction does—accomplish a lot in a short amount of time—and we’ll learn how to infuse longer forms with the power of concise, compelling writing.
Mindfulness in Craft: Practices to Elevate Your Writing 1 & 2
Leaders: Cherie Kephart & Mary Vensel White
Objective: Mindfulness involves being in the present moment, but also the act of freeing ourselves from preconceived notions—about ourselves and our writing. How can you promote mindfulness in practical ways that will elevate and enhance your writing? Join us for this inspirational and instructive workshop, in which we’ll address how to practice mindfulness when approaching voice, character, dialogue, setting, and theme.
The Power of Shorts: Jump-Start Your Career by Writing Short Stories for Market
Leader: Kristine Fox
Objective: Want to be a writer, but not sure how to start? Does the business of writing feel overwhelming? Is there even a market for what you want to write? From cover to keywords, formatting to pricing, box sets to bestsellers, this USA TODAY Bestselling Author will outline the basics to take you from idea to publication quickly.
The Sagging Middle
Leader: Robert Yehling
Objective: We have a great beginning. An unforgettable ending is ready to write. So why does the all-important middle portion of stories and books often feel like slogging through quicksand? This session addresses the challenge, and presents proven strategies and techniques for turning that “sagging middle” into a fully ripped Act 2 of your book or story. We’ll look at adding or shedding new light on characters, adding subplots, building surprise scenes, and tightening and quickening pace to make the “muddle” as strong as it began — and support an even better closing act.
Slice of Life: Sculpting Your Memoir’s Story
Leader: Cherie Kephart
Objective: TBA.
Soul Therapy: The Spiritual Side of Writing Memoir
Leader: Cherie Kephart
Objective: Writing a memoir is a journey beyond words. It’s a soulful experience. Enter the unwritten and learn about writing a memoir from a spiritual vantage point. It’s about relinquishing the power your story has over you. By learning to let go of the story that is holding you back, you can craft the story you were meant to tell. In this workshop, we will explore the fears that block us, the truth behind our intentions for writing our stories, how to discover the real message we are communicating to the world, what to focus on, what to let go of, and how this entire experience transforms us.
Start-up Strategies: Building a Successful Series
Leader: Ara Grigorian
Objective: Take a look at the top 100 books in your category of choice. Chances are you’ll find a large number of those books are either a new series or part of a well-established series. Now look at the rankings of each book in the series. One thing will become clear — readers love series and they buy them in bunches. In this hands on workshop, we will first define what a series is, the different types of series that you could develop, and why some series are amazing and others… well, not so much. We will walk through the process of developing the overall series arc, potential ways to split up the series, and how to assure that each book in the series advances the overall story line while still delivering a satisfying read in each book. During the workshop, we’ll show real life examples and help you develop your idea and some will even pitch it to the class and get feedback. Come prepared with your concept.
The Storyteller’s Toolbox (Parts 1 & 2)
Leader: Janis Thomas
Objective: Whether you’re writing sci-fi, paranormal, coming of age, romance, or memoir, all stories have key elements that make them engaging reads. In this workshop, we will cover structure, character arc, beats, and other vital tools that will raise your story to a commercially viable level.
Structure in Memoir: How to Reveal the Universal Story Inside the Personal Narrative
Leader: Judy Reeves
Objective: Memoir, like any story, needs a structure upon which to build and from which to expand. It needs a construction with its own logic that holds the story together. Memoir isn’t autobiography. Memoir is a “slice of life” that has a beginning, middle and ending, but these aren’t birth and death and everything that happened in-between. In this workshop, we’ll look at some of the many ways a writer can structure her memoir—linear, framed, single-focus issue, collage, braided, circular, plus a few other surprising scaffolds. We’ll explore examples of the various structures and discuss why they work and how a writer can determine the most effective structure for the story that wants to be told.
Tell Me a Story: Using Fiction Techniques for Compelling Memoirs
Leader: Judy Reeves
Objective: When we say, “tell me a story,” what we really mean is transport me to another place and time where something interesting—maybe even captivating—is happening. We want something exciting or moving to occur, and we want to experience it right along with the characters. We want to get to know the characters, see what they look like and hear their voices. We want to learn about them through their actions and behavior. We want to be grounded in a place, at a particular time. It isn’t just in novels and short stories, we want all this—readers these days expect these story-telling qualities in our memoirs as well. In this workshop, we’ll discuss the various techniques good fiction writers use to shape their story and reveal their characters and learn how to apply them in our memoirs.
Time in Memoir—A Chronology of Its Own
Leader: Judy Reeves
Objective: Not every memoir is told in chronological order. In fact, most memoirs move both forward and backward in time, slip-sliding from past to present and back again. The most successful memoirs aren’t simply a recounting of events, but the memoirist’s discovery of the connections among events that were not necessarily sequential and weaving those events into a narrative that reveals a meaning deeper than a mere telling of this happened and then that. Flash back; flash forward; time leaps; “I, then and I, now;” child voice/adult voice; past tense/present tense; reflection/projection; time is fluid in the memoir. In this workshop, we’ll look at the ways a writer controls time to reveal patterns and meaning in telling their story.
What’s Your Story and Why?
Leader: Janis Thomas
Objective: The key to creating compelling, poignant fiction is to write from a place of openness and vulnerability, to allow ourselves—our strengths, weaknesses, beliefs, fears, joys, desires—our humanity to be seen through our characters. This workshop will invite you to take a good, long look at your first draft or work in progress and also a good look at yourself as a writer to highlight your What and Why and determine whether they’re coming together to create an emotionally impactful narrative. We’ll ask tough questions and dig below the surface of plot and character to get to the heart or your work and discover what your story is really about to ensure it has the intended visceral impact with your reader.
Please come with your current WIP and be prepared to share, to listen, and to write.
Writing For Your Reader – Do You Know Your Audience?
Leader: Ara Grigorian
Objective: Whether you plan to publish traditionally or otherwise, it has never been more important to truly understand your genre, your audience, and their expectations. But how do you write for the reader? By understanding the market your after before you’ve actually written. Marketing after the fact is like putting a large mane of hair on a cat. It may seem close, but you have not really produced a lion. Respect your audience, honor the genre — know what is expected and simplify the publication process.
Workshops: Business & Alternative
Build a Better Author Bio: A Powerful Tool to Attract Readers
Leader: Patricia Wilkinson
Objective: The author bio is often key to whether an editor, agent, or reader will read your work. Come find out what to include–and exclude–in a rockin’ author bio, practice what you learn, then give and get feedback for polishing. You’ll leave this workshop with a clear understanding of a bio’s objective across media and how to craft one that entices people to engage.
How to Make the Most of the Conference
Leader: Wes Albers
Objective: The vital relationships forged at any given SCWC often extend well beyond the close of any given conference weekend, ultimately resulting in many of our notable publishing success stories. In this interactive overview, learn how to navigate the schedule and best take advantage of opportunities over the conference weekend.
Humor, Satire & Irony: What Works and How
Leader: Mike Murphey
Objective: Regardless of your genre, harnessing the power of humor and satire can humanize and give depth to your characters, draw readers deeper into your world, and lend strength to the subtext of your story. Find out why dabbling in humor, can be daunting, and why it’s worth the effort. Bring a three or four-minute reading of your work, and see if you can make us laugh.
Indie Excellence: Glocalization and the Key to Survival
Leader: Laura Taylor
Objective: Two issues loom large on the Independent Author-Publisher horizon once a writer produces a beautifully written, skillfully edited book and makes it available for purchase: diversification and discoverability. Updated each conference with the latest information, this workshop is geared for writers who wish to globally expand their readership beyond Amazon and gain royalty income from a wide range of sources. >>Details
Intuitive Writing: Strengthening Your Sixth Sense at the Keyboard
Leader: Gwendolyn Womack
Objective: Creating stories is like creating dreams and it is an incredibly intuitive process. So as writers, the more we can train ourselves to build that intuitive muscle, the more it will help when we’re diving into characters’ psyches, figuring out plot and culling our imaginations to answer that age-old question: what happens next? This workshop will explore and discuss intuition in writing and offer lots of tips to tap into one’s subconscious and empower our muse.
Pitch Witch: What’s Your Book About?
Leader: Marla Miller
Objective: Whether you’re an author-publisher or are querying agents and editors, knowing how to summarize your story in as few words as possible is key to selling it. Commonly referred to as your “elevator pitch,” write it down and bring your best so “Pitch Witch” Marla Miller can work her “magic” to make it even shine.
Post Conference: Where Do You Go from Here?
Leader: Laura Taylor
Objective: TBA
Reboot Your Brain and Electrify Your Writing
Leader: Patricia Wilkinson
Objective: You’ve blocked the time to write—but the words don’t come together the way you’d hoped. Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, in this workshop, you’ll discover what your brain needs for you to think at your best. Then you’ll try several quick activities and tailor your own “brain reboot” to refresh your mind and boost your thinking power for writing.
Something to Talk About: Speaking Publicly About Your Book
Leader: Gayle Carline
Objective: Sooner or later an author must add public speaking to their toolkit, in order to increase their visibility. From launch parties to conference panels to solo speaking engagements, each event has its own requirements for success. This workshop will offer ideas for organizing material appropriate for each occasion, as well as how to overcome fear when making presentations to an audience. There will be an opportunity to practice in a supportive environment.
Panels, Appointments and Events
- Advance Submission One-on-One Consultations
- Book Launch: Intergalactic Exterminators, Inc. with Ash Bishop
- Path to Publication Panel
- No-host Mixer
- Special Guest Speaker: Ash Bishop
- Special Guest Speaker: TBA
- Special Guest Speaker: TBA
- Path to Publication Panel