AS OF 9/18/19
Workshops: Read & Critique
All-Genre
Leader: Teresa Burrell
Objective: Troubleshoot potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
All-Genre
Leader: Matthew J. Pallamary
Objective: Troubleshoot potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
Early “Bard” Read & Critique (All-Genre)
Leader: Jennifer Silva Redmond
Objective: Sunday 7 a.m. troubleshooting of potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
Mystery, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Leader: Christa Yelich-Koth
Objective: Troubleshoot potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
Rewrite & Critique
Leader: Darlene Quinn
Objective: Troubleshoot potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
Rewrite & Read
Leader: Darlene Quinn
Objective: Troubleshoot potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
Pitch Witches: Query Letter Critique (All-Genre)
Leaders: Marla Miller & Jennifer Silva Redmond
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 the “Pitch Witches” work their “magic” to make it the best it can be.
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)
Leaders: Matthew J. Pallamary
Objective: Troubleshoot potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
Rogue Read & Critique (All-Genre)
Leaders: Laura Taylor
Objective: Troubleshoot potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
Rogue 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.
Rogue Read & Critique (Sci-Fi/Fantasy)
Leaders: Melanie Hooks & Laura Perkins
Objective: Troubleshoot potentially problematic aspects of works-in-progress.
Workshops: Craft & Execution
7 Character Motivations You Need to Know
Leader: Janet F. Williams
Objective: Learn the seven motivations that drive behavior. You will discover how to focus on specific motivations and then combine them to create believable characters that think, feel, and act with conviction. You will find it easier to keep your characters “in character” and your story will take on better drive.
Backstory: Employing Expository Like a Screenwriter
Leader: Jennifer Silva Redmond
Objective: Learning how and when to give readers information about what came before page one. Clunky, obvious, “on the nose” expository is the bane of agents and editors—not to mention readers—and one of the chief reasons that manuscripts and books get put down, never to be picked up again. Readers want (and need) to learn about characters and situations as they go along, much as we learn about people and situations in real life. In this workshop you’ll learn how to integrate the backstory into your story by employing “character reveals,” “visual expository,” and some other screenwriting tricks. Bring the first two pages of your manuscript, short story, essay, or article—you may be called upon to share.
Bend Your Boundaries: Twisting Genres to Spin New Tales
Leader: Christa Yelich-Koth
Objective: To build a following, your book(s) need to be memorable. To do that, you must bend boundaries, twist genres, and bring readers something new. This will not only make your story stand out, but you as an author. This workshop will focus on pulling away from formulaic stories through a series of short writing exercises. Some work may also be shared at the end, not for critique, but to show how even with a similar foundation, uniqueness can spring up quickly.
Defining Genre: What Are You Really Writing?
Leader: Jean Jenkins
Objective: Writing a genre or a sub-group story but unsure of the word count? Or the body count? Where your story fits? Does it fit at all? This workshop will help you define genre and offer guidelines. Come armed with questions. Recommended for: fiction and narrative nonfiction writers.
Dialogue in Motion
Leader: Janis Thomas
Objective: Dialogue can be one of the most effective elements of story. When executed well, dialogue can drive a story forward, enrich key scenes, reveal character, and transform a narrative from a simple retelling to a powerful, moving, and engaging read. Conversely, when done improperly, dialogue can grind forward momentum to a screeching halt and expose the weaknesses in an author’s prose. Using tried and tested concepts and tools, this workshop will provide you with a comprehensive workable knowledge of dynamic dialogue creation that will help you raise your story to the next level.
First Page, Lasting Impression: A Hands-On Revision Workshop
Leaders: Greta Boris & Megan Haskell
Objective: Learn how to revise your novel by tackling that most important opening hook. Starting from word one, we’ll discuss what should and shouldn’t be in your first page, how that information applies to the rest of your novel, and best practices for your revision process. Bring the first 250 words of your current work in progress for a chance to be anonymously read and workshopped live in class. The single page should be typed, double spaced, with the working title at the top. Do not include your name!
The Forrest Gump Effect: Blending Fiction and Fact
Leader: Robert Yehling
Objective: Many writers utilize “faction,” the blending of fact and fiction in their novels and personal narratives. In this workshop we’ll explore how to successfully blend fact and fiction in effort to maximize verisimilitude for the reader, where to blur the details, and how to master copyright, accuracy and other fundamental issues.
Front Story: Pouring the Foundation of a Powerful Tale
Leaders: Ara Grigorian & Janis Thomas
Objective: Front Story is the foundation where the “A” story is fully fleshed out, the narrative elements keep the reader connected to the story, the main character, and her transformative journey. In this workshop you’ll learn what is expected (by an agent, editor, reader) and recommended when constructing your story’s Act I structure to better build beyond.
Immaculate Conception: Your Story’s DNA
Leader: Ara Grigorian
Objective: It all starts with the concept, the big idea, but is it one that can sustain the weight of a novel? Have you started a story only to find something’s missing; it’s not big enough, bold enough, even good enough? The middle feels more like a muddle? Often, the reason a story doesn’t work is because it started with an incomplete concept. A well defined concept is the DNA of story. It’s your story’s source of life. In this workshop you will learn practical methods to developing your story idea, and how to develop a solid concept (similar to a logline) that will serve as the spine for your entire story, with confidence.
Make Me Give a Damn: Crafting Characters Readers Care For
Leader: Janis Thomas
Objective: Objective: No matter the genre, the Main Character—the Who—is the single most effective way to engage readers—to make readers care. The plot is the vehicle that carries the character through the story, but the MC is the driver. So, who is your main character? In this workshop, we will discuss what elements your main character needs to A) lift him off the page, B) capture your reader’s imagination and C) demand your reader’s attention. You will be given specific and simple tools for character creation and development, and we will study the dynamics of your main character’s arc and transformative journey—because ultimately, that transformation is the reason your audience will give a damn. Get ready to dig in to your Who.
Novel by the Numbers
Leader: David Putnam
Objective: Bestselling thriller writer David Putnam covers topics like: the 4Cs of plot, the most-forgotten parts in: Motivation-Action-Reaction, and the 5 things a scene should do. After 40+ completed manuscripts, 4+ agents, and too many writing workshops and novels/how-to books to count, Deputy Dave shares his best tips for writing a page-turner.
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.
Story Beats: Your Story’s Pulse
Leader: Ara Grigorian
Objective: One tried-and-true method to becoming a better storyteller is to decompose and analyze favorite works (books, movies, etc.) like a surgeon until finding the inherent patterns that makes all stories flow. These internal patterns are story beats—the pulse of story. Story beats are the events, the decisions, or discoveries that alter the way our protagonist pursues her goal. This session will help you understand the core beats that all great stories share and apply them to your own.
Transformative Narrative: A Shamanic Approach to Story
Leader: Matthew J. Pallamary
Objective: Though based on the essence of what a story is, fiction, non-fiction, and memoir writers will benefit from this workshop which will bring a new perspective to understanding the elements that make solid, well-paced stories that promise to grab your audience and pull them all the way through to a satisfying climax and resolution. Learn how to bring your writing process into focus by demonstrating a unique method of comprehending the energetic dynamics that make up a well structured narrative.
Turning Moments into Memoir
Leader: Judy Reeves
Objective: Our lives are filled with moments, large and small, from which we emerge a different person. In this workshop, we’ll embark on expeditions to discover, uncover, recover those moments of change in our lives. Our next step will be to explore those moments, looking for connections and links that, when woven into a memoir, tell a story both personal and universal.
Writing the Micro Memoir: Life in a Flash
Leader: Judy Reeves
Objective: Within the fast-growing atmosphere of hybrid forms of literature and somewhere between the six-word memoir and the book-length memoir stands the Micro Memoir. Often called Flash Memoir, these tiny, beautiful stories aren’t life squeezed down to fit into few pages (or less), but a captured moment in a life that opens into deeper, meaningful insights into the human experience. In this workshop, we’ll read published examples of micro-memoirs — from those complete within a single sentence to those made up of a few hundred words — and try our hand at writing our own. Participants will leave the workshop with at least one micro-memoir, and seeds enough for a lifetime.
X-traordinary Sex Writing
Leader: Janet F. Williams
Objective: Writing sex scenes can be intimidating, even for seasoned authors. This session will inform attendees on the “ins and outs” of good sex writing, from mild to wild, straight or gay or whatever suits the mood. Expect graphic language, humor, and information designed to help authors change wooden scenes into writing readers crave. Workshop assignments will give you a new way to get started.
Workshops: Business & Alternative
The ABCs of LGBTQ+
Leader: Janet F. Williams
Objective: An abundance of LGBTQ+ writing has emerged onto the popular scene along with an expanded vocabulary. Come to this presentation to learn about the fast-changing LGBTQ+-related dos and don’ts for fiction and non-fiction markets including proper use of pronouns, smoothing out same-sex sex scenes, LGBTQ+ lingo, and a discussion of LGBTQ+ archetypes.
Behind the Scenes of Crime Writing
Leader: Jennifer Dornbush, Karen Stefano and Carl Vonderau
Objective: A panel discussion exploring research and other elements that take place behind the scenes of writing thrillers, mysteries and true crime books. Jennifer will address forensics, Karen the psychological aspects, and Carl the researching of killers’ children and the weird world of murderabilia.
Best Foot Forward: Polishing to Impress 1
Leader: Jean Jenkins
Objective: Limited to 12 participants, in this two-part workshop freelance editor Jean Jenkins analyzes your story idea, writing style, character motivation, sense of setting, character commitment, and all the other little things that agents and editors look for when reviewing pages. Submission of material prior to conference required. >>Details
Best Foot Forward: Polishing to Impress 2
Leader: Jean Jenkins
Objective: Limited to 12 participants. See above.
Content/Structural Editing—What It Is, When You Need It, and How to Prepare for It
Leader: Jennifer Silva Redmond
Objective: Long-time editor Jennifer Silva Redmond will explain what content/structural editing is and how it differs from line- or copy-editing. You’ll learn when your manuscript is ready for “big-picture” editing, and how to prepare your work for that first professional read. Whether you intend to submit your manuscript to interested agents and editors or are planning on self-publishing, this workshop is for you. It will also be of interest to the writer who’s been told they “think like an editor” and may want to become a content/structural editor.
Flash Fiction: What It Is, What It Isn’t, and Why You Should Write It
Leader: Mary Vensel White
Objective: By simple definition, flash fiction is fiction 1000 words or less, somewhere between a traditional short story and microfiction. But it’s a genre that’s deceptively complex. It can and should include elements of poetry and narrative, and somehow, it should accomplish pretty much everything a longer story does. In this workshop, we’ll look at the wild and wonderful world of flash fiction. Participants will have the opportunity to write and share a very short piece based on prompts, and we’ll discuss how the practice of writing these short, impactful fictions can serve as important cross training for writing in longer genres.
Pitch Witches: What’s Your Book About?
Leaders: Marla Miller & Jennifer Silva Redmond
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 Witches” Marla Miller and Jennifer Silva Redmond can work their “magic” to make it even shine.
Post Conference: Where Do You Go from Here?
Leader: Laura Taylor
Objective: TBA
Write from the Heart: Igniting Your Creative Spirit
Leader: Jeffrey J. Michaels
Objective: Successful creative writers rely on the ability to consistently access clear inspiration in their works. The word “inspiration” shares its origins with the words “breath” and “spirit.” The development of this creative spirit must become as natural as breathing in your evolving skills as a writer. This workshop will assist in integrating the diverse elements and experiences of the weekend, and encourage you to re-ignite your creative spirit by Writing from the Heart.
Writing Out Loud: The Ins and Outs of Audiobooks
Leaders: Tom Jordan & Mary Vensel White
Objective: Audiobooks are the fastest growing area of consumer publishing, with Publishers Weekly reporting a 22.7% revenue jump in 2018. In this panel discussion, we’ll look at the history of audiobooks, along with current trends and statistics. And we’ll break down the process of producing an audiobook—including costs, finding a suitable narrator, and marketing techniques.
Workshops: Path to Publication
$0 to Six-figures in 7 ‘Not-So-Easy’ Steps: Strategies
Leader: Teresa Burrell
Objective: Writing as a business or a hobby? Learn how to make writing your day job. This workshop is for writers who want to make money. If you have multiple books or are just starting your first one, you need to know the “business” of being an author, and the sooner you start the better. Writing is fun, but making a living at it is totally awesome!
$0 to Six-figures in 7 ‘Not-So-Easy’ Steps: Tactics
Leader: Teresa Burrell
Objective: This workshop will not be a repeat of the strategy session. It will be a more in-depth look at each step. It is designed to give writers the tools they need to work the steps efficiently.
21st Century Publishing Options Expanded
Leader: Marla Miller
Objective: This workshop offers current content about writers’ publishing options in the 21st century. Hybrid publishers have been added to the mix that includes traditional publishing, self-publishing and small publishers. What is hybrid publishing? Simply defined as cooperative publishing, this kind of publisher straddles traditional and self publishing. Attend this workshop to determine if your project is right for this co-operative press.
Acorn Publishing: Exploring the Benefits of Hybrid Publishing
Leader: Holly Kammier & Lacey Impellizeri
Objective: In an ever-changing industry, hybrid publishing is a new concept. Combining traditional publication expertise and cover appeal with the benefits that come with publishing independently, in this workshop the owners of Acorn Publishing will lead authors through the process, from submission to published novel, of cost-effectively self-publishing vetted, quality books under an established collective imprint–Acorn–while enabling them to retain all rights to their work and collect 100% of their profit.
Before the Book: Creating Your Online Persona
Leader: Indy Quillen
Objective: As a writer, you are told you need an online persona long before that first book gets published. But how do you do that without a book? In this workshop you’ll learn how building your persona is about more than “just the book”. Indy will help you explore the many online options available, and supply tools to aid you in the discovery of your own unique avenue to follow. A sampling of the topics to be covered include: How do I discover and define my own persona? What Social Media venues should I use? Why will my path be different? Do I need a blog? What do I blog about? How will I tie my books to my personality?
Blast Off: Preparing Your Book Launch
Leaders: Ara Grigorian & August Norman
Objective: Launching a book is more than just tweeting or posting “BUY NOW!” on Facebook; more than a book signing or a well-timed mailing list. It’s everything and more, all coming together in an orchestration of timing, communications, and activities to assure you’ve prepared your target market and know how to use tools and services that excite readers up to and through the launch. In this workshop, Ara (originally traditionally published and now through his own imprint) and August (whose debut novel is traditionally published) will share best practices, tips and tricks, tools and services, dos and don’ts, successes and disasters, and everything in between to help you prepare for the event that literally puts your book on the map!
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. 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
Outside-the-Box Book Marketing
Leader: Mary St. John-Putnam
Objective: Whether you’ve got just an idea, a completed manuscript, or several books published, it’s never too early (or too late) to market yourself and your books. While some publishers may do a little book promotion for you, unless you’re already famous, to sell books you’ll need to find fun and creative ways to get the word out. We’ll discuss how to select the appropriate tools and how to make the most of your time and dollars for your comfort level. With handouts and hands-on exercises for beefing up your pitch, your personal brand, and your marketing plan, we’ll put some fun back in marketing fun-da-mentals.
[SCWC Exclusive] The Publisher Is In: Your Post-Conference Publishing Plan
There is no single right way to write a great book–only an infinite number of wrong ways. The same holds true for publishing a great book, today more than ever before. In addition to our Path to Publication sessions, this is an exclusive opportunity for writers to spend 15 minutes of one-on-one time strategizing with Acorn Publishing co-founder Holly Kammier and project manager & marketing director Lacey Impellizeri on which path is specifically viable for them. There is no additional fee to book an appointment, but only a limited number of slots are available on a first come, first served basis. >>Details
Panels, Appointments and Events
- Advance Submission One-on-One Consultations
- No-host Mixer
- Special Guest Speaker: Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
- Special Guest Speaker: August Norman (Norm Thoeming)
- Special Guest Speaker: Kali Wallace
- Special Guest Speaker: Jonathan Yanez
- State of the Agent Panel