
Presenters
William Kenower
Writing Coach and Keynote Speaker
Fearless Marketing
Most writers’ love of storytelling does not easily translate to marketing those stories once they are published. Unfortunately, authors are increasingly responsible for their own marketing, a task most writers find boring, irritating, depressing, and often fruitless. In this class, William Kenower will turn marketing on its head so that authors can take the skills and passion they have for writing and learn how to apply them to marketing.
Fearless Writing (Big Workshop)
If you love to write and have a story you want to tell, the only thing that can truly stand between you and the success you’re seeking isn’t craft, or a good agent, or enough Facebook friends and Instagram followers, but fear. Fear that you aren’t good enough, or fear the market is too crowded, or fear no one wants to hear from you.
Fortunately, you can’t write and be afraid simultaneously. The question is whether you will write fearlessly on purpose. In this workshop we’ll look at several techniques you can you use to keep yourself in the creative flow and out of the trouble and misery fear always causes.
Using William Kenower’s unique, inside-out approach to writing, students will learn:
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About the mother of all writing fears.
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The only two questions writers should ever ask themselves.
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That writing is listening, not thinking.
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That you don’t need to wonder if your writing is “any good.”
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Why writers must pay attention to how they feel.
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That you have an unerring guidance system.
You were born fearless. This workshop will help you practice remembering who you’ve always been.
The Dream is Real (Lunch session)
For most people, writing professionally is a big dream. Unfortunately, for too many writers it stays just that, something that will happen “some day,” when someone deems their work valuable enough to share with others. It needn’t be this way. In this lecture I’ll look at how all dreams are as real within us as the stories we’re telling, and our only job is to bring them forward.
Kay Kenyon
WOTR Founding Member and Sci-Fi & Fantasy Writer
Classic Storytelling: Plotting the Genre Novel
How to optimize a novel-length story using dramatic interest, skillful pacing, and character growth.
In this workshop, learn strategies to build a winning character and tie him or her to a compelling story problem; the splendid variety of sources of opposition; turning points and how they help to maintain story momentum; and the classic structure of the novel and how it interweaves with character growth. Plotting usually requires a demanding skill set. Learn a classic approach in this workshop for new and intermediate level writers.
Susan Blair
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Read a Poem to Write a Poem
The poet Mary Oliver said, “But to write well it is entirely necessary to read widely and deeply. Good poems are the best teachers. Perhaps they are the only teachers.” In this workshop we will read and discuss several poems with the goal of discovering what makes them succeed. What do we see that’s fresh, that’s startling, that makes us ask ourselves, “why can’t I write like that?” Then we’ll try writing “like that,” analyzing the poets’ uses of craft elements and developing our own. For poets and writers at all levels.
Jason Brick
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First Page Critique: He Said/She Said ($)
With Jason Brick and Rachel Letofsky.
Note: this session is open to all, but there is a $20 add-on cost to have a page of your writing critiqued. See ticket pricing for details.
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Your Author Brand: What, Why, and How to Make it Known
With AI taking over anonymous blog posts and series work, authors succeed more than ever on the relationship they have with their fans. This talk covers the basics of forging those relationships with three levels of fans, mentors, and prospects, and how to make yourself stand out among those who wish they were your equals. You'll leave the class with an action plan for how to build your personal brand as an author and get it out in the world over the next 12 months.
Self Publishing Success in the Post-2020 World
A lot has changed about self publishing since 2000. A lot of that change is good for writers. Some of it is pretty bad. This talk will go over those changes, and cover the most effective models of self-publishing success for the coming decades. You'll leave the class with a good idea of which route works best for your vision, and with a 12-month to-do list that moves you toward that goal.
Scott Driscoll
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Characters and Quests:
How to Make Sure Something Happens That Matters
This session will explore how to set up story situations that will inspire your main characters to embark on high value quests. Looking at examples drawn from stories, we will: 1) look at what turns a disturbing event into an inciting incident that sparks a quest; 2) learn how to connect the disturbance to a character’s deeply held value so that there is plenty at stake; 3) learn how to turn the disturbance into a dilemma for the character by pitting a stated desire against an internalized contradictory desire.
Participants outcomes:
1) Learn how to connect your main character to a disturbance
2) Learn how to connect a character to a value
3) Learn how to establish what’s at stake
4) Learn how to present your character with a dilemma at the outset of the
quest.
Novel Writing: Three Ways to Structure a Story Line
This session will be devoted to exploring first how to organize a novel-length story in three acts so there is an engaging progression from the beginning, through the middle, to an end with a satisfying reversal. We will next look at a conventional plot chart and illustrate how it aligns with the basic three-act structure. Finally, we’ll look at two commonly used variations, the hero’s journey and the heroine’s journey, and explore how their return journeys align with a three-act structure. As time permits, we’ll look at examples from stories.
Participant Outcomes:
1) Learn the three-act structure
2) Learn to adapt to a conventional plot chart
3) Learn the Hero’s Journey variations
4) Learn the Heroine’s Journey variations.
MaxieJane Frazier
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Short Stories:
More info coming soon...
Science Fiction:
A workshop based off Emily Dickinson's poem 1263 "Tell all the truth but tell it slant" where we can workshop how world-building and character development in made up systems can be commentary on real life.
Dan Gemeinhart
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Setting the Hook: How to Write a Great First Chapter to grab Middle Grade/Young Adult Readers
Learn the do's and don't's of how to construct a killer opening chapter that will hook readers — and agents and editors! — to keep them turning the pages of your middle grade or young adult novel.
Elena Hartwell
Editor
Panel: Q&A: Ask an Agent/Editor
With Rachel Letofsky, Elena Hartwell, and Lynne Pearson.
Rachel Letofsky
Agent
First Page Critique: He Said/She Said ($)
With Jason Brick and Rachel Letofsky.
Note: this session is open to all, but there is a $20 add-on cost to have a page of your writing critiqued. See ticket pricing for details.
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Panel: Q&A: Ask an Agent/Editor
With Rachel Letofsky, Elena Hartwell, and Lynne Pearson.
Lynne Pearson
Editor and Romance Author
The Power of Love: Writing Impactful Romance Novels
This workshop will include a discussion of the following:
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Love story vs. romance
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Building intimacy
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Choosing the right words
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Tension, chemistry & heat
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Incorporating the romantic arc
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Hallmarks of a good romance
Query Your Query Letter
In this session, Lynne will review up to 5 pre-submissions, and if there is time, will provide feedback for those participants who bring their query letters to the session.
Panel: Q&A: Ask an Agent/Editor
With Rachel Letofsky, Elena Hartwell, and Lynne Pearson.
Derek Sheffield
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Nature Writing Now
We humans have been writing about the natural world since we first started scratching images into rock, and by now, there are some worn out conventions that make it a more challenging pursuit, comparable perhaps to beginning a series of love sonnets. In this workshop, we will examine some different ways, in both poetry and prose, to write with surprise, complexity, and vitality about the more-than-human world.
Ana Maria Spagna
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Where Stories Converge


Most personal narratives tell more than one story at a time (think
 subplot or backstory in memoir, scientific information in a nature essay, or cultural information in 
a travel essay).
This presentation explores the advantages of telling more than one story, and the ways that doing so can create unexpected
connections, both actual and metaphorical, that add depth and 
resonance to your work. We’ll discuss ways of weaving stories
together, allowing them to meander rather than forcing them to connect
where they don’t, letting them run alongside each other like 
tributaries in a river.
Finally, we’ll home in on the critical
 moment, or moments, in a piece, where the stories converge.


The Telling Part: Reflection in Memoir


Memoir does two things: tells a story from the 
past and tries to make sense of the past.
Storytelling is the showing 
part of the equation since it requires you to use familiar
 tools—dialogue, character description, setting description—to create
scenes.
Reflection, or trying to make sense of the past, is something
 entirely different, something largely unique to memoir. It requires
 ruminating on the page, thinking aloud, sifting through thoughts and
 feelings from your own unique point of view. Reflection, in other
words, is the telling part.
In this presentation we’ll examine 
several different techniques memoirists use when writing reflection:
“now” reflection, “then” reflection, “we” reflection, humorous,
 analytical and lyrical reflection, and finally, reflection on the
nature of memory itself.
Session Choices
Conference attendees may choose one preferred presentation/workshop per session.
NOTE: Presentation space may be limited, preferred choices are not guaranteed, and will be filled by event staff on a first-request basis. Session preferences are recorded at time of ticket purchase.
Session 1
Saturday, 9:15-10:30am
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Jason Brick — Your Author Brand: What Why and How to Make it Known
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Ana Maria Spagna — The Telling Part: Reflection in Memoir
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Kay Kenyon — Classic Storytelling: Plotting the Genre Novel
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Scott Driscoll — Characters and Quests: How to Make Sure Something Happens that Matters
Session 2
Saturday, 10:45am-12pm
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William Kenower — Marketing for Authors Who Hate Marketing
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Ana Maria Spagna — Writing Essays & Non-Fiction: Where Stories Converge
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Panel — Q&A: Ask an Agent/Editor
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Dan Gemeinhart — Setting the Hook: How to Write a Great First Chapter to grab Middle Grade / Young Adult Readers
Session 3
Saturday, 1:45-3pm
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Lynne Pearson — Query Your Query Letters
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Derek Sheffield — Nature Writing Now
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MaxieJane Frazier — Writing Science Fiction
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Scott Driscoll — Novel Writing: Three Ways to Structure a Story Line
Session 4
Saturday, 3:30-5pm
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Jason Brick — Self-Publishing success in the Post-2020 World
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Susan Blair — Read a Poem to Write a Poem
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MaxieJane Frazier — Fiercely Flash
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Lynne Pearson — The Power of Love: Writing Impactful Romance Novels