Track/Presenter Workshop Description

Beginner

Donald Hewitt 

  Relationships Good relationships are wonderful in real life but make for boring stories!
Complicated, messy relationships are the key to dynamic stories! We'll examine great stories to see how complex relationships bring the characters and story to life. I will show you the essential elements to creating powerful, meaningful relationships in your story.

Memoir

Karen Richardson

 How to Create Compelling Characters from Real Life People  Long dead and misunderstood? Or perhaps, anonymous and enigmatic? Whatever their stories, learn how to bring those sepia and black-and-white characters into relatable - and more importantly - flawed and sympathetic technicolor protagonists and antagonists. Your story depends on it.

Novel Writing

 Jordan Rosenfeld

 Transforming Fact into Fiction: Writing a Novel From Real Events  Everyone has or knows a great story that really happened. However, not all reality makes for great fiction. This workshop will provide you with the essentials of writing a strong story, with tips on how to transform real people into compelling characters and events into powerful plots.  

Non-Fiction

Diane Auten 

 Beginning your Author Journey  Becoming a successful author and writer takes time, care, and planning. In this session, Diane will share her journey from having a seed of an idea to publishing an Author Academy Award nominated book. She will share things she wish she knew when she was just starting out, and things you can do today to start moving towards your goal of becoming an author. 

Poetry

Janice Konstantinidis 

 Learning the Licks and the Tricks of Limericks 

Do you see the word limerick and think ‘bawdy?’. What would happen if you could use the limerick form as an expression of a philosophical contemplation?

Learn new methods of expressing your ideas and passions through the medium of the limerick. Nobody ever said that a passion couldn’t elicit a smile.

Discover how to make comedic verse work for you in a way that conventional poetry may not. Learn how to discipline yourself - to make every syllable count.

Young Adult and Childrens

Mark Parsons 

 Tips From the Trenches  In this workshop, Mark Parsons will discuss lessons learned from 20+ years of observing and participating in the publishing industry as a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. It covers things such as What Editors Really Want, The Importance of Self-Assignments, The Obligatory Bad First Novel, and The Two Rules of a Strong Manuscript.

Marketing

Eldonna Edwards 

 Marketing for Introverts  Most of us have a love-hate relationship with marketing and social media. As an ambivert, Eldonna has learned to overcome the challenges of balancing promotion with much-needed quiet and creative respite. In this workshop, you’ll learn to employ proven methods for gaining publicity for your project that require minimal social exposure and result in maximum results.

Writing for the Screen

 Linda Aronson

 New Structures for New Audiences: Nonlinear, flashback and multiple protagonist storytelling - Pt. 2  Do you have a great story that just won’t work in the traditional one-hero, three-act structure? Linda Aronson's internationally-acclaimed master class explains how writers can construct scripts that don’t fit the conventional linear, chronological one-hero three-act model, and instead use nonlinearity, flashback, and Pulp-Fiction style multiple fractured storylines. She shows how films like Pulp Fiction, Memento, Inception, Atonement, 21 Grams and many more all work to patterns based on multiplying, fracturing, and reconstructing multiple three-act structure stories in very specific ways.

Publishing and Agents

Kathryn Blanche

 Patreon for Authors  Introducing writers and authors to Patreon. How to use Patreon to supplement your income, plus other tips for getting your Patreon page started.