Morning Sessions:

• 21 Days to a Novel - Michael A. Stackpole

  • ​New York Times Bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole presents his three week program for preparing yourself to write a novel. This set of 21 exercises is broken down to give you everything from character creation to world building, practical plotting devices, dialogue development and character voice creation tools. This program is a practical, kick-in-the-pants place to start your career.

• Prepublication timeline of a bestselling indie author - Michaelbrent Collings

  • ​Michaelbrent Collings' books have sold well into six figures - without a publisher, PR firm, or marketing team. Find out what he does prepublication (from inception to launch) in order to maximize exposure, get reviews, and sell books!

• Expand! Contract! The Dance of the Well-Paced Story - Angie Hodapp and Warren Hammond

  • ​A well-paced story takes the reader on a journey over peaks and valleys of tension and emotional complexity. In this workshop, you’ll learn strategies for maximizing dramatic effect through narrative expansion and contraction.

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Afternoon Sessions:

• Fast Fiction: Write Short Stories and Flash Fiction and Get Paid - Bryan Young

  • ​Bryan Young of StarWars.com and Syfy walks attendees through techniques and approaches to writing short stories and flash fiction with an eye on emerging markets and niche publishing. Attendees will leave this interactive workshop with a finished story that could potentially make money and the tools and knowledge needed to take the first steps.

• Hodapp Hammond Story Clinic - Angie Hodapp and Warren Hammond

  • ​Agents and editors often read submissions in which it’s clear the writer can produce beautiful prose, introduce an evocative premise, or develop interesting characters. But keeping a story tight, well-structured, and on-track for 300 to 400 pages? That’s hard! And it’s where a lot of writers—even multi-published ones—have to work the hardest. If you have an idea for a novel that you haven’t started writing yet, or if you’re stuck halfway through your manuscript unsure of how it should end, or if you have a completed novel that feels like it’s still not working, then this is the workshop for you. Story-structure experts Warren Hammond and Angie Hodapp will help you pinpoint your plot problem; define and heighten the tension at major turning points; evaluate your use of your genre’s tropes; and zero in on your use of internal and external conflict, scene tension, and character arcs to get you going in your story’s best direction. *Requires pre-conference submission, reading of other's work, and is limited to 10 participants.

• What to do after THE END: Editing, Pitching, and Querying - Chantelle Aimée Osman

  • ​In this interactive workshop, we’ll first go over the top mistakes that editors find and correct in author’s manuscripts— from grammar to dialogue—giving you the edge of a polished final product. Then, we’ll discuss the elements of the perfect pitch and query. Most authors know how to write—until it comes to writing about themselves and their work. Learning the key elements, attendees will have the opportunity to refine their pitch and then give it live, to get feedback and hone it to the perfect pitch. Please bring your existing query letter, pitch (if different), and the first 1-2 pages of your manuscript, with enough copies for the class.