SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19TH SESSIONS
We have over 35 speakers and 40+ breakout sessions. Read through the descriptions below to help decide which ones you want to attend!
OPENING KEYNOTE: The Power of Storytelling
FAITH PHILLIPS | SCREENWRITER & FILMMAKER
Using History to Animate Storytelling
JD COLBERT | HISTORICAL FICTION
In this session JD will talk about using history to craft compelling stories. There will be a focus on the stories of Mvskoke-Creek allottees and will delve into readily available research methods and sources. This class will explore importance of having a working knowledge of Mvskoke-Creek culture and language (or whichever culture you may be writing about) to fully grasps these historical events. JD will use his book, Between Two Fires: The Creek Murders and the Birth of the Oil Capital of the World as an example of animating these historic stories.
Empowering Our Stories: Native Media Trends
REEL INDIGENOUS PODCAST || TVLI JACOBS | ANGELA STARTZ | SUNRISE TIPPECONNIE
Writing for Teens
CASIE BAZAY | YA
How is writing for teens different than writing for adults? Whether you want to write young adult fantasy, romance, contemporary or any other genre, there are several key components that all YA novels need to have. In this session with YA author, Casie Bazay, find out how to create the right concept, tone, voice, and pacing that will keep teen readers engaged.
How To Write the Story You Were Born To Tell
SANDY THARP-THEE| CHILDREN'S
While there are many stories an author could write, the secret to a successful book is often telling the story no one but you could tell. Come learn how to draw on your culture, history, and life to write a children’s book that will resonate with readers.
Adapt & Pitch Your Books for Film & Television
FAITH PHILLIPS| SCRIPTWRITING | NONFICTION |
In this session, author and filmmaker Faith Phillips will guide writers through the process of adapting their books for film and television. Attendees will learn key strategies for transforming their stories into screen-ready content and crafting compelling pitches tailored for the entertainment industry. With practical insights from Phillips’ extensive experience in media, this session will equip writers with the tools to navigate the world of book-to-screen adaptations and successfully pitch their projects to producers and studios.
Spelltastic Poetry: Unleashing the Magic of Words
PHETOTE MSHAIRI | POETRY
Spelltastic Poetry: Unleashing the Magic of Words is an interactive workshop exploring the transformative power of language. Discover how words can shape reality, heal, build, destroy, and inspire through engaging discussions and creative activities. Unleash your inner wordsmith and craft your own powerful spells!
Crafting Memoirs that Inspire: Telling Your Story with Power and Purpose
ALTON CARTER | NONFICTION
Discover the art of writing memoirs that not only capture your personal journey but also inspire and resonate with readers. In this session, we’ll explore the nuances of memoir writing, from selecting the most impactful moments to balancing honesty with vulnerability. Learn techniques for powerfully crafting your story while understanding how to connect your unique experiences to universal themes that evoke emotion and inspire change in others.
World Building: From Subtle to Unrecognizable
JES MCCUTCHEN | SCI-FI | FANTASY
So You Want to Write for Magazines--and Maybe Get Some Free Food!
DR. ERIC HOWERTON | OSU PROFESSOR/WRITER
OSU professor/writer Eric Howerton will share insights accumulated from over 20 years of penning features, profiles, and reviews for Southwestern tourism magazines and alternative weeklies. With a background in professional journalism and creative writing, Eric will speak about authorial mindset, establishing a vision for articles, and making pitches to editors. Attendees will leave this talk with a deeper understanding of: methodologies for approaching restaurant reviews; interviewing strategies; performing research; shaping your piece into publishable form; and maintaining good relationships with editors.
Unleashing the Power of Narrative to Bridge Differences
POLLY BASORE WENZL | NARRATIVE JOURNALIST
This session is adapted from Polly’s university honors seminar called “The Power of Storytelling,” which explains how and why narrative storytelling generates empathy—and how this can be used for both good and bad purposes. In 2023, she put these theories to the test while serving as editor of an online nonprofit news outlet, writing a series of narrative profiles about people living on the margins. The stories were exceptionally popular, drawing ten times the traffic of traditional news stories. The subjects of these stories were unusually vulnerable in sharing their lives, but every person reported a positive reaction from the public. This session will explain why narratives are so powerful and how writers should structure stories to harness that power.
POV: Let Your Protagonist Lead the Way
LARA BERNHARDT | ADMISSION PRESS
No matter which viewpoint you choose for your story, the protagonist is the reader’s guide. How do you ensure your protagonist is the best possible guide for your audience? In this session we will explore different types of viewpoints as well as how to choose the best POV for your story. We will also discuss “idiot plots,” passive protagonists, and other frustrating guides—and how to avoid them.
Writing Dynamic Dialogue
WILLIAM BERNHARDT | THRILLER | POETRY | NONFICTION
Dynamic dialogue can turn an ordinary novel into a delightful read. In this session, bestselling author William Bernhardt, explains his techniques for making characters come to life through their words. He will also discuss matching character and dialogue, avoiding dialogue that’s “on-the-nose,” and the value of using dialogue to suggest what no one will say aloud.
Children's Books in the Modern Era: Trends & Tips
JEANNE DEVLIN | ROADRUNNER PRESS
As a member of the Children’s Book Council, Jeanne can provide valuable insights into the evolving world of children’s publishing, highlighting key trends and offering practical advice for writers aiming to break into this genre.
Short Story Craft: Nailing Your Scenes
SAMANTHA RYAN | FICTION
The short story is a powerful tool that writers often underuse. Not only can a short story be harnessed as a resume builder, but it can serve as a crash course in prose, forcing a writer to face their own cracks in their craft. The short story format is a great way to examine how dialogue is developed, how description enhances or how tone should be immediate – from the first line to the last word. In this session, we’ll discuss how short story constraints can be used to challenge your writing and think outside your own box.
Plot a Novel in Less Than an Hour
JENNIFER SNEED | CHILDREN'S | YA
This session is ideal for novice and experienced writers who want to better understand plotting. This will be a collaborative and fun exercise in plotting a novel. You don’t need to have a pre-existing plot idea to participate, but it’s OK if you do. Writers of all genres of adult fiction, young adult and middle grade fiction are welcome. If you get stuck, you can call on others to help brainstorm ideas. You’ll learn a bit about story structure, but hopefully your main takeaway will be a willingness to play with story.
Unlocking Romantasy: Writing the Hottest Genre
KRISTIN HAMBLIN | ROMANTASY
Romantasy is currently one of the top-selling fiction genres, but what is it and how can you benefit from it? In this class, we’ll define the genre, look at its rise in popularity, and learn how to incorporate it in our own work and marketing.
Criminal Thinking for Writers
MERLE DAVENPORT | FICTION | NONFICTION
Ever wonder what your villain is thinking? So does your reader. Knowing how villains think is key to knowing what they say and how they behave. After 25 years working inside a prison, and numerous graduate papers on the topic, Merle Davenport will share what he has learned about criminal thinking and how you can apply it to your villain.
Seeking 3D Main Characters
TWYLABETH LAMBERT | FAWKES PRESS ACQUIRING EDITOR
Create whole-person main characters who feel “real”—with depth, dimension, and personalities that create credible decision (and plot) drivers. And when you have a full cast of characters, each one needs a unique voice as well as texture and layers in personality. We’ll look at how narration, POV, dialogue and more can work together to create a distinct sense of identity for each character, and how popular personality tests can help make personality feel authentic for readers. We’ll also touch on how much is too much for your story or genre.
Making Satisfying Character Arcs with Plottr
CAMERON SUTTER | PLOTTR
In this breakout session, join the founder of Plottr, an innovative software designed for novel plotting, as they guide you through the process of creating compelling and satisfying character arcs. Learn how to use Plottr’s visual tools to map your character’s emotional journey, track development across your story, and ensure a deep, engaging connection with your readers. Whether you’re a pantser or a plotter, this session will provide actionable insights to elevate your storytelling. Suitable for all experience levels.
Painting Pictures with Your Words
TONY B | POETRY
How Tabletop RPG can Help You Define Your Characters
KATRINA SCHROEDER | EDITOR & BOOK COACH | FICTION | FANTASY | SCIFI | WESTERN
Unlock the secrets to building dynamic, multi-layered characters through the lens of tabletop RPGs in this engaging sessions. Adapted from Katrina’s workshop, Dungeons and Dragons for Writers, in this session, you’ll explore how elements of role-playing games, such as backstory, motivation, and in-game decision-making, can sharpen your character development in storytelling. With interactive exercises, you’ll learn to better define your characters, bringing them to life with greater depth and relatability. This session will help writers implement these creative techniques into their own writing practice and personal projects.
Adding Spark to Sweet Romance
AMY LILLARD | MYSTERY | ROMANCE
Christian and clean are all the rage in the romance world. But just because they are ‘sweet’ doesn’t mean they have to be vanilla. Come learn how to take a no-sex romance and add a little spark. Also helpful to writers of other genres who may need to add a bit of romance to their mystery, sci-fi, western, etc.
The Craft of Screenwriting
TYLER HUFFMAN | SCREENWRITER
The craft of screenwriting can be a daunting one for someone unfamiliar with how the words on the page translate from motionless ink to moving images on screen. Hi, I’m Tyler Huffman, the screenwriter for the Crackle Original film “A Great North Christmas” and writer on the team that brought you Centuries Collide: American History. In my session I would examine the open first page of the 1988 film “Die Hard” and how in this one page we are given a wealth of information about character, story, and tone without any extraneous work. I will show the scene as well as the page from the script and talk about how the writer chose to convey the information and how that information gets translated to the final product. This is important for screenwriters to understand as it helps them know what information needs to be on the page in order for the director and crew to bring it to life. We will also touch briefly on the format of the page as to familiarize the group with how a screenplay is laid out.
Using Universal Fantasies To Create Universal Appeal
KAT LEWIS | THRILLER & ROMANTASY
Do you want direct insight into the buying patterns, interest, and soul of your reader? Universal Fantasies are the way to do that! An integration of emotional and psychological triggers, traumas, and thought patterns, Universal Fantasies give a direct roadmap into the heart of your reader and can help you write a book that deeply resonates. Join us as we breakdown the way that Disney & Marvel harness Universal Fantasies to create character arcs, invert trope usage, and influence marketing tactics to deliver stories with high impact and appeal and find the right audience every single time.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20TH SESSIONS
OPENING SESSION: Publishing Today Panel
AUDITORIUM | 9:00AM
TWYLABETH LAMBERT | FAWKES PRESS ACQUIRING EDITOR || JEANNE DEVLIN | ROADRUNNER PRESS || LARA BERNHARDT | ADMISSION PRESS || JENNIFER SNEED |SELF-PUBLISHING || AMY LE | HYBRID-PUBLISHING ||
The publishing world continues to change rapidly with major houses mergeing or closing imprints amidst the surge of self-publishing. This panel of pub from all walks of life
Law School for Writers: Copyright, Trademark, Defamation, Publishing Contracts and Much More
WILLIAM BERNHARDT | THRILLER | NONFICTION | POETRY
Let William Bernhardt, NYT-bestselling author (The Last Chance Lawyer) and lawyer (Order of the Coif; former partner at Oklahoma’s largest firm) explain what you need to know about legal issues that worry writers. You’ll learn how to protect your rights, including copyright and trademark, how to protect yourself against lawsuits, and what to watch for in contracts before you sign them, and more.
Which Avenue to Publishing is Right for You?
JUDE BAYTON | MYSTERY
As an author who has been published by both a small traditional press and also Harlequin, Jude also loves the control that self-publishing gives her. In this session, she’ll talk through what she has experienced as the pros and cons to each and why she chooses which process depending on which project she’s working on. You’ll walk away better equipped to make those decisions for yourself.
The Ins & Outs of Hybrid Publishing
AMY LE | FICTION |QUILL HAWK PUBLISHING
In this session lead by author and publisher Amy Le you will learn the ins and outs of hybrid publishing. In the publishing world not all hybrid publishers are the same – Amy will teach you the questions to ask and what to look for when you are exploring the possibility of working with a hybrid publisher.
Blueprint for Self-Publishers
JOYDON BAKER | FICTION | NONFICTION
This presentation provides a blueprint for self-publishers for establishing a business to disseminate their writing, whether fiction or non-fiction. The presentation identifies the components of the enterprise: writing, publishing, marketing, and administration, and discusses the resources associated with each. Based on their experience, the presenters provide key steps for creating the enterprise. They focus on the behaviors required for a successful implementation of the plan, and tips for managing the challenges one faces along the way.
Self-Publishing: Setting Yourself Up for Success
JENNIFER SNEED | CHILDREN'S | YA
Working with a Publisher
LARA BERNHARDT | ADMISSION PRESS
Curious what working with a publisher is like and how to navigate this journey? This session will guide you through the process of working with a publisher, from writing compelling query letters to delivering an effective pitch. Learn what publishers are looking for, how to make your submission stand out, and what to expect once your manuscript is accepted.
How to Make Money in Today’s Market (Self-Publishers)
BILL WETTERMAN | FICTION | NONFICTION
Self-published authors today have a much harder task selling books than authors before 2007 when Kindle KDP emerged as a platform. Besides learning to write an exceptional book, you must become a marketer using every resource you can while avoiding scammers waiting to take more money from you than you’ll ever make through their servicesWe’ll cover all the steps I and others take to run the maze and come out ahead.
Preparing Your Manuscript
SAMANTHA RYAN | FICTION
Congratulations! You might have finished your novel, but you’ve actually only just begun. If you’re transitioning from writing as a hobby to writing as a profession, there are many steps yet to take before you’re ready to jump into the query trenches. From beta readers to editors and query letters to the dreaded synopsis, we’ll go step-by-step through your manuscript prepping checklist to make sure the work you’re preparing to send is as polished as it can be.
Pitching Your NonFiction Book or Memoir
ALTON CARTER | NON FICTION
In this breakout session, you’ll learn how to effectively pitch your memoir or nonfiction book to publishers. Alton will share his experience pitching his books and give you tips and insights for pitching yours.
Before You Send that to the Editor
AUBREY GREEN | BLUE CLOVER EDITING
To Editor or Not to Editor
TWYLABETH LAMBERT | ACQUIRING EDITOR | FAWKES PRESS
Should you hire an editor for your manuscript before querying or self-publishing? Why? What can they really do that I can’t do myself? What kinds of editors and editing are available, and how do I know which I need? If I hire an editor or have one assigned to my project by my agent or publisher, what should I expect and how can I ensure that process is a good experience for me, for my book, and for my future readers? How do I work with an editor and build trust with this stranger who’s trying to make changes to my life’s work? Do I *have* to do what they say and change what they want changed? What do I do if… <insert worrisome concern here>. Let’s talk about expectations, trust-building steps you can take, and then have an open conversation about your questions and concerns. This class is appropriate for authors on their way to both self-publish and traditional.
Understanding Developmental Editing
KATRINA SCHROEDER | BOOK COACH & EDITOR
Don't Lose Your Voice
HEATHER WESTOVER | NONFICTION
In this breakout session, discover how to maintain your authentic voice while working with an editor or agent. Learn strategies for balancing creative feedback with staying true to your unique style and vision. Learn when to speak up or fight for your something and when to listen. You’ll explore tips for effective communication, navigating revisions, and ensuring your voice remains at the heart of your writing throughout the publishing process.
What Your Book's Publicity Campaign Should Look Like
JEANNE DEVLIN | ROADRUNNER PRESS
Led by Jeanne Devlin, founding editor of The RoadRunner Press, this session will offer expert insights into crafting an effective publicity campaign for your book. With over forty years of experience as an editor and publicist, including working with top-tier publishers like Simon & Schuster and St. Martin’s, Devlin brings a wealth of knowledge on how to navigate national marketing efforts and build buzz around your book. Whether you’re an indie author or traditionally published, this session will help you understand what your publicity campaign should include to maximize your book’s reach and impact.
Marketing Your Book
MATT JONES | JONES CREATIVE
Building Your Newsletter; From Lead Magnets to Dedicated Fans
BERKLEY BENTON | JONES CREATIVE
- The Best Lead Magnets to grow your subscriber list.
- Setting Up Drip Campaigns that increase engagement.
- Newsletter Content to keep readers coming back.
- Using Newsletters for Marketing: from book sales to event promotions.
Promoting Your Books to Local Shops, Libraries, and Readers
JESS MCCUTCHEN| SCI-FI | FANTASY
The Best & Worst Advice You Get as a Writer (and how to evaluate it)
AMY LILLARD | ROMANCE | MYSTERY
In this interactive session, we’ll dive into the flood of advice writers encounter, from crafting your first draft to navigating the world of publishing and marketing your book. You’ll learn how to differentiate between helpful guidance and common myths, with practical tips for evaluating the advice they receive.
Choosing the Right Narrator for Your Audiobook
NICK FLESHER | AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR | VOICE ACTOR
Choosing the right narrator for your audiobook can be challenging, but it’s essential to find someone who captures the voice of your story. This session, led by experienced narrator Nick Flesher, will explore what makes a narrator castable and how to identify the most authentic voice for your book. You’ll learn about the importance of authenticity in narration, how to sift through talented performers, and what to look for when narrowing down your choices
How to use Podcasts to Build Your Brand and Connect With an Audience
JESSE ULRICH | PODCASTER | AUDIO ENGINEER
Even before you publish your first book, would it not be great to already have a built in audience? People who are already interested in you and your work? Trying to build your brand after publishing a book? Podcasts can do both. Come learn how to use the medium of podcasting to grow and increase your audience.
Writing for Short Story Contests and Anthologies
RENEE LAVINESS | EDITOR | MIDDLE GRADE | YA
Are you interested in submitting your work to short story contests or getting your stories published in anthologies? This session will cover the essential rules, regulations, and contract terms you need to know before submitting your work. We’ll explore how to identify reputable contests and anthologies, ensuring you’re putting your stories in the right hands. You’ll also learn when to aim for “the big ones”—prestigious competitions and collections that can significantly boost your writing career.
Get Paid to Write: Starting Your Freelance Career
KIM TOSCANO | FREELANCE WRITER | FANTASY
Ready to turn your talent for writing into a career? Freelance writing is a great gig, but like any job, it needs to be approached as a business, not a hobby. That comes with certain responsibilities like establishing business goals and setting rates. Not sure where to begin? Join this workshop and launch your freelance career. Learn how to set professional goals, find outlets for your work, and start earning money for your writing.
In this class you will:
- Begin your journey toward a professional career in writing.
- [Re]Define your platform and set business goals.
- Learn strategies for establishing rates/fees for your work.
- Discover new outlets for your writing and learn how to find writing jobs.