SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19TH SESSIONS
We have over 35 speakers and 40+ breakout sessions. As new session descriptions arrive, we will continue to populate here and the full schedule will be posted soon.
OPENING KEYNOTE:
FAITH PHILLIPS | NARRATIVE JOURNALIST
Description Coming Soon
TITLE COMING SOON
JD COLBERT | HISTORICAL FICTION
Description coming soon.
TITLE COMING SOON
TVLI JACOBS COLBERT | SCREENWRITING & GRAPHIC NOVELS
Description coming soon.
TITLE COMING SOON
JULIE PEARSON LITTLE-THUNDER | NONFICTION
Description coming soon.
TITLE COMING SOON
CASIE BAZAY | YA
Description coming soon.
TITLE COMING SOON
SANDY THARP-THEE| CHILDREN'S
Description coming soon.
TITLE COMING SOON
FAITH PHILLIPS| SCRIPTWRTING
Description coming soon.
TITLE COMING SOON
PHETOTE MSHAIRI | POETRY
Description coming soon.
TITLE COMING SOON
ALTON CARTER | NONFICTION
Description coming soon.
TITLE COMING SOON
JES MCCUTCHEN | NONFICTION
Description coming soon.
TITLE COMING SOON
DR. ERIC HOWERTON |
Description coming soon.
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.
TITLE COMING SOON
LARA BERNHARDT | ADMISSION PRESS
Description Coming Soon.
TITLE COMING SOON
JEANNE DEVLIN | ROADRUNNER PRESS
Description Coming Soon.
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.
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.
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.
Unlock the Power of Universal Fantasies
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
Publishing Today Panel
TWYLABETH LAMBERT | FAWKES PRESS ACQUIRING EDITOR || 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 people from all walks of life
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.
To Editor or Not to Editor?
TWYLABETH LAMBERT | FAWKES PRESS ACQUIRING EDITOR
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.
Editing 101
AUBREY GREEN | BLUE CLOVER EDITING
No matter your genre or style, every writer can benefit from having an editor. It’s even more import if you plan to self-publish your manuscript, since there isn’t a publisher to do the work for you. But how do you find one? How do you know what kind you need? And how do you know they’ll charge you fairly and not completely rewrite your baby? Join Aubrey Green from Blue Clover Editing as she walks you through the basics of what an editor does, how they do it, and why they just might be your new best friend.
Editor Speed Dating
AUBREY GREEN | KRISTINA SCHROEDER | TWYLABETH LAMBERT | RENEE LAVINESS
Afraid getting an editor will end up like your high school breakup – full of drama and awkwardness? Wish you could see if there’s “chemistry” before you commit? Join us for Editor Speed Dating to see if your perfect match is here!
Understanding Developmental Editing
KATRINA SCHROEDER | BOOK COACH & EDITOR
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.
Marketing Your Book
MATT JONES | MARKETING & WEB
Description coming soon.
How to Connect & Work with Local Bookstores
PAT CAWIEZEL | MAGIC CITY BOOKS
Description coming soon.
Launch Your Freelance Writing Career
KIM TOSCANO | FREELANCE WRITER | FANTASY
Description coming soon.
Author Branding
ANA & JASON MADDOX | ZEALOT BRANDING
A condensed version of our MasterClass on Author Branding, this session will give you a guideline for developing your author brand, why it matters, and how it will help you as you market yourself and your work.
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.