A Day With Pat LoBrutto

By special registration, participants can experience a six-hour long restricted admission interactive workshop with editor Patrick LoBrutto. The workshop schedule will consist of a three-hour morning session, lunch with Pat LoBrutto, and a three hour afternoon session.

Workshop topic: "Our Characters and Our Stories"

For beginning and seasoned writers alike who wish to deepen their writing experience, as well as explore the art and craft and business of writing. Take your creativity and learn techniques and considerations for examining and improving structure, plot, scenic details, and writing craft. We will concentrate first on how to create characters that not only exist before page one, but have their own idiosyncrasies and interesting behavior traits. Next, we will address effective ways to intertwine character, conflict and plot. Finally, we will look at methods to make your good ideas better, common mistakes, and strategies for submission.

A Day With Bob Mayer

By special registration, participants can experience a six-hour long restricted admission interactive workshop with Bob Mayer. The workshop schedule will consist of a three-hour morning session, lunch with Bob Mayer, and a three hour afternoon session.

Workshop topic: "Who Dares Wins: Special Operations Tactics for Writers"

1. The Original Idea-The Core of Writing and Selling Your Book. Can you say what your book is about in 25 words of less? This is essential to both writing a tight book and then selling it. We'll discuss ways to find and state your original idea so that you stay on course while writing the book and with which you can excite those you tell it to when trying to sell it.

2. Outlining And Translating Idea Into Story. Before you begin writing your book, you should spend some time outlining and developing your story. We'll discuss types of outlines along with techniques for efficiently developing the strongest possible story based on your original idea. The creative process before the actual start of the book will be covered.

3. The Successful Novel From Beginning To End. From the exciting opening that grabs the reader through the escalating conflict to the climactic scene and ending with the resolution-the entire structure of the novel with be covered with emphasis on hooks, the remote control effect, building suspense, and having satisfying endings.

4. Your Voice As A Writer: Point Of View. This goes beyond just first person, third person and omniscient voices. The point of view you write in is your voice as a writer and often the issue lies deeper than simply a mechanical device. For example, voice dictates what you can say about your characters and what you can't. It also sets you apart from others and makes you distinct.

5. Making Your Characters Real To The Reader. The most critical component of a novel is character. How do you go from flat two-dimensional characters to vibrant three-dimensional ones? Techniques various published authors use from Sue Grafton to Elizabeth George to Terry Brooks and others will be covered.

6. Setting, Dialogue & Writer's Block. Setting is the where and when of your story. This is often the twist writers give to ideas that have been done before to make their story unique and stand out. Dialogue serves multiple purposes and in a novel is much different than that in real life. Writer's Block introduces you to way to overcome inertia and regain creativity and tap into the power of the subconscious, often a writer's greatest ally.

7. Selling Your book And An Introduction To The World of Publishing. A writer friendly approach to marketing your book efficiently and then understanding the flow of a query at a publishing house and how decisions are made whether to buy a book. Cover letters that grab the reader, how to do a one page synopsis, and other practical matters will be covered.

8. Marketing Yourself and Your Book. Nine out of ten first published novels fail. Often this is because the author thinks they have 'succeeded' simply by being accepted for publication. We will discuss what you can do to be a success in this business and cover a variety of techniques from book-signings, media outlets, publicists to other innovative ways.

A Day With Penny Warner

By special registration, participants can experience a six-hour long restricted admission interactive workshop with bestselling author Penny Warner. The workshop schedule will consist of a three-hour morning session, lunch with Penny Warner, and a three hour afternoon session.

Workshop topic: "Writing for Children"

Learn to write and sell children's books for today's market, including picture books, easy readers, middle grade novels, young adult novels, and nonfiction books. Course includes creating believable characters, vivid setting, and compelling plots, and how to create and submit your proposal to an agent/editor.

What to Have in Your Home Reference Library

Type of Children's Books -Picture Books, Easy Readers,
Middle Grade. YA – Young Adult, Nonfiction

Book Market Overview -What’s Selling and Why

Finding your Niche

Where to Get Ideas

Where to Begin

• Exercise - Protagonist – Place – Problem

Creating Realistic Characters for Kids

• Exercise – Character Sketch

Developing a Setting

• Exercise – Sense of Place

Plotting the Story

• Exercise – Developing a Plot

Writing – and Rewriting -- the Story

Dialogue – Listen to Kids

Show, Don’t Tell - Write Action-Packed Stories

Preparing the Proposal

• Exercise – Writing a Query

Finding an Agent, Editor, or Publisher

Resources