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Conference at a Glance
When:
Pre-Conference Workshop: Thursday
and Friday, March 25-26
Conference: Friday
evening and Saturday, March 26-27
Where:
The Four Points
Sheraton, Allentown, PA
Cost:
Pre-Conference Workshop: $115
Conference: Members and Students: $100; Non-members: $120;
After February 25th:
$135 for Members, Non-members and Students.
Includes: Friday night sessions and Welcome Reception;
Saturday: Continental breakfast, lunch, all presentations and materials
Directions to the Conference
Staying overnight?
Reservations: 610-266-1000. If
you call before February 25th,
mention you are attending The Write Stuff to receive a
discounted room rate of $85. Other nearby lodging.
How to register
(Before
registering
please
read and understand. Conference
Registration Policies.)
Members will receive registration forms by mail. Download separate
conference and pre-conference registration forms by clicking on
"Join Us" on the left
menu and mail the forms with checks in the appropriate amounts to:
The
Write Stuff
127 Fourth Street
Nazareth, PA 18064 Tip: Some conference events—including the pre-conference "How to
Write Like the Pros" workshop, the Friday night Page Cuts
sessions, the Saturday "Start a Fire on Page One"
workshop, and individual appointments with agents, editors, and
David Wilk—have limited enrollment. Register early to reserve a
place.
For
Updates about The Write Stuff Click
Here for our Conference Blog
Conference Schedule
Where to find Your Session:
Room Map and Schedule
in Word Format.
| THURSDAY
MARCH 25 |
8:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m.
Optional workshop and is NOT included in the Write Stuff conference price |
A
Special Pre-Conference Workshop
2-Day
workshop opportunity with James N. Frey
8 a.m.–5 p.m. Thursday and Friday
“How
to Plot Like the Pros” James
N. Frey
In
this workshop James N. Frey, one of America’s leading creative
writing teachers, will show you how to build a story from the
ground up. He’ll ask participants to suggest ideas for a genre
or mainstream story, then choose one of these ideas to plot as a
demonstration of how it’s done. He’ll lecture a bit on
dramatic theory to explain structural terms like motivation, premise, theme, pivotal character, hero/protagonist,
villain/antagonist, story question, conflict, and so on, as
he uses them. He’ll show you the most common structure for a
dramatic story, called the “dramatic paradigm,” and then, with
Frey’s guidance, the group will create some well orchestrated,
fresh, and dramatically charged characters. Next, he’ll show you
how, if you let them, the characters will create the story for
you. We’ll then plot this story step by step, beginning to end,
using a Hollywood scriptwriting technique called a “step sheet.”
Space
limited to the first 60; enroll early.
*This
workshop is optional and is NOT included in the Write Stuff
conference price.
If you are registering for the conference, you must also fill out
a separate pre-conference workshop registration
form and enclose a separate check made out to GLVWG for $115.
GLVWG reserves the right to cancel advance registration workshops that do not fill. In the event of cancellation, your check will be returned.
|
7:30–9:30
p.m. |
The
Writer’s Café,
Conference
Edition Moderator: Bart Palamaro
Typically an informal gathering
held the second Wednesday of the month at Border’s in
Whitehall, all conference attendees are invited to this
special conference edition of The Writers Café to network, ask
questions, and share tips. Feel free to practice your pitch on
us—we’ll even provide feedback if you want. |
| FRIDAY
MARCH 26 |
8:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m.
|
“How
to Plot Like the Pros” James
N. Frey
Continuation
of special two day Pre-Conference workshop. |
6:30 to
8:30 p.m. |
Page Cuts
*Advanced
registration necessary; sessions fill quickly. Page Cuts
critique sessions are optional and included in the conference
price. Participants will be assigned to a room headed by a team
of publishing professionals who have been asked to provide
off-the-cuff feedback. Your work will be read aloud by a room
moderator and commented upon by our panelists; no names will be
used. Opinions of workshop leaders are theirs alone and do not
represent the opinions of GLVWG.
Limited to 36
readings. Participants who have been informed of their
successful enrollment should bring to their session four copies
of the first page of a longer work (fiction, creative
nonfiction, or memoir) along with four copies of a 100-word
overview of the entire work. Copies must be formatted: Double-spaced, 12 pt. “Times” font, 1-inch margins, Title & Genre at top of page. No names please. Print to start at the top of the page.
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7:00 to
8:00 p.m. |
Pitching
Dos and Don’ts Kim
Lionetti (Open
Seating)
Kim
Lionetti joined BookEnds, LLC as a literary agent in 2004 after
working eight years as an editor at Berkley Publishing. On both
sides of her publishing career, she’s heard hundreds of
pitches—some fabulous, some horribly bad, and most just plain
forgettable. In that time, she’s gotten a pretty good idea of
what every perfect pitch needs and how to avoid the awkward
silences and blank stares. She’ll outline the most common
pitfalls and how to avoid them, as well as the best approaches
for making a great, lasting impression on a publishing
professional.
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8:30 to
10:00 p.m. |
Welcome Reception
(Open Seating)
Join us for hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, and the chance to network with agents, editors, presenters, and other conferees. Dress is business casual.
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| SATURDAY, MARCH
27 |
7:30 to
8:30 a.m. |
Registration and Continental Breakfast (Ballroom) |
8:30 to
8:40 a.m. |
Welcome and Announcements |
| 8:50 to 10:40
a.m. |
SPECIAL
OPPORTUNITY FOR FICTION WRITERS
(This Workshop is
First Come First Served, but Advance Submission is Required)
Start a Fire on Page One Bill Kent
"The
purpose of the first page is to make us want to read more,"
says Bill Kent. "If that first page doesn't start a fire,
then it really doesn't matter what follows." In this advance
submission workshop, Bill will share techniques that will not only
orient your readers fully to your story, but entice them to turn
the page again and again. Prepare to rewrite!
*After you have
been informed of your successful enrollment, submit the opening
page of your fiction manuscript (double-spaced, 1-1/4 inch
margins, 12 pt. New Times Roman) via .doc., .docx, or .rtf to
WriteStuffAdmin@gmail.com no later than February 25, 2010. Limit:
15 participants.
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8:50 to
9:40 a.m. |
Concurrent Workshops (Open
Seating)
How
to Hook Young Readers (and even old ones!)
Jordan Sonnenblick
What
are the unique characteristics of great writing for teens? How
can you adapt your craft to the specific reading needs and
desires of kids? And what aspects of young adult writing would
improve your writing for the adult market, as well?
Award-winning author Jordan Sonnenblick will show you how
to control the flow of time and information to maximize the
impact of your novel.
Find
Your Niche
Spencer Soper
The
Internet has changed the world of publishing, with audiences
becoming increasingly fragmented. This has created opportunities
for writers with interest and expertise in specific areas to
build a following. Spencer Soper, a reporter and columnist for The
Morning Call, will discuss finding your target and using
social media tools to build your brand.
Agents
Panel Moderator: Scott
Heydt
Literary
Agents Kim Lionetti (BookEnds, LLC), Evan Goldfried (Jill
Grinberg Literary Agency), Jessica Papin (Dystel and Goderich
Literary Management), Eddie
Schneider (JABberwocky Literary Agency), and Michelle
Humphrey (Martha Kaplan Agency), will
share insights, guidelines and ideas for writers. Agents will
meet with participants individually throughout the day to
receive proposals.
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9:50 to
10:40 a.m. |
Concurrent Workshops (Open
Seating)
The
Power of Knowing Your Premise
James N. Frey
Being
able to articulate your premise will help you decide what
developments and complications you need in your story and what
kind of an ending you should be aiming towards. After honing
their premise, James has had writers tell him their stories are more
powerful and they can draft them much more quickly.
If you’ve ever been told (and who hasn’t?) that your
stories need to be “tightened,” knowing the power of premise
will be an enormous help to you.
Magazine
Writing that will Sell
Maureen Sangiorgio
In
this session an award-winning writer will teach you how to write
a magazine article suitable for publication through five
essential steps: identifying your audience, honing research and
interviewing skills, preparing an outline, and writing an
enticing lead. Oh—step five? Write, then rewrite – again and
again!
Conversation
with an Editor with
Laurie Edwards, Kitty
Keswick
Aspiring authors work hard at gaining the literary
representation that will land them their first book contract.
But…then what happens? Author Kitty Keswick, and her editor,
Laurie Edwards, will discuss their working relationship as it
applies to Kitty’s debut young adult novel, FREAKSVILLE.
Moderator: Pattie
Giordani
Concurrent agent and
editor appointments
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| 10:40 to 11:00 a.m. |
Break |
11:00 to
11:50 a.m. |
Concurrent
Workshops (Open Seating)
The
Telling Detail: How to change your characters into characters
Jordan
Sonnenblick
How
can you create characters that are burned indelibly into
readers' brains? Why did everyone who's ever seen the first
Harry Potter movie gasp when Severus Snape first appeared
onscreen? Jordan will help us take a look at the strange and wonderful
characters in our own lives, and explore how to
"borrow" them for use in our books.
How
to Seduce Your Reader
Tracy MacNish
Passion,
lust, desire, sexual tension—they're part of the human
condition, and we've all felt them. But what about the people
who inhabit the worlds of your stories? This session will
explore how to motivate your characters with the most basic of
all human feelings, with or without actual sexual content.
The Writer as Entrepreneur
David Wilk
In
today’s publishing world, writers are increasingly being asked
– or required – by publishers to provide marketing and
promotional support for their books on a level heretofore never
seen. If authors are going to not only supply the products but
also the marketing and promotion for them, then writers need to
conceive of themselves as small business entrepreneurs. Many
writers do not have the skills, experience or even the mindset
needed to become successful in this “brave new world.” In
this session, publishing veteran David Wilk will teach writers
how to create successful businesses, how to work with
publishers, and how to manage the variety of activities needed
to set themselves on the right path for the future.
Informal Genre Chat: Mystery/Thriller
James N. Frey
An
opportunity to find out more about writing for genre markets
through informal, small group discussion with a published
author.
Concurrent
agent and editor appointments
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12:00 to
1:30 p.m. |
Lunch, Keynote
James
N. Frey
“The
Writer’s Life: The Power and the Passion” |
1:40 to
2:30 p.m. |
Concurrent
Workshops (Open Seating)
Creating Time and
Place
Tracy MacNish
Your
setting is the most important element of your story, the main
character that's hidden in plain sight on every page. Join us to
consider how to skillfully merge just enough historical fact and
geographic detail to strengthen the sense of time and place in
your creative writing.
Action! Bill
Kent
A
hero is a man of action. But consider this: he must complete his
acts of derring-do while carrying the reader along with him.
Learn from a thriller writer how to write realistic, believable,
and thrilling scenes whose details will suspend the reader in
breathless anticipation--without bogging down your hero.
Finishing Your Novel: Setting Priorities Molly
Cochran
If
you're serious about writing a salable novel, there are some
guidelines that can save you months -- perhaps years -- of
frustration, heartache, and dead-ends. This workshop will show
you how to take your manuscript from the
"I've-got-a-great-idea-now-if-I-only-had-the-time"
stage (or, alternately, the "I've-been-working-on-my-masterpiece-for-the-past-five-years-but-haven't-figured-out-the-ending"
stage) to a finished work... in less time than you may think!
Prerequisites: The first three words of this paragraph, plus an
open mind.
Informal Genre Chat: Young Adult and Middle Grade Fiction Jordan
Sonnenblick
An
opportunity to find out more about writing for genre markets
through informal, small group discussion with a published
author.
Individual Consultations David
Wilk
David
is willing to meet with conferees to discuss any aspect of
publishing, including current state of the industry, how the
future will affect writers, e-publishing, e-reading, royalties,
agents, marketing, promoting oneself (or hiring someone to do it
for you), how self publishing can work as a business, etc. While
he doesn’t want to talk about specifics of writing, he will
give opinions on subjects, concepts, and marketability.
Concurrent
agent and editor appointments
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2:40 to
3:30 p.m. |
Concurrent
Workshops (Open Seating)
How to Write Damn
Good Prose
James N. Frey
In
this workshop Jim will dispel the myth that great prose writers
are born and that talent is a gift from God. He will show you
how you can quickly and easily learn to write damn good prose in
any number of voices (first person or third), in any genre, and
with various styles. He’ll lead us in a few little exercises
to prove it.
The New Rules and
Tools for Writers who want to Master New Media Tools and Online
Marketing
David Wilk
The
web has changed everything. Online media require new rules and
tools for marketers. Old methods do not work. In this session,
David Wik will talk specifically about what writers can do to
become adept at working online. We will talk about websites,
email lists, Twitter, Facebook, blogging and working with
bloggers, content websites and much more. Whether you are new to
online marketing, an experienced web marketer, or a writer who
does not have time to do this work yourself, this session will
be useful to you, now and in the future.
Informal Genre Chat: Romance/Historicals
Tracy MacNish
An
opportunity to find out more about writing for genre markets
through informal, small group discussion with a published
author.
Concurrent agent and
editor appointments
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3:30 to
5:00 p.m. |
Social
Refreshments
Book Fair**
Contest Winners
Door Prizes
Conference closes
**All published GLVWG members are eligible to
participate in the book fair. Please contact book fair
coordinator Fern Hill WriteStuffAdmin@gmail.com
to reserve a space by March 1, 2010.
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