IN PROGRESS
Friday, september 29
University of Alaska, Anchorage
8:30am | Check-In for Optional Friday Morning Workshops |
9:00am - 11:30am |
Workshop 1: Jessica Snyder, Editor Six Elements of Story Structure for Romance Writing Location: RH101 Master the structural elements of character-driven fiction to write romance novels that readers love. This workshop presents romance fiction from a structural standpoint. You’ll learn about goal, motivation, and conflict, which are the cornerstones of fiction writing. But then we dive deeper to cover character arcs, flaws and stakes, which are vital in character-driven stories like romance. You’ll understand how each element hinges on the others to build the infrastructure of your story, and you’ll gain the confidence to utilize these elements to improve your own books. |
9:00am - 11:30am |
Workshop 2: Erick Mertz, Editor/Author/Ghostwriter Success in Self-Publishing Location: RH110 Self-publishing has been heralded as a new gateway to reaching readers. They say anyone can do it. If that’s true, then why not go ahead and just upload that manuscript now? As convenient as self-publishing is made to sound, it is not as simple as uploading your book to Amazon, hitting publish, and waiting for those readers to come get your book. You need to be savvy. You have to bring a little know-how. In a nutshell, you need to avoid these common pitfalls. Successful self-publishing can make a person want to pull their hair out. I’m here to say that it really doesn’t have to be frustrating though, especially not if you recognize a few of these easily avoided traps. In this fun and engaging session, I cover everything from securing the right kind of editing to getting a real understanding of your genre to picking the right book cover. We will talk about what services a new author needs, what they should cost, and where you can save money. As a way of illustrating the ever changing nature of the self-publishing process, I lay out my path to success by highlighting a few of the many of the mistakes I made along the way. I show participants what I did, what I wished I had done, and how they can avoid falling into that same trap. |
11:45am | Optional Lunch Available in Foyer (please pre-pay for lunch on your conference registration) |
12:30pm - 2:30pm | Event Center: Optional First Pages Roundtable Reviews with Anjanette Barr, Christy Cox, Eric Smith, and Jessica Snyder |
2:30pm | Check-In for Optional Friday Afternoon Workshops |
3:00pm - 5:30pm |
Workshop 3: Anjanette Barr, Literary Agent Learning to Love Synopsis Writing Location: RH101 It's not uncommon to hear authors lament the task of writing effective summaries, pitches, blurbs, and loglines. While it does require a slightly different set of skills to master this kind of short-form writing, these skills CAN be learned. In this workshop I will teach you strategies for tackling the dreaded synopsis. I will also explain why they matter so much, and how writing them will grow your craft overall. |
3:00pm - 5:30pm |
Workshop 4: Eric Smith, Literary Agent TBD Location: RH110 Lorem ipsum |
Saturday, SEPTEMBER 30
RASMUSON HALL | UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA, ANCHORAGE
8:00 - 8:30am | Conference Check-In |
8:30 - 8:50am | Room 101: Welcome and Awards |
8:50 - 9:30am | Room 101: Keynote by Agent Eric Smith |
9:30 - 9:40am | BREAK |
9:40 - 10:40am
BREAKOUT SESSION 1 |
Room 101 | Room 110 | Room 117 |
Room 220 |
Anjanette Barr: Tricky Situations in Publishing In this breakout we will cover various situations authors may find themselves in during their career. The purpose will be to take a closer look at the enigma that is the publishing business and brainstorm solutions for tricky scenarios. This will especially appeal to authors who are or hope to be traditionally published, and to those who want to straddle the line between traditional and self-publishing. |
AKRWA Panel: Crafting Characters with Depth and Dimension Compelling characters draw readers into your narrative. Join AKRWA members in a panel discussion on how to develop well-rounded characters, including working with backstory, goals, motivation, and avoiding problems like stereotypes. Appropriate for fiction and nonfiction writers. |
Krysta Voskowsky: Platform Smarter, Not Harder This session teaches key short-form writing techniques for anyone who has a past. Learn the science behind writing as a neurological and somatic healing practice, and discover the unique ways memoir can help heal old wounds, cultivate writer's voice, and bring people together. |
Toya Brown: Motif-vation: How to Keep the Creative Flow Going This workshop explores how to keep creative energy flowing. There is a segment dedicated to characterization. There are tools provided to develop character arc and the subtle art of connecting characters to motifs. |
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10:40 - 10:50am | BREAK | |||
10:50 - 11:50am BREAKOUT SESSION 2 |
Room 101 | Room 110 | Room 117 |
Room 220 |
Jessica Snyder: Swipe Write: How to match with your perfect editor Learn what aspects to look for when researching the right editor for you and your story, create your own plan for self-editing and revising, and master a few mindset tips that will help you throughout your author career. |
John Messick: Writing Place as an Act of Witness In this session, we approach the writing of place as an act of witness and community engagement. We will look at how people explore writing about where they live, as well as how we can craft work that sits at the intersection of the myriad ways we understand place: through personal, political, ecological, and emotional lenses, as well as across writing genres. |
Christy Cox: From Pitch to Published TBD |
Dan Walker: Catch and Release: Hooking Readers the Right Way The most critical part of any story or book is the opening. Get that part right and the reader is hooked. The way to get a reader to come back for more stories is to create an effective ending. Leave the reader satisfied and that reader is apt to come back for more. Using models and non-examples, workshop participants will: 1) discuss and define what makes strong beginnings and endings; 2) examine some strong beginnings and closing scenes from various genres; 3) Work collectively and alone to write both opening paragraphs and closing scenes. |
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11:40am - 12:50pm | Lunch Available in Foyer | |||
12:50 - 1:50pm BREAKOUT SESSION 3 |
Room 101 | Room 110 | Room 117 | Room 220 |
Anjanette Barr: Identifying Target Audience This session includes tips for getting your books into the hands of the people who actually want to read it. We'll cover how to accurately place your book in a genre and audience age category. We'll also talk about what to do when your book crosses genres, and how to choose the best language to convey your book's core message. |
Illustrator Breakout Session TBD |
Eric Smith: Marketing for Published Authors TBD |
Krysta Voskowsky: Healing Childhood Trauma through Memoir This session teaches key short-form writing techniques for anyone who has a past. Learn the science behind writing as a neurological and somatic healing practice, and discover the unique ways memoir can help heal old wounds, cultivate writer's voice, and bring people together. |
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1:50 - 2:00pm | BREAK | |||
2:00 - 3:00pm
BREAKOUT SESSION 4 |
Room 101 |
Room 110 | Room 117 | Room 220 |
Jessica Snyder: 10 Editing Hacks This workshop puts self-editing tasks into an easy-to-follow list format. You can check off each item before submitting your manuscript to anyone from critique partners to agents and editors. Most of the tasks are quick and use shortcuts in Word such as Find and Replace. Others are a bit more work-intensive, like culling extraneous adverbs or removing filter words and writing in deeper POV, but will ultimately strengthen your story. |
Hailey Staker: Worldbuilding 101 In World-building 101, I’ll take you through the basic steps of establishing the world in which your characters will live for the duration of your story. We’ll focus on the Ws: who, what, when and where and put what we learn into practice in a short creative writing exercise meant to challenge writers on place and time. |
Christy Cox: Nuts and Bolts of Picture Books TBD |
NaMee: Mindfully Honing Poetry Skills In this session, NaMee will use poetry skills to guide students in activities that can be used in their writing, and in building a mindful practice that can benefit them on and off the page. Although her own identity and practices revolve largely around poetry, this is an intensive suitable for all kinds of writers (and non-writers!). |
3:00 - 3:10pm |
BREAK |
3:10 - 3:50pm |
Room 101: Panel Discussion with Anjanette Barr, Christy Cox, Eric Smith, and Jessica Snyder |
3:50 - 4:00pm |
Room 101: Closing Announcements |
4:00 - 5:00pm |
Author Book Signing and Mingle in Lobby (100L1) |
MANY THANKS TO THIS YEAR'S SPONSORS
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Questions? Click HERE to email us!