Writers Conference Agenda ⋆ Alaska Writers Guild

Alaska Writers Guild - Supporting Alaska's Writers

Friday, SEptember 26

RASMuson hall | UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA, ANCHORAGE

9:30am	Check-In for Optional Friday Morning Workshops in Rasmuson Hall
All Day	1-on-1 Manuscript Critiques \| Location TB A
10:00am - 12:00pm	Workshop 1: Craig Martelle Opening Sentence Hook the Readers: and Keep Them Reading This workshop will help you identify what makes a good opening for your story and through practical application, you'll build your own unique and gripping opening sentence/paragraph.
10:00am - 12:00pm	Workshop 2: Elizabeth Pratt Writing a Standout Query Letter Querying agents can seem daunting, especially when agents are receiving hundreds of queries a month. That is why it is so important to craft an excellent query letter. In this workshop, we’ll go over everything that should be included in a query letter, from comps to the description of your book to your biography; then, we’ll explore how to make your query letter stand out among the rest. Please come prepared with a draft query letter for us to workshop together.
10:00am - 12:00pm	Workshop 3: Fiona Kenshole Perfect Plotting for Picture Books There's a special kind of magic in the best kind of picture book! We'll talk about how to create the "sparkle moments" that drive the best plots, how to keep the readers turning the pages (parent AND child), and we'll talk about the challenge of surprising and delighting the very young, as well as the hardened agent and editor! We'll consider pacing, problem solving, process, and good endings for bedtime! Bring your works in progress along! Illustrators welcome!
11:45am	Optional Lunch Available in Lobby (please pre-pay for lunch on your conference registration)
12:30pm - 2:30pm	Optional First Pages Roundtable Reviews with Elizabeth Pratt (Room 210), Jen Newens (Room 110), Craig Martelle (Room 216), Fiona Kenshole (Room 220)
2:30pm	Check-In for Optional Friday Afternoon Workshops (in Wendy Williamson Auditorium Lobby)
3:00pm - 5:00pm	Workshop 4: Cat Rambo Creating the Story-Shaped Object: How Elements Work Together We know the basic elements of storytelling: character, plot, and setting, but stories are more than the sum of those parts. How do you make sure all the elements work together in order to create something memorable, vivid, and immersive? We will combine lecture, in-class exercises, and discussion to discover how to pull everything together into a satisfying package.
3:00pm - 5:00pm	Workshop 5: Kari Martindale From Prose to Poetry: Give Your Old Prose a Fresh Spin During this interactive workshop, attendees will work on two ideas (old or new) and walk through the steps of creating new poetry. Attendees will leave with two new draft poems.
3:00pm - 5:00pm	Workshop 6: Jen Newens How to Write a Book Proposal That Sells In this workshop, Jen will walk you through the steps of writing a book proposal including key components to catch and editor's eye and comp titles.

Saturday, SEPTEmber 27

rasmuson hall

University of Alaska, Anchorage

8:00 - 8:30am	Conference Check-In
8:30 - 8:50am	WWA: Welcome and Awards
8:50 - 9:30am	WWA: Keynote by Cat Rambo *How to be Your Own Hero: Hope and Your Writing Practice:* The world has always been a weird place, and not always particularly accepting of artists, but today even more so. How do you use your own writing to lift yourself up so you can do the same for your readers?
9:30 - 9:40am	BREAK
All Day	1-on-1 Manuscript Critiques \| Rasmuson Hall

9:40 - 10:40am BREAKOUT SESSION 1	Lecture Hall 101	Lecture Hall 110	Lecture Hall 117	Room 220
	*Fiona Kenshole: How to make your book unputdownable!* Have you ever lost yourself in a book? Together we will look at Emotional Engagement - the secret sauce of writing, and how to craft a story that the reader won't want to put down. We will focus on the first ten pages of your work - how to set up the stakes and gain the reader's trust. How to craft a main character we are invested in. And we'll talk about much plot and backstory is too much? We'll workshop essential skills so that agent or editor will be craving more! Bring your first pages to workshop!	*Jen Newens: State of the Children's book Industry: What the Top Editors are looking for Now*	Craig Martelle: Three Pillars of Marketing Put your book into as many of the right readers' hands as possible by knowing your genre, knowing where your readers are, and then putting your genre-aligned book in front of the them. Marketing consists of advertising, promotions, and brand. If you're smart enough to write a book, you're smart enough to put it into the right reader's hands.
10:40 - 10:50am	BREAK
10:50 - 11:50am BREAKOUT SESSION 2	Lecture Hall 101	Lecture Hall 110	Lecture Hall 117	Room 220
	*Fiona Kenshole: How to wrangle feedback to get the most out of it!* Great feedback is invaluable for improving your work. But can you tell if the direction you are revising is a good one? And what should you do when you've rewritten the opening so often you've lost your sense of direction. In this session, I'll share some handy hints from decades of giving editorial feedback. We'll talk about how to trust your instincts, how to identify signs that the pace is lagging, and how to find the best place to start your novel. And above all, how to keep your novel true to the story in your heart.	Cat Rambo: Writing Connections: The Relationships between Your Characters Characters have a multitude of connections to the characters around them: co-workers, neighbors, students and teachers, employees and employers, friends, family, and acquaintances. How do you figure out the relationships between your characters and write them in a way that makes those characters more engaging and interesting?	Elizabeth Pratt: The Ever Changing Publishing Industry: What Success Looks Like So, you want to be an indie author? That’s great. However, there’s a ton of pitfalls that face authors as they step into the indie publishing arena. Before you hit publish, come learn about all the mistakes you need to avoid from an indie author who has gone from struggling to successful.
11:50am - 12:50pm	Lunch Available in Lobby
12:50 - 1:50pm BREAKOUT SESSION 3	Lecture Hall 101	Lecture Hall 110	Lecture Hall 117	Room 220
	*Craig Martelle: Get Out of Your Own Way* The objectives of this session are to identify sources of self-sabotage, learn to face your fears, build confidence in your own abilities, and find and nurture support.	Jen Newens:TBA	*Elizabeth Pratt: TBA*	*Lynn Lovegreen- Book Bans and Libraries* In these days of book bans and soft censorship, libraries need our love. How can you help? UAA Librarian Rebecca Moorman, retired school and public librarian Ann Dixon, and Authors Against Book Bans member Lynn Lovegreen will discuss the challenges libraries face and how writers and illustrators can support libraries and library workers.
1:50 - 2:00pm	BREAK
2:00 - 3:00pm BREAKOUT SESSION 4	Lecture Hall 101	Lecture Hall 110	Lecture Hall 117	Room 220
	Elizabeth Pratt: TBA	Cat Rambo: Self Publishing Q&A	*ARW Panel: Build-A-Character: Constructing a Compelling Character in Any Genre* Character development is an essential element in telling a powerful story. Join members of the Alaska Romance Writers as they demonstrate how to draw from iconic archetypes, personality inventories (IMBT, enneagram, Clifton Strengths), and other methods to create unforgettable characters. From Girl Next Door to FBI Special Agent, we’ll give you the tools to bring your unique characters to life. Appropriate for all levels of writing experience.	Jilleen Dolbeare: Paranormal Women's Fiction Paranormal Women's fiction; the tropes that are expected, and making it marketable.

3:00 - 3:10pm	BREAK
3:10 - 3:50pm	Wendy Williamson Auditorium: Industry Panel Discussion with Fiona Kenshole, Jen Newens, Elizabeth Pratt
3:50 - 4:00pm	Wendy Williamson Auditorium: *Closing Announcements*
4:00 - 5:00pm	*Author Book Signing and Mingle in WWA Lobby*

Times, speakers, and topics subject to change.

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admin@alaskawritersguild.com

Alaska Writers Guild

PO Box 670014

Chugiak, AK 99567