2nd Annual Conference on Creative Writing at Pacific 2014 Schedule of Workshops & Presentations

Transcription

1 8:00 2nd Annual Conference on Creative Writing at Pacific 2014 Schedule of Workshops & Presentations Interactive workshops and presentations will cover all aspects and genres of creative writing, from brainstorming techniques to submitting work for publication, from writing creative nonfiction articles for publication to writing children's books, from murder mysteries and science fiction to westerns. This conference is a collaboration of the Gladys L. Benerd School of Education, the Center for Professional & Continuing Education, and the College of the Pacific's Department of English. Friday, June 20, 2014 Check in/late Registration/Continental Breakfast/Welcome! Gladys L. Benerd School of Education Lobby Concurrent Sessions A Option 1: Joan Frank: Making and Marketing. Award-winning author Joan Frank will discuss basic, step-by-step methods for making and revising stories, as well a basic, step-by-step checklist for submitting and publishing your work. Making will include finding your story, dreaming it further, and revising to shape and polish. Marketing will include tips about how to do systematic market research, shape a simple, effective query letter, find an agent or small press, and generally maintain the mindset that helps you carry out and carry on living a writing life. Room 208 Option 2: Jennifer Basye Sander: Could Hemingway Get a Book Deal in Our Time? A Look at the Publishing Past to Understand the Publishing Future. Jennifer Basye Sander is a former Random House Senior Editor and the coauthor of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published. A New York Times best-selling author, she leads writing retreats in Lake Tahoe and the Pacific Northwest. Room 207 Option 3: Patti McCarthy: Writing the Successful Screenplay. You have a story to tell and it s a good one. In fact, it s a great one! But how do you turn your great idea into award-winning material? In this workshop, you will learn the secrets of a successful screenplay. It s not always who you know, or what you know, but how you can connect to your audience that makes all the difference. Room 206 Concurrent Sessions B Option 1: John Lescroart: Ecstasy, Angst, and Creativity: Three stages of the writing process. Advice on harnessing the thrilling ideas generated in first drafts, the hard work and concern of revising, and the power of creative polishing during the final push to finish. Participants are encouraged to bring five pages of their writing to share and critique. Room 208 Option 2: Patti McCarthy: Writing the Successful Screenplay. You have a story to tell and it s a good one. In fact, it s a great one! But how do you turn your great idea into award-winning material? In this workshop, you will learn the secrets of a successful screenplay. It s not always who you know, or what you know, but how you can connect to your audience that makes all the difference. Room Lunch: Michael Wurtz: The Writings of John Muir. River Room, University Center, $10 at the door (limited to 40) Concurrent Sessions C Option 1: Jennifer Basye Sander: Could Hemingway Get a Book Deal in Our Time? A Look at the Publishing Past to Understand the Publishing Future. Jennifer Basye Sander is a former Random House Senior Editor and the coauthor of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Published. A New York Times best-selling author, she leads writing retreats in Lake Tahoe and the Pacific Northwest. Room 208 Option 2: Joan Frank: Making and Marketing. Award-winning author Joan Frank will discuss basic, step-by-step methods for making and revising stories, as well as basic, step-by-step checklist for submitting and publishing your work. Making will include finding your story, dreaming it further, and revising to shape and polish. Marketing will include tips about how to do systematic market research, shape a simple and effective query letter, find an agent or small press, and generally maintain the mindset that helps you carry out and carry on living a writing life. Room 207

2 2:50 Option 3: Daniel Coshnear: Breaking With Tradition. The traditional editor says a story has conflict, character and resolution. Jerome Stern says, "A story is what happens to the reader." Let's look at that most restrictive of forms, literary short fiction, and see how some of today's best writers are breaking conventions with disarming and dynamic results. We ll examine the conventions, analyze a traditional narrative, then share a variety of samples of alternative structures. To get at this idea of a story experience, we ll look at brief samples from Rick Moody, Lydia Davis and others, and do some exercises to push writers into unusual structures and formats. Room 206 Concurrent Sessions D Option 1: Robin Burcell: Character, Plot and Pacing. What are the elements of a good fiction novel? It's more than having a good story idea. Character, plot and pacing are important. Whether you are writing mystery, romance or other genre fiction, this workshop will give you the basics of what makes a good novel. Room 208 Option 2: Nancy Ellen Dodd: The Writer s Compass: Using Story Maps to Build Better Fiction. Learn the elements that go into building a strong story and find the holes and weak spots in your story by using a story map. If you re able to start a story well, but have trouble getting to the end or want to avoid a sagging mid-section, this is the session for you. Room 207 Option 3: Daniel Coshnear: Breaking With Tradition. The traditional editor says a story has conflict, character and resolution. Jerome Stern says, "A story is what happens to the reader." Let's look at that most restrictive of forms, literary short fiction, and see how some of today's best writers are breaking conventions with disarming and dynamic results. We ll examine the conventions, analyze a traditional narrative, then share a variety of samples of alternative structures. We ll also look at brief samples from Rick Moody, Lydia Davis and others, and do some exercises to push writers into unusual structures and formats. Room 206 4:30 5:30 Break/Open Mic Lobby Dinner at Arroyo s Mexican Café: 2381 West March Lane (across from the Stockton Hilton) Keynote Speaker: Best-selling author James Rollins Saturday, June 21, :00 Continental Breakfast Gladys L. Benerd School of Education Lobby Concurrent Sessions E Option 1: Robin Burcell: Theme in Genre Fiction. Theme is the glue that holds the story together, and yet for many writers, it is one of the most elusive elements to master in fiction. No matter what genre you are writing in, learn how to use it to make your fiction resonate. Room 208 Option 2: Paul Landes: Whatever Else You Do, WRITE! In this session, Paul Landes will provide tips on the discipline of writing, sticking to a writing schedule, working with critique groups, and finishing the job. Participants are encouraged to bring several copies of five pages of their writing to share and have critiqued. Room 207 Option 3: Indigo Moor: Taming the Hydra: Multi-Genre Writing or Teaching poets to write fiction and authors to write poetry. This workshop examines the differences, and common pitfalls, of writing in both poetry and fiction. Through discussion, example, and brief writing exercises, students will leave with a better understanding of the tools at their disposal to make their poetry look like poetry and their fiction look like fiction. Room 206 Concurrent Sessions F Option 1: Sam Shane: Writing, Publishing & Marketing Children s Lit. This workshop will discuss the challenges of self-publishing and marketing, and explore other media and product opportunities in developing a children s book. Someone who has been in the trenches will share how he took his passion for baseball and turned it into an illustrated children s book. Room 208 2

3 Saturday, June 21 continued Option 2: Karen Levy: Writing with Determination. Reading from her memoir My Father s Gardens, speaking about what goes into writing, revising, and pitching to publishers, Karen Levy will explain how persistence leads to publication. In this workshop, participants will be informed of strategies to help navigate through rejection letters, deal with unsupportive publishers, and cope with less-than-supportive relatives. Room 207 Option 3: Karma Bennett: Blogging for Success Blogging Tips for Authors. The days of shy reclusive authors are ending. Whether authors are self-published or signed with a big house, they need to build their platforms with a blog. But if you're going to devote hours to setting up and maintaining a blog space to promote writing projects, you may as well do it right. In this workshop, you'll learn formatting tips to easily improve the readability of your posts, how to properly embed and source images and video, useful websites for easily imbedding audio in posts, how to customize your blog with plug-ins, and 20 easy-to-install plug-ins to supercharge your blog. Room 206 Lunch: University Center On your own Concurrent Sessions G Option 1: Nancy Ellen Dodd: The Writer s Compass: Using Story Maps to Build Better Fiction. Learn the elements that go into building a strong story and find the holes and weak spots in your story by using a story map. If you re able to start a story well but have trouble getting to the end or want to avoid a sagging mid-section, this is the session for you. Room 208 Option 2: Andy Jones: Using Social Media and Content Marketing to Build your Author Platform. Gone are the days when large publishing houses could be counted upon to take care of the marketing of a new book while the author of that book focuses solely on his or her next project. This session will introduce the steps needed for an author to build the platform on which to stand while being seen and heard. Topics will include the author website, the content marketing with a blog, discoverability, and the self-branding outposts of Facebook and especially Twitter. Room 207 Option 3: Serita Stevens Tarlow: Book, Script or Both? Serita will discuss the differences between the two types of writing and how you can prosper in both. Her latest book, The Ultimate Writer's Workbook for Books and Scripts, talks about characterization, adapting your work for Hollywood, writing creative nonfiction, historicals and many other topics novice writers request when having their work critiqued by established writers. Room 206 Option 4: Cindy Sample: Fifty Shades of Marketing and Promotion. Cindy will share the promotional tools she has audience. Room 205 2:50 Concurrent Sessions H Option 1: Indigo Moor: Balance, and Movement: Poems That Go When They Should. This workshop will discuss movement in poems: how to achieve it and how to artfully maintain it. How to balance image to statement and make a poem flow. We will focus on contemporary poets of differing styles and examine tools that poets can use to achieve their own sense of movement. Room 208 Option 2: Andy Jones: Productivity Lessons from High-Performing Authors and Thought Leaders. This session will sample some of the theories and practices of productivity gurus such as David Allen, Seth Godin, and Tim Ferriss. We will discuss maintaining focus, eliminating distractions, and meeting deadlines. Participants in this session will learn the meanings of terms such as GTD, Pomodoro, the Four-Hour Workweek and the 10-Minute Hack. Room 207 Option 3: Cindy Sample: Fifty Shades of Marketing and Promotion. Cindy will share the promotional tools she has audience. Room 206 3

4 Saturday, June 21 continued 4:00 Option 4: Serita Stevens Tarlow: Book Script or Both? Serita will discuss the differences between the two types of writing and how you can prosper in both. Her latest book, The Ultimate Writer's Workbook for Books and Scripts, talks about characterization, adapting your work for Hollywood, writing creative nonfiction, historicals and many other topics novice writers request when having their work critiqued by established writers. Room 205 Concurrent Sessions I Option 1: Heather Haven: Comedy Can Be Murder. How to Add Humor to Your Whodunit. What makes people laugh? When does it work? When doesn t it work? How do you add that extra layer to your novel without sacrificing plot, pacing, characterization, or the mystery, itself? Yes, some writers are born funny, but like any other craft, the rest of us can learn, develop, and hone the creative funny-bone. No kidding. Room 208 Option 2: Cindy Sample: Fifty Shades of Marketing and Promotion. Cindy will share the promotional tools she has audience. Room 207 Option 3: Scott Evans: Critique Workshop. Bring 5-10 copies of a sample of your writing (Approx. 5 typed, doublespaced pages) and we will read and comment on your work using a dynamic and extremely effective workshop method that has helped several writers in the Blue Moon Writers Group get published. Room 206 Option 4: Chip MacGregor, Agent: The Perfect Fiction Proposal. Think BIG PICTURE. Practical advice for authors, such as The One Sheet & other Elements of your proposal. Room 205 5:30 Break for the day Sunday, June 22, :00 Continental Breakfast Gladys L. Benerd School of Education Lobby Concurrent Sessions J Option 1: Scott Evans: Writing a Whodunit Mystery. The dynamics of blending plot and character when composing a good murder mystery can be tricky. For the reader to stay interested, the writer must dole out clues in small but recognizable doses, while also ratcheting up the tension and concern for characters. This workshop offers practical advice on balancing these elements of fiction. Room 208 Option 2: Mark Travis: The Pure Joy of Telling a Good Story. The late and prolific John D. MacDonald once said one cannot consider oneself a writer until one has written a million words. Writers write. We cannot help but write. We are happiest when writing. We should write without expectations of readers. We even write in our sleep. Writers write while publishers reject, while prospective agents ignore, and while others enjoy success. In this workshop Mark Travis offers his experiences to illustrate how dedication to storytelling pays off. Room 207 Option 3: Lytton Bell: Writing the Body Erotic. In this session, we will take a peek at some of the hottest erotica being written today. What makes it work? What techniques can you introduce into your own writing to intensify your spice factor? What distinguishes erotica from other types of professional writing? Optional in-class writing exercises will help writers explore their sensual side. What books or resources can help you to hone your craft? Next, we will discuss publication where should you submit? What kinds of profits are possible? Erotica is one of the fastest growing literary genres today; come learn why. Room 206 4

5 Sunday, June 22 continued Concurrent Sessions K Option 1: Mark Travis: The Pure Joy of Telling a Good Story. The late and prolific John D. MacDonald once said one cannot consider oneself a writer until one has written a million words. Writers write. We cannot help but write. We are happiest when writing. We should write without expectations of readers. We even write in our sleep. Writers write while publishers reject, while prospective agents ignore, and while others enjoy success. In this workshop Mark Travis offers his experiences to illustrate how dedication to storytelling pays off. Room 208 Option 2: Lytton Bell: Writing the Body Erotic. In this session, we will take a peek at some of the hottest erotica being written today. What makes it work? What techniques can you introduce into your own writing to intensify your spice factor? What distinguishes erotica from other types of professional writing? Optional in-class writing exercises will help writers explore their sensual side. What books or resources can help you to hone your craft? Next, we will discuss publication where should you submit? What kinds of profits are possible? Erotica is one of the fastest growing literary genres today; come learn why. Room 207 Option 3: Chip MacGregor: The Basics of Contract Negotiation. 1. What is a publishing contract? 2. Who do I look for in a contract? 3. What should I avoid in a contract? 4. What should I ask for in a contract? 5. What is my strategy in negotiating a contract? Room 206 Lunch: University Center On your own Concurrent Sessions L Option 1: Scott Evans: Writing a Whodunit Mystery. The dynamics of blending plot and character when composing a good murder mystery can be tricky. For the reader to stay interested, the writer must dole out clues in small, but recognizable doses, while also ratcheting up the tension and concern for characters. This workshop offers practical advice on balancing these elements of fiction. Room 208 Option 2: Heather Haven: Comedy Can Be Murder: How to Add Humor to Your Whodunit. What makes people laugh? When does it work? When doesn t it work? How do you add that extra layer to your novel without sacrificing plot, pacing, characterization, or the mystery, itself? Yes, some writers are born funny, but like any other craft, the rest of us can learn, develop, and hone the creative funny-bone. No kidding. Room 207 Option 3: Chip MacGregor: Finding and Working with a Literary Agent or Ask Me Anything. Chip will answer questions from individual authors who would like advice on how best to pitch their projects. Room 206 Panel Discussion Attendees and Speakers compare notes and share what we have learned, as well as plan for 2015 Conference. Room 208 POST-CONFERENCE INTENSIVE WRITING COURSE & WORKSHOP Creative Writing: A Practical Guide - From Concept to Publication This workshop will help you gain an understanding of the craft of fiction, gain discipline in setting and meeting goals for your writing, and learn how to edit and revise to produce coherent, polished, and stimulating, meaningful prose. Bring ten pages of your writing to share and have critiqued. Instructor: Author Scott Evans, M.A. 5 Date: Mon., June 23- Thurs. June 26, 6:00-9:30 p.m. Location: 1776 W. March Lane, #290C, Stockton Fee: $ for 1 unit of credit/$70.00 for non-credit. To register go to: go.pacific.edu/cpceregister, click and choose Course Code: XENG 035 UO1 (credit) or UN1 (non-credit)