Anna Dalhaimer Bartkowski
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Haunted by History and Mystery: Writing the Past from Family Secrets, Memory, and Dreams
Workshop
Room Two
2:00pm- 105 minutesFamily stories don’t just live in archives — they linger in dreams, memory, and the quiet spaces of the unconscious. In this craft-focused workshop, discover how historical fiction and genealogical mystery can emerge as much from ancestral whispers and emotional truth as from documented research. Learn practical techniques for transforming long-buried family secrets, fragmented memories, and dream imagery into layered plot, compelling characters, and sustained suspense. You’ll leave with tools for weaving archival fact and the mysteries of the unconscious into powerful, haunting narrative.
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Unleashing Creativity through Brainstorming
Panel
Room One
9:00am- 50 minutesLauren Buckingham, Susan Magestro, Margaret C. Morse
Brainstorming can unleash a wealth of ideas. From reviewing the past to journaling, real life/news stories, other books, movies and television, tchotchkes, or more, new ideas can spring forth and turn into your story, a problem, or a solution. Join us as we explore the many ways brainstorming can stimulate your writing.
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Warm Up Your Writing with Cozy and Humorous Touches
Panel
Room Two
4:00pm- 50 minutesAnna Dalhaimer Bartkowski, Kris Bock, Margaret C. Morse
Could cozy and humorous elements help engage your readers' personal emotions? Can murder be humorous... a way to lighten the mood in a mystery?
A review of cliche overuse, cozy tropes, and humor with an analysis of how these can warm up other genres or help you write in the cozy and/or humorous genres. Attendees will have the opportunity to write down cozy and/or humorous elements that could enhance their stories.
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You Can Make it Up, But it Better be Right: The Value of Research in Fiction Writing
Panel
Room One
11:00am- 50 minutesAnna Dalhaimer Bartkowski, Patricia Bonn, Roberta Gibson, Elaine Powers
Characters need to be true to her/his place in society and time. Use of 21st century verbiage won't make sense if the story is set in the American West of the 1800s. Neither will the polished language of an elitist Harvard grad fit a cartel member in Texas. Fantasy and paranormal writers are freer to make stuff up—they are the creators of their worlds. Most of us work in the real world and need to research some of the minutia that would catch the reader's eye as out of place in the story.
