Kris Bock
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Cliffhangers: Keep the Pages Turning!
Presentation
Room One
4:00pm- 50 minutesA cliffhanger chapter ending can add impact to a dramatic scene and leave the reader desperate to find out what happens next. Learn how to identify your best cliffhanger moments and make them even more dramatic through pacing and paragraphing. Even when you have to end at a quieter moment, you can drive the story forward by leaving your character—and the reader—with a sense of anticipation or worry.
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Critiquing, Self-editing, and What Professional Editors Look For
Panel
Room Two
1:00pm- 50 minutesKris Bock, Claire A Murray, Elaine Powers
Good writing is rewriting, but how do you do it? We'll explore self editing your own work and discuss when to get outside help from a critique group or professional editor to get you one step closer to publication.
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Plotting Practices - Tips, Practices, and Warnings
Panel
Room One
2:00pm- 50 minutesWhether you outline your entire story or novel in advance or start without a plan, plotting takes place at some point in your process. Learn how different authors approach plotting, what tools and techniques do they use, and plotting traps to avoid.
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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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What I Learned from Nancy Drew—Tools for Fast-Paced Plotting
Workshop
Room Two
9:00am- 105 minutesA Nancy Drew ghostwriter shares what she learned while writing about the famous sleuth. Start with a “grab you by the throat” opening to pull readers into the story. Learn how to pack the plot full by complicating your complications. Control your pacing through sentence and paragraph length. Novelists will benefit from these insights, whether they are just starting out or have years of experience.
