Welcome to the 2026 Sonoran Writers Conference Panels Schedule. Below is a complete list of all the panels being offered this year. A long list, but you can also break it down into smaller lists.
Lists by Room
SWC this year utilizes FIVE rooms of programming, all producing great opportunities to improve your writing. Visit the Panels listed by room:
ROOM ONE | ROOM TWO | ROOM THREE | ROOM FOUR | ROOM FIVE
Lists by Time
Get the smaller lists of the panels that are staring at a given time. This make planning much easier.
- 9:00AM Start
- 10:00AM Start
- 11:00AM Start
- 12:00PM Start
- 1:00PM Start
- 2:00PM Start
- 3:00PM Start
- 4:00PM Start
Lists by Presenter
Coming Soon
Presentation
Room One
4:00pm- 50 minutes
A 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.
Panel
Room Two
4:00pm- 50 minutes
Anna 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.
Panel
Room One
2:00pm- 50 minutes
Whether 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.
Workshop
Room Two
2:00pm- 105 minutes
Family 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.
Presentation
Room One
1:00pm- 50 minutes
Explore the joys in writing the paranormal, choosing a paranormal character, and world building. As an exercise, attendees will be invited to choose their paranormal character and an inciting incident to share with the group. This can apply traditional techniques such as plot and characterization to the special needs of paranormal stories. Common pitfalls of writing about the paranormal will be reviewed.
Panel
Room Two
1:00pm- 50 minutes
Kris 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.
Presentation
Room One
12:00pm- 50 minutes
Two people can create conflict.
Three people create a mess.
What makes a book so enticing readers can't put it down?
Share this memorable interactive experience with seasoned author, presenter and real life international criminologist, Susan Magestro as we explore the design of multi levels of conflict within stories you know and stories you write.
The best known stories are built on well-defined characters and rich conflict!—Person v Person, Person v Group, Person v Self, Person v Nature
Panel
Room One
11:00am- 50 minutes
Anna 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.
