A chance to go through the query-writing process with One Who Knows. Agent Janet Reid will conduct this Master Class by examining existing query letters, looking for ways to improve the first impression you send off through the mail. This process will give you an opportunity to write, revise and improve your letters on the spot. You’ll also learn how to CHANGE your query depending on how you send it: mail or electrons. By the end of this class you'll emerge with a new and improved query letter, and a better chance at being an effective query writer.

There is no class-size limit, but in order to attend this class, you must pre-submit a sample query letter. Sample queries must be sent to: kcdyer at siwc.ca prior to registration. (Please write Janet Reid Master Class in the subject line of your email.)

All submissions will be forwarded to Janet for previewing.

Questions? Contact conference coordinator kc dyer at kcdyer at siwc.ca

Writing for children and teens is hot  -- here’s your chance to learn from two prolific writers how to approach this genre from a whole new angle – map making. Follow these writers into the world of maps – and see how maps can literally and figuratively add to the process of writing for this age group.

How to breathe life into a minor character, so that he or she can take over the reader’s interest from time to time and keep the major characters on their toes...

In this session, conference favourite Jack Whyte will distribute and examine outstanding examples of this ability that he has come across in his own reading of other authors. Participants will be invited and encouraged to rate the examples and identify just what it is that makes them so outstanding, and how the techniques could be adapted to enhance and strengthen their own writing. The class will also focus on submissions from attending participants.

The entry to this Master Class will be competitive, based upon a written response to set criteria, and attendance will be capped at twelve participants. In order to gain a place in the class, you must submit a 1000-word scene [four x 250-word manuscript pages] featuring your protagonist being surprisingly ‘upstaged’ by an unknown ‘extra’. Scenes must be sent to: kcdyer at siwc.ca before midnight, Tuesday, September 30, 2008. (Please write Jack Whyte Master Class in the subject line of your email.) All submissions will be forwarded to Jack for evaluation. All submissions will be acknowledged, and registration for Jack Whyte's Master Class will be opened to the 12 successful applicants and three alternates.

Questions? Contact conference coordinator kc dyer at kcdyer at siwc.ca

Class is strictly limited to 12 registrants.

Learn how to construct plot events that have devastating impact from top New York agent and popular SIWC workshop presenter Donald Maass. Bring a novel in progress and writing materials. For advanced fiction writers.  

What makes a character live on in a reader’s mind after the book is closed?  Rich characters make a story take on a life of its own, and more and more readers are demanding believable, complex characters even in genre fiction. Learn techniques for inventing a person, ways to get into your characters’ heads and give them an inner life that motivates their actions. Reveal your characters to the reader with narrative, voice, and point-of-view, and at the same time learn to use the developing story to expand your own understanding of your characters.

Excellent speculative fiction appeals not only to the mind but to the heart as well.  The number-one reason mainstream readers don't even try science fiction is they think it has nothing to offer them emotionally:  they wrongly believe that it's either too dry and intellectual, or that any character development is sketchy and any character drama is simplistic and juvenile.  But the best science fiction is as emotionally complex, as heart-wrenching, as moving, and as uplifting as the best mainstream fiction.  Learn how to balance both halves of the term"science fiction" without giving short-shrift to either.