Insider tips from social media expert Sean Cranbury and writers who've been successful using social media to help build their careers.

No matter the story, it is character that brings it to life — that draws your readers in and makes them want to stay awhile, helps them understand and lets them relate. Whether you're writing a personal essay, an obituary, or a feature article, at heart, all are profiles that need to reveal the personality of the subject. Too often the people in our stories come across as superficial cardboard or overdrawn caricature.  And too many profiles read like predictable, chronological biographies. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll explore ways to go beyond resumes that catalog what a person has done and instead reveal who a person is.

 Interesting characters are no longer enough. Truly memorable characters today need several layers of dynamism and originality. This class will provide instruction and exercises to take your characters from very good to great. The principles of orchestration, opposition and character arc will be explained and illustrated.

Dialogue affects every aspect of your novel, from plot to pacing, point of view to characterization.  Join #1 New York Times best-selling author Julia Quinn for this interactive workshop on how to make your dialogue shine.

Story Structure: Explore the fundamental relationship between good stories and journeys. Using in-class exercises, Bob will help students better understand story structure so they can evaluate their novel's plot, make educated choices on such things as the opening chapter, make critical judgments about the middle of their book, and to ensure the ending brings into collision the forces the writer has set in motion to deliver an emotionally satisfying conclusion.

This workshop breaks down the horror genre, one of Hollywood's most popular and most profitable, and gives you several techniques to craft compelling and terrifying stories.  Topics to be covered include: story structure, design of your hero and your villain, creating memorable and effective "jump scenes", ways to make your idea franchise-ready, and technique comparisons between Western and Asian horror.

Fiction is about people, and people have sex. This fun class will teach you how to write a hot sex scene that will titillate you readers without offending them. 

Using his bestselling novel "Vlad" as an example C.C. Humphreys takes you through the creation of a novel. From drunken first imaginings through the drafts to dealing with reviews.

The Life in Your Fiction: We’ve all heard the old maxim “write what you know."  Many have interpreted this mean a slavish adherence to autobiography. A more useful interpretation would be similar to the actor’s notion of using “emotional recall” in order to generate a parallel for the characters he or she plays. Join Billie Livingston as she discusses how to take the emotional impressions you’ve experienced in your life, the situational memories you’ve stored in your subconscious and use them to bring lifeblood to your fiction.

Join Anne Perry and agent Ken Sherman for a look inside their working relationship. How does an agent/author relationship work, especially when there's more than one agent involved? How do you even end up with more than one agent? And how does having one (or more) affect your career? Anne and Ken will share their experiences and answer your questions.

Pacing: In this workshop we'll talk about pacing: what it is, why it matters, how focus on the pacing of your storytelling enhances the drama in your fiction. We'll analyze examples and discuss tips and techniques for looking at and modulating the pace of your novel.

Arthur Slade discusses how to make money as a writer, including grants, school visits, various publications. Find out how to make writing your day job.

Ratcheting up the tension in fiction is what keeps the reader turning the pages, missing meals and forgetting to sleep. How do you, the writer, torture your reader so thoroughly that they can't wait to go out and buy your next book? In this workshop we'll look at ways to up sexual, comic and dramatic tension in your novel and keep your reader happily hungry, sleepless and coming back for more.

Agents Sorche Fairbank, Laurie McLean, Joanna Stampfel-Volpe, and Nephele Tempest make up this year's quartet who'll make you quiver. Get a sneak peek into the minds of agents dealing with submissions as volunteer pages are read aloud by Jack Whyte and responded to by our agents.

Comedy is the most popular genre in Hollywood, but also the most challenging to do well. As a comedy writer you're charged with the task of not only creating a story that can sustain itself over 90 minutes, but one that also keeps your audience laughing for 90 minutes. This workshop will cover story and character design, setup/payoff relationships, the different styles of comedy, what Hollywood is currently looking for, and over 20 techniques that can be used in designing funny beats and sequences. A must for comedy writers of all levels and styles.

Rules are rules. Right? So why do so many top writers seem to ignore them completely? How do they get away with it? Join Maass Agency literary agent Cameron McClure for an in-depth look at the rules of successful fiction and how breaking them has worked for some of today's well-known authors.

Teach your poems to sing. Good poetry is a true blend of ‘sound and sense’. Let your own poetic voice be heard. Bring a sample poem to test the unity of your rhythm, pacing, tone, words meanings, and levels of language. Does the placement on the page mirror your cadences?

Writers will be given a brief overview of picture books, from their roots to new trends, especially examining a multitude of new titles that tackle picture books in different ways—from board books to illustrated books. Writers will then be introduced to the editing process using published picture books from Simply Read Books, and we will examine things to look for while editing books for young readers including, but not limited to, repetition, word count, age level, simplicity, illustration notes, and “show don’t tell”. There could also be the opportunity to create a dummy book, or at least learn how to.

Author and two-time cancer survivor Jay Lake discusses the process of keeping your writing flame alive in the face of adversity.  Where does the inspiration come from when life is hammering you silly over the head with the stress stick? Personal experience, tips and techniques, and a frank discussion of deadlines, priorities and self-management for writing at the worst of times.

This presentation studies the basics of freelancing - how to write articles for magazines, newspapers, and websites. It shows how to identify markets, how to realize your own specialties, how to structure a magazine query, how to come up with ideas, how to resell ideas, and more. Handouts provided.

Question: How to start? At the crime scene with cops and yellow ribbons? Inside the victim’s head? Your sleuth sleeping and the phone rings? Answer: Start with your villain. Give motivation to the Evil One. Dig into her/his back story. Dress your villain for a party. Do a Killer Interview. All this and more in this hands-on workshop with writing in the room. Instructor: Robert J. Ray, the Matt Murdock P.I. Series.

The difference between a movie script getting bought and getting made almost always comes down to getting actors who want to be in it.  Learn what kind of parts attract actors and how to write your script in a way that pulls them in and makes them want to fight to make the role their own. 

Moderator Michael Slade leads our band of merry bestsellers through tales of life as a bestselling author.

Join our panel for a discussion of writing for kids: the challenges, the rewards, and current market trends.

This class will give solid strategies for finishing the final draft of your book and then readying it for the marketplace. Topics will include endings, revisions, final checklists, editors, and how to do it all when the next book is tugging on your consciousness.

Join Joanna Bourne and discover how to wrangle your story into the best plot format.  The intriguing beginning, the continuing conflict and the satisfying ending . . .  make plot structure do the heavy lifting of the story telling. This workshop is suitable for beginning writers.

In a changing publishing world, DRM will affect you. Wonder what it is and why everyone's talking about it? Join social media guru Sean Cranbury to learn the basics, the issues, and delve into the deeper implications of digital rights management