Much like science fiction and fantasy, puppetry is often seen as a childhood interest. Mary Robinette Kowal, professional puppeteer and Campbell award-winning author, talks about what the speculative fiction community can learn from the world of puppetry. This covers the everything from character building to how to be an ambassador for your artform.

Writers are often gripped by paralysis when they sit down to write.  The old term for it was 'writer's block' but it is less of a block than a simple fear of being wrong---using the wrong word, the wrong structure, the wrong image.  So, the safest thing seems to be to never finish it, or even more effective, never start it.  We will explore this problem and present some techniques for overcoming and slaying these demons, so you can be free to move on to the next stage of creation.

New to social media? Wondering how to use social media tools for your benefit without letting them take over your life? Join social media expert Rebecca Bollwitt (Miss 604)  to learn how to use Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc. to communicate effectively without resorted to text-speak.

Whether you write about gardening or high finance, for magazines or businesses, in the basement or on the terrace, there are 15 habits you need to ingrain if you're going to climb the ladder to freelance success. Successful freelancer I.J. Schecter will describe each of these habits and provide real-life examples from other writers.

Are writers, producers, and agents on the same page when it comes to TV and movies? What about new media? Join our expert panel for insight into the business of screenwriting and how you can build a career in this exciting industry.

Writer and book reviewer Hallie Ephron tackles two of the most important parts of your book: beginnings and endings. Novels are full of them, not just on page one and before "The End", but in every scene, the introduction of every character, and in answering the questions your novel poses. Learn how to handle all these beginnings and endings effectively.

Bring your pitch, your energy, and your support for other writers and join the party. Agent Cricket Freeman will help as many attendees as possible during this workshop to practice and improve their pitches before they head off to their pitch appointments. Not ready to pitch or too shy to share, but want to learn? You are welcome to sit in and listen.

Former Green Beret Bob Mayer will take you through an introduction to the military from conventional warfare, through Special Operations, the War on Terror, weapons of mass destruction and insight into the men and women who make up our armed forces—all tailored for the writer who might need research in this area.  Additionally, information on niche publishing.

 Robert Wiersema, whose Bedtime Story is described as an exquisitely plotted blend of supernatural thriller and domestic drama, guides you through building suspense and raising the stakes when ANYTHING can happen.

How to plot a thriller, mystery, or other novel from incidents in your own life, and how to add fun to writing by going out and livingyour plot. In other words, how to 'Write what you know.' Michael Slade has done it 16 times."

Ghosts, vampires and demons – oh my! Are you passionate about the paranormal? Want to add a little ethereal spice to your fiction? Join paranormal mystery author, Wendy Roberts, and see just how much fun you can have with the supernatural.

Is digital piracy really as much of a threat to books as it's made out to be? Or is it a reality of working in digital media that needs to be better understood before it can be used to unleash the potential of your work on a worldwide audience? Studies show that 'free content' and 'piracy' actually increase sales of paid content. This talk will focus on arguments for and against digital piracy and will share some strategies for using digital piracy to propel awareness of your work online.

You have a killer idea for a romance novel, but is it enough to fill 350 manuscript pages? This workshop will take you and your idea through the paces to see if there is enough conflict, action, character challenges and just plain guts and meat to take it from that spark of an idea to a fully fleshed out novel. Bring a spark, paper and pens, and be ready to work. Not for the beginner writer.

Bringing history to life involves a lot more than plopping modern characters onto a beautifully prepared era-appropriate stage. How do you make historical stories relevant to modern readers while maintaining historical accuracy? How do you avoid turning your novel into a history lecture while including the detail you need for your story? Join our esteemed panel for a look at these and other topics in historical fiction.

From your initial query letter to your published novel, the writer must convey that she understands classic story structure. Bob will teach the fundamental relationship between good stories and journeys and use in-class exercises and assignments to help students better understand story structure so they can evaluate their novel’s plot. Students will also be better equipped to make educated choices on such things as the opening chapter, to make critical judgments about the middle of their book, and to ensure that the ending brings into collision the forces the writer has set in motion to deliver an emotionally satisfying conclusion.

This class will cover the craft and business of writing for film and television:  format, structure, overall character and story design as well as a peek behind the curtain at how the film and television businesses work from the inside — how they make decisions about what they're going to buy and make and, most importantly for you, how to break in and get your material read by agents and executives. 

In this hands-on workshop for beginning poets, poet Patricia Young will use exercises to get participants engaged and writing.  We will try different approaches to loosen up and break down everyday thought processes, thereby opening into the intuitive, animated language of poetry. The goal of the workshop is for participants to take away tools with which to work when writing alone, tools that will help them play with sense and countersense, while at the same time harnessing their stories and drawing on the compost of their lives.

Bruce Dowbiggin knows sports writing. He's been a sports anchor for TV, a sportscaster on radio, a sports columnist and a writer of books about sports. He currently writes a column on sports media for the Globe & Mail. Join Bruce for insight into building a writing career in sports or whatever field you're passionate about.

Canadian author Dan Kalla has found international bestseller success with his five medical thrillers. Join him for his insight into making your books work on both sides of the border and beyond.

We all love to get lost in a good book, but how do you create that experience for an age group you haven't been a part of for awhile? How do you earn the trust, and the willing suspension of disbelief, of cynical, potentially skeptical teenagers, especially if you don't happen to be writing about vampires? Join our YA panel for insight into these and other issues of writing for older kids.

Susanna Kearsley on how a centuries-old rule of common law sheds light on how going straight to the source, using documents, people and places, can unearth the details that help bring your characters, plots and locations to life.

Join science fiction/fantasy author Ken Scholes for a workshop geared toward writers who want to branch out into the waters of speculative fiction.  Participants will learn some basics about the three better known speculative genres -- science fiction, fantasy and horror -- and will get a sense of what questions to ask and steps to take before setting out to publish.

How do you introduce an alien environment, create an alternate timeline or magical realm, and then populate it with characters whose problems matter to readers? Aimed at writers whose focus is on speculative fiction, this workshop helps participants establish the operating rules for alternate histories, horror realms, sword and sorcery kingdoms, urban fantasies, hard science fiction societies. . . and even combinations that blend the fantastic genres. Using group exercises, discussion and peer feedback, participants learn how to transport readers into vividly imagined, often impossible--yet nevertheless convincing--worlds. Please bring samples of your work in progress.

Every day, thousands and thousands of query letters arrive on the desks and in the email inboxes of agents and editors. These letters are your chance to put your best foot forward and introduce your work to someone who might fall in love with it, yet many writers have no idea where to start or why their letter isn't getting the response they want. How do you stand out from the crowd (hint: not by writing in crayon on construction paper, we promise!)? Join our panel of agents and editors to find out what makes a great - and an awful - query.

By extreme popular demand, Ivan Coyote brings back her extremely popular Boot Camp for Procrastinators to this year's SiWC. Have you always dreamed of writing your memoirs down but were never sure where to start? Do you have a half-finished masterpiece stuffed into the back of a desk drawer? Still stuck on that not quite fabulous first line? Enlist today. Not tomorrow. Not next year. Today. Fall in and step to as Ivan Coyote runs you through a series of exercises designed to build up your first line muscles, train yourself to capture those fleeting late night epiphanies, and practice bullying yourself into believing.

Character "arc" sounds nice but few manuscripts take protagonists on a true journey into themselves.  Learn the practical methods that give novels emotional power from New York literary agent Donald Maass.

No matter the length of your story, some issues are universal. Join poet, writer, and teacher Terence Young to explore the issues of dialogue, distraction and description, the three Ds of dramatic fiction.

So you have a story to tell – but who is actually telling it?  We’ll look at strategies for delving down deep into character, and accessing the unique voice that resonates there.