Sunday

Virtual Only, Recorded This class delves deep into the process of transforming a protagonist from a mere concept into a dynamic hero using techniques like free associating and mapping. Participants will learn how to craft engaging beginnings, navigate through impactful middles, build towards powerful climaxes, and deliver satisfying endings that resonate with readers.

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded No matter how hard you work to master every aspect of publishing—your writing, the submissions process, working with your editorial team, the ins and outs of social media—success feels like a moving target. Things keep changing. Popular genres shuffle, algorithms shift, and publishers want something new. Join the Whisky Chicks in a discussion of ways to weather the ever-evolving world of publishing, and how to maintain a positive approach when you...

In Person, Live-Streamed, and Recorded There’s plenty of characters surrounding your point of view one. How do you write these secondary characters so they emerge as engaging and three-dimensional? What do you do when one insists on dominating the story? How do you make these characters distinctive and a reflection of the world at large? You will come away with a better understanding of the roles supporting characters play and techniques for writing them.

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded Learn how science in everyday life can help improve and inspire your writing from the creation stage to the final revision stage. Author and scientist, Emily Seo discusses how she integrated real science into her fictional novel, The Science of Boys. She also gives tips on how to boost creativity based on research-proven techniques.

In Person, Live-Streamed, and Recorded Everything your story needs has to be on the page, but sometimes you don't want to readers to notice it's there. How do you direct their focus where you want it to be? Join author Diana Gabaldon to learn how to make readers see what you want them to see (and not notice the things you're hiding in plain sight), and how to make the story flow visually.

In Person Only, Not Recorded An agent must sift through hundreds, even thousands of queries. Learn what makes an effective query letter and how to write a compelling opening for your sample pages. We will discuss how to write a grabby opening while avoiding the dreaded white room and its evil twin, the cliffhanger.

In Person Only, Not Recorded All stories take place somewhere. And through that place, the mood, pace, conflict or emotion of a scene or story can be enhanced. What expectations or assumptions are made based on where a story is set? How can we use these assumptions and expectations to our advantage to surprise or elevate the beats of our stories? During this session, we will look at the places we choose to set our stories, asking ourselves how key elements and conditions within a specific...

In Person Only, Not Recorded From Memoir to Suspense to Fantasy, the elements of character identity, such as race, religion, and family structure, can unlock every piece of your writing toolkit. How your character chooses to identify (and why) is a crucial building block for every story you tell. In this 1 hour (or 90 minute) workshop, we will explore: • the roots of culture and its impact on character dynamics • the power of code switch and how it enriches facets and tension within...

In Person Only, Not Recorded This workshop will be focused on the role of aesthetics in the creation and nurturing of complex critical and creative Indigenous lifeworlds. It aims to address, analyze, and articulate the everyday encounters we engage in, and how we navigate them via poetics. This workshop, then, will be an attempt to try — and, most likely, fail— to articulate a poetics or an ethics of poetics of how to engage with "Indigeneity" and 'the everyday' and its myriad registers...

Virtual and Recorded Presented by Editors BC Trends in language are constantly changing. Phrasing and framing ideas to be in line with the expectations of the future can help writing stand the test of time. Writers can stay ahead of the curve to expand their potential audience and the relevance of their work. In this panel discussion, professional editors will address how conventions are changing to address diversity, equity, inclusion, sensitivity concerns, conscious language, and...

In Person, Live-Streamed, and Recorded Let's examine the role a mentor can take in an author's life--the different styles of mentorship, what to expect, what not to expect, where to find a mentor and how to judge if that relationship is working for you. Each panelist brings varied experiences in being a mentor and having an mentor, and will share those experiences and perspectives.

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded Series characters have qualities that keep readers coming back. Special abilities, secret weaknesses, origin tragedies, inner conflict, outcast status, high humanity, signature lines and more. Learn the secrets of their longevity in this hands-on workshop.

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded Explore the fine art of collaborative writing, as taught by two collaborators - Finnian Burnett & Andrew Buckley. Writing with someone can bring forth powerful skills—As writers talk through changes, mash genres and styles, and absorb each other’s singular strengths, each writer can come out of the process better for the experience. In this workshop, through interactive discussion, we will delve into the opportunities and processes of...

In Person, Live-streamed, and Recorded The worlds we create are as varied and diverse as the people who write in them, and careful world-building can do everything from setting the stage for your story to informing the plot. Join author kc dyer in an exploration of different techniques to unlock the world of your story. This is a hands-on workshop, so please bring a piece that you are working on and come prepared to write!

In Person Only, Not Recorded Join Darren Groth for a guide to ensuring the needs of the story always outweigh those of yourself, the audience, the critics, the cash, and the expectations.

In Person Only, Not Recorded How to start with who your are and your family background, then move out in concentric circles to craft a novel with depth, believable characters, and non-stop nail-biting action through the elements of suspense, mystery, and horror. Caution: Michael Slade is a criminal lawyer who specialized in murder cases involving the law of insanity, and writes that into his books. He discusses the world based on his experience. As BC’s senior Crown prosecutor...

In Person Only, Not Recorded Everywhere we look we see a fallen world. Smoke is rising from the fractured landscape, horns and sirens sound in the distance, unidentified vehicles flash across the sky. Our phones are filled with messages that tell us that things will never be the same, that the future is dangerous and unknowable. Poetry has survived every era of human history. It is one of our most resilient artforms and perhaps the greatest storytelling tool that we have developed....