Friday

Online and Recorded Point of view -- you don't even know what it is until you start trying to write fiction. Then the questions start. Whose story is this? First person or third? Can I use omniscient? What about multiple points of view? How to handle point-of-view shifts? Does it matter if the viewpoint slip-slides? How does POV relate to narrative voice? This workshop explores answers to all these questions and more. In class writing exercises. Topics include: - Viewpoint choices - How viewpoint changes the story and determines what the reader knows - Deciding where you want the "camera" to tell your story - close or at a distance; fixed or flexible; one viewpoint or several - Point of view options, advantages and disadvantages - Sliding viewpoint and head hopping: How to get viewpoint under control - How to add attitude to create a memorable and unique narrative voice.

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded Join our panel of agents for an in depth discussion of the all-important human element of publishing: the working relationships! How do you know if an agent is one you're going to be able to work with? How do you make yourself someone who's a joy for them to represent? What do agent/author, agent/editor, and editor/author relationships look like in practice? These topics and lots more will be discussed. Bring your questions!

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded From attending a conference to walking into a bookstore, a working writer needs to know how to talk to people. But most of us are introverts. In this class, we cover how to read body language, engage with people, and how to turn small talk into a real conversation.

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded Flash fiction stories are ever-increasing in popularity and some of the most respected journals in Canada now have flash fiction contests. What does it take to write a killer story in under 1000 words that evokes an emotional response and draws readers into your world? In this workshop, we will use generative exercises, story analysis, and guided questions to help each participant hone their flash fiction skills before following a flash fiction road map to ensure an (almost) perfect story every time.

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded Like a painting, literature is a collaborative effort between the artist and the beholder. This awareness of the audience creates a notion of universality, the argument that all great art has the power to touch anyone, anywhere. But what are the implications for nonwhite writers when that “universal” audience is in fact often positioned as white? Might there be a different way to read not just literature and art, but the world around us?

In Person Only Are you allergic to outlining but wish your drafting could be more structured? If so, the skeleton draft might be the answer. Xio Axelrod will give you tips on how to streamline your writing process in a way that gives you the freedom to develop your characters and craft your stories without feeling boxed in.

In Person Only Between projects? Want to write but having trouble coming up with an idea that grabs you? This hands on workshop will focus on generating new ideas—characters, premises, scenes, conflicts, and more—with quick writing exercises to generate possible entry points for new stories.

In Person Only Characters are an essential part of many stories. Character-driven works are what many readers specifically seek, and the way characters are drawn can have a huge impact on how a story is received by editors as well as readers. In short fiction, you're working with limited space for character development, but it's just as important as it is in longer fiction. How do you develop well-rounded characters in so few words? In this workshop we'll discuss and practice practical strategies for developing characters in short fiction.

In Person Only This annual deep-dive dissects two stylistically divergent novels at the paragraph level, revealing how early narrative decisions reverberate throughout entire books. This year we'll look at Stephen Graham Jones's <em>I Was a Teenage Slasher</em> and Ling Ma's <em>Severance</em>. You know that moment when a gut-churning reveal sends you riffling backwards through a novel to confirm that, yes, the author planted that bomb on page 5? We'll examine how Jones's horror sensibilities and Ma's apocalyptic vision employ similar techniques to plant invisible seeds that bloom into sinister vegetation hundreds of pages later. Through close reading of opening chapters, we'll uncover how seemingly minor choices in syntax, paragraph structure, and word selection establish character, build worlds, and create expectations that pay off in dramatically different yet equally effective ways. For writers serious about understanding how beginnings contain endings and how craft decisions echo across narratives.

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded No matter what genre you write, the same magic trick has to work: the ending of your story must make sense to the reader based on the seeds you've planted along the way - clues, if you will, regardless of genre - but those seeds can't be obvious enough to give the ending away. Join our panel of writers with experience in multiple genres for a discussion of how, exactly, you can give your reader just enough information, but not too much, so that your conclusion is both inevitable and unexpected.

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded The smarter technology gets, the more we need to pay attention and make smart choices about how we interact with all the digital tools we use in our author lives. We'll dig into some practical tips and actions you can take to make sure you are in control of your information as much as possible during each stage of the writing, publishing and promoting process.

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded In Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, objects are both talismans to tools, each object an opportunity to develop character, explore setting, and raise the stakes. In this generative workshop, we will explore short literary excerpts as we discuss the powerful role objects can play in our fiction and nonfiction and participate in writing exercises to deepen our relationship to the things our characters use, refuse, and treasure within our work.

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded This workshop will explore how to approach writing characters who are part of the trans community, and is aimed at writers who wish to incorporate more trans representation into their writing. We will cover a short history of trans characters in media, techniques for developing psychologically realistic characters, and common tropes and stereotypes to avoid. We will also discuss research strategies, criteria for evaluating information sources, sensitivity readers and open the floor to questions. Participants will receive a suggested reading list, a list of sources for further research, and a character questionnaire to take home with them.

In Person Only Are you interested in submitting your short stories, flash fiction, or poetry to literary magazines but don't know where to start? Our panel will tell you everything you need to know to find markets that suit what you write and how to maximize your chances of your submissions being successful.

In Person Only All stories are set somewhere. Whether you are invoking a farm on the prairies in 1890, a rainy day in downtown Vancouver in 2025 or a fictional planet in 2430, a writer’s job is to describe the locations. In this hands on workshop, through discussion and time writing exercises, learn how to write compelling descriptions of your setting.

In Person Only In this class you will learn to hear English as sound, first – well ahead of meaning. To defamiliarize the language, we will employ deep listening, mishearing and deliberate misunderstanding. You will acquire new composition techniques and make surprising, wholly original poems. You will learn to write from the sound, up.

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded Twenty-first century kids and teens are growing up in a brave new world, and the books they read need to reflect these new realities. From the importance of craft, to ensuring representation, to addressing everything from critical thinking to AI, how can your work inspire, motivate and sweep your readers away? Join this amazing panel as they share their expertise when it comes to capturing the imaginations of young readers. Questions are welcome!

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded Middles can grind, moving the story business along but only with mechanical effort and lack of spark. Luckily, there are ways to enliven every page, from dialogue twists to subtle reveals to reader misdirection and more. Discover sophisticated ways to make every page worth reading in this hands-on workshop.

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded You created a fascinating character, didn’t you? World’s Greatest Protagonist™ just waiting to burn itself into the collective human consciousness with deep drives, shocking revelations, unexpected trauma, and that unmistakable “it” quality of whimsy, woe, weakness, worry, and whammo? And yet… you don’t care, and neither do your beta readers, right? That’s because human beings aren’t isolated. They’re all networked. We behave differently around different people, in ways that are often predictable and at other times shocking. Join the workshop that gives you a schema to understand how to craft character interactions and arcs that are authentic, surprising, and absolutely, endlessly engaging!

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded Hooks are not just that “I-can’t-believe-it” line at the end of the chapter. This workshop will examine ways to fill your story with those “Aha!” moments like bread crumbs to reveal, expand and entice a reader to keep turning every page. Learn to draw from all the elements of your story, mining theme, setting, and story plot to keep revealing new depths and layers. We’ll also look at using hooks as a plotting device, to up pacing and reader interest. This workshop will involve some hands on work.

In Person Only Readers of fantasy know what kind of world they’re entering when they pick up a book, but readers of mainstream fiction often need to be persuaded to accept fantastical elements like time travel and psychic abilities turning up in the mix of their tales. Learn tools and techniques to help you succeed in convincing your readers to set aside their skepticism while they read your story.d

In Person Only There are hundreds of individual interactions authors and their manuscripts have to make as they climb the ladders of the literary world. Each time you send an email, respond to an edit, create a post, or meet an agent you’re leaving an impression. Find out how you can make it a good one. We’ll cover dos and don’ts in the areas of • Schmoozing vs stalking: how to approach your literary heroes. • Queries, manuscripts, cover letters, synopses: when, why, and how? • Submissions: how to avoid angering editors. • Rights: when can you use that story again?  • Grace under pressure: dealing with rejection, bad reviews, or edits you don’t like. • Shaking the hand that feeds you: ways you can thank the people that put you where you are now. Bring your etiquette questions and polish your publishing manners to become the writer everyone wants to work with.

In Person Only As writers we want longevity in the business, but this is a hard industry, and our own minds can get in the way. Drawing on years of experience as a traditionally published author as well as a background in psychology and psychological counselling, Farah will help give writers some tools to cope with the unique anxiety associated with writing and publishing.

In Person Only This workshop engages the idea of place and wayfinding in poetry. We will consider positionality, movement, interrelations with ecology, geological time, and the construct of landscape, as well as the poem itself as a place to enact geography, nation, refuge, and belonging. Together we will engage prompts, practice noticing connections, and experiment within a range of formal strategies. All levels of experience welcome.

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded Tired of rejection letters citing "didn't connect with the voice"? Ready to infuse addictive hooky vibes in your manuscript with an authorial signature that editors can't resist? Join literary powerhouses Amy Moore-Benson, Sheree L. Greer, Iryn Tushabe, and Finnian Burnett as they crack open the black box of "voice" – that elusive quality that transforms competent writing into must-read material. These industry veterans will demolish accepted modern myths about voice while giving you the straight goods and concrete techniques to unleash your authentic style. Discover how to weaponize your unique perspective, avoid the bland vanilla trap that sinks many submissions, and give your pages the kind of linguistic DNA that makes acquisition editors fight over your manuscript. Whether you're crafting novels, memoir, or flash, this no-holds-barred panel delivers the insider secrets to making readers obsessively turn pages while urging their writing group in the groupchat, "We all need more of this writer. Now."

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded There are many reasons to write with an outline, from figuring out the structure of a plot to keeping track of character movements to making sure that characters have a satisfying throughline - but outlines aren't the only way to get there. In this workshop, we'll look at tools and approaches other than outlines that can help keep moving your story forward while making sure it isn't going off the rails, from recaps to mind maps to headlights. Feel free to bring any tools that you use in writing without an outline to share with the group!

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded Crime and mystery fiction continues to be one of the most read, most commercially successful genres of creative writing. This course introduces writers to the basic building blocks of mystery and crime fiction writing. From coming up with believable plots, vicious killers and know-it-all detectives, to deciding which style of the genre you want to write in - whether that's straight up procedural to cosy, hard boiled and psychological thriller. The session teaches tricks and techniques in plotting, red herrings, how to create intriguing stories and twists that will have readers guessing all the way to the last page.

In Person, Livestreamed, and Recorded Once a hallmark of masterful storytelling, description in genre fiction has fallen out of favor. Writers are warned to use it sparingly, or abandon it all together for fear that it will slow the pace or lose the reader. But in truth descriptions can be a secret weapon for great storytelling. In this workshop, we'll explore how well-placed descriptions can deepen character, heighten tension, and keep your story moving forward. Learn how to use description to transport your readers into worlds they never want to leave.

In Person Only In this seminar, we’ll examine in detail the standard three-act plot structure, as well as techniques and strategies to improve the arc of your work. Specifically, we’ll analyze some of the strategies used by novelists and screenwriters to generate tension and suspense on the page. We’ll also examine alternative narrative structures and will consider examples from several writers.

In Person Only We know you have questions about the ins and outs of traditional publishing. Literary agent Naomi Davis has answers! Do you want to know how to research agents? Whether you should agree to exclusive submissions? What about firing an agent when it was so hard to find one in the first place? If you want to know what you're likely to have say over in a contract and what you aren't, how agents work, or absolutely anything else about traditional publishing, trust that you're not the only one who doesn't know and come ask Naomi.

In Person Only We love unreliable narrators like Tyler Durden from Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club or Amy Dunne from Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, but we rarely talk about how such narrators are written and what makes those characters so memorable. So this seminar will answer the big questions about this approach to viewpoint: What’s the best way to incorporate an unreliable narrator, and what are the benefits/pitfalls of the technique? What purpose do such narrators serve in fiction? How do you make your unreliable narrator empathetic enough that readers stay until the end? And when it’s all said and done, how can writers reveal their unreliable narrator without angering the audience?

In Person Only Real-life murder cases aren’t “Don’t worry. This won’t scare you too much.” Real-life murder cases are Jekyll facing Hyde covered in blood. If you want to write the real deal, come hear a criminal law veteran of more than 100 murder cases, both defending and prosecuting, and the last high court hanging appeal tell you how to do it.