Schedule and Workshops

Friday morning, March 27, 2009

• Saturday, March 28th detailed schedule
• Sunday, March 29th detailed schedule
• Download the registration worksheet.

A1-A26. Private pitch times (8 minutes each), 10:00-11:35
If you have an agent meeting, please try to sit near the door of the classroom so that you may leave with the minimum of disruption to others. Thank you.

For novel/nonfiction writers. Each writer gets eight minutes. Please sign up for a time slot when you register (or at the event if slots remain open). Additional fee.

A1-A9 Private pitches with Bill Contardi

A10-A18 Private pitches with Melissa Jeglinski

A19-A26 Private pitches with Paige Wheeler

A27-A30  Private consultations (15 minutes each) with Beth Bohn, 10:15-11:35 am
If you have an agent meeting, please try to sit near the door of the classroom so that you may leave with the minimum of disruption to others. Thank you.

Meet with Beth for 15 minutes of confidential counsel on how to move your idea forward in the entertainment industry. Please sign up when you register (or at the event if slots remain open). Additional fee.

Do you have something you think might sell as a reality TV show? A new sitcom or hour-long drama show? Do you have a novel that you’d like to adapt as a movie script? Have you written a true-story screenplay and aren’t sure how to market it? Do you have an idea that could be big on the Internet? …What do you do next? Meet with Beth and get advice on how to advance your idea or script.

The bookstore opens at 11:30 a.m. Friday and is open all day Saturday. Closed on Sunday.
          

A31  Friday luncheon, Noon-1:00 pm, featuring Marshall J. Cook, "The Coach"
Join us for a networking lunch and a presentation from Marshall J. Cook. After 20 years as a co-founder and co-director of Writers’ Institute, and annual guest speaker, Marshall says he’s going to step away to do some other things in his writing life. Marshall started his teaching stint with UW-Madison in the 1970s, following teaching in California, his home state. He’ll share his wisdom about writing and publishing, and reflect on Writers’ Institute—20 years in 20 minutes. Seating is limited; luncheon ticket required ($12.50, vegetarian meal).

Friday afternoon, March 27, 2009

B1 What every writer should know, with Marshall J. Cook
Are you new to writing? Do you feel as if every other writer knows things you don’t? Hoping to learn the password and the secret handshake so that you, too, can join the club and be a ‘real’ writer? If so, you aren’t alone. We’ll define terms your workshop instructors use—things like “story arc,” “genre,” and “backstory”—and examine some of the assumptions about writing that veteran writers share. We’ll also begin a list of the few great books that can form the foundation of your writer’s reference shelf.

B2 Dollars & sense: the business side of writing, with Victoria Goff
Many creative people are phobic about business. Others under-earn. Whether you’re a published writer or a novice, you need to understand the nuts and bolts of the writing business. This information-packed workshop teaches you ways to prosper, even in these hard economic times. You’ll have fun, believe it or not, learning how much to charge; how to separate professional financial records and bank accounts from your personal ones; how to maintain clean, orderly, and accurate financial records; and how to create a business plan. You’ll also become savvy about paying yourself a salary, filing a Schedule C, knowing what deductions to take, negotiating with publishers, reading contracts, understanding copyright, and determining what rights to retain. The ultimate goals of this workshop are to demystify how to run a successful writing business and help you earn what you’re worth.

B3 It ain’t all just talk: write sharp dialogue that translates into great fiction, with Kathy Steffen
Excellent dialogue is more than an exchange of words. If done right, it reveals characterization, motivations, theme and subtext. Great dialogue propels the story forward as powerfully as action does, and can add layers of subtext to your story. Learn tips to write dialogue (internal and external) that sounds real, rings true, and goes further. Approach dialogue as a way to deepen your characters, expand your story, and set the pace. Now that’s more than just talk!

B4 Introduction to writing humor: observational humor and the roadmap to writing funny, with Patricia Draznin
This is for both non-humor writers who want to write funny and humor writers who welcome a fresh perspective. Discover how to spin humor out of non-humor and stretch truth into comedy. Patricia looks at structure, rhythm,and the importance of choosing exactly the right words. She analyzes one of the most mysterious ingredients in generating laughter, and shares with you some common humor writing mistakes to avoid. Finally, she gives tips on how to find YOUR own humor writing voice. As time allows, Patricia plans to also cover techniques for generating “warm” ideas and for navigating through writer’s block. Workshop materials draw from Dave Barry, Sarah Vowell, Woody Allen, Erma Bombeck, Bill Bryson, and others. You’ll go home laughing—and inspired to read and write humor.

B5 So you want to write and sell to the entertainment industry, with Beth Bohn (repeated on Saturday)
With the Internet, a lot of opportunities have opened up for writers like you—somebody with ideas, zeal, maybe a book or movie script, and not much cash. There are also opportunities in scripted and reality television, though those markets have changed drastically in the past five years. The old ways of pitching your spec TV show or Movie-of-the-Week script are gone. What’s replaced them? Beth gives advice on how to write for and sell to the entertainment industry.

B6-B33 Private pitch times (8 minutes each), 1:15-2:45 p.m.
If you have an agent meeting, please try to sit near the door of the classroom so that you may leave with the minimum of disruption to others. Thank you.

For novel/nonfiction writers. Each writer gets eight minutes. Please sign up for a time slot when you register (or at the event if slots remain open). Additional fee.

B6-B15 Private pitches with Bill Contardi

B16-25 Private pitches with Melissa Jeglinski

B26-B33 Private pitches with Paige Wheeler
           
           

C1 Make money writing teen or YA fiction, with Simone Elkeles
Simone Elkeles, named 2008 Author of the Year by the Illinois Association of Teachers of English, outlines how writing Young Adult fiction is a wonderful place to be for authors. When it comes to writing for teens, the books are just one part of the income. Simone talks about how speaking engagements at high schools and middle schools can be lucrative, and she gives examples of how authors sometimes make more money on their speaking engagements than they do on their book deals! She includes examples of what to talk about in programs to teens and gives options on how much to charge schools for appearances. Simone also talks about how authors have to be ready for a bunch of different marketing strategies when marketing their books to teens, because it’s a totally different beast than marketing to adults!

C2 How I put together my career, and you can, too, with Deb Baker
You’ve finished your masterpiece, now what? Popular mystery author Deb Baker shares the secrets that won her multiple contracts and launched her career. Handouts include sample query letters. Topics include: 1) Is your baby ready for the world? What your friends won’t tell you. 2) The next step - agents, small houses, and big publishers. 3) Getting past that first reader with a brilliant query letter. 4) Putting a positive spin on rejection. 5) Networking. The basics and why you need it. 6) Cultivating the right attitude. 7) Creating your own personal website the easy, low cost way. 8) The number one thing that got me sales.

C3 Six scenes for structural sizzle, with Christine DeSmet
One big reason good writers still get rejected by novel editors and agents or screenplay producers is that writers forget or under-power one or more of the “Big Six Scenes” that create the spine for a story. Christine gives you tips for powering up the following scenes: “Denial of the Journey,” “Over the Threshold/Acceptance,” “Echoes,” “Midpoint,” “Failure/Despair/Confession,” and “Mano a Mano Resolution.” Includes a list of common mistakes for scenes in general, and how to correct them.

C4 The elements of a page-turner, with Kathy Steffen
It’s no oxymoron, a page-turner can be written in any genre: thriller, mystery, romance, science fiction, and yes, even historical. And writing a “can’t-put-down” novel takes more than cliffhangers and action. From high-concept to character arcs to external and internal conflict, what makes a book a page turner also makes a book saleable. Getting your hands around these concepts not only helps you shape fantastic fiction and get to the heart of your story, but will help you write your pitch and query.

C5 Q&A with agents/managers, with Beth Bohn, Bill Contardi, Melissa Jeglinski, Paige Wheeler (Victoria Skurnick will be with us on Saturday and Sunday.)
This is an informal, drop-in anytime hour where beginners and advanced writers alike can ask questions about their own projects. Examples: Ask for feedback on your logline/one-sentence summary. Ask what another agent meant in a rejection letter you just got. Ask what they think about a contract you were offered. Ask them if they like to see prologues and epilogues versus just starting with a chapter. Ask how to sell your nonfiction book proposal. Ask how to sell the film rights for your novel or nonfiction book. A reminder: The agents will be focusing on trends and the business of writing on Saturday afternoon. They may defer some of those questions until Saturday.

General Session: Metaphor: Strategies that poetry can teach every writer, with Angela Rydell and Laurel Yourke
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but good metaphors need very few words to paint their pictures. Words like “loneliness” and “death” are grim, but they instill little mystery and provide no insight. They can’t haunt us like “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Imagery makes this phrase familiar as Poe’s raven, Dickinson’s “Hope is the thing with feathers,” or Sandburg’s fog arriving on “little cat feet.” By focusing reader attention on a single clear image, metaphor helps you “show” rather than “tell,” stay in scene and nail your ending. But metaphors like the first spring crocus or a dark and stormy night paint no pictures. Good metaphors are neither familiar nor obvious. They disguise their symbolic meaning in the cloak of the literal. Want to discover more metaphor secrets? Whether you’re a poet, always wanted to be one or never wanted to be one, harness metaphor in order to snare your ideas, then release them back into the world, transformed. Bring along openness to a new approach and either a page to work on or a notebook to jot in.

Department of Liberal Studies & the Arts
21 N Park Street - 7th floor, Madison WI 53715

File last updated: April 21, 2009
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