(Please note that these are in-person events. We at Writing Day Workshops plan both online/virtual as well as in-person events. This next FWW conferences are in-person events happening in Tampa on Friday, April 12, 2024; and Orlando on Saturday, April 13, 2024. See you there. Registration instructions here.)
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TAMPA CLASSES (FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2024):
The topics below are subject to change. There will be 2-3 classes/workshops going at all times during the day, so sometimes you may have your choice of what class you attend.
8:30 – 9:30: Check-in and registration at the event location.
BLOCK ONE: 9:30 – 10:30
1. Everything You Need to Know About Literary Agents and Writing an Awesome Query Letter (Skyway 1), taught by Chuck Sambuchino. This workshop is a thorough crash course in dealing with literary agents. After quickly going over what an agent is and what they do for writers, we will discuss resources for finding agents, how to ID the best agents for you, query letter writing, as well as the most important things to do and not to do when dealing with representatives.
2. Hate to Edit? Write a Better First Draft! (Skyway 2) taught by Jaimie Engle. “Writing in Deep POV” allows your reader to experience the story alongside your character. It removes many of the redundant “problems” in your first draft, and that means less time editing. In this session, you will learn what defines Deep POV writing and how it eliminates prepositional tells, feeling words, thinking words, and more, for linear writing, faster first drafts, and cleaner edits!
BLOCK TWO: 10:45 – 11:50
1. Understanding the Publishing Industry in 2024 — From Hybrid Publishing to Artificial Intelligence and Everything in Between (Skyway 1), taught by Chuck Sambuchino. Writers today have lots of choices and options, but that doesn’t mean your publishing journey is an easy path to navigate. How are traditional publishing and self-publishing changing? What kind of writer is attractive to an agent currently? What is hybrid publishing? How will A.I. (artificial intelligence) help or hurt writers in the years to come? Which social media sites and publishing resources are worth the time and effort in 2024? All these questions, and more, will be addressed during the speech.
2. Making Characters Come Alive (Skyway 2), taught by Jaimie Engle. What makes us fall in love with books? Characters. They are the beating heart and the living soul of every story. Explore how to make characters come to life as you write so that they come to life for your readers. Learn pre-writing activities that make your characters walk about off the pages and into your life. Explore how to harness the power of dialogue, inner monologue, relationship dynamics, and setting to help readers fall in love, or love to hate, your characters.
LUNCH ON YOUR OWN: 11:50 – 1:15
Lunch is on your own during these 85 minutes.
BLOCK THREE: 1:15 – 2:30
1. “Writers Got Talent”—a Page 1 Critique Fest (Skyway 1), with participating literary agents and editors. In the vein of “American Idol” or “America’s Got Talent,” this is a chance to get your first page read (anonymously — no bylines given) with attending agents commenting on what was liked or not liked about the submission. Get expert feedback on your incredibly important first page, and know if your writing has what it needs to keep readers’ attention. All attendees are welcome to bring pages to the event for this session, and we will choose pages at random for the workshop for as long as time lasts. All submissions should be fiction or memoir—no prescriptive nonfiction or picture books, please. Do not send your pages in advance. You will bring printed copies with you, and instructions will be sent out approximately one week before the event.
2. How to Sell a Nonfiction Book Proposal (Skyway 2), taught by Chuck Sambuchino. This session focuses on effective strategies for writing a nonfiction book proposal on any subject. Topics include industry standards, building your expertise, and how to prepare a winning proposal that demonstrates your understanding of the marketplace.
BLOCK FOUR: 2:45 – 3:45
1. Open Agent Q&A Panel (Skyway 1). Several attending literary agents (and editors) will open themselves up to open Q&A from FWW attendees. Bring your questions and get them answered in this popular session.
2. The Pro 10: Techniques to Take Your Novel from “OK” to “Oh, WOW!” (Skyway 2), taught by Lorin Oberweger. In this comprehensive workshop, we’ll explore a wide range of techniques guaranteed to give your work a boost. Topics we’ll tackle: truly understanding “tension on every page;” creating powerful personal and private stakes as well as solid and credible motivations for your protagonist; distinguishing between authorial vs. character goals in a scene and story; how to make your protagonist as interesting as your villains and sidekicks; and creating structure when you aren’t a structure person (“organic structure”). Be prepared for a fast-paced but meaty presentation.
BLOCK FIVE: 4:00 – 5:00
1. 15 Query Letter and Submission Mistakes To Avoid (Skyway 1), taught by Brandy Vallance. Once you understand some basics about crafting a query and submitting your work, it’s time to review what NOT to do when contacting agents and editors. This class, taught by a literary agent, addresses common agent pet peeves, submission errors, things that come off as unprofessional, cliche wording in a query, and more. Learn what small mistakes may be torpedoing your submission, and what you can do to fix them.
2. Showing vs. Telling (Skyway 2), taught by Lorin Oberweger. Nearly every writer is admonished to “show don’t tell,” only to puzzle over the fact that of course you have to tell readers quite a bit of your story. First, we’ll define and look at passages of show—action, dialogue, and then tell—description and the rest of narration. To arrive at a publishable novel or memoir, you’ll need to learn two advanced techniques: Show-Tell and Tell Well. The skill of when and how to show/tell or tell well intersects with decisions you’ll make about pacing, dialogue, character development, imagery, genre and much more. In this workshop, you’ll learn the many criteria for how to successfully use these techniques, and have a chance to apply what you learn on your writing.
SESSIONS END: 5:00
Agent & Editor Pitching: All throughout the day. (Register for the event here.)
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ORLANDO CLASSES (SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2024):
The topics below are subject to change. There will be 2-3 classes/workshops going at all times during the day, so sometimes you may have your choice of what class you attend.
8:30 – 9:30: Check-in and registration at the event location.
BLOCK ONE: 9:30 – 10:30
1. Everything You Need to Know About Literary Agents and Writing an Awesome Query Letter (Salon A), taught by Chuck Sambuchino. This workshop is a thorough crash course in dealing with literary agents. After quickly going over what an agent is and what they do for writers, we will discuss resources for finding agents, how to ID the best agents for you, query letter writing, as well as the most important things to do and not to do when dealing with representatives.
2. 12 Ways to Improve Your Writing (Salon B), by Erik Decker. It’s frustrating for beginning writers who want to hone their craft, but aren’t given much direction beyond “write every day,” and “read a lot.” Most so-called content marketing secrets are nothing more than “write good stuff,” which is completely unhelpful. Wouldn’t it be great if there was just one list of tips you could follow? We will look at different writing secrets professionals use to produce tight, interesting content and break them down into simple steps everyone can use to improve their own writing. We’ll learn how to cut out unnecessary language and filler words, how to harness metaphors and similes to better understand complex ideas, and which grammar rules you should ignore. We’ll look at some unusual advice that every professional writer knows (and even does), why inspiration is the downfall of many writers, and one psychological trick that will cut years off your learning curve.
BLOCK TWO: 10:45 – 11:50
1. How to Market Yourself and Your Books: Talking Author Social Media and Platform (Salon B), taught by Chuck Sambuchino. Whether you’re traditionally published or self-published, everyone could use some helpful guidance on how to effectively market themselves and sell more books. This session includes easy-to-understand advice on social media (Twitter, Facebook, more), blogging, and other simple ways you can market your work online cheaply and easily.
2. The Author/Agent Relationship Explained (Salon A), taught by Kaitlyn Katsoupis. It’s hard to tell the difference between an agent and a schmagent. How do you know what questions to ask? How can you tell what practices aren’t the norm? In this session, Literary Agent Kaitlyn Johnson goes through the “need to know” details from when you get THE CALL all the way to when your agent sends you to editors.
LUNCH ON YOUR OWN: 11:50 – 1:15
Lunch is on your own during these 85 minutes.
BLOCK THREE: 1:15 – 2:30
1. “Writers Got Talent”—a Page 1 Critique Fest (Salon A), with participating literary agents and editors. In the vein of “American Idol” or “America’s Got Talent,” this is a chance to get your first page read (anonymously — no bylines given) with attending agents commenting on what was liked or not liked about the submission. Get expert feedback on your incredibly important first page, and know if your writing has what it needs to keep readers’ attention. All attendees are welcome to bring pages to the event for this session, and we will choose pages at random for the workshop for as long as time lasts. All submissions should be fiction or memoir—no prescriptive nonfiction or picture books, please. Do not send your pages in advance. You will bring printed copies with you, and instructions will be sent out approximately one week before the event.
2. How to Sell a Nonfiction Book Proposal (Salon B), taught by Chuck Sambuchino. This session focuses on effective strategies for writing a nonfiction book proposal on any subject. Topics include industry standards, building your expertise, and how to prepare a winning proposal that demonstrates your understanding of the marketplace.
BLOCK FOUR: 2:45 – 3:45
1. Open Agent Q&A Panel (Salon A). Several attending literary agents (and editors) will open themselves up to open Q&A from FWW attendees. Bring your questions and get them answered in this popular session.
2. Fine-Tune Your Submission Package to Get to YES (Salon B), taught by Sarah Fisk. If your manuscript is solid and you know how to write a query, but you’re not quite getting the responses you’d like to see, there might be small things in your initial pitch holding you back. Author, literary agent, and former publicist Sarah N. Fisk will discuss the small tweaks that often need to be made in query letters and first pages to get to that yes.
BLOCK FIVE: 4:00 – 5:00
1. Ten Evergreen Keys to Writing Success (Salon A), taught by Chuck Sambuchino. Learn 10 things you can be doing right now that will help get your book(s) published and have more control over your writing destiny. This is a general course that addresses commonsense things any writer can do to give their work the best shot at getting published, such as writing the best thing they can, stealing from themselves, and why writing for love and money is a good idea.
2. What Hollywood Can Teach Novelists: How Thinking Like a Screenwriter Can Help You Write a Better, Tighter Story (Salon B), taught by Jaimie Engle. With 120 pages and a steadfast rule of only writing what you can see and hear, screenwriting requires tight structure and writing. This class, taught by a produced screenwriter, shares Hollywood storytelling tips to help you sharpen your skills as a novelist. Learn how to tell stories cinematically through action and dialogue written for a book, but experienced like a movie.
SESSIONS END: 5:00
Agent & Editor Pitching: All throughout the day. (Register for the event here.)
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FREE ADDITIONAL RECORDED CLASSES:
We will actually send attendees extra FREE pre-recorded classes as part of their attendance. In addition to getting the weekend’s classes to enjoy live and in person, we will also send you 5 more free recorded classes on the side, from amazing instructors. In the week leading up to your in-person conference, we will send all confirmed attendees these classes below, some of which will aid in your pitching efforts:
- “Tips on Pitching Literary Agents & Editors at an In-Person Event,” taught by literary agent Carlie Webber
- “Tips on Pitching Literary Agents & Editors at an Online Event,” taught by literary agent Carlie Webber
- “Talking Dollars and Cents — How Authors Make Money,” from our Tennessee Writing Workshop
- “Publishing Options: Pros and Cons of Both Traditional and Indie Publishing,” from our Atlanta Writing Workshop
- “Overcoming Failure: How to Strive for ‘Yes’ in the Face of a Hundred Nos,” from our Florida Writing Workshop