Catherine Stine's IDEA CITY

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Monday, June 6, 2011

Highlights from a Writers' Conference



On June 3rd, 4th and 5th I led a workshop in at the Philadelphia Writers' Conference in Writing Fiction for Kids and Teens. I’m used to teaching 2 or 3-hour classes, so I wasn’t sure how much I could impart to students in hour-long segments. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I can, indeed, squeeze a lot in! Handouts worked well, board charts were effective, and I made sure to have lots of interaction with my students, who contributed unique ideas and questions.

I loved my attendees’ enthusiasm and intelligence. Most people had already written at least part of a manuscript and were savvy about the requirements of their genre. Many in the group rose valiantly to my challenge of writing the dreaded 2-line elevator pitch. They are writing all kinds of cool stuff: space operas, high fantasy and snappy realistic YA to name just a few. The thoughtful Kerry Gans blogged about her experience here.

I sat in on Kelly Simmon’s last class on Plot. Kelly is a popular writer of suspenseful fiction. She drew a chart depicting the various kinds of writers: dreamer, outliner, driven worker bee, and what I call “pantser.” I agree with her feeling that most writers should "dream" more before they begin the writing process. That means not only conceptualizing your story and the characters that will inhabit it, but it also means doing many free-writes and prewriting. Free-writing from the antagonist’s POV as well.

Marie Lamba, an expert in publicizing her books, lectured on Marketing. And the agent panel did not disappoint. Agent Stacia Decker, from Donald Maass Literary spoke of her love for suspense and crime fiction. Stacia reps one of my absolute fave writers, Cherie Priest. Frances Collin and her co-agent, Sarah Yake, who rep a wide range of fiction, shared their thoughts on the digital revolution and ePubbing. One believes that the age of paper books is almost over, while the other (ironically the younger of the two) believes that both will be around for many years.

Gregory Frost, fantasy author of Shadowbridge led a 3-segment class on Character. I squeaked into the last class, where he had the whole room laughing about a fictitious character they created en masse. The fictitious man was a single firefighter, and lapsed Catholic who played bagpipes and sported a flame tattoo. Woo boy, lookout! I particularly appreciated Gregory’s insightful take on the literary potency of the symbolic self versus the real self. In other words, the “gap” in self-perception that could make a basically moral man rationalize his crime such as murder. The vast gulf between how one sees oneself and one’s actual actions in the world can be huge, and ripe material for fiction.

Eileen D’Angelo, Carol Sabik-Jaffe, Catherine DePino and Don Lafferty did a great job of organizing the conference, and making people feel welcome. If I forgot anyone, I thank you too. Eileen and I can be seen in the above photo. Hey, what do you want for a low-light scene shot with an iPhone 4? I had to run out before I could get more photos, and I confess, I missed the keynote speaker Solomon Jones, though I heard he was rousing. My excuse was that my brother’s rock band was playing that night up in Bluebell. It’s awesome that he put together a bunch of musicians who happen to be high-level accountants! Who knew accountants could rock out? Anyway, my brother John’s drumming was great, and the pulled pork and baked beans were tasty.

All-in-all, I had a wonderful time at the PWC meeting people, and talking shop with fellow teachers and students. If you’re a writer near the Philly area, do consider going. If you’re not, I recommend attending another writing conference. It helps motivate, inspire and build your writing community. Have you attended a writing conference or retreat? What was your favorite one so far, and what was the most valuable thing you learned from it?

15 comments:

  1. It sounds like you had a great time and helped a lot of writers. I'm not too far from the Philly area but I couldn't go this year. Maybe next year. I do attend the SCBWI Pocono Retreat though. That's a great conference with amazing workshops. Well worth it.

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  2. Thanks for the rundown! I liked the part about dreaming the story into being via freewrites and scribblings before beginning the actual writing.

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  3. What a lot of interesting workshops. Sounds like a great conference. I've been to a couple in Arlington, but it's been awhile. Enjoyed the ones I attended.

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  4. Great run down on the PWC, Catherine! I was sorry to not be able to attend your full class but took away much from the first one!

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  5. Thanks so much, Catherine for everything... teaching, participating in the other workshops, and just being a part of the event! We all hope that everyone had an informative and fun take away. See you next year. - Carol

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  6. Sounds wonderful! Wish I was closer.
    I'm attending my first SCBWI workshop in a few weeks. Excited about that!

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  7. Thanks, Carol & Donna, for the nice words. And PK, I'm sure you'll have an informative time. SCBWI is still the best org around for kidlit. The Pocono one sounds good too. And Jenny, yes, there's nothing more fun than dreaming the story. I could look as if I'm doing nothing, lounging around, but there is a lot going on in my head!

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  8. Catherine Stine's post is an excellent summary of what goes on at the PWC (I noticed how she judiciously didn't mention all the shenanigans the poets caused... yes this aside is dedicated to Eileen).

    I also got the chance to sit in Kelly and Frost's workshops. In my opinion they were companion classes, each reviewing plot and character--just with different emphasis. executive summary: they rocked.

    That said, I hope we get to see (the ever popular) Catherine at the PWC again and again and ...

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  9. I'm using your handout on character analysis to do some deep thinking about not just my protagonist, but all my characters. This material really rocks, and thank you for the "mini-conference" on my deck while you stayed with me! Good stuff. You should market it.

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  10. And, Jenny, I appreciate the comment about 'pre writing' that in fact serves the writing. It's too easy to feel rushed into producing the actual content when sometimes it's just not there...yet.

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  11. Thanks, David & Helen. I didn't make it into the hallowed halls of the poets, so I missed the shenanigans. Sorry to miss that!

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  12. Sounds like it was a wonderful conference. I have yet to go to one...too bad Philly is too far away for me!

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  13. Sounds like a great conference - I always go to AWP - next year in Chicago. Following you, now. :)

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  14. Thanks, Elisabeth. I'd like to hang out in Chicago. Haven't done that since I was visiting the Art Institute checking out colleges!

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  15. This sounds like a great time, Catherine. And I absolutely agree with you on attending conferences. I've been to the Sewanee Writer's Conference 3 times and Squaw Valley once, and always learned a ton.

    Also love Literary Festivals -- so much to learn from my fellow writers.

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