A good story teller captures our imagination with compelling settings, characters and emotions. Why not pull settings, characters and emotions from our own lives? Learn how to tap memories for writing memoir or fiction. Video includes writing exercises.

Spotlight on Wild Rose Press

Young Author's Day Event: Meet a group of passionate high school readers and writers from Annie Wright Schools in Tacoma, Washington, who have advice on how to write. They will give you tips on pitfall to avoid, how to stay motivated, how to develop characters, and more. The workshop will be interactive and include writing activities. These are teenagers who have attended the PNWA conference, participated in NaNoWriMo multiple times, written novels, and have a lot to say about YA literature.

A tiny spaceship with a motley crew of four. At least one of them is an alien. The problem? They all sound the same and you know, as a writer, that's not good. So how do you make those four voices unique? In this light-speed workshop, discover some easy ways to make each character sound distinctive without being too cheesy.

Are such short forms viable for publication? What is going on in the proliferating market for shorter Mystery, Thriller, Horror, and Suspense?

One of the hardest editorial comments a memoir writer hears is this: “Just because it happened to you doesn’t mean the reader cares.” We’re already facing the daunting task of writing past the fear of exposure, and now we have to write our true-life experiences like a gripping novel with sympathetic characters and a driving plot? What’s the difference between a memoir and an auto-biography anyway? In this two hour class you will learn vital information about the craft of memoir, as well as get guided writing time from a New York Times, USA Today, and international best-selling memoir writer and expert teacher of the top-ranked Haven Writing Programs.

This workshop will focus on writing a narrative book with elements of a memoir. Joe Hight addresses the steps he took to write Unnecessary Sorrow: A Journalist Investigates the Life and Death of His Older Brother Ordained, Discarded, Slain by Police. Hight will provide tips on what you can do to write the narrative stories most personal to you, ones that will have an impact on your readers, too.

A reader picks up a romance story to share the emotional journey the heroine and hero will take as they fall in love and overcome deep inner conflicts through transformational character arcs before they are ready to commit to a real loving relationship. Learn how to use character arcs to create a romance which is well motivated, real and engrossing for the reader.

In this bite-sized workshop, learn what flash fiction is, how to choose the correct scene to make the most impact for your readers, and how to utilize titles to their fullest extent. Participants will come away with tools for writing these tiny stories and will discover how to conquer the blank page.

Naturally curious middle graders are motivated readers. This overview will focus on specific ways writers engage readers aged roughly 8 - 12 years old, leveraging their thirst for exploring answers to big questions. Attendees will learn highlights on: plotting for their target audience (kids and the adults who buy the books), how to develop characters readers want to befriend, and mistakes to avoid.