Friction between rival characters must generate explosive energy. Whether you favor exaggerated archetypes or simpler foes, those opposing forces need to fascinate your readers to unleash maximum drama, impact, and emotion on every page. Whatever your genre or experience level, you’ll leave this two hour masterclass with a fresh handle on the protagonist/antagonist dynamic duo and an arsenal of simple, language-based techniques that go beyond quirks and clichés to help you craft worthy adversaries.

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.

Insight Books are made from one piece of folded paper. You don’t have to be an artist or writer to make one, just a willingness to let yourself be inspired by lines you’ve drawn on the page. A 10-minute video with instructions on how to make an insight book.

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.

Choosing, creating, and utilizing appropriate antagonists for Mystery, Thriller, Horror, and Suspense

Our lives are interconnected webs, and everything in them seems essential. Choosing which events warrant inclusion is the first step in creating powerful, engaging narrative. When writing memoir or narrative non-fiction, the choice of where to start, what to include, and when to stop is often more difficult than in fiction. Through the use of literary examples and writing exercises you will learn how to sort through a myriad of events to find the ones that expand on the theme of your memoir.

“Page-turner” books don’t write themselves. Bestselling authors know how to weave suspenseful elements into their stories, whether a Thriller, Romance or Commercial Literary. The best books layer thrilling moments to create a roller-coaster ride for their readers, tossing in twists and turns to keep readers engaged to the very last page. Learn the craftsmanship of great story-telling by using shocks and surprises, the pacing of tension, loaded language, inserting secrets and lies, and so much more. In this workshop, you’ll come away with the tools needed to add suspense to any type of story whether it’s Contemporary Romance, Sci-Fi or Thriller. Suspense is the essential element to drive every story forward.

Students will learn about poetry, and they will learn a few poetic devices. Students will be shown a picture and asked to write about what they see, hear, taste, smell, and feel about the image. This activity will help students begin the writing process and become comfortable writing. Students will also learn how to make digital poetry. Students will be encouraged to use a personal picture or use a picture from a free stock website that offers free commercial use images. Kiana will show students examples of digital poems. Students will write a poem called In My Life, and they will be given a guided poetry outline.

How can authors create realistic multicultural characters? Author Eliana West will explain the basic tools needed to write characters from different racial backgrounds without falling into many of the common pitfalls that create characters who are stereotypes instead of real people. Tap into this growing new market and reach new readers by adding diversity to your story.