Friday Details
(Oct 19, 2007)

Interviews & Blue Pencil Cafe

You are entitled to an editor-agent-publisher appointment and a Blue Pencil appointment with your registration. Additional appointments may be made at the conference, subject to availability. Not sure what it's all about? Check out the FAQ entries for Blue Pencil and Editor/Agent/Publisher Interviews.

Editor/Agent/Publisher Interviews

The following presenters are available for interviews. Please note that this availability is a guideline only, and slots are filled on a first-come first-served basis as registrations are received.

Blue Pencil Cafe

The following presenters are available for appointments. Please note that this availability is a guideline only, and slots are filled on a first-come first-served basis as registrations are received.

Workshops

While the SiWC will make every effort to offer the conference program as presented, it reserves the right to make changes to the program if circumstances warrant.

1. Basics: SiWC For Beginners
   Presenter: kc dyer
   Your first time to the conference? Haven’t been for a while? Learn how to make the best of your time this year and get your writing on the road to publication.
2. Research Rules
   Presenter: Cecelia Holland
   When should the research stop and the writing begin? Can you write and research at the same time? Learn an expert’s view of everything you need to know about the perils of researching and writing fiction.
3. Breaking into Travel Writing
   Presenter: Michael DeFreitas
   You want to write about far-flung places and have a source of income as you travel the globe? But where to begin? Michael DeFreitas will help show you the way as he retraces his own experiences as a photographer and travel writer.
4. How to Build a Memorable Female Character
   Presenter: Nancy Warren
   Scarlett O’Hara, Stephanie Plum, Emma Bovary — what makes some fictional females unforgettable? And what can we learn from them about writing women who are both larger than life and yet familiar? This is a hands on workshop. Look at ways to breathe life into your fictional females and then do just that with your own work.
5. Werewolves in London: World Building in Contemporary Fiction
   Presenters: Kelley Armstrong, Diane Duane, Peter Morwood
   What are the basic skills needed when constructing fantastic elements in a contemporary setting? Join this panel of writers to discuss how to establish the necessary suspension of disbelief, create believable characters and look at the scope of world building in fiction.
6. Say Goodbye to the Slush Pile: Email Query Pitches that Get Results
   Presenter: Kristin Nelson
   Tired of getting rejection letters just on your query? Want agents begging to read your sample pages without spending money on postage? Look at the fastest growing trend for authors--sending queries to literary agents by email.
7. Canadian Idol(s) - The Importance of Adventure Stories About Canadians
   Presenter: Eric Walters
   From the Bully Boys to William Stevenson to Terry Fox, look at the importance of heralding the exploits of Canadian adventurers and heroes with an expert in the art of writing to engage young people.
8. Crafting a Story That Sells: Secrets of the Pros
   Presenter: Doris Booth
   What are the elements of a story that attract an agent or editor to a project? What do they look for when they make the decision to buy? And why do some books catapult to the bestseller lists while others sink into obscurity? How to improve your story to enhance its chances of selling.
9. Published Poet -- An Oxymoron?
   Presenters: Bernice Lever, George McWhirter
   Learn the best routes to getting your poetry into the hands of the public, how to organize yourself and your writing for maximum exposure and some of the many ways and means of finding an audience for your work.

1. A Mystery in Six (+) Parts
   Presenters: Hallie Ephron, John Brady, Phillip Margolin, Barbara Rogan, Jan Burke, Patricia Smiley, Anthony Dalton
   A panel of best-selling mystery novelists talk about their favourite sub-genres – to write and to read. A look at detective stories, police procedurals, legal thriller, cozy, historical, and more!
2. From Novel Writing to Television: Juggling Genres For Sanity and Survival
   Presenter: Dennis Foon
   What does a writer needs to bring to the table when working with a producer, director, actor or publisher? How can you keep your vision, integrity, story and sanity intact? This session will offer an overview of the technical demands and differences between the worlds of books, TV and movies.
3. Seven Secrets of Creating Suspense
   Presenter: Bruce Hale
   Whether you're writing romance novels, children's literature, or mysteries, you've got to keep your readers turning those pages. The key to getting them hooked? Suspense. Seven surefire ways to build suspense in your stories.
4. Extreme makeover: Manuscript Edition
   Presenter: Elizabeth Lyon
   Examine the revisions that no writer of fiction can afford to ignore. Learn how to change a drab manuscript into a novel that shines.
5. Backstory: How to Set Your Plot and Characters in the Turbulent Events of History
   Presenters: Michael Slade, Diana Gabaldon
   In a good novel, the setting takes on a role as important as character or plot. Join these two best selling novelists as they talk about the importance of setting. With Diana’s expertise in history and Michael’s in turbulence you can’t go wrong!
6. Secret Agents at SiWC
   Presenters: Donald Maass, Jeffery McGraw, Cricket Pechstein Freeman, Janet Reid
   Ever wondered what the secret life of agents is really like? Get a glimpse into the way a literary agent goes about his or her daily routine and learn how they manage it all.
7. Talk, Talk, Talk - How to Make the best use of Dialogue in Fiction
   Presenter: Jacquelyn Mitchard
   How do you make dialogue enliven rather than murder your story? Learn how to write so the dialogue sounds spoken to the 'reading ear'.
8. The Butler Did it . . . Character development in fiction
   Presenter: Anne Perry
   What is the secret of plucking a two dimensional character off the page and bringing it to life? How can you avoid clichéd and wooden characterization? Examine the fine art of character development in this workshop.

1. Basics: Writing: The Mind Game
   Presenter: Vicki Pettersson
   How do you get over yourself long enough to sustain an idea, and keep out of your own way long enough to write that idea into a finished book? A look at goal-setting, making time and helping first-time authors to stop making excuses and beat the mind games that stand in the way of publication.
2. From Pictures to Juvenile Novels – What’s Selling to Children & Their Parents
   Presenters: Bob Tyrrell, Kaylan Adair, Michael Bourret, Lee Edward Fodi, Bruce Hale, Maggie de Vries, Tonya Martin
   A panel of editors and agents discuss the ins and outs of the market for Children’s books in 2007.
3. Love is in the Air: The state of Romance Writing Today
   Presenters: Wendy Roberts, Nancy Warren, Johanna Raisanen
   Romance continues to be the top selling of any genre fiction today. Join Harlequin editor Johanna Raisanen and three amazing practitioners of the craft as they talk about their own experiences getting published, and their own favourite romance authors to read and enjoy.
4. The Art of the Short Story
   Presenter: Timothy Taylor
   What sets this form of writing apart from other elements of fiction? What essentials must come into play to create the magic that makes the short story so special? Join award winning author Timothy Taylor in the exploration of this art form.
5. Autobiography as Jumping Off Point for Fiction
   Presenter: Meg Tilly
   How much of a writer’s life should show up in the pages of their stories? Can life experiences be used to kick start fiction? Learn how to let your life influence your work.
6. Finding Your Way In - How to Make Magazine Writing a Career
   Presenter: Daniel Wood
   What are the right steps to establishing a career in investigative reporting, adventure travel writing, people profiles and literary journalism?
7. Editing Wizardry
   Presenter: Lisa Rector-Maass
   Learn how to avoid the most common mistakes made by authors and how to polish your work to its finest shine.
8. Poetry in Translation
   Presenter: George McWhirter
   Which makes the better lover of poetry in translation, the one faithful to the original verse or the adulterer? An examination of the mysteries of translating someone else's work.