This year’s Lakes Area Writers Alliance Conference will bring together acclaimed national and international best-selling authors to share their expertise and provide attendees with inspiration and encouragement to take the next step toward fulfilling their writing dreams.
This conference will be presented both in-person and online on: October 30th, 2021.
The price for attending this event is $69.
If you cannot attend in-person but wish to participate, email us and a link to access the event online will be provided.
The 2021 conference will include the following presentations:
MORNING (10am to Noon):
Ignite Your Story – Joe Prosit
Create Your World – Heidi Skarie
–LUNCH ON YOUR OWN (Noon to 1pm)–
AFTERNOON (1pm – 3pm):
Write Deeper – Candace Simar
Hone Your Craft – Panel w/ Carissa Andrews
Ignite Your Story
with Joe Prosit
Breaking the Curse of the Blank Page: How to find what you want to write and start doing it today.
We are all intimidated by the blank page, the uncarved block, the infinite possibilities of a canvas unmarred by the brush in our shaky hands. We are excited and full of energy, but as physics can teach us arts, “potential” won’t turn into “kinetic” until we let go and get things in motion.
I’ll talk through the basics of selecting your genre, brainstorming ideas, developing those ideas, and building a habit to get to the part of the book that everyone enjoys writing the most, “The End.”
Create Your World
with Heidi Skarie
When you write a story you are inviting the reader to go with you on a journey to such places as the Rocky Mountains in the 1800s, a small town in Minnesota in 1960, or outer space set sometime in the future.
The setting and time period should be so real the reader feels like they are there and the rest of the world has disappeared.
The writer does this by adding details that give a sense of the physical location, the culture, the weather, and the mood. The setting is a world you create and then you put the characters on stage with their joys, fears, problems, loves, and sorrows.
Setting and description are essential to short stories and novels whether you’re writing literary or popular fiction. They are also important elements if you’re writing a memoir or historical nonfiction book.
Setting is the foundation the story is built on. In my talk, I’ll share my process for creating a world that will paint a picture and draw the reader in.
Go Deeper
with Candace Simar
As a beginning writer, I was often challenged at writing workshops to “write deeper.” I had no idea what that meant. My grammar and spelling were correct, the story was in order and yet something was missing. And while others knew something was wrong, they provided neither definition nor remedy for my dilemma. The phrase “deeper” left me stymied and frustrated.
What is the fairy dust that transforms ordinary words into spell-binding prose? How does one add depth to the written page?
This class investigates ways to create multi-dimensional characters living in a fully developed world.
Examples from famous and not-so-famous writers will assist our evaluation.
Together we will:
- Look at the world “in its shifty, blood-shot eye”
- Consider the advantage of the “outsider eye”
- Determine where to begin
- Evaluate larger versus smaller
- Measure the alchemy of research—how much is enough? How much is too much? How does one know if it should be fiction or non-fiction?
- Q&A
- Writing prompt as time allows
Please attend with a notepad and pen handy. Together we’ll discuss the writing craft. If you’re like me, it is your favorite topic.
Hone Your Craft
with Carissa Andrews
Authors are known for being able to use different tools for various levels. Some prefer the simplicity of Word, while others dig into the cutting-edge tools available on the market today.
In this panel discussion, I’ll be asking our presenters what tools they use, as well as providing information on some of those industry-specific, cutting-edge tools authors can use for planning, writing, publishing, and marketing their books.
Check Out Last Year's Event
View both days videos from last year to get a taste of what the Lakes Area Writers Alliance Has to Offer: