The Muse 2012 | Sessions
Please register in advance for Sessions 1-6. For all other offerings here, including the Hours of Power, you do not need to pre-register. For Hours of Power, you may simply decide which to attend when you arrive at the conference. Use this drop-down menu to view:1A: It's a Book: the Art of Collecting Short Stories into a Meaningful Volume
9:45am-11:00am on Saturday, May 5th
Short story collections are difficult to write, difficult to publish, and difficult to market. This problem is somewhat mitigated when there is a unifying theme – when a collection holds as a book rather than a mishmash of disparate elements. This discussion explores the concept of unity as it applies to the collection of short stories and the various ways that the volume can be understood as something of weight rather than an amalgam of slighter elements.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 11
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
1B: The Organic Outline
9:45am-11:00am on Saturday, May 5th
Outlining: it's often treated like a dirty word. We're told that to outline a plot is to cramp creativity, that, unless it's discovered in writing the first draft it will be contrived. I disagree. In this class, we'll explore ways that outlining a plot can free a writer, that the process itself can arise organically, and that, far from imposing a phony plot on story, outlines can help ensure that a plot hews to a story's heart. Through exercises we'll create a plot from scratch and take it organically from inception to outline.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
1C: Mapping Your Story: Place, Movement, Territory
9:45am-11:00am on Saturday, May 5th
Whether the setting is a real location, entirely invented, or somewhere in between, place becomes a powerful part of the way a story enters the reader’s imagination. Understanding how to explore possibilities of your territory and the movements of characters can help to make place a source of plausibility, tension, scenic invention, and, most importantly, can give action deep significance. We’ll look at how the map of your story (novel, short story, memoir, narrative nonfiction) can enhance meaning and drama, show change, and build underlying coherence.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
- Lynne Barrett (Author)
Lynne Barrett is the author of the story collections The Secret Names of Women, The Land of Go and, most recently, Magpies, winner of the Florida Book Awards gold medal for general fiction. She has received the Edgar Allan Poe award of the Mystery Writers of America for best mystery story and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Her recent work has been published in Blue Christmas, Real South, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Delta Blues, The Southern Women’s Review, Night Train, One Year to a Writing Life, and many other anthologies and journals. Editor of The Florida Book Review, she is a professor at Florida International University, where she teaches in the M.F.A. program. You can read more at lynnebarrett.com.
2C: A Beginner’s Guide to Plot
3D: Secrets and Lies
1D: Writing For Kids
9:45am-11:00am on Saturday, May 5th
Providing a fast, furious, and fun overview of how to write YA and middle-grade fiction. Topics covered will include inventing a unique and relatable protagonist, creating satisfying plots, what makes kids laugh, vocabulary and diction, and the issue of "what is appropriate."
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 18
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
1E: The Essentials of Voice
9:45am-11:00am on Saturday, May 5th
Voice is a powerful tool in crafting narrative. It's also one that's slippery to talk about. What constitutes voice? How does it differ from point of view? How do you make voice distinctive, but not distracting? In this seminar, we'll use samples taken from both fiction and nonfiction to discuss these foundational considerations.
As time allows, we'll use writing exercises (amenable to both prose
genres) to experiment with how developing voice can help us take the stories we tell further.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture with Q&A.
Seats Remaining: -1
Presenter(s):
- Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (Author)
Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich is writing a book of combined family memoir and literary journalism about a Louisiana murder, in support of which she has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, the Millay Colony for the Arts, Blue Mountain Center, and the Rona Jaffe Foundation, as well as a scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She earned her MFA at Emerson College and her JD at Harvard Law School. Her essays appear in The New York Times, Oxford American, Fourth Genre, TriQuarterly Online, Bellingham Review (as the winner of the Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction), and elsewhere, and her fiction appears in Southeast Review and Minnetonka Review. She teaches creative writing at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA, and at Grub Street. Visit her online at www.alexandria-marzano-lesnevich.com.
7E: Making the Past Present
1F: Stump the Author: A Q&A with Tom Perrotta
9:45am-11:00am on Saturday, May 5th
This will be a freewheeling question and answer session about fiction writing, adapting books to film and TV, and anything else the participants would like to address.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture & Guided Writing.
Seats Remaining: 34
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
1G: The Art of Memoir Writing
9:45am-11:00am on Saturday, May 5th
Everyone has a story to tell. Whether a life is unconventional or relatively normal, there’s bound to be something fascinating about it. That’s why the contemporary memoir – everyday people telling their tales – has become such a popular phenomenon. Memoirs appear throughout magazines and bookstores and a lucky few, such as Angela’s Ashes and The Liar’s Club, even make the bestseller list. In the course we will discuss how to make your own life story interesting by choosing the right details, channeling it through the appropriate structure, voice, dialogue. In addition we will discuss two or three pages from a published memoir (which I will hand out) as an example of how a writer can make his or her life as engaging as fiction.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture with Q&A.
Seats Remaining: 10
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
1H: No Other Place: Setting and the Crime Novel
9:45am-11:00am on Saturday, May 5th
Imagine Chandler’s Marlow without L.A., Lehane’s Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro without Boston, or Le Carre’s George Smiley without Cold War London. Tough to do? Impossible, actually. Setting (place, time, cultural context) is an essential aspect of the crime novel, and plays a pivotal role in illuminating character and theme, and in establishing the “emotional weather” of a story. This session will explore the importance of setting in the crime novel, and examine examples from contemporary crime fiction.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture & Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 37
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
1J: Fall in Love with the First Page
9:45am-11:00am on Saturday, May 5th
How are you inviting your readers into your novel? Its opening is critically important in establishing voice and tone, in signaling to the reader, "You are in very good hands." Bring your first page, and we'll judge, discuss, and polish.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
- Elinor Lipman (Author)
Elinor Lipman is the author of 10 works of fiction, including The Family Man, My Latest Grievance, The Inn at Lake Devine, and Then She Found Me. She had been a judge for the National Book Awards and the National Endowment for the Arts, and holds the Elizabeth Drew Chair in Creative Writing at Smith College. Her next two books, The View From Penthouse B and a collection of personal essays, will be published in 2013.
2F: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition: Part I
Option 6: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition: Part II
Option 9: Women (Writers) of a Certain Age
1K: What Agents Want
9:45am-11:00am on Saturday, May 5th
This session begins with each of the three agents giving brief presentations on a specific publishing-related topic in which they have particular expertise: from what makes a standout query letter (Janet Reid) to selling a short story collection (Katharine Fausset) to how to snag the right agent for you (Mollie Glick). An audience-driven Q&A on the role of agents will follow.
Type: Marketplace Panel. Lecture with Q&A. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
- Lynne Griffin (Author)
Lynne Griffin is the author of the novels Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster) and Life Without Summer (St. Martin’s Press), and the nonfiction parenting guide, Negotiation Generation (Penguin). In addition to teaching at Grub Street, Lynne teaches in the graduate program of family studies at Wheelock College. She is the family life contributor for Boston’s Fox Morning News and writes for The Writer magazine, Parenting magazine, and Psychology Today. For more about Lynne’s work, visit her website, www.LynneGriffin.com or her blog, Field Guide to Families.
7K: A Logical Approach To a Successful Book Launch
1L: Promote My Book? Promote Myself? Help!
9:45am-11:00am on Saturday, May 5th
Now that you've written your book, it’s time to promote it. And yourself! If you're anything like 99% of the writers in the world, this probably sounds about as much fun as spending Christmas with your in-laws. In July. Fear not! We used to feel the same way. But with a handful of tips, a few hard facts, and a double-shot of humor, you too can learn how to promote yourself and your writing. With style, with intelligence. While still being yourself. This session will show you how. And be warned! It's easier than you think.
Type: Marketplace Lecture with Q&A.
Seats Remaining: 3
Presenter(s):
- Kevin Smokler (Author)
Kevin Smokler is the author of the forthcoming essay collection Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books you Haven't Touched Since High School (Prometheus Books, Feb. 2013) and the editor of Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times, A San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book of 2005. His work has appeared in the LA Times, Fast Company, Paid Content, The San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly and on National Public Radio. Kevin Smokler sits on the advisory boards of SXSW Interactive, Salon97 and Symbolia Magazine and speaks on the future of publishing and literary culture at companies (AOL), conferences (SXSW, The Idea Festival) and universities (M.I.T, Stanford, University of Michigan) throughout North America.
4H: One Fan At A Time: Building a Community of Readers the Old-Fashioned Way
6J: Promotion and Publicity
- Rebecca Joines Schinsky (Special Guest)
Rebecca writes about books, the reading life, and the publishing industry at her popular literary site The Book Lady's Blog. She is a freelance writer, critic, and social media strategist and works as an editor at Book Riot. When not reading books and writing about them, she can be found on the Bookrageous podcast and the board of James River Writers in her adopted hometown Richmond, VA.
4H: One Fan At A Time: Building a Community of Readers the Old-Fashioned Way
6J: Promotion and Publicity
7J: How to Catch the Reviewer’s Eye
1M: Successful Self-Publishing
9:45am-11:00am on Saturday, May 5th
The challenges of breaking into and succeeding in traditional publishing are persistent and rising, just as self publishin – enabled by dramatic technology shifts, powered by inspiring success stories – is an increasingly good option for many of us. In this recent climate, you may have asked yourself: Is self-publishing right for me? How would I know? And how can I possibly navigate all of the options and decisions I’d face? If you’re intrigued by the possibility but don’t want to go it alone, join us for an informative and supportive session full of concrete, useful tips and other aspiring book entrepreneurs. Through a combination of individual questionnaires, analysis of the pros and cons of going independent, brief case studies, and group discussion, we will help you to clarify your goals as a writer, network with others contemplating the same choices, and make an informed decision about whether self-publishing is the best choice for you. This session is an overview class that is most appropriate for those not already familiar with self publishing basics.
Type: Marketplace Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 24
Presenter(s):
- Michelle Toth (Author)
Michelle Toth is the author of Annie Begins, an Amazon.com bestselling novel, and founder of SixOneSeven Books, a small press based in Boston which she runs together with Andrew Goldstein, author of The Bookie’s Son. Established with the idea of “writers publishing writers,” SixOneSeven Books’ additional titles include Girls I Know by Douglas Trevor (forthcoming May 2013), Veronica’s Nap by Sharon Bially, and Twelve Weeks by Karen Lee Sobol. A graduate of Harvard Business School, Michelle is currently the head of human capital for a leading investment management and technology development firm in New York City. Michelle is a long-time member of the board of directors of Grub Street, and divides her time between NYC and Boston.
3H: The Strategic Writer: You’re Bigger Than Your Book
2A: How To Be A Tough Editor of Your Own Work
11:15am-12:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
Editors and agents agree that every day they reject submissions that just weren't polished enough. Had the writer been a tough editor of his or her own work, the manuscript might have been accepted. But how do you, as Yeats suggested, "cast a cold eye" on something you've labored over for so long and are proud to have finished? In this workshop, you will get 10 tips on how to do just that. It will show you how to revise your work so that it is ready for submission. Are you tough enough to try?
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture.
Seats Remaining: -1
Presenter(s):
- Ann Hood (Author)
Ann Hood is the author, most recently, of The Obituary Writer, as well as the bestselling novels, The Knitting Circle, The Red Thread and Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine. Her memoir, Comfort: A Journey Through Grief, was a New York Times' editor’s choice, and was named one of the top ten non-fiction books of 2008. She has won Best American Spiritual Writing, Travel Writing, and Food Writing awards, two Pushcart Prizes, and the Paul Bowles Prize for Short Fiction.
4B: How to Be Your Own Best Editor
Option 9: Women (Writers) of a Certain Age
6C: Ten Steps to a Kickass Essay
2B: No Drama Without Conflict
11:15am-12:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
All stories depend on drama to drive the narrative, and drama is impossible without conflict. This session will explore the many ways in novels and screenplays (because I write both) that conflict is created. The session will include discussion and probably some writing.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
2C: The Craft of the Thriller
11:15am-12:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
This session will focus on the craft of writing thrillers. Barry Eisler's bestselling international thrillers have won the Barry Award and the Gumshoe Award for Best Thriller of the Year, have been included in numerous "Best of" lists, and have been translated into nearly twenty languages. In this session, Eisler will share techniques for creating thrills, including a discussion of plot vs. character, how to make the reader care, how to establish and then raise the stakes, and how to bring it all together. Eisler will speak for roughly 30-45 minutes and then take questions.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture with Q&A.
Seats Remaining: 13
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
2D: Memoir and Metaphor
11:15am-12:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
With metaphor you bring your stories into clearer focus and discover deeper levels of meaning in your writing. In this workshop, you will look at how metaphor has been used over the centuries, from Plato, Shakespeare, and Rilke to C.G.Jung. You will study examples from contemporary memoirs by Annie Dillard, Orhan Pamuk, and Joan Didion. There will be guided writing exercises, including work on the memoir you are writing, or on a new short piece of memoir.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Guided Writing.
Seats Remaining: 15
Presenter(s):
- Susan Tiberghien (Author)
Susan Tiberghien is an American-born writer living in Geneva, Switzerland. She holds a degree in Literature and Philosophy and did graduate work at the Université de Grenoble and the C.G. Jung Institute of Zurich. She is the author of three memoirs: Looking for Gold: A Year in Jungian Analysis; Circling to the Center: An Invitation to Silent Prayer; Footsteps: A European Album; and most recently, the best-selling writing book One Year to a Writing Life: Twelve Lessons to Deepen Every Writer’s Art and Craft. And she has published extensively short stories and essays in literary reviews and anthologies in the United States and in Europe. Tiberghien teaches and lectures at graduate programs, at C.G. Jung Centers, for the International Women’s Writing Guild, at writers’ centers in the States, and in Paris and Geneva. She is a founding member of the International Writers’ Residence at the Château de Lavigny, an active member of International PEN, and she directs the Geneva Writers’ Group and Conferences. She is married and has six grown children, and many grandchildren.
3C: From Journal to Successful Memoir
2E: The Essentials of Character
11:15am-12:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
How do you create characters so vivid that you know how they *would* act, both inside and outside your story, novel, or essay? How, with little or no physical description, do you make a reader see a character in all his or her particulars? In this session, using examples from classic and contemporary literature, we'll unlock some of the secrets of characterization. We'll discuss "flat" and "round" characters, as defined by E.M. Forster, and we'll do a couple of exercises designed to get your characters fully onto the page. Come to this session with one or two of your characters in mind.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 11
Presenter(s):
- Chip Cheek (Author)
Chip Cheek's stories have appeared or are forthcoming in The Southern Review, Harvard Review, Washington Square, Night Train, Quick Fiction, and Minnetonka Review, among other publications. His stories also appear in the current edition of the textbook What If: Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers, by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter (Longman, 2009), and Brevity and Echo: An Anthology of Short Short Stories (Rose Metal Press, 2006). He is the recipient of a St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award for 2011, as well as scholarships to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Tin House Summer Writers' Workshop. He is currently at work on a novel.
8F: Essentials of Character
2F: And Then What Happened
11:15am-12:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
In an oft-quoted bit of Aspects of the Novel, E.M. Forster asks two imaginary men, “What does a novel do?” The men respond, with varying degrees of ineptitude, then Forster hazards his own answer: “The novel tells a story. That is the fundamental aspect without which it could not exist. That is the highest factor common to all novels, and I wish that it was not so, that it could be something different – melody, or perception of the truth, not this low atavistic form.” Despite the faux regret, Forster's meaning is clear. If you want to muck about with novels, you have to get down and dirty with storyline. In this lecture, I – your limbo-loving instructor – will go even lower and talk about that which links us with Hollywood hacks, writers of HBO serial dramas and Stephen King: suspense. (I don’t have HBO, and I've never read a Stephen King novel, but that won’t stop me.) The lecture will focus on Dan Chaon’s novel, You Remind Me of Me and his story “Big Me.” We’ll consider how to structure for suspense, the virtues of withholding, and “thematic” suspense. Our goal? To create readers who are as anxious as we are. Or maybe just readers who are curious. Along the way, I will mention several titles, including William Trevor’s Felicia’s Journey, Sue Miller’s Lost in the Forest, Muriel Spark’s Memento Mori and “Portobello Road,” Alice Munro’s “Runaway,” James Salter’s “Last Night,” Rick Russo’s “The Whore’s Child,” and Michael Chabon’s The Final Solution. You needn’t read these titles to follow the lecture, though a familiarity with Chaon will be helpful.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
2G: The Suspension of Belief: On Being a Practitioner & Teacher of the Essay in the Age of Skepticism
11:15am-12:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
Just because the essay or memoir you’ve written is true doesn’t mean readers will automatically believe it. Nor should they. “Belief” in creative nonfiction must be earned, particularly on the heels of such scandals as James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces. This talk and discussion will address strategies for how to make the truth trustworthy, and how to win over a public grown suspicious of the personal narrative.
Type: Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 39
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
2H: Straight Talk on Writing Race in Fiction
11:15am-12:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
How, when, and why should a writer include descriptions of a character's race? Using stories and examples, Mitali will present her top ten tips about describing the race of characters and moderate a discussion.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 32
Presenter(s):
- Mitali Perkins (Author)
Mitali Perkins was born in Kolkata, India; by the time she was 11, she’d lived in Ghana, Cameroon, London, New York, and Mexico before settling in California just in time for middle school. After studying political science at Stanford and public policy at U.C. Berkeley, she taught in middle school, high school, and at the college level. When she began to write fiction, her protagonists were often—not surprisingly—strong female characters trying to bridge different cultures. Mitali has written several acclaimed books for young readers, including Bamboo People, a Junior Library Guild selection, ALA Top Ten YA Fiction pick, and an ABA Indie's Choice Honor Book; Monsoon Summer, an ALA Quick Pick, a Bank Street Best Book, a New York Library Book for the Teen Age, and a Texas Library Association TAYSHAS Best Book for Young Adults; Rickshaw Girl, winner of a Jane Addams Honor Award, the Maine Lupine Honor Award, and the Julia Ward Howe Honor Award; Secret Keeper, an IRA Notable Book for a Global Society and on the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer list of great titles that empower girls; and the First Daughter books. She speaks frequently about the transforming power of stories as windows and mirrors, blogs about “books between cultures” (mitaliblog.com), tweets regularly (@mitaliperkins), and also connects with readers through Facebook (facebook.com/authormitaliperkins). She lives and writes in Newton, Massachusetts. Visit mitaliperkins.com.
3G: Crafting Conversation in Fiction for Young Readers
2J: At Stake: Building Tension in Fiction
11:15am-12:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
You don’t need to start your story with a car chase or a gun going off to draw your readers in. And you needn’t end every chapter with a cliffhanger to keep them reading. Tension in fiction is created in a variety of ways, and through close reading and discussion, you’ll learn how to craft compelling characters, chose fresh plot lines, manipulate pacing, and highlight setting in ways that support the central conflict of your story. Novelist Lynne Griffin will walk you through how to move your characters closer to their goals while introducing complications to your story that raise stakes, putting at risk what your characters want and need, making failure ever more possible and dangerous. In an attempt to raise reader questions yet keep them grounded in scene, you’ll learn to create the kind of intense curiosity that keeps readers turning those pages.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
- Lynne Griffin (Author)
- Lynne Griffin is the author of the novels Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster) and Life Without Summer (St. Martin’s Press), and the nonfiction parenting guide, Negotiation Generation (Penguin). In addition to teaching at Grub Street, Lynne teaches in the graduate program of family studies at Wheelock College. She is the family life contributor for Boston’s Fox Morning News and writes for The Writer magazine, Parenting magazine, and Psychology Today. For more about Lynne’s work, visit her website, www.LynneGriffin.com or her blog, Field Guide to Families.
7K: A Logical Approach To a Successful Book Launch
2K: Literary Idol
11:15am-12:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
Important: Please read this description carefully before signing up, and bring all necessary materials to the session if you wish to have your work read aloud.
In this freewheeling session, a trained actor will perform the first page of YOUR unpublished manuscript for the audience and a panel of three judges. The judges are agents with years of experience reading unsolicited submissions. When one of the agent judges hears a line that would make her stop reading, she will raise her hand. The actor will keep reading until a second judge raises his hand. The judges will then discuss WHY they would stop reading, and offer concrete (if subjective) suggestions to the anonymous author. If no agent raises his/her hand, the judges will discuss what made the excerpt work so well. All excerpts will be evaluated *anonymously*, though, at the end of the session, a winner will be chosen from the group of excerpts that did not elicit any raised hands, and that winner will receive a free Grub Street membership.
Please bring THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript (fiction or non-fiction only, please) double-spaced, to the session, TITLED, with its GENRE marked clearly at the top. You will leave it in a box at the front of the room, and the manuscript will be chosen randomly by the actor. (Unfortunately, given the volume of submissions, we can not guarantee that yours will be read aloud).
This is a fun event that aims to be respectful of your work and illuminate the process an agent goes through when she receives a new piece of fiction or non-fiction. The point is not to get through as many writers as possible, but to thoughtfully evaluate the work at hand and offer concrete suggestions from which all could benefit. Please be aware that some lines may cause laughter or scorn; in other words, this session is not for the thin-skinned!
Type: Marketplace Panel. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 13
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
- Sorche Fairbank (Literary Agent)
Since establishing Fairbank Literary Representation in 2002, Sorche Elizabeth Fairbank has had the pleasure of working with a dynamic and varied list, representing best-selling authors, Edgar recipients, award-winning journalists, and of course one of her favorite kinds of client – the debut author. Tastes in novels tend toward literary fiction, international voices, and women’s voices. On the nonfiction side, books that tackle current events and topical and societal issues with a narrative treatment. She has a strong interest in women’s voices and class and race issues, quality lifestyle books (food, wine, design), memoir that goes beyond the me-moir, and humor, gift books, and pop culture. Subjects and genres not of interest by Sorche and Fairbank Literary include: sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, children’s and YA, self-help, romance, and sports fiction. Also, anything that opens with a dream scene and/or exhaustive descriptions of weather. Unless, of course, it’s really, really, really good. Authors and books represented by Fairbank Literary include: O. Henry Prize winner Charlotte Forbes; Pulitzer nominee and LA Times Cairo Bureau Chief Jeffrey Fleishman; Edgar winner Rex Burns, Matthew Frederick and his best-selling 101 Things I Learned series; Eudora Welty prize winner Miroslav Penkov (East of the West), Travis Bradford, CEO of Richard Branson’s Carbon War Room (Solar Revolution); Jonathan McCullough’s A Tale Of Two Subs: An Untold Story Of World War II, Two Sister Ships, And Extraordinary Heroism; Robert McKinnon, (Legacy: Keeping Our Promise for a Better World); essays by such luminaries as Jimmy Carter, Bill McKibben, Mia Hamm, and Dave Eggers; and essayist Jessica Handler. Humor and gift book clients include Chuck Sambuchino (How To Survive a Garden Gnome Attack; Red Dog, Blue Dog), Terry Border (Bent Objects Empire), and Carl Warner (Carl Warner’s Food Landscapes). For updated information on Sorche Fairbank and Fairbank Literary, their clients, and recent deals: www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/SorcheFairbank.
1G: How To Talk to Agents: Part I
2G: How To Talk to Agents: Part 2
3J: Query Lab
4L: Literary Idol: Fiction Focus
2L: Industry Guide to Publishing: Non-Fiction
11:15am-12:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
Now more than ever you need to understand the inner workings of the marketplace before sending your hard-earned work of non-fiction to anyone (an agent, an editor, a publicist, a self-publisher). Do you know the difference between narrative non-fiction and memoir? Is your book an “idea book” and, if so, do you have enough of a platform? How do you establish a platform, anyway? What are readers looking for in your non-fiction book proposal, and how much of the book needs to be written before you’re ready to approach a publisher? How much should you be tweeting? These and other timely questions will be answered by a panel of editors and agents.
Type: Marketplace Panel. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 2
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
- Paul Whitlatch (Editor)
Paul Whitlatch, editor at the Scribner imprint of Simon & Schuster, has published books by David Goodwillie (American Subversive, a New York Times Notable Book), Tony Wagner (Creating Innovators, a Washington Post Bestseller), and David Whitehouse (Bed, nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award). His recent and forthcoming titles include J. M. Sidorova’s debut novel The Age of Ice; Tim Crothers' The Queen of Katwe; and To Be a Friend Is Fatal, a memoir by Kirk W. Johnson. At W.W. Norton and Scribner, he has worked on the publication of books by a range of high-profile and bestselling authors, including Stephen King, Don DeLillo, Kathy Reichs, Colm Toibin, former First Lady Laura Bush, and Pulitzer Prize-winning oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee. An adjunct instructor in the Center for Publishing at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, Whitlatch was named a Frankfurt Fellow at the 2011 Frankfurt Book Fair and will be a Visiting International Publisher at the 2013 Sydney Writers Festival. He is acquiring books in these categories: literary fiction, thrillers, politics, technology, popular science, sports, and narrative non-fiction.
5L: Industry Guide to Publishing: Fiction
- Mitchell Waters (Literary Agent)
Mitchell Waters has been an agent with Curtis Brown, Ltd. for over eighteen years. He represents an eclectic array of fiction and non-fiction. Some recent, forthcoming, and representative titles include: Where You Can Find Me by Sheri Joseph, Cloudland by Joseph Olshan, The Paternity Test by Michael Lowenthal, Jane Vows Vengeance by Michael Thomas Ford, The Great American Railroad War by Dennis Drabelle, Hell Or High Water and Island Of Bones by Joy Castro, The Man Who Couldn't Eat by Jon Reiner, and The Unseen World of Poppy Malone by Suzanne Harper.
3K: What Agents Want
- Ethan Gilsdorf (Author)
Ethan Gilsdorf is a journalist, memoirist, critic, poet, teacher and geek, and author of the award-winning travel memoir investigation Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms. Based in Somerville, Massachusetts, he publishes travel, arts, and pop culture stories, essays and reviews regularly in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Salon.com, and wired.com. Ethan has published hundreds of articles in dozens of other magazines, newspapers, websites and guidebooks worldwide, including BoingBoing, CNN.com, Playboy, National Geographic Traveler, Psychology Today, Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Fodor's travel guides. He is a book and film critic for the Boston Globe, film columnist for Art New England, and a core contributor to the blog "GeekDad" at wired.com, and his blog "Geek Pride" is seen regularly on PsychologyToday.com. Read more at www.ethangilsdorf.com.
2B: Charting the Non-Fiction Writing Career
6L: Non-Fiction Idea Clinic
2M: Industry Guide To Publishing: Fiction
11:15am-12:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
Now more than ever you need to understand the inner workings of the marketplace before sending your hard-earned work of fiction to anyone (an agent, an editor, a publicist, a self-publisher). Do you know the difference between literary and commercial fiction? Or what makes your novel “up-market?” Is your novel “quiet,” and is that a bad thing? What’s the market for historical fiction, “category fiction,” short story collections, or books by male novelists about the male experience? Should you even try to categorize your work for agents and editors? Do fiction writers need a platform and, if so, how do you establish one? How much should you be tweeting? These and other timely questions will be answered by a panel of editors and agents.
Type: Marketplace Panel with Q&A and Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
- Emi Ikkanda (Editor)
Emi Ikkanda, an editor at Times Books and Henry Holt & Company, is building a list of narrative nonfiction, memoir, and fiction. Her list includes Time Magazine contributor Carla Power’s forthcoming book If The Oceans Were Ink. Emi has worked on the publication of books by award-winning and bestselling authors including president Jimmy Carter, Booker Prize-winner John Banville, Pulitzer-Prize winners Tony Horwitz and Annette Gordon-Reed, Richard North Patterson, Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, Lauren Manning, executive editor of The New York Times Jill Abramson, and New York Times reporters Elaine Sciolino and Diana Henriques. Before joining Holt, she was an associate editor at the Berkeley Fiction Review and worked at the University of California Press. She has earned degrees in art and literature at U.C. Berkeley and King’s College London, and studied abroad at the American University of Paris. Emi pursues nonfiction narratives, histories, memoirs, and reportage that explore race, war, multiculturalism, adventure, science, food, and the arts. She is also seeking multicultural or historical novels, WWII noirs, and voice driven fiction. She is drawn to emotionally rich stories that center on family secrets or on a fascinating friendship or marriage, and she is always drawn to characters that are artists or creative types. In fiction or nonfiction, she loves discovering a lost chapter in history, going on a journey, and exploring hidden worlds.
4K: Industry Guide to Publishing: Non-Fiction
3A: She's Gotta Have It: Why Desire Is a Writer's Best Friend
2:15pm-3:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
Knowing what your characters want is the single greatest determinant of whether or not your story or novel will succeed. Not only does a character's passion provide his or her story with a satisfying (and suspenseful) narrative arc, that same passion can fuel a voice that is far more compelling than the voice of a more passive character. In this session, we will discuss the many advantages of getting your characters up off the couch and out the door in search of their hearts' desires.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: -1
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
3B: No, There Will Not Be A Sequel, She Lied
2:15pm-3:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
After having stated very publicly that The Giver was to be a solitary book, Lowry then went on to write a second...then a third...and has just completed the writing of a fourth and final (or so she says) book to follow it. When is a sequel justified? Who decides: publisher, writer, audience? Are all sequels doomed to trigger reviews that begin, "This disappointing follow-up...." ? What are some of the pitfalls, or the pleasures? Is self-indulgence always involved? And did anyone ever really read Ozma of Oz or Bambi's Children?
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture & Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 32
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
3C: Make a Scene!
2:15pm-3:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
In this fast-paced exploration of scene-setting, nonfiction writers will learn a twelve-step process (except this one is FUN) to make the events we (re)create on the page fuller and deeper. First, we’ll look closely at the work of two master scene-setters. Then, we’ll become playwrights, giving our characters their lines. We’ll be directors, too, moving our characters about the stage. Finally, we’ll work as stagehands to our stories, creating the backdrop that will transform our nonfiction prose into a rich experience for our readers.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion & Guided Writing.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
3D: Reading Like a Writer
2:15pm-3:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
A close read of Nabokov's "Symbols and Signs" in an attempt to understand how it was put together. We'll discuss some authorial decisions regarding the use of point of view, syntax, metaphor, and structure with an eye to informing our own writing. NOTE: Miroslav Penkov was originally slated to lead this session, but a family emergency has prevented him from attending the conference. Author Man Martin has generously offered to pinch-hit for Mr. Penkov.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 10
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
3E: Essentials of Style
2:15pm-3:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
What's your writing style and how do you improve it? Your style is in your word choices, and making more deliberate choices will elevate your prose. Using examples from fiction and non-fiction, Michelle Seaton will show you how to add lyricism to your work. You'll do this in part through micro-editing, by punching up verbs, tightening phrases, adding precision to your descriptions, and looking at how word order can transform a sentence. We'll also steal some techniques from poets, by learning to pay attention to the rhythm and cadence of a sentence, the sonics of words and phrases, and to the overall persona, or attitude, of a narrator. You'll leave with a list of techniques and exercises to try on your own. Time permitting, we'll do a quick exercise in session to get you started using these techniques.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
3F: Tales From The Kidscape: The Art of the Coming of Age Story
2:15pm-3:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
The coming of age story is a mainstay of American fiction. It is full of possibility – so many of the most enduring works of literature – fall into this genre: To Kill A Mockingbird, The Bluest Eye, The Catcher in The Rye, Great Expectations, Black Boy, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The popularity of the genre holds fast in both literary and commercial fiction, from Harry Potter to Twilight to Portrait of the Artist of a Young Man and The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint. All of these stories require the author to authentically recreate the voice of a child. This craft class is not a literature survey, rather it is a discussion of strategies to create young characters that are are both convincing and compelling.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
3G: Death, Sex & Schnauzers: Writing Romantic Suspense
2:15pm-3:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
From The Thin Man to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Silence of the Lambs, The Big Easy and Chinatown, writers of mysteries and thrillers depending on romantic suspense know that the gusto in their stories roots in creating love triangles and improbable pairing of characters. Come join the fun as we explore the tricks of the trade ... then use them to create new love triangles for famous literary figures from crime fiction and beyond. What if Miss Jane Marple kept a secret boyfriend? What if Holmes and Watson had a fling?
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture & Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 37
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
3H: Never Happened: An Historical Novelist Looks at Alternate-History Fiction
2:15pm-3:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
After a long period of critical scorn, historical fiction has in recent decades attracted a whole range of “literary” writers to its ranks: Susan Sontag, Russell Banks, John Updike, Jane Smiley, Philip Roth, and many others. With their aspirations toward accuracy and fear of anachronism, historical novelists are often dismissive of “alternate-history fiction,” where the past isn’t re-created but significantly changed. And yet, “alt-history,” usually seen as pulpy “genre fiction,” is itself now attracting a number of younger literary writers. In this session we’ll discuss the essential features of historical fiction, both the “regular” and “alternate” varieties. We’ll consider the craft issues that each field raises; and we’ll think about how an assortment of cultural and technological changes may be revising a lot of assumptions and hierarchies that have up to now governed the way we fictionalize the past.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 18
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
3J: Memoir: Creating Your Characters
2:15pm-3:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
As you capture your story on paper, you freeze yourself and others in a defined point in time. This is risky stuff, and raises an array of questions, from "Will I want this version of me out in public 10 years from now?" to "Where will I spend the holidays if my entire family disowns me?" We'll talk about larger questions of truth & vision, legal considerations, and then focus in on developing smart strategies for navigating these questions in our writing.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture.
Seats Remaining: 15
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
3K: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition
2:15pm-3:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
This version of “Literary Idol” features established authors Anita Shreve, Elinor Lipman, Mameve Medwed, and Sebastian Stuart as judges and film star Alessandro Nivola as the manuscript reader. Important: Please read this description carefully before signing up, and bring all necessary materials to the session if you wish to have your work read aloud!
In this freewheeling session, Alessandro Nivola will perform the first page of YOUR unpublished manuscript for the audience and a panel of three “judges.” The judges are authors with years of experience working with agents, editors, and hearing from trusted readers. When one of the authors hears a line that would give her pause and wonder about the strength of the writing, she will raise her hand. Alessandro will keep reading until a second judge raises his hand. The judges will then discuss WHY the lines gave them pause, and offer concrete (if subjective) suggestions to the (anonymous) author. If no author raises his/her hand, the judges will discuss what made the excerpt work so well. All excerpts will be evaluated *anonymously.*
Please bring THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript (fiction or non-fiction only, please) double-spaced, to the session, TITLED, with its genre marked clearly at the top. You will leave it in a box at the front of the room, and the manuscript will be chosen randomly by the actor. (Unfortunately, given the volume of submissions, we can’t guarantee that yours will be read aloud).
We hope and expect this to be a fun event that is respectful of your work, and illuminates the process a seasoned writer and reader goes through when she gets a new piece of fiction or non-fiction from a student or friend. The point is not to get through as many writers as we can, but to thoughtfully evaluate the work at hand. Please be aware that some lines may cause laughter or scorn; in other words, this session is not for the thin-skinned!
Type: Marketplace Panel. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
- Anita Shreve (Author)
Anita Shreve is the author of sixteen novels. Her newest book will be out from Little Brown in the fall. She lives in both Maine and Boston.
2F: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition: Part I
Option 6: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition: Part II
- Mameve Medwed (Author)
Mameve Medwed (named for two grandmothers, Mamie and Eva) is the author of the novels Mail, Host Family, The End of an Error, How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life, (2007 Massachusetts Honor award for Fiction) and Of Men and Their Mothers. Her stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in the anthologies How To Spell Hanukah, My Bookstore, and What My Mother Gave Me and, among others, in the New York Times, Gourmet, Yankee, Boston Globe, Missouri Review, Newsday, and The Washington Post. Born in Bangor, Maine, she currently lives in Cambridge.
2F: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition: Part I
Option 6: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition: Part II
- Elinor Lipman (Author)
- Elinor Lipman is the author of 10 works of fiction, including The Family Man, My Latest Grievance, The Inn at Lake Devine, and Then She Found Me. She had been a judge for the National Book Awards and the National Endowment for the Arts, and holds the Elizabeth Drew Chair in Creative Writing at Smith College. Her next two books, The View From Penthouse B and a collection of personal essays, will be published in 2013.
2F: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition: Part I
Option 6: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition: Part II
Option 9: Women (Writers) of a Certain Age
- Alessandro Nivola (Special Guest)
Alessandro Nivola’s first professional leading role earned him a Drama Desk Award Nomination for his performance opposite Helen Mirren on Broadway in Turgenev’s A Month In The Country. The following year he drew critical acclaim and a Blockbuster Award Nomination for playing Nicolas Cage’s paranoid genius younger brother in John Woo’s Face/Off. A series of roles in English movies followed, establishing him as one of the few Americans capable of playing British characters from all regions and classes. He starred as a Hastings fisherman opposite Rachel Weisz in Michael Winterbottom’s I Want You, played Henry Crawford in the Patricia Rozema adaptation of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, and a singing/dancing King Ferdinand of Navarre in Kenneth Brannagh’s musical film of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Back in the US he starred opposite Reese Witherspoon in Best Laid Plans, and played leading roles in Jurassic Park 3, and Mike Figgis’ Time Code. He returned to the theater to play Orlando to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Rosalind in As You Like It at Williamstown, before being reunited with Helen Mirren in Peter Jan Brugge’s film The Clearing, where he played Robert Redford’s son. He earned an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for his performance as the rock singer Ian McNight in Lisa Cholodenko’s Laurel Canyon. Alessandro will next star opposite Elle Fanning and Annette Bening in Bomb, the new film from Sally Potter about the relationship between a radical anarchist (Nivola) and his daughter (Fanning) in early 1960s London. Alessandro received the Achievement in Acting Award from the Provincetown International Film Festival in 2010. The award was given for his collective work. He is a graduate of Yale University with a BA in English.
Session 3K: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition
Session 4A: Would Your Book Make A Good Film? An Interview with Alessandro Nivola
3L: You're the Boss: The Writer As Entrepreneur
2:15pm-3:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
These days, writers of all stripes are expected to be one-person businesses. As such, you will need to leverage the many innovations and platforms of the digital age to run the most effective and authentic business you can. This is true whether you are self-published, traditionally published or a combination of both. In our panel, we will discuss the various ways authors can make or augment their livelihood through the use of all things digital: social media, author websites , print-on-demand publications, online consulting, and others. Our goal is to go beyond the basics of publicity and promotion to suggest other ways you can build platforms, find readers, and work with other aspiring and emerging authors to build your career or enrich your writing life.
Type: Marketplace Panel. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
- April Eberhardt (Literary Agent)
A self-described "literary change agent," April Eberhardt assists and advises authors as they navigate the increasingly complex world of publishing. As readers and publishers choose among the many ways literature is being delivered in the new millennium, authors need a literary agent who understands both the traditional and electronic marketplaces, along with the evolving options for agent-assisted independent publishing. April works with serious authors who recognize the need for professional support, and the importance of publishing in the highest-quality way, be it traditionally or independently. Agent-vetted manuscripts help independently-published authors stand out from the millions of others, and contribute to raising the bar for independent publishing, garnering recognition and sales for those authors who understand and commit to "self-publishing, done right."
6H: The New Era of Publishing: An Agent’s Perspective on Going the Indie Route
- Eve Bridburg (Literary Agent)
Recently named one of Boston’s 50 most powerful women by Boston Magazine, Eve founded Grub Street in the spring of 1997. Her goal was to create a supportive yet rigorous place to study writing beyond the halls of academia. The experiment was a success from the beginning, convincing Eve that there was a great hunger in Boston for a literary arts center where emerging and established writers could inspire and teach students at all levels of development. She recruited an incredible group of instructors, staff, and board members; developed and oversaw strategy for growing the organization, and put in place the core values that remain essential to Grub Street today.
While remaining active as a Grub Street board member, Eve joined the Boston office of The Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary and Entertainment Agency in 2005. As a literary agent, she developed, edited, and sold a wide variety of books to major publishers including Random House, HarperCollins, Penguin, Grand Central, Abrams, and St. Martins. Her titles include Donovan Campbell’s New York Times Best Seller Joker One, Blogger Matt Logelin’s New York Times Best seller Two Kisses for Maddy, Kirsten Menger-Anderson’s critically acclaimed short story collection Doctor Olaf Van Schuler's Brain, and Len Rosen’s Edgar-nominated thriller All Cry Chaos. Eve also developed a list of expert-driven parenting, health, and spiritual titles by working closely with experts and collaborative writers in an effort to bring cutting edge thinking and research to trade audiences.
Returning to Grub Street as Executive Director in April 2010, Eve’s mission has been to expand offerings to better educate and equip writers to take full advantage of the new opportunities ushered in by the digital age and to make Grub Street as dynamic by day as it is by night. Under her leadership, Grub Street has launched new innovative programming, planned a move and expansion in downtown Boston, grown enrollment by 60%, and actively engaged board members, donors, students, and members in our mission like never before.
Eve’s work leading Grub Street was recently recognized by the National Arts Strategies when they selected her to join their Chief Executive Program, a two-year initiative designed to unleash the collective power of 100 of the top executive leaders in the cultural sector to re-imagine the potential of cultural institutions and to figure out how they can contribute to civil society in the 21st century.
Eve has presented on publishing, the future of publishing, and on what it takes to build a literary arts center at numerous national conferences, including the Whidbey Island Writers Conference, The Sanibel Island Writers Conference, Writers at Work in Utah and AWP. Before starting Grub Street, Eve attended Boston University’s Writing program on a teaching fellowship, farmed in Oregon, ran an international bookstore in Prague and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with awards for academic excellence in Philosophy and Religion from Colgate University.
3H: The Strategic Writer: You’re Bigger Than Your Book
6L: Non-Fiction Idea Clinic
3M: Non-Fiction Idea Clinic
2:15pm-3:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
Important: Please read this description carefully before signing up, and bring all necessary materials to the session if you wish to share your non-fiction book idea.
In this session, you will get two minutes to share your idea for a non-fiction book for the audience and a panel of three or four experts. The experts are agents and/or editors with years of experience working with non-fiction writers to turn their book proposals into reality. After you read your idea (preferably from a prepared text), the agents and editors will ask you follow-up questions and troubleshoot your idea. You will discuss issues of platform, expertise, and other elements of the non-fiction market. Please note that presenters will be chosen at random from names submitted in a hat at the start of the session. (Unfortunately, given the volume of submissions, we can not guarantee that your name will be called). This is a fun event that aims to be respectful of your idea and illuminate the process a writer goes through when she is developing an idea with an agent and/or editor. The point is not to get through as many writers as possible, but to thoughtfully evaluate your ideas and offer concrete suggestions from which all could benefit.
Type: Marketplace Panel. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 24
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
- Elizabeth Evans (Literary Agent)
Elizabeth Evans is a literary agent at the Jean V. Naggar Agency, where she has worked since 2010. Previously, she worked for six years in the San Francisco Bay Area with Kimberley Cameron & Associates. She represents a robust nonfiction list and a small but dynamic list of novelists. Elizabeth graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Hamilton College with a degree in English literature and received an MFA in writing from the University of San Francisco. She credits her parents with inspiring her love of books from an early age. Elizabeth especially loves launching new authors' careers and works closely with her clients to fine-tune their proposals and manuscripts. She is the founder of Room to Write, a volunteer group of over eighty New York City publishing professionals.
5K: Non-Fiction Idea Clinic
- Katrin Schumann (Author)
Katrin Schumann is the co-author of The Secret Power of Middle Children and Mothers Need Time-Outs, Too. She has been featured on the TODAY show, Talk of the Nation and in The Times, as well as other newspapers, magazines and radio, nationally and internationally. Schumann’s latest projects include a historical novel set in the Baltic, various non-fiction books in development, and on-going editorial work for editors, agents and writers. For the past ten years she has been teaching fiction and non-fiction, most recently at a local women’s prison, and running parenting focus groups and surveys. Before going freelance, she helped produce talk shows at NPR, where she won the Kogan Media Award. Schumann has been granted writing residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Norman Mailer Writer's Colony. Awarded scholarships to Oxford and Stanford Universities, she studied literature, language and journalism. Schumann was born in Freiburg, Germany, grew up in New York City and London, and now lives in Massachusetts.
7K: A Logical Approach To a Successful Book Launch
4A: Would Your Book Make A Good Film? An Interview with Alessandro Nivola
9:45am-11:00am on Sunday, May 6th
Internationally-acclaimed film actor and producer Alessandro Nivola (Junebug, Laurel Canyon, Bomb) will share his thoughts on what makes characters compelling enough for an actor/producer to fall in love with them and want to bring their lives to the screen. He will also talk about the books and films that inspire him, what he's looking for when he scouts novels, stories, and non-fiction to produce, and a little bit about the mysterious process that results in a film adaptation. He will be interviewed by author Stephen McCauley, who has seen three of his books (The Object of My Affection, The Easy Way Out , and True Enough) made into feature films in the U.S. and in France.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion & Guided Writing.
Seats Remaining: 14
Presenter(s):
- Alessandro Nivola (Special Guest)
- Alessandro Nivola’s first professional leading role earned him a Drama Desk Award Nomination for his performance opposite Helen Mirren on Broadway in Turgenev’s A Month In The Country. The following year he drew critical acclaim and a Blockbuster Award Nomination for playing Nicolas Cage’s paranoid genius younger brother in John Woo’s Face/Off. A series of roles in English movies followed, establishing him as one of the few Americans capable of playing British characters from all regions and classes. He starred as a Hastings fisherman opposite Rachel Weisz in Michael Winterbottom’s I Want You, played Henry Crawford in the Patricia Rozema adaptation of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, and a singing/dancing King Ferdinand of Navarre in Kenneth Brannagh’s musical film of Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Back in the US he starred opposite Reese Witherspoon in Best Laid Plans, and played leading roles in Jurassic Park 3, and Mike Figgis’ Time Code. He returned to the theater to play Orlando to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Rosalind in As You Like It at Williamstown, before being reunited with Helen Mirren in Peter Jan Brugge’s film The Clearing, where he played Robert Redford’s son. He earned an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for his performance as the rock singer Ian McNight in Lisa Cholodenko’s Laurel Canyon. Alessandro will next star opposite Elle Fanning and Annette Bening in Bomb, the new film from Sally Potter about the relationship between a radical anarchist (Nivola) and his daughter (Fanning) in early 1960s London. Alessandro received the Achievement in Acting Award from the Provincetown International Film Festival in 2010. The award was given for his collective work. He is a graduate of Yale University with a BA in English.
Session 3K: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition
Session 4A: Would Your Book Make A Good Film? An Interview with Alessandro Nivola
- Stephen McCauley (Author)
Stephen McCauley is the author of six novels. He has also published two novels under a pseudonym. His stories, reviews, and columns have appeared in the New York Times, Harper's, The Boston Globe, and many other publications. He is currently Associate Director of Creative Writing at Brandeis University.
2F: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition: Part I
Option 6: Literary Idol: Star Author Edition: Part II
4B: Fiction Matters
9:45am-11:00am on Sunday, May 6th
Does fiction matter? Explore this question with author Chimamanda Adichie, whose novels and stories explore the complex terrain of history, politics, race, culture, family, and many other compelling and important topics. This is a rare opportunity to spend time with a brilliant author who has brought these issues to life in a body of work already being called some of the most important of her generation.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 27
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
4C: Details Make (or Break) a Character: Why it Pays to Sweat the Small Stuff
9:45am-11:00am on Sunday, May 6th
This workshop tackles how to use physical details of person and place to quickly create a character with a compelling, three-dimensional presence on the page. Too many details and you get a paint-by-numbers character. Find a few working details and you can show a character's personality and suggest a back story without resorting to a back story dump.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture with Discussion & Guided Writing.
Seats Remaining: 14
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
4D: Disentangling Time
9:45am-11:00am on Sunday, May 6th
What’s past? What’s present? What’s shown? What’s told? How much of the past is just background information, what really matters, and when (and how) should it emerge? Whether it covers an hour or thirty years, unravels a mystery, or shows multiple simultaneous plotlines, the structure of any narrative form requires us to think about time. We’ll look at the relationship of time to action, ways for the past (or future) to emerge through discovery or disclosure, time slowed, sped up, and skipped, timelines as a way of understanding your material and choosing what to present, the relationship of time and point of view, and ways to keep track and help the reader keep track, too.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
- Lynne Barrett (Author)
- Lynne Barrett is the author of the story collections The Secret Names of Women, The Land of Go and, most recently, Magpies, winner of the Florida Book Awards gold medal for general fiction. She has received the Edgar Allan Poe award of the Mystery Writers of America for best mystery story and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Her recent work has been published in Blue Christmas, Real South, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Delta Blues, The Southern Women’s Review, Night Train, One Year to a Writing Life, and many other anthologies and journals. Editor of The Florida Book Review, she is a professor at Florida International University, where she teaches in the M.F.A. program. You can read more at lynnebarrett.com.
2C: A Beginner’s Guide to Plot
3D: Secrets and Lies
4E: The Essentials of the Novel
9:45am-11:00am on Sunday, May 6th
Inspired by lessons from Grub Street’s year-long intensive novel program, The Novel Incubator, co-instructors Lisa Borders and Michelle Hoover will examine two of the foundation elements of a successful novel: Character and Structure. This seminar includes craft discussions about the specific challenges of creating characters for novels, and how point of view affects the way characters are perceived by the reader, and how the flaws and yearnings of a protagonist determine the incidents that make up the novel’s backbone. We'll also do some short exercises designed to put flesh and bones on your novel's major players, and to help streamline your book's structure.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 8
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
- Michelle Hoover (Author)
Michelle Hoover is a full-time instructor at Boston University and has published short stories and novel excerpts in numerous journals, including Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review, StoryQuarterly and Confrontation. She has been the Philip Roth Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell, a MacDowell Fellow, and in 2005 the winner of the PEN/New England Discovery Award for Fiction. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and published in Best New American Voices. Her novel, The Quickening, was published by Other Press in June 2010. It has been shortlisted for the Center for Fiction's Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize and is a Finalist for the Indies Choice Debut of 2010. Learn more at www.michelle-hoover.com.
4F: Essentials of the Novel
4F: Where Do You Find Your Thrills (as a Writer)?
9:45am-11:00am on Sunday, May 6th
Without choosing sides or privileging one type of writing over another, this session will draw some distinctions between the genre thrillers of writers like John Grisham, Dan Brown, and Tom Clancy and the literary-genre thrillers of writers like John le Carré, P.D. James, and Scott Turow. Both approaches turn on taut plots and escalating tensions; yet they differ in degree (these are continua, not stark categories) on matters of aesthetics, character development, concern for moral implications, and a willingness to test readers’ patience by exploring “big ideas.” We’ll consider examples of each approach and discuss the perils of mixing approaches unintentionally.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 43
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
4G: The Self As Character
9:45am-11:00am on Sunday, May 6th
If you're writing nonfiction-- a book-length memoir, or a personal essay -- you might worry the "I" (that is, the character of you in your story) is ordinary, two-dimensional, or boring. Or, worse: self-indulgent and whiny. Why might this be the case? Perhaps it's because you haven't fully developed yourself as a character. Just like in fiction, you own persona needs to feel like a well-rounded, reflective, complex character, one with dreams, goals and desires, and beset with fears, complications and contradictions. Your "I" also needs to go through an emotional/intellectual journey, or a "character arc." To show you how this is done, we'll look at great examples from literary and/or “commercial” memoirs, and you'll leave with some exercises to further help round out your self as character. For intermediate, not beginning, writers.
Type: Lecture with Q&A
Seats Remaining: 16
Presenter(s):
- Ethan Gilsdorf (Author)
- Ethan Gilsdorf is a journalist, memoirist, critic, poet, teacher and geek, and author of the award-winning travel memoir investigation Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms. Based in Somerville, Massachusetts, he publishes travel, arts, and pop culture stories, essays and reviews regularly in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Salon.com, and wired.com. Ethan has published hundreds of articles in dozens of other magazines, newspapers, websites and guidebooks worldwide, including BoingBoing, CNN.com, Playboy, National Geographic Traveler, Psychology Today, Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Fodor's travel guides. He is a book and film critic for the Boston Globe, film columnist for Art New England, and a core contributor to the blog "GeekDad" at wired.com, and his blog "Geek Pride" is seen regularly on PsychologyToday.com. Read more at www.ethangilsdorf.com.
2B: Charting the Non-Fiction Writing Career
6L: Non-Fiction Idea Clinic
4H: The Big Book of What Really Happened: Historical Fiction in Theory and Practice
9:45am-11:00am on Sunday, May 6th
At the heart of historical fiction lies a paradox. To learn what truly happened in the past, we turn to primary historical sources, for which we don't need fiction. To discover a transcendental truth about human experience, we turn to fiction, for which we don't need the past. So why write historical fiction at all? This class will discuss how history and fiction can be brought together in ways that are mutually reinforcing, and which open vistas of possibility for the kinds of stories we want to tell. We will look at some examples of historical fiction, will discuss general tips and tricks for research, and will write from a prompt to start discovering ways that history can bring our fiction to a new level.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 36
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
4J: Industry Guide to Publishing: Young Adult
9:45am-11:00am on Sunday, May 6th
Want to find out the skinny on the young adult market today? In this session, an agent and editor actively seeking new authors will discuss what is YA and what isn't. They will discuss what genres are trending, and how to avoid the wrong trends; they will talk about new imprints that are forming, what those imprints are looking for. On the marketplace side, they will talk about how you should prepare yourself to promote your work and yourself for success in this genre. The session will be very interactive, so bring your questions!
Type: Marketplace Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 23
Presenter(s):
- Regina Brooks (Literary Agent)
Regina Brooks is the founder and president of Serendipity Literary Agency LLC, based in Brooklyn, New York. Her agency has represented and established a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and children's literature. Her authors have appeared in USA Today, New York Times and the Washington Post as well as on Oprah, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSBNC, TV ONE, BET and a host of others. She has held senior editorial positions at John Wiley and Sons and McGraw-Hill companies. Brooks is the author of the titles Never Finished Never Done (Scholastic), Writing Great Books For Young Adults (Source Books), and You Should (Really) Write A Book: How To Write, Sell, And Market Your Memoir (St. Martin’s Press), has edited over nearly 100 titles and is a blogger for the Huffington Post and Essence.com. Brooks is also on the faculty of the Harvard University publishing course and the Whidbey Island Writers MFA program and annually teaches at more than twenty worldwide conferences. She has been highlighted in global media outlets including Forbes, Media Bistro, Essence magazine, Ebony magazine, Writer’s Digest magazine, The Writer, Jet, Rolling Out and Publisher’s Weekly. She also is a co-publisher of an imprint of Akashic called Open Lens.
4K: Industry Guide to Publishing: Non-Fiction
4K: Query Lab
9:45am-11:00am on Sunday, May 6th
Important: Please read this description carefully before signing up, and bring all necessary materials to the session if you wish to share your query letter.
Most agencies receive at least a hundred query letters each week, yet respond positively to a very select few. Do you know the secrets to writing a winning query? Do you want to know the most common reasons for rejection? In this session, agents Sorche Fairbank and Stephen Barr will give direct feedback on audience query letters and use them as examples to discuss both effective and ineffective strategies for getting an agent or editor interested in your work. The goal will be to make your query letters as powerful as possible. If you want your query letter considered, please bring a ONE-PAGE hard copy to the session. Query letters will be chosen at random by a volunteer and put on an overhead projector. After your query letter is read by the agents and the audience, the agents will discuss it, troubleshoot, and offer advice that is both specific to your project and general enough for the rest of the audience to benefit. Given the volume of submissions, we can not guarantee that your query letter will be read. The point is not to get through as many queries as possible, but to thoughtfully evaluate your ideas and offer concrete suggestions from which all will benefit.
Type: Marketplace Panel. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 11
Presenter(s):
- Sorche Fairbank (Literary Agent)
- Since establishing Fairbank Literary Representation in 2002, Sorche Elizabeth Fairbank has had the pleasure of working with a dynamic and varied list, representing best-selling authors, Edgar recipients, award-winning journalists, and of course one of her favorite kinds of client – the debut author. Tastes in novels tend toward literary fiction, international voices, and women’s voices. On the nonfiction side, books that tackle current events and topical and societal issues with a narrative treatment. She has a strong interest in women’s voices and class and race issues, quality lifestyle books (food, wine, design), memoir that goes beyond the me-moir, and humor, gift books, and pop culture. Subjects and genres not of interest by Sorche and Fairbank Literary include: sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, children’s and YA, self-help, romance, and sports fiction. Also, anything that opens with a dream scene and/or exhaustive descriptions of weather. Unless, of course, it’s really, really, really good. Authors and books represented by Fairbank Literary include: O. Henry Prize winner Charlotte Forbes; Pulitzer nominee and LA Times Cairo Bureau Chief Jeffrey Fleishman; Edgar winner Rex Burns, Matthew Frederick and his best-selling 101 Things I Learned series; Eudora Welty prize winner Miroslav Penkov (East of the West), Travis Bradford, CEO of Richard Branson’s Carbon War Room (Solar Revolution); Jonathan McCullough’s A Tale Of Two Subs: An Untold Story Of World War II, Two Sister Ships, And Extraordinary Heroism; Robert McKinnon, (Legacy: Keeping Our Promise for a Better World); essays by such luminaries as Jimmy Carter, Bill McKibben, Mia Hamm, and Dave Eggers; and essayist Jessica Handler. Humor and gift book clients include Chuck Sambuchino (How To Survive a Garden Gnome Attack; Red Dog, Blue Dog), Terry Border (Bent Objects Empire), and Carl Warner (Carl Warner’s Food Landscapes). For updated information on Sorche Fairbank and Fairbank Literary, their clients, and recent deals: www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/SorcheFairbank.
1G: How To Talk to Agents: Part I
2G: How To Talk to Agents: Part 2
3J: Query Lab
4L: Literary Idol: Fiction Focus
- Stephen Barr (Literary Agent)
Stephen Barr spent the first 21 years of his life in Southern California, and the only thing he really knew about publishing before he moved to New York City was Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Terry Crabtree in Wonder Boys — he’s an editor, and he flies into Pittsburgh (wearing a big, comfy-looking east coast coat) to coax a second novel out of his troubled but probably brilliant author, and then come the hijinks. That sounded pretty swell, so Barr read Wonder Boys on the flight over to New York. Over the course of six or seven months of interviews and internships, he realized that he still wanted the coat and the authors, but would be more comfortable playing the role, so to speak, of their agent (though editing is perhaps his favorite thing in the whole wide world, and he works very closely with his clients to polish and perfect their manuscripts before and after submission). Barr landed at Writers House in 2008, became its biggest fan about four seconds later, started taking on his own clients in 2010 (serious non-fiction, memoir, literary fiction, picture books, non-paranormal YA, you name it), and just got his coat back from the dry cleaner.
3J: Query Lab
4L: The World Is Your Oyster: The Unprecedented Opportunities of the Digital Age
9:45am-11:00am on Sunday, May 6th
It's never been a more exciting (and also daunting!) time to be a writer. Techies and publishers are busy collaborating, trying on new models and creating new opportunities for writers online. Some of these you may have heard of; others are brand-new; each is breaking new ground to showcase, distribute and/or promote the work of creative writers. The goal of the panel is to introduce you to these individuals and organizations and also to talk at both a practical and philosophical level about the various ways aspiring and emerging authors can thrive in the digital age. Take a deep breath. It's going to be OK.
Type: Marketplace Panel. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 17
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
- Eve Bridburg (Literary Agent)
- Recently named one of Boston’s 50 most powerful women by Boston Magazine, Eve founded Grub Street in the spring of 1997. Her goal was to create a supportive yet rigorous place to study writing beyond the halls of academia. The experiment was a success from the beginning, convincing Eve that there was a great hunger in Boston for a literary arts center where emerging and established writers could inspire and teach students at all levels of development. She recruited an incredible group of instructors, staff, and board members; developed and oversaw strategy for growing the organization, and put in place the core values that remain essential to Grub Street today.
While remaining active as a Grub Street board member, Eve joined the Boston office of The Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary and Entertainment Agency in 2005. As a literary agent, she developed, edited, and sold a wide variety of books to major publishers including Random House, HarperCollins, Penguin, Grand Central, Abrams, and St. Martins. Her titles include Donovan Campbell’s New York Times Best Seller Joker One, Blogger Matt Logelin’s New York Times Best seller Two Kisses for Maddy, Kirsten Menger-Anderson’s critically acclaimed short story collection Doctor Olaf Van Schuler's Brain, and Len Rosen’s Edgar-nominated thriller All Cry Chaos. Eve also developed a list of expert-driven parenting, health, and spiritual titles by working closely with experts and collaborative writers in an effort to bring cutting edge thinking and research to trade audiences.
Returning to Grub Street as Executive Director in April 2010, Eve’s mission has been to expand offerings to better educate and equip writers to take full advantage of the new opportunities ushered in by the digital age and to make Grub Street as dynamic by day as it is by night. Under her leadership, Grub Street has launched new innovative programming, planned a move and expansion in downtown Boston, grown enrollment by 60%, and actively engaged board members, donors, students, and members in our mission like never before.
Eve’s work leading Grub Street was recently recognized by the National Arts Strategies when they selected her to join their Chief Executive Program, a two-year initiative designed to unleash the collective power of 100 of the top executive leaders in the cultural sector to re-imagine the potential of cultural institutions and to figure out how they can contribute to civil society in the 21st century.
Eve has presented on publishing, the future of publishing, and on what it takes to build a literary arts center at numerous national conferences, including the Whidbey Island Writers Conference, The Sanibel Island Writers Conference, Writers at Work in Utah and AWP. Before starting Grub Street, Eve attended Boston University’s Writing program on a teaching fellowship, farmed in Oregon, ran an international bookstore in Prague and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with awards for academic excellence in Philosophy and Religion from Colgate University.
3H: The Strategic Writer: You’re Bigger Than Your Book
6L: Non-Fiction Idea Clinic
4M: Commitment and The Novel
9:45am-11:00am on Sunday, May 6th
This session will focus on the work-in-progress. We'll discuss when to stay the course, when and if to let go (or let the writing rest), how to evaluate signals and "feedback" from the publishing industry, and trusting the creative process. This session will offer both an insider perspective on the industry, and the point of view of the writer who clandestinely worked on a long-term project, The Unruly Passions of Eugénie R., enduring rejection letters even while having to write them. (Tip: doesn't make it any easier.)
Type: Marketplace Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 39
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
5A: How To Be A Tough Editor of Your Own Work
11:15am-12:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
Editors and agents agree that every day they reject submissions that just weren't polished enough. Had the writer been a tough editor of his or her own work, the manuscript might have been accepted. But how do you, as Yeats suggested, "cast a cold eye" on something you've labored over for so long and are proud to have finished? In this workshop, you will get 10 tips on how to do just that. It will show you how to revise your work so that it is ready for submission. Are you tough enough to try?
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture with Q&A.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
- Ann Hood (Author)
- Ann Hood is the author, most recently, of The Obituary Writer, as well as the bestselling novels, The Knitting Circle, The Red Thread and Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine. Her memoir, Comfort: A Journey Through Grief, was a New York Times' editor’s choice, and was named one of the top ten non-fiction books of 2008. She has won Best American Spiritual Writing, Travel Writing, and Food Writing awards, two Pushcart Prizes, and the Paul Bowles Prize for Short Fiction.
4B: How to Be Your Own Best Editor
Option 9: Women (Writers) of a Certain Age
6C: Ten Steps to a Kickass Essay
5B: And In The End....
11:15am-12:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
Every story, every novel, every personal essay, has an ending, and every ending must accomplish something different. Something unique. How do you come to understand what your fiction or memoir needs at its close? What does this have to do with structure? With imagery? With tone? With getting your authorial presence out of a reader's way? In this session, you'll learn new approaches to discovering and crafting endings that leave your work lingering in your readers’ imaginations long after they read that last page.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
5C: The Scoop: Using Television Techniques to Write A Killer Novel
11:15am-12:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
Here's what you need to do to produce a successful television news story: develop memorable characters. Build suspense. Show conflict. Tell a compelling story. Create a satisfying ending. Find justice. Change lives. That's exactly what Boston's premier investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan's been doing for her entire career. But here's the scoop. Writing a successful mystery, thriller or romantic suspense novel – or short story – requires exactly the same things. And Hank's years of experience with journalism can now give your book or short story a boost. With her top-ten list of questions, journalism techniques, and solid practical applications, this Emmy (and Anthony, Macavity and double Agatha) award winning reporter will teach you the secrets of television news. And then: she'll show you exactly how those skills can work for you to develop the novel you always wanted to write. Or to make your next book better.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 37
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
5D: Characters Talk, Centuries Talk: How to Write Historical Fiction
11:15am-12:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
“To tell one story,” Grace Paley said, “you have to tell two.” In historical fiction, novelists tell the deeply personal stories of quirky, driven, and flawed characters and they also bring alive the pleasures, chaos, and questions of the era in which the characters live. How can we bring both characters and history alive? What essential details can we find in reading diaries, personal letters, and newspaper accounts? How do we weave the two narrative strands together? Bring a story idea to explore.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 24
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
5E: Essential Elements of the Mystery Novel
11:15am-12:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
Mysteries are a large part of that oft maligned area of fiction known as "genre fiction." Maligned, yet so many people want to write it. One of things that's simultaneous challenging and comforting about genre fiction is that it tends to follow a set of rules or conventions. This session will give an overview of the essential elements of a traditional mystery novel: plot, the cast of characters and techniques for creating them, the importance of setting, the challenges of planting clues, and the creation of suspense.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture with Q&A.
Seats Remaining: 32
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
5F: Loving Your Characters
11:15am-12:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
If fiction’s greatest gift is the near miraculous transference of emotion from words on a page to the reader’s heart, then the fiction writer’s primary responsibility is to convey that emotion from her heart to the page in a way that makes the leap into the reader’s chest most inevitable, that buries the feeling most deep, most inextricably, inside. In this class we’ll examine how loving your characters can lead to better writing, how it fits into ideas of plot, the shaping of scenes, the choosing of details, and the ultimate efficacy of a story.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture with Q&A.
Seats Remaining: 14
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
5G: Write What You Don't (Yet) Know
11:15am-12:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
Seth Mnookin, an award-winning journalist and best-selling author, will talk about his work with a writer who has been editing his work for more than thirty years – his mother, poet Wendy Mnookin. Seth has been a rock critic, a city hall reporter, a crime reporter, a media commentator, and a science blogger; he has written books about The New York Times, the Red Sox, and the controversy over autism and vaccines; and he has interviewed Iraqi government officials in Baghdad, Stephen Colbert on the set of his show in Manhattan, and Derek Jeter in his home base in Tampa, Florida. How does he find his topics? Market his ideas? How does he balance time spent doing research and time spent actually writing? What social media tools does he use to promote his work? Come and hear how you, too, can learn to sell your ideas, as well as research, write and promote your writing on the diverse topics that capture your interest. The session will include an exercise to help you evaluate potential writing projects.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 15
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
5H: Building a Story, from the First Sentence (and Before)
11:15am-12:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
“If I describe a sunny morning in May (the buds, the wet-winged flies, the warm sun and cool breeze), I am also implying the perishing quality of a morning in May, and a good description of May sets up the possibility of a May disaster.” Clark Blaise, in his essay “To Begin, To Begin” says that a good beginning to a story always implies its opposite. A sunny day with daffodils hides death in its folds. In this workshop Clark will talk about building a story "from the first sentence (and before)", which might be sufficiently mysterious. He will present a number of familiar and obscure first sentences, and the class-members will build stories from them. Example, from Roth's "Goodbye, Columbus": "The first time I saw Brenda, she asked me to hold her glasses." Or Thomas Mann's "Disorder and Early Sorrow": "The principle dish at dinner had been croquettes made of turnip greens."
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 36
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
5J: How To Convert an Idea to a Story
11:15am-12:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
Story ideas are like the old Russia ruble. They have very little value outside the place where they were minted: the central bank of your mind. The global currency of fiction is the scenario: a story told in the form of wisely chosen, efficient sequence of scenes. The ability to convert ideas into scenarios—to think in scene form—is one of the essential skills of the writing craft. If you want to get better at writing stories that read like they're "going somewhere," or if you are never quite sure where a story should begin then this is the class for you. Bring blank paper and a stack of ideas you'd like to convert to scenes you can use.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Guided Writing.
Seats Remaining: 37
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
5K: Promotion and Publicity
11:15am-12:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
Now more than ever, authors are expected to be their own publicists, and build their own audiences, both before and during the publication of their books. If they can’t, they often need to find someone who can help them with this process. This session is designed for the writer who is under contract for a book, or has published a few stories or even a full-length work or two – and, of course, the writer who plans to do so ASAP. Topics discussed include concrete strategies that authors can employ to get the word out about them and their work, the role of the publicist at small and large houses, book clubs and blogs, and how not to feel embarrassed or self-conscious or about the necessary self-promotion you’ll have to do to survive in the changing landscape of publishing.
Type: Marketplace Panel. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 4
Presenter(s):
- Kevin Smokler (Author)
- Kevin Smokler is the author of the forthcoming essay collection Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books you Haven't Touched Since High School (Prometheus Books, Feb. 2013) and the editor of Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times, A San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book of 2005. His work has appeared in the LA Times, Fast Company, Paid Content, The San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly and on National Public Radio. Kevin Smokler sits on the advisory boards of SXSW Interactive, Salon97 and Symbolia Magazine and speaks on the future of publishing and literary culture at companies (AOL), conferences (SXSW, The Idea Festival) and universities (M.I.T, Stanford, University of Michigan) throughout North America.
4H: One Fan At A Time: Building a Community of Readers the Old-Fashioned Way
6J: Promotion and Publicity
- Rebecca Joines Schinsky (Special Guest)
- Rebecca writes about books, the reading life, and the publishing industry at her popular literary site The Book Lady's Blog. She is a freelance writer, critic, and social media strategist and works as an editor at Book Riot. When not reading books and writing about them, she can be found on the Bookrageous podcast and the board of James River Writers in her adopted hometown Richmond, VA.
4H: One Fan At A Time: Building a Community of Readers the Old-Fashioned Way
6J: Promotion and Publicity
7J: How to Catch the Reviewer’s Eye
- Randy Susan Meyers (Author)
Randy Susan Meyers is the author of The Comfort of Lies (February 2013). Her debut novel, The Murderer’s Daughters, was chosen as a Mass Book Awards finalist and a “Must Read Book 2011” by the Massachusetts Book Council, who wrote: “The clear and distinctive voice of Randy Susan Meyers will have you enraptured and wanting more.” Her book was chosen as a Target Book Club Choice and she is the coauthor with M.J. Rose of What To Do Before Your Book Launch. Randy Susan Meyers’ novels are informed by her years spent bartending, her work with violent offenders, and too many years being enamored by bad boys. Raised in Brooklyn New York, Randy now lives in Boston with her husband, and is the mother of two grown daughters.
Option 9: Women (Writers) of a Certain Age
6J: Promotion and Publicity
8E: Manuscript & Workshop Critique: Managing & Using Criticism & Complaints
5L: Literary Idol
11:15am-12:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
Important: Please read this description carefully before signing up, and bring all necessary materials to the session if you wish to have your work read aloud.
In this freewheeling session, a trained actor will perform the first page of YOUR unpublished manuscript for the audience and a panel of three judges. The judges are agents with years of experience reading unsolicited submissions. When one of the agent judges hears a line that would make her stop reading, she will raise her hand. The actor will keep reading until a second judge raises his hand. The judges will then discuss WHY they would stop reading, and offer concrete (if subjective) suggestions to the anonymous author. If no agent raises his/her hand, the judges will discuss what made the excerpt work so well. All excerpts will be evaluated *anonymously,* though, at the end of the session, a winner will be chosen from the group of excerpts that did not elicit any raised hands, and that winner will receive a free Grub Street membership.
Please bring THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript (fiction or non-fiction only, please) double-spaced, to the session, TITLED, with its GENRE marked clearly at the top. You will leave it in a box at the front of the room, and the manuscript will be chosen randomly by the actor. (Unfortunately, given the volume of submissions, we can not guarantee that yours will be read aloud).
This is a fun event that aims to be respectful of your work and illuminate the process an agent goes through when she receives a new piece of fiction or non-fiction. The point is not to get through as many writers as possible, but to thoughtfully evaluate the work at hand and offer concrete suggestions from which all could benefit. Please be aware that some lines may cause laughter or scorn; in other words, this session is not for the thin-skinned!
Type: Marketplace Panel. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 19
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
- Katharine Sands (Literary Agent)
A literary agent with the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency, Katharine Sands has worked with a varied list of fiction and non-fiction authors who publish a diverse array of books. Highlights include Dating the Devil (producer: Vast Entertainment) by Lia Romeo; XTC: SongStories; Chasing Zebras: The Unofficial Guide to House, MD; Make Up, Don't Break Up with Oprah guest Dr. Bonnie Eaker Weil; Playwright Robert Patrick's novel, Temple Slave; The Complete Book on International Adoption: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Your Child; Hands Off My Belly: The Pregnant Woman's Survival Guide to Myths, Mothers, and Moods; Under the Hula Moon; Whipped: A Professional Dominatrix's Secrets for Wrapping Men Around Your Little Finger; The Gay Vacation Guide; CityTripping: a Guide for Foodies, Fashionistas and the Generally Syle-Obsessed; Writers on Directors; How to Create an Identity for a Brilliant Career, Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Annulled, Beheaded, Survived: The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Ford model Helen Lee's The Tao of Beauty; Elvis and You: Your Guide to the Pleasures of Being an Elvis Fan; New York: Songs of the City; Taxpertise: Dirty Little Secrets the IRS Doesn't Want You to Know; The SAT Word Slam; Divorce After 50; The Complete Book of Bone Health; and The Safe and Sane Guide to Teenage Plastic Surgery, to name a few. She is the agent provocateur of Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent's Eye, a collection of pitching wisdom from leading literary agents. Actively building her client list, she likes books that have a clear benefit for readers' lives in categories of food, travel, lifestyle, home arts, beauty, wisdom, relationships, parenting, and fresh looks, which might be at issues, life challenges or popular culture. When reading fiction she wants to be compelled and propelled by urgent storytelling, and hooked by characters. For memoir and femoir, she likes to be transported to a world rarely or newly observed.
1G: How To Talk to Agents: Part I
2G: How To Talk to Agents: Part 2
- Erin Harris (Literary Agent)
Erin Harris is a literary agent at Folio Literary Management. She represents literary fiction, book club fiction, contemporary YA, and select narrative non-fiction titles. Some of her clients include: Time magazine contributor and former Newsweek correspondent Carla Power, Executive Editor of The New Criterion David Yezzi, and the novelists Bryan Furuness and Jennifer Laam. Erin began her career in publishing in 2008 and has worked for both William Clark of WM Clark Associates and Irene Skolnick of the Irene Skolnick Literary Agency. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the New School and her BA in literature from Trinity College (Hartford, CT).
4L: Literary Idol: Fiction Focus
- Ann Collette (Literary Agent)
Ann Collette was a freelance writer and editor before joining the Rees Literary Agency in 2000. Her list includes books by New York Times bestselling author B. A. Shapiro, Oprah's “Fall 2012 Unputdownable Mysteries” author Mark Pryor, Anthony Nominee Vicki Lane, RT Award Nominees Clay and Susan Griffith, Mark Russinovich, Steven Sidor, Carol Carr, and Chrystle Fiedler. She likes literary, mystery, thrillers, suspense, vampire, and commercial women's fiction; in non-fiction, she prefers narrative non-fiction, military and war, work to do with race and class, and work set in or about Southeast Asia. Ann does not represent children's, YA, sci-fi, or high fantasy.
7G: 12 Do’s and Don’t's of Mystery and Thriller Writing
5M: Indie Publishing: A Primer
11:15am-12:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
Got an itch to go indie? You're not alone. Authors are flocking to indie because it offers both greater control over the finished book, and higher profits! You want to do it right, though. In this session, longtime Grub teacher Hillary Rettig, author of the indie-published The 7 Secrets of the Prolific: the Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Writer's Block, gives you an overview of the entire indie process, from the components of a successful indie book, to platforms (Amazon, BN.com, Lulu, iUniverse, etc.), to production, to marketing and building an audience. She'll also discuss the economics of indie publishing, and how to fund your book via crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.
Type: Marketplace Lecture with Q&A.
Seats Remaining: 33
Presenter(s):
- Hillary Rettig (Author)
Hillary Rettig is an author, workshop leader, and coach who specializes in helping people overcome procrastination and use their time better. Her latest book is The Seven Secrets of the Prolific: The Definitive Guide to Overcoming Procrastination, Perfectionism and Writer's Block (Infinite Art, 2011). Of her prior book, The Lifelong Activist: How to Change the World Without Losing Your Way (Lantern Books, 2006), the leading liberal blog, DailyKos.com, said, "If I had but one book to spend hard-earned cash on this year, The Lifelong Activist would be it, hands down." Hillary is a Bronx native who currently enjoys living in East Boston. She has published numerous nonfiction articles, and also short fiction. Some of the acclaimed science fiction writers she has studied with are Ursula K. LeGuin, Samuel R. Delaney and the late Octavia Butler. Hillary is also a kidney donor, foster parent, lover of dogs and other animals, and vegan. Download free ebooks and other information on productivity and related fields at www.hillaryrettig.com, and Hillary welcomes your emails at hillaryrettig@yahoo.com.
Option 6: Writer Retribution Bingo
6A: Revising the Novel
2:45pm-4:00pm on Sunday, May 6th
Are you terrified of revising your novel? Don't know where to begin? Longform fiction poses its own unique revision challenges. This will be a review of approaches for the revision of novels, using a mix of time-tested techniques and new ones made possible by technology.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
6B: The Author-Narrator Two-Step
2:45pm-4:00pm on Sunday, May 6th
This is a workshop on the importance and consequences of point-of-view (POV) choices. What’s the story you want to tell? Which of your characters is best suited to tell it? The events in the story will be viewed through the eyes of the POV character, and additionally, will be judged by the voice of the author. How much distance do you want to maintain between you as author and you as the imaginary POV character? How do you distinguish your POV character’s ‘take’ on the story’s events from your authorial perspective on them? Participants are encouraged to bring “flash fiction” (i.e. a 2-4-page double-spaced story) or an excerpt of a longer story that they have written for workshop discussion.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 19
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
6C: Reality Fiction: Using Ripped-from-the-Headlines News Stories, Celebrity Sagas, and Your Own True Confessions to Make Your Fiction "Pop"
2:45pm-4:00pm on Sunday, May 6th
In the Reality TV era, with Nonfiction sales booming, fiction writers can channel that energy – and possibly segue into the realm of Pop Fiction – by mixing 'real' elements into their works. Have you ever been obsessed with a news story or celebrity saga? Searle based her new novel Girl Held in Home on a real crime in her own neighborhood. And she turned her obsession with the Harding/Kerrigan skate scandal into a novella, an opera, and a rock opera. In this interactive talk, she will brainstorm with the group on which stories grab us, why, and how we can 'fictionalize' that material. She will discuss celebrity-inspired literature from writers like Joyce Carol Oates, Steve Almond, and Monica Ali. The class will also try techniques on mining their own lives for juicy real material. Find out how you might create your own Reality Fiction – and make it 'pop.'
Type: Muse Craft Class. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 41
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
6D: Hush, Shut Up, Please Be Quiet
2:45pm-4:00pm on Sunday, May 6th
Dialogue ought to be one of the jewels in our crowns as fiction writers. It is the kind of writing that we get to do and no one else does; dialogue in a play or script is quite different. So how can we get that jewel to shine more brightly and write more scintillating dialogue? I will offer advice, examples and suggestions.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture with Q&A.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
6E: The Essentials of Point of View
2:45pm-4:00pm on Sunday, May 6th
In both fiction and nonfiction, the story is in the eye of the beholder. The tale of Little Red Riding Hood might be completely different if told by Grandmother--or the wolf! In this session, we'll explore the fundamentals of point of view. We'll discuss the benefits and limitations of different viewpoints and see how a story might change based on who's telling it. You'll leave with a better understanding of what point of view can do for your story--and of how to how to choose the most effective viewpoint for the story you want to tell.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture with Q&A.
Seats Remaining: 22
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
6F: Criminals and Outsiders in Fiction and Memoir
2:45pm-4:00pm on Sunday, May 6th
What makes outlaws and drifters so compelling and such essential staples for the American literary tradition? The theme of the outsider has long been a passion of mine, not surprising considering that my father robbed banks for over a decade. In this seminar, we will discuss why outlaw figures are so appealing and what makes them powerful as literary figures. We will examine ways to fashion sympathetic bad guys in our writing, and I will share my own approach to creating the outsider characters in both fiction and memoir. We will look at examples of such figures in American literature in order to better understand why individuals who embody recklessness, lust, greed, and cruelty often seem the most authentic.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture & Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 23
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
6G: From Memories to Moments: Structure and Scene for Memoir
2:45pm-4:00pm on Sunday, May 6th
You’ve got all the raw material you need to write a memoir: your memories, experiences and insights. But to shape it into a compelling and engaging book, you need to create a narrative arc, with actual scenes and incidents – while at the same time not straying too far from what actually happened. In this session, you’ll look at excerpts from published memoirs, including Jane Roper’s own, to discover and discuss how authors manage to pull off this feat. Specific topics will include chapter beginnings and endings, transitioning from exposition to scene, and (re)creating dialogue. You’ll have the chance to try out what you’ve learned with an exercise or two. Come with your memoir idea or work-in-progress in mind.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Lecture & Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 20
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
6H: Ask the Authoress
2:45pm-4:00pm on Sunday, May 6th
An interactive Q&A session. Participants are encouraged to ask questions about fiction writing, nonfiction writing, promoting your work, the relationship between writer and readers, the process of revision, and working with editors. All answers guaranteed to be fresh.
Type: Muse Craft Class. Q&A with Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 37
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
6J: How to Perform Your Work Like A Pro
2:45pm-4:00pm on Sunday, May 6th
These days, a writer's work isn't done when the manuscript is perfect. Whether you're embarking on a book tour, recording for the radio, making the rounds of the local story slams, or even recording your work for an audio magazine, you need to be good at reading your words aloud. In this session, we'll listen to some examples of successful audio narration by professional readers as well as writers reading their own work, and we'll discuss how you can use your speaking voice to make your written words effective.You'll learn how to prepare a text for reading aloud, using some techniques borrowed from the theater. And finally, we'll briefly go over some of the opportunities out there for submitting spoken-word literature. Participants should be ready to do some impromptu reading aloud themselves!
Type: Marketplace Panel. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 35
Presenter(s):
- Henriette Lazaridis Power (Author)
Henriette Lazaridis Power's work has appeared in publications including Salamander, the New England Review, The Millions, The New York Times online, and Narrative Magazine. She is the founding editor of The Drum, an online literary magazine publishing short fiction and essays exclusively in audio form. Her first novel The Clover House will be published in April 2013 by Ballantine Books.
Option 2: The Family Plot: Drawing Fiction from Family History
6K: Best Practices for Using Social Media: A Guide for Writers Already Online
2:45pm-4:00pm on Sunday, May 6th
The Internet is an unavoidable reality for any writer looking to build readership and a viable career – and most of it is going to be DIY (Do It Yourself) and PFIY (Pay For It Yourself). Even if you have a solid book deal, much of the marketing and promotion is going to fall squarely on your shoulders. The stakes are high, and the options are virtually limitless. Our panel of experienced Web and new media users will shine some light on the subject and help you answer these and other burning questions: is your blog good enough? What should it include? How can you use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and platforms you haven’t heard of yet more effectively? Is it expensive or can you do it on a budget? How much time will it take? Are there any rules? What are the risks? Where’s all this going anyway? Join us for what’s sure to be a lively and interactive discussion!
Type: Marketplace Panel. Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 24
Presenter(s):
- Crystal King (Author)
Crystal King is a freelance writer and Pushcart-nominated poet who is currently seeking representation for her first novel. She holds an MA in Critical & Creative Thinking from UMass Boston where she centered her thesis on developing a system to help fiction writers in progress. An 18 year marketing and communications veteran, Crystal currently drives social media for Keurig, the leading coffeemaker brand in the US. She has taught classes in writing, creativity and social media at Harvard Extension School, Boston University, Mass College of Art and UMass Boston. Find her on Twitter at @crystallyn and on Google+ at gplus.to/crystallyn.
3L: Essentials of Social Media
- Nichole Bernier (Author)
Nichole Bernier is author of the novel The Unfinished Work Of Elizabeth D. (Crown/Random House), a finalist for the 2012 New England Independent Booksellers Association fiction award, and has written for publications including Psychology Today, Salon, Elle, Self, Health, Redbook, Men’s Journal, Boston Magazine, and Post Road literary magazine. A contributing editor for Conde Nast Traveler for 14 years, she was previously on staff as the magazine’s golf and ski editor, columnist, and television spokesperson, and received her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. She is a founder of the literary blog Beyond the Margins, which publishes daily essays on the craft and business of writing. She is at work on her second novel and lives outside of Boston with her husband and five children. Nichole can be found online at nicholebernier.com and on Twitter @nicholebernier.
Option 7: How to Write a Query Letter
Option 8: Developing a Distinctive Voice on Social Media
6L: Building Your Platform
2:45pm-4:00pm on Sunday, May 6th
In today's market, author visibility can be nearly as important as great writing to secure a publisher. In this seminar, you will learn how to build and grow an audience and how to raise your author profile even before you submit your manuscript or proposal to agents. We will look at how to target and pitch various publications and websites that accept work from new or emerging writers. We will offer strategies for how to become more visible in the writing community. We will also delve into social networking and how to become involved in the conversation and discuss putting these efforts together into a coherent platform. This seminar is designed for both fiction and nonfiction writers who are just beginning to build their platform or for those who have started and want
to make sure they're on the right track.
Type: Marketplace Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 0
Presenter(s):
No documents found.
- Katherine Flynn (Literary Agent)
Katherine Flynn joined the Kneerim, Williams & Bloom Agency in 2008. After graduating from Johns Hopkins University, Katherine worked at the literary agency of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates in New York. She then pursued her PhD in History at Brown University, where she is now A.B.D. She has also taught literature and composition to high school students and worked in a rare book shop. Katherine represents history, biography, politics/current affairs, adventure, science, nature, pop culture, and psychology for non-fiction and particularly loves exciting narrative nonfiction, where the truth is a story more fascinating than anything else. For fiction, she represents both literary and commercial fiction, and she is fond of urban or foreign locales, crime novels, insight into women’s lives, biting wit, and historical settings. That said, some of her favorite novels would probably not fit any of these descriptors, and she is open to anything that is well-written and contains a compelling, fresh story.
7L: Literary Idol: Fiction & Non-Fiction
6M: Writing a Killer Non-Fiction Book Proposal
2:45pm-4:00pm on Sunday, May 6th
There’s an art to writing a book proposal, and you don’t have to be Picasso to do it well. To sell your book, you have to persuade a publisher that you have the insight and talent of a great artist; you can learn how to do this. Find out what agents and editors look for first and foremost in a book proposal. Do you know how, and when, to pitch your core idea, how long your sample chapter should be, and how many competitive titles to list? Do you have a marketing platform? (If not, learn how to create one.) Putting together a successful proposal can be like painting by numbers once you understand how it works.
Type: Marketplace Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Seats Remaining: 30
Presenter(s):
- Katrin Schumann (Author)
- Katrin Schumann is the co-author of The Secret Power of Middle Children and Mothers Need Time-Outs, Too. She has been featured on the TODAY show, Talk of the Nation and in The Times, as well as other newspapers, magazines and radio, nationally and internationally. Schumann’s latest projects include a historical novel set in the Baltic, various non-fiction books in development, and on-going editorial work for editors, agents and writers. For the past ten years she has been teaching fiction and non-fiction, most recently at a local women’s prison, and running parenting focus groups and surveys. Before going freelance, she helped produce talk shows at NPR, where she won the Kogan Media Award. Schumann has been granted writing residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Norman Mailer Writer's Colony. Awarded scholarships to Oxford and Stanford Universities, she studied literature, language and journalism. Schumann was born in Freiburg, Germany, grew up in New York City and London, and now lives in Massachusetts.
7K: A Logical Approach To a Successful Book Launch
Option 1: The Breakthrough
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
This session is for you whether you are beginning a novel, in the middle of it, have come close to the end, or gave up on it years ago but wish maybe you could return. Through a series of guided writing exercises, we'll take you through your resistances, your obsessions and fears, and the decisions you haven't yet made regarding your work-in-progress, unravelling the stuck points. These exercises will also give you strategies for dealing with this later in your own working life.
Type: Guided Writing.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 2: Social Media for Beginners
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
Everyone tells you that you should be Tweeting, but either you don’t have a Twitter account or you have one but no clue how to use it. Maybe you’re on Facebook, or you have your own personal blog space reserved and ready to go, but it’s unclear how either can be used to your advantage, if at all. What on earth is Google+ and why should you care about it? Most newbies in your shoes don’t want to use these tools wrongly, so they don’t use them at all. In this session, Crystal King will give you a primer on the absolute basics of these social media tools and talk in general terms about how both aspiring and established authors can use them to build an audience.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
- Crystal King (Author)
- Crystal King is a freelance writer and Pushcart-nominated poet who is currently seeking representation for her first novel. She holds an MA in Critical & Creative Thinking from UMass Boston where she centered her thesis on developing a system to help fiction writers in progress. An 18 year marketing and communications veteran, Crystal currently drives social media for Keurig, the leading coffeemaker brand in the US. She has taught classes in writing, creativity and social media at Harvard Extension School, Boston University, Mass College of Art and UMass Boston. Find her on Twitter at @crystallyn and on Google+ at gplus.to/crystallyn.
3L: Essentials of Social Media
Option 3: What Serves Our Needs At This Time
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
You send off your manuscript to a literary magazine, and, after a time, you receive an acceptance or rejection – with precious little feedback. What’s happening on the other end? Brain, Child magazine editors Jennifer Niesslein and Stephanie Wilkinson give a behind-the-scenes look at what literary magazine editors look for in a personal essay. They’ll share the conversations they have between themselves about essays and dissect the anatomy of a perfect essay. Essays in Brain, Child have attracted attention from agents, won awards and honors, and have been the germs of many a book, but the talk and discussion will be applicable to nearly any literary magazine.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 4: Who’s Afraid of Amazon?
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
As the world’s biggest book retail store and wholesaler as well as a powerful publisher, Amazon has transformed the face of the publishing world and the market for buying and selling books. This has brought unparalleled opportunities to millions, broadening the scope of books and prices available to all and offering authors unprecedented visibility and freedom. Yet many people strongly oppose Amazon’s aggressive tactics, which include price ceilings and strong incentives to list books only on Amazon. For writers and readers, it’s hard to know what’s best: boycott Amazon? Embrace it and reap the benefits at the possible expense of bookstores and the communities they foster?
Get the details from a bestselling author, a small independent author and an independent bookseller on Amazon, hear their views, fine-tune your own views and weigh in!
Type: Panel Discussion.
Leader(s):
- Sharon Bially (Special Guest)
Sharon Bially is the independent author of the novel Veronica’s Nap. Vice President of the PR firm Farrell Kramer Communications, she also publicizes a select list of books. She's is the Indie Alley book review editor at Reader Unboxed and a guest contributor to the award-winning blog Writer Unboxed. Visit Sharon's web site and blog at www.veronicas-nap.com.
Option 4: Strength in Numbers: The Power of Online Communities
Option 5: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Writers
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
In this session, we’ll examine, discuss, and debunk the myths, dreams, and tough realities of becoming a writer and then map out realistic action plans for making the leap to a full or part-time commitment to writing. We’ll look at concrete strategies, such as: creating short (one to two year) and long-term (three to ten year) series of goals; understanding the sacrifices necessary to build a career; the importance of working on multiple projects in different genres; tackling psychological issues such as writer's block and rejection; and grasping the value of networking and “putting yourself out there.” This Hour of Power is designed for anyone looking to re-inspire or re-commit themselves as writers.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
- Ethan Gilsdorf (Author)
- Ethan Gilsdorf is a journalist, memoirist, critic, poet, teacher and geek, and author of the award-winning travel memoir investigation Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms. Based in Somerville, Massachusetts, he publishes travel, arts, and pop culture stories, essays and reviews regularly in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Salon.com, and wired.com. Ethan has published hundreds of articles in dozens of other magazines, newspapers, websites and guidebooks worldwide, including BoingBoing, CNN.com, Playboy, National Geographic Traveler, Psychology Today, Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Fodor's travel guides. He is a book and film critic for the Boston Globe, film columnist for Art New England, and a core contributor to the blog "GeekDad" at wired.com, and his blog "Geek Pride" is seen regularly on PsychologyToday.com. Read more at www.ethangilsdorf.com.
2B: Charting the Non-Fiction Writing Career
6L: Non-Fiction Idea Clinic
Option 6: Telling True Stories
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
Building narrative arcs in nonfiction is not an easy task. You have to work within the timelines of your true-life characters to create suspense and keep the narrative engine of your story moving forward. You must work around gaps in recollection and back up your primary sources with extensive interviews and documentation. At the same time, you can rely on fictional techniques to creative narrative. Learn how two published authors developed strong narrative arcs from the raw materials of a compelling subject, focused research, and vivid writing.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 7: A Cooperative Model of Self-Publishing: The Real Deal and How We Did It
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
Bowker Company reported as far back as 2008 that, for the first time in history, more ISBN numbers were sold to self-publishing, independent authors than all the publishing companies put together. While it is more affordable and possible than ever before to self-publish, it’s like the “Wild West” out there. Authors are forced to either go it alone or, in some cases, fall victim to false promises from “hybrid” shark “publishers” internet scams. We have found a new model with moderate success that we use here in Maine. We would like to share how we did it, how it could work other places and share the real truth about the challenges, failures, and successes for self-publishing authors that we have seen.
Type: Panel Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 8: The Psychology of Character
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
The most memorable characters are driven by powerful forces of motivation, forces that simply won’t let them rest and that keep readers turning the pages. Learn to apply basic psychology to the development of your characters. Create more compelling characters by revealing their fears, desires, and dreams with authentic detail. A writer does not have to become a psychologist, but a writer can learn to make use of psychological foundations to understand their characters. Examples will be offered by the presenter and a discussion will follow the presentation. A writing prompt will be offered.
Type: Lecture with Guided Writing.
Leader(s):
- Jacqueline Sheehan (Author)
Jacqueline Sheehan, Ph.D., is a New York Times Bestselling author of fiction. She is also a psychologist. She is a New Englander through and through, but spent twenty years living in Oregon, California, and New Mexico doing a variety of things, including house painting, photography, freelance journalism, clerking in a health food store, and directing a traveling troupe of high school puppeteers. Her novels include The Comet’s Tale, a novel about Sojourner Truth, Lost & Found, Now & Then, and Picture This. She has published travel articles, short stories, and numerous essays and radio pieces. In 2005, she edited the anthology Women Writing in Prison. Jacqueline has been awarded residencies at Hawthornden Castle in Scotland and Jentel Arts Colony in Wyoming. She teaches workshops at Grub Street in Boston and Writers in Progress in Florence, Massachusetts. She has attended international writing retreats in Jamaica, Guatemala, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.
3E: The Psychology of Strong Characters
Option 11: How to Form a Peer-Led Writing and Manuscript Group
Option 9: Literary Magazines: The Essentials of Submission
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
The landscape of literary magazines can be overwhelming. With over 600 journals on the market, how does a writer know where to submit work? Is it better to aim for prestigious journals and hope to catch the eye of literary agents? Or is it better to submit to journals with high acceptance rates? Should writers submit to dozens of journals at once or focus on a specific journal? What are the advantages of publishing online? Which editors give writers feedback on their work? What should go in the cover letter? We will answer these questions and more, giving you the information you need to start publishing in (and enjoying) literary magazines.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
- Becky Tuch (Author)
Becky Tuch has received literature fellowships from The MacDowell Colony and The Somerville Arts Council, awards from Briar Cliff Review, Byline Magazine, and The Tennessee Writers Alliance, and her fiction has been short-listed for a Pushcart Prize and Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Award. Other stories, essays, and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Virginia Quarterly Review, Hobart, Quarter After Eight, Folio, HTMLGiant, and elsewhere. In 2011 and 2012 her work was included in The Drum's audio series at The Boston Book Festival. Additionally, she is the founding editor of The Review Review, a website which reviews literary magazines and interviews journal editors. The Review Review has twice been listed by Writer's Digest as "Best of the Best" among 101 Best Websites for Writers. She is also one of the founders of the writing and publishing blog, Beyond the Margins.
Option 3: The Essentials of Submitting to Literary Magazines
Option 10: The Perils of Fictionalizing Your Family
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
What are the consequences we inflict on our families with a no-holds-barred exposure of them through our writing? Where does our truth end and another’s privacy begin? Our panel will discuss these complex and weighty questions of conscience that have plagued writers since the beginning of literature. Based on the first-hand experience of writing, publishing, and going on book tour with stories that delve into family secrets, our panel of authors will lead the audience in a discussion of that inner battle.
Type: Panel Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 11: Out of the Slush Pile and Into Print in YA/MG Publishing
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
So you’ve gotten an offer from an agent? Now what? Is it time to start celebrating and preparing for a life of fame and fortune? Or is it time to get ready for a whole new set of expectations, pitfalls, joys, and heartbreaks? In a panel discussion with Q&A, three first-time authors (whose YA/MG novels are debuting in 2012) will discuss how they got out of the slush pile, sold their first book, and what happened next. Topics will include what querying strategies caught the attention of agents, surviving the submission process, how to work with an editor, and how to handle the release of your book. And we will CERTAINLY NOT be discussing all of the funny, stunning, exasperating, and utterly baffling situations that sometimes arise in during the process of publishing a debut novel (oh, who are we kidding, we’ll totally discuss those too).
Type: Panel Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
- Diana Renn (Author)
Diana Renn writes contemporary mysteries for young adults. Tokyo Heist (Viking/Penguin), an Indie Next pick, was published in 2012. Her next two novels from Viking, Latitude Zero and Blue Voyage, will be published in 2014 and 2015. She is the Fiction Editor at YARN (Young Adult Review Network), an award-winning online magazine featuring writing for and by teens. Diana also writes essays and short stories which have been published in a variety of magazines, including The Writer, Writer's Digest, YARN, Brain Child, Literary Mama, Lit 103.3: Fiction for the Ears, The Indiana Review, The Santa Barbara Review, and Cricket Magazine for Children. She runs a multi-author blog, Sleuths Spies & Alibis, about mysteries and thrillers for young readers. A Seattle native, Diana now lives outside of Boston with her husband and young son.
5G: Action Heroes and Propulsive Plots: How Not to Bore Teen Readers
Option 12: Writing for Poets and Writers: The Editor Tells All
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
Poets and Writers is the go-to publication for anyone interested in writing, literature, and publishing. It is also a great place for new and emerging writers to publish essays, interviews, and other short pieces on many writing-related topics. What is the history of the magazine and how did it evolve? What are the editors looking for in submissions from new and emerging writers? Editorial Director Mary Gannon will speak about these questions and also talk about her own experiences and writing background for about 25 minutes, followed by a Q & A.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 13: Don’t Get the Post-Muse Blues: How to Stay Connected and Keep Writing All Year Long
3:45pm-4:45pm on Saturday, May 5th
The Muse and the Marketplace is the perfect way to get inspired, find a community of fellow writers, and renew your commitment to your writing life. But how can you keep the momentum going after the conference is over? Join Whitney Scharer and other members of the Grub community for an informal chat about Grub Street’s year-round offerings, including workshops, member events, readings and more. This is a drop-in session; feel free to stop by, say hello and ask questions. We’d also love to hear ideas for new community events.
Type: Discussion with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 1: My First Time
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
Publishing your first book: you've spent years dreaming and writing and odds are the first book you'll publish will be the third or fourth you've written. When that opportunity comes, your expectations will be met with the realities of publishing a first novel. Some will be met, some will be dashed, small surprises along the way may even exceed your vision of getting published. Novelists Paul Harding, author of Tinkers and Randy Susan Meyers, author of The Murderer's Daughters, will recount their journey leading up to publication, as well as the ups and downs of being a debut novelist. Moderated by Jaime Clarke, co-owner of Newtonville Books.
Type: Panel Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
- Randy Susan Meyers (Author)
- Randy Susan Meyers is the author of The Comfort of Lies (February 2013). Her debut novel, The Murderer’s Daughters, was chosen as a Mass Book Awards finalist and a “Must Read Book 2011” by the Massachusetts Book Council, who wrote: “The clear and distinctive voice of Randy Susan Meyers will have you enraptured and wanting more.” Her book was chosen as a Target Book Club Choice and she is the coauthor with M.J. Rose of What To Do Before Your Book Launch. Randy Susan Meyers’ novels are informed by her years spent bartending, her work with violent offenders, and too many years being enamored by bad boys. Raised in Brooklyn New York, Randy now lives in Boston with her husband, and is the mother of two grown daughters.
Option 9: Women (Writers) of a Certain Age
6J: Promotion and Publicity
8E: Manuscript & Workshop Critique: Managing & Using Criticism & Complaints
Option 2: The Legal and Business Aspects of Book Publishing
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
The nuts and bolts of the business of writing are as essential to a writer’s success as the writer’s work itself. Does a writer need an attorney and what is his/her role? How does the writer’s work get sold and how is the writer compensated? What will the agent and the lawyer do for the writer? How are they compensated? How do writers work together? This one-hour info session will cover as much of the following as time allows: the principles of copyright law as the underpinnings of all writing; what agents do and what lawyers do, how their functions sometimes overlap and how they differ; the process of obtaining an agent and a lawyer, when and why an agent is necessary and when and why an agent may not be necessary; how agents and lawyers are compensated by their clients; the content of a typical collaboration agreement and three reasons why they are an absolute necessity; a brief review of a typical publishing agreement – royalties, advances, rights granted and rights withheld, etc.; the editing process: what happens if the publisher rejects the manuscript, the publisher’s ultimate acceptance of the manuscript, actual publication after acceptance, and promotion and publicity. Bring your questions concerning the business of being or becoming a successful book author.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 3: Flash Fiction: Jumpstart Your Writing
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
Treat yourself to an hour of writing and go home with a story or two. This seminar will discuss the genre of flash fiction and its market providing a handout of where to submit your flash. The instructor will provide two or three guided exercises and provide time for participants to read their work out loud.
Type: Guided Writing.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 4: Raising the Stakes for your YA Characters
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
The lives of teenagers are full of drama and change: they’re making some of the most important and difficult decisions of their lives, they’re establishing who they really are and what they really believe. Are your characters living fully in this high-stakes world? Bring characters from your work in progress. The class will include a short lecture, handouts, and several exercises. We'll use point of view, dialogue, and plot to sharpen your own characters and focus the drama of their situations. Special issues in writing YA will be discussed.
Type: Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 5: Essentials of the Blog
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
This session will focus on the two most important parts of a blog post for engaging readers – the title and opening. Through a series of guided exercises, you'll discover what to write about, try some proven formulas for success based on current blogging trends, and learn how to quickly capture the attention of your audience. Beginning and established bloggers alike will find this session useful for writing posts that others will want to read – and you'll be able to gauge interest by bouncing ideas off of fellow audience members. Think of it as a large and invaluable focus group as well as a useful networking opportunity. You'll leave with several titles and some solid beginnings and inspiration.
Type: Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 6: Talk to Me: Interviewing People for Publication
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
So you're writing a feature article and want to speak with top subject-matter experts – but you're not sure how to approach them. Or you're interviewing people for a creative nonfiction piece on a highly sensitive or controversial topic, and you're wondering how best to phrase your questions. Or you're working on a memoir and need a difficult person from your past to fill in some gaps. Interviewing is a skill that comes in handy for just about any type of nonfiction writing (and, in some cases, for fiction as well). This high-energy session offers advice on interviewing just about anybody for publication, from setting up interviews to asking good questions to choosing what quotes to include in your piece. We'll touch on interview etiquette, logistics and ethical issues. You'll leave with a list of tips, examples and resources for further exploration.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 7: Spicing Up Your Non-Fiction with Non-Prose Elements
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
Have you ever found yourself stuck in the middle of writing a piece of argumentative or narrative nonfiction? Sometimes breaking out of prose can be a powerful way of getting yourself unstuck. In this session, I will discuss how use of non-prose elements such as charts, quizzes, drawings, tables, and plays can help you break out of a rut and get back on track. I will talk about how I have used these elements in my own writing and discuss examples from other sources. We will also do some group brainstorming about other non-prose techniques that we can use to spice up our nonfiction.
Type: Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 8: Ghostwriting: The Shadowy Path You Should Consider
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
Do you have your own voice, but have always been a writer who could write in anyone's style? Are you a polymath – someone who knows a bit of everything and can learn the inside of a topic in a blink? Or is there a field you know – say science or engineering or business – full of people who can think and do great things, with money and great ideas – but without the specific skills or time to write their own thoughts down? Then taking up the role of ghost writer may be the path to earning an honest living while giving you a base income to write your own words, whether those are words you want to publish free as a blogger, or save up for your first novel, or if you love to write but need to stay home with your kids or aging parent most of the time.
Type: Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 9: Submitting Your Non-Fiction: A Strategic Plan
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
In this session, you'll get a crash course in making smart decisions about choosing where to submit your work. Should you submit to a prestigious print-only publication that will bolster your bio, but where your words will never see the light of a Facebook feed? Or do you go with an online journal that your friends can visit and link to, a publication that might soon be defunct or the next internet sensation? Submitting is no longer a linear process in which you start with the most prestigious print publications and work your way down. These days a writer can and must assess the pros and cons of different publications and consider how they line up with his or her goals for writing. You'll learn how to develop a working knowledge of the media landscape, how to formulate a creative submission strategy that includes publications you might not have considered, and how to adapt to dealing with editors at very different types of publications. Most importantly, you'll learn how to be an active advocate for what you want, that during the process of submitting the last thing you should be is submissive. [Note: while this session focuses on non-fiction, the strategies will also apply to fiction writers]
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
- Steve Macone (Author)
Steve Macone studied journalism at Boston University and is a contributor at The Onion. His essays, humor writing and reporting have appeared in The American Scholar, Atlantic Online, New Yorker, Boston Globe, Boston Globe Magazine, Boston Phoenix, Salon.com, New York Times, Morning News, Christian Science Monitor, The Drum, The Weekly Dig, and AOL News. He's been featured on NPR and had a story about playing with action figures named a "notable essay" in the Best American Essays series. His writing has been featured on The Daily Beast, Longreads.com, and The New Yorker site's "to read" section.
Option 3: Submitting Your Work: A Strategic Plan for the Next Step
Option 10: Social Media for Writers: A Guide for Writers Already Online
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
This session is a continuation of Session 6: “Best Practices for Using Social Media.” Because there will be a break between the end of Session 6 and the beginning of the Hour of Power, anyone may join this second half of the session. The panelists will give a quick re-cap of Session 6 before continuing their presentation and the discussion.
Type: Panel Discussion.
Leader(s):
- Crystal King (Author)
- Crystal King is a freelance writer and Pushcart-nominated poet who is currently seeking representation for her first novel. She holds an MA in Critical & Creative Thinking from UMass Boston where she centered her thesis on developing a system to help fiction writers in progress. An 18 year marketing and communications veteran, Crystal currently drives social media for Keurig, the leading coffeemaker brand in the US. She has taught classes in writing, creativity and social media at Harvard Extension School, Boston University, Mass College of Art and UMass Boston. Find her on Twitter at @crystallyn and on Google+ at gplus.to/crystallyn.
3L: Essentials of Social Media
- Nichole Bernier (Author)
- Nichole Bernier is author of the novel The Unfinished Work Of Elizabeth D. (Crown/Random House), a finalist for the 2012 New England Independent Booksellers Association fiction award, and has written for publications including Psychology Today, Salon, Elle, Self, Health, Redbook, Men’s Journal, Boston Magazine, and Post Road literary magazine. A contributing editor for Conde Nast Traveler for 14 years, she was previously on staff as the magazine’s golf and ski editor, columnist, and television spokesperson, and received her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. She is a founder of the literary blog Beyond the Margins, which publishes daily essays on the craft and business of writing. She is at work on her second novel and lives outside of Boston with her husband and five children. Nichole can be found online at nicholebernier.com and on Twitter @nicholebernier.
Option 7: How to Write a Query Letter
Option 8: Developing a Distinctive Voice on Social Media
Option 11: A Grubbie Guide To Conferences and Residencies
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
Yaddo. MacDowell. Bread Loaf. The NEA. The Stegner. State Artist Grants. Such retreats and prizes seem like the Holy Grail to writers, and often do make life-changing differences in their careers. This forum will look at these residencies, fellowships and prizes and offer tips on how to apply, what judges are looking for, which writing sample(s) to select, the inside scoop on what really goes on at writers' colonies, and advice on how to make the best of the time and money you are granted.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
- James Scott (Author)
James Scott's debut novel, The Kept, will be published by Harper in early 2014. His short fiction has been featured in various anthologies and magazines such as Ploughshares, One Story, American Short Fiction, and Post Road. James has received awards and residencies from Yaddo, Emerson College, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, the New York State Summer Writers' Institute, VCCA, the Millay Colony, and St. Botolph's Club.
5F: The Essentials of Structure
- Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (Author)
- Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich is writing a book of combined family memoir and literary journalism about a Louisiana murder, in support of which she has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, the Millay Colony for the Arts, Blue Mountain Center, and the Rona Jaffe Foundation, as well as a scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She earned her MFA at Emerson College and her JD at Harvard Law School. Her essays appear in The New York Times, Oxford American, Fourth Genre, TriQuarterly Online, Bellingham Review (as the winner of the Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction), and elsewhere, and her fiction appears in Southeast Review and Minnetonka Review. She teaches creative writing at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA, and at Grub Street. Visit her online at www.alexandria-marzano-lesnevich.com.
7E: Making the Past Present
Option 12: Guided Open Mic
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
Your chance to show off your skills by reading five minutes of your work (usually about 600 words of prose) to your fellow participants and any guest authors, editors, or agents who drop by. At this event, Emmy-winning reporter, thriller author, and Channel 7 Reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan will be on hand to talk about what makes a good reading – from how to pick the right excerpt to how to perform that excerpt like a professional.
Type: Open Mic & Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 13: Don’t Get the Post-Muse Blues: How to Stay Connected and Keep Writing All Year Long
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
The Muse and the Marketplace is the perfect way to get inspired, find a community of fellow writers, and renew your commitment to your writing life. But how can you keep the momentum going after the conference is over? Join Whitney Scharer and other members of the Grub community for an informal chat about Grub Street’s year-round offerings, including workshops, member events, readings and more. This is a drop-in session; feel free to stop by, say hello and ask questions. We’d also love to hear ideas for new community events.
Type: Discussion with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 1: My First Time
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
Publishing your first book: you've spent years dreaming and writing and odds are the first book you'll publish will be the third or fourth you've written. When that opportunity comes, your expectations will be met with the realities of publishing a first novel. Some will be met, some will be dashed, small surprises along the way may even exceed your vision of getting published. Novelists Paul Harding, author of Tinkers and Randy Susan Meyers, author of The Murderer's Daughters, will recount their journey leading up to publication, as well as the ups and downs of being a debut novelist. Moderated by Jaime Clarke, co-owner of Newtonville Books.
Type: Panel Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
- Randy Susan Meyers (Author)
- Randy Susan Meyers is the author of The Comfort of Lies (February 2013). Her debut novel, The Murderer’s Daughters, was chosen as a Mass Book Awards finalist and a “Must Read Book 2011” by the Massachusetts Book Council, who wrote: “The clear and distinctive voice of Randy Susan Meyers will have you enraptured and wanting more.” Her book was chosen as a Target Book Club Choice and she is the coauthor with M.J. Rose of What To Do Before Your Book Launch. Randy Susan Meyers’ novels are informed by her years spent bartending, her work with violent offenders, and too many years being enamored by bad boys. Raised in Brooklyn New York, Randy now lives in Boston with her husband, and is the mother of two grown daughters.
Option 9: Women (Writers) of a Certain Age
6J: Promotion and Publicity
8E: Manuscript & Workshop Critique: Managing & Using Criticism & Complaints
Option 2: The Legal and Business Aspects of Book Publishing
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
The nuts and bolts of the business of writing are as essential to a writer’s success as the writer’s work itself. Does a writer need an attorney and what is his/her role? How does the writer’s work get sold and how is the writer compensated? What will the agent and the lawyer do for the writer? How are they compensated? How do writers work together? This one-hour info session will cover as much of the following as time allows: the principles of copyright law as the underpinnings of all writing; what agents do and what lawyers do, how their functions sometimes overlap and how they differ; the process of obtaining an agent and a lawyer, when and why an agent is necessary and when and why an agent may not be necessary; how agents and lawyers are compensated by their clients; the content of a typical collaboration agreement and three reasons why they are an absolute necessity; a brief review of a typical publishing agreement – royalties, advances, rights granted and rights withheld, etc.; the editing process: what happens if the publisher rejects the manuscript, the publisher’s ultimate acceptance of the manuscript, actual publication after acceptance, and promotion and publicity. Bring your questions concerning the business of being or becoming a successful book author.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 3: Flash Fiction: Jumpstart Your Writing
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
Treat yourself to an hour of writing and go home with a story or two. This seminar will discuss the genre of flash fiction and its market providing a handout of where to submit your flash. The instructor will provide two or three guided exercises and provide time for participants to read their work out loud.
Type: Guided Writing.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 4: Raising the Stakes for your YA Characters
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
The lives of teenagers are full of drama and change: they’re making some of the most important and difficult decisions of their lives, they’re establishing who they really are and what they really believe. Are your characters living fully in this high-stakes world? Bring characters from your work in progress. The class will include a short lecture, handouts, and several exercises. We'll use point of view, dialogue, and plot to sharpen your own characters and focus the drama of their situations. Special issues in writing YA will be discussed.
Type: Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 5: Essentials of the Blog
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
This session will focus on the two most important parts of a blog post for engaging readers – the title and opening. Through a series of guided exercises, you'll discover what to write about, try some proven formulas for success based on current blogging trends, and learn how to quickly capture the attention of your audience. Beginning and established bloggers alike will find this session useful for writing posts that others will want to read – and you'll be able to gauge interest by bouncing ideas off of fellow audience members. Think of it as a large and invaluable focus group as well as a useful networking opportunity. You'll leave with several titles and some solid beginnings and inspiration.
Type: Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 6: Talk to Me: Interviewing People for Publication
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
So you're writing a feature article and want to speak with top subject-matter experts – but you're not sure how to approach them. Or you're interviewing people for a creative nonfiction piece on a highly sensitive or controversial topic, and you're wondering how best to phrase your questions. Or you're working on a memoir and need a difficult person from your past to fill in some gaps. Interviewing is a skill that comes in handy for just about any type of nonfiction writing (and, in some cases, for fiction as well). This high-energy session offers advice on interviewing just about anybody for publication, from setting up interviews to asking good questions to choosing what quotes to include in your piece. We'll touch on interview etiquette, logistics and ethical issues. You'll leave with a list of tips, examples and resources for further exploration.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 7: Spicing Up Your Non-Fiction with Non-Prose Elements
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
Have you ever found yourself stuck in the middle of writing a piece of argumentative or narrative nonfiction? Sometimes breaking out of prose can be a powerful way of getting yourself unstuck. In this session, I will discuss how use of non-prose elements such as charts, quizzes, drawings, tables, and plays can help you break out of a rut and get back on track. I will talk about how I have used these elements in my own writing and discuss examples from other sources. We will also do some group brainstorming about other non-prose techniques that we can use to spice up our nonfiction.
Type: Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 8: Ghostwriting: The Shadowy Path You Should Consider
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
Do you have your own voice, but have always been a writer who could write in anyone's style? Are you a polymath – someone who knows a bit of everything and can learn the inside of a topic in a blink? Or is there a field you know – say science or engineering or business – full of people who can think and do great things, with money and great ideas – but without the specific skills or time to write their own thoughts down? Then taking up the role of ghost writer may be the path to earning an honest living while giving you a base income to write your own words, whether those are words you want to publish free as a blogger, or save up for your first novel, or if you love to write but need to stay home with your kids or aging parent most of the time.
Type: Lecture with Q&A and Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 9: Submitting Your Non-Fiction: A Strategic Plan
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
In this session, you'll get a crash course in making smart decisions about choosing where to submit your work. Should you submit to a prestigious print-only publication that will bolster your bio, but where your words will never see the light of a Facebook feed? Or do you go with an online journal that your friends can visit and link to, a publication that might soon be defunct or the next internet sensation? Submitting is no longer a linear process in which you start with the most prestigious print publications and work your way down. These days a writer can and must assess the pros and cons of different publications and consider how they line up with his or her goals for writing. You'll learn how to develop a working knowledge of the media landscape, how to formulate a creative submission strategy that includes publications you might not have considered, and how to adapt to dealing with editors at very different types of publications. Most importantly, you'll learn how to be an active advocate for what you want, that during the process of submitting the last thing you should be is submissive. [Note: while this session focuses on non-fiction, the strategies will also apply to fiction writers]
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
- Steve Macone (Author)
- Steve Macone studied journalism at Boston University and is a contributor at The Onion. His essays, humor writing and reporting have appeared in The American Scholar, Atlantic Online, New Yorker, Boston Globe, Boston Globe Magazine, Boston Phoenix, Salon.com, New York Times, Morning News, Christian Science Monitor, The Drum, The Weekly Dig, and AOL News. He's been featured on NPR and had a story about playing with action figures named a "notable essay" in the Best American Essays series. His writing has been featured on The Daily Beast, Longreads.com, and The New Yorker site's "to read" section.
Option 3: Submitting Your Work: A Strategic Plan for the Next Step
Option 10: Social Media for Writers: A Guide for Writers Already Online
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
This session is a continuation of Session 6: “Best Practices for Using Social Media.” Because there will be a break between the end of Session 6 and the beginning of the Hour of Power, anyone may join this second half of the session. The panelists will give a quick re-cap of Session 6 before continuing their presentation and the discussion.
Type: Panel Discussion.
Leader(s):
- Crystal King (Author)
- Crystal King is a freelance writer and Pushcart-nominated poet who is currently seeking representation for her first novel. She holds an MA in Critical & Creative Thinking from UMass Boston where she centered her thesis on developing a system to help fiction writers in progress. An 18 year marketing and communications veteran, Crystal currently drives social media for Keurig, the leading coffeemaker brand in the US. She has taught classes in writing, creativity and social media at Harvard Extension School, Boston University, Mass College of Art and UMass Boston. Find her on Twitter at @crystallyn and on Google+ at gplus.to/crystallyn.
3L: Essentials of Social Media
- Nichole Bernier (Author)
- Nichole Bernier is author of the novel The Unfinished Work Of Elizabeth D. (Crown/Random House), a finalist for the 2012 New England Independent Booksellers Association fiction award, and has written for publications including Psychology Today, Salon, Elle, Self, Health, Redbook, Men’s Journal, Boston Magazine, and Post Road literary magazine. A contributing editor for Conde Nast Traveler for 14 years, she was previously on staff as the magazine’s golf and ski editor, columnist, and television spokesperson, and received her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. She is a founder of the literary blog Beyond the Margins, which publishes daily essays on the craft and business of writing. She is at work on her second novel and lives outside of Boston with her husband and five children. Nichole can be found online at nicholebernier.com and on Twitter @nicholebernier.
Option 7: How to Write a Query Letter
Option 8: Developing a Distinctive Voice on Social Media
Option 11: A Grubbie Guide To Conferences and Residencies
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
Yaddo. MacDowell. Bread Loaf. The NEA. The Stegner. State Artist Grants. Such retreats and prizes seem like the Holy Grail to writers, and often do make life-changing differences in their careers. This forum will look at these residencies, fellowships and prizes and offer tips on how to apply, what judges are looking for, which writing sample(s) to select, the inside scoop on what really goes on at writers' colonies, and advice on how to make the best of the time and money you are granted.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
- James Scott (Author)
- James Scott's debut novel, The Kept, will be published by Harper in early 2014. His short fiction has been featured in various anthologies and magazines such as Ploughshares, One Story, American Short Fiction, and Post Road. James has received awards and residencies from Yaddo, Emerson College, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, the New York State Summer Writers' Institute, VCCA, the Millay Colony, and St. Botolph's Club.
5F: The Essentials of Structure
- Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (Author)
- Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich is writing a book of combined family memoir and literary journalism about a Louisiana murder, in support of which she has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, the Millay Colony for the Arts, Blue Mountain Center, and the Rona Jaffe Foundation, as well as a scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. She earned her MFA at Emerson College and her JD at Harvard Law School. Her essays appear in The New York Times, Oxford American, Fourth Genre, TriQuarterly Online, Bellingham Review (as the winner of the Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction), and elsewhere, and her fiction appears in Southeast Review and Minnetonka Review. She teaches creative writing at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA, and at Grub Street. Visit her online at www.alexandria-marzano-lesnevich.com.
7E: Making the Past Present
Option 12: Guided Open Mic
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
Your chance to show off your skills by reading five minutes of your work (usually about 600 words of prose) to your fellow participants and any guest authors, editors, or agents who drop by. At this event, Emmy-winning reporter, thriller author, and Channel 7 Reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan will be on hand to talk about what makes a good reading – from how to pick the right excerpt to how to perform that excerpt like a professional.
Type: Open Mic & Discussion.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Option 13: Don’t Get the Post-Muse Blues: How to Stay Connected and Keep Writing All Year Long
4:15pm-5:15pm on Sunday, May 6th
The Muse and the Marketplace is the perfect way to get inspired, find a community of fellow writers, and renew your commitment to your writing life. But how can you keep the momentum going after the conference is over? Join Whitney Scharer and other members of the Grub community for an informal chat about Grub Street’s year-round offerings, including workshops, member events, readings and more. This is a drop-in session; feel free to stop by, say hello and ask questions. We’d also love to hear ideas for new community events.
Type: Discussion with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Keynote Address by Julia Alvarez
12:45pm-2:30pm on Sunday, May 6th
Acclaimed author Julia Alvarez will address the audience over lunch in the Imperial Ballroom.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
Keynote Address by Richard Nash
5:30pm-6:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
What does it mean to be a writer in a world where seemingly everyone is a writer? Richard Nash, serial entrepreneur, maverick, and student of books and media draws on legal, economic and intellectual history, on his experience running iconic indie Soft Skull Press, on his start-ups Small Demons, Red Lemonade, and Cursor to offer writers a new framework for understanding the business of writing and the culture of reading. You will leave with a new perspective on the incredible range of opportunities now available to writers which will enable you to make the best possible choices in your own life and career.
Type: Lecture with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.
National Book Prize Reading & Reception
8:15pm-9:30pm on Saturday, May 5th
Please join us for a very special evening with Grub Street National Book Prize winners Wendy Call and Eileen Pollack. Each author will read for approximately 15 minutes and then take your questions about their winning books of fiction and non-fiction, the writing process, the writing life, and anything else that falls under the "Muse and the Marketplace" theme. After the reading, there will be a book-signing and reception with light fare and a cash bar. This event is part of the conference but also open to the public. Specific location within walking distance of the Park Plaza Hotel will be announced in early March.
We are very excited to have this opportunity to congratulate and celebrate both authors for their wonderful books. Eileen Pollack won for her novel Breaking and Entering (Four Way Books), chosen by head juror Margot Livesey, and will be visiting from Ann Arbor, MI. Wendy Call won for her narrative non-fiction book No Word for Welcome: The Mexican Village Faces the Global Economy (University of Nebraska Press), chosen by head juror Michelle Seaton, and will be visiting us from Seattle, WA. Both Margot Livesey and Michelle Seaton will be at the event to introduce the authors.
The Grub Street National Book Prize now offers a $5,000 cash award to one author every calendar year. We remain ever-grateful to the anonymous donor who makes this prize and this reception possible.
Type: Reading with Q&A.
Leader(s):
No documents found.