MWW 2008 SCHEDULE

Thursday Events – July 24, 2008

Part I

8:00-8:30 am Registration packets for Part I available for pick up; coffee and pastries available

8:30-9:00 am Welcome

9:00-11:30 am INTENSIVE SESSIONS:

Satiric Crime Writing: Bill Fitzhugh - The comic crime novel has all the features of the standard novel: story, plot, characters, all that, but it needs something else. It needs the funny. Where do you get that? And how do you make it work? This session will discuss the art of making death funny and the steps required to producing a comic crime novel.
Historical Fiction Writing: Tasha Alexander - In this session, we will discuss every stage of crafting an historical novel, from finding a viable idea, to doing the research, creating characters true to the time period, and making the reader feel as if he’s dropped into another century. We’ll look at the line between authenticity and literary license and talk about the different approaches necessary for writing a series and a standalone novel.
Solving the Mysteries of Mystery Writing: Sally Wright - How do you: Identify and develop intriguing plot ideas? Create “real” characters that make readers connect? Research and describe settings so people think they’re there? Include exposition so it doesn’t distract from the flow? Write dialogue that deepens character while it differentiates? Weave-in what’s important to you, so that when someone’s finished your book something sticks with them that’s more than a memory of having been amused?
The (Joyful) Work of Writing for Children: Rebecca Kai Dotlich - What makes a marketable book for children—and once you’ve got one, what do you do with it? What are editors are looking for, what’s new in the marketplace? How do you prepare your manuscript for submission, target the right publisher, find an agent? How does the editorial process work once a book is sold? How much time is there between finishing the manuscript and seeing it in print? This intensive session will answer these questions, and more!
Romance Writing: Shirley Jump - “Once Upon A Time…Writing Your First Novel” – Have you ever wanted to write a short story or novel? Wondered what it took to get from “Once upon a time” to “The End”? This session will: [1] Discuss how to decide whether an idea is “big” enough to encompass a novel; [2] How to create characters; [3] Deciding on character goals, motivations and conflicts; [4] Developing a story arc; [5] Creating scenes and sequels; [6] Polishing your manuscript; [7] Resources for getting published. At the end of this session, participants will have a good basic knowledge of how to write a story, and what encompasses a strong plot.
Poetry: Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks: Kevin Stein - One of the most exhilarating writerly experiences is resuscitating old forms with fresh content. This session will focus on our workshop poets’ doing just that. First, we’ll familiarize ourselves with the nuances of two esteemed but largely out of date forms — the poetic apostrophe (a poetic address to some dead or absent person, a natural object, an imaginary quality or concept) and the pantoum (a highly stylized poetic form involving rich rhymes and repetition of key lines). We’ll study contemporary and earlier examples of the forms, noting the why and how and wherefore of each. Then we’ll practice our own attempts at making these old forms speak in contemporary terms.
Writing from the Heart: Soulful Creativity: J. Brent Bill - Do you wish to write in a way that touches readers and yourself? That’s the kind of writing that makes Anne Lamott’s essays, AJ Jacob’s The Year of Living Biblically, Phil Gulley’s Harmony tales, and Barbara Brown Taylor’s memoirs so appealing. Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, you want to write from the heart and not just from the head. This session offers tips and techniques for connecting with your writer’s heart and how to put your heart on paper. We’ll spend much of the day writing, using exercises that will help us uncover the deep themes and concerns that will bring our writing to life. We’ll also look at the practical side of getting such writing published.

11:45 am-1 pm Lunch: Jane Friedman, “The World of Sales” - Probably more information than you ever wanted to know about what happens when a publisher sells your book, across all outlets (e.g., chain bookstores, specialty accounts, libraries, Amazon). Includes behind-the-scenes look at wholesaler databases, Bookscan reports, etc. Immensely helpful for anyone expecting to be published within the next year, and also useful for writers who are interested in self-publishing and need to learn the ins-and-outs of book distribution and placement in chain and retail stores.

1:00-3:30 pm Intensive Sessions (continued)

3:45-4:15 pm Social Time / Book Signings; coffee

Informal chat with Jane Friedman

Part II

4:30-5:30 pm Registration packets for Part II available

5:00 pm Cash Bar / Reception

6:00-8:30 pm Introduction of Faculty / Speaker: Shirley Jump – “How to Get the Most Out of a Writer’s Workshop”

Friday Events – July 26, 2008

8:00-8:30 am Welcome

8:30-10:30 am Agent Panel: Amy Tipton, Anne Hawkins, Josh Getzler

11:00-11:50 am

[1] Bill Fitzhugh: “What If?” (finding the starting point in your novel) – The central idea. The starting point. The germ. The notion that gets the ball rolling. Where can I get one of those? You can’t start any story without thinking and answering the question, what if? A smart and funny ‘what if’ can be a veritable blueprint for a successful comic novel. You just have to ask, What if. Oh, and then you have to answer the question. For example: What if your mother was being wheeled in for a heart transplant? And what if someone hijacked the heart? And what if you ran after them? And what if you found out the heart was intended for the president, who you didn’t vote for? Then what? Come and find out.

[2] Shirley Jump: “Six Steps to More Powerful Characters and Plot” - Editors love books that are character driven. Learn how to create novels with plots created by the characters themselves, giving a stronger, more powerful--and more emotional story. If you're stuck in your writing, needing inspiration or just want to learn more about developing characters, you'll get the boost you need for this class with New York Times bestselling author Shirley Jump!

[3] Lee Lofland: “Writing a Realistic Crime Scene” - This session is a journey inside the crime scene. Find out how detectives uncover and utilize evidence and clues to solve cases. Discover the sights, sounds, and smells experienced by real-life investigators. Learn how to activate your reader's senses.

[4] Rebecca Kai Dotlich: “The Poetry Project” - How do you get an idea for a collection of poetry? How are collections put together? What are editors looking for, and where do you begin? Rebecca has written seven poetry collections with another few dozen in the progress stage, and yet another few on editors' desks. How many poems do you need for a book? What about rhyme vs. free verse? Come with any and all questions.

[5] Brent Bill: “Writing a Winning Proposal: From an Author’s Viewpoint” - A good proposal might get read; a great one will get noticed. We’ll look at how to craft that great proposal. Each participant should submit a full proposal—including overview/purpose/audience/title comparison/bio/marketing strategies/table of contents—and at least a 10 page sample text to Brent Bill (brentbil@sbcglobal.net) two weeks prior to the workshop.

12:00-1:30 pm Luncheon (provided) / Speaker: Bill Fitzhugh, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Midwest Writers Workshop"

1:40-2:40 pm

[1] Sally Wright: “Research: The Necessity, Pleasures, and Pitfalls Thereof” - Research can play a part in: idea identification; plot, setting and character development; literary style and language choices; as well as the writing of dialogue. Techniques for doing research, and organizing the results, will be discussed.

[2] Bill Fitzhugh: “Writing Short: The Sitcom” - Three jokes a page and people we want to spend time with every week, (and every day when it goes into syndication). Got a great idea for a sitcom? Now what? Wait for CAA to call? Should you write an original pilot or a standard spec script? How many acts is it supposed to be? How many scenes per act? Where do I send it? What are the rules? How does it all work? Is the strike going to end soon? The answers are: take a deep breath, no, it depends, it varies, the cousin of a friend who knows somebody at ABC who said he was looking for unknown sitcom writers, and nobody in Hollywood knows anything, including Bill Fitzhugh but he’s willing to talk anyway.

[3] Brent Bill: “The Part-Time Writer” - Writing is more than a hobby, it’s a vocation. Yet, it’s hard to make living writing – especially when the kids want to eat! So how do you support your vocation in an economic world that makes you go to work? An informal conversation with a writer who makes his living by means other than writing.

[4] Kevin Stein: “Why Writers Read” - This session will examine the currently popular obsession with compiling lists of authors' favorite books, asking the essential questions behind the craze. Why do writers read? What do writers gain (or hope to gain) from the practice? How do writers' favorite books shape their work, and to what extent and for what duration? What, then, do readers gain from reading writers' favorite book lists? Why do readers care what writers read? What does one's reading reveal about one's art and one's person?

[5] Amy Tipton: “How to Get an Agent to Say Yes”

3:00-4:00 pm

[1] Tasha Alexander: “Writing Dialogue” - Pace, rhythm, style, and tone are all set by the way your characters speak. Discuss how to write dialogue that sounds real, reads well, and doesn't drag down your plot. We'll also talk about the use of dialects and writing dialogue in historical fiction.

[2] Rebecca Kai Dotlich: “The Magazine Sleuth” - Are you interested in writing for magazines? Trying to find that way in, that foot in the door, that first sale? (Or 2nd or 10th.) Rebecca started her career writing for magazines. She'll share tips for thinking out of the box, researching ideas, getting an editor to take notice of your poetry, stories and nonfiction pieces. Detailed ideas using some of her own sales for opening those doors.

[3] Lee Lofland: “Creating Compelling Villains” - Learn what motivates real-life villains and how to transform their psychopathic behaviors to the written page.

[4] Anne Hawkins: “Anatomy of a Book Deal” - Just how does a book deal come down? Most first time authors are bewildered by both the process and the unfamiliar terminology. This presentation demystifies the business of selling a book. It gives authors a toolbox for understanding the procedure step by step, from initial submissions to editors, offers to purchase, deal agreements, contract negotiations, and the ongoing sale of subsidiary rights.

4:15-5:15 pm

[1] Shirley Jump: “Scene Transitions and Hooks” - How do you keep the reader turning the pages long into the night? By building in powerful scene transitions and hooks. Learn how to work your way through the murky waters of creating a scene with compelling action that continues to propel the plot forward, and maintains continually tight pacing. This session will also answer the questions of how Scene and Sequel work with an easy exercise to show new writers the basics of this story building block.

[2] Sally Wright: “Professional and Special Knowledge Based Novels” - How do you use specific expertise (an archivist’s, jockey’s, painter’s, lawyer’s, photographer’s, chef’s, etc.) in a novel to drive the plot (not drive it under) by using the right amount of detail?

[3] Kevin Stein: “Poetry Reading in the Library” – Come hear Kevin read a selection of his poetry.

[4] Jane Friedman: “Crafting a High Powered and Saleable Nonfiction Book Concept” - Find out the difference between a nonfiction book concept that gets an immediate, enthusiastic response from agents/editors -- and one that gets no response. Learn how to craft a selling-handle with sizzle, and most importantly, learn the philosophy behind the one golden rule of nonfiction: Don't sell what you write -- sell what readers will buy!

6:00-??? Evening Program: Pizza Party, Book Signing, The Great Midwest Writers Write-Off. Movie “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” and discussion with Tasha Alexander

Saturday Events – July 26, 2008

8:00-10:00 am Buffet Breakfast with special interest tables “Buttonhole the Experts” (all faculty

10:15-11:15 am

[1] Jeff Stone: “Come Out Swinging: How to Hit Hard and Fast with Your Opening Paragraph” - A story's opening lines must capture a reader's interest and set the tone for everything that follows. Learn six proven ways to kick off your story with a bang.

[2] Sally Wright: “Mysteries in the British Tradition” - Realities of writing in a historical genre that includes academic, amateur, private investigator, and professional sleuths, that’s based on a literate literary style that doesn’t revolve around in-your-face violence, or an overabundance of rude words.

[3] Anne Hawkins: “You’ve Been Offered Literary Representation: But Is the Agent Right For You?” - For many authors, the process of finding a literary agent is a long, frustrating experience. When an agent finally does step up to the plate and offer representation, the author is so thrilled and relieved that she doesn’t give this prospective relationship the careful consideration it deserves. That’s a mistake, a big one. Before committing to an agent, you need to address some important issues that will define your future working relationship. This presentation will help authors identify and understand these issues and – hopefully – give them the confidence to initiate the kind of frank discussion that will lead to a rewarding, long-term professional partnership.

[4] Kevin Stein: “How to ‘Funkify’ Your Prose: Enhancing Poetic Metaphor, Image, and the Musical Phrase in Your Prose Line” - Poet Ezra Pound famously claimed poetry must be as well written as prose. Now, fiction and nonfiction writers can turn the tables, learning to enhance their prose line with poetic elements of metaphor, image, and the musical phrase. Doing so not only energizes your prose but also contributes to heightened measures of voice and tone. We'll discuss examples and results of inserting traditional poetic technique within prose.

[5] Lee Lofland: “How to Think Like a Detective” - Learn the characteristics of a good detective. What makes them tick? How do they differ from their uniformed counterparts? How can they tell when a suspect is lying? How do they obtain confessions? Do they really have a sixth sense? Do undercover detectives carry weapons? What's it like to work undercover? This session delves into the sometimes secretive world of police detectives and they really solve cases.

11:30 am-12:30 pm

[1] Shirley Jump: “Making $1000 a Month as a Freelancer” - If you're a writer who wants to expand your horizons and learn to make regular, steady income, this session will show you how to make $1000 a month (or multiply the tips to make $10,000 a month) as a freelance writer. Learn the realities of running a work-from-home freelance writing business and gather tips on how to make it work for you.

[2] Bill Fitzhugh: “Dialogue, Regional Dialects, and Slang” - Notwithstanding the homogenization of American language and culture, not everybody talks the same way. Your characters shouldn't either. The words that come from your characters' mouths help define them and give them dimension. The idioms and metaphors they use help tell us who they are. For some, to die is to kick the bucket, for others it's to peel the garlic, and yet others have just passed the drop edge of yonder. The vocabulary and syntax of a nineteen year old California skate board dude are radically different from those of an 80 year old African American from Mississippi. An English assassin shouldn't sound like a South American drug lord. Their dialogue should reflect that. The 'slanguage' of teenagers, criminals, and cops changes rapidly; how do you keep up? We'll discuss how to write dialogue in general, how to write regional dialects, and how to tell if you've overdone it.

[3] Tasha Alexander & Anne Hawkins: “The Author-Agent Relationship” - From revisions to submissions to sales and publication, we'll discuss all the inside secrets of what goes on between authors and their agents.

[4] Brent Bill: “Blogging, Facebooking, and Websiting: Getting Noticed in the E-World” - You’ve done the writing, now it’s on to the business of being a writer, notably marketing your work in an electronic age. We’ll explore various ways to connect with your e-public. Bring your suggestions of electronic author stuff that you think works well to share with the group.

12:30-2:00 pm Lunch (on your own)

2:00-3:00 pm

[1] Rebecca Kai Dotlich: “One Writer’s Path to Publishing” - Do you ever hear about an author, see a book published, walk into a lecture, a bookstore, a library, and think ... exactly when and how and where did this author get their break, their first publishing success, their first book? Most of us do. It can be interesting, enlightening and inspirational. So Rebecca will share the background story to her publishing career, and maybe you'll see yourself or come away with new hope and determination.

[2] Shirley Jump: “Time Management” - How do find time to juggle writing, work and a life? Join New York Times bestselling author Shirley Jump who writes six books a year, edits a monthly magazine and freelances for national magazines, and manages to be a fairly sane mom and wife at the same time, for tips on fitting writing into a busy day and life.

[3] Sally Wright: “History in Mystery” - Most murderous plots grow out of back-stories. Many mysteries are placed in ages past. How do you use real events and people from the past to drive your novels when they’re placed then, and now?

[4] Jeff Stone & Jean Dayton: “Working with a Booking Agency”

[5] Jane Friedman: “The Times, They Are a Changin’” - Major book and magazine publishers are beginning to transform and even recreate themselves -- from businesses based on print product to businesses based on content. Digitization, online and niche communities, and customization -- these are the buzz words in the industry today. How do these trends affect writers and authors? What do you need to know – or do differently -- to advance (or start!) your career? Learn how to navigate the ongoing transformation of writing and publishing in the digital age.

3:15-4:15 pm

[1] Tasha Alexander: “Where Fact and Fiction Overlap: What To Do When History and Real People Creep Into Your Novel” - How close do you need to stay to the truth? Can you bring historical figures into your story and make them say whatever you want? What are strategies for using historical events as effective backdrops for a novel? We'll discuss everything you need to know about history and fiction.

[2] Bill Fitzhugh: “Writing Shorter: Sketch Comedy” - The outlet for outrage. Your chance to put a spotlight on stupidity, to open the spout of grotesque ideas, bizarre situations, and downright odd thinking you’ve got trapped in the cellar. Take your shot at spoofing popular culture in sixty seconds or less. Always the runty cousin of the network sitcom, sketch comedy is alive and well on television, stage, and even radio. Explore the possibilities of short form wackiness with the co-creator of “Radio Free Comedy.” (Brought to you by the law firm of Shaftem, Dickem, Hosem, and Marx.)

[3] Lee Lofland: “Police Tools and Equipment” - An in-depth look into the procedures, equipment, and techniques used by police to solve the crimes.

[4] Josh Getzler: "Fiction Queries" - How long? How much do I include? Email vs paper? Does anyone actually read a synopsis?"

5:00 pm Cash Bar

5:30-7:00 pm Closing Banquet / Manny Awards

Keynote Speaker: Jeff Stone, “From Indiana to China: Finding Your Voice”

Speakers and program sessions subject to change

Every effort will be made to adhere to this schedule; however, all programs and times are subject to change.