Michael A. Ventrella

It seems like just yesterday that I organized the first Pocono Writers Conference, and now we will soon have the 4th.

This year’s conference will be held on January 21, 2017, at the Hughes Library in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.  Admission is free — however, as I write this, we are full!

But there is an exception.

Besides their regular lecture, each of the panelists will have a critique where you can send them a writing sample in advance by email and they will go over it with you there at the Conference. This is only $20. Come on, where else can you get a good critique from  established writers (including a New York Times bestselling author) as well as a New York literary agent? If you sign up for at least one of the critiques, we will find a space for you to attend the rest of the Conference.

Here’s the schedule:

9:00: Introductions

9:15: TEE MORRIS: The Physics of Fighting: Swords, Sidearms, and All-Too-Common Slip-Ups: Hollywood does two things for writers: They make fight scenes look incredibly cool, and make a writer’s job to capture that kind of excitement increasingly difficult. How do you get it right?

10:30: ALIA HANNA HABIB: Know Your Genre: Knowing the language of publishers’ book categories is essential in pitching your book to agents and editors. This workshop will teach you how to market your book by properly categorizing its genre and potential readers.

11:45: MEGAN HART: Point of View: Getting Inside the Right Character’s Head and Staying There. Figure out how to write in first or third person and which character needs to be telling the story by diving deep into point of view.

12:45: Lunch

1:45: PHILIPPA BALLANTINE: World Building: The basics of creating a world that lives and breathes around your characters, and how to use our world to inspire you

3:00: MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: Biggest Mistakes Made by New Authors: A short presentation of things to look out for

3:15: Panel Discussion and Question and Answer session with all panelists

Click here to read bios of all the participants and to sign up for the Conference. Don’t wait, because there are a limited number of critique spaces available and once they’re all filled, you won’t be able to attend.

The Writers Conference is sponsored by the Pocono Liars Club.

Filed under: writing | Tagged: Alia Hanna Habib, Megan Hart, Philippa Ballantine, Pocono Liars Club, pocono Writers Conference, Tee Morris |