pocono Writers Conference | Michael A. Ventrella

The 4th Pocono Writers Conference

Posted on December 3, 2016 by 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.

2017-conference-flyer-page-001

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 | Leave a comment »

The 3rd Pocono Writers Conference

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Michael A. Ventrella

I’m pleased to announce that the 3rd Pocono Writers Conference is now accepting reservations.

I’m thrilled that this has been successful, and I’ve invited some great guests for this one.

The Conference is on January 10, 2016, held at the Hughes Library in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and is free — but space is limited. And this year, we’re trying something new: individual critiques!

Here’s the schedule:

9:00: Introductions

9:15: VERONICA PARK: “All Hook and No Plot”: How to tell if you’ve got a good story, or just a great idea and a so-so story

10:30: JON McGORAN: “Economy and Exposition”: Turn boring info dumps into highly anticipated answers to compelling mysteries by integrating it into your narrative so it adds nuance, depth and tension to your story, instead of interrupting it.

11:45: Lunch

1:00: MEGAN ERICKSON: “Start at the Right Place”: How to grab readers from page one with the right scene and how to pace from there.

2:15: KEITH DECANDIDO: “The Business of Writing”: The parts of your writing career that don’t involve actually writing.

3:30: MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: Panel Discussion and Question and Answer session with all panelists

Critiques:

Each of the participants are holding smaller sessions (10 maximum) during the presentations where you can have your work critiqued.

These sessions are $20 each. You can sign up for as many as you want but you must pre-register because space is limited. Instructions on how to email your writing sample will be sent to you prior to the Conference.

9:15: Megan Erickson
10:30: Keith DeCandido
1:00: Veronica Park
2:15: Jon McGoran

How to Reserve a Spot:

This conference is free but you must reserve a spot because space is limited. Please do not reserve a spot if you are not certain whether you can attend because you may be blocking someone else from attending if all the spots are filled. Go here to make your reservation.

Participant bios:

Keith R.A. DeCandido is mostly known as a best-selling, award-winning author, with dozens of media tie-in novels (most recently the Star Trek coffee-table book The Klingon Art of War, the Heroes Reborn novella Save the Cheerleader, Destroy the World, the Sleepy Hollow novel Children of the Revolution, the Stargate SG-1 novel Kali’s Wrath, and the Tales of Asgard trilogy featuring Marvel’s Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three) and original fiction (the “Precinct” series of fantasy police procedurals) to his credit. He’s also an editor of more than 25 years’ standing, working for Byron Preiss, Library Journal magazine, Simon & Schuster, Dark Quest Books, the Society of American Baseball Research, and many more, as well as private clients via his KRADitorial service. In 2009, he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, which means he never need to achieve anything ever again. His cheerfully retro web site is DeCandido.net.

Megan Erickson is a multi-published romance author with Avon, Berkley and Entangled. A former journalist, she switched to fiction when she decided she liked writing her own endings better. She lives in south central Pennsylvania with her own romance hero, their two kids and two cats. For more, visit meganerickson.org

Jon McGoran is the author of six novels including the biotech thrillers Drift and Deadout, as well as their forthcoming sequel, Dust Up (April 2016), all from Tor/Forge Books, as well as the novella “After Effects,” from Amazon StoryFront. Writing as D. H. Dublin, he is also author of the forensic thrillers Body Trace, Blood Poison and Freezer Burn, from Penguin Books. His short fiction and nonfiction can be found in a variety of anthologies, and his short story Bad Debt received an honorable mention in Best American Mystery Stories, 2014. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers, and a founding member of the Philadelphia Liars Club, a group of published authors dedicated to writers helping writers. His website is http://www.jonmcgoran.com/

Veronica Park is an agent, author, journalist and marketing consultant with more than seven years of experience writing and editing for publication. She graduated with a BA in print journalism with an emphasis in linguistics and business marketing from Brigham Young University and went on to expand her writing skills as a broadcast journalist and independent film producer, before running away with her husband to work on cruise ships in the Caribbean as a port lecturer and luxury goods marketing specialist. In publishing, she has finally found an arena that requires her entire assortment of professional skills, while allowing her to read and write every single day. Her web page is http://www.corvisieroagency.com/veronica-park.html

Michael A. Ventrella is a Stroudsburg writer and editor with three novels and three anthologies under his belt, with more coming. At his web page (www.MichaelAVentrella.com), he interviews writers and editors and gives advice for the starting writer. This is his third year organizing these conferences.

Filed under: writing | Tagged: agents, conference, critiques, Jon McGoran, Keith DeCandido, Megan Erickson, new writers, pocono Writers Conference, Stroudsburg, Veronica Park | Leave a comment »

The 2nd Pocono Writers’ Conference

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Michael A. Ventrella

The 2nd Pocono Writers Conference is scheduled for January 11, 2015. We have some wonderful guest authors who will be making presentations and answering questions. Our Main Guest is novelist and screenwriter Chuck Wendig, who has written many advice books for authors.

(Click on the poster for a bigger version. Then print it out and post it everywhere!)

Last year, we did a day-long panel discussion over a number of topics. This year, each author will give an hour long presentation and at the end of the day we will have all of them together for a question-and-answer period.

I will be the host and emcee but will participate in the final question-and-answer period.

We’re discussing among ourselves what the topics will be but are abiding by the Pocono Writers Group’s desire to concentrate on writing skills as opposed to the kind of issues that come up after the work is done (such as getting an agent, whether to self-publish, and so on). The Q&A section will address anything though.

Registration is free but space is limited. You can reserve by calling the library at 570-421-0800 x 316 or by emailing reference@monroepl.org

This will be held at the Hughes Public Library in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, about 80 miles from New York city, just over the border from New Jersey. It will start around 9 am and run till 5 or so. Lunch is not provided but there are plenty of places nearby, you can bring a lunch, and the library may be selling sandwiches.

To learn more about our guests, check out their web pages:

Chuck Wendig
Tee Morris
Dennis Tafoya
Kathryn Craft
Michael A. Ventrella