Our Featured Workshop Presenters
Also . . . get acquainted with our Keynote Speaker, Editors & Agents
|
Glynn Alam
(1) KEEP YOUR MYSTERY MOVING.
Learn how to maintain suspense through words, setting, and action.
(2) NAME YOUR MYSTERY.
Explore the many sub-genres within the Mystery category - to include: writing cozy, hard-boiled, noir, humorous, supernatural, and suspense.
|
|
Born in Tallahassee, Florida, Glynn Marsh Alam grew up familiar with the
flora and fauna of the area. From the cold, clear water springs to
fathomless caves to the regional wildlife, Ms Alam has made these natural settings and animals a part of her Luanne Fogarty mystery series. A skilled swimmer herself, Glynn has used local law enforcement to research crime in and around water.She has a masters in linguistics and taught literature and writing in Los Angeles for many years before returning to her home ground.
Her novels in the Luanne Fogarty series include:Dive Deep and Deadly, Deep Water Death, Cold Water Corpse, Bilge Water Bones, High Water Hellion, and her latest, Green Water Ghost, released in October 2007. In December, her third book, Cold Water Corpse, was optioned by a Hollywood producer. Glynn has also written a literary novel, River Whispers. Learn more about Glynn.
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Darlene Dean
(1) BACK TO BASICS: Microsoft Word
10 Power Features for Writers.
Need a refresher on MS Word? Learn the 10 most powerful features for writers and bonus tips for keeping your files organized.
For the writer who wants to know more about how to navigate Microsoft WORD®, this is the class for you. Learn the 10 most important features you can use to ease your manuscript formatting and writing tasks. Want to jump to page 55 in your manuscript? No problem. Looking for all the references to Albany because now you’ve changed your setting to Cleveland? Or maybe you’ve changed the hero’s name from Mike to Tim and now you have to find all the instances to correct them. Easy to do. After this session, you’ll know the easy ways to do these common things and much more.
(2) WRITE, WRITE, WRITE!
Come! Let's create bold characters and vivid scenes . , , or start out with a hook and finish with a powerful ending . Or perhaps outline your next few chapters . . .
Participate in this hands-on writing event and take away meaningful results for your existing writing project. We’ll begin with a short, lively discussion about all that you’ve learned during the conference. AND THEN! You’ll have opportunities to put that learning into action as you write, write, write.
You will walk out of this session with the results for at least 2 elements required in the story-writing process. Whhich ones will you work on? The character sketch and a plot line? Or maybe a harrowing scene and some pithy dialogue?
Come play with me!
|
A certified Life Coach and national speaker, Darlene Dean is also a writer, journalist and poet. She was previously a feature writer for a local, daily newspaper and also has written articles for numerous technical publications. Darlene's 25 yrs of computer background ensures this refresher class on Microsoft Word(R) will be informative and entertaining.
Her interest in writing fiction-length, high-tech novels has recently taken a back seat while she puts the final touches on her motivational book, JUST FOR TODAY, due out in the summer of 2008.
Through her coaching practice, CoachForResults, she guides her clients to consistently achieve the results they want. Her clients include writers and artists as they discover new ways to unleash their creativity.
She continues to be an active supporter in Emerald Coast Writers and many other organizations, including American Business Women’s Association and Toastmasters International.
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
John Floyd
(1)WRITING & SELLING SHORT STORIES
The writing portion of the discussion will cover the elements of short fiction, story construction, and common mistakes made by writers. The marketing portion will include pointers on locating markets, manuscript format, cover letters, the submission process, reselling your stories, contracts, rights, recordkeeping, and dealing with editors.
|
|
|
John Floyd was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, and holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Mississippi State University. A former Air Force captain and IBM systems engineer, he now teaches writing courses in the Continuing Education department at Millsaps College in Jackson, and has been a guest speaker at writers' conferences and workshops throughout the South. Since 1994 John has sold more than 600 short stories and fillers to some 200 different publications, including The Strand Magazine, Woman's World, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. He recently won the 2007 Derringer Award for short mystery fiction, he has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize, and two of his stories are being adapted for upcoming films. In addition, he writes a weekly column for the mystery site criminalbrief.com and has more than a dozen stories available on Amazon Shorts.
A collection of John’s short mystery/suspense fiction,Rainbow's End, was published by Dogwood Press in 2006, and another collection of his stories, Midnight, is due out in October 2008. John and his wife Carolyn live in Brandon, Mississippi. Learn more about John.
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Vicki Hinze
(1) CONFLICT. UPPING THE ANTE.
How to seriously complicate the life of your protagonists and still have the reader care what happens to them. Pull the support out from under your characters and let them squirm. It's your duty to make them grow them through experience. Think of it as "tough love" from the author who dares.
(2) MAKING YOUR CHARACTERS THE STRONGEST THEY CAN BE.
It isn't enough to create clear identifiable characters, you have to make the reader love them, hate them or pity them. If you don't evoke strong feelings for your characters early on, you've failed. How to breathe life into them!
|
Vicki Hinze ( www.vickihinze.com ) has authored more than 20 novels, three nonfiction books and hundreds of nonfiction articles, many for international publications. She has written for Silhouette, Bantam Dell Publishing Group, Spilled Candy Books, St. Martin's Press, and Pinnacle. She currently has an additional three books under contract.
Her first published novel, a romantic suspense, was a bestseller that sold in nearly a dozen foreign countries. Since then, she's shifted writing focus several times. After co-creating the first single-title open-ended continuity series, she turned to military life and is credited with a Career Achievement Award for being one of the first to write military romantic suspense, military romantic intrigue, and military romantic thrillers. Her willingness to take risks and blaze trails have won her many prestigious awards and nominations on her novels and career achievements.
Vicki holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing and a Doctorate in Philosophy, Theocentric Business & Ethics. She actively lectures on writing craft and technique and philosophy.
Her articles have appeared in many respected publications, magazines and e-zines (Novelists, Inc., Romantic Times, Romance Writers' Report, The Outreacher, The Rock and others) and have been extensively reprinted in as many as sixty-three foreign markets. She has coordinated and/or judged national and international writing competitions, served on various writers' association committees and has been honored by Romance Writers of America with their National Service Award. She was named PRO Mentor of the Year in 2004.
Vicki is a charter sponsor of International Thriller Writers (ITW) and a member of The Authors Guild, Novelists Inc., Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, Published Authors Network, Emerald Coast Writers, among others.
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada
(1) HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF IRRESISTABLE
TO ANY AGENT or EDITOR
(2) PUBLISHING A to Z
|
|
|
|
Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada worked for six New York publishers before moving to San Francisco. They started Michael Larsen-Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agents in San Francisco in 1972, and represent adult, book-length fiction and nonfiction. They are members of the Association of Author’s Representatives, and they’ve sold hundreds of books to more than a hundred publishers.
Elizabeth and Michael must find new writers to stay in business, so they welcome the chance to answer your questions and give you feedback on your ideas and your work today or at any time.
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Ben Leroy
Editor, Bleak House Books
www.bleakkhousebooks.com
(1) WHAT EXACTLY DOES A PUBLISHER DO?
And Why Does It Take So Long?.
In this session, Editor Benjamin LeRoy will walk people through the process from acquisition all the way through the release party. What are a publisher's expectations during the editorial process? Does an author have a say in the cover art? How does a book get on the shelf? Why are reviews so important and some reviews are more important than others?
(2) MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION
5 Things to Avoid When Approaching a Publisher
Worried that your query might get lost in the slush pile? Concerned that your book might be rejected before it even gets a fair read? Unfortunately, due to the sheer volume of submissions that many publishing houses receive, the people reading the mail have to make fast decisions about the letters they receive--how can you keep a reader's attention?
(3) PUBLISHING Q & A
Here's a chance to ask questions of a publisher. Want to know more about submissions? Always wonder how the process works? Need a better understanding of why things work the way they work? Bring your questions and your notebooks.
|
|
Benjamin M. LeRoy is with Bleak House Books, publisher of crime and dark literary fiction. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he majored in English and Philosophy. He lives in Madison, WI where he works on his own writing and is endlessly fascinated by the history of baseball.
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Lee Lofland
(1) CREATING COMPELLING VILLAINS
Understand what motivates real-life villains and how to transform their psychopathic behaviors to the written page.
(2) WRITING A REALISTIC CRIME SCENE
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. An interesting and fun workshop.
(3) 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 workshop delves into the sometimes secretive world of police detectives and they really solve cases. Intensive.
|
Lee Lofland is the author of Police Procedure and Investigation, A Guide For Writers from Writers Digest Books. Lee is a former police detective with nearly two decades of law-enforcement and crime-solving experience. He was in charge of major felony cases, including homicide, narcotics, rape, kidnapping, ritualistic and occult crimes, fraud, and robbery.
Lee also witnessed the execution of one of the country's worst serial killers who Patricia Cornwell's bestselling book, Postmortem, was based upon. The execution was the first in the U.S.A resulting from a verdict based on the use of DNA.
During his career in law-enforcement, Lee received Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police Medal of Valor—the state's highest award for police officers. He also received the General Nathaniel Greene Medal for Courageous conduct against an armed robber.
Lee is a nationally acclaimed expert on police procedure and crime-scene investigation and is a popular conference and workshop speaker. He writes freelance articles for publications, such as The Writer magazine and for newspapers and newsletters across the country. He is also a consultant for many bestselling authors and television and film writers. Lee recently appeared as an expert on a BBC television documentary called "How To Commit The Perfect Murder." His current works-in-progress are a mystery novel and a children’s book about police and CSI that’s scheduled for release in 2008.
Lee serves on the board of directors for the New England Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. He’s also a member of Sisters in Crime.
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Earl Merkel
(1) WRITING, FINISHING - AND SELLING - YOUR NOVEL
Focus on “editing professionalism” into the finished novel or work-in-progress novel, the attributes that make a work attractive to the publishing marketplace and common mistakes that can make it “unpublishable”; how to develop the book’s concept and create fully developed characters; techniques in crafting the storyline and how to plan the story’s pacing; “mechanical” tactics used by successful writers to keep the creative flow coming.
(2) Hands-On Workshop: CHAPTER ANALYSIS OF YOUR WORK
The hands-on workshop will provide a cohesive outline of what agents and publishers look for in prospective authors, how to prepare a query and submission package that gets results, and today’s options to traditional publishing outlets. In addition, participants are encouraged to present a sample chapter of their work for group discussion and suggestions/comments.
|
|
Earl Merkel is the author of Virgins And Martyrs (Five Star 2008, under the name "E L Merkel"; Final Epidemic (PenguinPutnam/NAL), a Barnes and Noble national bestseller re-released in hardcover by Elmtree Press/Tifda Publishing in January 2008; and Dirty Fire (PenguinPutnam/NAL).
Earl spent more than a decade as a journalist, columnist and commentator; today, he contributes to a variety of newspapers and magazines. During his career, Earl has dodged gunfire, teargas canisters, and verbal brickbats as a journalist; spent years "comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable," as an investigative reporter, newspaper columnist and satirist; and has advised some of the largest corporations in the world on the merits of open and honest communications -- not always with success.
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Gail Nelson
(1) STORIES NEEDED IN THE CLASSROOM
Presented by a professional storyteller, this session will look at the parallels between the writing process and the storytelling Journey. It will focus on what educators are looking for in children’s books to enhance their classroom instruction. You will be treated to a storytelling experience - a true art form.
|
Being surrounded by a family of storytellers, Gail’s love for this oral tradition started at a young age. Her continual exposure instilled a love for stories and inspired her to complete a bachelor’s degree in Drama and Elementary Education, and a Master of Science in Library and Information Studies.
For the past twenty years, she has been able to share her passion for storytelling with schools, libraries and on local television. Gail presents workshops, play productions, and presently works as an independent contractor in the school system as a storyteller and drama instructor.
Currently, she is working on her book titled,Tobias Anne . . .You Better Straighten Up and Fly Right!
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Vincent O'Neil
(1) THEY ARE WALKING ALL OVER ME!
What to do when your characters misbehave.
This workshop covers the often-funny moments when characters start doing things the author did not expect, and suggests ways of handling the situation or even turning it to to your advantage. Writers and non-writers of all genres welcome.
(2) BUT I KNOW I SAID THT IN CHAPTER THREE!
Keeping track of plots, characters and clues.
This workshop deals with the challenge of tracking complex plots, unruly characters, and multiple story lines while still writing creatively. Writers and non-writers of all genres welcome.
|
|
Vincent H. O'Neil brings a wealth of life experience to his writing.He is the author of the Emerald Coast-based "Exile" murder mystery series published by St. Martin's Press. After receiving rejection letters for roughly twenty years, he finally got his toe in the publishing industry door with his Malice Domestic Award-winning novel,Murder in Exile. The book introduces the amateur sleuth Frank Cole, a transplanted northerner who comes to Florida to restart his life when his computer business fails. The sequel, Reduced Circumstances, was published by St. Martin's Press in July of 2007, and the third book in the series, Exile Trust, will be published in July of 2008.
Vinny, as he prefers to be called, is a 1985 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He first visited the Emerald Coast while serving in the US Army, and couldn't imagine basing his mystery series anywhere else. He holds a master's degree in International Affairs from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and speaks Mandarin Chinese at a beginner level. He currently writes advertisements for Fidelity Investments, and hopes to someday see one or two of his unpublished non-mystery books in print.
Learn more about Vincent O'Neil at www.vincenthoneil.com.
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Bob Sanders
Editor, Mundania Press
www.mundania.com
(1) HOW TO GET A PUBLISHER TO SAY YES!
(2) PRESS RELEASES THAT GET NOTICED
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Annie Laura Smith
(1) WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION
|
|
Annie Laura Smith was born in Ocala, Florida, and received a B.S. in Education cum laude and a M.Ed. in Science Education from the University of Florida. She taught Chemistry, Mathematics and Learning Skills courses at the University of Florida and the University of Texas at Dallas, and Writing for Publication, Vocabulary Development and Efficient Reading Courses in the Community Education Program in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. She is an instructor in Writing for Publication courses at the Senior Academy of the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the Institute of Children’s Literature.
Her publications (approximately 140) include the areas of fiction and nonfiction for children, curriculum materials for children and adults, general interest and technical articles, test materials, and poetry. She co-authored a First Grade Math Textbook for Ethiopia under a USAID grant in 2003. OnStage Publishing published her WWII historical novels, The Legacy of Bletchley Park and Will Paris Burn? in 2004, and Saving da Vinci in 2005. EDCON Publishing Group recently published her Reading Level 4 adaptation of The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper.
She is a member of Trinity United Methodist Church of Huntsville, Alabama, the Huntsville Literary Association (HLA), the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), The National League of American Pen Women and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society. She worked as a Test Engineer and Technical Writer in the computer industry, and edited WE ARE CALLED: the 50-Year History of Trinity United Methodist Church published in 2005.
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Read up on our
Keynote Speaker, Editors & Agents
|
