Courses meet Friday and Saturday for a total of four hours each. All will be recorded and outlines included in your conference notebook.
Building Your Platform
Randy is the award-winning author of six novels and two non-fiction books. His most recent book is Writing Fiction For Dummies. He holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from UC Berkeley and sits on the advisory board of American Christian Fiction Writers. Randy’s goal is to become Supreme Dictator for Life and escape the domination of the three surly cats that control his house.
If your publisher did nothing to market your book, could you fill the gap? You might have to. Learn the three most valuable things you can do to promote your book online, and discover how to create a dynamite launch.
Using Visual Imagery in Your Writing
Barbara is a screenwriter and the founder of Act One, Inc., which trains Christians for careers in Hollywood. She has a master’s in cinema from Northwestern University and is an adjunct professor of screenwriting and cinema at Pepperdine University. She co-wrote Mary, Mother of the Christ for MGM. The movie stars Al Pacino and Peter O’Toole. Nicolosi is the co-editor of Behind the Screen: Hollywood Insiders on Faith and Culture (Baker Books).
Movies have changed how people read. Successful fiction needs to create and exploit visual images. Learn three ways to do this, as well as how visual imagery can be lyrical and what you can learn from the power of poetry.
Symbolism
Dennis holds four degrees in communications, including a Ph.D. in English from Ball State University. He is director of the Professional Writing major at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, and recently published his 52nd book, Jack London’s Masterplots (Taylor University Press). He is a long-time member of the Christian Writers Guild’s Editorial Board. He and his wife Rose have two children and four grandchildren.
Learn to understand literary symbols and incorporate them into your writing to provide deeper meaning to your plots.
Jesus in the Newsroom
Todd is an author and network reporter for Fox News Radio. He is a recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award and the Associated Press Mark Twain Award for Storytelling. His first book, They Popped My Hood and Found Gravy on the Dipstick, is a best-seller. His second, Dispatches from Bitter America, releases this summer.
Is it possible for a Christian writer to experience professional success in a secular newsroom? Fox News Channel’s Todd Starnes will talk about life as a Christian in today’s media world. He will share personal stories, discuss how to handle faith-issues in the newsroom, and provide guidelines on how to successfully be a light for Christ in the journalism industry.
Using the Internet and Technology Effectively
Proverbs 31 Ministries speaker and writer, Suzie is the author of five books and more than 1000 articles and columns. She speaks around the nation, and has has been featured on Focus on the Family, Aspiring Women, KLOVE, The Harvest Show, and hundreds of other media programs on issues of faith, feelings, and family.
Discover the keys to using technology to reach your audience. Create synergy through Facebook and Twitter. Get up close and personal with an audience seeking your message. Learn to shift from generating hits to building a viable, interactive community and powerful platform.
Paradigm Shift: Publishing in the 21st Century
Dave is the author of 10 books, including the gold medallion award-winning Jumper Fables, co-authored with Ken Davis, and the recent novel The Missionary, co-authored with Bill Carmichael. He has an M.F.A. in fiction writing from the University of Montana and spent 18 years as an acquiring editor at Zondervan. Dave is a member of the Christian Writers Guild’s Editorial Board, heads Lambert Editorial Services, and is editorial director for Somersault, a publishing services bureau. Epitaph, a novel of suspense co-authored with Terri Blackstock, releases in the fall of 2012.
In publishing, everything is changing: ebook popularity, the crash in retail sales, the increasing emphasis on best-sellers, the growing ability of authors to bypass publishers and take their books straight to market, the explosion in digital technology, and other changes too numerous to mention. Where is your place in this brave new publishing world? Discuss it with a professional who sees these changes as opportunities, not crises.
Harnessing the Power of Critique Groups (Repeats Friday and Saturday)
DiAnn believes her readers should “Expect an Adventure.” She is a fiction writer who combines an adventuresome spirit with unforgettable characters to create action-packed novels. Currently she has 50 books in print and has sold more than 1.5 million copies. She speaks to various groups and teaches writing workshops around the country. DiAnn is also the Craftsman mentor for Christian Writers Guild.
Learn to build a successful group, such as a CWG Word Weavers chapter. By avoiding pitfalls and establishing an agenda and format that meets members’ needs, writers can grow while learning to provide others positive feedback. A checklist will help you form a group and meet the challenges of today’s publishing.
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