Writing Workshops

Workshop registration opens April 1, 2024

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Please read the rules before submitting your registration through the website Registration Form!

1. All applicants must have a paid membership for the Confluence conference. There is no additional cost for the workshop but a Confluence membership is required to attend any program during the conference. Fill out the online application form after you have purchased your Confluence membership. Memberships will be verified before participants are accepted into either of the workshops.
Register for Confluence

2. Participation is limited to one workshop per person!
If you are interested in attending both workshops, please indicate your interest on the sign up form. If space is available in the alternate workshop closer to the conference date, the organizer will contact you.

3. All participants will be expected to follow the Parsec Code of Conduct, and to behave with politeness and respect toward all fellow participants.

4. If for any reason you are unable to attend the workshop after registering, please contact the workshop coordinator, Karen: publicity@confluence-sff.org

Our workshop facilitator this year is Barbara Barnett!

Barbara Barnett is the author of three books, including the award-winning The Apothecary’s Curse, a finalist for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award for a debut novel. She is an accomplished speaker and has been keynote speaker at MENSA’s regional and national Gatherings, at the annual Illinois Librarians Conference. She was a 2022 author-in-residence and at the popular Science Fiction Novel-in-Progress retreat in Wisconsin. She has been a panelist and lecturer on craft and content panels at many SFF conferences, as well as serving on several juries for the Bram Stoker Awards and IFSIC’s annual speculative fiction writing competition. She is a film and TV editor at Blogcritics pop culture and opinion magazine. Her San Diego Comic-Con press coverage has included interviews with Guillermo del Toro, Jane Espenson, Rod Rodenberry, Adam Nimoy, Bruce Boxleitner and many more. Her regular access and conversations with television showrunner and writer producers have provided her a unique insight into such hit television series as Once Upon a Time, Stargate Universe, and House, M.D. (Her critically acclaimed Chasing Zebras: THE Unofficial Guide to House has been translated into three languages and beloved by fans around the world).

Workshop #1. Character, Plot and Your World: Playing Nicely Together in the Sandbox

Saturday July 27: 9am – Noon (11am-12pm reserved for participant critiques)
Club room – 9th floor (Use the service elevator)

Which comes first? The chicken or the egg from which its hatched? Or, in writing terms, which comes first, the characters and plot or the world from whence they emerge?
In this two-hour workshop we will explore the basics, limits and delights of worldbuilding and how to make your world play nicely with your other storytelling elements. World building (whether it’s an altered reality version of our world, or a world terraformed completely from your imagination), is like building the grand stage for your story to play. But how much world should go on the page? When do you reveal it and how? How much is too much? Too little? How much research do you need to do to make my world authentic enough to suspend disbelief while not going overboard? We’ll also look at some useful worldbuilding tools (including AI).
Authors are welcome to include the first 2-5 pages of their story or novel and Barbara will critique them. The critiques will be given during the final hour of the workshop.
Please email the 2-5 pages of your MS to: publicity@confluence-sff.org

Workshop #2. Scrivener Made Easy

Sunday July 28: 9am-Noon
Club room – 9th floor (Use the service elevator)

Literature and Latte’s Scrivener can be one of the most powerful tools a writer toolbox. It’s a compelling partner for every writing step: brainstorming, outlining, story analysis and revision—even writing. Scrivener saves time and stress. But its many features sometimes make Scrivener complex to unravel. Facilitator Barbara Barnett’s interactive workshop will demystify Scrivener, and help you identify the Scrivener tools essential for your project.
Although not required, participants will get more out of the workshop if they have the latest version of Scrivener on their laptops or tablets. You can download a free TRIAL* of Scrivener here (keep in mind Literature and Latte is always offering discounts so check around for those if you choose to buy it). You need to use Scrivener 3 at minimum–the version we will be working with. If you have an older version it will have fewer features. Scrivener 3 is available for MacOS and Windows.

^{*The trial is exactly the same as the full version but will stop working after 30 days of use. (If you use it every day, it lasts 30 days; if you use it only two days a week, it lasts fifteen weeks.)}

REGISTRATION FORM:

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Select Workshop *#1 Saturday: Character, Plot and Your World#2. Sunday: Scrivener Made Easy

One workshop per person. Workshops are limited to 15 participants for each session.

I would like to be considered for the alternate workshop if it does not fill:

• Yes

If the alternate workshop does not fill, the coordinator will be in contact with you within a couple weeks before the Confluence conference.

Please include questions you may have on the workshop topic.

Tell Barbara a little about yourself and what you’ve been working on; are you just starting a project? Already published? Working on a first or second draft, etc? *

I have registered for and purchased my Confluence membership *

• Yes

A Confluence membership is required to register for and participate in the writing workshops. Register for Confluence There is no additional free to participate in the workshops. You will not be considered registered for the writing workshop until we have confirmed your paid Confluence membership.

I have read and understand the Code of Conduct. *

• Yes

Code of Conduct

If you need to cancel or have questions regarding your registration,

please contact Karen at publicity@confluence-sff.org

Use the above form entry field for questions regarding the workshops.  

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_{Our writing workshops are sponsored by:}

_{https://www.parsec-sff.org}