Not everything about the dark ages was dark, but everyday people led much different lives than we do now. Join our panelists for a discussion on how to avoid inserting modern bias into your story, or how to best employ anachronism for dramatic effect.

Covid-19 has sent us all into our bedrooms, from which we work, play, and socialize via the internet. Sure, sci-fi promised us flying cars, but it also promised us a dark, technologically saturated corporate dystopia. From information wars, to live streams of police brutality, to VR concerts, to mechanized robot dolphins–ok maybe not everything–is this the cyberpunk world that was foretold? How is now the very future that 80s & 90s writers foresaw, and how is it different? How has disrupt...

Medieval weapons, armor, and their use. A mythbusting panel; combat realities. 

One of the key marketing tricks in writing is...reading! Come listen to this panel of authors talk about how to read your stories out loud and make it entertaining.

From aliens to furries, we'll discuss how to write the non-human pov, how to create an character that is still relatable without coming off as a human in alien skin, and how to capitalize on unique non-human traits to make epic alien, animal, and inanimate objects come to life on the page.

Tips, tricks, and suggestions on how to keep motivated and have forward progress on your writing projects while still balancing a busy life.

Creatives tend to be neurodivergent, that is, our brains are built a little differently. In exchange for active minds, sometimes our thoughts are a little too active, to the point of distraction. It's hard to stay focused, the desk is a mess, projects become difficult to manage, and so on. These abilities are what psychologists call "executive function," that is, our ability to understand how to approach a task. Come borrow ideas as we share tips and tricks for staying organized around our pr...

Ted Butler will share his "recipe" for writing his novels. He has seven out and an eighth completed. He is author of the teen SF Belt Republic series.

In all of our fictional worlds, there is some way that the world came into being. And then, there is the way the denizens of that world believe that they came into being. From the creation of gods to the way people explain their world without them we will examine how to create truths and fallacies that make your world more compelling and relatable.

Tropes are one of the building blocks of stories, but they can be misused, overused, and just plain worn out. How can you use tropes effectively in your writing? What are some stories that have done to well? Let's talk about using tropes, with and without flipping them around.

Many a good story teller have appeared to be good writers because of their editors, and many good writers produce amazing works for the same reason. Learn about some of the things that an editor brings to your writing and why they are worth their weight in gold.