The Saskatchewan Festival of Words' one-day winter Literary Conference (LitCon) returns March 16, featuring in-person workshops focused on local genre writing, with LitCon also serving as a reunion and networking event for established and aspiring writers in the city.
"This year, we're really focused on more long-form workshops, because usually we do about four hour-long workshops and the feedback we were getting is that people wanted more time in each session," explained Amanda Farnel, executive director of the Saskatchewan Festival of Words.
This year's workshops start with an online 'Self-Publisher's Guide to Marketing' at 7 p.m. on March 12, featuring Marc Brick with FriesenPress.
The in-person events will then get underway on March 16 in the North Studio of the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre with two two-hour sessions: 'Disquiet and Unease — Horror and the Weird' with Drew Nicks from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., followed by 'When Pen Meets Pixel — Writing for Video Games' with Tonia Laird from 1 to 3 p.m.
LitCon will then conclude with a two-hour 'Writing Salon' from 3 to 5 p.m. The Writing Salon will serve to give attendees the space, time, and quiet they need to get ideas and inspirations from the day onto paper or into a text document.
"A lot of people want to write books and publish books, but many of them don't realize that with self-publishing, a lot is on the author," Farnel explained. "So, we've worked with FriesenPress to provide all the foundational marketing pieces that authors might need to get their book off the ground.
"And as part of that, Friesen is also offering a $500 manuscript evaluation giveaway, so anyone who attends that session will also be entered to potentially win that, which is a big sell."
For the in-person days, Farnel said they wanted to bring back some topics that aren't addressed as often as others: horror, the weird, and video game writing.
"Drew (Nicks) is an incredible writer in Moose Jaw, and we've worked with him a bit, we've done a workshop with him before, so we just think he's the right one for this," she said. "He'll go over figuring out what kind of horror you want to write, where to start, how to build tension, that kind of thing.
"And finally, something a bit different for us, we're doing a workshop on writing for video games, with Tonia Laird. And writing for video games has a lot of practical applications. We have a lot of D&D players here, so those branching storylines, but it also helps in other genres by giving you tools to explore different ways your story could go, and how characters can influence a story's direction in unexpected and very interesting ways."
Although pre-registration is required, all the LitCon sessions are free or by donation, so Farnel hopes to see as many writers, readers, Dungeon Masters, and other enthusiasts as possible.
Check the workshops out and register at www.festivalofwords.com/litcon.
The popular 'Wines Around the World' fundraiser for the Festival of Words is also coming up on Friday, Feb. 2. Find out more and buy tickets at www.festivalofwords.com/wines-around-the-world.
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