All About Plot Plus A Witchy Story
The FREE Online Plot Conference and TONS of writing links and resources!
*For writing links and resources, scroll down*
Escape the Plot Forest
You know what’s really hard? Plotting a novel. How do you hold the whole story in your head without papering your walls with thousands of scrawled-upon notecards? (Oh wait, maybe that IS the secret…)
Before you buy another pack of notecards, you may want to check out Escape the Plot Forest, an online event all about plotting and storytelling, happening October 22-25. (Stars THIS SATURDAY!)
This online conference is four days of interviews and presentations, and you can watch the whole summit live, for FREE (paid passes are still on reduced pricing, too).
Here’s a sampling of the sessions at this year’s summit:
Writing a Cozy Mystery with bestselling cozy mystery author Elizabeth S. Craig
Finding Your Way Out of the Muddy Middle with author Kat Caldwell
How Romance Novels Use the “Grand Gesture” with former acquisitions editor and romance story consultant Sue Brown Moore
plus sessions about historical fiction, horror, fantasy, character development, plotting hacks, and more.
Oh, and did I mention…?
I’ll be giving a presentation at Escape the Plot Forest. Souped-Up Suspense: Tips for Creating a Super-Twisty Mystery, Thriller, or Suspense Novel will be a summary of the first two lessons of my online course for paid subscribers.
But if you’re not a paid subscriber and/or if you’d like the first two lessons squeezed into one 45-minute video (and if you’d like to check out the skeleton earrings I’ll be wearing), the talk will be free if you watch live. Plus, there should be plenty of time at the end for questions! I’ll be discussing how to use characterization and narration to increase suspense and give tips for plotting a super-twisty page-turner. It’s happening on Oct. 24 at 11am Eastern time.
It’s free to register for the conference, and free to watch live. Note that the link here is unique to me, so if you decide to upgrade to the paid pass, I will get a commission (at no extra cost to you). I think the all access pass is completely worth it – when the summit ends, you will get ongoing replay access (watch all the sessions whenever you like), a pdf “book” of transcripts, and a ton of great bonuses.
A Witchy Tale
It’s almost Halloween… what are you going to be? I haven’t decided yet, but my five-year-old is going to be a vampire, and my two-year-old is going to be a skeleton. Because my kids are spooky like that.
When trying to decide which short story to share this month, I decided it had to be “The Three Gateways,” which was originally published in the Witches, Stitches & Bitches Anthology, edited by Shannon Page. With it’s witchy vibes, it’s the perfect story for Halloween and has just been emailed out to my paid subscribers.
As I mentioned in Why Are Retellings So Darn Popular, my MFA thesis was a collection of modern fairy tales. “The Tree Gateways” was one of the stories in the collection that was not based on a particular fairy tale. And yet, you’ll see that I used many fairy tale techniques:
a wicked step-parent
things happening in threes
a witch in a tower
magic
some classic fairy tale language
a classic fairy tale ending
Sometimes I think this story is YA — it has a teenage protagonist — but it’s awfully dark, so I’m not sure. I’d love to hear your thoughts if you read it. (And while you’re at it, check out my other fairy tale inspired story, “Bianca,” a modern retelling of Snow White.)
Speaking of Spooky…
If you’re doing the #PitDark Twitter pitch contest this Thursday, come find me on Twitter and let me know — I’ll be happy to help boost your tweets!
Writing News & Resources
For All Writers:
Poet & Writers is offering a online workshop for poets and writers of literary prose (fiction, nonfiction, creative nonfiction) called Mapping the Maze: Chart Your Path to Publication. There is a session at the end of October and another one at the beginning of November. Registration includes a one year subscription to Poets & Writers Magazine, and residents of the Detroit, Houston, and New Orleans metro areas are eligible for a discounted rate.
Here’s a really great thread of practical writing advice from author Allison Ashley.
November is National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo helps you track your progress, set milestones, connect with other writers, and participate in events to help you finish your novel (or get a good chunk of it written) — all for free.
If you’re planning to do NaNoWriMo, that means October might be “Preptober”— a time to prepare, brainstorm, outline, and otherwise get ready for next month’s novel-writing. Here are 15 Steps for Conquering NaNoWriMo, and my blog post on How to Write Better Novels with ONE Key Step.
Ready to take your prep to the next level? For the month of October, Editor Kristen Overman of The Good Story Company is offering special rates on her brainstorming sessions and outlining packages.
Looking for a writing mentor? The Authors of Tomorrow #CoachHunt is coming up on November 19. Writers pitch their story ideas on Twitter or Google Forms to a panel of coaches, who reach out to writers if they are interested in their story and want to mentor them.
All-writer-voted and open to all, Sixfold’s three-round manuscript voting is trigorous, thorough, fair, and transparent. To create each issue, hundreds of writers vote to select the best fiction and poetry manuscripts. $5 to enter and $1000 in prizes for the best story and poem. Enter by Oct. 24.
Globe Soup if offering a historical fiction short story challenge. Sign up by October 28 and get randomly assigned a period of history to use as the setting for a story.
Check out the NYC Midnight 250-word Microfiction Challenge. Based on a randomly assigned prompt, write a super short story in 24 hours. There are multiple rounds, and everyone gets feedback from the judges. You’ll be amazed what you can produce when the pressure’s on and you’ve paid to compete. The challenge starts November 18.
For KidLit Writers:
You can’t be a writer without being a reader. Sign up with Multicultural Children’s Book Day to be a Diverse KidLit Reviewer and receive a free children’s or YA book. You don’t have to be a blogger as long as you’re willing to share your review on a site like Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Sign up ends 12/31/22.
I just thought some of you might like (or need) to see this: Seven Authors on Making Their YA Debuts After Age 50
Mark your calendars for YALL Fest, the YA Book Festival happening in Charleston, SC November 11-12.
Give some thought to joining SCBWI (The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators). Members have access to conferences, events, critique groups, mentoring programs, resources, podcasts, publicity opportunities, and more.
October 27 is #PBPitch — a Twitter pitch contest for all unagented picture book authors.
For Querying Writers:
The Manuscript Academy Podcast finally has a new 10 Queries episode! Listen to an agent go through their inbox, making comments on ten of the recent queries they’ve received. A great peek into what happens on the other side! (The Manuscript Academy has made many of these 10 Queries episodes, but they haven’t done one in a while, so you’ll have to scroll back in time a bit to find more.)
If you have the bandwidth for it, check out this insanely comprehensive spreadsheet of successful queries. Learn the details and read the actual query letters for books that got agent representation.
Every Friday, Operation Awesome offers one free query critique through their #QueryFriday contest.
The Savvy Authors Pitch Fest will be held October 26-28. Pitch in an online forum to agents and editors (for free)!
The Authors of Tomorrow will be offering Query Dojo on October 29. This program allows young authors to submit their query letters to mock agents for practice querying. Applications are currently open!
If you live in the DC area, attend my affordable, in-person workshop at The Writers Center in Bethesda, MD: How to Get a Lit Agent. In the first class we’ll talk about how to research agents and write a great query letter, and in the second class we’ll critique query letters. I’d love to have you: November 12 and November 19.
Submission is open from now until Nov. 4 for the Blue Pencil Agency Pitch Prize. I don’t know much about this, but might be worth looking into. Entry fee is £12.
The querying trenches are rough right now, and Twitter pitch parties can feel like shouting into the void with thousands of other screaming writers, but still, it’s a way to meet other writers and it certainly doesn’t hurt to try. (After all, I found my agent through a Twitter pitch party. I am now an official success story!) So mark your calendar for these upcoming Twitter pitch parties. And be sure to read my article 13 Things to Know About Twitter Pitch Events.
October 20: #PitDark — Twitter pitch for all unagented authors of horror, mystery, thriller, paranormal, and anything else with a “dark” vibe.
October 27: #PBPitch — Twitter pitch for all unagented picture book authors.
November 3: #MoodPitch — Twitter pitch for all genres… and you get to include a “mood board” that communicates the vibe/aesthetic of your book. This is the Twitter pitch contest that got me my agent!
Writing Conferences:
Mark your calendar for Daniel David Wallace’s online plot summit, Escape the Plot Forest, happening October 22-25. This is a virtual conference all about plotting, and Daniel’s conferences are some of the best I’ve ever attended. Plus, I’ll be giving a talk on Monday, Oct. 24 on Tips to Creating a Super-Twisty Mystery, Thriller, or Suspense Novel! All sessions are FREE to watch live.
The YALL Fest, the YA Book Festival is happening in Charleston, SC November 11-12.
This year the Writing Day Workshop “How to Get Published” Conferences will be held virtually. I attended one of these conferences in person a few years ago in Philadelphia, and I thought it was fantastic. I can’t vouch for the virtual version, but there are some benefits: recorded classes, no travel expenses, attend in your comfy pants. Plus, you can sign up for Zoom pitch sessions with agents for $29 a piece. Check out the upcoming conferences (and remember, anyone can attend from anywhere; just keep the time zone in mind).
Registration is now open for the enormous AWP Conference (Association of Writers and Writing Programs). It’s being held in March 2023 in Seattle, which is one of my favorite cities.
For more writing conferences, check out this list or this list of 19 Writing Conferences for Emerging and Established Writers.