Now in its 32nd year, WriteAngles is Western New England’s premier conference by writers, for writers. At this one-day gathering, you’ll mix with experienced writers and agents in panel discussions, face-to-face meetings, and in casual networking opportunities. The affordably priced conference fee includes a continental breakfast and a bountiful buffet lunch. The conference is held in Mount Holyoke College’s gracious Willits-Hallowell Center, which features plenty of free parking and handicap accessibility. The full conference schedule is given below. Please note that you do not need to choose in advance which panel you plan to attend in each session.
8:15 to 9:00 am – Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:00 to 9:30 am – Morning Keynote Speaker: Andrea Hairston (Morrison Room)
NOTE: Individual agent meetings will run concurrently with the morning panels, 9:45 to 12:30, by pre-arranged appointment.
PANEL SESSION I – 9:45 to 11:00 am (Choose one)
The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir: Writing the Journey of Your Life (Morrison Room)
Workshop leader: Jennifer Browdy
Jennifer’s award-winning writer’s guide, THE ELEMENTAL JOURNEY OF PURPOSEFUL MEMOIR, uses the four elements—Earth, Water, Fire and Air—as potent metaphors to help us structure and explore our life journeys. Earth represents the childhood ground of our being; Water the teenage and young adult years, when we enter the cultural stream of our time and place; Fire represents our passions as well as the trials and tribulations we all face; and Air is the space of reflection and self-commentary. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll do some short writing about different moments in our lives, using Jennifer’s open-ended, inspiring prompts, and there will be time for optional sharing with the group.
Writing Sex (Andreola Room)
Panelists: Sacchi Green, Emily Nagoski, Jupiter’s Slut (moderator), Cecilia Tan
This panel will explore not only how to write compelling sex scenes, but also the social context in which we write about sex. In an age of rapidly changing norms around sexuality, what is changing in writing about sex? What are the social costs of writing about sex today? What, if any, are the responsibilities of writers who write about sex?
She Did What? Weaving the Elements of Fiction into a Story (Executive Board Room)
Panelists: Liz Bedell, Jennifer Jacobson, Ellen Meeropol (moderator), Lisa C. Taylor
Four fiction writers invite you to grow a story with them. We’ll start with a “what if” and use our imaginations together to incorporate four critical elements of fiction — character, plot, setting, and point of view — into a group narrative.
PANEL SESSION II – 11:15 am to 12:30 pm (Choose one)
Writing the Short Story (Executive Board Room)
Panelists: Jennifer Acker, Linda Rowland-Buckley (moderator), Linda McCullough Moore, Kate Senecal
A good short narrative may include elements of long prose such as sharp dialogue, well-drawn characters, and thoughtful endings. Yet, what length defines a short story? What is a novelette? The differences between the short form and a novel may seem murky. And where do you publish short prose? In our discussion, the panelists—published authors including a journal editor, will address the craft elements of a short story, the revision process, the evolution of the short form into the digital age and the business of publishing in journals.
Just the Facts: The Ins and Outs of Writing Historical and Research-Based Fiction & Nonfiction (Andreola Room)
Panelists: Joy Baglio, Maxine Schmidt, Jacqueline Sheehan, Marya Zilberberg (moderator)
Even if you aren’t writing historical fiction or biography or anything else that requires meticulous fact-checking, you still frequently face the need to research specific events, places, people, or whole fields of study. What was the weather the day you started out on that life-changing trek? What was it like for your grandfather to be tried for performing a legal abortion? What’s daily life like for your lepidopterist protagonist? How do your geologist characters think and speak about their work? And then there is the money. Is there financial support for your writing project and research, such as grants, fellowships, or other sources of funding? How do you craft a competitive proposal? This panel will demystify answers to these questions. We (probably) won’t light incense or chant “Om,” but we will try to help you eliminate some of the anxiety around this vast uncharted space.
Open Mic (Morrison Room)
Moderator: Ilya Parker
Be heard, be seen. Share your writing with the world at the Write Angles’ Open Mic. Newbies, beginners, veterans, and all welcome. The registration form will offer the option of bringing 3-5 minutes of prose or poetry to read. The first 12 who sign up will have a reserved slot and additional readers will be put on a waiting list. Readers and those who are on the waitlist will receive confirmation by email.
12:30 to 1:30 pm – Buffet Luncheon
1:30 to 1:45 pm – Celebration of WriteAngles Community Grant (Morrison Room)
AGAIN THIS YEAR – Legal Clinic 1:30 to 4:00 pm (concurrent with afternoon keynote speech and panels)
Sit down with Attorney Hun Ohm, a partner at the Northampton, Massachusetts, law firm Fierst, Kane & Bloomberg LLP, for a free, private 20-minute consult on your publishing, intellectual property, and/or merchandising and licensing legal issues. This clinic is designed to give WriteAngles attendees an opportunity to have general legal questions about the business answered. By appointment at the time of registration, concurrent with afternoon sessions.
Participants in the Legal Clinic will be requested to provide a brief description of their concern or questions prior to the conference so that our legal expert can better prepare. Confidential information need not, and should not, be included in this description. Further details for submission will be provided if you request the Legal Clinic during registration.
1:45 to 2:45 pm – Afternoon Keynote Speaker: Edie Meidav (Morrison Room)
PANEL SESSION III – 3:00 to 4:15 pm (Choose one)
Agents Panel: Successful Loglines (Morrison Room)
Panelists: Serene Hakim, Christine J. Lee, Julie Stevenson, Jennifer Udden, moderator TBA
The agents will share their clients’ success stories that began with a logline or query letter and ended with publication. In addition, the agents will offer feedback on loglines submitted in advance by conference registrants. Last but not least will be a wide-ranging Q & A session.
A logline is a one- or two-sentence description that boils down the main conflict in a story as succinctly as possible. In an interview on Grub Street’s blog, Lane “The Logline Whisperer” Shefter Bishop, says: “A good logline is the gift that keeps on giving. Writers use it to find an agent. Agents use the writers’ logline to sell it to editors. The same logline will sell your book to an agent, publisher, editor, and producer. Grab us quickly. Be unique. We all want the shiny new toy.”
4:15 to 4:30 pm – Wrap-up (Morrison Room)
Names will be drawn for attendance prizes. You must be present to win
