It was so great to return to the Surrey International Writers’ Conference last month and see old and new faces. The first thought was, wow, how well organized it was, with the in-person and virtual versions seeming to come off without a hitch (and knowing how hard the many volunteers were working to make it seem so).
My conference began with a master-class with Donald Maass, ‘Arc, Anti-Arc and the Transformation of Character’ that was all I hoped it would be. Over three hours later I left with my head bursting, a lot of notes and some really good ideas on how to make my characters more engaging, believable and ensuring readers can connect emotionally.
The conference proper kicked off the next morning. I had taken the day off of work and was so glad I did. I was supposed to pitch to an agent but found out that the agent hadn’t been able to make it to the conference – so I go to choose another one. Not many agents there were interested in historical fiction so I and grateful to be able to schedule Carly Watters for Sunday morning. Two days to prepare, which I needed, as I was rusty. More on that later…
The conference kickoff keynote was by Gabino Iglesias, and he made a compelling argument that writers have to keep on writing, despite everything else going on around them. Think things are going swimmingly with a book tour lined up and a new book about to come out? Think again – thanks to the pandemic. There will always be something – and the trick is to keep writing through adversity.
The sessions on the first day were good. I took in Fonda Lee’s ‘The Rule of Three’ on writing a trilogy (as it turns out that is what I’m writing…unless I keep going), which was helpful until she said “the first novel of a trilogy is the easiest to write.” Crap.
A highlight was DongWon Song’s ‘Pitching 101’, which provided lots of helpful tips and a bonus: 20 minutes at the end where he asked if anyone there wanted to get up and pitch – and four people did! They were great. Kudos to them for having the courage to get up in front of the room and pitch (I was not ready).
I then took in a panel discussion called ‘What Goes Unsaid’, about showing emotion in places other than the dialogue. Diana Gabaldon said “keep emotion out of the dialogue”, which Robert Dugoni reiterated during my Blue Pencil session next. He also provided some much needed positive feedback, mentioning my use of “the third element”. In the opening to The Storyteller’s Desire, my protagonist Geoffrey Chaucer is making love and then arguing with his wife Pippa over a poem of his that she discovered – an ode to a princess – just as their baby starts crying. The crying baby is the “third element” that Dugoni said creates tension, and was used well in this scene. He then pointed out unnecessary dialogue and some overwriting (as per Diana’s earlier point), and a POV slip I had missed after countless edits.He also said he felt the chapter conveyed a clear authorial voice, which was great to hear. He really is a master of openings and I was grateful to end that day’s sessions on a positive note.
That positive vibe continued in the bar meeting in person the gang from my historical fiction writing group from Creative Academy (check it out!) who had travelled to Surrey from Ohio, Portland and Victoria (I had texted “hysterical fiction group” to a friend earlier, which become more true as the evening progressed). I had met them virtually a few months earlier during bi-monthly virtual meetups, and by the end of the day we were getting to know each other again/better. Nothing beats in-person connections, and a couple of drinks doesn’t hurt the storytelling either!
I was missing my other gang, a writing group formed from attendees at SiWC pre-Covid. We had since continued to meet virtually but none of them were able to make SiWC in person this year, but they were all online. Missed you all, and hope we can all be there next year.
I was exhausted from a hard week at work so missed the goings on after dinner, but was up bright and early to workout. Where I met the keynote speaker Gabino Iglesias in the gym (that man is built!). We chatted about writing and what I was pitching – very nice guy. Another reason to be at the conference in person for these serendipitous meetups to happen.
Saturday I did it all again. I took in Carly Watters’ session ‘The Business of How Authors Make Money’. I would have gone to this regardless of my pitching to her, as I was a fan from her podcast ‘The Shit No One tells You About Writing’, a must listen to for emerging (and really any) writers.
Carly laid out the facts of the writing business, including the lay of the land re: big five publishers and indies, how contracts are arranged, average incomes (gulp), royalties, and lots more. I found one of the most interesting parts of the talk was how a book gets on a best sellers list – part art, part science, part business. My day job is in marketing communications so it wasn’t surprising but still fascinating to see behind the curtain.
Then I took in Sara Desai’s ‘Writing Sex Scenes’ (as I have several in my novel) and found her break down of the elements involved in setting a sex scene that works very helpful.
Elizabeth Boyle’s ‘Writing Historical Fiction’ was straightforward and I realized half way through that I may have taken a similar session from her before, but the ending was super helpful when she was describing Google searches using a dash after the name (means delete from search), or a tilde (find synonyms) or two periods between dates (time period). Who knew? I didn’t.
Then drinks at the bar, and helping one of my writing group prep for a pitch session. Her story was set during Roman times in Jerusalem, with you know who as a key character – yet not mentioned in the pitch. So we convinced her to include, and she did, and her pitch went very well and she was asked for a full.
Then the banquet and Carly’s keynote, which was about the state of the publishing and writing business, reminding us all that it is a business. The fact that the business is growing, and grew during the pandemic, was a bit surprising but made sense on reflection. The fact that a huge chunk of that growth/sales has been from TikTok was very surprising. Or not, as I see the same thing in my industry.
Then back to the bar…and more lies (I mean stories – I’m looking at you, Brian W.!). And making plans to go to San Antonio next June for the Historical Novel Conference.
Then in the morning I met the gang for breakfast and pitched my story and they gave great feedback, and I went back up to my room, re-wrote it (less like a synopsis, now more about how Chaucer changes) and pitched Carly – successfully, as she asked for pages. She also asked which sessions I had enjoyed and I blanked. I could not name a single one. Exhaustion had set in. Other than her probably thinking me a bit dense, I was happy to end the conference on a positive note. Which got better when I drove a couple of my gang to the airport, missing the closing keynote but allowing us to connect even further.
And at the end of the day, growing the tribe, and making deeper connections, is kind of what this whole thing is about. As it is lonely trying to do it all yourself. Now to get ready for the San Diego Writing Workshop…