The Tony Hillerman Writers Weekend

November 11-13, 2010 in Santa Fe New Mexico

To register

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2010   9AM – 4PM

Create Compelling Characters and Dynamic Dialog
with award-winning novelist Margaret Coel

 

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WHO ARE THOSE PEOPLE IN YOUR HEAD?  Author Margaret Coel will guide you through the steps of identifying and getting to know the characters in your imagination and transporting them into your story. You will learn how to give them distinct personalities, viewpoints, and motivations that will make them come alive on the page. Writing exercises will help participants grasp the techniques to allow characters to act, react, suffer, change, prevail and, finally, live on in the minds of the reader.

 AND WHAT ARE THEY SAYING? Coel also will focus on dialog as a crucial devise for character development. Again using hands-on practice, she will work with writers conference students to develop the craft of writing dialog that feels like conversation and keeps the story moving. By the end of the day, participants will have tools to create dialog that transforms characters into multi-dimensional people.

Margaret Coel is an exceptionally skilled and openhearted teacher, encouraging class participation, discussion, and questions. Her workshop is appropriate for beginning writers as well as the more advanced.

Among her many awards, Coel's latest honor is the Frank Waters Award. "for exemplary literary achievement, as well as a canon of writing that communicates a deep understanding, celebration, and love of our human nature and peoples of all races." Margaret has been notified that she will be the Emeritus Winner of the High Crimes BookFestAward, to be given in October, 2010, in Billings, Montana, for her outstanding body of work.

The New York Times best-selling author of the acclaimed Wind River mystery series. Margaret Coel sets her stories among the Arapahos on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation. The latest is "The Spider's Web,” to be released Sept. 7. Her novels have been on numerous bestseller lists including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News. Among her honors are six Colorado Book Awards and the Rocky Award for Best Mystery Novel set in the American West, presented at the Left Coast Crime Conference. Her work also is featured in the new anthology, "A Dozen on Denver," a collection of short stories celebrating Denver, Colorado, first published in The Rocky Mountain News in 2008 to mark the city's 150th anniversary. She was among 12 of the area’s top writers invited to contribute.

Register for this class or the entire conference  

 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010  9AM – 4PM

Show Me the Energy!
Find the Fuel to Start, Complete, and Sell Your Writing Projects
with author and featured Oprah guest Bill O’Hanlon

In this fun session, author Bill O’Hanlon will show participants how to: Bill o'Hanlon

Bill O’Hanlon is the talented author of 30 books, including Write Is A Verb. He wrote his first 10 books when he had four kids at home, a private practice in psychotherapy, and a speaking career on the side — he speaks from experience! A much sought-after teacher, Bill is known for his entertaining yet meaty content. This workshop will have you itching to get back to writing and energized about applying the new tools and inspiration you have picked during this special writers weekend.

Register for this class or the entire conference

First chapter and synopsis critiques with Judith Van Gieson 

Author. publisher and editor Judith Van Gieson has agreed to help aspiring authors refine their first chapters and improve their synopses. Judith will read up to 25 pages of the first chapter of the manuscripts and meet with writers to discuss their work, focusing on strenghts and on areas that could use some improvement. Judith has also agreed to read and review a synopsis of the book. The offer is open to writers of both fiction and non-fiction and includes a written critique, a half-hour private session with Judith and a two hour class on writing first chapters. (The class is open to those not requesting crituques for $75---or free with full conference registration.)

 judithvangieson.jpgJudith Van Gieson is the author of a children’s book, a collection of poetry and short stories, and thirteen mysteries. Her short stories have appeared in several mystery anthologies. In the first mystery series eight books, featuring female Albuquerque attorney/sleuth Neil Hamel, were published by HarperCollins. Neil’s work often involved environmental issues including endangered species and wildfires. Books in this series were published in England, Japan and Germany. It was optioned by CBS. The Lies That Bind was a finalist for the Shamus Award for best detective novel. The series won the Spirit of Magnifico Literary Award. Her second series with heroine Clarie Reynier was published in paperback by Signet, in hardcover by University of New Mexico Press and in a large print edition by Thorndike. Claire, an archivist and librarian at the Center for Southwest Research at UNM,uses her knowledge of rare artifacts and New Mexico history to solve crimes. The Stolen Blue was a finalist for the Reviewer’s Choice Award. The Shadow of Venus won the Zia Award given by New Mexico Press Women for Best Work of Fiction by a New Mexico woman and was a finalist for the Barry Award.

Critiques, a private session with Judith, and her class on first chapters, are $200--or $150 for those registering for at least one day of the conference. Register for manuscript review or the entire conference and then send your manuscript on to us at WORDHARVEST/Tony Hillerman Conference, and we'll do the rest. 

 

Keynote address: Valerie Plame Wilsonvaleriepwilson.jpg

Valerie Plame Wilson is the former CIA covert operations officer who in 2003 found herself at the heart of a political firestorm when senior White House and State Department officials revealed her secret status to several national journalists--including a syndicated conservative newspaper columnist who published her name. She documented her experience in Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, published in October 2007 (Simon & Schuster). She is currently working on a spy novel. She and husband Joe Wilson live in Santa Fe.

Buy tickets, or register for the entire conference

Tony Hillerman Writers Weekend Schedule

(Schedule subject to change. All events at the Inn and Spa at Loretto, 211 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, N.M. All meals listed are included with registration.)

Thursday, November 11, 2010

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Writing the best first chapter--class with Judith Van Gieson

5:00 PM – 6 PM Registration

Friday, November 12, 2010

8-9 AM Breakfast and registration

9:00 AM –  12:00 PM – Workshop with Margaret Coel

12:00 PM – 1:30 PM – Lunch (includes time for writing assignment)

1:30 PM – 4:00 PM – Workshop with Margaret Coel 

Saturday, November 13, 2010

8-9 AM Breakfast and registration

9:00 AM –  12:00 PM – Workshop with Bill O’Hanlon

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM – Lunch

1:00 PM – 4:00 PM – Workshop with Bill O’Hanlon

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM – Reception/Booksigning

7:00 PM – 9:00 PM – Dinner/Presentation of Hillerman Prize
  Keynote by Valerie Plame Wilson 

Wordharvest Writers Workshops | 1063 Willow Way, Santa Fe NM 87507 | Phone: 505-471-1565