Besides going to hear the keynote speakers and meeting awesome agents and editors, why else do people come to a writers’ conference? The classes, the panels, and the workshops. The 2013 DFW Writers’ Conference is going to have all of that and more.
We’ve started posting articles on this site about our speakers and the classes they will teach. To find them, click on the “Speakers” category on the right side of the screen. Check back often for more updates. The preliminary schedule is located below. Note that this schedule will change, so check back often. A final printed schedule will be available with the program we give you when you arrive.
Schedule:
Here is the schedule as it currently stands. All classes are either one hour or an hour and a half. Classes are staggered to reduce the demand on the facilities. If you plan to leave a class before it is over, please sit close to the door and exit quietly. When entering a class already in progress, please enter quietly and quickly find a seat.
The last schedule:
May 3, 2013: DFWCon Schedule ’13
Another with Times and Rooms: dfwcon_2013_classes_monitors
Program
Below is a complete list of program descriptions. Some classes are still under final development, so some items on day 2 will be blank. We’ve tried to correct as many mistakes as possible, but there are bound to be a few. Please forgive our transgressions — or better yet, volunteer to help out next year.
Program Description Day 1: Program Descriptions Day 1
Program Description Day 2: Program Descriptions Day 2
All small group workshops are full. Watch twitter and Facebook on the chance that a seat opens up.
Registration for How to Make a e-Book workshop starts on 9:00am on Saturday April 13th.
Limited Seating Workshops:
All limited seating workshops are CLOSED:
Click here to learn more about the limited seating workshops.
Speculative Fiction: http://dfwspecfict.eventbrite.com
YA / MG: http://dfwyamg.eventbrite.com
Thriller / Suspense / Mystery: http://dfwtsm.eventbrite.com
Romance (no YA): http://dfwromance.eventbrite.com
YA/MG2: http://dfwyamg2.eventbrite.com
How to Make an e-Book: http://dfwmakeebook.eventbrite.com
Questions?
Got questions? Feel free to comment in the space below. Ask away — your question may be the same as ten others who are afraid to post. Do it! You know you want to!
Will there be anything for non-fiction writers?
Don’t think we left out the non-fiction writers. In addition to the basic classes we will have Mike Capuzzo (NY Times bestselling non-fiction author) doing a class and Suzy Spencer (also NY Times bestselling true crime author). Dawn Frederick – non-fiction agent will attend and Uwe Stender will be doing a class on book proposals.
When will sign-ups for the workshops open?
Limited seating workshops were opened in April. All seat are closed.
I registered but have not received any information. I’d like to sign up to pitch.
Jeanne Skartsiaris
If you have registered you should have received a confirmation email from Eventbrite. To sign-up for pitch sessions you will need to go back into your Eventbrite profile and edit the questions. Steve has written a step by step article on how to do it. http://wp.me/p2YwVX-5m If you still have issue you can email me at kirk(at)dfwcon(dot)org.
How important are the Opening Comments on the first day? I have to drive in that morning and will probably miss them.
Opening comments are going to be quick. Classes will start at promptly at 8:00am.
When do we find out when our registered pitch sessions will take place? I have signed up for one of the small group workshops to get feedback on one of my manuscripts, but plan to pitch another at my agent pitch session. I would really hate to miss out on anything that would help one because I was pitching the other.
I signed up for one pitch session; however, I really wanted to purchase two more. There are no opportunities on the website to do this. Also, I have received no confirmations for the pitch session I requested.
Hey Lonnie. Confirmation letters for you free pitch session will be emailed in the next week or two. Additional pitch session will be available for purchase AT the conference.
BTW – are you bringing the GoldWing?
Hi Lonnie, I’ll be sending you an email with your pitch session information approximately two weeks before the conference. We need to figure out how many sessions will still be available after all registrants are scheduled before we can start signups for additional sessions. Meanwhile, people are still registering. So, we’ll make those available at the conference itself.
I have a couple of questions about submitting a query for the Gong Show:
– How and when should we submit the query?
– Should we only submit if it’s for a finished manuscript?
Thanks for the questions. There will be a query submission drop box at the conference. Queries do not HAVE to be for completed manuscripts, but we have had agents ask for them in the past.
In looking at the schedule, I noticed down the left edge of the chart names listed at various times under “Gallery.” What does this mean? I’m just curious. (As a first time attendee I’ll be the first to admit I have a lot to learn.)
Book signings
Thanks!
Are we to assume that if we signed up for the first YA/MG session (and got confirmation) that we’re in the first session listed on the schedule? I want to make sure I plan accordingly. Thanks!
Yes. The first YA/MG Session is the one occurring in the morning. The time should be on your Eventbrite confirmation email.
Great, thank you!
I know that scheduling the programs must be a really difficult, frustrating process that involves juggling times, schedules and diva-like requests of the speakers, but you guys are killing me!!
The latest version has several workshops I really wanted to attend scheduled at the same time. Just in case you’re open to persuasion: Please don’t schedule The Character Web at the same time as Kim Boykin’s Texture workshop, and don’t schedule Roni Loren’s Love Scene workshop at the same time as the Writing Past Chapter Three panel. If possible. Please. As incentive, I’ll name you all in the Acknowledgements in my first novel that will soar to number 1 on all the bestseller lists because I was able to attend all four of these phenomenal sessions…
I’m agreeing with Karen Sheridan. I am also struggling with these same classes being at the same time…..
There are several conflicting sessions I am interested in attending that I am just going to have to choose which will be the best for my career. I have signed up for the second YA workshop and submitted a scene to Roni to critique for the Romance session, which are simultaneous. The YA workshop is more important to me as I have a finished YA manuscript that I want feedback to help me make it more marketable. My WIP is romance, so it is just going to have to take a backseat. I just look at the session descriptions and think about my own work and what makes the most sense for my writing life.
More than a little frustrated…when I registered for this conference, on March 26th, the website stated that registration for the limited seating workshops would open one week prior to the conference. Not one month, one week. So I come back today to check, and find that registration opened one month prior to the workshop. Fool me once…
So I posed this same question in the Limited Seating sections, but I never got a response, so her goes one more try…. For the summary we need to have: is it a shorter synopsis, meaning it includes the ending, or not? I know this might be a silly question, but I don’t want to do this wrong. Thanks!
The summary should be only two or three sentence. It is NOT a synopsis or the query. Just enough to let the team know what the story is about.
Ok. Thanks so much for the help!
Any possibility of getting on a wait list for the ebook workshop?
This class is booked. Sorry.
What is the Sat evening event? And who attends?
It’s at 7 and open to all attendees.
It’s a reception for the attendees to get a chance to meet the literary agents and editors, and pitch to them as well if you like.
I’m excited about signing up for my first DFW Writer’s Conference, but I have a question; if something comes up between now and the 2014 conference, is there any amount of money that can be refunded?
Yes, but there will be a cancellation fee.