Write Now: Day 1 Summary Listings

Please see below for further information re: speakers, pricing. 

Friday 9 March

The Mechanics of Page Turning: Narrative Drive 

11.00am – 12.30pm

Narrative drive is a vital element in getting your work published. Novelist Sara Sheridan provides key hints and tips to keep the pages turning.

Making the Pitch and not Striking Out

11:00-12:30 or 14:30-16:00

Novelist Helen FitzGerald and screenwriter Sergio Casci will look at the art of the verbal pitch.

Looking for an Agent? An Expert Guide to the Submissions Process

11:00-12:30

Now you’ve written – or are writing – your book, how will you get it accepted by an agent, publisher or editor? Nicola Morgan reveals the common traps for the unwary and offers tips for success.

www.WRITER 

11.00am – 12.30pm Part 1 (requires advanced preparation by participants)

Don’t get left behind.  Writer and web designer Cat Dean will guide participants through setting up their own writer’s website-with-blog. By the end of the day, each participant will have a simple, but fully functioning website-with-blog.

The Marketplace

12.30am – 14.30pm FREE

Interested in the Scottish publishing scene?  If so ‘The Marketplace’ is the place to be.  This showcase will feature independent publishers and Scotland-based magazines that provide an outlet for new writers.  Pick up the latest and the best new writing along with ideas on how to get started writing or where to place your work.

Book to Film, Film to Book – Adaptations 

13:00-14:00 

An inside look at adaptation with author Helen FitzGerald, screenwriter Sergio Casci and film producer Claire Mundell. The session will also look at new developments and opportunities for writers.

Is Blogging For You? – Blogging Your Way to Success 

13:00-14:00

Whether it’s getting started or improving confidence in blogging newbies, experienced writer and blogger Cat Dean will provide practical tips on how to make the most of your blog.  

Writing For Graphic Novels 

13:00-14:00

Rodge Glass discusses the process of writing a graphic novel: the challenges of collaboration between writer and artist, and gives tips and advice on making your graphic novel a success. 

Your Book Needs You 

14:30-16:00

Novelist Sara Sheridan debunks the myths of book promotion and publicity and gives expert advice on how to use all the communications tools available to sell yourself effectively.

What Are Publishers Looking For? 

14:30-16:00

Nicola Morgan, author of 90 books, will share her knowledge of what makes agents and publishers say yes, giving you the best chance of success. 

www.WRITER 

14.30am – 16.00pm Part 2 (requires advanced preparation by participants)

Second half of this web design workshop.

The Making of a Bestseller - Christopher Brookmyre

16:30-17:30 £15/£12

Award-winning crime writer and author of 14 published novels, Christopher Brookmyre has plenty of experience to share with aspiring writers and interested readers.

Another Rallying Call: deadline for abstracts 8/4/11

‘Write Now!’
1 Day Post Graduate Creative Writing Conference
Strathclyde University, Glasgow
Friday 3rd June 2011

Critical papers and practice based presentations (a reading balanced by a critical element) are invited for the one day creative writing conference to be held in the heart of Glasgow.  Topics for presentations may include, but are not limited to:
• Language: found, reinvented or rediscovered
• Dialects: historical or modern
• Genre Fiction
• Emerging trends in fiction, poetry, drama and journalism

Creative Writing, Journalism and English postgraduates and scholars are invited to explore creative writing in the broadest possible terms considering genre, technique, language, historical development, impact and performance.  This conference aims to allow postgraduates and scholars to share their research and creative output but also to foster a community of writers and researchers interested in the many facets of creative writing.

               © Steve Lindridge
Keynote speaker Louise Welsh is the award winning author of The Cutting Room (2002) and most recently Naming the Bones (2010). She is also a successful playwright and is currently writer in residence for The University of Glasgow & Glasgow School of Art.

Readings may consist of a number of poems or 1-2 short works of fiction / literary journalism and may be on any topic and in any style.

Confirmed readers include:  Poet, linguist and Reader in English Studies David Kinloch who will read from his forthcoming collection Finger of a Frenchman (April 2011).  Somerset Maugham Award winning novelist and Creative Writing lecturer Rodge Glass will perform new work.  Award winning investigative journalist and Director of the Strathclyde University Innocence Project Eamonn O’Neill will give us an exclusive sneak peek into his forthcoming novel The Last Court of Appeal. Helen Fitzgerald (Aussie now living as a Weegie, novelist, ex-Social Worker, and many other things besides) will read from The Donor (July 2011), her latest novel.

Presentations 20 minutes
Readings 10 minutes (maximum)

Send proposal abstracts of not more than 300 words and creative pieces accompanied by a brief bio to: bryony.stocker@strath.ac.uk

Closing Date for Submissions: Friday 8th April 2011

Applications can be made via our online shop at http://onlineshop.strath.ac.uk click on the Humanities and Social Sciences link under Conferences and Events.  You will find our conference here with an online application.  Alternatively, please complete the application form available on our website http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/conferences and return with the fee of £10 per delegate.
The closing date for applications to attend is the 20th of May.

Organiser: Bryony Stocker, University of Strathclyde - bryony.stocker@strath.ac.uk
Promoter: Mary McDonough, University of Strathclyde - maryfmcdonough@me.com
Find us on the web at - http://flavors.me/writenow and follow us on Twitter

The Donor

We have another confirmed reader for Write Now on 3/6/11: Helen FitzGerald. She writes "comic noir" novels in which bad things happen to good people as well as to bad people. She was the last author in the Visiting Authors series of talks Doug Johnstone organised at the Ramshorn Theatre for this year on 30/3/11. She read just enough from her upcoming novel, The Donor (out in July 2011), and talked about her process as a writer, and why she needs contact with other people/writers to keep focussed and to keep going. The Donor is about a single, bumbling but well-intentioned, Dad to twin teenaged girls who finds himself in an impossible situation. There is apparently a lot of wine involved in his decision-making process....


Helen is all OVER the Web, and needs you to be her friend, because "writers need input" and audiences.


http://www.faber.co.uk/author/helen-fitzgerald/
http://helenfitzgerald.posterous.com/
Befriend her on Facebook http://tinyurl.com/3b6d5ac
or follow her on Twitter: @FitzGeraldHelen


Come meet her and hear more about The Donor for yourself on the 3rd of June. You can now register to attend on-line; http://tinyurl.com/43sjsoz takes you directly to the University of Strathclyde on-line shop. 


There is still time to send an abstract too, and we would love to hear from you: 


http://bit.ly/CFPDOC
http://bit.ly/CFPPDF

The Last Court of Appeal

Eamonn O'Neill will be reading from his forthcoming novel, The Last Court of Appeal, on 3/6/11, at the Write Now Creative Writing Conference at the University of Strathclyde. Eammon is a lecturer in Journalism at the University of Stathclyde, works as investigative journalist, and has previously authored 3 non-fiction works. Apart from being rather illustrious company, Eamonn also likes a good chin-wag (source who refused to be named; I'm prepared to remain silent, since I retain my 5th Amendment rights). There is still time to send Bryony Stocker an abstract; please see the CFP (in either PDF or Word format). We also welcome volunteers for a free reading of works in progress taking place in the evening after the conference is over.


http://bit.ly/CFPDOC
http://bit.ly/CFPPDF


Eamonn chirps as @EamonnONeill on Twitter; you can follow him there or subscribe to his site http://www.eamonnoneill.com for regular updates.