Continuing the series of Guides to Writer's Conferences, this week's Guide  helps you figure out which event is right for you...

In choosing one of the thousands of annual writers’ conferences and workshops it is important to know what stage of development you are at as a writer. Then you can start to think about what you need to know at this point in your development.  This will help you to find an event that matches those needs. Knowing what you need will prevent you from wasting time and money on an event that might be perfect for you two years from now, or two years ago.

So what stage of development are you at? Are you admitting for the first time that writing is what you want to do? Have you been writing for a while and feel your work and inspiration have reached a plateau? Do you have a completed draft of your first novel and want to know ‘what now’? In other words, are you a beginner, intermediate or advanced writer?

Write down which stage you think you are at:

[Beginner] [Intermediate] [Advanced]

The next thing you need to assess is your goals as a writer. If you are a beginner writer but know that you want to write novels, you will be looking for a conference or workshop with a heavy emphasis on the craft, and a lighter emphasis on the publishing business. (It is always good to know something about the publishing business before you start writing, however, so that you can set realistic goals and a plan for getting to them). If you are an advanced writer with the same goal of being a published novelist, you will be less interested in workshops on ‘creating great dialogue’ and much more interested in the larger conferences featuring one-on-one sessions with agents from the large New York publishing houses.

Write down your goals in one sentence:

[I want to …] 
[I’m not sure yet]

Beginners

If you know your goals (for example if you know you want to be a published novelist, or if you are sure that magazine features are the way to go), choosing the conference or workshop becomes easier. At this stage you may be best served by a workshop-based event that focuses on developing the craft in your chosen area. Critique sessions will help you refine your work. You can get feedback on your work in a safe environment – showing your writing to your family is something you have probably never done, because it would hurt too much if they gave you a bad review. Being critiqued by strangers, whose work you are to critique too, is safer.

Often, however, we do not know exactly how we want to write, just that we do want to write. Beginner writers without a clear goal should choose a broad-based conference, with informational sessions on many different aspects of the writing business. You may have assumed that ‘being a writer’ meant dashing off novels. This may have made you very apprehensive. At a conference that covers many aspects of writing however, you might find yourself in the “Breaking Into Screenwriting” seminar and realize that this is where you belong.

Small, regional conference will suit your needs at this point. Speakers who are working writers will be able to give you the information you need. You do not yet need to seek out conferences featuring New York agents and publishers or national magazine editors.

Intermediate Writers

At this stage, you are probably quite secure in your writing skills and ready to start finding an audience. You have two clear choices. A workshop will allow you to refine your developing skills, and perhaps fine-tune a work that you wish to have published. Search for workshops featuring writers you admire. Try to discern from the brochures, if a workshop is aimed at beginner or more advanced authors. Avoid the beginner workshops now. If you can, call and talk to the organizers or faculty, to get their opinion. You may want to consider workshops like those at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.

If you continue to attend purely craft-based sessions at this stage, however, there is a danger that you will become bored and feel you are stagnating. You should be beginning to think about getting your work out to its audience whether that means submitting to journals, approaching publishing houses or self-publishing. In this case, you may want to find a conference featuring business-based seminars and panels where the speakers are talking about the business of writing: how to break in, how to get your work out there. Try to make sure the seminars apply to your chosen path – don’t go to seminars with a self-publishing focus if what you really want is to have someone else publish your book.

Of course, it never hurts to listen to a few lectures on style, so don’t feel you have to shun these entirely. Find a mid-sized conference (a few hundred attendees at most) that features a mix of these kinds of sessions.

Advanced Writers

By this time you are actively seeking a way to place your work before your audience. Most likely you have one or more completed pieces. You should look for a conference or seminar that offers access to editors, agents and publishers: the people who will be your customers, who will buy your work. At this stage, you should not be concentrating so much on critique opportunities. You could continue to rewrite your work forever. Now you need to concentrate on the business of writing and look for conferences that will help you do that. A conference like the SouthWest Writers’ Conference or the Washington Independent Writers Conference might suit you.

You may also want to consider a writer’s retreat, if your work is still in the finishing stages. A writer’s retreat will give you a place to concentrate solely on completing and polishing the work, and will not advance your knowledge of the publishing industry.  

I strongly recommend learning about the publishing industry before you complete your work. To complete a work with one set of goals, only to find they are impractical, seems like an awful waste of your talents, to me. I keep talking about the writing ‘business’ and the publishing ‘industry’, and there is a reason for that. They are businesses. There is nothing romantic about writing and publishing. (There are things that are thrilling, fulfilling and challenging, however). Leaning this early on will keep you from being disillusioned at a later date, and from giving up, or blaming yourself when you face the inevitable rejections that are part of this business.

So, choose your conference or workshop, and check out my next column: ‘Getting The Most Out of A Writer’s Conference or Workshop’ for tips on what to do once you get there.

***

I’d love to hear your comments on this article: was it helpful; did your experience of conferences differ from this; is there anything I missed that you would like to know about? Send your comments to jd@jdwrite.com.  

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Conference Series

Pt.I - Beginner's Guide

Pt.II - Which Event?

Pt.III - Making The Most...

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