Learn Brandon Sanderson's Top Ten things he wish he knew when he was a teen author. This fun and inspiring keynote is a must for anyone who has ever even thought about writing.

You don't have to travel to exotic places or go on heart-pounding adventures. It doesn't matter where you've been and what you've done. Everyone has a story to tell. We just need to know where to look. Our emotional world is as rich as the world outside. Let me help you find your story.

When Elizabeth Lowham was fifteen years old, she attended a writing conference for teens, hoping to learn more about how to write a book and maybe—someday—even get it published. It was a long journey from that first conference to getting her first book published, and in this presentation, Elizabeth will share five things she learned during her journey that can help other young writers carve their own path to publication.

This class is for anyone who is a fan of either Marissa Meyer, Kendare Blake or Jennifer Lynn Barnes. If you've ever had questions about their favorite books, why they wrote their books, what is hard and what is rewarding for them as authors, this class is for you.

Join these well-known authors as they craft a story together using some of the same tenets as Dungeons and Dragons. This class can help students come up with story ideas. Activity: This class would pair well with an author study. Have students read a book written by one of the authors in the video, and then watch this video.

This class focuses on creating believable and well-rounded characters. It delves into the psychological aspects of character building from nature versus nurture to personality tests for characters. You'll also learn tips for understanding your characters in a deeper way.

Does your main character take a trip to the slammer on the path to redemption? Have you ever wanted to write a series set in jail, but you don’t know what you don't know? Listen to how life goes down in prison from someone who’s been on the inside (well, as a therapist). In this class, you’ll learn what friendship looks like among prisoners, just how bad those prison meals are, and the choreography, timing, and circumstances of prison fights (and what the consequences are). I'll show you how hard it really is to escape from prison, whether the guards or dangerous prisoners are the true villains, and how prison hierarchies are structured. Tattoos, shanks, and the three words an inmate should NEVER say if they want to stay out of trouble--learn all this and more in this eye-opening class.

Many writers struggle with revision, but the art of revision can take a good story to a great one. Author Shannon Hale once described drafting as piling sand into a heap to build a castle later, and this class will go through several tools to help you shape your own castle from your story: revising for plot, revising for character, revising for pacing, and revising for voice.

In this class you will learn all about the publishing world. Shelley Brown teaches you what you should focus on now as well as what you should do in the future if you want to be published. It includes writing a query letter, self-publishing and different places you can publish as well as how to know when you are ready to publish.

Welcome to character development 101, where you will walk in with the first glimpses of your projects’ participants and come out with fleshed out characters that are ready to transform your tale!

Providing a focus on building character personality and motivation, as well as some pro-tips for avoiding potential pitfalls, you will leave feeling prepared to tackle your project with newfound excitement and a shiny new character template to post on your vision board!

In this class Julie Berry leads you through character creation with an interactive worksheet. She also covers how to create good antagonists and allies and how to push these characters together to create great conflict.

This class focuses on the mechanics of character desire to help you flesh out your characters and build a plot around the characters true motivations and needs. Heather Clark details different types of obstacles to create for your characters as well as how to raise the stakes with those obstacles for both your main character and secondary characters.

This class will teach you the different types of heroes and villains you can create in your stories, the difference between a villain and an an antogonist, types of conflict, and how to mash up all of these ideas to create the strongest conflict possible.

This class focuses on creating amazing antagonists and/or villains. Jennifer Nielsen teaches you the differences between heroes and villains, common major and minor motives of villains, finding the core emotion for your villain, and the questions you need to ask yourself in order to create a well-rounded villain.

Enjoy this keynote talk by Kendare Blake in which she walks you through her workspace, a day in her life when she's figuring out story ideas, and most importantly, how to deal with distraction.

Jennifer Jenkins focuses on all things related to dialogue. From recognizing dialogue in text to knowing your characters to how to tag your dialogue in the correct ways. Gives great advice on mixing your dialogue with action to create a more cohesive story.

Examine the art of literary conversation in this writing class where words come alive and wit takes center stage. Dive into the realm of storytelling through dialogue and talk through landing lines that carry the weight of emotion, humor, and intrigue.

Don’t make your character live with those same regrets. This class will go through the ins and outs of the five things dialogue must do in order to deserve space on your page. We will discuss letting your characters be genuine without being corny and witty without being exhausting. We will discuss tags, stereotypes, and all the ways you can create the art of conversation without drowning your reader in the boredom of blah, blah, blah.

This class teaches you how to use your characters to help plot your story. Erin Stewart leads you through an entire character driven plot structure as well as showing you which parts of the story are crucial to character arc plotting.

Endings are hard for many writers to nail, but they can make or break a book. Readers can forgive many shortcomings if an ending is excellent. In this class, I’ll teach you how to master the ending of your book, as well as your chapter endings and even sentence endings. I’ll share how to build toward endings, make them resonate, be powerful, have clever prose, tie up loose ends, promise more to come, and leave room for reader imagination.

Have you ever dreaded the long silence when recording a podcast or video? Wanted to interview your favorite author? Or do you have a character in your novel on either side of the interrogation table? In this advanced class, we will learn skills and techniques such as an hourglass conversation, the stealth approach, and the art of why. Gleaning techniques from intelligence agencies like the FBI and professional journalists, we will learn to seamlessly shape a conversation for optimal information gathering. Use these robust tools for your writer toolbox to question your characters, meet your favorite superstars or even get a date.

All authors get asked this question over and over again: Where do you get your ideas? In this class we'll talk about where ideas come from, learning how to pay attention to what I call “sparks of inspiration”—and how to create those sparks if you don’t have any. We’ll also talk about how to decide what ideas to pursue or not. To finish, we’ll go through some methods to help you generate ideas when you’re struggling, with a fun interactive activity as a class. Come get inspired and leave with new book ideas!

With equal parts gratitude, commitment, passion, and inspiration, Swartz shares in this interactive presentation her long journey to yes and her thoughts on dreaming big, preserving, and what it truly means to be brave. To Swartz, bravery goes beyond the tropes in superhero movies. Bravery is what gives you the courage to stand up for yourself and others. The spark to be curious. The freedom to make mistakes. And the strength to get back up. It gives you the room to dream and the patience you need to get there. Bravery is not just for the popular, the loud, and the confident. Bravery is for everyone. Be brave! Be fearless! Be you! “[P]art pep rally, part motivational speech" is what the Enterprise News called Swartz’s interactive assembly.

Having your own voice is crucial. We hear about it all the time, but how do you achieve it? Author J. Scott Savage teaches you what voice is, how you find your voice, and more importantly how you find your characters' voices. Also includes the difference between first and third person and writing with your audience in mind.

Teens are facing challenges few could have imagined. Learn about tools and tips you can arm teens with to better cope with existing and upcoming challenges to help find a balance for their lives.

Writing should be an improvisational act that we enjoy, but often we get mired in not knowing what to write or how to write it and we freeze ending up writing nothing at all. But that’s not how it has to be. Writing should also be play. In our class, we’ll explore the basics of flow and play, how an understanding of improv supports it, and finally experiment with playful writing.

The first obstacle any writer faces is getting started. In this class, you'll learn how to tackle the dreaded blank page and gain new techniques for overcoming writers' block.

Follow along with Robyn Sneider as she teaches you how to create the most believable characters. From your main characters to the side characters and beyond, you will get amazing tips and tricks for helping your characters jump right off the page.

This class is deep dive into revision. An editor herself, Kaela Rivera covers a hierarchy of revision, methods for revision, how to know when your book is ready for submission, and how to take critique. Whether you are a newbie to revision or have been doing it for years, this class is for you.

This class should be the first class you watch from this website. Frank Cole covers defining your characters and conflict, what to include in your first chapter, and tons advice from published authors. Most importantly he gives you tips for how to clear your space for writing and how to get words on the page every single day.

Time to learn my tips, tricks, and pitfalls of writing comedy. If you survive the class, you'll be funnier!

Join Alexander Delacroix as he teaches you all things fictional tension related. You will learn overarching ways to create tension in the general storyline, how to create it within your main character, and how to write a great cliffhanger at the ends of chapters or series.

There are so many classes on how to succeed in writing. The truth is, failure and rejection are a big part of creation and publishing. In this class I will coach you on a healthy approach to writing a novel, covering subjects on combating writer's block, rejection, and the monster who can become the greatest villain of all: ourselves.

In this class Emma Nelson uses the basics of video games to teach important concepts of story writing. She relates this to creating great characters, building amazing worlds, and leaving the right questions in the reader’s mind. Grades: 6-12

A more advanced class, Jo Schaffer-Layton leads you through narrowing down your writing to the best words. The focus is on technical writing, but applies to all aspects of writing. Includes how to find the extraneous words, common wordiness mistakes, and how to cut unnecessary words.

In this class Tiffany Rosenhan gives advice for keeping readers engaged in your story. She covers why it is harder to engage now than it was in the past, common mistakes writers make in the opening pages, and what to do in those opening pages to ensure your readers keep reading.

Have you ever wanted writing to be your career? This class is for you. Phillip Chipping details possible jobs you can pursue as well as outlining the fundamentals of StoryBrand (TM)—an amazing marketing tool for anyone wanting to pursue writing as a career. Along with this, he relates all of the marketing to writing an amazing story.
**This would also be a great lesson for a marketing class.

This class is for anyone who has an interest in getting their poetry out into the world. It covers poetry revision, tips for making your poems submission ready, and places you can go to publish your own work.

Every book needs tension, and that often comes in the form of an “action” or “fight” scene. Whether you’re looking to create a Tolkien-type epic battle or have two characters in a spat, learn how to make your next fight scene one readers will hold their breath through.

Two published teen writers share methods for finding the right co-author, strategies for succes in co-writing, communicating with your co-author and mistakes to avoid when co-writing. If you have ever struggled when writing with someone else, this class is for you.

This inspiring keynote will teach you to believe in yourself and in your writing. Julie Berry tells you her writing background and her inspiration for her books. Watch this class whenever you need a writing boost.

Writers with a strong network of friends are more likely to succeed at their writing goals, so how do you develop your network? This class covers core social skills, finding good mentors, and building supportive friendships with peers. Ways to develop writing groups and stay connected even when this conference is over. We’ll also discuss battling imposter syndrome, social anxiety, and writerly self doubt. You’re way more likely to succeed in your life goals if you have companions on your quest. It is dangerous to go alone, acquire friends and take them with you!

Suspense and tension and driving forces for reading. In this class Nova McBee teaches you twelve different ways to create mystery in your story.

Darcie shares hers ups and downs, stops and starts, rejections and delayed victory on her path to being a published author.

Everyone has their own path. Christopher Paolini shares his unique path starting from when he was homeschooled telling his mom he hated writing to becoming a Guinness Book of World Record holder for being the youngest author to have a best selling series.

Nick Brooks is an author and award-winning filmmaker from Washington, DC. He is a 2020 graduate of USC's TV and Film Production program. His short film, Hoop Dreamin', earned him the George Lucas Scholar Award and was a finalist in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Film Fest. He is currently in development for his first feature film, We Were Born Kings, with Mandalay Pictures. Before becoming a filmmaker, Nick was an educator working with at-risk youth and many of his stories are colored by his experiences with the children and families of his community. He is also the author of Nothing Interesting Ever Happens to Ethan Fairmont.

Adam recounts lessons learned from his tenure in various writers room, including Studio C and Freelancers. He explores ways to create your own writers room in your head--like a lunatic or, you know, a writer.

You have lots of ideas, but how to turn them into a cohesive story? Jessica Day George will show you how to take those ideas, chart them on a spider graph, and turn them into an outline! Audience participation encouraged!

This class covers tons of tips and tricks for making dialogue work in your writing, how to make it sound believable, how to tweak it for characters, and how to use it to move your plot forward.

This class is for anyone who is a fan of either Marissa Meyer, Kendare Blake or Jennifer Lynn Barnes. If you've ever had questions about their favorite books, why they wrote their books, what is hard and what is rewarding for them as authors, this class is for you.
Activity:
Use this as a follow up after reading one of the books by one of the authors. This gives a good idea of their personalities as well as some behind the scenes info. about their writing.

Designed to help you craft a brilliant story beginning. Rosalyn Eves covers a plethora of elements you can weave into crafting the best first page possible. Gives examples and non-examples of what to do.

Isn't it a delicious feeling to dive into a book and enter another world? Whether your world is fantastical or realistic or sci-fi, you’ll learn how to make it a vivid, multi-sensory experience that completely immerses your readers. Through short, fun writing activities, you’ll discover strategies for bringing setting and characters to life with rich imagery and unique descriptions. You’ll leave the workshop feeling energized and equipped with new tools for bringing your stories to the next level.

In this class, Tricia Levenseller teaches you all you need to know about inciting incidences, including a formula for creating one, where to put it, and how to make it great. The end of class includes a question-and-answer session that has a lot of information about publishing books.

Life is complicated and often feels jumbled. Join Sandra Tayler to learn why that happens and how to shift your life so that there is space for peace and creativity to flourish inside it. This class is designed to help you decide on concrete steps you can take restructure your life so there is more space and time for the creative things you want to do.

Choosing the right imagery to shape your story also shapes your voice. We'll explore new ways of working with metaphors, similes, and other figurative language to give your writing a new richness. You will be doing practice exercises that can apply to any story you're currently working on, so come prepared to work!

Some writers have trouble adding enough conflict in their stories while others add too much. Conflict is necessary for good storytelling. Too little and you have no tension. Too much and your characters lose agency—the capability to choose a course of action that can change their outcome. Without character agency, your reader loses hope that the protagonist can achieve the main story goal. He or she becomes a victim to the plot, rather than the driver of it, and consequently loses reader interest and appeal. In this class, you’ll learn tips to enhance and troubleshoot the critical element of agency in your stories.

Whether you are a plotter or a pantser, this class is for you. It teaches you how to strike a balance between plotting your story and letting the story go where it takes you through teaching you a strategy called messy mapping. It begins with how to come up with ideas, to tips for creating conflict, to knowing certain characteristics of your story before you begin writing. Great suggestions given for anyone who is unsure of where to start with story planning as well as how to organize all your story planning into one place.

In this class Kathryn Purdie walks you through how to raise your stakes higher and higher as your story progresses. Some topics include how to get readers to like and understand your main character and antagonist, what the death stake is, internal and external stakes, and tips for making the stakes believable.

How do you make sure a reader will keep reading your story? With tension. This class covers what story tension is, different types of tension you can create, and how to actually create tension in your story through the way you weave it into your plot with pacing.

This class teaches you how to take your plotting to the next level by plotting through the eyes of a villain. When plotting with the bad or horrible things that will happen to your characters you automatically include tension throughout your book. This class also includes advice on adding detail, backstory, pacing and common mistakes to avoid. You'll get a lot of great information in a short period of time.

An overview of publishing as an author but also exploring other roles in the industry for teens who are into art, design, marketing, publicity.

Editors like to repeat the mantra to "raise the stakes" after each book in a fantasy series. Tension is what drives readers to turn the pages/tap the screen well past a reasonable time for turning off the lights. In writing fantasy, creating peril is the key ingredient. This class will discuss how to increase the sense of jeopardy and conflict in a story that will make your characters more interesting, the plot more riveting, your villains more menacing, and the setting more intense—while influencing your readers to delay putting the book down in order to read just "one more chapter!"

From Percy Jackson to the Song of Achilles, retellings of mythology remain a perennial favorite genre among writers and readers. This class will teach young writers how to draw from these sources to tell stories that are both familiar yet original, drawing from my experience utilizing African mythology in both A Song of Wraiths and Ruin and Serwa Boateng's Guide to Vampire Hunting.

Your ability to revise your own work depends on how clearly you can see it. We'll learn how to use an expanded scene map with many different data points to help you see your story in a whole new way.

Fairytale mashups are a great way to flex your writing muscle. This class gives you ideas for ways to retell common fairy tales. as well as what makes retelling such a valuable writing genre.

Some stories are content to follow a single character, but others need two or more points of view in order to tell the full tale. When you’re writing a book with multiple points of view, it can be difficult not only to keep track of them all, but also to make sure each narrator has their own distinct voice. In this class, we’ll discuss how to determine how many narrators your story needs, tips for making sure each point-of-view will hold your reader’s attention, and some tricks for getting to know all of your narrators so that each of their voices sound natural and distinct.

This is an introductory course on screenwriting taught by an industry professional with years of experience.

This class focuses on the setting of your story. Sarah B. Larsen teaches you how to
make the setting a secondary character in your book. It includes making your
setting unique, how to relate your setting to the characters, and ultimately what
descriptions to include to make the setting come alive.

“They” are always saying, “Show, Don’t Tell.”
Cool. Wanna try showing me how? Paint that for me. Let me see it on the page.
This class is a deep-dive into various technique options. We’ll show examples of when it’s working and when it’s not. We’ll practice transforming writing to show together. We’ll learn to show with metaphor and simile, sensory description, endowed objects, symbols, color, setting, dialogue, and powerful character action. I’d tell you how helpful this class will be, but it’ll be better if you come see for yourself.

You're intuitive. You're a pantser. But you're tired of writing without guard rails. Tired of tapping out of ideas midway through. Maybe those plotters have something going for them. Come learn to plot while still maximizing your intuitive gifts. Come learn different approaches to gently "herding the kittens" of your story. Try on and combine several different plotting/outlining paradigms—applied at any stage of the writing process—so your natural creativity still flows through your whole story.

This class focuses on creating an amazing setting. Yamile Saied Mendez leads you through using the temporal, environmental, and individual aspects of a story to create a believable world. Also includes how to describe your world to make the reader feel like they are there as well tools you can use to search an area in order to describe it.

Keep readers invested in your story, by showing them why they should care.
-- A a general discussion of the idea of picking the right stakes, and why a personal goal can sometimes be more impactful and powerful than saving the world.

Delmetira Millener teaches you several strategies for improving the craft of your writing as well as useful tips for making writing a career.

Are you a writer who has an amazing story idea with vivid characters and some stellar world building but you have no idea where your story is going? Well, let me introduce you to Story Structure! In this class, our goal is to have you prepared to write “Chapter One” all the way until “The End”. Come learn some new outlining techniques, storytelling hacks, and tip and tricks to get you ready to put that story on the page.

What is story structure? It is the foundational building blocks on which all good stories are built. In this class, Jennifer Jenkins walks you through building a Three Act Structure. She includes helpful hints tips and tricks for making each point in the structure work best for you. She also briefly introduces you to the structure she uses when plotting her own novels.

In this interactive class Aminah Mae Safi talks all things retell. It is a must for anyone interested in writing fan faction or putting new spins on old stories. She defines common writing acronyms you'll see often as a writer and leads you
through planning out your own retell.

In this class, Dustin Hansen leads you through the evolution of storytelling, from the earliest writing to current technological storytelling elements of today. As a bonus, the entire class is taught through the lens of video game writing, and how you can use the idea of video games to increase your writing skill.

Breaking down the first five pages of a novel to catch the agent or reader’s attention.

Have you ever sat down to write and just couldn't get one word down on the page? You need to figure out your flow. This class talks about what flow is, how to recognize it, and how to get it. Great advice for anyone who has ever struggled with getting things done.

This class focuses on writing romance. Author Jennifer Jenkins covers the common tropes of romance and how each trope ties to tension in a book. She includes laws of romantic tension as well as a ranked list of highest tension actions associated with romance.

This class contains all you need to know about building a science fiction/fantasy world. Join Roseanne A. Brown as she teaches you how to use the world to create your setting, characters and conflict. A must for anyone wanting to write within the science fiction/fantasy genres.

This class covers how to write amazing character driven stories by getting into the head of your characters. Erin Stewart takes you through some simple psychological charts and ideas to help you create an amazing character arch in your writing. Perfect for anyone wanting to write characters with depth.

There is more power to a princess than great shoes and a glittery gown. This class will take you through the strength that can be found in decidedly feminine aspects. Because your strong female lead deserves to be so much more than a 2D caricature of the typical male hero. We will help you avoid the traps of portraying feminine traits as weakness and teach how to use those same characteristics to show her strength. Whether she’s in the boardroom or the ballroom, we’ll show the magic that can happen with a well-rounded, powerful female lead.

We all have places we come from and are shaped by. How do we dive into our personal stories and ancestor’s stories to form and grow our own stories and books? In this class, we’ll be looking at ways of working with folklore, storytelling research, and our personal narratives to create fully fleshed characters for our worlds to inhabit.

Imagery and description are like salt—without them, your meal can feel dull, but too much, and you can’t enjoy the food at all. Balance is key! So in this class, you’ll learn how to use imagery to strengthen your book’s tone, setting, and pacing—without succumbing to the dreaded purple prose readers’ live in fear of.

Join some of the founders of Teen Author Boot Camp to learn how to take your writing to the next level with better description. This class gives you tips, tricks, and ideas for making your reader feel like they are fully immersed in your story.

We all watch movies, but decoding, analyzing, and understanding movies can help us become better storytellers, no matter what medium we tell our stories in. In this class, Bryan Young will show you techniques used in the cinema and how you can adapt them to your writing style to make it more effective and keep you learning for your entire life.

Sometimes we don’t have dreams about the perfect story ideas. Sometimes the lightbulb moments don’t come on their own. That’s okay! You can still be a writer! Come learn FUN techniques to help you create unique ideas for your stories!

This inspiring class will help you learn tips and tricks for continuing to write. Montrez leads you through some exercises to help you stay excited about the story you're writing as well as how to prepare yourself for writing,

Romance is the highest selling book genre. In fact you'd be hard pressed to find any book or movie that doesn't include romance in some way. This makes mastering it very important. This class includes why you should write romance, what makes a good romance, possible tropes, and how to create conflict to take your romance writing to the next level.

In many stories the setting can be almost as important as the story itself. Knowing how to create a world for your characters to live in and how to present that world to the reader can be tricky. Aprilynne Pike teaches you how to do this with believability.

Join Leigh Bardugo, Rena Barron, and Roseanne Brown as they discuss their strategies for world building and research. You'll learn what to focus on when building a new world for your characters to live in. Also includes a Q & A section filled with great writing advice for new writers.

Have you ever read a book and felt like you were right next to the characters, going on the same adventures as them? Effective worldbuilding works to pull readers into the story and is part of what makes the reading experience so immersive. In this class, you’ll learn the foundational skills of worldbuilding, with a focus on the fantasy and sci-fi genre. Some sub-topics include: What exactly is 'worldbuilding'? What is its purpose and why does it matter in a story? How does worldbuilding intersect with other story elements like character and plot? What are some of the practical techniques you can use to create a vivid story world that feels real to readers?

What should be included when planning out a story world? This class covers the important aspects to flesh out and know about your setting when building a new story world. Margaret Owen breaks it down by genre and time and also teaches you how to use the world to build tension in your plot.

This Q & A session talks about with how to deal with the hard parts of writing, the publishing process, handling romance, dealing with the messy middle of the story, and lots of great tips for creating characters.

This class focuses on creating an emotional response in your readers through your use of description. Roselyn Eves teaches you five useful strategies for creating strong emotion in your writing.

The perfect blend of story telling and artistry. Join Dustin Hansen as he gives you tips for creating your own graphic novel, what to pay attention to and what to avoid with both your writing and pictures. If you have ever wanted to write a graphic novel of your own, this is the class for you.

Join Christopher Paolini as he talks you through his path to publication, including fun backstory and incite into being a published teen. This class is for anyone needing a pep talk to continue writing. Includes tips and tricks the author has used to become a better writer.

Writing for comics requires a specific use of writing skills, including: formatting, handling descriptions and pacing, writing pictures that don’t yet exist, and more. Join bestselling comics creator Jess Smart Smiley for a deep-dive into the unique ways that comics tell stories and how to write for the comics medium, regardless of skill level or experience.

This class focuses on commercial aspects of writing and how to use your writing skill in the radio, tv, and movie industries. Tom Durham covers the use of visual
and aural writing, word choice, storyboarding and screenwriting to make your writing stronger overall.