It’s finally here! The SCBWI-Houston Craft & Critique Conference! And wouldn’t you know, it’s happening on the same day as the Tweens Read Book Festival. 🙁 I hate to miss it this year; it’s always such a great event. There are lots of other workshops and writerly events this weekend, too, so I hope all the local writers reading this can find one that fits their needs.

I don’t have anyone’s book birthday to celebrate today, but SCBWI is having a major celebration for all our writers and illustrators. If you have a minute, please hop over to the SCBWI Book Blast and click a few likes for these new books.

We have a few conference updates this week, so scroll down to see what’s new. If you’d like to be notified of these weekly updates, please use the Subscribe to Updates form on the sidebars!

Local KidLit Events

For Readers

OCTOBER 22: TWEENS READ BOOK FESTIVAL

South Houston High School

32 MG Authors! The target audience is tweens who are in grades 5-8. Teachers, librarians, parents, and other advocates for children’s and adolescent literacy attending with their tweens are welcome.

For Writers

OCTOBER 22: SCBWI-HOUSTON CRAFT & CRITIQUE CONFERENCE

Hess Club
COST: Varies by registration choices

Get ready for another fabulous day of inspiration, advice and camaraderie! Featuring Guest faculty:
Susan Dobinick—Associate Editor, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Katherine Jacobs—Senior Editor, Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group
Maria Middleton—Associate Art Director, Abrams
Kelly Sonnack—Andrea Brown Literary
Brianne Johnson—Writers House
Ginger Clark—Curtis Brown

OCTOBER 22, SATURDAY, 9:30 AM-12:30 PM: HOW TO CREATE A GREAT ANTAGONIST 

Writespace: NOTE: There is also a Silver Street event at this time, so please allow extra time to find parking.
COST: Early-Bird Pricing until October 17: $30 Members, $45 Non-Members. After October 17: $40 Members, $55 Non-Members

High school English class taught us that all stories have a protagonist and an antagonist. But when it comes to developing characters, the protagonist tends to get all the attention! In this workshop led by Cassandra Rose Clarke, we’ll turn our focus to antagonists and villains. In particular, we will discuss ways to ensure that our antagonists are as fully developed as their more heroic counterparts. We’ll look at how the maxim “The best villain is the hero of his own story” plays out in practice. We’ll also look at the strengths and weaknesses of different villainous archetypes, such as sympathetic villains, anti-villains, hero-villains, and classical villains. And when students leave this workshop, they will have crafted a detailed character sketch for an antagonist or villain of their own.

OCTOBER 22, SATURDAY, NOON-1:30 PM: Manning Wolfe, Attorney

Carrabba’s, S Voss Rd
COST: $5 Door Fee, cash only

The Mystery Writers of America Southwest Chapter will host author and attorney Manning Wolfe, who will give a presentation Legal Issues for Authors. All are welcome to attend.

OCTOBER 25, TUESDAY, 6:30 PM: HOUSTON WRITERS HOUSE SOCIAL

Black Labrador

OCTOBER 25-NOVEMBER 15, TUESDAYS, 6-9PM: ADVANCED FICTION AND PROSE WRITING 

Writespace
COST: Early-Bird until October 20: $175 Members, $195 Non-Members. After October 20: $195 Members. $215 Non-Members

This workshop led by Joshua Foster will focus on practical strategies and approaches to the basic elements of fiction, including plot, structure, characterization, point of view, dialogue, and style. Sessions will include generative writing exercises, short lectures and discussion on craft elements, and, most importantly, workshopping of story drafts. Our goal will be for all attending writers to have completed new pages and to have generated such momentum and drive that we continue writing on our own once workshop ends. While this course will refer to literary short stories as models, participants may choose to submit any genre of prose writing, including but not limited to memoir, creative nonfiction, personal essay, science fiction, mystery, and young adult fiction.

Conference Updates

For more conference information, visit the main conference pages. If you’d like to be notified of these weekly updates, please use the Subscribe to Updates form on the sidebars!

Agents @ Conferences

OCTOBER 29: WRITE ANGLES CONFERENCE, AMHERST, MA

Danielle Barthel,Jackie Lindert/New Leaf Literary; Kirsten Carleton/Prospect Agency; Gina Panettieri/Talcott Notch Literary Services; John Rudolph/Dystel and Goderich Literary Management

FEBRUARY 23-26: SLEUTHFEST, BOCA RATON, FL

Alec Shane/Writers House; Kirby Kim/Janklow & Nesbit; Steven Axelrod/The Axelrod Agency

Indie Publishing Conferences

NOVEMBER 5-6: 805 WRITERS CONFERENCE, VENTURA, CA

A weekend filled with intense education on both the craft and business of writing. Focused sessions and workshops bring your writing to professional levels. Industry professionals update you on key elements of the business so that you are ready to succeed.

NOVEMBER 12: INDIE AUTHOR CONFERENCE & SHOWCASE, PARMA-SNOW, OH

Two in one! A Conference for writers. A Showcase for local self-published authors. Learn about self-publishing from local and national authors.