6th Annual EMAA Writing Conference

How do I become more creative when I need it?  What is the strategy to continue writing when I become blocked?  How do you defeat the terrifying Blank page?  Ryan will share the technique and personal insight he has gained to help spend less time with mental block and become a more productive and creative writer.

Does your hero feel like someone people want to root for? Is your villain someone your readers are going to love to hate? Are you unsure and need some help figuring that out? Then this class is for you. We’ll cover heroes and villains from various books/movies/video games and what makes them good or bad, and how to use/avoid tropes and cliches to make your characters stand out.

You’ve spent pages on getting to know your hero and building your amazing world, but when it comes to monsters, you’re out of ideas. Vampires sparkle too much, werewolves give you hives, and dragons are just so overdone. Where do you start when creating your own monsters? Does the story need an antagonist or an adversity? Take lessons from folklore monsters and creatures from other cultures to find what will keep readers turning the page. Learn to Frankenstein your own monsters to perfectly fit their role and your world.

Every story needs to include certain elements to be successful. In this class, you will learn about those elements and how to conduct a content edit to make sure you’ve addressed those important needs.

For every creative endeavor there is, unfortunately, someone out there waiting to take advantage of the results. Join author and editor Jana S. Brown to learn how to identify bad actors in the publishing industry and safeguard your creations and your career.

Ever feel like an imposter when you put pen to paper? Ryan will guide you through the writer’s storms—imposter syndrome, depression, and rejection—helping you reach creative shores. This class dives into transforming your inner critic from stormy adversary to supportive ally. Learn techniques to replace self-doubt with affirmations, strengthening both your mindset and your writing. Discover how to navigate publisher rejection and rally support from those around you. Leave feeling empowered, ready to chart your course, and conquer any page!

Creating a series arc for multiple short stories/novellas

In this class, we’ll discuss the foundation pieces of your manuscript – the format, constructing paragraphs, using contractions, and proper capitalization. We’ll also discuss filler words and unnecessary adverbs. Come ready to take lots of valuable notes!

Forget the constant, crippling, unnecessary pressure of everything you want your novel to be—we’re focusing on what you can do right now with what you have.

Join bestselling author/illustrator Jess Smart Smiley for a look at how to break up your unwieldy mass of characters, ideas, plot points, and themes, into a more enjoyable, manageable method for writing with the end in mind. Learn how organizing your story into levels will free up the burden of vision and afford you the relief of progress.

This class is meant to be a practical remedy to stories that can’t be written.

This class will de-mystify the various paths of publishing, touching on the three major options: self-publishing, small press publishing, and traditional publishing. What is an agent? What is an editor? What is a query letter? All these questions and more will be covered, coming from an author with personal experience on each path.

How to write plausible and engaging young voices (narrators and characters of any age younger than adults). We’ll discuss the writer’s attitude and approach, some do’s and don’ts, internal and external voices (and the power of using both together), and why *you* can write young voices (because sometimes doubts intrude). We’ll study superb examples from multiple authors, and we’ll practice together.

During this hour, we’ll cover the repetition of information and concepts, redundancy of word choices and letter sounds, and balancing action with narrative and exposition. It may sound deadly dull, but I promise to keep you entertained!

(Suggested as a PANEL, populated with other presenters and guests) We hear the speeches from best-selling authors as they thank their critique partners for their invaluable help. But how does one find a critique group? And once you’ve found one, how do you know if they’re helping you? What does good feedback look like? Come listen to several authors as they share (or dish!) on their critique group experiences. Learn insights on making your group stronger or forming the group that will elevate your writing.

Want to quickly elevate your writing skills? Come learn simple techniques to shift how you write sentences that your readers will love and that will make editing so much easier.

Coming Soon

Now it’s time to discuss punctuation both in and out of dialogue, tags vs. beats, and grammar rules that would make your grammy proud. While these elements are often considered the most boring topic at any writing conference, you are promised at least a few good giggles and a wealth of knowledge.

Writing a novel isn’t just about sitting down and blasting out the word count—at least not for most people. It requires thought and understanding of your characters and their actions before they do them. This class will teach you how to put together more than just a character bible. It will teach you how to expand on your world and characters, understand their goals, motivations, and conflicts, and get your entire book plotted out all in one act (with several steps.) It is a fun and visual way to put your story together.

Character-driven stories have the power to change the lives of our readers. To create these multi-layered fictional people, we need to understand them at their heart. Together, we’ll delve into the simple psychology of what makes characters tick by understanding their misguided beliefs. This foundation can help you create profound character arcs that will fuel the plot of your story.

Short stories are all the rage right now. They are the perfect medium: compact, clear, and character-driven. With fewer words to write, they should be easier, too, right? Probably not. Learn how to write a  short story that will grab your readers and won’t let go. Get pointers on crafting cover letters (much easier than a query letter). Find where to submit your finished stories for publication in anthologies and magazines. Or keep them as reader magnets, a freebie for readers.

In this class, we’ll look at individual sentences and explore ways to make them more meaningful or give them more flow. The class is invited to share troublesome sentences for us to workshop together.

Craft is important. Imagination is wonderful. Plot and character and setting are critical. But nothing is more important than doing the work. Here’s a nuts-and-bolts guide to how to put words on the page, even when you don’t want to, even when you think you suck, even when you actually DO suck. Persistence is omnipotent. Add it to your superpowers.

Have a personal story you want to write? A memoir is the best way to share that experience with the world. In this class you’ll learn how to plunge into the depths of your experiences and write a captivating narrative that ensnares readers’ hearts and minds. You’ll also learn how to research your past as well as the dos and don’ts of memoir writing so you can craft a story that agents, publishers, and readers won’t be able to put down.

The most common question asked writers is “how do you come up with your ideas?” Orson Scott Card says “Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” This class teaches you how to pay attention and see the seeds of ideas that are threaded through our lives.

Sometime after your first draft is complete, it’s time to go back to the beginning – to see if your story begins in the right place, but also to see if the beginning is doing everything it can for your story. We’ll analyze twenty-one beginnings, looking for things a beginning can do and how different writers do them. Participants will be invited to submit in advance the first three pages (more than we’ll use) of well-polished beginning of their own, and it may become one of the beginnings we analyze.

Calling all storytellers with notebooks full of half-formed ideas! Learn to transform your creative sparks into fully realized narratives that captivate readers from page one.

In this dynamic workshop, you’ll master the essential techniques of story structure, character development, and narrative momentum. Through interactive exercises and proven storytelling strategies, you’ll discover how to take your raw creative potential and craft it into a compelling, memorable story.

Whether you’re a novelist, memoirist, or screenwriter, this class will give you the tools to turn your ideas into literary magic.

Coming Soon

A huge percentage of teens say they want to be writers. Almost the same percentage don’t actually write. But you do. You’re better than that. Still…you have those first million words to write. This is a class to help you do that, from someone that really gets it, and did it himself.

*Continued from the 3:00 session.

Delve into the process of building a world, focusing on creating different countries, factions, races, and how to show their priorities through their culture, thus creating a rich backdrop for your story. Follow seven steps to organically add lay upon layer to your world, creating a place your readers can’t wait to experience.

How to understand and leverage standard story elements while maintaining your unique style.

Writing for your audience is an essential part of writing. We will dive deep in the tv show Bluey and discuss who its audience is and how it captures that crowd. We will also discuss how to apply that to our own stories!

Ready to turn writing from a chore into an exciting adventure? Join bestselling author Jess Smart Smiley for a revolutionary workshop that transforms creativity into a game.

Through playful constraints and interactive exercises, you’ll blast through writer’s block, develop a joyful writing practice, master time management, and unlock your most authentic voice.

Forget tortured creativity—this is writing reimagined as a thrilling treasure hunt. Come prepared to play, discover, and transform your creative process!