In May, 2022, I attended the Lakefly Writer’s Conference with a fellow author and friend, Keely Marx.
I signed up for this expecting it to be an easy first conference, and an overall less-than-thrilling experience. Little did I know that this small, local conference would connect me to so many wonderful, knowledgeable, and fun people!
There were classes, food, raffles, a constant stream of free coffee available, a book marketplace (dangerous, I know), and so much more. I wanted to touch on some of the highlights of this conference, and share this information so fellow authors (or intrigued readers) in the Southeast WI area would know of this hidden gem.
Characterization Through Dialogue by John DeDakis was one of the first classes I took to kick off the weekend. He shared lots of useful tidbits, going over:
The purpose of dialogue
Do’s and Don’ts
The finer points of punctuation
Writing Exercises
My favorite of these exercises was the one he had us do in class. He gave us five minutes to sit in silence to interview a character of ours in our heads. He told us to treat it as an interview, asking things such as, “what is your purpose in this story?” or “why are you interested in insert love interest?” I, for one, was able to walk away with fresh ideas in mind for my current WIP.
The next class I wanted to mention was: A 10-Step Plan for Self-Editing by Nick Chiarkas. If you’re anything like me, you need all the advice you can find when it comes to editing your own work. Nick was able to not only give excellent points in his step-by-step guide, but he produced vibrant illustrations of his examples that had his audience sitting at the edge of their seats, breaths collectively held as they waited to hear more.
Romancing the Story by Bobbi Dumas was next up. She took her classroom through an interactive experience where we judged movies and talked over whether they were romance stories, or stories that had romance arcs in them. It was obvious Bobbi knew the craft inside and out, and she was very good at adapting to the audience’s questions and being able to address their specific needs. Even as she addressed one person, she was able to divulge information that had the entire class jotting down notes as fast as they could.
All of these and more made quite an impact for both Keely and I, and we are already making plans to sign up for another Lakefly conference in the future. In the meantime, please enjoy these photos of the fun had at the 2022 Lakefly Conference!
— Cecelia Annan
