Fernie Writers Conference 2008
Monday July 14 to Sunday July 27

In 2008 the Fernie Writers Conference expands to two weeks and matures. The first week offers workshops in film making/editing and screenwriting. The second week begins the literary sessions with novel workshops (including ”Jump Starting your Novel” with Angie Abdou), short story workshops and a poetry workshop.

In association with several professional writing associations, the final conference weekend will also host a Professional Writing Seminar. Mornings will be packed with small group workshops on contracts, photography, syndicating columns, and so on. Afternoons center around panel discussions.

The Conference is discussing lower level college credits from College of the Rockies and upper level credits from an institution in Victoria.

For a wonderful running commentary on the 2007 Fernie Writers Conference, visit Brenda Schmidt’s blog. As the poetry instructor her take is marvelous.
http://birdschmidt.blogspot.com
She has a link a bit down her front page or click on the July 2007 archive (left side, down a bit)

Week One—Screenwriting

Monday July 14 to Saturday July 19— The mornings will be spent in workshop and critique sessions with the afternoons spent working on new material. One or two evenings will offer panel discussions on the film industry and aspects of the industry.

There will be a screening of Raul Inglis’ most recent movie Vice released May 9, 2008 starring Darryl Hannah and Michael Madsen. Raul both directed and wrote Vice.

The workshop ends with a scramble randomly pairing screenwriters with film shooters. The teams will have 24 hours to produce a short film on a directed theme. The scramble films will be shown Saturday night at the Week One Conference dinner.

Raul Inglis—Screenwriting

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0408885

Vice, Director and screenplay
Starring Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, released May 9, 2008
www.vicethemovie.com

For a full list of credits, please visit www.imbd.com

Limited to 8-10 in each session.

Tuition: $700.00 ($770 after June 15) includes breakfast each morning, dinner on Saturday night. Attendees responsible for lodging. Fernie Getaways offers substantially reduced rates to Conference participants.

Week Two—Literary Sessions

Readings all week

Monday July 21 to Sunday July 27—3 novel sessions, 2 short story sessions, 1 poetry session. Mss review or prior Conference attendance required to register in Novel B and Short Story B workshops. Novel A, Novel C and Short Story A open registration.

The Novel in Progress

The Novel A and B sessions are one-week long with the group returning for a second session one year later. See Novel section for a complete description.

Novel A, Peter Oliva www.peteroliva.com

Novel B, John Keeble www.johnkeeble.net

Novel C, Angie Abdou www.abdou.ca

The Novel C workshop is for writers just starting or planning a novel. This workshop will run Monday through Thursday allowing participants to attend the short story, poetry or Professional Writers Seminar following.

Tuition: Novel A and B $800.00 ($880 after June 15) includes breakfast each morning, dinner on Saturday night. Attendees responsible for lodging. Fernie Getaways offers substantially reduced rates to Conference participants.

Tuition: Novel C $500.00 ($550 after June 15) includes breakfast each morning, dinner on Saturday night. Attendees responsible for lodging. Fernie Getaways offers substantially reduced rates to Conference participants.

Short Story and Poetry Workshops–Fri/Sat/Sun. July 25-27.

Short Story and Poetry sessions limited to 10. Short Story B is be for writers previously attending the Conference and by manuscript submission. Short Story A is open registration

Short Story A, To Be Announced

Short Story B, Luanne Armstrong

Poetry, Brenda Schmidt http://birdschmidt.blogspot.com

Tuition: $330.00 ($365 after June 15) includes breakfast each morning, dinner on Saturday night. Attendees responsible for lodging. Fernie Getaways offers substantially reduced rates to Conference participants.

Please Note:

The Fernie Writers Conference is currently in discussion with College of the Rockies to provide college credits for attendees wishing to further their formal education. There will be an additional fee per credit and a follow-up assignment to complete to receive credit.

Week Two–Professional Writing Seminar.

Friday July 25 to Sunday July 27—Professional Writing Seminar. Morning workshop “pods�? with afternoon panel discussions. Conference dinner Saturday night.

Morning pods will be adjusted so there will be an average or 10 or less per group. Some will be limited in number.

Crafting the query
Column Syndication
Photography* (each day different Photographer)
Self-Publishing
Writing the Technical piece—for everyone
Adventure writing
Food writing
Travel writing
Golf Writing
Fishing writing
Contracts
The Book Proposal
Query to Story*—Work with an editor developing a story (limited to 6 with prior query and mss submissions)

* Denotes pods held every morning.

Afternoon panels discussions open to all. Supported by NASJA, NOWA and other professional writing groups.

Current staff (tentative)

Jennifer Hamilton, Managing Editor, Avenue Magazine
Brian Coombs, Editor, Kootenay Carnival
Candace Hicks, Publisher, Kootenay Carnival
Jon Turk, author, adventure writer
Keith Liggett, journalist
Steve Short, photographer
Christopher Trall, food writer
Jeff Wallach, golf and travel writer
Phil Rowley, fly fishing writer and TV show host

The Fernie Writers Conference will work with individual supporting professional organizations and the local tourist industry to arrange pre and post conference activities to jump start story ideas.

Tuition: $330.00* ($365 after June 15) includes breakfast each morning, dinner on Saturday night. Attendees responsible for lodging. Fernie Getaways offers substantially reduced rates to Conference participants.

*Members of supporting professional organizations receive a 15% discount, ($280) for registrations prior to June 15, 2008

www.ferniewriters.org

Keith Liggett, Director
keith@ferniewriters.org
250-423-6132

The Novel Workshop 2008

Novel A and B–A two-year critical examination of a novel-in-progress
Novel C–Starting the novel

By both listening and working, workshops create the opportunity and environment to build the writer’s craft. The workshop sessions will be a mixture of critique, re-writing, editing and writing exercises at the instructor’s discretion.

The Novel in Progress
Monday July 21 through Sunday July 27, 2008

Novel A–Year One
Prior to the Conference, each novel participant submits two to three chapters (30-40 pages, no more than 15,000 words) “representative of the work as a whole” and a synopsis or treatment of the work. The synopsis should be a prose narrative, not a chapter outline, and no longer than two pages.
Peter Oliva, workshop leader

The material to be critiqued will be distributed in advance of the workshop week. The participants should read the work prior to arriving at the Conference.

With the first critique, suggestions (or assignments) for revision will be tailored to the individual writer’s work. The writer will then be able to revise, and re-work portions to the group for further critique.

Novel B–Year Two—4 positions are filled by 2007 participants. Two remaining positions filled by manuscript submission and approval of Keith Liggett, Conference Director, and John Keeble, workshop leader.

The 2007 conference group is returning for the 2008 session. They have taken the 2007 work on their 40 pages and re-written the novel in light of the critique. Completed revised novels will be exchanged no later than April 15, 2008. Each individual will present 20-30 pages to the gropp to be ciritiqued in light of the novel at as a whole.

In 2009, the 2008 group will follow the same critical path becoming Novel B.

Novel C- -Jump Starting the Novel.
Monday July 21 through Thursday July 24, 2008

A small group workshop moving the idea of a novel forward and creating the first pages. How to work. How to structure the beginning. How to effectively move your novel idea forward and get the words on the page.

Workshop Leader, Angie Abdou

All participants in the novel groups will be expected to read two modern novels prior to the Conference to provide a common reference for critique within the groups. The chosen novels will be announced early in 2008.