So this past weekend I went to the first ever Writer Igniter Con put on by Gabriela Pereira the instigator of DIYMFA. The best part was it was all online, so I didn’t have to travel beyond my couch.
Day One
The conference started on time and the digital conference room we were in was really a nice format with slides in the middle and a chat to the side so everyone could interact and ask questions without interrupting the presenter.
We had sessions on making a great outline, seven easy steps to a better novel, a guide to the first five pages of a story, and one on rocking your revisions. Some of the information was a refresher since I’ve taken the DIYMFA101 course before, but it’s always good to be reminded of the basics and I also got a lot of new tips since at DIYMFA they are always striving to make their content better.
First Page Critiques
There were also a chance for attendees to submit the first page of their manuscript anonymously and have some agents give a critique on it.
When we got to my first page, I was so glad there was a computer in front of me instead of real people. I could be as embarrassed as I needed to be about my page being read out loud. It actually went over pretty well with the agents. Much better than I was expecting, which felt super good.
Day Two
The second day dealt with the business side of writing more than the craft.
There was a session on copyright law which talked about how copyright works for authors, as well as a bit of advice on contract law, for those contracts we all hope to sign one day. It was a dense class, but had a lot of good information.
There were also sessions for marketing and social media, how to write a proposal, and an open panel where we could ask the presenters anything we wanted.
Meeting new People
And, of course, one of the best things about writing conferences is meeting new people. I am always on the look out for new writing friends and I even found two fantasy writers to exchange emails with.
And Beyond
With fresh encouragement and new techniques on the brain, courtesy of WICon, I am preparing for NaNoWriMo. I finished a revision pass of the first half of The Storyteller, which is now clocking in at about 50k words. During November, I will be writing the second half of the book from scratch, since I am still struggling there. I am hoping for a little ‘pantser’ magic to get some good stuff on the page that I can then revise into the second half of the book I need.
