The 8th Annual North Island Writers Conference will be held on January 17 to 19, 2025 at NIC's Comox Valley campus.
The conference kicks off on January 17 at 7 pm with Keynote Speaker, award-winning author Ian Ferguson, on “How to be a Humour Being.” Saturday and Sunday, January 18 and 19, are filled with workshops led by celebrated Vancouver Island authors on mystery, screenwriting, short story, prose poetry, point of view, dialogue and publishing. There are also free lunch-hour presentations on both days.
This event is free for students - all you need to do is register (registration opens November 15).
January 17
Opening Event: Welcome and Keynote Speaker
Keynote speaker: Ian Ferguson – How to be a Humour Being
Time: 7 - 8 pm
Location: Stan Hagan Theatre in Komoux Hall
Free and open to the public…but you must register as seating is limited.
January 18
Workshop: Whodunits and Punchlines: What Goes into a Comedic Mystery
Speaker: Ian Ferguson
Time: 9 am - 3 pm (1-hour lunchbreak from 12 – 1 pm)
Location: Tyee Hall, Room 203
This workshop will deal with importance of outlining, why you need to write backwards when structuring plot and how to use humour to create characters and increase readability when creating mysteries. Attendees will be participating in exercises during the workshop. In addition to learning a bit, participants will also laugh a lot.
Workshop: So, You Want to Write a Movie?
Speaker: Larry Bambrick
Time: 9 am - 3 pm (1-hour lunchbreak from 12 – 1 pm)
Location: Tyee Hall, Room 204
This interactive lecture will take a look at the core concepts of screenwriting. From how screenplays look (and why) to how they work (and why). Using examples from popular movies, we’ll discuss dialogue, character and the fabled three-act structure. We’ll even do a little writing along the way. If you have an idea for a movie — or are just curious about how they’re written — come join us!
Workshop: Travel Guide to the Heart Through the Prose Poem
Speaker: Cornelia Hoogland
Time: 9 am - 12 pm
Location: Tyee Hall, Room 202
In this workshop, we will begin with studying one or two prose poems, noting such things as the writer’s chosen topic or theme, their formal and linguistic choices, and their empathetic narrator. Our guided reading of each poem will reveal to us elements of form and structure we’ll use to create a template. Applying this template to our own subjects can offer us one way to approach, and write, our own experiences. The template can help avoid the formal or linguistic habits we writers fall into, and offer alternatives, thereby refreshing our writing practice and surprising us.
Workshop: The Art of Writing a Short Story
Speaker: Robert Hilles
Time: 1 - 4 pm
Location: Tyee Hall, Room 205
In this workshop, Robert Hilles will cover all aspects of writing short stories (from beginning to end) including how they are different from other works of fiction, what is required to make them successful and where to submit them. Attendees will have the opportunity to share their own short stories and receive critique.
Lunch-hour Presentation: Lunch on the Road with a Travel Writer
Speaker: Kim Letson
Time: 12:10 - 12:50 pm
Location: Tyee Hall, Student Lounge
Bring your brown bag lunch and join Kim for a lively discussion about distilling your travel adventures into engaging stories with universal themes.
January 19
Workshop: From Whose Voice & From What Distance: POV – Narrative Story
Speaker: Judy LeBlanc
Time: 9 am - 3 pm (1-hour lunchbreak from 12 – 1 pm)
Location: Tyee Hall, Room 202
Writers generally put little or no thought into point of view choices and their management. Writing intuitively may be necessary in early drafts, but in the end a grasp of this fundamental narrative technique, complex as it is, enables the writer to use it to its greatest advantage. In this workshop, we’ll simplify the concept of point of view through discussion and by looking at its definitions, as well as examples from literature. You’ll do writing exercises in which you experiment with various points of view. You’ll leave with a clearer understanding and some thoughts and examples of how you’ll work with it in your own writing.
Workshop: Writing Deeper Dialogue
Speaker: Jo-Anne (JP) McLean
Time: 9 am - 12 pm
Location: Tyee Hall, Room 204
It seems authors either love writing dialogue or hate it. But regardless, it’s something we have to master if we want to write engaging stories. Dialogue is a heavy lifter in our writers’ toolbox. When done well, it can reveal character, heighten emotion, define subtext and advance the plot. Join JP McLean to talk about how to write deeper dialogue that conveys much more than words.
Workshop: Get a (Shelf) Life: Bespoke Marketing Strategies to Get You Booked & Them Hooked
Speaker: Joy Gugelar
Time: 1 - 4 pm
Location: Tyee Hall, Room 205
Do you fear you aren’t doing enough to market your book, or aren’t sure where to start? Do you resent time away from writing and the need to be promoting on and offline all the time? Not sure what your publisher expects of you, or if you have the skills to sell your book as a self-publisher? Join us for an overview of options for traditional and guerrilla marketing that will help you customize your pitch to media, festivals and reading series, booksellers, readers, and reviewers to get the word out. Design a bespoke campaign for front and backlist titles across platforms that reflects your voice, subject, genre, audience, and time constraints and put the life back into shelf life.
Lunch-hour Presentation: Electric Elocution: Breathe Life into your Readings
Speaker: Diana Kolpak
Time: 12:10 - 12:50 pm
Location: Tyee Hall, Student Lounge
Bring a lunch! Readings are a great way to get your writing into the world…but only if you are able to read effectively. Author and theatre practitioner Diana Kolpak will share tips and simple techniques to improve your presentation skills, engage your audience, quell your nerves, and become better at reading your work aloud.
Visit the Comox Valley Writers Society website for full event descriptions, registration (beginning November 15) and other details.
