Writers' News - Conference delights

	Conference Delights Offering a choice of 60 lectures, the chance of a one to one with agents and publishers, mini-workshops, writing competitions, and the plenary address from Fay Weldon, the 25th Annual Writers’ Conference, Winchester, guaranteed a superb weekend, writes subscriber Brian Lux, Llandudno, who was shortlisted for the fourth year running in the conference’s writing for children competition and came second in the twelve and over category. Brian particularly relished Fay’s comments about the publishing industry in her plenary address, that: ‘The booktrade is currently out of its mind’; and ‘Publishers are too proud for their own good.’ Though primarily a children’s writer, he also benefitted from Crysse Morrison’s mini-workshop on The ABC of Fiction Writing: Authentic Voice, Believable Dialogue, Credible Characters. ‘She made us write from start, commencing with writing an imaginary interview to introduce ourselves, but with a difference: we had to insert a lie, which the group had to try and guess,’ writes Brian. ‘A brain-storming ten minutes, writing a character based on a randomly chosen photo, was another of Crysse’s tasks.
	‘Teresa Chris, a top agent, had a pile of submitted three page manuscripts with her, which she dismissed as having no “hook” or “point”. When those in her group were invited to pick up their work afterwards, none were brave enough to admit ownership. ‘The synopsis was described as: “Give the overview of players, but not the resolution,” and the book must have a “unique selling point”. Brian also enjoyed talks by stalwarts such as prolific children’s author Michael Coleman and had ‘a satisfactory one-to-one’ with Simon Trewin, from the PFD agency.

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