This Saturday, March 11, both my wife, Tara Laskowski, and I will be presenting sessions on short fiction at the Bay to Ocean Writers Conference, an all-day event taking place in the Kent Humanities Building at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, Maryland. Several other author friends are taking part as well, including Barbara Esstman, Austin Camacho, Kathryn Johnson, and Gregg Wilhelm, and the full list of presentations can be found here, along with a PDF of the day’s schedule.
The conference’s mission is “to inform, encourage, and inspire writers of all levels, from beginners to published authors” and “to share helpful knowledge and experiences among writers about every facet of writing.”
My own presentation, at 10:15 a.m., is “The Short Story: Big Worlds in Small Spaces,” and here’s the description: “How can you create fully fleshed characters and satisfying plots within the strict confines of the short story? Join award-winning short story writer Art Taylor for a discussion of this sometimes challenging form. After writing your own six-sentence story, you’ll examine the architecture of the short story (linear vs. modular), explore scenes as the building blocks of short fiction, and draw on sources as diverse at Cinderella, Doc Savage, and South Park for guidance and inspiration.”
Tara’s presentation, at 1:45 p.m., is “Tiny but Mighty: How to Write Amazing Flash Fiction.” Here’s the description of her talk: “Imagine it: An evocative, complete short story in 1000 words or less. This session will focus on flash fiction, the form taking online publishing by storm. Tara Laskowski, longtime editor of the flash fiction journal SmokeLong Quarterly, will define this type of writing and its many forms—from microfiction to novellas-in-flash—and walk you through some dos and don’ts for crafting your own tiny stories.”
Looking forward to much fun on the Eastern Shore!