Writing Industries Conference 2010
Panel Discussions
All information is subject to change and speakers appear subject to availability
Scriptwriting – how to sell your script and see it produced.
Scriptwriting for theatre, film and television is one of the most competitive but potentially rewarding outlets for a writer’s skills. Thousands of scripts are written every year, but selling a script and seeing it produced can take more work than the writing itself. How do writers go from a finished script to a finished production, and what are the opportunities today for new writing?
- Kate Chapman – Theatre Writing Partnership
- Peter Leslie Wild – Senior Producer BBC Radio
- Amanda Whittington – Playwright and screenwriter
- Bea Udeh – Producer at Nottingham Playhouse and Regional Chairperson for STEM (Sustained Theatre East Midlands)
The state of commercial publishing
Recent years have seen significant changes in commercial publishing. The rise of Amazon and decline of high street retailers, the changing roles of agents and editors, the growth of independent publishers and the revolutionary changes heralded by the internet from blogging to ebooks, have effected publishing on every level. How is the industry adapting and how can writers turn the challenges of changing times into opportunities?
- Alan Mahar – Publishing Directorr, Tindal Street Press
- Marc Gascoigne – Editor, Angry Robot (HarperCollins)
- Nicola Monaghan – Novelist
- Lorella Belli – Agent
Life after Harry Potter – writing for children and young adults
Children’s fiction has reached new heights of popularity in recent years, with mega-bestselling authors like J K Rowling, Phillip Pullman and Stephanie Meyer achieving unprecedented levels of success. A wave of new young readers are hungry for more books and more stories. But have the fundamentals of what makes a good children’s story really changed? And how do new authors go about establishing a reputation in a competitive market?
- Chris d’Lacey – Bestselling author of The Last Dragon Chronicles
- Sarah McConnell – Writer and illustrator for children
- Bali Rai – Author of teenage novels (Un)Arranged Marriage and The Crew
- Julia Churchill – The Greenhouse Literary Agency
Everything you ever wanted to ask an agent. QUESTION & ANSWER
Agents are the bridge between writers and publishers, and are among the most influential people in the publishing industry. The role of the agent can include much more than simply selling a book, and agents are increasingly responsible for finding and nurturing talented new writers. Choosing the right agent can effect every step of a writers career, and understanding how the agent / author relationship works is essential to making that choice.
- Jon Berlyne – Zeno Agency
- Ollie Munson – Blake Friedmann
- James Wills – Watson Little
- Bernie Corbett – Writers Guild
Poetry and Community
Poetry is often portrayed as an elitist or ‘high brow’ art, but the experience of poetry today is often anything but. Grass roots poetry groups make writing that is deeply connected to its local community. In education, social support and other settings poets play an invaluable role working with the hardest to reach and most excluded groups in our communities. How does poetry support community, and how does the community support poets?
- Alison Dunne – Book Doctor for Leicester City Libraries
- Paul Munden – Director, National Association of Writers in Education
- Cathy Grindrod – Writer, former Derbyshire Poet Laureate
How does public funding support the development of writers? DEBATE
Many great writers from William Shakespeare to J K Rowling might never have been heard with the support of patrons both public and private. Today a complex web of government funding, lottery money and charitable trusts subsidise the writing industries. As Arts Council England launches a national consultation into arts funding, including a new strategy for literature, we gather together leading figures from the sector to debate the future of public funding for literature. How do writers go about getting support with their work, and what role will subsidy play in the future development of writers?
- Steve Dearden – Director, National Association for Literature Development
- Henderson Mullin – Chief Executive, Writing East Midlands
- Jonathan Davidson – Director, Writing West Midlands
- Farhana Shaikh – The Asian Writers Project
Spoken Word and 1000 Working Poets
Henry David Thoreau said that the poet ‘must sustain his body by his poetry’, but how many poets today can claim that achievement? With the growth of performance poetry and spoken word in the last decade the answer may be more than you think, with as many as 1000 working poets* making their primary living from performance. What is spoken word, how has it transformed the fortunes of working poets and how do new writers get noticed on the performance circuit?
*Geraldine Collinge, Former Director Apples & Snakes, The Telegraph 9th October 2009
- Sarah Ellis – Apples and Snakes
- Mark Gwynne Jones – Poet and performer
- Lydia Towsey – Organiser of WORD
How do writers become teachers?
Creative Writing has become one of the most popular courses of study at all levels of education, and many people discover themselves as writers with the guidance of experienced teachers and workshop leaders. For emerging and established professional writers, teaching can be an important part of their career both creatively and financially. But how does teaching support a writer creatively, and how do writers go from studying to teaching creative writing?
- Kerry Featherstone – Lecturer, Loughborough University
- Val Moore – Writing School Leicester
- David Belbin – Nottingham Trent University
- Nicola Monaghan – Novelist
Writing in the digital era and telling stories that fight back
New technologies are changing how stories are told and how we encounter them. The internet and computers provide ways to make interactive and immersive stories that are still being explored. Video games are experimenting with ever more sophisticated narratives and are now bigger business than Hollywood. Writing for interactive media is a growing field for writers, who are finding new ways to tell compelling stories that fight back!
- Richard Birkin – Pixel Lab
- Graham Joyce – Writer, Doom 4
- Steve Ince – Writer and game designer, author of ‘Writing for Video Games’
Community journalism, blogging and finding new readerships
Publishers of newspapers, magazines and other print media have been the gatekeepers of what and who we read for centuries. But in less than a decade the internet, blogs and social media have thrown the gates open to everyone. Millions of blog posts are published every day, to thousands of niche readerships seeking specific coverage of anything from local politics to geek culture. How are writers using these opportunities to find new readerships, and effect change of all kinds in ways traditional media never could?
- James K Walker – Left Lion
- John Coster – Citzens Eye
- Al Needham – Writer on sex and relationships for Scarlett and Maxim
Breaking in to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror
Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror are among the most popular genres in publishing, attracting loyal readerships and producing bestselling titles year after year. Agents and editors receive thousands of novels from aspiring writers of these genres every year, but only a few will be chosen for publication. What makes the difference between a slush pile rejection and the next sci-fi sensation? And how do new writers get noticed in the sci-fi community?
- Marc Gascoigne – Editor, Angry Robot (HarperCollins)
- Mark Charan Newton – Writer, Nights of Viljamur
- Kim Lakin-Smith – Science fiction and dark fantasy author
- Bella Pagan – Editor, Orbit (Little, Brown)
Traditional Romance vs. Paranormal Romance
Romantic fiction is read by millions of people around the world who love the traditional romantic values it portrays. The romantic publisher Mills & Boon famously asks that all its writers adhere to clear guidelines to make sure readers get the romantic experience they long for. But many alternative styles of romance writing have bloomed in recent years, not least the phenomena of Paranormal Romance where vampires, werewolves and demons become a part of the bodice ripping action. Where next for the romance genre and the writers who create it?
- Sue Moorcroft – Writer of romantic fiction
- Lynne Connoly – Romance with a dark edge
- Mary Nichols – Author of historical romance
