Workshop Committee and Speaker, Author Hilary Wagner
On Saturday, I had the privilege of sitting in a conference room surrounded by rats,
bats, snakes and even earthworms.
Luckily, I was also surrounded by a group of fantastic writers, both
published and pre-published. Even better, the critters were just decorations
based off the characters from the books of our presenter, author Hilary Wagner.
Hilary, the author of the middle-grade, fantasy trilogy, Nightshade City, and more, led us
through a great presentation on building characters(like her rats) with depth
and put us to work in groups creating a new character. It was quite the challenge to get everyone to
agree. In the afternoon we had a bonus
session on query letters. Such a
daunting part of the submission process whether you are trying to find an agent
or trying to get an editor at a publishing house to read your manuscript, it
can be difficult to figure out the best way to get attention and show that you
have a great story. We also had a great
query letter game where we tried to come up with some of the worst queries
ever. We’ll just leave it at that since
we got a little carried away on those.
All in all, it was a fantastic workshop. It was a great learning experience, chance to
make new connections, and above all a time to be inspired as writers as we
always continue to improve. I’d like to shout out thanks to my SCBWI-IL Co-
Network Representatives for serving on the committee with me to bring this
event to Southern Illinois. LS Murphy,
Sherry Randle and Jonathan Schkade, you guys are awesome!
Thanks again to Hilary Wagner, our wonderful speaker, and
friend, not to mention someone who convinced even me to look at rats a little
more compassionately. To learn more about
Hilary and her books visit: hilarywagner.blogspot.com
