Keynote Presenter
Christine Gunderson
Amazon Bestselling Author
Christine Gunderson grew up on a fourth-generation family farm in rural North Dakota where she read Laura Ingalls Wilder books in her very own little house on the prairie.
She’s a former television anchor and reporter and former Capitol Hill press secretary. She currently lives in the Washington D.C. suburbs with her three children, Star the Wonder Dog, and a very patient husband.
When not writing, she’s sailing the Chesapeake Bay with her family, playing Star Wars monopoly, re-reading Jane Austen novels in the school pick up line or unloading the dishwasher.
Her debut novel, Friends with Secrets was selected as an Amazon First Reads pick. Readers call it “a timeless, beautiful, relevant, laugh-out-loud, funny homage to motherhood.”
Workshops and Presenters
Building an Author Brand – Retired Intellectual Property attorney Caridad Pineiro has helped many corporations and individuals build and protect their brand. In this workshop, Caridad will discuss how to build your brand and the importance of brand in creating and growing a successful publishing career.
Fix Any Plot with the 5Ws – Who What When Where Why. Those questions fill any plot hole, regardless of the problem. By asking the 5Ws I don’t step on your voice, but direct the story to its rightful place. In real time & with lots of questions from me, bestsellling author Stacey Wilk will help you find your way and make your book the best it can be.
From 2-D Archetype to 3-D Characters—Exploring Universal Personality Patterns for Your Unique Characters – Popularized by Carl Jung, an archetype is usually understood in literature, art, mythology and fairy tales to be a recurrent symbol, motif, or role with patterns of behavior, often across time and cultures, like father, empress, and magician. Joseph Campbell and Chris Vogler after him talk about the roles of archetypes in story. In this workshop, participants learn about some of the well-known archetypes often seen in myth and fairy tale, and in the hero’s journey. Then, they’ll be introduced to tips and techniques for moving from those more two-dimensional archetypes into unique and developed characters, including how to twist or update them. A look at popular television shows and some well-known stories will be used as examples for deepening archetypal roles for both central characters as well as secondary ones within the story. Playing with archetypes can enhance the story and the writing experience.
Hands-On Social Media – 2 Hour Workshop – Bring your books, props, and tri-pods to this hands on content creation workshop! Samantha Ann, an Amazon Best Seller, got that title by using her creativity to make fun and engaging content. And she is here to show you some easy and fun ways to make your own videos and pictures to get your books, and yourselves, out into the vast world
of social media. From finding the right audios, to building fun backdrops, all the way to writing the right ext, Samantha Ann is ready to help you create the perfect video and/or pictures you need to make a splash!
The Inspiration and Courage to Write – We are writers because we feel compelled to write. Whether we want to entertain or inform, an inner drive gnaws at us to keep at it, in spite of the minutes, hours, days, and years it takes to create, edit, and repeat. And our definition of “success” requires a constant reassessment of efforts verses rewards, along with sales numbers and profits. And yet we keep going because we can’t help but weave stories about the world we live in, or its past or its future, or we create our own worlds, all with the ultimate goal of sharing those stories with others. In this interactive workshop by multi-published author Barbara Newhart, we will share tips and tactics that inspire us to write. Where do we find story ideas? What can we do when the words don’t freely flow, or the world refuses to grant us the time to type them? How can we get from page 1 to “The End”? And how can we handle those days when we consider giving it all up?
Writing is not for sissies. It takes real courage to spend the precious, limited moments of our lives, often in solitude, on something that may end up in the shredder or be rejected by editors and agents, or receive unfavorable reviews, or low sales. But like all the artists who’ve come before us, whatever their modality, we persevere. We fight the good fight. And perhaps along the way, we touch our readers’ hearts.
Media Training for Authors – Are you ready for your close up? Or that Zoom call with an editor interested in your manuscript? Or the agent interested in offering you representation? Are you ready for Book Tok? Or Instagram reels or that podcast interview to promote your new book? Are you prepared for a speaking role on an author panel or a book signing?
A picture is worth a thousand words and today’s authors live in an on-camera world.
In a one-hour media training session, you’ll learn tv anchor tips to look and sound professional while delivering a compelling message about your book and author brand.
Christine Gunderson is a former television anchor, Capitol Hill press secretary, and media trainer with twenty years of experience on both sides of the camera. She’s helped senators, CEO’s, cabinet secretaries, and candidates prepare for television, print, and radio interviews, and debates, press conferences, and congressional hearings. Her novel Friends with Secrets debuts with Lake Union in September of 2024.
In a one-hour Media Training for Authors Session you’ll learn to:
· distill your book and author brand into a succent and compelling message
· deliver that message with confidence on camera or in podcast interviews
· become comfortable talking about yourself and your books in front of an audience.
· create a compelling on-camera backdrop that expresses your personality and author brand
· choose camera friendly outfits and accessories from your own wardrobe
· use home office lighting hacks to present yourself in the best light, literally and figuratively
Not Just a Pretty Place: Crafting Dynamic Settings – Settings in fiction are so much more than a backdrop or a time period—they’re living, breathing elements that shape your narrative and characters. Whether your story unfolds in a quaint small town or an expansive new world, the setting plays an active role. It can influence your characters’ choices, spark pivotal moments of change, evoke pain, or offer them a sanctuary. The setting isn’t static—it sets boundaries, expands possibilities, and can become a character in its own right.
In this workshop, you’ll learn how to transform your setting into a vibrant part of your story, one that readers can feel, see, and even smell. We’ll take a deep dive into the craft of using time and place to elevate your narrative, allowing readers to experience the world through your characters’ eyes and emotions. From enhancing the story’s depth to creating a setting so immersive readers will want to return again and again, this workshop will equip you with the tools to make your setting an unforgettable part of your storytelling.
This course is ideal for writers of all genres looking to add depth and richness to their worlds, whether grounded in reality or purely fantastical.
Now for my Point of View – An easy definition of Point of View (POV) is that the author is the director of an “invisible” movie. POV frames each scene of a book as a director frames each scene in a film. In this workshop Jo Ann Brown will focus on how to integrate readers into the scenes so that they feel they have a vital stake in the story. Why? Because they deeply care about the characters, connecting with them emotionally through the internal telling of the story. Changing POV (when and how and why) as well as choosing the right POV for a scene will be discussed.
Tent Pole Revision Process – Congratulations! You finished the draft of your novel! Now… it’s time to edit. But how? Too many writers start linearly with a scene-by-scene, chapter-by-chapter process. Unfortunately, with this method, you can miss some of the larger, structural issues which then go unfixed – and might even get worse. What if you had a process that gave you some distance and allowed you to see the overall picture and where it’s succeeding or not? Join Author Accelerator certified book coach Rona Gofstein as she shows you how to use six key scenes so you can see what’s working, what needs strengthening, and what’s not there yet. Discover a new system that emphasizes the pivotal moments in your story, so your revision has a more significant impact on your book – in less time – and improves your editing process.
Words That You Can Feel: Words That Draw Them All In – We commonly have a main preferred map or method of processing information. This could be auditory, visual, or kinesthetic. Some of us process with a blend of the three. Tapping into the understanding of these processing preferences and maps can allow you to trigger emotional responses with your writing and the use of writing through these sensory filters.
There is a map in which every individual filters life. No one is the same, but how do we reach each reader through their filters? When understanding these trigger points to pique the interest of each individual on their playing field, we can understand how to write to reach readers and give them words they can connect with. There is a science to it. Blue Saffire, author of over 70 published titles and NLP Master practitioner can reveal to you this science and how authors can apply it to their books that will pull readers in. Blue will share keywords and techniques that will accomplish this effect over and over again.
Worldbuilding Isn’t Just for Fantasy Writers – In this workshop M. Flagg will discuss aspects of building the world within your novel. Beginning with the germ of an idea, building a realistic setting is a journey into imagination. M. Flagg will also provide information on:
What is worldbuilding and why is it important.
Will you use one sentence or a paragraph?
What role do our senses play in creating the world where your characters reside?
The what, where, why, how and who will explore boundaries and rules set by the author. Transferring your vision to the written page: show vs. tell.
How do you build your world: Author’s experiences with travel, videos or online research.
Whether your world is fantasy or reality, the way an author creates the setting draws a reader in.
In addition, this workshop will include a short writing exercise to be shared with fellow attendees followed by discussion and a Q and A.
More Workshops Coming Soon!
Download the preliminary schedule at https://www.libertystatesfictionwriters.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Schedule_2025.pdf. Schedule is subject to change.