Proven Framework for Successful Collaboration

Writing can be lonely. You brainstorm alone, draft alone, revise alone. Maybe you are lucky enough to have a beta reader or editor at the end. But what if you could build the story with someone from the beginning?

We know what you’re asking:
Will I lose creative control?
What if our styles clash?
What if one of us writes faster?
How do we even start?

In this candid, craft-focused session, authors Lauren Nossett and Rea Frey share what they have learned from co-writing together, from early brainstorming sessions to managing deadlines and dividing responsibilities.

Attendees will walk away with a practical, step-by-step framework for successful collaboration.

You will learn how to:

By the end of the session, you will have the tools and confidence to decide whether co-writing is right for you and, if so, how to do it successfully.

Directing Actors: Practical Tools for Writers and Emerging Directors 

Improve your writing with deeper insights into the filmmaking process.

Directing actors is often viewed as something that happens only after a script is finished and production begins—but understanding the actor process can dramatically improve storytelling long before cameras roll.

In this educational session, writer and director Anthony DiBlasi breaks down the fundamentals of working with actors in a way that is accessible to writers, emerging directors, and storytellers at any stage of their career. 

The session focuses on practical tools that help translate intention on the page into authentic, playable performance. Using real-world examples from rehearsals and set experience, this session explores how directors communicate with actors, how actors interpret scripts, why certain types of direction unlock stronger performances, and how writers can shape scenes that invite behavior rather than simply describe emotion.

By the end of this presentation, attendees will gain actionable techniques for writing and directing, and leave with a stronger understanding of how story is translated from the page into human behavior. 

The session will cover:

Surveillance: What is It, How to Write It

This symposium explores the reality of physical and technical surveillance so authors can write more compelling mysteries and thrillers. Additionally, as an indirect benefit, attendees will also learn how they can better protect themselves against cyber criminals and identity theft, and ensure safety and security for all the tech in our daily lives.

Adam Sikes is a former paramilitary officer with the CIA and an expert in physical and technical surveillance, and he will examine the following topics:

At the conclusion of this class, attendees will have a deeper understanding of how to follow someone, detect if someone is following them, monitor phone and social media activity, the vulnerabilities of location sharing and GPS, password and identity security, commercially available technical and surveillance tools, and a host of skills and methods. These insights will make your writing more compelling and authentic to readers, helping hold them to the page.

One-on-One with Literary Agent Cecilia "CeCe" Lyra

*NOTE: Zoom played tricks with CeCe's calendar, so we got the party started a little late. You can watch the first 10 minutes of Jeanne's impromptu AMA, or skip to the 10-minute mark when CeCe's genius starts.

If you're a listener to the podcast "The Shit No One Tells You About Writing," you already know the amazing literary agent CeCe Lyra. To say we're thrilled to have her on Symposium is the understatement of the year.

At Symposium we have one important rule: To tell people what they need to hear not necessarily what they want to hear. Hard truths will get you farther in your career than false hope, and CeCe politely puts her Grinch hat on to deliver the honest advice you need to improve your odds at publication.

We'll dive into the world of a lit agent, the advice writers need to improve, and you'll even get to ask questions, too!

Cecilia “CeCe” Lyra is a literary agent at Wendy Sherman Associates representing adult fiction and non-fiction. She is drawn to books with strong hooks and smooth writing, told with originality, nuance, and authenticity. A long-term strategic thinker, CeCe prioritizes the creative reach and sustainable longevity of her authors’ careers, and she is especially looking for clients with whom she can build fruitful, lasting relationships.

Both a storyteller and a storyseller, CeCe believes that stories are empathy-generating machines capable of healing, connecting, and enacting true change. As a mixed race Latinx immigrant, CeCe understands the power of seeing oneself reflected in books, hence her passion for championing under or misrepresented voices and narratives that contribute to a larger cultural conversation. CeCe is a member of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA). The popular podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, for which CeCe is a co-host, has over four million downloads. CeCe is also a recovering lawyer, but asks that you do not hold that against her.

Resources from this session:

10 Questions to Figure Out What Your Memoir is REALLY About

Memoir is a deeply challenging genre for any writer seeking to parlay real-life events into a story that connects with total strangers. As Mary Karr observes, “a fiction writer starts with meaning and then manufactures events to represent it; a memoirist starts with events, then derives meaning from them.” Deriving meaning is a lengthy, complex process and not at all obvious to any writer who attempts it.

One big challenge at the outset is figuring out the “container” for your book: Where to begin, where to end, what to include, what to exclude, and how to tell a compelling story about your transformational journey.

This is a tall order! This symposium explores a framework of 10 essential questions to help you make critical choices about your book’s structure and to see the big picture.

This presentation will cover:

You will learn:

Polish Like a Pro: Self-Editing Strategies for Aspiring Authors

Are you ready to take your manuscript from rough draft to ready for an agent?

Join Sara Wigal, Director & Associate Professor of Publishing at Belmont University (a literary agent herself) for a hands-on, two-hour symposium designed specifically for aspiring professional writers who want to sharpen their self-editing skills.

This session will guide you through practical techniques to elevate your prose, tighten your narrative, and prepare your work for submission or publication. Learn how to spot common pitfalls, apply revision strategies used by editors, and develop a personalized editing workflow that empowers you to become your own best critic.

Join in a group editing session for immediate feedback. Whether you're working on fiction, nonfiction, or memoir, this workshop will help you transform your writing with clarity, precision, and confidence.

Finish Your Project This Year

How to reignite your passion for a long-term project and complete it by the end of the year.

Whether it’s a screenplay, novel, or memoir, it takes a long time to complete a longform project. And yet many projects stretch out longer than they need to, the finish line receding farther in the distance as we wonder if we’ll ever reach our goal: a complete manuscript. January can be a painful reality, leading us to lament all we did not achieve in the prior year, to doubt we’ll ever get there.

But this year will be different. This year you CAN finish your project. If you have a plan.

In this session, we will explore what it means to finish a project, how to create structures that create forward progress, common obstacles that slow writers down, creative solutions to the ever-present challenge of finding time and space in this busy world, and what relationships are essential to getting to the finish line.

In this session you will learn:

You will walk away with renewed determination to tackle a project you really care about and a clear path toward achieving your creative goals. This year, you’ll finish it.

What attendees have said ...

"I really enjoyed Julia’s presentation. Her honesty and self-compassion are qualities we writers need reminding of. I hope I have opportunities to enjoy her work more in the future. She is very inspiring to me."

"I loved the concrete suggestions!"

The First-Person Voice: Getting Past “I”

Writing a novel in first-person seems easy at first. After all, how hard can it be to get inside just one character’s head and stay there? As it turns out, quite hard. To be sure, the first-person perspective is an exciting opportunity to explore your protagonist’s deepest secrets and drives and develop a sympathetic bond with the reader as they get to know your character from the inside. I bet many of our favorite books are told in first-person.

But from a craft perspective, writing in first-person is a potential minefield. Building an interesting and dynamic world full of believable characters can be extra challenging when the reader can only see that world through one set of eyes. Common pitfalls involve an over-reliance on telling rather than showing; not using inner dialogue strategically to build conflict and tension; and accidentally switching out of first-person, which can confuse the reader.

By the end of this presentation, you’ll be armed with a variety of techniques to help you use first-person effectively in a variety of genres and to recognize several pitfalls before you get too far along.

This presentation will cover:

What Attendees Have Said ...

"I was pleasantly surprised that Amy covered other POVs in addition to 1st Person. By doing that, she was able to compare and contrast the different POVs."

"Excellent presentation! Made the diverse POVs very understandable. The teacher was genial and terrific."

How to Approach Edits Without Losing Your Sh*t

You finished your book. You cried. You celebrated. You swore you'd never look at it again. And then... the feedback arrived.

Welcome to the part of the writing process no one talks about enough: edits—the necessary but often soul-crushing step between “I wrote a book!” and “I wrote a great book.”

In this two-hour virtual workshop, bestselling author and editor Rea Frey (who recently rewrote her entire thriller in two weeks) will walk you through exactly how to approach edits without spiraling into self-doubt, analysis paralysis, or burning your manuscript in a ritual fire.

Using real-life examples and client case studies, Rea will demystify the editorial process and share a repeatable, sanity-saving method to move from raw feedback to a polished, submission-ready draft.

Whether you're staring down an editorial letter, facing beta reader notes, or simply trying to revise your own work with fresh eyes, this workshop will give you the tools, structure, and mindset you need to tackle edits with confidence (and maybe even joy).

You’ll Learn:

Includes:

Ideal for:
Writers of all genres who want to strengthen their manuscript and survive the emotional minefield of edits—without giving up on their story (or themselves).

What Attendees Have Said ...

"I loved how she was direct and to the point without wasting time. This is exactly what I was looking for. How to begin/start the edit process with a checklist or bullet points of what to do and in an order that's effective."

"Experienced speaker and well-presented content. Valuable insight and also somehow comforting and encouraging."

"Loved the very clear and structured approach to revision. I write middle grade novels and with the industry's shrinking word count, I need to make every single word, sentence, scene count. Rea's structure provides the scaffolding I need to do just that."

"It was extremely well organized, and I can't wait to get my hands on those checklists!"

Rewriting the Scene

“A movie is three good scenes, no bad ones.” — Howard Hawks

This symposium focuses on the all important rewrite, with an emphasis on reworking each and every scene in your screenplay. With tools Tom Vaughan developed over twenty years writing professionally and teaching, you will learn a consistent and repeatable process to elevate the most important building block of your story. 

You won’t just have a better draft—you’ll have a sharper eye, a deeper toolkit, and a renewed enthusiasm to dig back into your own work. Whether you're polishing for a producer, a contest, or your own creative satisfaction, "Rewriting the Scene" will give you clear steps to a sharper, stronger, more compelling screenplay.

This presentation will cover:

What Attendees Have Said ...

"Loved the practical ways to writing a scene and the attitude instilled to make it amazing."

"This was one of the most useful Zoom talks in a long time. The talking points were specific and backed up with examples."

"It was fantastic, answered all my questions and really helped me understand what some of the feedback I have gotten meant."

"This was the best webinar presentation on screenwriting I ever attended. It was worth every penny. Tom Vaughn presented information in an organized, understandable way and was fun to listen to at the same time. I’m looking forward to watching the replay so I can solidify what I learned into my brain."

"I loved the live aspects and how Tom riffed on comments in the chat and spent over 20 minutes overtime answering questions. I also liked the use of the scenes to illustrate his points."

"Great pacing, could even jot down some notes and still listen without missing anything. Clear explanations of content with good examples. Great illumination on how to write action lines and concentration on the emotional throughline of the characters in each scene. Also, the description on visualizing the scene and directing the camera without camera directions."

"Rewriting the Scene with Tom Vaughan gave me more--and more effective--tools for revising screenplays than I ever expected, and I expected a lot!"