Those who’ve attended the PWC know that it’s great to network and be around other writers. What may get overlooked sometimes is the impact an instructor can have on those who attend the workshops. Here’s how some board members feel about their most memorable classes.
For my most memorable class, I’d have to go with the “Novel: Character” class taught by this year’s opening speaker, Kelly Simmons in 2011. Kelly was an excellent teacher, but on the second day of the workshop I read something I had written as part of our homework, and she said something like “I’m probably not supposed to say this, but that was effing awesome.” It was a huge confidence booster to keep pursuing this crazy dream to become an author. Whenever I feel like maybe I should give up, I think of her saying that it it keeps me going.
– Jim Knipp @knippknopp
The most memorable class I ever attended at the Philadelphia Writer’s Conference was the very first class I attended — Jonathan Maberry’s “Nuts & Bolts of Publishing” — a two day feature where he broke down the work a writer must do before and after the writing. About the business of publishing, and the professional expectations of editors and agents. When I attended the PWC for the first time in 2005, it was the first writing conference I’d ever attended. I had no idea what to expect, so when I started off with Maberry, whom I barely knew at the time, I was unprepared for the sheer excellence and relevance of the information he shared with us. I’d been a successful sales executive for years, so his “blocking and tackling” concepts powered by best-in-class business practices made perfect sense, and empowered me to blow the roof off my writing career. It was the information I needed at the right time in my growth as a writer. I have since gone on to attend hundreds of sessions at conferences all over the country, and frequently teach at writing conferences. While every now and then somebody still blows the roof off my writing career, nothing compares to the awakening I experienced in my very first class, at my very first conference, ten short years ago at the PWC.
– Don Lafferty @donlafferty
A few years ago, PWC ran two “NOVEL” classes. Kelly Simmons’s was in the morning, mine in the afternoon; she taught Structure and I taught Character. I sat in on hers with the idea of being able to build on things she said. I was unprepared for the amount of very smart and easy-to-apply information she was providing her class—so much information in fact that I jettisoned maybe half of my prepared lecture and just built out from where she’d begun. It is always a wonderful experience to sit in a class and be surprised, dazzled, and exposed to a whole new way of thinking about your own writing.
– Gregory Frost @gregory_frost


2 Comments
Donna Galanti
January 8, 2016 at 9:14 amI had the fantastic luck to sit in on Greg and Kelly’s Novel class years ago. Greg amazed me with his insight on character and delivered an inspiring, indepth critique on my 1st chapter – which found its way into my first novel published. I blogged about his wisdom here: http://www.elementtrilogy.com/more-hot-tips-from-the-philly-writers-conf-on-character/
Kelly wowed me with her 7 C’s of Plot! My post here on it. http://www.elementtrilogy.com/hot-writingtips-from-the-philly-writers-conf-on-plot/
Great conference and teachers!
Uriah Young
January 13, 2016 at 9:49 pmDonna, thanks for chiming in. We hope your book, Joshua and the Lightning Road, is taking off! Hope to see you at the conference in June.