Kristene Goes to the Creative Ink Festival – Vol. 3

Holy karg! Is it March already?

Josh and I have been so busy outlining and starting the first draft of the fifth and final book of the series (which is going to blow your mind, just FYI), that the months have been flying by.

The good news is that March means the annual Creative Ink Festival is right around the corner! WOO HOO! Once again, I will be journeying across the ocean to attend, to volunteer, and to speak on some crazy-good panels. (It’s only an hour-and-a-half ferry ride but that sounds adventurous, doesn’t it?)

This year’s CIF promises to be full of the usual mind-expanding fun but with a super perk for one lucky festival goer. Josh and I have teamed up with Super Ninja Festival Organizer Sandra Wickham to offer a shiny new Kindle Paperwhite as a prize! And it gets better because the Kindle will come loaded with a Creative Ink Festival library of books donated by authors and publishers! Nifty, right?

Check out the Creative Ink Festival Facebook page for more updates and for your chance to enter!

As for me, when I’m not taking photos or taking notes, I’ll be speaking or moderating on panels including the Real Life Super Women presentation (don’t miss it!) and the always-ridiculous and occasionally hilarious improv storytelling panel Storytelling On The Fly.

So here’s where to find me this year…

Friday, March 31

2pm – Designing Character Backgrounds

JP (Jo-Anne) McLean (M), Adam Dreece, Kristene Perron, Mel Anastasiou, Tom D Wright

You have an idea for a character, now you have to figure out how to flesh out the character. Come listen to our panelists discuss how to do this.

Saturday, April 1

9am – Creating Tension

Mel Anastasiou (M), Kristene Perron, Mark Teppo, Randy McCharles, Trevor Melanson

Top Agent Donald Maass says there should be tension on every page. How do we accomplish that? How do we get our readers hooked on the anticipation of what will happen next? How do we keep them invested in what happens to our characters? What happens in our world of the novel?

1pm – Real Life Superwomen

Lisa Gemino, Sandra Wickham, JM Landels, Kristene Perron

What do you get when you put an MMA fighter, a pro fitness competitor, a mounted combat expert and a stuntwoman together on one panel? A rousing discussion about the realities of being a “strong woman” and how that compares with their portrayal in fiction. Join authors Lisa Gemino, Sandra Wickham, JM Landels, and Kristene Perron as they KAPOW the stereotypes and share the truth about the lives of superwomen.

6pm – Storytelling on the Fly 

Krista Wallace (M), Brenda Carre, Colleen Anderson, Kristene Perron, Mark Teppo

Writers know that nasty little editorial voice that wants to control every idea, every sentence, every word. Come and share some laughs with these writers as they send that nasty voice away kicking and screaming. With only a few prompts, they will create a story together, one sentence at a time. It WILL have a beginning, middle and an end. It WILL NOT make much sense. There WILL be mirth.

Sunday April 2

11am-How to Create A Writing Routine (and stick with it)

Donna Barker (M), JP (Jo-Anne) McLean, Kristene Perron, Samantha Beiko, Tyner Gillies

 Do you find yourself procrastinating your writing? Having a hard time getting into a groove of writing consistently? What are the best ways to create a writing routine and to keep it going?

12pm – How to Kill Characters

Kristene Perron (M), Lisa Gemino, Trevor Melanson, Tom Wright

Killing off characters may be a skill George RR Martin has perfected, but how do you do it effectively? Are there wrong times or reasons to kill off a character? What are the right reasons? How do you make it have an impact on the reader? How do you write an effective death scene? We don’t have George, but we have a panel of pros to help answer all these questions!

1pm – Raise the Stakes

Kristene Perron (M), Mel Anastasiou, Danika Dinsmore, TG Shepherd, Tom Wright

Writers are always told to “raise the stakes!” in their stories. How do you do that successfully, without it seeming contrived? What makes for high stakes that work for the character and for the reader?

The Creative Ink Festival for writers, readers and artists will be held March 31 – April 2, 2017 at the Delta Burnaby Hotel and Conference Center, in Burnaby, BC. You can find more information at: www.creativeinkfestival.com

You can join the CIF Facebook Group here: www.facebook.com/groups/909897895708908/

…or follow CIF on Twitter at: @creativeinkfest

And if you plan on attending (you ARE going to attend, right??) make sure you come up to me and say hello–I’ll be the one with the goofy grin and the martini!

Blood for water

~Kristene