When Words Collide 2026

***Please note that Masterclasses are add-ons that require pre-registration and a separate payment. Masterclasses are only available to Festival Passholders. Adding to your SCHED schedule does not mean you are registered for the class.***

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When are you actually ready to write your mystery novel? You have an idea, a theme, or a moment—but no idea how to proceed forming that inspiration into a story. Or you’re three-quarters through your manuscript and have the sneaking suspicion that something isn’t quite the way it should be. But you don’t know what ‘should be’ is.
 
This session cuts through the uncertainty with ten signs that show when you can confidently move forward; no matter if you are going from vague concept to first draft or from finished manuscript to polished plot. You can break through the chaos of conflicting advice, assumed obstacles and disconnected information with some structural understanding and insider secrets. 
 
You don't need a complete outline or the perfect twist—but you do need key fundamentals. This talk reveals what those fundamentals are and why they matter. Missing a few? You'll know exactly which skills to develop next. No guesswork, no overwhelm. Each sign points you towards concrete techniques you can learn and apply immediately. This session guides you, step by step, through some well-known and some lesser-known mystery writing basics to keep you inspired and on track while writing your murder mystery.

***Please note that Masterclasses are add-ons that require pre-registration and a separate payment. Masterclasses are only available to Festival Passholders. Adding to your SCHED schedule does not mean you are registered for the class.***
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A Very, Very, Very Fine House: The Warp and Weft of Worldbuilding. 
From politics to food to the architecture of love, worldbuilding underpins so many of your narrative decisions—and this holds true regardless of whether you’re writing a novel, working in nonfiction, or crafting a poem. Understanding the building blocks of the world that you create is a crucial part of the creation process.  Join Amanda Leduc for an in-depth discussion of what to consider when building the world of your manuscript.

***Please note that Masterclasses are add-ons that require pre-registration and a separate payment. Masterclasses are only available to Festival Passholders. Adding to your SCHED schedule does not mean you are registered for the class.***
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Writing feedback is hard to come by and can be rated on a scale between encouraging and soul-crushing. Critical feedback, the kind that pushes you to dig deeper into a piece you just poured your heart and soul into, can feel the worst. It can make you question your skills, your purpose, and your relationship with the reader who dared to tell you what they thought. It’s natural for defenses to go up, to assume the reader misunderstands your writerly purpose or fails to appreciate your creative endeavors. But what if you could accept or even appreciate the kind of feedback that makes your stomach turn? 

What if you can learn to value the discomfort of receiving notes that leaves you feeling awful? Clarifying the role of feedback in your writing process and developing a method to ask for and receive notes on your work can help. Preparing yourself for how to use feedback to improve your writing can make you a better writer and preserve a few relationships along the way.

In this masterclass seminar, two writers will share strategies for surviving and thriving when feedback hits hard, separating craft concerns from personal bias, and deciding when to accept the critique, when to question it, and when to leave it alone. 

Participants will participate in real-time feedback practice, shared group discussions, and practical tools for surviving the process, protecting your creative heart, and gaining confidence in your own work. 

***Please note that Masterclasses are add-ons that require pre-registration and a separate payment. Masterclasses are only available to Festival Passholders. Adding to your SCHED schedule does not mean you are registered for the class.***
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When writing a memoir, one faces an ultimate dilemma: what to tell, how to tell it, and how to make it relevant to the mainstream readership.

A trick exists to figuring this out, but it requires reflecting on what you write and who you are as you write it. In this workshop, you will question the author's role in memoir writing and the tools you can use to accomplish truthful, yet inviting non-fiction.