The Muse & The Marketplace 2024

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The Muse & The Marketplace 2024

The Muse and the Marketplace begins this Friday, May 10! Attendee schedules are now frozen for printing; if you did not sign up for sessions in advance or wish to make a change, never fear: you’ll be able to join sessions on the fly as well by checking in with the Session Manager at the door. For completely full sessions, the Session Manager will use their discretion on whether additional seating and/or standing room will be available per fire code. We cannot wait to host you at the Boston Park Plaza for an incredible weekend ahead!

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7:30am EDT

Registration Opens & Breakfast Mezzanine

9:00am EDT

Friday Keynote with Jonathan Escoffery Grand BallroomDesmond Hall • Jonathan Escoffery

10:30am EDT

Introducing Characters: How to Get (And Keep) Your Reader's Attention Beacon HillUrsula DeYoung On Tension: How to build suspense in literary fiction White HillCourtney Sender The Power of Place in Coming-of-Age Narratives: Global Readings and Craft Tips CabotAube Rey Lescure Finding Your Memoir: Tips and Strategies to Get Started Charles RiverJudah Leblang Researching the Personal Narrative CambridgeShalene Gupta • Michelle Bowdler What No One Talks About in Publishing… But Everyone Should Know WhittierAnjali Mitter Duva • Henriette Lazaridis Writing Ourselves Home: Prompts and Exercises for Building An Immigrant Writing Community WinthropFrankie Concepcion Bring Order to Creative Chaos: Project Management for Writers FranklinKerry Savage Where the Speculative and the Literary Meet: Re-defining Genre StuartAllison Pottern Hoch

11:45am EDT

Funny Ha-Ha: Bringing Humor to your Fiction Beacon HillJane Roper Storytelling to Save the World: the Fiction of Climate Apocalypse StuartTim Weed Structural Steps: Building a Novel with Good Bones WhittierRandy Susan Meyers They Toss Bodies at You: How Exciting New Trends in Latina Horror Can Help Improve Your Writing WinthropElizabeth Gonzalez James Timeless Narratives: Unearthing Truths through Historical Fiction and Research CambridgeGarrard Conley Beyond Innocence: Creating Multi-Dimensional Child Characters TremontElaine Dimopoulos The Business of Art: How to Navigate the Market As a Writer White HillSorche Fairbank • Jonah Straus • Serene Hakim • Taryn Roeder Polish and Shine: How to Prepare for the Author Interview FranklinRachel Barenbaum Resiliency (Back) at Square One: How to View Rejection as Redirection Charles RiverVanessa Lillie Universal Paradox: How to Write a Florida Story That Would Get Banned in Florida (or How to Write a Story That Debunks Stereotypes and Is Universal.) CabotChristopher Louis Romaguera

12:45pm EDT

Community Space NewburyShirley Jones Luke Break N/A

2:00pm EDT

Break Every Rule: Trusting Your Instincts in Process and Craft StuartJoanna Rakoff Everybody Wants Something: Desire as the Path to More Compelling Characters FranklinRon MacLean Making Ancient Texts Your Own CambridgeJeanne Blasberg The Ultimate Craft Class: Solving the Mysteries of Character, Chronology and Plot. WhittierSteve Almond Elements of Autofiction: Memory, Time, Place, and Process WinthropStacy Mattingly Get Published Anywhere: How to (Successfully) Pitch Essays and Start Building a Larger Platform Beacon HillFrankie de la Cretaz Rise to Resilience: Writing Through Fear with Ritual and Mantra Charles RiverSimone Dalton Writing Queer and Trans Joy CabotSG Huerta

3:30pm EDT

How to Write Sex Scenes that Sizzle StuartMegan Hennessey The Dynamics of Opposition: Getting the Best Plot Out of Your Protagonists White HillDesmond Hall What Are You Afraid Of? Turning Fear into Fiction FranklinJulie Carrick Dalton Media Training for the Post-Pandemic World: Be your best when promoting your work in both virtual & in-person events TremontLynne Reeves Griffin • Katrin Schumann How Your Characters’ Fantasy Lives Can Supercharge Your Stories CabotErin Almond Agents and Editors of Color Roundtable CambridgeEric Smith • Aemilia Phillips • Cherise Fisher • Foyinsi Adegbonmire There's More Than One Path to Publication: Publishing With Small, Indie, and University Presses WhittierNeema Avashia On the Agent-Writer Relationship Beacon HillVictor Yang • Noah Grey Rosenzweig

5:00pm EDT

Straight Talk Over Drinks: How to Conquer Writer’s Block, Anxiety, Envy and the Other Evil Voices Inside You Terrace Room (Lower Lobby)Steve Almond • Laura Warrell

5:30pm EDT

Shop Talk Happy Hour Davio's Steakhouse