Don't Be a Know-It-All

All of us are acquainted with at least one know-it-all. Rather than getting personal, here are a few well-known ones from literature:

·       The Caterpillar (Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)

·       Mr. Collins (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin)

·       Miss Haversham (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

·       Gilderoy Lockhart (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling)

·       Rabbit and Owl (Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne)

Then there is this know-it-all type from real life: the writer who doesn’t attend conferences because “I don’t learn anything new.”

While many conferences cover similar material, that isn’t a negative. After all, those elements that make a novel great don’t change. The same is true for creative non-fiction. And if you want to make money from your book, you need to know how to market it.

Few conferences have the time to cover all the crucial elements, but it is no surprise that the subjects overlap. But just because the conference you attended last year had a session on the same topic, that doesn’t mean you won’t learn anything new. Every presenter has something different to offer.

Consider two sessions on characterization. Even if they are identical (they won’t be), you can expect to get something fresh from the second one. Whether you are writing a new book or continuing to work on the same manuscript as a year ago, your craft should be constantly improving and your characters becoming rounder. That means you will be looking at them with different eyes than you used a year ago. If not, you aren’t growing as a writer.

Nobody likes a know-it-all, and few people want to be one. So admit your ignorance and attend a writers’ conference. But which one?

I’ve got the ideal choice for you . . . Now I sound like a know-it-all. Obviously, no particular conference is perfect for everyone. Still, you should consider the 2018 Steel Pen Creative Writers’ Conference, which will be held on October 27 at Fair Oaks Farms just north of Rensselaer, Indiana. The conference offers lunch with keynote speaker Michael Poore and a full day of writing workshops. You can find more information and register at this link: www.steelpenconference.org.

I hope to see you there.

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The image at the top of this page is by John Tenniel and was one of the original illustrations for Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It is in the public domain because of its age.