Thank You, Florida Writers Conference!
I’m home from another wonderful Florida Writers Conference, and I wanted to take a moment to say thank you! Conferences are always a whirlwind of presentations, conversations, new ideas, familiar faces, and far too little sleep, but one of my favorite parts is getting the chance to talk about writing with other writers. Thank you to everyone who attended my presentations, asked a question, stopped to chat, or shared something about your own writing journey with me.
This year, I presented two workshops: one on point of view and one on worldbuilding.
Point of View Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)
Point of view is one of those elements of writing that can seem simple until you actually start looking closely at how it works on the page. In Point of View Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them), we looked at some of the most common POV problems that sneak into manuscripts—including head hopping, unnecessary filtering, and moments when the narrative perspective moves in ways the writer may not have intended.
More importantly, we talked about how to recognize those problems and fix them.
The goal isn’t to create a giant list of arbitrary POV rules. It’s to understand what information your chosen narrator can reasonably give the reader, how close the reader is to that character, and what happens when we accidentally break the perspective we’ve established.
I’ve attached a PDF of the presentation below for anyone who attended and would like another look—or anyone who missed the session and wants to explore the topic.
Worldbuilding
My second presentation tackled one of my favorite subjects: worldbuilding. And worldbuilding isn’t just for epic fantasy! Every story takes place somewhere, and every fictional world has people, places, rules, cultures, expectations, histories, and countless other details that affect the characters who live there. The challenge is figuring out which of those details actually matter to your story.
During the workshop, we explored different areas writers can develop when building their worlds, from people and places to culture, education, creatures, and the mechanics that determine how the world functions. We also talked about one of the most important parts of worldbuilding: making all those wonderful details serve the story rather than overwhelm it.
You don’t necessarily need to know everything about your world. You need to know the things that shape your characters, create possibilities and limitations, cause conflict, and make the setting feel like a place that exists beyond the edges of the page.
I’ve attached the PDF from this presentation below as well so you can revisit the material.
Until Next Time!
Thank you again to the Florida Writers Association, the conference organizers and volunteers, my fellow presenters, and everyone who attended this year’s conference. Teaching writing has always been one of my favorite ways to spend my time, but events like this are especially fun because I get to spend a whole weekend surrounded by people who love stories as much as I do.
I hope you came home inspired, excited about your work, and ready to get some words on the page. Now go write something!
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