Get Lit!  Writing Panels

Lively Get Lit!  writing panels are slated for Saturday, April 23, 2005, at the West Coast Ridpath Hotel, 515 W. Sprague Avenue in downtown Spokane, Washington. Bring your questions and join the discussions. Writing genres will include Children's/Young Adult Literature; Memoir, Biography, and Autobiography; Environmental Nonfiction; Fiction and Poetry. Get Lit!  panels are presented by the EWU Press.

Beyond Story Time: What age youngsters are you writing for?

• Time: 9 a.m.
• Genre: Children's/Young Adult Literature
• Panelists: Beth Cooley (moderator), Verla Kay, Claire Rudolph Murphy and Kenn Nesbitt
• Discussion topics will include: How one writes for, thinks about and accounts for reading level, and reading level in marketing considerations.

Everybody's Got a Story: Writing from Memory

• Time: 9 a.m.
• Genre: Memoir, Biography, and Autobiography
• Panelists: Dr. Peter Chilson, Jonathan Johnson (moderator), Natalie Kutz and Steve Ringo
• Discussion topics will include: How "the facts" affect composition, how new research shapes an old story, and developing character and setting.

Writing the Earth

• Time: 1 p.m.
• Genre: Environmental Nonfiction
• Panelists: David Axelrod, Phillip Garrison, John Keeble and Paul Lindholdt (moderator)
• Discussion topics will include: Research (ferreting out hidden information, for example), the writer's responsibility in standing behind their work, and the writer's place in the individual vs. the common good debate.

How do you know when a story's done?

• Time: 1 p.m.
• Genre: Fiction
• Panelists: Dennis Held, Sam Ligon (moderator), Greg Spatz and Jess Walter
• Discussion topics will include: What makes a story? Does one use a model, outlining, intuition or something else to decide? What role does discovery play in writing short stories and novels?

Poetry: A Question of Audience or Vision?

• Time: 1 p.m.
• Genre: Poetry
• Panelists: Dan Butterworth (moderator), Tom Davis, Laurie Lamon, Tod Marshall and John Whalen
• Discussion topics will include: Is the current trend a fad or a development? Options for responding, using the current movement toward fragmentation as an example.