Pikes Peak Writers Conference 2025

New to Pikes Peak Writers? New to writing conferences? New to writing, in general? Here's your chance to ask virtually everything about how to get the most out of your conference experience. There's etiquette, jargon, and a lot more to learn so that you present yourself in the very best light to our faculty and your fellow attendees. Learn what to do and what not to do by folks who have learned from their mistakes. You have questions? We have answers.

(For all genres—not just romance!) The bestselling The Five Love Languages book series introduced five ways people receive and express love in any relationship (romantic or non-romantic). Writers of all genres can use these love languages for devious intent! In this fast-paced workshop, we’ll explore the five love languages, evaluate published examples, and learn how to use love languages to fully develop your characters, build that all-important tension and conflict between characters, and weave new levels of emotion into your scenes.

Fiction readers are getting more sophisticated all the time, and it’s a writer’s job to get the details correct. New York Times bestselling author John Gilstrap brings his thirty years of experience as a firefighter, EMT, safety engineer and hazardous materials specialist to the classroom in a lively, interactive session to teach the basics of projectile ballistics, fire behavior, how explosives work, and how the human body functions. What actually happens when a person gets shot or stabbed? Do silencers really work? What’s the difference between a fire, a deflagration and a detonation? Was there really another shooter on the grassy knoll when JFK was shot? These and many other questions will be answered. Note: This presentation contains graphic imagery.

Fiction that doesn't make us feel something is fiction we fail to remember. This workshop will focus on techniques to help writers show not tell and get in touch with their emotions.

Dig into connotative and denotative meanings and a discussion of what being a 'bad' word really means—and why we may or may not choose to use them.

What does it mean to "stand on the shoulders of giants?" Mentors in writing, as much as in our daily lives, are tremendously important. How do you find a mentor? What does a mentor/mentee relationship look like? This presentation walks participants through defining mentors, their relationships, and how to find them.

The power of laughter isn’t only for comedic novels and you can use it to heighten the emotional experience for readers no matter what genre you’re writing in. USA Today Best Selling Author Avery Flynn will give you practical tools to do just that in your story.