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.

Ready to reach more readers and boost your book sales? Join USA Today Bestselling author, Jennie Marts, as she covers the basics of creating Amazon ads that help your book stand out. You’ll learn how to create ads and leave equipped with actionable tips and insights to make your ads work for you. Whether you’re new to Amazon ads or just want some easy-to-follow tips, this session will give you the tools to start using Amazon ads to get your book in front of more readers!

Writers need inspiration. Where do we find it? This workshop puts a new spin on research encouraging writers to look in unlikely places from the weird corners of the internet to thrift stores, music and the open road. We'll talk about mining the gold in everyday experiences, and how the seeds of inspiration just need a little light to grow. Then we'll do an exercise and share our results.

Often neglected the most important part of the process is prewriting. Spurned by a powerful but short-sighted urge to “get started" one rushes headlong and unprepared into the deep unforgiving waters of muddled middles, flat characters, incomplete ideas, and weak plots only to founder and wreck on the infamous writer’s block.

What you need is a pre-writing checklist to verify you’re ready, that your is hold full, your ship intact, your destination sure. Laden with sharpened harpoons for the literary leviathans that await.

This class presents a concrete check list of items and angles every author should consider before starting out of any work of fiction.