PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

WDC25’s Pre-Conference Workshops are the perfect opportunity to go deep on a topic with expert, hands-on guidance.

NOTE: These exclusive pre-conference workshops kick off the 2025 Writer’s Digest Annual Conference weekend on Thursday, July 24

Unique, But Universal: Crafting High-Concept Fiction That Sells

In this full-day workshop, we’ll break down what makes a concept truly irresistible, explore how to sharpen your premise into something both fresh and sellable, and refine your own high-concept pitch through guided exercises and live feedback. You’ll leave with a polished, marketable premise and the tools to make sure your book stands out in a competitive publishing landscape.

By the end of this workshop, you’ll have a polished, high-concept hook, a clearer sense of your story’s unique appeal, and the confidence to pitch your book to agents, editors, and readers in a way that grabs attention instantly.

Hands-On Work & Live Exercises:

Live Concept Refinement—Bring your pitch, break it down, and sharpen it into something that sells.
High-Concept Breakdown—Reverse-engineer bestselling and breakout concepts to understand what makes them work.
Hands-On Hook Development—Work through structured exercises to craft a one-sentence and one-paragraph pitch that captures your book’s core appeal.
The “Hollywood Test”—Practice pitching your book in ways that feel natural, compelling, and instantly engaging.
Feedback & Iteration—Share your hook with the group, get live feedback, and refine it into something irresistible.

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Mastering Backstory

It’s the holy grail of story—keep momentum moving forward. But compelling story hinges on fully realized characters who leap off the page…which means incorporating the past.

In detailed, example-filled workshops, this master class offers clear, practical guidelines for lacing in backstory to deepen and develop your characters; shares the three main ways of weaving in backstory with specific examples of each from published books; and presents practical techniques for creating rich, three-dimensional stories by developing and revealing who your characters were and are without slowing down the story of where they’re going.

YOU'LL LEARN

The three main types of backstory and guidelines for using them: determining what’s relevant, painting in backstory one brushstroke at a time; using specifics to bring character to life, balancing enough backstory without overloading readers.
How to ask yourself the questions readers may have in a scene, and determine what information is essential to share when.
Backstory traps and how to avoid them.
How to seamlessly incorporate backstory to make the story and characters jump off the page without slowing down your story.
Using flashbacks effectively without stalling out the story or risking reader engagement.
How to transition smoothly in and out of flashbacks.
Starting a story with flashback—is it a “cheat”
How to mine out and develop backstory to create fully fleshed, cohesive characters

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