Takeaways From Realm Makers

I recently attended the 2024 Realm Makers Christian Writer's Conference, and I thought it would be fun to share some of what I learned from the experience. If you've been to a writer's conference, tell me about it in the comments!

Attending Online

Since my family only lives four hours from where the conference was held, it was a bit of a bummer that we couldn’t arrange for me to attend in-person. At the same time, I’m grateful I went online for my first conference since it helped prepare me for future conferences.

I got to view the live stream tour of the conference without the stress of exploring a new place with new people. Now, I know what to expect when I go to a conference in-person, and I’ll be able to enjoy it more! For that reason (and if you want to save a bit of money), I highly suggest attending your first conference online.

5 Component Pitch Format

Being a teen, I took part in their teen track, hosted by the Author Conservatory. We went way back to the basics and discussed the 5 components of a standout novel and most importantly how they all fit together in a pitch.

First, you need a marketable idea that is both fresh and familiar. A familiar genre or trope is how you will connect to your readers. Adding in fresh elements will keep your readers reading.

Next, is a sympathetic character your readers want to succeed Otherwise, they won’t stick around to the end of the story. Ask yourself, what is your character’s dream?

Your character needs a high-stakes goal that they are actively working to achieve. For the pitch and your sanity, you’ll want to boil the goal down to its basics. Phrase it as simply and frankly as possible.

Then, whether it’s about them or the world, the main character must learn something true to succeed. This is where it's important that your plot is paired with your character’s arc. Otherwise, this scene will look like you threw it together without any thought.

Finally, your story must be set in an engaging world, a place the reader wants to explore. Like the plot, the setting and world should be connected to the character’s arc.

When you combine all these factors together, you get this easy-to-use pitch format:

In (world), (main character) must (reach goal) because if not, then (stakes). But what they don’t know is (twist/truth).

This is an awesome way to summarize stories, and I’ve already tried it out on a few different story concepts.

Mentor Meeting

Honestly, the most fruitful part of the conference was the mentor meeting I went to. I got the most practical, widely-applicable advice from this one-on-one session with the amazing H.L. Burke! We covered a lot of ground in just 15 minutes, but here are the answers to the two big questions I had for her.

One of the biggest concerns I’ve had recently is the multitude of genres I write in (yes, this is an issue that expands past my short stories). Since Burke also writes in multiple genres, I asked if she had any advice or insight on how to go about the publishing process.

She pointed out that it works differently for traditional and self-publishing. Since a strong brand helps indie publishers, some choose to get different pen names for different genres and series. For traditionally published authors, they will often go to different publishers for different genres since publishers typically cater to a specific audience.

Then I explained my current struggle with balancing character flaws and strengths. She pointed out that most character flaws are actually strengths to an extreme. This is a whole new perspective on the subject, and one that I will certainly keep in mind during my future character-building sessions.