This weekend, the Evanston Writers Workshop will host its first “In the Trenches” conference in a decade — and for Chicago-area author Philip Bloch, it arrived at just the right time.
“My first novel is completed,” said Bloch, who has written short stories in the past and has attended every “In the Trenches” conference. “I’m going into the conference with a completed novel.”
Registration and social events will begin Thursday, while guest speaker events, workshop sessions and more will begin Friday at the conference. Having a full-length manuscript could be pivotal, Bloch said, since authors can offer their work to publishing agents at the conference.
“Getting published is very hard,” Debbie Fligelman said. “We try to advocate for the writers. The mission of Evanston Writers Workshop is to help the writers in whatever they need.”
Fliegelman founded the organization in 2007. Today, it helps local authors connect, get published and workshop their writing. Evanston Writers Workshop last organized “In the Trenches” in 2013, she said.
Organizing a conference featuring agents, food for guests and dozens of speakers — including speaker Soman Chainani, who has written multiple New York Times bestsellers — was an immense undertaking, Fligelman said.
The conference will take place at Hyatt Regency Deerfield this year, but Fligelman said she plans to bring it back to Evanston after the downtown Hilton Orrington finishes work on its ballroom.
Jamie Freveletti, a Chicago-based thriller author, will lead workshops about composing action scenes and writing the first 10 pages of a book.
She recalled how she met the agent who ultimately accepted the manuscript for her first published novel, “Running from the Devil,” at a New York thriller conference.
“I found (the agent’s) colleague, who said, ‘Oh my God, she’s looking for you,’” Freveletti said. “I went over, found her and shook her hand. She said, ‘Look, there was one chapter that was a little rough, and I passed. But if you want to change that chapter, I’ll take the manuscript.’”
Freveletti landed a deal with HarperCollins Publishers, one of the largest publishers in the country, and now writes thrillers full-time.
“You have to go into a conference with an open mind and hopefully some product or some manuscript near completion,” she said.
Bloch said he completed a superhero novel with local flavor and inventive backstories. Landmarks like the lion statues in front of the Art Institute of Chicago feature prominently in a “great Chicago history” he hopes publishing agents will like.
“Hopefully, one of them will say, ‘I want to represent you,’ or ‘I want my company to publish your book,’” he said.
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Twitter: @realShunGraves
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