Pikes Peak Writers Conference 2026

• Understanding the basics of criminal investigations and avoiding the “TV version” of crime.
• Using real case files, FOIA requests, and verified sources for accuracy.
• Q&A: How can writers responsibly use real case material without risking harm to survivors or investigations?

A writer and her narrator (and best pals) Chris Mandeville(writer) and Aaron Fors(Narrator) talk about the ins and outs of producing an audiobook. How to find potential narrators, how to audition and select a narrator, the research, preparation, artistic calibration, and retake/pickup process, the release, the works. How to build and maintain a relationship and workflow that produces the best product and what to expect. Having just finished work on a 143,000 word audiobook together, we'll use our process as a template to talk in-depth, as well as drawing from our diverse experiences.

Keep your readers on the edge of their seats. You've got great characters and a good idea for your plot, but your story builds tension too slowly; even you get bored in the middle, and you're the one writing it. How do you avoid the slow start, the overly predictable middle, the boggy subplots, and the unsatisfying ending? Pacing is not just about action. It's about the way you dance with the reader–where you drop clues, where you misdirect, where you cut between scenes, when you throw in unexpected complications, and how you raise the stakes. It's about knowing when to delay and when to deliver. So how do you rev up the speed at just the right moments, give just the right amount of pause for breath, and play with readers’ expectations in ways that build suspense and give your readers surprises they'll be discussing for days? Jump into Stant Litore’s exhilarating crash course on pacing in fiction.

Grounded in Authors Guild guidance and current U.S. copyright guidance for AI-assisted work.

Bring your laptop or phone and your latest spark of an idea. In this live, hands-on workshop, you will work in real time with SimoneAI™, your Story Development and Market Positioning Coach. Through 20 Socratic questions, SimoneAI™ will help you shape your concept, test its market fit, and determine whether this is the story you should be writing now.

Walk away with a Story Starter Kit and Readiness Score you can use to move forward with clarity, confidence, and a story worth building.

Words are the building blocks of prose. Vivid, precise nouns and verbs imbue prose with energy and originality, help create a believable fictional setting, and bring flat characters to life. But how do you choose the right words? We will address how to find and select nuanced words, as well as how to avoid those that sap prose of energy and drive readers crazy. We’ll address the sensitive topics of adverbs, anachronisms, and weasel words, and explore the role of word choice in persona voice and fictional world building.

The business world is bursting with gurus hawking their systems and claiming they'll change your life. Many of them have useful ideas, but most of them aren't quite applicable to a creative lifestyle, especially for those of us who are neurodivergent, part-time writers with day jobs, primary caregivers, multi-passionate, or not quite raking in enough royalties to hire help. Learn what today's popular theories have in common and how to tweak useful systems to a creative lifestyle. Creatives aren’t always motivated the same way as business bros, and creative success isn’t measured by the same rubrics. Whether you’re hyper-focused or bouncing between projects, there are productivity methods to help you!

This workshop will explore co-writing! This endeavor is both trickier and easier than you're initially imagining. Come find out some of the best ways to outline and prepare for writing with a co-author, various techniques to splitting the workload, and the “yes, and” mindset that helps make these stories shine their brightest. We'll also discuss how to find these opportunities and what to do to make the most of them.

If you’ve ever written a book but didn’t have the expertise to flesh it out the way you wanted, want to write in another author’s IP, or just want to write a novel with your best buddy, we’ve got you covered.