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Upcoming Events

Below are upcoming events presented by SCWA. Register by clicking "Register" for the event(s) you wish to attend.

SCWA members may access recordings of past events by clicking here or going to Recorded Events under the Member News tab on this website.

    • 23 May 2023
    • 01 Aug 2023
    • 10 sessions
    • Zoom
    • 0
    Registration is closed

    Summer Series is back!

    Beginning May 23, we’ll host 10 weeks of Tuesday lunchtime Zoom-enabled meet-ups on craft and publishing. It’s the same Zoom each week, so you only need to register once. These are the dates and topics:

    May 23: Dialogue and dialect

    May 30: Plotting and character arcs

    June 6: Pacing and tension

    June 13: Alliteration and rhythm (poets mostly)

    June 20: World building (fantasy and sci fi)

    June 27: Suspense, clues and foreshadowing in mystery novels

    July 4: NO SESSION

    July 11: All your query questions answered (agent, publisher, etc)

    July 18: Marketing your book part 1: Find your audience, basics, email newsletter, website

    July 25: Marketing your book part 2: Social media, giveaways, contests, etc.

    Aug. 1: Non-fiction book proposals / memoir queries

    Is one of these topics your area of expertise? Apply to be a co-host here.


    • 06 Jun 2023
    • 27 Jun 2023
    • 4 sessions
    • Zoom
    • 0
    Registration is closed


    (Above, Amber Wheeler Bacon with Mario)

    Writers from Grant Faulkner to Molly Giles have described flash fiction with metaphors ranging from a coyote appearing in your yard at night, making the world a little more feral, more dangerous, to a firefly flickering on a summer’s night, captivating and fleeting. They’re called flash, microfiction, short shorts. They’re the love child between a short story and a poem. Etgar Keret says they’re like Kool-aid, a partial story that only becomes real once it mixes with a reader. I’ll stop there. You get the point: flash fictions are things of beauty—short, maybe, but powerful, otherworldly even.

    In this class, we’ll study some of the best flash fictions around, from Amy Hempel to Venita Blackburn. We’ll write one to two flash fiction pieces each week and share our work for feedback in small groups. There will be optional homework and extra prompts for each week. The point of this class is to GENERATE, to have fun, to learn something new about stories and ourselves, but mostly to create new work. Currently, I’m working on a large project and I’ve found small flash prompts, both fiction and nonfiction, to be rejuvenating, reminding me of the joys in small work, the pleasures in a good line, or even one word that can turn a whole story on its head.

    Whether you’re stuck in the middle of a big project or just want to practice writing in this form, join me!

    AT THE END OF THE SERIES, EACH ATTENDEE MAY PUBLISH THEIR BEST FLASH STORY IN A SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE PETIGRU REVIEW CALLED TPR: THE FLASH ISSUE. 

    It’s a busy time. While these classes do build on one another, it’s also possible to attend only one, two or three, skipping those that fall on inconvenient nights. The sessions WILL be recorded for those who miss a paid-for class. It’s summertime. Let’s write some fireflies.

    Amber Wheeler Bacon Biography:

    Amber Wheeler Bacon is a writer and teacher whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in Crazyhorse, Ecotone, Epiphany, Five Points, New Ohio Review, Post Road, Prairie Schooner and Witness. You can find her writing online at Ploughshares, CRAFT, Fiction Writer’s Review and New South. She is the recipient of the 2018 Breakout Writers Prize sponsored by The Author’s Guild and a 2021 scholarship from Bread Loaf Environmental. In 2020, her story collection was a finalist for Hub City Press’s C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize and Moon City Press’s Short Fiction Award. She received the 2022 Lit/South Award for flash fiction and is currently a finalist for the 2023 Chautauqua Janus Prize for prose, nominated by Ecotone Magazine.

    Amber has an MFA from Bennington College, teaches English at Coastal Carolina University and is represented by Amy Bishop at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. She’s been a staff reader for Ploughshares, a fiction editor at Four Way Review, Managing Editor for South Carolina Writers Association publications and a daily editor at the Southern Review of Books. She lives by the beach in South Carolina.

    • 10 Jun 2023
    • 10:30 AM - 4:00 PM
    • In-person; location TBD

    Quarterly in-person meeting of the SCWA Board of Directors. Location TBD. Members are invited to attend; contact Laura Corbin at writersassociationsc@gmail.com. Zoom link to be provided for those unable to attend.

    • 11 Jul 2023
    • 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
    • Zoom

    Monthly meeting of the SCWA Board of Directors. Members are invited to attend; contact Laura Corbin at writersassociationsc@gmail.com for the Zoom link.

    • 08 Aug 2023
    • 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
    • Zoom

    Monthly meeting of the SCWA Board of Directors. Members are invited to attend; contact Laura Corbin at writersassociationsc@gmail.com for the Zoom link.

    • 12 Sep 2023
    • 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
    • Zoom

    Monthly meeting of the SCWA Board of Directors. Members are invited to attend; contact Laura Corbin at writersassociationsc@gmail.com for the Zoom link.

    • 03 Nov 2023
    • 3:00 PM
    • 05 Nov 2023
    • 12:00 PM
    • Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, 1101 Lincoln St., Columbia, SC 29201
    • 157
    Register

    Registration is now open for 2023 Storyfest, the South Carolina Writers Association Annual Conference, Nov. 3-5, 2023.

    Our in-person Columbia event offers something for writers of all levels — critiques and pitches, pre-conference workshops, Q&A panels, craft and publishing talks, keynotes, a slushfest, a queryfest, an open mic and more.

    Want to pitch your writing project to editors and agents? Want to learn how to market your book? Hear about the publishing industry? Learn how to write a great short story, novel, poem or screenplay?

    We’ve got you covered. We’ve invited more than 20 agents, editors, authors, poets, screenwriters and journalists to the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center for three days of inspiration, camaraderie and learning.

    This year’s lineup includes National Book Award winner Jason Mott, the author of Hell of a Book and The Returned; Janisse Ray, the celebrated Georgia author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood; Ashley Poston, the New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Year Slip and The Dead Romantics; and Columbia author Claire Jimenez, whose just-published novel What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez is a USA Today must-read title.

    Best of all, the early bird price is the same as last year no increase if you act before June 30!

    For full information, go to 2023 Storyfest.

    • 14 Nov 2023
    • 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
    • Zoom

    Monthly meeting of the SCWA Board of Directors. Members are invited to attend; contact Laura Corbin at writersassociationsc@gmail.com for the Zoom link.

    • 12 Dec 2023
    • 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
    • Zoom

    Monthly meeting of the SCWA Board of Directors. Members are invited to attend; contact Laura Corbin at writersassociationsc@gmail.com for the Zoom link.

Past events

09 May 2023 Board of Directors Meeting
04 May 2023 Author's Toolbox: Poets Kelli Russell Agodon and Jenna Le
20 Apr 2023 Author's Toolbox: Stacy Willingham
13 Apr 2023 Author's Toolbox: Poets Candice Kelsey and Natalie Marino
11 Apr 2023 Board of Directors Meeting
23 Mar 2023 Author's Toolbox: Scott Gould
11 Mar 2023 Board of Directors Meeting
09 Mar 2023 Author's Toolbox: Ashleigh Bell Pedersen
23 Feb 2023 Author's Toolbox: Andrew Geyer
16 Feb 2023 Author's Toolbox: Ashleigh Bryant Phillips
14 Feb 2023 Board of Directors Meeting
10 Jan 2023 SCWA Board Meeting / New Board Orientation
13 Dec 2022 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting (NOTE DATE CHANGE)
08 Dec 2022 Open Mic Night with SCWA and PCLC, featuring Juan Eugenio Ramirez
10 Nov 2022 Open Mic Night with SCWA and PCLC, featuring Monica Lee Weatherly
08 Nov 2022 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting (NOTE DATE CHANGE)
23 Oct 2022 Board of Directors Quarterly Meeting (NOTE DATE CHANGE)
21 Oct 2022 2022 Fall Conference
13 Oct 2022 Open Mic Night with SCWA and PCLC, featuring Angelo Geter
07 Oct 2022 SCWA Virtual Conference Faculty Reading
07 Oct 2022 VIRTUAL Fall Conference
13 Sep 2022 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting (NOTE DATE CHANGE)
08 Sep 2022 Open Mic Night with SCWA and PCLC, featuring Susan Cushman
11 Aug 2022 Open Mic Night with SCWA and PCLC, featuring John W. MacIlroy
09 Aug 2022 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting (NOTE DATE CHANGE)
09 Aug 2022 SHORT STORY WORKSHOP, Digging Trenches: A Generative Fiction Workshop
28 Jul 2022 BECOME AN AUTHOR: Making Messes, How Character & Plot Thrive on Mistakes
16 Jul 2022 Board of Directors Quarterly Meeting
14 Jul 2022 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: From Felon to Author, Trauma to Memoir
25 Jun 2022 SCWA Inside-Out
21 Jun 2022 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting
19 May 2022 WRITERS' STUDIO: Shared Writing Time
18 May 2022 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting (NOTE DATE CHANGE)
03 May 2022 YOUR PATHS TO PUBLISH: From Indie to Big Five
28 Apr 2022 BECOME AN AUTHOR: Eco-Writing
23 Apr 2022 Board of Directors Quarterly Meeting
21 Apr 2022 WRITERS' STUDIO: Shared Writing Time
14 Apr 2022 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Publishing Paths
07 Apr 2022 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Recollection & Memoir
24 Mar 2022 BECOME AN AUTHOR: Get Into Your Write Space
17 Mar 2022 WRITERS' STUDIO: Shared Writing Time
15 Mar 2022 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting
17 Feb 2022 WRITERS' STUDIO: Shared Writing Time
16 Feb 2022 NOTE DATE CHANGE: Board of Directors Monthly Meeting
01 Feb 2022 NOVEL WORKSHOP: Caves & Cathedrals
27 Jan 2022 BECOME AN AUTHOR: Writing Sound & Silence
20 Jan 2022 WRITERS' STUDIO: Shared Writing Time
15 Jan 2022 Board of Directors Quarterly Meeting
13 Jan 2022 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Manuscript to Marketplace
06 Jan 2022 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Generative Prompts for the New Year
21 Dec 2021 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting
23 Nov 2021 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting
16 Nov 2021 Diverse Publishing Landscapes: a Q&A with Felice Laverne, Agent, Editor, Writer
23 Oct 2021 Board of Directors Quarterly Meeting
12 Oct 2021 BECOME AN AUTHOR: Get an Agent: Tools and Pathways
05 Oct 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Memoir
28 Sep 2021 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting
28 Sep 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Submissions Best Practices
21 Sep 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Freelancing and the Art of the Pitch
16 Sep 2021 Authors' Corner: Steve Gordy & Cat Fitzgerald
15 Sep 2021 NEW DATE: BECOME AN AUTHOR: YA Fantasy Fiction
26 Aug 2021 Writing Diverse Characters: Kevin Don Porter
24 Aug 2021 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting
11 Aug 2021 Authors' Corner: Linda Lovely and A.M. Ialacci
03 Aug 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Historical Fiction
27 Jul 2021 Board of Directors Meeting (NOTE DATE/TIME CHANGE)
27 Jul 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Flash Fiction
20 Jul 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: The Evolution of a Work
13 Jul 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Slushfest & Sharefest
07 Jul 2021 Authors' Corner: Bettie Williams and Lis Anna-Langston
06 Jul 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Memoir Jump Start
29 Jun 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Story Structure
26 Jun 2021 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting (NOTE DATE/TIME CHANGE)
22 Jun 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Senior Creativity
15 Jun 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Writing Goals Check-In
08 Jun 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: First Drafts & Revision
01 Jun 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Voice
25 May 2021 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting
25 May 2021 BECOME AN AUTHOR REDUX: The Burning Man vs. the Tortoises: Turning Memories into Stories
25 May 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Bad Guys
18 May 2021 BECOME AN AUTHOR: Facing Failure
18 May 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Images
24 Apr 2021 Board of Directors Quarterly Meeting
16 Apr 2021 SCWA Annual Writers Conference, South Carolina: the Storytelling State
30 Mar 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Publishing, Agenting and Authoring from Experience
23 Mar 2021 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting
23 Mar 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Literary Agent Q&A
16 Mar 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: Writing from the Core Wound for Depth and Insight
09 Mar 2021 BECOME AN AUTHOR: Trickster's Velocity: A Generative Poetry Workshop
02 Mar 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS: The Perfect Pitch
23 Feb 2021 Board of Directors Monthly Meeting
23 Feb 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS Collaborations
16 Feb 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS Writing About Love
09 Feb 2021 BECOME AN AUTHOR "Burning Man vs. the Tortoises: Turning Memories into Stories"
02 Feb 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS Writing as Play
26 Jan 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS Children's and YA Publishing
23 Jan 2021 Board of Directors Quarterly Meeting
19 Jan 2021 WRITING CONVERSATIONS Setting Writer Goals
12 Jan 2021 Become an Author
10 Dec 2020 Self Editing: What Editors See that You Don't See
05 Dec 2020 The Subtle Art of Suspense
29 Oct 2020 Grow Your Email List for a Successful Book Launch
19 Sep 2020 Member Pro:Characters Who Grow for the Soil—or Life—They’re Planted In
10 Aug 2020 Member Pro: Partnering with Independent Booksellers
16 Jul 2020 Member Pro: Using Book Clubs for Marketing
27 Jun 2020 Member Pro Workshop: He Said, She Said, Who Said?
24 Apr 2020 2020 Spring Conference
31 Oct 2019 2019 Beaufort Retreat
22 Jun 2019 SCWA Greenville Craft Workshop
27 Apr 2019 Columbia II Writing Workshop
26 Oct 2018 Pawleys Island Writers' Conference
27 Oct 2017 2017 "Big Dream" Conference
29 Oct 2016 2016 SCWA Writing Workshop Craft Builds Community
06 Jul 2016 Florence every Wednesday
26 May 2016 Beaufort 4th Thursday
25 May 2016 Bluffton 4th Wednesday
24 May 2016 Rock Hill 4th Tuesday
24 May 2016 Columbia III 4th Tuesday
23 May 2016 Greenville 4th Monday
21 May 2016 Surfside 3rd Saturday
19 May 2016 Camden 3rd Thursday
18 May 2016 Columbia I 3rd Wednesday
16 May 2016 Chapin/Irmo 3rd Monday
16 May 2016 Columbia II 3rd Monday
16 May 2016 Sumter 3rd Monday
11 May 2016 Bluffton 2nd Wednesday
10 May 2016 Aiken 2nd Tuesday
10 May 2016 Rock Hill 2nd Tuesday
10 May 2016 Columbia III 2nd Tuesday
09 May 2016 Greenville 2nd Monday
07 May 2016 Surfside 1st Saturday
04 May 2016 Columbia I 1st Wednesday
03 May 2016 Daniel Island 1st Tuesday
03 May 2016 Lexington every other Tuesday
02 May 2016 Camden 1st Monday
02 May 2016 Chapin/Irmo 1st Monday
02 May 2016 Columbia II 1st Monday
02 May 2016 Sumter 1st Monday
01 Mar 2016 Webinar #7 Plotting Essentials: Five things you have to know to plot your novel or short story” by Susan Breen
01 Mar 2016 Carrie McCray Writing Contest

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