FenCon 2026 Workshop

A reusable system for plotters, pantsers, and plotsers

One of the things I’ve been working on is how to provide a beneficial, hands-on learning experience at FenCon (Feb 20-22, 2026).

The default for con workshops is usually to have attendees write something and then give feedback or have them give each other feedback, but there are several reasons I don’t want to do this.

First, the spotty compliance. I’ve attended workshops like this in the past and the number of people who showed up not having done the work was, frankly, shocking. We had, literally, people who’d paid thousands of dollars to be there not bothering to do the work. What’s the point if you’re not going to do the work?

Second, gAI. It has buggered everything. I will probably never do a manuscript-based workshop because of gAI/LLM.

Third, since it’s all taste, taste, taste all day long (according to some) what’s the point? Everything is equal and now that we’ve achieved universal equality (yay, us) nothing else matters, least of all bothering with anyone’s feedback.

What I’d really like to do instead is give attendees some developmental self-editing tools and by that I don’t mean “how to write dialogue or proofread.” And in order to eliminate any possibilities of hurt feelings or having someone use gAI to write something and pass it off as their own work, I’m going to come at this via the study and analysis of a huge mega-hit movie that has stood the test of time.

Using a movie is time-saving in many ways. Movies are just easier to analyze timewise compared to a book, students are likely to have already seen it at least once (no it’s not going to be Star Wars), and we can focus on structure and pacing.

The purpose of doing things this way is to teach students the skillset needed to do a big-picture developmental self-edit of their own work. This kind of self-edit is beneficial to all because it can be done either before writing (plotters), or after (pantsers). It can also be done incrementally by plotsers, as I’ve shown you via several posts here.

Using a movie also eliminates any personal investment in the material. It will be an old movie rather than something current, trending, or political, thus further eliminating any agenda or fear of being critical of something politically correct in front of an audience. The number of people willing to do this is minuscule, especially in the age of social media.

What I’ll be asking for is a detailed outline of the movie (with timestamps) to be turned in before the class begins. How detailed? Minute-by-minute. Why so granular? Because you can’t know ahead of time what will be important, particularly if this is the first time you’ve done this kind of structural editing pass.

As with all things instructive, you’ll get the most out of it if you do this all yourself rather than rely on someone else’s work, including gAI or AI-assisted searches or even seeking out someone else’s take on the film. You’ll get far less out of this if you don’t do all the work yourself.

Tentatively…

During our first session we’ll cover high-level Structure. Then attendees will get about 15 minutes to go over the outline they made and turned in ahead of class and do an on-the-spot high-level analysis of the movie, which we’ll then discuss.

After a bio-break, I’ll cover mid-level Structure and attendees will have homework prior to our next session, where they will re-analyze the mid-level structural points of the movie.

We will then proceed to a granular analysis of Structure in preparation for the next homework set which will be due at the next session.

In essence, we’ll be making three (or more) passes analyzing the movie as we would a work in progress (for plotsers), a draft (for pantsers), or an outline (for plotters). I really want this to be useful to all kinds of writers. Genre is not going to matter. The methodology we’ll focus on works for pretty much everything.

We’ll discuss how the movie’s structure contributed to its success, how it used pacing and foreshadowing, how to come up with the story’s Central Question, identify structural elements, etc. Doing this exercise will help you truly learn and internalize Structure (as well as pacing, foreshadowing, character development, and theme) so you can apply this method to your own work, all without involving others.

Internalizing this information, I have found, is useful not just in self-editing but in dealing with feedback, deciding what’s legit and why, and pinpointing problems with a manuscript no matter how you approach writing.

After, you may want to use what you learned to study other movies or books. If we have time, we’ll cover narration (narrative distance, viewpoint, etc) and discuss how narration would affect the movie’s presentation, influence Structure, pacing, plot progression, and character development.

For example, we might discuss how the story would have to change with different narrative schemas. We’ll start with omniscient (the one closest to a true movie camera view), then go into how using other schemas would change things, and finally explore multiple viewpoints versus single.

We can also discuss other topics as they come up, time permitting, whether structural or narrative or business-related.

You can find the FenCon class info here. There is an additional fee for the workshop and of course, the entry fee to the con. You are transacting with the con, not me, so refer all transaction issues/questions to FenCon.

If you’re a longtime reader of So You Wanna Be A Writer, then you’ll have heard some of the material, so you’ll have an edge, but the workshop will focus on application and adaptation. In other words, it’s all the things you may not have had time to do or implement or truly learn.

Please read the workshop guidelines carefully for deadlines and other important information.

This is a great opportunity to do some hands-on learning and I hope to see you there.

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