And featuring 12 literary agents looking for new attorney-authors

NEW! NEW! NEW!

Fiction Writing Confidential with Linda Fairstein, Esq.


Executive Summary

The course is taught by two New York Times best-selling attorney-authors, Lisa Scottoline, Esq. and Stephen Horn, Esq.  Like all SEAK training, Legal Fiction Writing For Lawyers, will be hands-on, lively, and interactive. Attendees will have the opportunity to get all their questions answered. Attendees will also have an opportunity to get their writing and query letters reviewed and evaluated.

The faculty also features numerous literary agents looking for new lawyer-authors. Space is limited for this special workshop. Early registration is highly recommended.

Topics Covered

• Personal Success Stories: Lisa Scottoline and Stephen Horn
• Mechanics of Writing In Depth: Premises vs. Plot, Ideas, Settings and Atmosphere, Showing vs. Telling, Points of View
• Character in Depth: Naming and Describing, Back Story, History, Motivation, Relationships, Conflict, Dialogue, Minor Characters, and Evolution of Characters
• Plot in Depth: Building Scenes, Pacing, Developing, Suspense, Crisis and Resolution, Opening Hooks
• Getting Published: Agents, Writing a Synopsis and Query Letter, Acquisition and Publication Process, Manuscript Appearance, Ancillary Markets, and Book Tours
• Writing Exercises and Group Discussion

Frequently Asked Questions

Seminar Benefits

• Learn to write from your peers who have made the transition from practicing lawyers to international best- selling
  authors.
• Gain practical writing experience
• Get written feedback from concise writing exercises dealing with conflict, premises, dialogue, and writing action
   scenes
• Have a portion of your manuscript (if you have one) reviewed and critiqued by a faculty member at no extra
   charge
• Soup to nuts fiction writing: from naming characters to getting an agent and getting published
• Have your query letter reviewed and critiqued (with suggested improvements) by a faculty member at no extra
   charge
• Have your query letter placed in the hands of numerous literary agents (if desired)
• Gorgeous location
• Motivation to write – Others have made the breakthrough and so can you!
• Enter the National Fiction Writing Competition for Lawyers and help launch your writing career
• Have your books signed by two New York Times best-selling attorney-authors
• Network with agents and colleagues at the seminar meals and during the private "book party" reception Saturday 
   night
• Small group breakout sessions with agents Sunday morning
• Breakfast and lunch with Lisa and Stephen each day
• An unforgettable, inspiring experience
• Actually have fun in a room full of lawyers!

What Last Year's Participants Had To Say About this SEAK program...

"Unbelievably helpful"
"Motivational, energizing, inspiring & informative"
"Didn’t want to take the breaks I enjoyed the sessions so much"
"Very professional & to the point–definitely for lawyers"
"Best time I ever had in a room with a bunch of lawyers"
"On a 1-10 scale, a 10"
"I learned more than I have in 10 years in a writing program"
"Well worth the time, effort & money"
"Best conference I’ve ever attended"
"Rejuvenated to write"
"See you next year!"

Faculty

Lisa Scottoline, Esquire

Lisa Scottoline is the author of best-selling legal thrillers that draw on her insider’s experience as a trial lawyer at a prestigious law firm and also her judicial clerkships in the state and federal systems of justice. Scottoline won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for excellence in suspense fiction for her second thriller, Final Appeal, and her first novel, Everywhere that Mary Went, was nominated for the same high honor. Subsequent novels, Running from the Law, Legal Tender, and Rough Justice, were national bestsellers and received starred reviews in Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly. She is also the author of four New York Times bestsellers The Vendetta Defense, Killer Smile, Moment of Truth, and Mistaken Identity - a book that was also chosen by the Coca-Cola Company in their campaign to promote the pleasures of reading (excerpts of the novel were distributed with nine million packages of Diet Coke). Her latest novel, Devil’s Corner, is due to be released in the Summer of 2005. Scottoline graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and cum laude from its Law School, where she won the Henry Loughlin Prize for Legal Ethics upon graduation. Scottoline’s novels have been translated into over twenty-five languages. A native of Philadelphia, she lives with her family in the Philadelphia area and invites readers to visit her website: www.scottoline.com.

Steven Babitsky, Esq.

Beth Wechsler, MSW

    Literary Agents

Dominick Abel is President of the Dominick Abel Literary Agency in New York City. He currently represents approximately 70 writers.

Marcia Amsterdam is an Agent at Marcia Amsterdam Agency in New York City. She is interested in medical and legal thrillers.

Loretta Barrett is President of Loretta Barrett Books, Inc. in New York, a Literary Agency she founded in 1990. Formerly she was Editor-in-Chief of Anchor Books and Vice President and Executive Editor at Doubleday & Co.

Michael Bourett is an Agent at Dystel & Goodrich Literary Management in New York City and is interested in commercial fiction.

Sheree Bykofsky is the co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published and is a New York Literary Agent who represents some 100 book authors in all areas of adult non-fiction and literary and commercial fiction.

Shana Cohen is an Associate Agent with the Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency in New York City. She specializes in mysteries, fiction and epic fantasy. She is most interested in seeing strong character formation and development.

Elaine English is an Attorney and Literary Agent with Graybill & English, LLC in Washington, DC. She handles only commercial fiction.

Ellen Geiger is a Literary Agent with Curtis Brown, Ltd., and represents a broad range of fiction and non-fiction. Her recent fiction includes the NY Times and UK bestsellers, Monkeewrench by PJ Tracy, winner of the Anthony Award for Best First Novel and its’ sequels, Live Bait and Dead Run, Agatha Award-winning author Donna Andrews’ Owls Well That Ends Well and LA Times bestseller and Agatha-winning author, Earlene Fowler’s Delectable Mountains.

Esmond Harmsworth is a founding partner of the Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency in Boston, Massachusetts. Harmsworth represents fiction and non-fiction. For fiction, he represents literary fiction, mystery, and crime. He is in charge of the agency’s foreign rights department and deals directly with publishers in London.

Scott Hoffman is a Literary Agent at PMA Literary Agency in New York City. A life-long book junkie who represents literary fiction, genre fiction, all kinds of non-fiction, and the occasional project that just can’t be classified.

Elaine Koster is the Founder of the Elaine Koster Literary Agency located in the Lincoln Center of New York City. She is the former president of Dutton. Some of the authors she published were Stephen King, Ken Follett, and Joyce Carol Oates.

Annelise Robey is a Literary Agent with the Jane Rotrosen Literary Agency in New York City. She is actively looking for writers of all genres – both published and unpublished authors.

Katharine Sands is a Literary Agent with the Sarah Jane Freymann Agency in New York City. She represents a wide range of authors in a wide range of fiction.

Isabelle Wedemeyer is President of the Isabelle Wedemeyer Agency located in New York City. She is interested in high quality fiction and takes on some writers whose concept is better than execution.

Schedule

MAIN CONFERENCE Friday Evening, September 23, 2005

7:00 - 8:30 Reception (Spouses Invited, Hors D’Ouerves and Cocktails provided)
Personal Success Stories: Lisa Scottoline, Esq. and Stephen Horn, Esq.
Group Discussion

8:00 - 10:00 Mechanics of Writing
Premises vs. Plot, Ideas and Where You Get Them, Setting and Atmosphere, Showing vs. Telling, Points of View, Writing Exercise, Group Discussion

10:15 - 12:15 Character
Naming and Describing Your Characters, Back Story, History of Characters, Motivation, Relationships, Conflict, Dialogue, Minor Characters, Evolution of Characters Throughout the Book

12:15 - 1:30 Lunch (Provided) with Faculty

1:30 - 2:30 Character (Continued)
Writing Exercise, Group Discussion

2:45 - 5:15 Plot
Building Scenes, Developing Suspense, Pacing, Crisis and Resolution, Opening Hooks, Writing Exercise, Group Discussion

5:15 - 6:30 Book Signing (Spouses Invited)
Lisa Scottoline, Esq. and Stephen Horn, Esq. - Bring your own books or purchase Lisa and Stephen’s books at the seminar

8:00 - 11:00 pm "Book Party" Reception (Spouses Invited, Entertainment Provided) Meet, mingle and mix with fellow attendees, agents and faculty members at a private reception in the hotel’s Surfside Lounge.

8:00 - 10:00 Plot (Continued)
Subplots, Handling Transitions, Starting and Ending Chapters, Suspense and Surprise, Themes, Flashbacks, Writing Exercises, Group Discussion

10:15 - 11:15 Getting Published (Presented By a Panel of Agents)
Agents, How to Write a Synopsis and Query Letter, Publication Process, Manuscript Appearances and Mechanics, Ancillary Markets, Book Tours

11:15 - 12:15 Small Group Breakout Sessions with Agents
Each agent on faculty will run a question and answer/interaction session with a small group of attendees. Attendees should have their concise pitches ready.

1:30 - 3:00 Research, Editing, and Revising
How to Research Cost Effectively, Editing Process, When is Enough Revising Enough

3:15 - 5:00 Writer’s Problems and How to Overcome Them (Spouses invited)
Writer’s Block, Distractions, Fears, Leaving the Nest