Friday Events & Tickets
Writing Workshops & Author Panel
Date: Friday, September 5th, 2025
Time: 9:00am - 4:00pm
Location: The Fontenelle Room at the Sioux Falls Sheraton Hotel
This all day event is FREE, but please register below as space is limited. There will be a one-hour break for lunch. The hotel has a restaurant on site and there are several eating establishments nearby.
9:00am - 9:45am
Writing Workshop #1 - Writing With the Five Senses to Pull Your Reader into Every Scene
Candice Sue Patterson
Bring your scenes to life by engaging all five senses—sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch—to immerse your readers fully in your story world. In this hands-on writing class, we’ll explore how sensory details can add depth, emotion, and realism to your scenes. Through guided exercises and examples from literature, you’ll learn how to move beyond visual description to create rich, textured scenes that resonate with readers.
10:00am - 10:45am
Writing Workshop #2 - Why Magic Can be Used as a Tool in Christian Literature
Katelyn Pfeiffer
In this workshop we will talk about the benefits of using magic in Christian Lit to spread the gospel. This is a hot button topic amongst many churches and believers but by looking at the works of Tolkein, Lewis, and Madeline L'Engle (to name a few), we can point to how the gospel can be spread through fantasy.
11:00am - 11:45am
Writing Workshop #3 - Creating a Full-Time Fiction Author Income
J.E. Ribbey
Discover two proven strategies to create a full-time income and how to pick the right one to fit your goals. Bonus: How to be a profitable author and still have a life.
1:00pm - 1:45pm
Writing Workshop #4 - Dialogue - It's More Than Words
Sharon Tweet
We'll dive into what it takes to create a well crafted and full-bodied conversation between your characters. From a character's voice to setting to action beats, dialogue is about more than just the words in a conversation.
2:00pm - 2:45pm
Writing Workshop #5 - Fan Fiction as Band Practice
Liz Loham
Fanfiction sometimes gets an undeserved bad reputation. When used ethically, it can be a great outlet for creativity and provide unexpected tools to write your own original stories. Take it from someone who started out writing fanfiction as a teenager--and now has four published novels.
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Author Panel - "Marketing Your Book"
Candace Simar
D.E. Carlson
A.E. Dinsmoor
What should I focus on when marketing? How can I market as an indie author? What about social media? What's a kickstarter and how can that help? Answer these questions and more to three seasoned authors as they share their journey and what has worked for them.
Author Meet & Greet
Date: Friday, September 5th, 2025
Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Location: The Fontenelle Room at the Sioux Falls Sheraton Hotel
The Author Meet & Greet is a business casual/formal event for authors and writers to connect and chat while enjoying light desserts.
$20 per person.
NOTE:
- Authors who have paid for their Book Fair Booth can register by choosing a $0 ticket.
- Guests register by purchasing a $20 ticket.
Deadline to register: August 22nd, 2025
Attire: formal/business casual
Age: 13+ (unless otherwise approved)