RMFW 2024 Reflections
Writers conferences are interesting for so many reasons. Let’s start with the most obvious one: it’s so annoying to type out “writers conference” and wait to find out if I’ve punctuated it correctly. I know my audience here, so I’m sure someone will have input on that. Then, we have the social dynamics: who isn’t talking to who this year. Who drank too much? Who hogs all the agents? Who knows where the secret “party suite” is?
I think all of that is the most compelling stuff, but there’s also the all-important question, “What did I learn this year?”
Conferences for all professions tend to be a bit scattershot. I am a Professional Counselor by day and I know a few other counselors who tend to stick to specific deep dive seminars because it seems like the same “general” stuff gets covered repeatedly. Recently, RMFW started including a question about whether or not a proposed workshop has been presented there before and if so, how has it been updated/revamped since to their rating sheet for proposals. Unsurprisingly, some people seem to think this is great and others are not enthused.
With writing, a lot of things change and a lot of things stay the same. Shocking, I know. The new stuff:
Indie writers are considered legit at this point
If you want an MFA, low-residency is becoming a more common and accepted option.
Agents and editors seem to be huge fans of saying whatever POV you chose for your manuscript submission is wrong. (Hasn’t happened to me personally, but I’m sure it’s coming.)
Things that remain the same:
Acquiring editors can only acquire agented manuscripts
Agents and editors change agencies and houses on the daily
Publishers Marketplace still isn’t free and agents and published authors still talk about the monthly subscription like it’s nothing
Queries are still important
Writing craft advice remains as vague as ever
Wordcounts continue to creep up and slow readers like me hate it
Romance outsells everything
If you are presenting and need a projector, have a backup plan because the projectors probably will either suck or they will have every adapter available except for the one that links your computer to the projector.
Agents still do a lot of stuff on X (which we all know should be Twitter.)
Regardless of the number of models people develop to show different ways of constructing stories, some people will still insist that absolutely everything needs to be on page one. If one of those people is running a competition and they share that, yes, do that if you want to win, but no, this is art. We have no rules.
The short version of all this: very little has changed. A good story well-told is still in demand. Who knows what that means.
In other news, I’m exhausted. I didn’t blow a bunch of money at the bookstore, but I definitely went over-budget at the bar and with the silent auction. I’d share my tip for winning those, but then the secret would be out and it seems to be the only thing I win.
Anyone else attend RMFW this year or another writers conference? Tell me all about it.
