Slush Fest Sessions

Here’s an awesome opportunity to get feedback on your work from the experts!

One of the 2007 conference’s most popular new features, “Slush Fest” sessions, are back! These are interactive workshops, most with two faculty members—usually an editor and an agent—who will comment on participant submissions. For any prose session, bring your query letter or synopsis and the first page of your manuscript, or the first two pages of your manuscript on transparencies to class. For poetry sessions, bring a poem on a transparency(ies).

As you go into the class, your transparencies will be collected at the door. Selections will be picked at random, put on the overhead projector and feedback will be given to the class. This will be done anonymously. Do not put your name on your transparencies, and no one will know which one is yours except you. The idea is for faculty members to discuss what catches their attention—and what does not—and why. Of course, if your work catches a faculty member’s attention, he or she may ask who the author is—and to see more of the manuscript.

Most copy shops (Kinko’s, UPS Store, countless others) will make a transparency of two pages for a minimal charge. Should you need assistance, we will have transparencies at the conference, and the Hilton will make them for a small fee. You can also make them yourself in the Hilton business center.

Note: Please take your genre into consideration when deciding what to take to a slush fest. If you are writing a mystery or thriller, for example, a one-page synopsis and the first page of your manuscript may be the right choice. For literary works, the first two pages of your manuscript may be a better option. Ultimately, it’s up to you. Take whatever you most want feedback from a professional on.