Paulette Kennedy

Speaker

Paulette Kennedy is the author of five novels of gothic suspense, including The Two Deaths of Lillian Carmichael, The Artist of Blackberry Grange (2025), The Devil and Mrs. Davenport (2024), and Parting the Veil (2021), which received the HNS Review Editor’s Choice Award. Her work has been featured in People Magazine, The Mary Sue, and BookBub. Originally from the Missouri Ozarks, she now lives with her family and a menagerie of rescue pets in sunny Southern California, where sometimes, on the very best days, the mountains are wreathed in gothic fog.

2:30PM - 3:30PM EDT

Saturday July 11th

Crafting a Killer Opening (LIVE)

LIVE VIA ZOOM - Gothic suspense author Paulette Kennedy presents a webinar on crafting a "killer" opening, using examples from a variety of genres, helping you learn to apply compelling elements to your opening chapters that will hook readers and keep them invested. She'll cover opening lines, pacing and voice, whether or not to include a prologue, and more. After watching this presentation, you'll have the confidence to craft your own killer opening. (Moderator: Valerie Valdes)

1:00PM - 2:30PM EDT

Sunday July 12th

Avoiding Bi-Erasure: Writing Bisexual/Pansexual Representation

Ships love to qualify relationships as straight or gay, and when a character is in a relationship, readers tend to define this by the gender of their partner. But how do we combat this with bi characters in committed relationships? Join our panel on Avoiding Bi-Erasure for tips and tricks on how to write awesome bi relationships and where to find them in fiction! (Moderator: AJ "Poppy" Alexanders)