Narrativity 2025: It Was A Dark and Stormy Night was held June 26-29, 2025 at the Crowne Plaza Minneapolis West in Plymouth, MN. Just what is “good writing” anyway? Is that much-maligned opening line really a nice bit of scene-setting? And who turned out the lights? All these questions and more were answered, or at least enthusiastically debated, by those who came and helped shine a flashlight on the darkest recesses of the rules — they can’t hide for long with this crowd!
Current Covid-19 vaccination was required for admittance to the convention. Masks were recommended but not required in all indoor function space.
Pricing for 2025 was $42 through April 6, 2025, $55 from April 7 through June 13, and $75 from June 14 and at the door. Registration opened January 1st, 2025.
2025’s Financial Report can be found here.
Staff included Liz A. Vogel (Herder of Otters), Erin Shanendoah (Paragon of Programming), Kate Dane (ConSuite Coordinator); Erin Shanendoah, Kate Dane, Peggy M. & Liz Vogel (Team Thursday); Jon Lincicum (Mister of Music), Jon Lincicum & Corwin Brust (Audio Equipers); Sawyer Rutan, Peggy M. & Pat Scaramuzza (Team Marketing); Sweth Chandramouli (Webmuse); Meg Trast (Social Media Maven), L.J. Stanton (Discordian), Kate MacEachern (Good Book Exchanger). Mustelid Button art by Pat Scaramuzza, button-maker provided by A.J. ConSuite Volunteers were many and wonderful!
2025’s Programming was:
Thursday
The writing workshop was on hiatus this year; in its place, Bonus Activities were open to all members.
noon-2:00pm – 2-Page Read-and-React
Participants submitted the first two pages of their manuscripts, then sat in a circle with their eyes closed. One of our designated Readers (Kate Dane or Erin Shanendoah), picked a manuscript at random and started reading; when the author recognized their own, they could open their eyes and watch the audience’s reactions in real time. There was a brief opportunity for comments after each reading, when the author could reveal themself or remain anonymous, as they chose. 16 Narrativitists participated!
3:00-5:00pm – Query Slam!
Like a poetry slam, but for queries! Narrativitists read their query letters (or Amazon blurbs or other equivalent) aloud, with a brief opportunity for feedback after each reading.
7:30pm-late – Social Soirée
Charcuterie, sugar cookes, and socializing! Our custom Cards Against Narrativity game made its version 1.0 debut, with great success.
Friday
9:00am (approximately) – Registration open
10:00am (approximately) – ConSuite open
11:00-11:30am – Opening Ceremonies
11:30am-12:30pm – Into the Weeds
You can’t see where you’re going. You stepped off the path of your outline/character description/style/genre. Disaster…or a chance to surprise yourself, do things you didn’t think you could, have a storytelling adventure?
panelists: Steven Brust, Erin Shanendoah, F. Killian
12:30-2:00pm – Lunch Break
2:00-3:00pm – Magic Solves Everything
Writing fantasy? No matter what issue you’re having, whether its how to get your characters out of the dungeon they’re imprisoned in, why the henchman doesn’t kill the big bad the hundredth time they insult their mother, or what is the airspeed of an unladen swallow, our panelists are here to tell you how magic can solve everything.
panelists: Karl Berkner, Kate Dane, Tyler Tork
3:20-4:20pm – How to Use Tropes to Good Effect
There are no new stories, just new ways to tell them. Pride & Prejudice is an enemies to lovers, unequal social class, secret cinnamon roll hero love story with an element of forced proximity and a love triangle, and yet we keep coming back to it, with new movies or zombie versions added every few years. How do we channel our inner Austen and use tropes from our genre (or from outside our genre) and create something that is more than its parts?
panelists: Alanna Nazarova, Chris Wozney, Melanie Mayer
4:40-5:40pm – Very Short Stories & Microfiction: What Do You Need to Tell a Story?
Can you tell an effective story in 300 words or less? Are there ideas this form lends itself to exploring better than longer ones? Or is it never more than a teaser, something to draw the reader in, but never quite fulfilling?
panelists: Pat Scaramuzza (M), Michael Hacker, Majikjon
5:40-8:00pm – Dinner Break
8:00-9:00pm – “It was a dark and stormy night…”
An evening of storytelling games using this year’s theme as our jumping off point.
group participation event
Saturday
8:00am – ConSuite Opens
10:00-11:00am – BookTok, BookTube, and the Rise of Accessible Reviews (and Reviewers as Authors)
Social media reviewers have been credited with turning books into best sellers (almost like Oprah used to do) and have sometimes used their fame and audience to get book deals themselves. Have you picked up–or avoided–a book because you saw a review of it? How does this new culture of reviewers without “credentials” serve us as consumers and creators of story?
panelists: Erin Shanendoah, Michael Hacker
11:20am-12:20pm – What Does an Author Owe Their Readers?
Robert Jordan completed The Wheel of Time from beyond the grave, while fans fear GRRM will die before finishing Game of Thrones. Steven Brust is about to finish a 17 book series after over 40 years, while Patrick Rothfuss hasn’t written a third Kingkiller novel in almost 20 years. What do authors owe their readers when it comes to finishing the stories they’ve started? Does the size of the audience matter? What about the medium of the ending? Come argue with us about what, as an audience member, you deserve, and what, as an author, you owe to yourself and everyone else.
panelists: Liz Vogel, Pat Scaramuzza, Kate Dane (M)
12:20-2:00pm – Lunch Break
2:00-3:00pm – Biology Solves Everything
Writing SF? No matter what issue you’re having, whether it’s how to get the FTL drive back online, why the ill-treated crew haven’t mutinied, or figuring out what “Shaka, when the walls fell” means, our panelists are here to tell you how biology can solve everything.
panelists: Fred Waiss, Majikjon (M), Julia Smith
3:20-4:20pm – Politics/Government Systems As Worldbuilding
Whether your fantasy novel is all about political intrigue or your space-faring explorers are off at the edge of the known universe, the politics and governmental systems matter. Let’s talk about how the politics of the world(s) your characters live in can bring your story to life, whether your characters are fighting the empire, saving the long lost princess, or just trying to keep their loved ones safe.
panelists: John Danielsky, Lars Nelson, Karl Berkner (M)
4:40-5:40pm – Leveling Up
You’ve got the basics down. You can write to a publishable standard. How do you keep growing as a writer? What does the next level even look like, anyway?
panelists: Liz Vogel, Chris Wozney, Steven Brust (M)
5:40-8:00pm – Dinner Break
8:00-9:00pm – Help A Fellow Storyteller Out
Come back after dinner to help a fellow storyteller out, or to get help yourself. Folks are encouraged to bring their current storytelling problems for a group brainstorming and problem solving session.
group participation event
9:00pm-late – Music Circle
All music lovers welcome!
Sunday
8:00am – ConSuite Opens
10:00-11:00am – When the Process Breaks
What to do when what you always do suddenly doesn’t work.
panelists: Liz Vogel, Erin Shanendoah (M)
11:20am-12:20pm – Writing With Fear
FDR said “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” Sometimes our writing requires courage.
panelists: Michael Hacker (M)
12:20-2:00pm – Lunch Break
2:00-3:00pm – Quilting the Story
You’ve done the outline, written a bunch of scenes, but right now, they’re like a bunch a quilting squares. You know they all go together, but you’re not quite sure how; they need to be stitched together, be given a backing and filler. How do you go from squares to a finished quilt?
panelists: John Danielsky, Chris Wozney (M), Steven Brust
3:20-3:40pm – The Different Panel: Topic & Panelist Selection
When a panel drifts (too far) off topic, we’ll bring it back by saying “But that’s a different panel.” We’ll keep track of those interesting diversions, and at the end of the convention decide which one to do, and who should be on it.
3:40-4:40pm – The Different Panel: How Do We Choose What To Read?
panelists: Liz Vogel, Majikjon, Kate Dane, Fred Waiss
5:004:30-6:10pm – Closing Ceremonies & Feedback
In which we thank those who made all this happen, and discuss what we did right, what we did wrong, why we did what we did, and what we could do differently next year. All interested parties welcome!
the usual suspects
6:10-8:00pm – Dinner Break
8:00pm-midnight – Dead Dog (at the Firepit / in the ConSuite)
After the monsoons and tornadoes earlier in the weekend, we decided not to risk the firepit. But much fun was had in the ConSuite once again!
2025’s Narrativitists were:
A.J. (they/them), Allison, Ambrose, Anna Bernin-Mallin, Anna Werner, Ben Bader, Benjamin Mason, Bobby Brimmer, Chelsey, Cherie Lemer, Chris Andersen, Chris Wozney, Dian Dewi, Dominick D’Agostino, Emily Guy Birken, Erin Shanendoah, F. Killian, Fred Waiss, Jamie Lauer, Jennifer Mason, John Danielski, Julia Smith, Kai F. Matsubara-Rall, Karl Berkner, Lars, Liz A. Vogel, Lyri Ahnam, Majikjon, Megan McHattie Cole, Megan Trast, Melanie Mayer, Melody Hale, Michael Hacker, Pat Scaramuzza, R.H. Walker, Rhys, Roger Stockman, Sawyer Rutan, Sean Trail, Stacy Rubendall, Steven Brust, Susanna, Tony Drummond, Tyler Tork, Unkn0wn404, Vincent Grosso, Zoe, and eight members who wish to preserve their secret identities!
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