Narrativity 2026: Six Impossible Things asked: Does a word mean just what you choose it to mean — neither more nor less? Why is a raven like a writing desk? For answers (which may or may not be to these questions), we went down the rabbit hole June 4-7, 2026 at the Crowne Plaza Minneapolis West in Plymouth, Minnesota.
Current Covid-19 vaccination was required for admittance to the convention. Masks were recommended but not required in all indoor function space.
Pricing for 2026 was $42 through March 18, 2026, $55 from March 19 through May 14, $75 from May 15 and at the door. Registration opened October 15th, 2025.
2026’s Financial Report can be found here.
This was the first year that Narrativity offered t-shirts! Options included the delightful Flamingo Croquet and Late Weasel designs by artist Pat Scaramuzza, and the classic Narrativity “N” logo by artist Meg Trast, available on a variety of t-shirts and other items through Narrativity’s new Threadless shop.
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., Liz Vogel, & Pat Scaramuzza (Team Marketing); Sweth Chandramouli (Webmuse); Meg Trast (Social Media Maven); Discordian: Jon Lincicum; Kate MacEachern (Good Book Exchanger); Pat Scaramuzza (Artist out of Residence). Many Narrativitists pitched in as ConSuite Volunteers, without whom we couldn’t have made this happen!
2026’s Programming was:
Thursday
The writing workshop was on hiatus again this year; in its place, Thursday Special Activities were open to all members.
noon-3:00pm – Every Adventure Requires a First Step
The return of The First 2 Pages! This was a huge hit last year and we were excited to bring it back to an equally enthusiastic reception this year. Participants brought their first two pages (yes, on real paper!), and one of our Designated Readers (Kate Dane or Erin Shanendoah) picked a manuscript at random and read those pages out loud. When the author recognized their own work, they opened their eyes to watch everyone else’s reactions in real time. There was a brief opportunity for comments after each reading, when authors could reveal themself or remain anonymous, as they chose. There were two 15-minute breaks during this session.
3:30-4:30pm – Comrades In Writing Speed-Meet
This speed-dating-style event let participants meet their fellow writers in a fun, low-stakes way. We had writing-related conversation-starters to help you get to know your next critique partner, accountability buddy, or just some new friends to talk writing with.
The ConSuite was closed from 5:00-7:00pm for set-up.
7:00pm-late – Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?
Party time! Good food, good conversation, and a good chance to get to know your fellow Narrativitists before spending the weekend with them! Activities included games, our custom Mingle Bingo, an unsupervised whiteboard, and all the bad jokes we could pack into an evening.
Friday
9:00am (approximately) – Registration open
10:00am (approximately) – ConSuite open
11:00-11:30am – Curiouser and Curiouser
Opening Ceremonies
11:30am-12:30pm – Wax-works weren’t made to be looked at for nothing, nohow.
(Worldbuilding: Cost)
Does a penny buy your lunch, a piece of candy, or is it worthless? Do interstellar banks manage credit across the universe, or does your main character have to barter wolf-pelts for a new sword? Whether you care about economics or not, cash, credit, or trade is an integral piece of how your characters navigate their world. How do you use your monetary system – from what it’s called down to the physical (or lack thereof) manifestation – to build verisimilitude in your world?
panelists: Karl Berkner (M), Rhys, John Danielski, Emily Guy Birken
12:30-2:00pm – Beau—ootiful Soo—oop! (Lunch Break)
2:00-3:00pm – If you believe in me, I’ll believe in you. Is that a bargain?
(How do you get the audience to trust you?)
Trust is essential for an author. Both your characters and your readers have to be able to trust you to tell the story, even when they don’t trust each other. And while we probably can’t help get your characters to trust you (that really is a you problem), lets talk about what we can do as authors to earn the readers’ trust. How do we convince them to stick around long enough to prove that they made the right choice in trusting us?
panelists: Michael Hacker (M), Dasren Sharad, F. Killian
3:20-4:20pm – Well, I’ve often seen a cat without a grin, but a grin without a cat!
(Is it possible for the author to be too present in the work?)
Forget the author self-insert character, is it possible for the author – their thoughts, feelings, politics – to be too present in a work?
panelists: Erin Shanendoah (M), Fred Waiss, Anna Werner, Alison Sommer
4:40-5:40pm – In that direction lives a Hatter, and in that direction lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they’re both mad.
(Road trips as creative fuel)
Some Narrativitists find a long stretch of open highway tremendously relaxing and stimulating to the creative brain. Others may look to a busy coffeeshop for their storytelling stimulus, while still others may long for that classic garret or isolated cabin. How does where you are affect what you write, and what role does getting away from it all play? Let’s also talk about how the space you live in affects mood and creativity: Is a clean, uncluttered desk the sign of a sick mind, or is mess and chaos the mind-killer?
panelists: Liz Vogel(M), Laura Hilse, A.J. Peterson
5:40-8:00pm – Soo—oop of the e—e—evening (Dinner Break)
8:00-9:00pm – Of Shoes & Ships & Sealing Wax
(pitch/blurb workshopping)
Whether it’s for your elevator pitch, a query to an agent/editor, or your Amazon blurb, how do you get people excited about your book with just a few lines, and no spoilers? We’ll divide into pairs or small groups and workshop the lines that will convince someone to read all of our other lines. At the end, we’ll share them out to the whole group.
group activity
Saturday
8:00am – ConSuite Opens
10:00-11:00am – Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
(Oral Storytelling)
Humans have been telling each other stories for about as long as humanity has existed. Before written language, before even pictures drawn on a cave wall, we have told our stories. There is something powerful in the human voice, something special about the way we tell stories that are meant to be listened to instead of read, that must live on in a mind without a written record. How do we use those tools to make our written stories more powerful?
panelists: Lars (M), Erin Shanendoah, Tony Drummond, Jon Lincicum
11:20am-12:20pm – A dog growls when it’s angry, and wags it’s tail when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry. Therefore I’m mad.
(Signaling the Reader Solves Everything)
You’ve taken yourself, or rather your characters, to a spot where too many options exist, and you don’t know how to choose which way to go from here. Or you have ended up at a place that you never expected to get to. Will your readers follow you on that journey? Bring us your questions about how to get a character from here to there, and we’ll tell you how signaling your reader solves everything.
panelists: Rhys (M), Stacy Rubendall, Sean Trail
12:20-2:00pm – Beau—ootiful Soo—oop! (Lunch Break)
2:00-3:00pm – How do you like the queen?
(Writing unsympathetic protagonists)
Writing unsympathetic protagonists? How far will you go? Serial killers, cannibals, actual demons…. What are the perils — and pleasures — of writing a character that some would consider beyond the pale? Where do you draw the line between pushing boundaries and pushing away your audience?
panelists: Kate Dane (M), John Danielski, Pat Scaramuzza, Sawyer Rutan
3:20-4:20pm – I was just giving myself some good advice.
(Brainstorming for one)
Narrativity is an amazing community, but sometimes we all want to hide away from the world and just work on our writing. What do we do when we’re in that mountain cabin with only a bubbling brook to talk to and we get stuck? How to ask the right questions, generate solutions, and get yourself unstuck when discord is down, and you don’t have anyone else to bounce ideas off of.
panelists: Anna Werner (M), Karl Berkner, Alison Sommer
4:40-5:40pm – You might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘I eat what I see’!
(Giving and getting feedback)
We all need feedback to make our writing better. And when we’re in a community of writers, we all need to be able to give quality feedback to other writers, and to communicate what feedback we’re looking for. In advance of our evening activity helping our fellow Narrativitists out, let’s talk about how we do that.
group discussion, led by Erin Shanendoah (M)
5:40-8:00pm – Soo—oop of the e—e—evening (Dinner Break)
8:00-9:00pm – Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
(Help a fellow writer)
Bring your questions or the problems you’re facing in your work and get advice from your fellow Narrativitists.
group activity
9:00pm-late – Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves.
Music Circle! Jon Lincicum, our Mister of Music, will be hosting the Music Circle in the panel room. Bring your instrument(s), your voice, and your enthusiasm, and join your fellow Narrativitists in making a joyful sound. Please see Jon with any questions, requests, or other musical matters.
Sunday
8:00am – ConSuite Opens
10:00-11:00am – Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
(free-form writing time)
Here’s your time to practice believing (writing) impossible things! Come write with your fellow Narrativitists, ask quick questions, and get/give instant feedback.
group activity
11:20am-12:20pm – Who’s been painting my roses red?
(How to make your setting real?)
Not worldbuilding but building your world. How do you help your readers experience the world the way your characters do? How do you keep them from arguing with you about coconut trees in Africa? Let’s talk about how we make your setting real.
panelists: Kate Dane (M), Lars, Michael Hacker, F. Killian
12:20-2:00pm – Beau—ootiful Soo—oop! (Lunch Break)
2:00-3:00pm – Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.
(Is SciFi just other genres in a trench coat?)
Is Star Wars really a fantasy story spanning planets instead of countries? Was Firefly really a western set in space? Was Alien really a horror story with aliens? Is science fiction just set dressing on another kind of story? Or does science fiction contain something that makes it uniquely science fiction and not just setting and props?
panelists: Dasren Sharad (M), Liz Vogel, Jon Lincicum, Pat Scaramuzza
3:20-3:40pm – Why is a raven like a writing desk?
(Topic & Panelist selection for The Different Panel)
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 – I haven’t the slightest idea.
(The Different Panel)
How to Write Your Ending
Do you have to know your ending in advance? Different ways to get there, and to figure out where “there” is.
panelists: F. Killian, Fred Waiss, Sam R, Liz Vogel
5:00-6:10pm – But it’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
Closing Ceremonies. What’s the sentence and what’s the verdict, and which way round should they go?
the usual suspects
6:10-8:00pm – Soo—oop of the e—e—evening (Dinner Break)
8:00pm-midnight – Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas – only I don’t know exactly what they are! However, somebody killed something: that’s clear, at any rate.
The traditional Dead Dog. If you’re not quite ready to grow back to your normal size yet, come hang out in the ConSuite for conversation, games, and whatever else takes your fancy, ’til the whole pack of cards comes flying down.
2026’s Narrativitists were:
A.J. Peterson, Aeryn McVay, Alison Sommer, Ambrose, Anna Werner, Annette Marie, Ben Bader, Bobby Brimmer, Brandon Hagans, Chris Wozney, Danielle Stein, Daphne Brinkerhoff, Dasren Sharad, Dian Dewi, Emily Guy Birken, Erin Shanendoah, F. Killian, Fred Waiss, Freya Berkner, Greg B, Hansford Robert Hull, Jason D. Wittman, Jered Fitz Gerald, Joella Berkner, John, John Danielski, Jon Lincicum, Karl Berkner, Kate Dane, Lars, Liz A. Vogel, Logan Peterson, Meg Trast, Melanie Mayer, Melody Hale, Michael Hacker, Pat Scaramuzza, Rhys, Roger Stockman, Sam R, Sawyer Rutan, Sean Trail, Sharon, Stacy Rubendall, Susanna Holt, The Magnificent One, Thorin N. Tatge, Tony Drummond, and six members who wish to preserve their secret identities!
Back to the History hub
Back to the Home page