From 5-6 pm, sit down with authors Rob Costello, Dan Kopcow, and Marli Welsh who will chat and answer questions regarding character building while writing. From 6-8 pm, you can begin working on your respected materials like our regular community write in program.
The community write in is a bi-weekly program for local creatives to gather and work on their materials in public with other like-minded individuals. It supports a creative atmosphere and also the opportunity for local creatives to grow their creative circle.
The Character Building Discussion will be led by:
Rob Costello
Rob Costello (he/him) writes dark speculative and contemporary fiction with a queer bent for and about young people. His YA speculative anthology, We Mostly Come Out At Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels & Other Creatures, won the CNY Book Award for Children's Books and was a finalist for the Bram Stoker, Locus, and Lambda Literary Awards, among other honors. His collection, The Dancing Bears: Queer Fables for the End Times, explores myth and identity with inventive flair. His debut novel, An Ugly World for Beautiful Boys, was called "An astonishing novel of discovery, heartache, and redemption…" by two-time Newbery Award medalist and National Book Award finalist, Erin Entrada Kelly. His stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and have appeared in The Dark, The NoSleep Podcast, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, PseudoPod, and Narrative, among other publications. A teacher, workshop leader, and book-coach, he holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in upstate New York with his husband and their four-legged overlords.
Dan Kopcow
Dan Kopcow’s rom-com novel, "Madcap Serenade," published by Black Rose Writing, is the winner of the 2025 Independent Press Award for Best Romantic Comedy, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the Humor Category, FIRST PLACE WINNER of the Mark Twain Humor and Satire Award by Chanticleer International Book Awards, among several other awards. Dan's sci-fi noir detective novel, “Prior Futures,” published by Black Rose Writing, won a 2022 Independent Press Award for Science Fiction Distinguished Favorite and was a Science Fiction Best Thriller of 2021 Finalist at BestThriller.com. Dan's fiction short story collection, “Worst. Date. Ever.,” was published by Regal House Publishing and was named one of 2020’s top 100 novels by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP). The anthology, "Thank You, Death Robot," which included his short story, The Cobbler Cherry, won an Independent Publishing Award for best science-fiction and fantasy and was voted a Chicago Tribune Top Ten Fiction book.
Marli Welsh
Based in Dryden, New York, Marli Welsh writes dark fantasy romance set at the crossroads of magic, love, and consequence. She’s spent over a decade worldbuilding as a Dungeon Master and playing Dungeons & Dragons, a passion that fuels the depth and texture of her fiction. When she isn’t writing, Marli can be found watching anime, playing video games, or relaxing with her dog, Saturn.