Escape the Plot Forest 2025
GET YOUR FREE TICKET TODAY! OR UPGRADE TO THE EARLY BIRD PRICE.
20+ hours of intensive craft training from 37 expert teachers. This is the real deal: a five-day writing education that thousands of serious authors keep coming back to (for the past six years).
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Register now (either free or paid ticket) and you can start the TREASURE HUNT today! Get extra craft training and discounts.
"I've never seen such an engaged audience. 3,000 writers will follow you off a cliff."
[Note: This would never happen because I am extremely afraid of cliffs.]
This event is a beloved fixture in the calendars of thousands of serious, dedicated writers.
Attendees describe this as 'drinking from a fire hose' - and they mean it as the highest compliment. You'll study with teachers like Jennie Nash, Tim Grahl, James Blatch (Self-Publishing Formula), and Savannah Gilbo who have a gift for distilling the complex into clear, actionable craft advice.
Whether you are still working on your first book, or you're working hard to make the next novel your break-out success, the best way you can improve your craft is by learning new plotting skills from a wide range of authors -- and getting re-inspired.
Escape the Plot Forest is your expert training program, your five-day creative writing "degree."
Each day of the event contains lessons on planning your novel, from building the foundations of the story to adding in complications like genre-specific plot points, amazing scenes, and compelling characters. The summit will close with talks about building a plan for your writing life and reflecting on everything you've learned.
What you'll get from this summit (explained in 128 seconds):
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New bonus for this year: $99 mini-course included in your paid summit pass!
Everyone who gets the pass also receives my brand-new mini-course 'Start Your Novel in the Right Place' - tackling the #1 novel killer: the worry that you might be starting 150 pages too early. You'll learn the one diagnostic question that reveals if your story begins where it should, or if you're wasting months writing chapters you'll have to delete.
This course is available as soon as you upgrade to the paid pass (no waiting).
Schedule of talks
Not sure what to watch? Here are some talks you won't want to miss.
The Treasure Hunt! (open to all attendees)
The summit begins on October 18th.
As you complete the steps of the treasure hunt, you’ll win bonus lessons, discounts, and coupon codes.
The challenges to complete each step are straightforward, and if you need help, feel free to ask in the community forum.
"You have been writing your novel for some time. One day, however, you find yourself trapped in a plot forest..."
Your adventure will begin soon.
Register now to join the hunt
By submitting you agree to the Terms & Privacy Policy
Register now (either free or paid ticket) and you can start the TREASURE HUNT today! Get extra craft training and discounts.
Secure Your Place Now
This five-day summit is 100% free to watch live. But you should also look at the paid pass!
Here's our unique model: You can attend the entire 20+ hour event for free IF you watch everything live. Each session locks after 24 hours. This means clearing your schedule for 5+ hours daily of intense instruction: and every year, many writers do exactly that, taking notes until their hands hurt.
But the reality is that experiencing five days of fire-hose education this way is genuinely challenging. The paid pass lets you absorb this substantial training at your own pace.
Pass buyers can watch the replays as often and whenever they want.
So having the pass is the best way to attend this substantial, in-depth event, giving you the best possible benefit to your writing craft (because you can refer to the transcripts and watch the sessions you missed).
"I love how anything Daniel touches seems absent from bullies, hate speech, rudeness, etc. It feels very peaceful to be part of this group."
These summits are not just great educational experiences. You'll also join a friendly, low-stress community of fellow writers. In these summits, we agree to support one another, to treat each other well, and to collaborate in the creation of fantastic sessions and interviews. The summit operates according to a firm code of conduct, both offering protection to you and offering speakers a welcoming space to deliver their presentations.
You can read the full code of conduct on this site (it is linked to above): part of my job as host is to steer the atmosphere and mood of the event, hour by hour, so that we stay positive, relaxed, and receptive.
In addition, as your host, you'll see me accept prompts from the speakers, reveal a few of my own writing insecurities and fears: rather than standing above the event, dispensing advice from up high, my goal is to ask the questions you want asked, to prompt the speakers to explain their ideas in even more detail. I am working through some of the same issues that you are in my writing, and, as you'll see, I have found creating this event to be very moving and inspiring for my own creative life.
Your Host
I'm Daniel David Wallace, an award-winning writer and teacher. I spent four years of a PhD researching new ways to help writers like you tell a great story.
My stories, reviews, and essays have been published in great magazines like Tampa Review, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Air Schooner, and my writing won me awards like the Toni Brown scholarship and the Hodges prizes.
But when I sent my first novel to the big publishing houses, it was rejected. This was a tough experience! And so I designed a way of teaching storytelling that the younger me would have wanted to find, the "character-first" approach.
I'm grateful that this approach has resonated with so many people: 12,000 writers read my newsletter each week.
I am so happy to bring back the Escape the Plot Forest summit for its fifth year and I can't wait to get to know you and all the other participants.
Ready to learn from the best?
Say Hello To Our Speakers
We couldn't be more excited about our lineup. Which talks will you be checking out?
Register now (either free or paid ticket) and you can start the TREASURE HUNT today! Get extra craft training and discounts.
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