Name: Feedback That Doesn’t Haunt You: What to Look for in Writing Groups and Beta Readers
Start: 2025-06-13T13:00:00-0400
End: 2025-06-13T13:45:00-0400

Welcome to the premiere horror literary convention presented by the Horror Writers Association. Registration for StokerCon 2025 is now available! This year the convention is being hosted by the city of Stamford, Connecticut, at the Hilton Stamford Hotel and Executive Meeting Center. We’re taking over from June 12th through the 15th, 2025.

Friday June 13, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT

Glen 2 & 3

The wrong feedback can kill a story—or worse, a writer’s confidence. The right feedback? It can transform your horror into something unforgettable. In this panel, we’ll explore the full spectrum of constructive critique, from beta reader partnerships to long-term writing groups. Panelists will share experiences building supportive feedback circles, surviving toxic ones, and crafting critique that actually helps. You’ll learn how to set expectations, spot red flags, give and receive feedback that empowers, and build relationships that sharpen your storytelling and strengthen your creative resilience. Whether you’re hoping to join a writing group, build a beta reader network, or stop dreading feedback, this panel offers practical tools and cautionary tales. We’ll also leave time at the end for attendees to network and start forming their critique communities.

Moderators

Christa Carmen

writer

Christa Carmen is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of The Daughters of Block Island and Beneath the Poet’s House, coming fall 2024 from Thomas & Mercer.Additional work can be found in Vastarien, Nightmare, Orphans of Bliss, Year’s Best Hardcore Horror, and the Stoker-nominated... Read More →

Speakers

Sam Rebelein

Sam Rebelein holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College, with a focus in horror and memoir. Sam's work has recently appeared in Bourbon Penn, Coffin Bell Journal, Press Pause Press, Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year, and elsewhere. HarperCollins' horror and crime... Read More →

Meghan Arcuri

Meghan Arcuri is a Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author. Her work can be found in various anthologies, including Borderlands 7 (Borderlands Press), Madhouse (Dark Regions Press), Chiral Mad, and Chiral Mad 3 (Written Backwards). She served over two terms as the Vice President... Read More →

Tom Deady

Tom Deady's first novel, HAVEN, won the 2016 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. He has since published several novels, novellas, a short story collection, and the first book in his middle grade horror series. He has a Master's Degree in English and Creative... Read More →

Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito

Editor, Writer, Publisher

Frances Lu-Pai Ippolito (she/her) is a Chinese American judge, mom, and writer in Portland, Oregon. Her writing has appeared in Nightmare Magazine, Flame Tree’s Asian Ghost Stories, Chromophobia, Mother: Tales of Terror and Love, Death’s Garden Revisited, and Unquiet Spirits... Read More →

Jonathan Lees

Jonathan Lees has spent over twenty years championing filmmakers through his programming work with the New York Underground Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, TromaDance, and currently at the Final Frame Horror Short Film Competition at StokerCon.

Friday June 13, 2025 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Glen 2 & 3

Convention Event, Livestreamed Session

StokerCon 2025