We have just had GenreCon 2026: Inklings, and what a weekend of genre joy it was. GenreCon is Queensland Writers Centre flagship genre conference: three days of genre immersion for fiction writers in horror, science fiction, fantasy, crime, romance, and more. This year was the first that the conference has been held outside the State Library of Queensland. Instead, we were ballet-ing it up at the Thomas Dixon Centre: a beautiful, bigger space fitting for how the conference has grown.
As always, it was a fantastic opportunity for connecting with community. I love seeing my writing friends here every year, and there are always new ideas and inspiration flowing fast around the table.
Unique twist on the usual for 2026
GenreCon added a unique twist this year: manga, illustration and adaptation. Professor belne came from Japan to share her 50-year career as a professional manga artist with us. Illustration was featured across other panels and workshops, as well as adaptation.
I was on a panel about digital publishing platforms along with Kylie Chan, TC Phillips and Richard Yaxsley—an opportunity I took with these greats of QLD publishing to get as many of my questions answered as the audience’s. There are so many digital platforms out there that can add to your storytelling and enhance how you tell story. Some of the ones we discussed were Twine, Tapas, and feedback platforms like Scribophile. Plus, we went through the benefits of digital publishing on your own platform in addition to social media, and talked about the logistics of digital publishing for modern storytelling.
East meets West: storytelling models with Lauren Elise Daniels and Geneve Flynn
A big highlight was the workshop by Lauren Elise Daniels and Geneve Flynn contrasting western story models with eastern ones. Lauren went into depth on the Heroine’s Journey model as an example of a western story arc. Like the Hero’s Journey, it positions the main character as the hero of an arc with repeatable, patterned stages and archetypal supportive characters. I’d never heard of the Heroine’s Journey before. As luck has it, it applies perfectly to the novel I have started writing this year.
The major difference between the Hero and Heroine’s Journey models is nothing to do with sex or gender. Rather, it’s the source of the conflict that the main character must overcome. In the Hero’s Journey, the call to action is exterior, whereas in the Heroine’s Journey, it is internal.
Internal journey versus external journey
The main character in the Heroine’s Journey starts out with a belief about themselves and/or the world that is flawed. The call to action speaks to this belief. In my new WIP novel, The Sand, my MC has a fundamental belief that ‘someone will save us’ i.e. there is someone out there with the power to save her and her people.
The journey that she then goes on breaks down this belief. That is the cycle of the Heroine’s Journey. As things get worse, over and over they are shown that, no, you haven’t evolved yet. You haven’t overcome this belief yet. In the mirror moment at the journey’s dark centre, the MC has to face themselves and look at what they have become. And somehow, find the way out into the light and to resolution.
In the end, the Heroine’s Journey sees the character emerge as a more integrated version of themselves. The flawed belief has been deconstructed and a new understanding emerges from the ashes. They are stronger, because they have corrected the underlying falsities that were holding them back.
Easten story structure contrasted with Western
On the eastern side of story structure, Geneve took us through the structure of Kishotenketsu. This is a traditional four-act structure consisting of Introduction (Ki), Development (Shō), Twist (Ten), and Conclusion (Ketsu). I’d never heard this structure explained in detail either—you can see now why I was absolutely loving this workshop. When you’ve been around a while in the writing scene, it’s sometimes hard to find new things you haven’t come across yet.
The Kishotenketsu structure is found at all story lengths. It works from a short four-panel comic all the way to movies and series. Geneve used some excellent examples of movies told using this model. The strange (to me as someone steeped in Western storytelling) thing in this model is that at the Twist (Ten), everything changes—and that can include the genre. We have such well-established genre patterns in Western storytelling that this can be shocking to a Western audience. If you think you’re watching a science fiction story it’s a shock when the Ten comes and it’s now a horror movie.
The Substance: a movie with a Ten (Twist)
An example stood out for me when Geneve was teaching about this: the movie, The Substance, with Demi Moore. I have a friend who loves horror movies—I hate them—and she is really great at regaling me with the entire plot, so that I can appreciate the pop culture references, but without having to go through the ordeal of watching it myself. She has done this for me for Saw, Human Centipede and more, over the years. So, recently, with a group of friends, I had her give me the gist of The Substance, because it looked cool and interesting, but I had a feeling I was not going to love the horror aspect.
The way she described it had us all in the group questioning what the heck this movie was actually about. The movies starts out one way and then ends in this hypergore madness. My friends were describing it with phrases like, ‘It got completely weird at the end,’ and ‘What did I just watch?’ As Geneve was describing Kishotenketsu in this workshop it occurred to me that The Substance might follow this pattern. And so as Western viewers, we are left confused and adrift, because we aren’t familiar with the structure. It didn’t conform to a sci fi movie structure, nor a horror one, because at the Ten (Twist), everything changes.
Workshops in the main program
Often in a Kishotenketsu story, there is societal commentary or underlying message that is revealed by the Ten and Ketsu (Conclusion). I think The Substance is no exception to this rule.
Having these workshops in the main program of GenreCon was a real treat—there are often Chair duty things that I need to do on the Friday of GenreCon when workshops usually run, and it was a delight to have the chance to sit down and really dig into something in depth during the main program.
And sidenote: the light in the ballet studio where this workshop was held! One of my friends took this photo of me pretending to be a ballerina. Can’t you just picture all the ballerinas lined up against the bar, with the light shining in through the arched brick windows in this old historic building? Magic.
Professor belne and her manga career: a new addition to the genre writers’ conference
Bringing Professor belne and her retinue to Australia is something the team at QWC has been working on for over 18 months. It was such a delight to see it all come together finally and to welcome Professor belne. We also had a great opening speech by the Consul General of Japan in Brisbane—which I don’t think anyone expected how it went. He took us on a Kishotenketsu story of his own, culminating in the twist that he himself has dreamed of a career as a science fiction scriptwriter.
In the photo below we’re all welcoming Professor belne into the auditorium for the keynote speech wearing bandannas in her honour, as is her signature style.
You can still get GenreCon 2027 tickets at the cheapest they’ll be until 3 April 2026 – don’t miss out!
In 2027, horror is going to be on the main stage, and Jay Kristoff is coming. Yes, that’s right. So don’t miss out. This is the community-finding, intense genre-immersion experience that you need in your writing schedule for the year.
Get tickets to GenreCon 2027: Inner Sanctums here.