Elaine's Literary Salon

April 25 Writer’s Workshop: Book Writing Coach Karen Bacellar teaches us about “Beginnings and Endings — How Stories Open, Close, and Echo”

When: Saturday, April 25, 2026 from 11-4pm

Where: 208 Queen Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314

Buy your ticket: beginningsandendings.eventbrite.com

This seminar looks at how the opening and closing of a novel work in conversation with one another to shape the story as a whole. Rather than treating beginnings and endings as isolated moments, the session explores how they are designed in relationship and how that relationship creates meaning on the page.

Grounded in Jennie Nash’s Blueprint for a Book, the seminar focuses on the question of where a story truly begins and where it needs to end. Using examples from both films and novels, the discussion invites writers to think more cinematically about story craft, especially how early and final scenes can visually or emotionally mirror one another. What does the story open with, and how is that moment answered or transformed by the end?

The goal of the seminar is to help writers gain clarity about the arc their story is tracing. By thinking intentionally about beginnings and endings together, writers can make more deliberate choices about how their story enters and exits the page.

About Book Coach Karen Bacellar Book

Karen Bacellar is a book coach, writer, and communications strategist who helps speculative fiction authors transform big ideas into structured, emotionally resonant novels. Through her business, Cinematic Book Coaching, she guides writers from creative overwhelm to clarity, offering strategic support that blends story craft with vision.

A former filmmaker, her short film Gaslight Grail won Best Short Film at the Chicago Horror Film Festival, and her story Tess/Gunther was a quarter-finalist in the Screencraft Cinematic Short Story Competition. She attended the Disquiet International Literary Program in Lisbon in 2024 and 2025 and was named a Luso-American Fellowship finalist in 2025.

Karen is currently working on Cantora, a novel set in Salazar’s Portugal, and Listening for Ghosts, a novella exploring memory, grief, and the long arc of personal reckoning. She holds degrees from University College London and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Born in Brazil and raised in New England, she now lives in Virginia.

Welcome to ElainesLitearySalon.com!

Bibliophiles will love this new show — live from the popular bistro Elaine’s in Old Town, Alexandria VA. Our host is the restaurant’s owner, Jeffrey James Higgins, a prolific author who is on a mission to help his fellow writers share their stories. Check out the live Literary Salon events here. And check back for new episodes of Elaine’s Literary Salon on Inkandescent.tv and InkandescentRadio.com.

About our Elaine’s Literary Salon Host Jeffrey James Higgins: By day, Jeff manages Elaine’s, the award-winning Alexandria, VA restaurant he opened with his wife Cynthia in 2022. A retired supervisory special agent who writes thrillers, short stories, creative nonfiction, and essays, Jeff has wrestled a suicide bomber, fought the Taliban in combat, and chased terrorists across five continents. He received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Heroism and the DEA Award of Valor.

He has been interviewed by CNN, National Geographic, and The New York Times. He’s a #1 Amazon bestselling author with 21 literary awards, including the Claymore Award, PenCraft’s Best Fiction Book, and a Reader’s Favorite Gold Medal. He has been a panelist at ThrillerFest, Killer Nashville, Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity, and other conferences.

Black Rose Writing published his first three novels, FURIOUS, UNSEEN, and THE FOREVER GAME. Severn River Publishing has acquired Jeffrey’s forthcoming Nathan Burke espionage series. Jeffrey is an active member of the Authors Guild, the Virginia Writers Club, International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, and the Royal Writers Secret Society. He’s represented by Jackson Keeler at Inkworks. Learn more about Jeff’s books: JeffreyJamesHiggins.com.

Click here to check out Jeff’s affordable book writing services to help authors everywhere make their book publishing dreams come true. 

And meet the PR Director for Elaine’s Literary Salon, InkandescentPR.com’s founder, Hope Katz Gibbs. With her team of award-winning journalists, illustrators and video producers, they help writers up their PR and marketing game with professionally produced podcasts on InkandescentRadio.com, the video version on Inkandescent.tv, a strong social media push, and more! Learn more: InkandescentPR.com.

Upcoming Podcasts

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MEET THE INKANDESCENT® RADIO TEAM

Hope Katz Gibbs, Founder & Executive Producer, InkandescentRadio.com

Brandi Wilsker-Merritt, Director of Podcasting

Nelson Benavides, Director of Videography

Max Kukoy, Inkandescent Website Developer

Michael Gibbs, Inkandescent Art Director

 

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