How important is it to be accurate when you’re writing about real-life events?
Join us at Christian Writer Con ’26 for ten speakers over to two days to fire up your writing.
On Saturday at 12:30 pm ET, Shannon Dunn-Downing, Richard Scott Morehead, and Kyle Peters will discuss how to authentically incorporate real people and events into your stories.
Is it ever wrong to tell the truth? Is it ever okay to change it to protect someone?
Each member of the panel brings their perspective on this tricky topic. We’ve brought together one devotionalist, one memoirist, and one who wrote a fiction novel based strongly on a real-life friend.
Learn how to make hard choices about what to include and what to change, so that you can better wield the truth with your writing.
Want thoughtful perspectives on how to handle truth in nonfiction from people who’ve been there? Join us at Christian Writer Con on May 8-9 for this and nine more amazing seminars: learn more and reserve your spot here.
Affiliate links may be used in this article.
About the Panelist: Shannon Dunn-Downing
Shannon Dunn-Downing was snowboarding’s first U.S. Olympic medalist—part of a generation that turned rebellion into a revolution.
In her memoir, Snowboard Girl, she shares her personal journey through snowboarding’s most defining decade-the ’90s-with laugh-out-loud road trip stories, breakthrough contests, and the raw truth of what it really took to rise in a sport that didn’t always make room for women.
About the Panelist: Richard Scott Morehead
Richard Scott Morehead is a senior academic physician who teaches and practices medicine in Charleston, WV. Currently Professor of Medicine at West Virginia University School of Medicine, he previously served on the faculty at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine for 26+ years. During his career, he has directly taught thousands of medical students and postgraduate trainees and won numerous teaching awards.
In 2022, Morehead began writing to process his past. These creative nonfiction reflections have been published in the Charleston (WV) Gazette, American Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Chest, Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, and Journal of Graduate Medical Education.
His first novel, The Master of Robeson County, was released in 2025. A second novel is forthcoming. The Master of Robeson County chronicles the story of a Lumbee boy endowed with an exceptional but eccentric mind. Shunned for his Native American background and sense of justice, Benjamin leaves his homeland to cross America, where he finds success, heartbreak, and a crisis of faith.
About the Panelist: Kyle Peters
Kyle is an adventurer and a storyteller. He has served in ministry for 20 years, and is currently experimenting with a church plant in Phoenix, AZ.
His conversational devotional, Every Bush Afire, released in January of 2023. Kyle’s story shines a light on a pathway to hear and interact with God in the midst of the mountains, valleys, and even the mundane moments of everyday life.
His passion is to help others cultivate a lifestyle of intimacy with God and to take risks in advancing the Kingdom of God. He finds his inspiration from wilderness adventures, walking with loved ones, and conversational intimacy with God.
Will you join us for Christian Writer Con on May 8-9?
Ten speakers. Two days. Fire up your writing.
This panel is just one of ten sessions that are sure to inspire your writing and equip you with new writing skills.
This conference is 100% online, and all attendees will have full access to videos from all of the sessions for one full year.
No travel or hotel fees. Explore what it means to be a Christian writer and rise up to tell amazing stories.
