WIFYR Day 4. Filter Words and Little Wins

Day 4 of the conference was jam-packed with information, more revisions, and more critiques. And I haven't even come close to putting a dent in watching the webinars. To top it off, I capped off another day by participating in the WIFYR writing sprints at 9pm with other writers from the conference. I'm so surprised at how quickly I've grown to love these virtual group meetings! Go me, in trying all the new things.

Filter words. These words weaken your manuscript. They put distance between your character and your reader. Seek them out and delete them.  Words like:

I'm able to

I know

I decide

I wonder

I can/could/couldn't

I hear

I think

I try

I see

etc.

If you delete the filters words that permeate first drafts, then you'll be left with the action of the story, rooting your character and your reader exactly where they should be.

(This advice was shared in a short teaching segment given by Kathy Lipscomb, an editor and author, who participated in our morning writing workshop with one of her own projects. And I'll just say it: I LOVE Kathy's writing. Her words, her stories, all of them, need to be in print. As in, hardcover, paperback. ebook. All the formats. I can't wait until they are published.)

Little Wins and Pacing.  Sometimes your character needs a little bit of a win. Little victories to keep her and your reader going, especially when the going gets tough. So while we're told as writers to be merciless to our characters, at times, we also need to be kind. Like maybe give them a cookie and a glass of milk to go with it. (That last part was a joke, but think about your character and her arc and how she's feeling. Make sure it's not too overwhelming.)

Keep writing everyone!

WIFYR Day 3. Doors of No Return

Another fantastic day!

These take-aways came from Cheri Pray Earl's workshop.

What is a Door of No Return?
When your character makes a choice, and can't undo it. In other words, she can not un-know what she now knows, and she can't un-see what she has seen.

The 1st Door of No Return happens between the Introduction (Act 1) and Act 2.

The 2nd Door of No Return happens before the climax and moves your character in the final conflict.

Conflict
Must be driven by each character's wants and needs. After you establish the conflicts, raise the stakes, and increase the tension, then go back and make the conflicts worse.

Chapters/plot
Each chapter begins with your main character dealing with a particular emotional state and dealing with a problem.

Basically, today workshops involved ensuring that our characters suffered, and then suffered even more. All in the name of growth and a movement toward a more satisfying resolution.

Yay for growth!

Life, The Universe, and Everything (LTUE) Conference

My co-author and I for The Book Lover's Cookbook are speaking at the Life, The Universe, And Everything conference in Provo tomorrow. Here is the intro video for our panel, A Feast of Fiction. Can't go wrong with Food and Books! Cheers to inspiration!

If nothing else, it features one of my favorite songs, True Green, sung by Annie Rapid.

Clicking on this link to get to the video site might be the best way to view. For quicker download, I gave the smaller version. (smaller screen). if that makes any sense or holds any validity, I have no idea at all.

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=10627b6148503387c6f94c4&skin_id=1702&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Mark Twain....

has not

lost his touch

with the ladies....

I guess it's only fitting that these latest escapades happened while I was at a writer's retreat deep in the mountains somewhere near a place called Wolf Creek. Obviously, Mr. Twain was not in attendance given his current occupation in attending to other distractions.....

Stay tuned. More details to follow, as they become available....

Winner!

I'm tooting my horn for a friend of mine, writer Carol Lynch Williams, who was selected as this year's winner of the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Fellowship award for fiction. She is a wonderful author who has given so much of her time and talent toward mentoring and teaching aspiring children's writers like myself. Her newest book, The Chosen One, has been receiving high praise across the industry, and is definitely worth reading. And if you find yourself in Utah, her writing workshops are top-notch.



And guess what? I'm a winner, too! Although I laugh when I think how it pales in comparison.... But I won a B&N $50 gift card! That's right. Fifty bucks to spend on books, just by being one of the lucky seekers of a treasure chest on writer Bree Despain's website. She's another talented Utah author who will see her first book, The Dark Devine, in print by February 2010. Her website is great and definitely worth checking out. While you're there, tell her I said, hi!

A Great Workshop

Saturday I had the opportunity to attend a great class on novel writing. It was led by the talented Carol Lynch Williams, whose latest release is the well-reviewed, The Chosen One, and Cheri Pray Earl, who has a few books coming out this year.

Perhaps the best thing about this class were the assignments that we had to complete beforehand: writing bios for our MC (highly recomended, btw) and completing an outline for our novel (which was great, because now I have the final stages mapped out). Even though I knew where I was headed, it's great to have it all on paper. It seems like finishing should almost be effortless.

We talked about lots of stuff. One topic centered on voice and the fact that all award-winning books are effortless to read. Sarah, Plain and Tall is one good example (among many). When asked how she wrote that book, Patricia MacLachlan said she took out all the words that didn't matter.

My favorite quote of the day was, "The mystery of life is how we respond." Which is why we, as authors, need to know our characters so well.

For me, to putting this insight into action means, writing those character bios for all my characters, even though I think I already know them fairly well in my head. Then, even after that's done, I think I'll go back and expand them as I finish and rewrite.

Carol and Cheri used many books for examples. (One shall go unnamed.) Some of those included:
This is What I Did by Ann Dee Ellis
Everything is Fine by Ann Dee Ellis
The Loser's Guide to Life and Love by Ann Cannon
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Killer's Cousin by Nancy Werlin
Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath
The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
On Writing by Stephen King

You can learn more about their classes and see a list of must-read books at http://www.thefirststory.org/.

A Good Day

So, I spent Saturday at the SCBWI spring workshop in Salt Lake City where I got the chance to meet Molly O'Neill, who is the assistant editor with The Bowen Press, a new imprint at HarperCollins Children's Books. And guess what? She loved the new middle grade novel I'm working on! Based on the premise and first ten pages, she wants to see it when it's done, which absolutely tickled my toes. I'm so thrilled. That's just the sort of revived up energy I need to carry me through the home stretch. Thank you, Molly!

Not only that, she gave a fantastic presentation titled "How to Catch (& Keep) an Editor's Attention," which focused on the beginnings of stories -- basically, what draws a reader (and editor) in. If you're wondering what sort of books Molly likes, I'd have to say, she likes a lot. (She talked about 21 different books, and that was her short list.) But here are a few she mentioned.

That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell & Neal Layton.
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D Schmidt

Toot and Puddle by Holly Hobbie

Dovey Coe by Frances O'Roark Dowell

Orville: A Dog Story by Haven Kimmel

Happy writing, everyone! Time to get busy........

Upcoming Conference

In four weeks I'll be attending the UVSC Forum on Children's Literature at Utah Valley State College, and I'm so excited to go. The organizers have put together an all-star group of presenters, including Caldecott Medalist, David Small (author of Imogene's Antlers and illustrator of So You Want to be President) and Kirby Larson, who wrote the Newberry Honor winning book, Hattie Big Sky. It should be a great weekend.

In the meantime, with the flu bug whipped, it's back to working and writing. It's amazing how different the world and unfinished projects look when one's feeling good. Instead of a daunting mountain, incapable of being scaled, that manuscript hangs before me like an exciting invitation, offering a fulfilling challenge to finish it.

Wherever you are, make it a great day!

To Wit, or Not To Wit . . . Two Bits of Advice

The weekend retreat at Bear Lake was well underway. Writing was getting done, professional storytelling was being had, manuscripts were being worked toward perfection, and the food--the food was pretty darn good, given our taking advantage of the latest harvests of the season, with peaches and tomatoes at the top of the list. Yes, overall, the retreat was going smoothly. . .

Until I woke up. Or only partly woke up.

No, this isn't a story where now I tell you the retreat was all dream. It was for real. And I was for real at it, and so were all the fellow writers that were there with me. And all was going smoothly, until Saturday morning, when things got a little exciting. . . . .

Let me give two bits of advice.

1. If you find yourself suddenly becoming dizzy, ask for help. Better yet, bring yourself to the floor immediately--don't let gravity do the work for you. This will cut down on bumps and bruises and the like.

2. If you find yourself inexplicably looking up into the eyes of Rick Walton, or some other writer that you admire tremendously, upon coming-to, don't think of this as a time to impress him or her by cracking a joke. Because more likely than not, you're going to be short-sighted on the delivery. Yes, muttering the words, "I'm dying," in an attempt to help lighten the situation, . . . will send all your fellow writers with their super-sonic imaginations into overdrive. It'll make them do things like call 911, or heaven-forbid, check to see if you need mouth-mouth resuscitation. Especially when after uttering such words, you pass out again.

Yes, at times like these, to wit, or not to wit, is not a question. It's a catapult for momentary disaster.

But never fear, dear readers, after a brief rest and sumptious morning feast, the writing retreat got back on track.

Turns out, this excitement was due to a nasty fainting virus that's been making it's way through the adult population in Cache Valley. As far as timing goes, I was either very lucky or unlucky, depending on how you look at it.

Make it a great week!

Shaunda