tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34998199988119954942024-03-18T02:08:25.848-07:001000th.monkey: I use a mac, not a typewriter"The pessimist complains about the wind;
The optimist expects it to change;
The realist adjusts the sails."
-william a. ward1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.comBlogger610125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-74412885157207096292017-12-21T11:12:00.000-08:002017-12-21T11:12:06.037-08:00SiWC 2016 Workshop #8 Culture Building is World Building
Culture Building is World Building
Sonali Dev
Beloved books, ones that have never left you, build up the fabric of who you are, where we fall, body and soul, into the character. That’s what makes the story unforgettable.
How do you get your readers to fall into your characters like this?
Audience examples:
Wizard of Oz, the journey, conflict, fantastical element
English Patient, 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-33584223353621839422017-12-20T10:49:00.000-08:002017-12-20T10:49:48.868-08:00SiWC 2016 Workshop #7 Using it all - Writing Sex that uses the Emotional Magnitude of Intimacy
Using It All - Writing Sex That Uses the Emotional Magnitude of Intimacy
Lauren Dane
In the last 8 years, definite rise in the sensuality in books, especially in Romance. Great, but there’s this expectation to write ‘hotter’, and ‘more is more’, which is not actually ‘more’.
Who are your characters, what are they doing, and go from there. A touch can be hotter than a full out sex scene, 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-11859139346348114782017-12-19T10:49:00.000-08:002017-12-19T10:49:29.704-08:00SiWC 2016 Workshop #6 Worldbuilding
Worldbuilding
Daniel Jose Older
‘Story’, Robert Mckee, great book for structure
(this workshop is from a Skillshare class he’s speaking from, Google it)
Narrative fundamentals:
Writing is creating, editing is destroying, know the difference.
Why do we put down a book? We probably weight them all differently, but these are the four major ones.
Character
-> Have to have 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-89636442799126663192017-12-18T10:49:00.000-08:002017-12-18T10:50:52.707-08:00SiWC 2016 Workshop #5 How to Stay in Love with Writing
How to Stay in Love with Writing
Shari Green
What contributes for you, personally, to fall out of love? To make you ask, why am I even bothering?
Negative feedback, not enough time, not being supported, etc.
The number one thing contributing to wanting to quit: rejection after rejection.
Fear of being a one-book-wonder, gambling time/energy and not knowing whether it’ll pan out.
In1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-91311423735898416382017-12-17T10:48:00.000-08:002017-12-17T10:48:37.061-08:00SiWC 2016 Workshop #4 The Story You're Not Telling
The Story You’re Not Telling
Donald Maass
“The Emotional Craft of Fiction” -> emotional effect that fiction has on us as readers, and not look at it as a happy accident, but as a craft -> why and how it happens so we can understand the techniques and use them.
Got the idea watching the Super Bowl and 30 second commercials impacting more emotionally than 300 page novels.
Mostly 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-27477297875992562882017-12-16T11:05:00.000-08:002017-12-16T11:05:16.897-08:00SiWC 2016 Workshop #3 Narrative Dares
Narrative Dares
Jasper Fforde
Give yourself an idea -> what if someone had three legs who arrived in a world everyone had two legs
Jane Eyre gets kidnapped out of Jane Eyre, how do you get her back?
Works particularly well with speculative fiction. Like with a dare, you have to do it -> “I dare you to…” you can’t change your mind, go back.
You can’t let yourself off the hook. 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-90491076037456873872017-12-15T11:02:00.000-08:002017-12-15T11:02:17.017-08:00SiWC 2016 Workshop #2 Voice & Viewpoint
Voice & Viewpoint
Hallie Ephron
HANDOUT (as per yesterday, I will look for this and update this post if I can find it)
Writing fiction is about making choices and one of the first choices you make is through which character’s perspective the reader will experience the events. Whose story is it?
Voice:
Same content, different voices:
Factual voice: “It was a dark and stormy 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-50910651159257204712017-12-14T11:00:00.000-08:002017-12-14T11:00:46.236-08:00SiWC 2016 Workshop #1 LGBTQ Characters in MG & YA Fiction
LGBTQ Characters in MG & YA Fiction
Robin Stevenson
HANDOUT (note: I will look for this later and include it if I can find it)
Modern movement towards the LGBTQ civil rights movement began only about 50 years ago. In the late 1960’s same sex relationships were criminalized. Was illegal to serve food/alcohol to same sex couples so there were very few places to gather, the only 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-56566946029027441182017-12-13T10:46:00.000-08:002017-12-13T11:13:16.315-08:00SiWC 2016 - and a brief catch upWow, I can't believe it's been over a year since I've posted on here.
I took some time off from the online-world to take care of family stuff, personal stuff, writing stuff, and honestly, I simply needed a break from the overwhelming bombardment of information that is the internet :)
So, welcome back! I'm gonna start off by posting all the notes I took from last year's Surrey International 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-9958700495983060922016-04-08T13:33:00.000-07:002016-04-08T15:36:38.372-07:00Progress: exciting & scaryThis messy new story is starting to fall into place, in my brain at least, if not yet on the page.
(maybe at the point to write a temporary blurb & throw it up on my website soon)
EDIT: a VERY loose/rough blurb is now on my website. You'll notice there's almost no mention of plot as I'm not far enough into it to know that yet :p *forever-pantser*
So, where am I at?
Mostly it's1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-46664175013943446112016-03-14T17:25:00.002-07:002016-03-26T23:04:05.511-07:00Falling in love with a new voiceStarting this post off with a weird admission:
I've never fallen in love.
I've grown to love many people, but I've never experienced that thing people talk about, an instant connection of sorts, a hyper-awareness, an overwhelming desire to be with/around that person (we use the word 'fall' for a reason) whether you consider that to be mix of chemicals flooding through the brain or 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-59926811687603761152016-03-07T09:46:00.001-08:002016-03-07T09:46:26.066-08:00So, I owe someone a post about 'control'......and boy, has this post been kicking my ass...
I've never spent so much time writing and re-writing a single blog post before... On-and-off I've been working on this since the middle of January, and this is the 5th time I've completely deleted/re-written everything because there are a lot of angles I could come at this from, and none of them really worked.
BUT, I promised someone I'd write 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-6412904537118286782016-02-04T21:32:00.002-08:002016-02-04T21:47:06.399-08:00The familiar start-stop of first draftingI think most writers are familiar with spots in a first draft where writing flows easily, and where it feels like you've taken a nude-dive into a patch of cacti and now have the tweezer-assisted task of removing each and every one of those prickly spines.
(uhm, yeah. sorry about that visual...)
Beginnings are like... well, they're the most effortless part of writing for me. I get caught up in a1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-67003531964476013792016-01-08T09:58:00.000-08:002016-01-18T00:17:44.909-08:00Happy 2016!I know, I know, I'm a week late :)
Forgive me?
My right arm (the more dominant one) has been slightly 'out' of the rotary cuff for approximately 7 weeks, which makes typing quite painful, so I've been limiting my computering (yes, that is totally a word in my dictionary :p) to the essentials.
AAAAAAAAND, since my last post, there's been a lot of essential computering :)
Today/this weekend I'm1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-44076929292062625552015-11-13T09:42:00.002-08:002015-11-13T09:42:32.137-08:00A wonderful Friday the 13thI've said it before, and I'll say it again... I love Friday the 13th, and here's my latest reason to love them:
Today, I signed on with Patricia Nelson of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.
Yes, that's right.
No, no need to check your calendars. This isn't an April Fools post.
Are you stunned? Yeah, me too. The past two weeks have been a little like living in a constant state of delirium (meant1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-29340237244523636192015-10-30T12:18:00.000-07:002015-11-14T13:27:22.290-08:00SiWC after-musingsThis was the third time I've gone to this conference, and while I shy away from claiming anything is 'the best', I think this is the year I got the most pure enjoyment out of the experience.
My first year, SiWC 2013, was so overwhelming that I don't think I retained a whole heck of a lot... other than the physical notes I took during the workshop and the ongoing friendship with a few local 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-42285614933987338162015-10-27T15:30:00.001-07:002015-10-27T15:30:13.311-07:00SiWC 2015 Workshop #5 Writing YA Fiction PanelWriting YA Fiction
Moderator: kc Dyer (writer)
Carrie Mac (writer), Kat Brzozowski (editor), Eileen Cook (writer)
KCD: Kat, what’s hot in the acquisitions world?
KB: Contemp YA is still hot, one coming out in January about a girl de-virgining the boys of her school called ‘Firsts’, so Contemps with a romance & strong voice are still really working.
KCD: If you were going to 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-68950597424140078642015-10-27T15:27:00.006-07:002015-10-28T23:10:33.653-07:00SiWC 2015 Workshop #4 Complex ConflictsComplex Conflicts
Sam Sykes
Trying to find the difference between a story that people read and forget, and a story that sticks with someone.
Conflicts aren’t plot, they are a test of our investment in the character/story
What does conflict have to accomplish?
Lighter conflicts are simply a goal of getting from A-B
A complex conflict goes over several points, A-B-C, etc, 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-89087185053747219452015-10-27T15:25:00.002-07:002015-10-27T15:25:44.712-07:00SiWC 2015 Workshop #3 Funny Business PanelJust a small word before I post my panel notes, yes, I'm pretty darn good at typing fast and keeping up with people talking, but in a panel, often people start talking one after another and it's a little harder to keep up. SOOOOO for my panel notes, the wording will be less exact and sometimes more of a summary/condensed version of what some people said... simply because there is limit to how 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-16736962049137291722015-10-27T15:21:00.001-07:002015-10-27T15:21:35.848-07:00SiWC 2015 Workshop #2 Action ScenesAction Scenes
Sam Sykes
Action scenes do include fight scenes, but is not the extent. Other kinds of action sequences: Where the priorities shift, a woman in a hospital sees a doctor come in and tenses up. An argument. A court when a verdict is coming in. The act of receiving information. Even playing chess - something that the characters care about, mundane things that for the 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-66834828722053139612015-10-27T15:19:00.002-07:002015-10-27T15:19:39.064-07:00SiWC 2015 Workshop #1 Make BelieveMake Believe
Carrie Mac
Make believe:
write what is already there - speaks to the imagination/research/etc. Have to distill a view, hone into the details that bring something to life
make the words fit the picture - when you don’t, that’s when readers won’t believe you. That’s the larger part of work, that’s where you can get stuff.
Many ideas came due to past career as a paramedic.
1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-34809063034379673772015-10-22T08:32:00.001-07:002015-10-22T08:32:25.967-07:00SiWC 2015Well, it's that time of year...
Surrey International Writing Conference begins today for those taking Masters Classes, and tomorrow for those who aren't.
I'm going again this year and, like the last two years, I will post my notes online for y'all.
Wish I could give you the heads-up as to all the presenters/etc, but with the craziness of house-hunting, packing, moving, unpacking, and the 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-59628173491564203582015-10-07T20:05:00.001-07:002015-10-07T20:07:57.930-07:00Settling inWell, I've been in my new place for... almost a week. Friday, October 2 was my first night, and I've been busy!
When I have everything done(ish - since I am planning to rip out carpet, redo bathrooms, etc, probably in the new year) I will post something on my Bailiwick site, since that's where I do put more picture related stuff and, after unpacking all the art I've collected over the years, I'm1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-89427255997479956462015-09-24T11:52:00.000-07:002015-09-24T11:52:52.784-07:00I move tomorrow! and writing! (and bad grammar!)Well, technically my furniture moves since I'm house-sitting until October 2.
But still exciting!
I've moved so many times before that I've kinda got this whole thing down. I've got everything ready and the truck isn't even showing up until tomorrow afternoon, so I've had time this morning to get a little more writing done.
Writing... uhm, y'know how in my last post I was excited because I 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3499819998811995494.post-87307133405067277022015-09-07T13:06:00.000-07:002015-09-07T13:06:27.405-07:00Mostly non writerly things/waves hand/
Yup, still alive.
Life has been a little crazy, but things have been going well. Since I last posted, I was in Chilliwack readying stuff to ship to Montreal for the next PAC Convention. There was a bunch of drama around taking possession of my new place (the sellers lawyer "lost" some paperwork, only discovered the day everything was supposed to get legalized, so there was a mad 1000th.monkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16835988128285459745noreply@blogger.com2