(sheepish wave) Happy Holidays

Hi everyone, it's been a while.

No, things haven't been settled yet, but some progress has been made and we agreed to wind things down over Christmas/New Years.

I've been sick a lot the past few months, currently I've been running a fever for the past 2.5 weeks straight, but all my Christmas shopping is done and I'm looking forward to seeing family & friends over the holidays.

Hope everyone is doing well. I've been keeping busy… want to see a couple pictures?

I finished those two new-baby painting projects (and had to increase physio on my arm since painstaking brushwork is really bad when all the tendons/muscles in your elbow and rotary cuff are stuck together and pinching the nerves). And yeah, they look pretty simple, but they did take about 30-40 hours each, including all the design time.

This one was for the girl baby:

 Yes, you can see the reflection of my hand/phone in the forehead if you look closely…

 They are lotus flowers, if you can't tell. Also, you can see my artist signature on the ear… I always sign work in two places, so on the pigs, it's on the ear, and on the bottom where I painted each baby's name, birthdate/time/weight.

I am never again doing a 10 point… anything. Do you know how difficult it is to measure so everything is even? 8 is easy, since you just quarter a piece of paper, then fold it again… for this, I have a ruler which you can bend around a coin (like, a quarter), which I was using to mark millimetre by millimetre where each petal needed to be… it was a huge pain and not worth repeating, even though 10 petals looks way cooler than 8.

And this one for my Chinese friend who had a baby boy:

 At the time, I didn't pre-know the gender, so I made it a sleeping-pig with the midnight blue sky and fire-coloured clouds.

 I love how the clouds turned out…

The Chinese characters on the four 'T' shapes are the four Chinese blessings (si fu), happiness, prosperity, longevity, and good luck. The characters at the bottom say, 'blessed', and the ones at the top are peace, happiness, faith, and joy (these friends are Christian).

The 'T' shape was just a traditional Chinese design I found and modified, but oddly enough, they ended up giving their son a name beginning with 'T', so they both thought that was a really cool coincidence.


Linework is the most difficult thing to do with porcelain painting, and the difficulty level skyrockets when it's an oddly shaped, non-flat piece because you have to hold it in one hand the entire time… and normally you use your second hand/arm to steady your painting hand.

I painted them with lustres (which is why they're so reflective and photograph badly), all the linework is in gold (2 layers), and there are accents of raised white enamel (you can see it easily on the blue/orange pig, but on the lotus pig, there is a dot of enamel on every bubble, in the centres of the flowers, and on the seeds). The blue/orange pig needed a second layer of gold for the Chinese characters, but I ran out of time and wasn't able to finish, which is why they look duller than the rest of the gold.


For my birthday (in September), my sister & her boyfriend promised to take me to a Seahawks game, and we did that on November 17th. The Hawks won, so it was pretty awesome :)

This is walking up to the stadium, and the blonde head in the right corner belongs to my sister.


I also donated my hair again (12-14 inches"), like I've done every second fall/winter for the past 10 years, so my hair is super short again, only about 1-2" long and really curly in the back.

Yup, the usual no-smile. This time the picture was taken right after I got up (hence, messy bed-hair), and you can see I'm super flushed and googly-eyed from the fever.


We got actual snow in Vancouver a few days ago!!! Like, not just a dusting which melts in a couple hours… this hung on for about 2 days, despite it being followed up by rain which eventually washed it all away:

 This is what I see when I step out of my apartment and look left. I love the snow, and Kitsilano is full of old heritage houses. Just a nice area to walk in.

 I think it's so cool to see ferns growing in trees… I think they're anchored into the moss. Not surprising, I guess, considering most of BC is a rain-forest...

 This is the pond at Jericho beach. All the poor ducks were standing in huddled clumps on the ice looking quite sad.

 These are the trails I usually let Eva off-leash, and normally she's really good about staying with me…

 Can you see far up ahead in this picture there's a bench? Around there, someone stopped me to ask for directions. I was distracted for maybe 30-40 seconds, and when I looked down… no Eva. I was out in the snow looking for her for 2.5 hours, freaked out that a coyote got her, but no, she had found three ladies with a springer spaniel and decided it would be a great idea to follow them to the parking lot. My phone had shut down because of the cold, so I was very grateful both my phone number and my parent's number was on her ID tag. My fever was insanely high by the time I got home...

That day, 'beagle' was a curse word…

BUT, aren't her footprints both weird and cute? They are set perfectly next to each other… not even staggered a bit...


Okay, that's all for now. Typing is harder on my arm (and un-focusing eyes) than I thought, so I think I'm going back to bed for a couple hours before I walk Eva.

See you all in the New Year!

Going dark

Okay, as most of you know, I try to keep 99% of my personal life off this blog and only talk about writing, art, and things like that. The few personal bits I post on here are usually unimportant details like walking my dog.

A few of you know I'm currently fighting with lawyers as I'm mid-separation/divorce.

I never post about that because, hey, I don't think dwelling on bad things is good for anyone, and I am trying to take the higher-ground.

Well, things just got ugly. To the point where my ex's lawyer has found a way to use this, my personal writing blog, as ammunition.

I am... emotionally and psychologically devastated at this newest development, and as such, I'm shutting down for a while.

I will not be posting, and I will not be answering email. I'm also pretty much withdrawing from NaNo this year.

Sorry, but this is taking up all my head-space, I have to deal with it now, and with my full concentration.

I'll be back when I'm back.

Please, no one take this personally.

Where surprises take you

Well, the thing I didn't expect to happen on Saturday, but did... it makes sense now why the story veered off-path, and I see it coming back on track shortly. In fact, I see it hooking up with this scene soon.

That's the thing I love most about pantsing. I really do trust my brain to know where things are headed, even if the knowledge exists in the spiderwebby crooks, far out of reach from my probing, questioning consciousness.

Somehow, if I just keep writing, I get there.

Oh, and there are now a couple of new secondary characters in the cast... including the cutest tiny soccer playing Korean girl EVER... too bad Jay proves, yet again, to be a complete and total ass... She will be back though, 'cause I like writing her :D

I don't base characters on people I know in real live, but there is a bit of her that's reminiscent of a couple friends I had in high-school (both Korean), and a friend of mine now who is very tiny (4'10") and plays soccer (she's Spanish though... and I was also thinking of her a lot when writing Donny's 'Mexican-jokes', as she hates it when people assume she's Mexican).

It's more the attitude/personality that all those three friends have in common than inspired this one side character, where I can imagine any of them reading her dialogue out loud and it sounding 'right'.


Not so much favourites, but a couple of very "Jay" lines:

Platitudes really aren’t my thing, and that’s what apologies are. Meaningless, trite, and rarely interesting, even if they are supposed to hold significance of some kind.

While I can appreciate that Kell may have misunderstood, I still don’t think I was wrong.

Another thing about apologies, they’re rarely genuine. Instead, they’re simply a tactic to reach compromise.

Things I looked up today in Google:

Sennelier oil paint, the brand made and sold in Paris near École des Beaux-Arts, and used by Monet, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, and others -> Jay is just entitled enough to use the same paint the *greats* used, and I wanted a consistent 'pallet' of colours in which he 'sees' the world around him, but I'm not going to worry about that until my first round of edits.

I know most paint you buy now is synthetic pigments, but I wanted a refresher of which ones used to have stuff like arsenic in them (greens) and other toxic minerals like lead (whites), cadmium (red/yellow), and cobalt (blues).

Google failed me in answering one question: I couldn't find if they still use gold as a component in some purple paints... I know they do in oil paints for porcelain, but I'm not sure about for canvas painting as the minerals in porcelain paints actually fuse into the surface during firing, which obviously, isn't the case with canvas. It's not a big deal since it would be such a tiny detail to put in, so I'm just going to move forward and perhaps do a more thorough search during edits.


Things I did today instead of writing:

I watched the second tv episode of 'Dracula', and episode #3 of 'Reign'. I've never really been a big tv watcher (haven't bothered with cable in years...), but these two shows looked interesting enough that I'll give them a fair chance.

I went out and bought pet food. Berkeley (thankfully) has not been throwing up the latest brand of chicken food I bought a couple weeks ago... he's plain refused to eat it and has noticeably lost weight. SO, I managed to hunt up a store that sells the old brand he used to eat in Victoria... sigh... fingers crossed?

Had lunch out with my mom :)

I bought a timer so a small light in my bedroom will turn on about 30 minutes before my alarm goes off. I've done this in the past around November, because when I wake up in the pitch dark, all I want to do is slug in bed and I'm drowsy all day. Having the light already on when I wake up seems to counteract that and fool my brain & body into thinking I've slept more than I really have. Boo, Industrial Revolution... I'd rather go back to the pre-IR days when people got up with the sun, no matter what time of year.

Slapping characters and being surprised

Number of times I've wanted to slap Jay for the elitist, arrogant crap that falls out of his mouth:

4

Things about Donny that surprised me today:

He's popular!
He knows Kell's real name!
He has her phone number...?

Things that I was expecting to happen in this writing day, which didn't:

Kell going to Jay's place and, y'know, moving the plot forward...

Things I was NOT expecting to happen, which did:

Jay... pulling another idiotic stunt out of frustration/misguided jealousy/loneliness


Things I REALLY hope no one ever thinks are my own opinions:

Jay's outlook towards his private school
Jay's opinion of the girls who attend said school... wow, bitter much?
Jay's opinion of... well, everyone...


EDIT: Things I found out, and now have to go back and change:

The story timeline... which will mean a lot of tinkering with existing description/etc. See, the PSA contest deadline is the beginning of March... and since this story currently starts around the middle of March... yeah, I'll have to go back and work all that around the contest deadline so he has a reasonable time to actually paint something.

The power of Google, vomit jokes, and the 'A-word'

Things I looked up today on Google while hitting, and then exceeding the daily NaNo wordcount goal:

École des Beaux-Arts/École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
the hippocampus

Japanese hand saws

Number of vomit jokes written:

 2, including one involving a cat.

Number of times I typed the 'A-word': 

4

Number of times Kell has screwed with Jay's head (and rightly so):

3

Favourite line(s) of the day:

Oh shit. I'm going to have to take my pants off.

"Abracadabra my ass."

"Those tight panties of yours aren't just cutting off the flow of blood to your balls, they're cutting off your sense of humour, too."

(okay, why, when Jay and Donny get together do they act/talk like they're 12?)

Favourite image(s) of the day:

Donny in a pink frilly apron making sandwiches.

Things I found out that I didn't know already:

Jay's run out of scars... now what?

Somehow, Kell has more patience than I thought... I was expecting a blow-up by now.

Things I want to know:

When is Kell going to blow-up? It's kinda gotta happen soon...

NOW, it's time to walk Eva as it's 5:27pm and normally we're back from our second walk by this time.

Switching voices and the first day of NaNo

My brain has been full of 'The Rules of Riding Shotgun' these past couple of weeks. I think I've read through the entire manuscript 7 or 8 times.

I re-read the start of 'Scarlight' yesterday to prepare for NaNo, and I already noticed a few things I'm going to have to watch for when swapping voices from the anonymous MC of 'Shotgun' to the cynical/bitter Jay from 'Scarlight'.

I wanted the MC to sound really anxious, so s/he has these really long run-on sentences that leave you breathless, and partially formed half-sentences (usually starting with 'and' or 'but') since I wanted to mirror Triss' car, the way it struggles to get going, but when it does, it's going fast and the brakes don't work very well. I know that's something no one's picked up in the story, and I don't care. It was there for myself, 'cause I'm, 'know, just slightly over-analytical about weird things :)

Jay, on the other hand, is really eloquent/learned, but he shifts fast between almost bored disinterest, and sharp, cutting comments/observations. He's a little unstable, but fiercely fighting to always seem in control. I'm thinking about different brush strokes when I write Jay's voice, at how different amounts of pressure and lift can completely change the depth and breadth.

The two characters really aren't that similar, and I'm pretty careful about giving characters different voices, even in their thoughts, but sometimes things leak in accidentally... and since I've spent so much time (lately) in MC's head, I don't want any of that getting on Jay. (See? MC's voice right there! I only noticed while doing a final edit/check of this post.)

Some of the 'Shotgun' MC words/phrases:

I swear
'cause
rabbit
any excessive description having to do with the heart, breathing, and/or temperature
jacked up
messed up
cranked
wired
any metaphors/similes having to do with cars/engines/driving/music
starting sentences with 'and' or 'but'
comparing normal/crazy
fight/flight instinct


Strangely enough, out of all of those, I think the "starting sentences with 'and' or 'but'" is going to be the hardest to weed out, and it'll have to be something I purposefully go back and check for.

Jay is definitely more biting/sarcastic in the way he notices things, and since he's an artist, he sees/thinks more by colour/shape/light/etc than by temperature and proximity (the MC has a really strong 'thing' about touching). Jay has a touching thing too, but it's a desire to touch, rather than an aversion.

One small thing I know now, after re-reading 'Scarlight' (well, the 15,000 words I have written of it) is where Kell lives. There was a funny, dangling little paragraph I had written at the end of the file, and I had no idea if it even belonged in the story or not, but it clicked... it's where Kell lives.

Now, of all the things I have to watch for, there are several things I know are going to be 'repeated', since they're in every story I write:

1) There's always at least one vomit reference/joke

2) There's always something about a cat (even just a reference, or something somewhat disgusting, like in 'Shotgun')

3) Tactile sensations are always very important, as is colour and temperature.

4) Now that I'm keeping that dangling scene, there's also a shower scene :) ...and if you were around back when I was first drafting 'Shotgun', you might remember that the shower scene was pretty much my favourite scene to write in the entire story. Mostly, 'cause it was funny. But maybe it was a scene only I would find funny...

5) I think the one factor that's always in any story I write, even in the short flash fiction pieces, is my characters are always missing something fundamental, something that makes them decidedly less human, or stunted, when compared to those around them. Probably my 'Shotgun' MC is missing the most (even his/her gender!), but finding the missing piece of themselves is always a very large part of their character arcs.

Jay is... hmmm, missing empathy, I suppose. He feels he's been betrayed & ditched so many times that he no longer knows how to connect with other people, and has no desire to. He's a little sociopathic when you get right down to it, but in a sad sortof way.

Yeah... I really DO write 'unlikable' characters, don't I?

Well, I'm going to walk Eva, then sit down and whack out my 1,667 words for the day.


How about you guys? Whether you're doing NaNo or not, how do you prepare to swap into the right voice of a particular story? Do you have a playlist, or re-read the last page you wrote? How do you ensure you're sticking with a character's unique voice and don't let another character's (or your own!) leech in?

Happy Halloween, and (warning) BOO!

I identify a little too closely with Calvin, yet at the same time, also with Calvin's parents.

Photographs + me don't mesh. 

It would not be an exaggeration to say I hate getting my picture taken. As soon as I see a camera pointed in my direction, I instinctively turn around, put my hand up in front of the lens, or pull a ridiculous face.

To catch me, I can't know you're there... and as my camera-addicted mother & sister would tell you, most of the pictures of me are when I'm eating, drinking, or am in the middle of speaking (I am an expressive talker...), so I tend to look like I am either having a seizure, or am horrendously drunk. Or both. Yeah, definitely both.

As you can imagine, many years of this kind of photographic evidence has done nothing to decrease my aversion to cameras...

SO, a couple weeks ago, I took about 15 self-portraits on my phone, mainly because I was in a super good mood due to the grey, overcast skies and the ankle-deep deposits of crispy maple leaves... 

...and they all sucked.

Seriously.

Either I'm not smiling at all, or have that horribly-contrived-rictus-grin that causes viewers to shudder involuntarily and squeeze their eyes shut on the mistaken belief that it will somehow scrub the memory from their eyeballs/brains.

So, you get this temporary (and possibly more terrifying than any Halloween ghostie or beastie) picture, from when I was frustrated and decided that one last shot would happen before I gave up:

BOO!

And yes, I am aware I look about 15 years old in this picture... cut me a break, I'm in my running clothes and it was a 100% spontaneous decision to take this. Snapping a self-pic with your phone is difficult enough, but I was also trying to hang onto Eva's leash (who was beazelling around at full speed/strength after herds of squirrels who were taking turns taunting her).

I fully attest that Jericho Beach has been invaded by evil squirrels.

Believe me when I tell you this was the best in the lot... the *second-best* now sits in its temporary residence (with classic-stiffly-no-smile-strained-expression, or, as I like to call it, what-you-get-when-you-ask-me-to-smile-for-a-camera) on my new 'About' page.

Yes, I will attempt to get a better photo at some point.

Yes, I know this was promised months ago...

...and yes, I did give you a warning in the post's title. Feel free to wash your eyes out and call an optician.

SIWC 2013 Workshop #6, So You Want to Write a Children's Book

So You Want to Write a Children’s Book (Bruce Hale)

Taking a leap of faith. That’s what you’re doing when you set out to become an author.

Picture Books

Publisher chooses illustrator for picture books

Most picture books have 32 pages, due to publishing constraints of physical paper size, and cost. Story books can be longer (48 pages), but most are 32 pages because of cost. Normally the story text starts on page 3, leaving the pages for publishing info/dedication/etc

Picture books are the weakest area for children’s book, they’ve been in a slump in the last 10 or so years while MG and YA are booming.

Tips for writing Children’s books:

1) Lead with your heart (passion, write a story ‘cause you love it, not ‘cause you think it’ll sell)

How do you find these stories from the heart?

Quick Exercise: write 10 childhood events that provoke emotion.

Other ways: write your dreams, things you notice around you, ask ‘what if?’, write what you know, knowledge both learned or experienced or want to know about, create a Bradburry List of titles, like: ‘The Lake’, ‘The Crickets’, etc

2) It’s not who you know, it’s who and what you know.

You don’t only need to understand the craft, the craft of writing for children, but also publishing knowledge.

There are 28,000 children’s books published in Canada and the USA. That includes everything from picture books, all the way up to YA. BUT, there are so many more submitted... approximately 300,000-500,000 every year.

Types of Books:

Board books: Simple, basic, chewable books designed for toddlers, 16 pages at most. Short/snappy/rhythmic.

Picture books: 32 pages, all about the page-turn. Build suspense on one page, then move onto the next. Target word count is 500 words. Longer/rhyming/flowing sentences with funny/unexpected sounds, internal rhymes and repeated words. Rhyming at the end is not a great idea as they’re harder to edit, hard to sell foreign rights, etc, so you’re limiting the publishing options.

Easy Reader books: Meant for kist just learning to read. Fun, but tricky to write as every tiny parameter is pre-determined and vary depending on publisher, like, they have a character count (including spaces) per line. 250 words-1500 words, depending on what level/complexity.

Chapter books:  10 chapters, 60-ish pages, writing is more complex, but still the occasional picture popping up. ‘The Magic Treehouse’ is a classic series. Grade 1, 2, 3.

Middle Grade books: 8-12 year olds. Fewer pictures (maybe 1 every couple chapters) for low end, to the upper-age end, maybe only 5 or 6 pictures in the entire book. 15,000-30/40,000 words. Issues get more complex, light violence, etc. You can kill, but not violently. (13/14 year max for protagonist)

Young Adult: 13-18, word count 55,000-85,000 words, but there are exceptions on either end. Includes swearing, violence, death, sex, etc.

3) Educate Yourself

Publishers

Educate yourself on what kind of books the publishers.

Read Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Bookshelf

Take workshops and join critique groups to improve skills, try it out on kids in your target age group (volunteer at local schools/libraries to go in and read)

Join SCBWI

Research in bookstores (what’s being published now), publisher’s websites, what they’re publishing, promoting, etc.

(subscribe: BruceHaleWritingTips.com)

Learn what works, and what doesn’t

Things that don’t work: adult main character or narrators, someone other than the protagonist saving the day, teaching a moral, reminiscence of your own childhood, inappropriate material

Things that work: using your childhood as a springboard, letting the protagonist use their own brain/skills to solve the problem, the closest you can get to a child’s point of view the better.

Your voice is the best voice

Authors develop their voices through lots and lots of writing. Don’t mimic someone else, it’ll come off as a bad rip-off.

Voice is as individual as a thumbprint

Phraseology, attitude, tone, world view, sentence length, etc

4) Character is King

Make the readers care about the character, then put that character in jeopardy. Give them aspects which are unique that can be both weaknesses and strengths.

Questions actors ask to get into character: 

What does he want?

What externally prevents him getting what he wants?

What inner character traits will get in his way?

Exercise: your two main characters have to change a tire in the rain. write a 1 page monologue from the hero’s POV, Describe your protagonist’s bedroom and closet.

5) Hook Your Reader

This is the magic question that gets the reader asking, what’s going to happen next?

Hook at the beginning for the story, the beginning and end of each chapter.

Examples: humor, surprise, plunging mid-stream into the action, posing a question, foreshadowing

Ex. Charlotte’s Web “Where is Papa going with that axe?”

6) Kid appeal

Something all editors say they want: stories kids will love.

Think about what you loved in stories when you were a kid.

Some ideas:

Kid’s POV

Using accessible language

Having elements of things kids love, like animals, gross things, physical humor, mystery.

Up to grade 4, ‘love’ will make them squirm/bored, but older than that will make them interested.

Keep the kids in your heart, and you will stay in theirs.

SIWC 2013 Workshop #5, Writing Captivating YA

Writing Captivating YA (Janet Gurtler)

HOW TO MEAN THE SHIT OUT OF WHAT YOU SAY

John Green, “Looking for Alaska”- uses intelligent words, doesn’t dumb it down

Ned Fazzini (sp?) “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” - amazing boy voice, so authentic

What YA is  (and maybe isn’t)

YALSA defined “young adults” as 12-18 years old. “Young adult fiction books are published specifically for people within that age range. Crossover happens.

YA fiction includes a teen protagonist and deals with issues of interest to teens. Coming of age, etc.

YA Fiction is not a genre; it’s a market that contains numerous genres. How many of is can’t remember what it was like to be a teenager. How many of us still feel it in parts of your life

YA lets YA know they are not alone. Their experiences aren’t abnormal. There are others out there like them and there are lots of options in front of them.

Authentic - Teen readers can smell fake YA voices. Don’t preach. Try not to judge. Trust the intelligence of your readers. Dig into intense emotion. Use things from your life. Steal dialogue from kids in the coffee shop. (the scene in the movie Young Adult). 

Teenagers deal with difficult personal issues every day - real or imagined.

Keep an eye out for authentic language. Poor teen dialogue can kill.

Why YA?

Teens have so many things going on in their lives, so many issues, so many firsts: first crushes, first loves, bodies changing, first time driving, intense friendships, breaking away from parents, making decisions on their own.

The teen years are an exciting time, but also stressful, tense and heartbreaking time. HOPE.

Anything is possible in YA literature, there is truly something for everyone.

Books can be a tool for dealing, or even escaping.

Storytelling is fun.

Defining Voice (Author)

 Voice is the way the story is told.

Voice conjures up vivid, visual settings and invites readers along for the ride. It engages readers. It sets mood for readers and helps to elicit emotions.

Voice is personality on paper. Charisma. When you read a good voice, you know it.

Voice is subjective, no one loves the same voices in the same way.

Voice is about word choice and helps convey tone. Voice encompasses things like style of writing, sentence structure, i.e. - short choppy sentences (Janet Gurtler), or long lush prose (Maggie Steifvater)

Voice is not only WHAT you say but HOW you say it, (a hockey player versus a boy who wants to be a doctor)

Voice makes characters leap off pages and come alive in a reader’s mind.

Voice (Character)

“Voice is the way a character speaks. What they say as well as how they say it” - Ned Vinzinni

How does your character see his world? A 15 year old boy doesn’t have the same reaction to events or the same conversations a 25 year old would. The Characters won’t use the same words or have the same thoughts. Dialogue should be distinct to your character. You have to know them.

Who is yout character going to become?

When we write characters it’s important to try to be authentic to their voices. Characters likely do not share the same morals o the author, or even the same likes/dislikes. Especially when we’re writing about teenagers. Sometimes our characters have to say things or do things we may fully disapprove of. And that’s okay (IF I TELL) An author’s experiences/beliefs might naturally flow into the character and story, but learning to filter or rework them to suit a story or character is part of the conscious process of voice. As writers we need to understand our characters in order to convey their voice.

Character Names:

Character may take on their name traits. Billy vs Tyler (‘Tiffany’ as a bubbly girl name?)

Bad boy names? (sometimes an agent/editor will ask to change if they hate the name)

Names that are overused, or so well known, you shouldn’t use (like Harry - Harry Potter)

Chloe vs Kara (Kya)

Cultivating Character & Author Voice

Listen to your characters. Turn off your moralistic compass. Don’t listen to your mother-in-law, husband, or priest. Not when you’re making stuff up.

Relax. Think of someone you’re completely comfortable with and write to that person.

Read your work out loud, or download a free talking reader. Free Natural Reader - can copy/paste text in and it’ll read it back to you

Try to notice things the same way that your character would notice them. It’s both a conscious and unconscious process.

In I’M NOT HER, Tess is very introverted. To convey this, I tried to view the world the way she would as an artist. When she’s looking at her sister in the hospital bed: “Her cheekbones look more angular and her collarbones jut out from her blue hospital gown. I’d have to use different techniques to sketch her now. Her essence has changes.”

Know what your character is proud of. Know their secret shame.

Eavesdrop. Spy. Stalk. Facebook. Instagram.

Write your story in a way that is comfortable for you. Write from your heart. Yours. Every person in this room has a writing voice.

If it reads like writing, get rid of it. They say, voice can’t be taught, but it can be found. Practice.

Quick exercise to try: pick a main character. What are they carrying with them on the first day of middle school. Both physically (clothes/accessories/etc), or emotionally/psychologically?

What about high-school?

Quick exercise for author voice: think of a color and try to describe that color without using the word. What does it smell and taste like? What does it remind you of?

Ways to Captivate

“Don’t open with unnecessary backstory. Readers don’t need to now everything about a character right away. Readers don’t need all the facts up front. Make them wait. Unravel a secret slowly.” Sara Zarr

Sara Zarr is a master of this ‘slow reveal’.

Give characters strong goals. Give the reader something to root for. Give your characters flaws.

Avoid plot that’s too contrived or coincidental. Put in a strong foundation at the beginning of your book so that whatever turns it credible and rings true. It’s okay to use coincidence to get your character into trouble, but not to get them out of trouble/resolve it.

Show us. As an author, allow yourself to physically and emotionally feel the fear that courses through your body when the bully is coming for you. Put the character there. Where are they, what do they hear, see, smell? What’s their reaction to stress? Hiccups? Laughter? Tears? Turning around and running?

Character pyramid, top to bottom (Negative Traits Thesaurus - Angela Ackerman):

The lie the character believes about themselves: Sam believes she doesn’t deserve to live her life or have hopes/dreams because she caused someone’s death

Core flaws resulting from that lie: antisocial, insecure, repressed, withdrawn

Lesser flaws: dishonest, indecisive, irrational, evasive

Typical behaviors, thoughts, actions & quirks: Sam avoids things that once brought her joy. She’s given up on her dreams, avoids people & friendship. Her thoughts are preoccupied with death and she refuses to eat peanut butter. Sam doesn’t defend herself against mean girls, avoids meaningful relationships with boys and feels undeserving of love or happiness.

List of some things to know about your characters

What does your characters need/want/must have?

What’s stopping him/her from getting it?

What’s the character’s most nautical physical attribute?

What’s this character’s greatest flaw?

What do you know about this character he would never admit?

What music does this character sing when no one else is around?

What is this character’s secret wish?

Describe this character’s most embarrassing moment?

What is the character’s deepest regret?

What is the character’s greatest fear?

What is the character’s greatest hope?

Whom does this character most wish to please and why?

Why is this character angry?

What calms this character down?

List the choices (not circumstances) that led this character to his/her current predicament?

Who depends on this character and why?

Quick exercise: Take one of your secondary characters and imagine what they’re going to be like in the future? Sometimes that helps round them out, in your own mind.

Early in the story, give a moment that makes us sympathize with the protagonist and reveals their good character. This is important for us to invest in the character’s story and also if we’re going to be introduced to a character’s flaws, so we know redemption is possible. (“Save the Cat”, doesn’t literally have to save a cat, but Hunger Games starts with Katniss talking about the ugly cat she wanted to kill, but ‘saved’ because her sister wanted it.)

Start your story in the right place. Hint: probably not a dream sequence. If you’re stuck on where to begin, think about the event that changes the world of the main character. An inciting event. You can either start with this change or start with what the character’s world was like before the event. You can show the old world first, but it should lead up to the change that propels the story into action.

Skip the boring stuff.No one wants to read it.

Don’t list off characteristics or tell the reader everything that’s in the room. Show the reader whenever possible. Don’t tell us how she felt, show. Know more about your characters than you are telling the reader.

Don’t give it away. Give the reader tidbits of information. Make them keep reading to figure out what’s happening. Don’t over explain.

Don’t use lazy techniques like looking in a mirror and having the character describe themselves.

Use subtext. According to author Alicia Rasley, “Subtext is like a gift to the astute reader - an additional layer of meaning implied by the text but not accessible without a bit of thinking. ...Experiences readers aren’t confined to the text - what’s printed on the page - they interact with the text, fully participating with the writer in the making of meaning in the story.” Such reader participation heightens the emotional impact of a story.

SIWC 2013 Workshop #4, Outline vs Freefall

Outline vs Freefall (kc dyer)

Plotting advantages

organized approach

roadmap for where you’re going

can do all your research upfront

Plotting disadvantages

structure can lead to a formulaic result/feeling

Stuck to the schedule, even if you have new/better ideas

Pantsing advantages

always surprising/interesting

can research as you go, and change directions if you find something that contradicts your story

Pantsing disadvantages

keeping track of characters/plot lines

lose track of yourself completely

Scrivener (software) is one tool of many, it has a mindmapping option

Outlines don’t always have to take the same shape/form, they are just a way to organize.

Lists, color, lines/shapes/arrows/diagrams, all the way to spreadsheets. Point form, notes to self, as long as the ideas are charted out.

What’s your system?

1) kc’s basic novel outline:

Workshop exercise:

Complete with your current WIP or a story idea you have simmering...

Working Title:

Is this a literary/general fiction work or more genre-focused?

If genre, which? (feel free to cross-genres!)

Give a three line (max) description of the story:

Characters

Character #1 - the protagonist (hero/heroine of the story)

Name:

Primary goal:

Most notable personality traits:

Character #2 - the antagonist (main opposition character)

Name:

Primary goal:

Most notable personality traits:

Relationship to protagonist:

Character #3 - a major supporting character

Name:

Primary goal:

Most notable personality traits:

Relationship to protagonist:

Setting: Where are the principle areas where the story unfolds?

Setting #1

Timeframe:

Reason for using this setting:

Setting #2

Timeframe:

Reason for using this setting:

What is the main complication of the story (the central problem that must be solved by the main character)?

What are the primary obstacles preventing the main character from achieving his/her goals?

How is the story resolved for the main character (how does it end)?

Summarize, in present-tense narrative, your story idea

2) Mind maps: good for organizing random ideas, goals, research, character planning (also their relationships to each other), chronology/timeline, plot points

3) Six short steps: 

1. Goal - > what the story’s all about (readers HAVE to care) and the world around the problem, both positive and negative aspects for everyone in that world
2. Consequences -> if they fail/succeed, what happens, this is important because it allows the reader to care about the goal/consequence. This creates the main dramatic tension in the story.
3. Needs and prerequisites: as needs are met, readers will feel the protagonist is getting closer to the coal and get excited. Prerequisites are what have to happen before the needs can be met, so it’s the pre-layer.
4. Forewarning and preconditions: forewarnings are the counterpart to needs, they show the consequences is getting closer (the protagonist will fail). This creates an oscillation where the reader goes through ups & downs. Preconditions are small stumbling blocks in the plot, other characters can be great preconditions, or laws/rules/etc.
5. Costs: good plots are problems that mean a lot to the characters. If it’s trivial, no one cares. The character must make sacrifices to get the goal. If the cost is steep, the reader will feel the character deserves to win.
6. Benefits: balances are rewards the character received along the journey to the story goal, can be completely unrelated to the goal, but wouldn’t have been achieve unless the character went on the journey towards their goal.

Now, arrange into a brief synopsis.

SIWC 2013 Workshop #3, Queries that Work

I had my agent pitch session during this workshop, but awesomely enough, left just as the presentation portion ended and she started taking pitches from the audience.

Queries that Work (Adrienne Kerr)

In pitching, harness your enthusiasm, it takes you 50% of the way to the sale. If you aren’t excited about your own work, no one else will be either.

Not enough to know where they work, what they acquire, if you’re pitching, should try to find out what they have acquired recently, what has sold well. Under pressure to repeat good sales like that. Most recent one is a psychological thriller, so another psychological thriller might be a good fit. BUT, that’s not all she represents. Other books will let you guess she’s a sucker for hope & healing stories in Africa.

So, refine your list instead of mass querying. Think of it like interviewing a job. You don’t spend all the time pushing yourself, a significant amount of time is spent figuring out whether it’s a job/company you want to work.

Writers have a tremendous amount of power now, so act like it.

How to research?

Look at the contemporary books on your bookshelf and read the acknowledgments. (IF you don’t read contemporary, you’re missing the biggest trend/etc that people are loving and reacting to right now). Add to your targeted list.

Head to the library and check out authors in your genre who you don’t necessarily like, but are selling well. Add to your targeted list.

Fire up Google and make sure you follow the query guidelines to the letter, and 

I for one would be flattered and appreciate you know my recent sales, which means the author does their research, is thoughtful, etc, -> in other words, a delightful author to work for.

How to find editors?

They are hiding from you! For a long time, editors have been passive, waiting for agents to bring them what’s ‘worthy’ of their attention, but now they are taking a more active role in ferreting out the next big thing. The business is too fast moving now to not pay close attention to everything that’s coming in.

Publishers Marketplace

You can search any deal since 2004? And each comes with a tagline/etc. -> plug in Adrienne’s name and check it out.

Tells you what she’s been selling, but also, there are noticeable missing areas, like she says she accepts sci-fi/fantasy, even though on PM, she hasn’t acquired/sold any. That means she’s unlikely to get excited to get your sci-fi/fantasy novel.

Now that the research is done, time to refine the query/pitching. Here’s some advice:

1) “What if./so what”  -> must be able to sum up the plot-line in 25 words. The ‘so what’ must be in there to show why we should care.

example: What if a cyborg is sent back through time to kill the future savior of the world? - The Terminator

What if a young girl risks her soul to love a vampire boyfriend?

1. Hollywood style -> compare a couple well known movies/books
2. Save the Cat method -> sentence or two that includes: irony/humor, paints a compelling picture, genre, killer title

example: A businessman falls in love with a hook er he hired as his date for the evening -> Pretty Woman

1. read book backs as a reference and adapt them to your purposes.

If you focus too much on plot instead of emotional impact/character, you’ll lose your audience. Answer the question, “Why should we care?”

Now, have elevator pitch, so want to know how they fit in with the genre, so need comparable titles. If you throw in sales numbers for those two books, and everyone will sit up and pay attention. BUT, be subtle and accurate titles, not JK Rowling/Stephen King, etc.

Want to know all writing related things, blogs, Twitter, followers, self-published, (EVERY one should be on Good Reads), are you in writing partner/groups, do you write fanfic, etc. If your job relates to writing in any way, include that.

The more info the editor (and agent) knows, the more information she has to sell your book.