Monday Meanderings - May 9, 2016

Meandering #1 ...

My mind is buzzing with all the information I gleaned at the Storymakers 2016 writing conference. I got renewed by being around my tribe.

I also came away with more back problems. The chairs at that conference center HATE my tailbone (which I've broken twice). Ugh.

I must say that author Sarah Eden taught the best dang writing class I've ever attended. It was powerful and really resonated with me (and others who also attended). She wrote about characterization and how to go deep into understanding what motivates your characters. It was a two-hour intensive and she covered so much material and had us do a few exercises on our own characters.

There were two questions she kept returning to. "Why?" and "Why does it matter?" For any bit of information you might ask about your character, you should also ask those two questions.

The bigger the problems your character faces, the more emotionally removed the reader can get. When it gets closer to your character, it gets personal. And personal is what makes the reader care.

Bottom line: If the readers don't care about the character, they won't care about the book.


Meandering #2 ...

We've submitted our application for a building permit. Hubby and I need to decide on lighting, and I've also asked him to check on wiring for things like Internet and cable. Not that we have cable. I don't find it necessary when I have the Internet. They could break ground before the end of the month.

Time to start hucking and chucking things. Gotta downsize, you know.


Meandering #3 ...

Since I've been in the marketing zone this week for that Mother's Day Book Bash, I've discovered that a different part of my brain is active when I'm marketing vs when I'm writing. I've also been trying to do some promotional things. I thought this was fun.

It's time to refocus and get back to my writing. Big time.

What did you do this weekend?

See any good movies?

Storymakers Writing Conference

I feel so jazzed. I got back late Saturday night from a wonderful writing conference. They held it at a larger venue this year so there were over 600 attendees. The organizers also expanded the number of class options each time period and repeated some of them.

Today I'm sharing a few of my notes from a class taught by the awesome J. Scott Savage. He taught what was called an Intensive which was a limited attendee (meaning you had to sign up in advance) two-hour session. His class was about using subtlety.

Eighty percent of what a reader gets from a story is not on the page - J. Scott Savage

We were shown examples of what he called thesis statements. We should all remember those from school. A thesis statement kind of an opening remark. Bill was tired. (hint: was should be a warning sign--besides being passive, it  Then the author goes on to describe all the things that indicate the character is tired. That opening statement of Bill was tired is actually the author intruding in the reader's experience to point something out. Better to just show the reader.

After doing some exercises where we all reworked a thesis statement Scott provided (the examples were fascinating in their variety and how they could completely change a story), he talked about a few other things and had us once again work through scenes provided:

Foreshadowing
* Good foreshadowing doesn't call attention to itself.
* If the reader notices it all, they shouldn't know what is being foreshadowed.
* It increases the power of the story when the event occurs.
* May have circularity (great blog post explaining this here).

Misdirection
* To get you looking in one direction while bringing something else from another.
* One of the most powerful tools if you're not too heavy handed--don' let the reader see you doing it.
* Mention it early as an aside - let the reader assume something that turns out to be wrong.
* Ask yourself what your character could believe that might end up not being true.

As anyone who knows me, knows I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd. J.K. Rowling is the queen of foreshadowing and misdirection, of things hidden in plain sight, of subtlety. Her hints about so many things are often only obvious when rereading the series. For example, there are hints in both Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince about Snape's Patronus. Anyone know what those were?

Help the Elf

The time has come to Help the  Elf. Poor Pete lost Santa's Naughty and Nice list and was only able to find the Naughty one. What a disaster!

The awesome Angela and Becca over at The Bookshelf Muse (and authors of the fabulous Emotion Thesaurus) have solicited the aid of the blogosphere to help find people who belong on Santa's Nice list. They're hoping that we'll be able to add to the list without Santa being any the wiser.

I found this lady:

Tristi Pinkston

I first saw Tristi (from a distance) at the 2011 Storymakers conference I attended. What a fun, witty lady she was as she helped with the conference. I have since gotten to know Tristi better by reading her books (delightful) and serving with her on the iWriteNetwork board.

What can I say about her? Did I mention that she's funny? Besides that she's kind, generous, friendly, giving, compassionate, and intelligent? Trisit's helpful. SO helpful. She's a wonderful support to fledgling writers, with both encouragement and advice. She's traditionally published and self-published, so she's has had a lot of experience. Tristi is also a freelance editor (you better schedule her soon because her schedule fills early), so she knows her stuff.

Thank you, Tristi, for being you. You're an inspiration to me. I want to be like you when I grow up.

The following I submit in tribute to Tristi: 

Thank you very much!

This is the reprise at the end of my favorite version of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge, starring Albert Finney. When I first saw the movie, this scene made me tear up because it was so poignant after this version of the song. Tristi doesn't need the first rendition.

How about you, Readers? Is there someone you'd like to say Happy Holidays to, or tell them how much they mean to you? JOIN US! There's plenty of days left until Christmas, and sometimes a kind word can lift people up in a way that they really need. It's as easy as sending a free ecard or email note, posting on a Facebook wall or sending out a tweet. So go ahead and spread some kindness and cheer!

You can also check the following for other people on Santa's Nice list:

1.	Angela & Becca	10.	Juli Page Morgan	19.	Yvette Carol	28.	Lynn Kelley
2.	Sheri Larsen	11.	Zena Parks	20.	Robin	29.	R.w.Foster
3.	Linda	12.	Chantel Rhondeau	21.	Robyn Campbell	30.	Kate (themagicviolinist.blogspot.com)
4.	Donna K. Weaver	13.	Marcia Kuma	22.	PK HREZO	31.	Father Dragon Writes
5.	Laura Pauling	14.	Susanne Drazic	23.	Lori Freeland	32.	Monique Bucheger
6.	Ross Lampert	15.	Donna Galanti	24.	Deb A. Marshall	33.	Claire
7.	Natalie Aguirre	16.	Mart Ramirez	25.	Sharon K Mayhew	34.	Rachna's Scriptorium
8.	Not the Library of Alexandria	17.	Jeanelaine	26.	Erin, Creative Soul in Motion	35.	febe moss
9.	Teresa Robeson	18.	KittyB78	27.	stina Lindenblatt	36.	tara tyler

My Epiphany

Ever have one of those days? You've been plugging along, learning new things and trying to find ways to apply what you've learned with your writing. I had one last week, and it made me want to leap out of my seat. I don't know about you, but one of the things I struggle with is the whole Show, Don't Tell thing.

When I first heard about it, it was hard to get people to spell it out, define it for me. They'd quote me Anton Chekov's "Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." And that's lovely. But as a new writer--who sucks at description--getting my hands around that imagery so I could apply it to my own little scenes was like expecting me to suddenly be able to handle the women's uneven parallel bars.

Um, no. 

Aware of my shortcoming, I've been diligently seeking to understand it, so I can use it. I talked about the Show, Don't Tell class taught by author/editor Annette Lyon at the 2011 Storymakers conference in my blog post here.

The R&R input has shown me some kinds of telling I hadn't recognized as such. I pulled out Annette's PowerPoint, and printed out some key slides to remind me of things--like senses. For example, she suggests that each page should have include at least one other sense besides sight.

So, last week I'm plugging away, evaluating the comments provided by the small publisher while going through my copy of The Emotion Thesaurus, published by the awesome ladies over at The Bookshelf Muse. 

Smack!

It was like someone had whacked me up side the head. I connected some dots! 

One of the things Annette says is to trust your audience, that when we "tell" them what to feel, we're insulting the reader's intelligence. Instead, let the reader experience it with the character.

Emotions. Duh. 

Sitting in front of me was a single paragraph that identified three emotions. Three! In one paragraph. Where I told the reader how to feel.

You guys are probably sitting there and thinking, "I already knew that."

Shut up. Because I didn't. 

So, I sought out a list of emotions and printed it out, adding it to those nifty slides. I've been busily evaluating each time I've used one. I ask myself if there's a way I can show it with body language. Since this project is in first person, I can show internally or externally.

I'm not necessarily good at the showing yet, but at least now I'm better armed at identifying the places that need attention. This is huge for me.

What about you? What's the hardest thing for you with the showing thing?

Storymaker Conference Report - POV

I think, for me, the most insightful thing I learned came the day before the conference at the Publication Primer--and it came about because of something I'd noticed after I sent in my first chapter of The Swap for review by my group. It had to do with point of view. My instructor was Clint Johnson.

We need to be very careful when we're writing MG or YA that we don't try to view our mc as an adult would. We really need to be IN our MG or YA character's head and see how their adolescent view of the world impacts what we show and how we portray their thoughts.

He gave an example of showing a character sitting at a table in the room where we were gathered. If a woman entered the room and the character at the table noticed she had on red stiletto heels and even what brand of shoe they were, what would that tell us about the character? That she's a woman (or a gay guy into shoes). If the character looked at the woman's chest first, we could assume the character is a guy.

Clint then suggested we consider that the character was a woman who'd given birth to a baby a few weeks ago and was suffering from severe postpartum depression. He asked how differently she might see the room we were in compared to someone who was just happy to be there and whose life was good at that moment.

When we describe what our characters see, it should reflect their life experiences, their current emotional state. What in a busy room draws their attention is important. In fact, it's a great way to show their emotional state without telling the reader what it is.

Clint asked me why my character in the chapter that was being critiqued was acting the way she is. He suggested that if the reason I gave was all there was to her motivation, then she was two dimensional. It really gave me pause. I think I may need to give a little more thought to the internal motivations and finally break down and do up a character bible for each one.

What kind of information do you put together on your characters? Where do you keep it?

Grammar Wednesday - Lay and Lie

I know. Now that A to Z is finished I had promised to get back to my personality series. However things have been nuts AND I'm going to the Storymakers conference this week--Publication Primer is tomorrow!

Instead I decided to share a little tidbit I found from some work grammar notes. There are some grammar rules I latch on to and don't forget. There are others that I can't get to stick to save my life. The proper usage for Lay and Lie fits into the latter category. I usually let Word's grammar checker tell me which to use.

I know. Scary, right? Your professional creditably left to Word?

*shivers* 

I hope this helps you--and forces this dang rule to stick in my brain.


LAY
A transitive verb (meaning it is always followed by a noun or a pronoun that receives the action of the verb).

It means to put or place.

Forms: lay, laying, laid, (have) laid

LIE
An intransitive verb that does not have an object.

It means to incline.

Forms: lie, lying, lay, (have) lain

Did you spot that? Lay appears as a form for both words! No wonder so many of us are confused! It's a conspiracy, I tell ya!

And look what's coming out this weekend. 

Anybody planning to go to the opening?

Hubby and I'll have to go next Monday.

A to Z - Zany

1. a man who is a stupid incompetent fool
2. a buffoon in one of the old comedies; imitates others for ludicrous effect
3. like a clown; "a buffoonish walk"; "a clownish face"; "a zany sense of humor"
4. pungent adjectives of disesteem; "gave me a cockamamie reason for not going"; "wore a goofy hat"; "a silly idea"; "some wacky plan for selling more books"
5. A merry-andrew; a buffoon.
6. To mimic.

Okay. That's one I've never heard before. A merry-andrew?

Definition of merry-andrew: clown: a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior.

Well, folks. We survived. We completed A to Z. Phew.

And Woot! (that means We Owned the Other Team, btw.)

Now, I'm taking a rest and heading to the Storymakers conference this Friday and Saturday. I'm also doing something called Publication Primer. I hear my drill sergeant (though this isn't bootcamp) is brutal but brilliant. I hope to have lots to report next week, especially since I'm taking all master classes this year.

When I went last year I knew almost no one. What a difference a year makes! I became a member of the wonderful Authors Incognito group (you have to have attended a Storymakers conference to join), and I've found an incredible and supportive community of writers and authors. They provide online training, the most recent was a two-week long series on pitches. The first week was on writing and preparing to present it. The second week was on going beyond the pitch, presenting yourself. And this was all before the conference!

Seriously. Am I lucky or what?

And the fabulous Sarah Eden is going to be the Master of Ceremonies again. Sarah writes regency romance and has a delightful sense of humor. I read her books to my hubby, and he likes them. Did I mentioned that I love Love LOVE her books?

Storymakers also has something called the Whitney Awards. These are to recognize LDS authors. I'm a sucker for speculative fiction, so here are the finalists (a complete list of the finalists can be found here):

• The Alloy of Law: A Mistborn Novel by Brandon Sanderson
• I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells
• The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
• A Night of Blacker Darkness by Dan Wells
• No Angel by Theresa Sneed

I've read four of the five, and I'm embarrassed to admit it's Scott Card's book I haven't gotten to yet. I didn't go to the awards banquet last year. I'm so going this year.

Have you ever attended a writing conference that changed your life?


P.S.

I was hoping to hit the 600 follower mark with A to Z, but while I've followed a ton of new people few of them have followed me back. And I really, really wanted to hit that nice round number of 600. I sent out a plea to a new group I've joined of clean romance writers and within 10 minutes I had 9 new followers. Thank you, ladies!

A New Year . . . and Resolutions

I'm going to the iWriteNetwork Workshop on January 21st. 

Anybody else coming?

It's that time of year to first look back and then ahead.

Definitions
resolution - A firm decision to do or not to do something 
goal - The result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

I know a lot of people hate the idea of New Years resolutions. I don't have a problem with them. I'm a goal-setting person and a list checker offer. I love the list I made for myself for the last part of December and the feeling of focus and accomplishment I felt as I've been marking things off.

I'm also realistic. No way will I always be able to achieve the goals I set. But if I don't strive for something--and keep a reminder of it in front of me--I'm guaranteed to do nothing.

And the "keep it in front of you" is important. One year on New Year's Day, I wrote a list of goals for myself for the year in my journal. One included writing in my journal every day.

Um . . . the following year on New Year's Day I opened that journal again for the first first time in a year and saw those goals again.

Epic fail!

Whether I call them resolutions or goals, these are mine for 2012:

• Query A Change of Plans
• Make changes suggested by editor
• Go to Kaua'i for 10 days in January -- I know, this is a tough one, but I gotta visit the grandkids! *sigh* It's such a terrible sacrifice. NOT!
• Finalize the cover  for A Change of Plans in case I self-publish
• In February attend Life, the Universe, and Everything (LTUE)
• In March go back to Kaua'i for grandson's baptism
• In May attend Storymaker
• Finish my 2011 NaNo project in time to give the published book to my granddaughter for her  birthday in July (she's the main character).
• Work through issues with my SciFi project, including doing a simple outline for turning it into a trilogy
• Attend League of Utah Writers Roundup
• Get a basic outline for my 2012 NaNo project (sequel to A Change of Plans)
• Attend the Authors Incognito retreat for NaNo
• Be glad it's not an election year . . . for me.

What about you? Are you a resolution / goal person? Do you have some things you'd like to accomplish in 2012?

Reflections on NaNoWriMo 2011

After my epic fail attempt at NaNo last year I wrote this post. At that time I did not expect to try NaNo again.

Um, I so did NaNo this year and whupped its sorry arse. Can't tell I'm proud of myself, can you?

So, what was the difference between last year and this?

1. I joined an online critique group full of some pretty amazing people with lots of insight. They've taught me a lot.
2. I've attended writing conferences and critique bootcamps (LTUE, Storymaker, UVU Book Academy).
3. I've joined associations for writers (iWriteNetwork, ANWA, Authors Incognito, LUW)
4. Through blogging and conference attendance, I've met and become friends with lots of other writers, many of whom I've met in real life.
5. After attending my second critique bootcamp, some of us formed a local in-person critique group. We range in age from a 15-year-old boy (he's amazing, btw) to grandmothers older even than I am.
6. I learned how to use sprint writing and the pomodoro technique to help me focus and really crank out the words. I love using their timer and will continue to do so when writing and editing.
7. I forced myself to keep writing even when I wasn't sure where to take the story, knowing it was going to change some in the editing process anyway.

When I did NaNo last year, I was very much alone. I had no cheerleader or people with whom to bounce ideas off (except for my sons, who are wonderful but not writers). This year, if I ran into a snag I had three different sprint writing locations  and social groups via Facebook and Yahoo Groups I could go and there'd be writers I could bounce ideas off or get ideas from.

I hear often that writing is a solitary business. It can be, as it was for my first year. But methinks times they are achangin'. I know that not all writers/authors are made of sweetness and light, and I realize many find themselves on different sides of the debate about where the future of publishing will end.

Overall, however, I've found this community to be full of helpful, giving people who are happy to share from their experience. Rather than feeling threatened by potential rivals they are out there cheering us on and more than willing to give us a helping hand.

I think that's why NaNo was such a different experience for me this year. Next year? Real life will determine that but I'm hopeful. I had a tight schedule what with putting on a municipal election that I won't have to worry about next year (I'll be able to attend the writing retreat--squeee!).

What about you? Have you found the writing community to be as friendly as I have? Did you attempt NaNo this year? If so, how are you doing?

And a humorous note, I stole this from Stina Lindenblatt over at Seeing Creative. It made me laugh.

Professional Critique Sessions & Lugheadedness

Source

I've had the opportunity on two occasions now to attend a live critiquing session. The first time was in what they called Bootcamp in May as part of the LDS Storymaker conference.

My second opportunity was Saturday. It was hosted by Precision Editing Group, LLC. My particular group included a fun assortment of people and was lead by Annette Lyon (see one of her posts here at the Precision blog). Annette is a writer as well as an editor, and she taught one of my favorite classes at Storymaker on Show, Don't Tell that I talked about here.

Since WIP #1 was what I took to the Storymaker session, I needed something else. But I've been focused only on that project for so long I wasn't sure what to do. I've been dying to work again on my SciFi, but it's got kind of a rough first couple of chapters, and I wasn't sure it would be a good fit for this particular group. Plus, I've learned so much over the past year that I'm sure it would take tons of work.

My other option was to submit the first pages of my NaNo project from last October. I hadn't worked on it in many months, and it also had a problem in that it began its life as a middle grade fantasy but is now going to be a young adult fantasy. I decided to go with this one, and I took two days of vacation time last week to work on it.

Oh. My. Heck!

I never realized how hard it was going to be to take that original project and move it into a different genre. I struggled almost from the beginning, clinging to the idea that I could just edit it.

Nope.

My breakthrough came, when I opened a new Word document and started fresh.

Duh!

A twelve-year-old main character just does things differently than a sixteen-year-old does, is interested in different things. I knew that. Honest. So why didn't I know that from the start?

• Do you ever find yourself stuck in one mindset, when the the one you need and will take you where you want to go sits quietly in a corner just waiting for you to take notice? 
• Do you have any tricks that have helped you to step back and realize you're not suffering from writers block so much as you're simply on the wrong track?

Storymaker Conference - Report 5: Writing Action

Go ahead. Describe what's happening in this pic.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I took two classes from Traci Abramson at Storymaker. She's an entertaining writer and instructor.

Writing Action
The POV should be from the people who have the most to win or lose.

• Visualize your novel like a movie. Don't write about the character -- BE the character. Doesn't this sound just like that Show, Don't Tell thingy?
• Use visual words.
• When there's action, there will be more white space on the page.
• If your pacing is too fast, you'll lose your reader.
• If your pacing is too slow, your reader will get bored.
• Be concise in your writing because sometimes less is more. If five words will do, don't write thirty. Some good examples of concise writing can be found in poetry, song lyrics, and newspaper articles.
• Your sentence structure is important with action. All right, your sentence structure is important in all writing unless you want to sound like Yoda. Watch your paragraph format and see if your sentences are in the right order.
• If you want to write action, read the books of writers who do it well.
• If you're not sure if the action scene is working, act out the movement. Watch yourself in the mirror.

Do you have any particular techniques for spicing things up in an action scene?

Storymaker Conference - Report 4: Keeping Your Readers Up Past Their Bedtimes

I took two classes from Traci Abramson at Storymaker. I'd taken a class from her at the UVU Book Academy, too. She's got some very interesting real life experience, having worked for the CIA, which she does a good job bringing into her writing. I'm currently reading one of her books to my hubby, and he keeps dreaming about it.

Keep Your Readers Up
She helped define the difference between mystery (begins with a question) and suspense (begins with a threat). While both will have an element of suspense in them, both are meant to let both the reader and the character be scared.

Regarding the hook, I loved the way Traci phrased it. Say what you mean and then get out of the way. This made me think of my Show, Don't Tell class and the need to not tell the reader what they should be experiencing but letting them do that for themselves.

She quoted Alfred Hitchcock who said "emotion is an essential ingredient of suspense". It's important for the reader to make an emotional connection with the main character. I can vouch for this because there's a very popular writer out there who's put out a lot of books, but I haven't connected emotionally to the writer's main characters in a very long time. As a result, I haven't picked up a new book in several years.

It's important to make your reader curious. Like Hansel and Gretel, we need to leave breadcrumbs--not infodumps. Be careful about your scenes; every scene should move the story forward. Be realistic with your clues but don't be too obvious. This makes me think of Jo Rowling, who does a wonderful job with her clues and red herrings in the Harry Potter books. You really need to pay attention when you're reading because she has so many things hidden in plain sight.

You have to raise the stakes for your characters. I heard this over and over again in the conference. You have to be mean to your characters ... and then be meaner. Make it hard on them. Danger and time pressure add to the suspense. But be realistic, plausible. Don't give the reader a "Yeah, right" moment.

Use action words and sentence structure to move the story along at a quicker pace. Don't let description slow the action down. I've read books where the writer did that. O_o Totally kills that feverish, forward motion.

Do you have guidelines for breaking chapters to keep your readers reading?

Storymaker Conference - Report 3: Show, Don't Tell

This post was eaten when Blogger had indigestion. It was restored minus its comments
and with distorted labels. When I edited it to correct the labels, it posted it as of today.

It was actually published on March 11th.

One very valuable class I attended was taught by Annette Lyon on Show, Don't Tell. I'd heard good things about Annette's class from other conference attendees, and I was glad it was offered twice, so I didn't have to decide between two good things. Annette used a lot of exercises and visuals, which helped me a lot.

Telling has the writer interpreting events, feelings, etc. for the reader, whereas showing allows readers to experience the scenes for themselves. We need to trust that the readers will 'get it' without us spelling it out for them.

Point of view (POV) is the filter the story is being shown through, and if we're using multiple POVs we need to consider how differently the various people might look at a scene and interpret it. Annette showed a picture and had everyone describe the scene by showing and then had two people come up and read what they'd written. It was fascinating to see what had drawn the attention of the writers. I hadn't noticed the room's interior because I'd focused on what was outside the window.

This exercise made me think of the way Rowling handled the Harry Potter series. The books are written in third person but a very tight third person. With a handful of exceptions, everything we see is through the Harry filter. If he didn't hear or see it, neither did we.

POV can be a very effective way to show, but we need to make sure the POV doesn't intrude. And we have to be careful not to head hop.

Some words that signal you're telling (this was a real eye opener for me):

• realized
• listened
• watched
• noticed
• thought
• felt
• saw

Show thoughts and emotions powerfully and avoid words with multiple meanings. Be specific. Don't just say it was a car; say what kind of car it was, color, etc.

Have you found any ways that help you spot when you're telling?

Blogger Ate My Post ... And Burped It Back.

Well. What do you know? My Thursday post about the Show, Don't Tell class at Storymaker is gone. I got an error message about missing posts that Blogger was trying to fix.

Still no post.

*sigh*

It was Peeves. I know it.

And now the post is back. Go Blogger!

Storymaker Conference Report Part 2 - Pacing

I attended a class by Josi Kilpack on pacing. Some of the elements might seem obvious, but other points she brought up were less so ... to me. Obviously, pacing depends upon genre. We expect certain kinds of stories to pace faster than others. You need to consider who you're writing to, when deciding how to pace your tale.

I remember years ago (back when I read Stephen King), and my late husband brought home the book Salem's Lot. This book does an incredible job with its pacing and has the ability to scare the crap out of you by establishing normal and then breaking it. The way my husband described the book was that King drew you slowly into the story and then grabbed you by the throat and dragged you the rest of the way through it.

There are a variety of techniques for packing your story. Punctuation does a lot for it. Longer, more expository paragraphs will slow the pace down. Shorter sentences and paragraphs will speed it up. Dialoge tends to speed things up, while too many tags or beats can slow it down.

Something that came up in the discussion was the use of prologues. Evidently studies indicate readers don't read them, so they're discouraged. Makes sense. We shouldn't write things people skip. On my WIP #1, after receiving some critiques suggesting I'd started the story in the wrong place (there was an inciting event that everyone--including me--missed), I pulled a scene from Part 2 and stuck it in the beginning and called it a prologue.

And got blasted for having a prologue. However, what I'd done wasn't really a prologue ... it was a flashforward. Duh. If I wanted to I could leave it there and just call it chapter 1 and on chapter 2 add "three months earlier". That's not what I'm going to do, but it's nice to know that it was a technique I could use if I thought the story would work better.

Bottom line is that flashbacks and flash forwards are pacing techniques, since they slow the pace down.

How do you handle pacing? Do you have any types that you particularly like to use?

Storymaker Conference - Report 1: How to Scare People

I came back last evening after an incredible three days. I got to meet some wonderful people and learn skads about writing. I attended bootcamp where four writers met with a published author (though one of the bootcampers was published). Our drill sargeant was Melanie Jacobson, author of the The List, and we spent six hours together reading and critiquing 15 pages from each of our WIPS. Learned SO much.

In this blog I'm going to report on the class that Dan Wells taught on how to scare people. Dan is the author of I Am Not a Serial Killer, Mr. Monster (which tied with Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings for the Whitney Awards Novel of the Year last night), and I Don't Want to Kill You.

His class was titled "There's a Bomb Under the Table: How to Write Thrills, Chills, and Suspense".  He broke down the process of how to scare people (in 5 easy steps). Dan only had 50 minutes, and he used movies to make his point, some of which he showed excerpts of. I don't write horror, but I do have suspense in my books, so it's important for me to understand how to make it work for my readers.

Establish normal and then break it.
He had a couple of examples for this one. One was a scene with Drew Barrymore in Scream where she gets a phone call that starts out seeming very normal ... until she realizes the caller is watching her from somewhere. Suddenly the norm is broken and it's a shock. Dan showed a clip of the George C. Scott movie The Changeling.

The familiar becomes unfamiliar.
He reviewed that dock scene from the movie Jaws, where the two guys throw out the Sunday roast as bait for the shark and one is very nearly killed. Personally, that was one of the scariest scenes in the movie for me. Dan said that the story is so well set up because everything acts normally ... until the floating dock turns around and heads back toward the man in the water. Freak out!

Delay the other shoe.
He showed the clip from Jaws where Brody is stressing because he knows there's a shark out there but the mayor won't close the beaches. We're given several scenes where people are doing just what people do at the beach (normal) but Brody's also seeing potential dangers everywhere. As viewers we're waiting for the other shoe to drop. We keep thinking, 'this time it'll happen' but it doesn't. And when it does ...

Pushing fear buttons.
Dan's example for this one was from Silence of the Lambs. It's almost to the end of the film, when Jodi Foster has gone into the building where the kidnap victim is trapped. One of the brilliant techniques in this scene is how the viewer is shown things people are scared of. We have the character's obvious fear--let's be real here; if it scares an armed FBI agent it's going to scare me--then we have a room full of scary, creepy things (closed doors, bathtubs full of icky stuff, a screaming victim, etc. and then the lights go out and the viewer then gets to watch the murderer watch the character without her knowing it. *shivers*

Show the monster when the time is right.
Unfortunately we ran out of time on this one and didn't get to see the last video clip. From my personal experience, I would suggest in this one to make sure the monster isn't ridiculous. I remember watching a movie on TV with gargoyles. They did a decent job creeping me out in the beginning ... until I actually saw the monsters (gargoyles). They were so ridiculous I laughed. Not good.

If you're interested, I'm providing the link to the first of a five-part training Dan did on Story Structure at LTUE in 2010. Very informative.

Storymaker and Bootcamp

I'm off to bootcamp this afternoon. I'm sure this one will be a little different from the one I survived a bazillion years ago. At that long ago bootcamp we had to qualify with the M-16, use gas masks, identify foxholes, and get through obstacle courses ... to say nothing of learning to march to cadence and salute (and who to salute). It was exhausting, and I ended up with an injured knee and rehab, but I made it through.

I don't think today's bootcamp is going to be any easier. I've already discovered that having your work critiqued is a lot like going through physical therapy. It hurts like hell, but in the end you're better for it. Today I'm paying for the privilege

The full Storymaker conference starts on Thursday. I'm really excited.

LDS StoryMakers Conference

What a season this is to have so many writerly conferences and symposiums happening. It's exciting because there's so much to learn out there, and as I discovered at Life, the Universe and Everything there's a wonderful world of writerly folks all around me.

When I attended the UVU Book Academy last September I saw just a bit of it and was surprised that it wasn't just writers who attended the conference but book reviewers, publishers, animators, agents, and editors. So much networking going on and new friends to make.

If you're one of these folks and you love the world of books, in whatever capacity, you might want to consider checking out their schedule. You can click here or on the LDS StoryMakers Conference logo at the top of the blog.

I signed up to attend a couple of months ago, when I first heard about it from Robin Weeks. I added the Bootcamp session at her suggestion.

Anybody planning to attend?