Telling A Story Masterclass

Me totally invading Brian Falkner's personal space

I'm still recovering from inspiration overload I received at the recent CYA Conference. The day kicked off for me with a writing masterclass hosted by author Brian Falkner.

This master class ran for a few hours and was absolutely jammed packed with tips and advice on writing. I have about ten notebook pages filled. Here's just a tiny taste of what we enjoyed:

Muse
If you turn up every day at the same time, ready to work, and start writing without inspiration - then eventually your muse will turn up too.

Characters
As an exercise we were asked to share one observation about the person sitting next to us. Then we were asked to share one thing about ourselves. What was noticed was that we tend to make superficial descriptions of others, like the colour of their hair, or if they wore glasses, and we offer more personality descriptions of ourselves. So don't just decide your character is 5ft tall, short brown hair and freckles, instead tell us that they pick up any shiny objects they find on the ground, just like a magpie. This was summed up as shallow vs deep characterisation.

Conflict
Conflict must come from the story and not be placed simply for more conflict. Obstacles must seem impossible to overcome. When faced with a dilemma, give your character two choices - each with their own dire consequences, or, make them think up a third option. Also, danger must always be immediate, not something coming slowly. Characters are avoiding an oncoming train, not a possible problem that may happen some time next year.

Scenes
If you have trouble writing a full scene that includes a variety of writing techniques, try the following method:

1. Start by writing the narration. Explain what happens in this scene, where your character moves and what he does.
2. Go back through your paragraphs and insert description. Give the reader a sense of place and images for characters.
3. Now go back through what you have and add dialogue and actions.

We also talked about narration, description, writing tips, point of views, dramatic irony, overlapping suspense lines and much, much more.

Brian Falkner has a great range of novels, and I've chosen to begin by reading Brainjack:

Check out the book trailer!

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Scene Change

I only re-sparked my passion in writing a couple of years ago when I moved to my lovely country town outside of Canberra. Long cold winters by the fire provided plenty of time and ambience to work on my manuscripts.

It's no coincidence that my character (Kitty Walker) finds herself moving to a small country town in DOG SHOW DETECTIVE. I wanted to share the awe of driving pass cows in the morning, something that only a city-raised kid could understand.

The kids in my high school have been great inspiration for me too, country kids have a certain quirkiness and brashness that is endearing. I've been lucky enough to have a great writers centre not too far off in Canberra (ACT Writers) and many of you know I attend workshops religiously.

If this were a story it'd be time to shake things up. So we will.

Twice now I've flown up to Brisbane when the annual CYA Writers Conference, and I've made some good friends. So, although I hate change (here comes the inciting incident), when hubby was offered a position he really wanted at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, I wasn't too horrified.

I'll miss the cows, the country kids and the wide spaces, but I'll love being close to my dad (also a budding writer) and joining in the writing activities with Queensland Writers Centre (I've become a member already!). I can't wait to find a critique group to join too :)

My plan next year is to cut back on my teaching hours and step up my writing schedule. I is gunna be a real writer!

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Pitch Your Manuscript!

I'm back from the CYA Conference (Children's and Young Adult Writers and Illustrators). Phew, it was exhausting! But of course, it was also absolutely brilliant.

Brisbane's a fair distance from Yass, but it was well worth making the effort. There was a fantastic master class, workshops and book releases. I loved it all, especially the pitch session. I know, I know, those of you who remember my post last week, Surviving a Pitch Session know that I was FREAKING out about my pitch. Turns out pitching is no where near as scary as I thought.

I'm glad I did some research and that I took along some information about my other works. I pitched to an Editor of my choice of publishing house my manuscript MY ZOMBIE DOG, but we also talked about what other works I had ready to go and what I was working on. The editor was very friendly and put me at ease immediately. She gave me feedback on the chapters I had sent her and had some great ideas for fine-tuning the story. The best thing about meeting with the editor is that she told me she loved the idea of MY ZOMBIE DOG. That felt very nice :)

The end result was that I do have some more work to do on this manuscript. Actually one of the changes was suggested to me by kids that critiqued MY ZOMBIE DOG - they wanted my main character Zane to be older. Guess what? So did the editor. But the good news is that once I've reworked MY ZOMBIE DOG, the editor would like me to send it through to her. So, regardless of how this turns out, at least I know I'm on the right track!

Unfortunately many of my other stories are mysteries and the feedback was that mysteries are not popular with kids at the moment. I figure that's okay, they're bound to come back as a trend and then I'll have several manuscripts ready to go.

My advice to you? If you get the chance to pitch in person to an editor (or agent if you want to go that route) then do! The personal feedback you get is well worth it. I'll blog more about the workshops at the conference later, but for now, my brain needs some recharging.

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Surviving a Pitch Session

I have pitch-fear!

Next week I pitch. Not the safe kind of online, or written pitches I've tried thus far... no... I pitch in person. I really didn't think it would be a big deal. After all, I've sent my first ten pages in, they'll either like it or they won't. So what's 15minutes chatting with a publisher?

Gulp.

Now that it's fast approaching I am in panic mode. Eeek! What if I just make a fool of myself - and not in the good way I usually intend to make a fool of myself? So, in preparation for the CYA Conference in Brisbane, I am searching for advice on pitching in person. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Don't:

• Act like they are providing a service to you. You are not doing them a favour, treat them like you have a product to sell to them. (Fabianspace)


• Assume they will make allowances for you because your work is just so special, play by the rules. (Fabianspace)


• Spend the whole time talking about your manuscript and going over what they've already read. Make a personal connection. (Nathan Bransford)

Do:

• Welcome feedback. You don't have to implement every change suggested to your manuscript but take it all in for serious consideration - this person knows what they're talking about and the feedback is generously provided to help you. (Nathan Bransford)


• Know the summary or synopsis of your story by heart. You might be asked to refresh their memory. (Redlines and Deadlines)


• Have a synopsis handy for any other manuscripts you have ready or nearly finished. You might have time to discuss those. 


• Do your homework. Know a little about the publishing house you are pitching to. I'm pitching to Black Dog Books and know that they have novels aimed the same age group as my manuscript and in the same genre. I can specifically point to some of their current books and say my novel is like a cross between this novel and this one. At the very least, know that they publish the sort of genre you produce. (Writing World)

That's all I got - any suggestions????

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Kate Forsyth - Writing for Children

At the recent CYA Writers Conference, Kate Forsyth provided so much insight and advice in her talk, I could have used a whole week with her to absorb it all.

Kate writes for children and adults and is well known for her fantasy work such as The Gypsy Crown.

The advice Kate offered that resonated with me the most was about writing specifically for children:

Writing for children is often harder than writing for adults.

• Children are less forgiving. Adults might read past a dragging chapter in hopes the story pace will return. Children will easily abandon a book mid-story if it does not meet their expectations.
• Novels and novellas for children do not have room for sloppy writing. Every word must work as hard as it can, no unnecessary words or sentences.
• Adults read for many reasons - to keep abreast of literary trends, to learn or understand and to enjoy. Kids read for pleasure. That's it.

What do children want in their stories?

• Distinct characters. Would you recognise your character in a crowd if you were on the bus with them? You would if they were Peter Pan, Harry Potter, Pippy Longstocking or Huck Finn.
• Suspense and surprise - secret enemies can help build these elements.
• Action! Begin with drama, activity, danger or movement.
• A protagonist at least 12 months older than themselves. Kids read up, they don't usually like reading about younger kids.
• Emotional engagement. Kids want to CARE if something happens to the main character or their friends.

Like to know more about Kate Forsyth? Check out her website, it's filled with great information for fans and writers:

http://www.kateforsyth.com.au/

Stay tuned! On the 14th I will be featuring an interview with writer K.M. Weiland about her new release:

Conquering Writers Block and Summoning Inspiration. To find out more about K.M. Weiland, visit her blog: Wordplay

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Emma Mactaggart SWOTs Writers

Get used to the idea of selling yourself

Emma Mactaggart did not speak at the CYA Writers Conference about how to write a novel, she talked about marketing yourself as a product. Emma knows a fair bit about marketing and self-publishing, she currently works on a project of publishing kids books written by kids.

As a writer you would be aware that it is no longer enough to simply write. You must turn yourself into your brand, because readers buy a writer, not just a book.

Emma suggests doing up a SWOT analysis. If  you're not familiar with this term, a SWOT analysis is a plan that a company will do to identify its strengths and weaknesses hoping to recognise any opportunities and threats they will be facing. It's simple, here's how you do one:

Simply divide a page into four sections with a cross (+) or draw up a chart with four sections and label each one:

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

Being as objective as possible, write up the skills and traits that you see as your own strengths as a writer, and so on. Here is an example of some of my own points I did for this exercise:

STRENGTHS

• Financially able to spend time on my writing
• Studies in literature and creative writing
• Social networking (Twitter, blogging, Facebook)
• Marketing background
• Working in education

WEAKNESSES

• Afraid of flying
• Not confident talking to strangers
• Start more projects than I could ever finish

OPPORTUNITIES

• Self-publishing more acceptable and achievable now
• Publishing for Kindle and e-devices is easy
• Internet for marketing
• Many Beta-readers in the perfect age-group
• Building contacts and markets online

THREATS

• Travelling by air may be necessary for promoting books
• Undoubtably, I will HAVE to talk to strangers, agents, publishers, etc
• Time management
• Confidence

Hopefully from the above example you can see the value in examining yourself as a product and drawing up your own SWOT analysis. You will see how some points will link with points in another section, for example, working in education (strength) means that I have beta readers available in the age-group I write for (opportunity). You can also use this information to overcome or avoid potential threats or problems, for example, knowing I have time management issues means I should schedule my writing time and stick to it. I can also overcome the potential threat of not enough confidence by taking on more writing courses (which I'm currently doing) and just put my work out there more.

Give it a try - do you find any points that surprise you?

If you would like to learn more about the talented Emma Mactaggart, you can check out her sites and blog:

http://speakers-ink.com.au/index.php/emma-mactaggart.html

http://www.boogiebooks.com.au/

http://www.childwrites.com.au/_blog/Child_Writes_Blog_Spot

So, besides my fiction, this is the product I need to learn to sell:

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Steve Cole - Writing for all Age Groups

If we were starting to get drowsy towards the end of the CYA Conference day, Steve Cole was the perfect speaker to re-invigorate us all (even his eyebrows were super-animated as he mimed characters from his books!).

Picture from Steve Cole's website:
http://www.stevecolebooks.co.uk/steves-space/about-steve/

Steve was visiting from the UK where he writes books for... all ages! Many times in writing blogs and books, I've come across the advice that you must market yourself for one genre and age-group. This apparently makes it easier for publishers and agents to know where to place you. It was a relief to hear that authors can be successful writing many different types of stories for every reading age-group.

As a beginner writer, how can you find your perfect style unless you experiment and write varying genres aimed at different markets? Steve was an example of a writer that understood the available markets (having worked editing before having his own books published).

Literacy and how we approach it for different age groups was addressed. I was impressed by Steve's thoughts on 'Emotional Literacy'. If you are wondering what themes or feeling are appropriate for younger readers, Steve suggests no boundaries. Kids feel love, grief, anger, pride and so on, feelings do not change across ages, but understanding of those feelings does.

And adult and a child can both experience grief, how they deal with it and what they understand about their emotions will be different.

Steve took us through one opening chapter idea and reformatted it to suit three different age groups (tweens, teens and YA). What does that age group find scary? What things are important to them (parents, friends, mobile phones)?

When writing for young chapter readers, Steve advises making characters' motivations clear. You must reiterate, tell the reader what needs to be done, show the character doing what needs to be done, and, then explain what has just been done. He also recommends tying up ends as younger readers like a firm resolution to the story.

After Steve's seminar/workshop, I realised what my problem with Dog Show Detective was. I had the first three quarters of the book aimed at one age group, and the climax aimed at another. After whinging about losing a great ending, I finally 'killed off my darling' and re-wrote it to make it more appropriate (but being the miser I am, I'll save the 'thriller' end for another story).

This workshop was a great experience as well as being rather entertaining with Steve's pantomimes.

You can check out Steve's website and learn about his fantastic series about dinosaurs in outer-space!

http://www.stevecolebooks.co.uk/

I just ordered this great book about a Z-Rex (so much more powerful than the T-Rex!) for my dinosaur lovin' daughter:

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Prue Mason - Character to Plot Workshop

A strongly formed character can tell his own story

One of the more interactive workshops of the CYA Writers Conference focused on how to build a story starting with a character. Prue Mason was our presenter and quickly got us started on an exercise she calls 'Wearing the Hat!' 

We started off by brainstorming some of the things we would want to know about a characters (such as gender, dreams, talents, personality, name, faults, place and era they live, etc) and then broke those into inner qualities and outer factors (fears, dreams and virtues belong to the inner character, whereas location, family and name are outer characteristics and influences).

Prue then handed us each a seven page worksheet and... hats. Yep, hats. Several hats in various styles and condition along with small containers hosting items such as stones or keys. The idea was we should get our first impression of the hat and work out what kind of character would wear it. I found this exercise quite powerful. I'm very visual (read: daydreamer) and had a strong image of my character in the worn bush style sun-hat.

The worksheet asks us questions about the character, including their birthdate based on an astrological personality. We then go on to explore the influence of the special item (mine was an old key), does it give your MC special powers, or help to solve a mystery?

Then the fun really began. We tried on the hat and interviewed ourselves as the character! I started to see a different perspective on my character and their situation.

From there, a plot started to form and we recorded our story ideas for this particular character. There were some great variations put up from the participants including:

• A female miner all butch but with a femininity she hides who needs to be rescued after a mine collapse, but, ends up rescuing the man sent in for her, and,
• A wombat well known for rescuing his national park friends from a bushfire.
• A young palaeontologist student who has the gift of seeing how creatures died when she touches their remains, comes across a colleagues body at the dig site and must help the detective solve the crime without revealing her 'gift'. (That one was mine, and I'll write it for this years NaNoWriMo, but must admit I'd just finished hearing about Sheryl Gwyther's story set on a dinosaur dig, so my imagination points are lower).

You can find out more about Prue Mason, her workshops and the books she writes at her website:

http://www.pruemason.com/

Want to have a go at the hat task? Pick a hat (try to go with your first instinct and don't think too much about it):

Or grab a hat from your own collections, you could always google something like: mysterious hats and see what you get!

Then, combine your choice with one of the following items:

• a key
• a scrap of paper
• a bloodied knife
• an expensive pen
• a dog collar
• an old book
• a folded photograph
• a ring

Now start building a character and see what story forms!

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