Posts with the label Writing
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
May 20, 2019
STORYMAKERS CONFERENCE - 2019
My favorite weekend came and went and it was wonderful and now it is over. That is how things work after all. It is sad that it is over, but after two days my brain had reached its maximum information capacity.
There were so many great classes I'm not sure which one was my favorite. I loved Sara Eden's class about the Theory of Mind. It was fascinating. (And I'm not going to go into it now. Look it up if you want to know more.) And Dennis Gaunt's class Simulating the Slushpile was hilarious. He's a slushpile reader for Shadow Mountain and he had a bunch of writers send him stuff showing some common mistakes writer's make. I went because I needed a brain break and it was so, so, so funny. (You can see why I want to be a writer. That description was so vivid I'm sure you feel like you were there in the room with me, don't you?)
Most of my ANWA writing group was there and I loved sitting with them during meals and having stimulating conversations.
I realized during the final meal that I hadn't taken a single picture, so I whipped out my phone and snapped a few.
Then I said, "Take a picture of this side of the table." and handed Alison my phone and then I did this:
Because apparently I struggle posing for pictures like a normal person. Thank goodness I'll always have that photo for posterity.
Before we went home we rounded up as many of us as we could and got a picture altogether.
Now I just have to incorporate all the wisdom that was dumped on me into my writing and I'm sure I'll be an expert in No Time!
Most of my ANWA writing group was there and I loved sitting with them during meals and having stimulating conversations.
Then I said, "Take a picture of this side of the table." and handed Alison my phone and then I did this:
Because apparently I struggle posing for pictures like a normal person. Thank goodness I'll always have that photo for posterity.
Before we went home we rounded up as many of us as we could and got a picture altogether.
Now I just have to incorporate all the wisdom that was dumped on me into my writing and I'm sure I'll be an expert in No Time!
Apr 10, 2019
Storymakers Past
In just one month it will be time once again for my favorite event of the year:
This will be my 4th year attending, but the conference has been going since 2004, as far as I know. It was started by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but anyone is welcome. (Learn more HERE.)
I might never have gone at all, but my best friend bought me a ticket for my birthday. The year was 2016.
It took a while to find my name tag when we checked in because she forgot that she registered me under a pen named: Jed Geronimo Clampit.
Ah yes. SUCH a flattering photo. I kept telling people I preferred to be called "The Clamp", which is an awesome nickname, but also kind of sounds like a venereal disease.
Writers like to ask each other "What do you write?" And I had to keep saying "Nothing yet." But I left extremely inspired and DID start writing. I'm still a tiny little baby when it comes to writing, but one of these days I'm going to figure out how to plot a story so that it actually works. And I LOVE writing. I love it. I love that I can start with nothing and turn it into words that make me laugh or even cry with only the power of my mind.
I always come away with pages and pages of notes, having eaten fantastic food, and having laughed exactly the right amount (which is really tricky to pull off).
My first year I took a class from Brandon Sanderson which was fantastic, as evidenced in the following picture:
Can't you feel the fantasticness emanating right off your screen? It also turns out that the class he teaches at BYU is available to watch on YouTube and I highly recommend it if you are into that sort of thing.
My favorite class last year was about the Levels of Point of View by Josi Kilpack. But I don't have a picture of that. Come to think of it, most people probably don't love having their pictures posted online by strangers, so the aforementioned Mr. Sanderson will have to forgive me.
Here's more pics!
Boy, I sure do love posting pictures of myself! Maybe I'll stick with pictures of strangers.
Storymakers Writing Conference!
This will be my 4th year attending, but the conference has been going since 2004, as far as I know. It was started by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but anyone is welcome. (Learn more HERE.)
I might never have gone at all, but my best friend bought me a ticket for my birthday. The year was 2016.
It took a while to find my name tag when we checked in because she forgot that she registered me under a pen named: Jed Geronimo Clampit.
Writers like to ask each other "What do you write?" And I had to keep saying "Nothing yet." But I left extremely inspired and DID start writing. I'm still a tiny little baby when it comes to writing, but one of these days I'm going to figure out how to plot a story so that it actually works. And I LOVE writing. I love it. I love that I can start with nothing and turn it into words that make me laugh or even cry with only the power of my mind.
I always come away with pages and pages of notes, having eaten fantastic food, and having laughed exactly the right amount (which is really tricky to pull off).
My first year I took a class from Brandon Sanderson which was fantastic, as evidenced in the following picture:
My favorite class last year was about the Levels of Point of View by Josi Kilpack. But I don't have a picture of that. Come to think of it, most people probably don't love having their pictures posted online by strangers, so the aforementioned Mr. Sanderson will have to forgive me.
Here's more pics!
Boy, I sure do love posting pictures of myself! Maybe I'll stick with pictures of strangers.
Doesn't get much stranger than that!
Feb 20, 2018
Thoughts on Prologues and Epilogues
Did you know I wrote a book? If you are my Mom, the answer is, yes, because I made you read it. If you are my aunt, I supposed it depends on whether my Mom told you or not. And if you are the one non-relative who is reading my blog, I'm going to guess that your answer is "I'm sorry, I was looking for the Doilies for Dummies blog?"
My book is unpublished, but it is complete. I am currently working on another book that is driving me slightly insane. (that is several degrees less insane than my children drive me, which is why I like writing so much.?
Wow, I suck at getting to the point. The point is, this completed book of mine contains a prologue.
So, are prologues okay?
Some people say no. They say to only include a prologue if you want to include a block of text that people don't read.
But what kind of a looney is skipping the prologue? I remember distinctly when I figured out I was supposed to read prologues. As a kid I read a book with a prologue and skipped it, thinking it was some kind of opening remarks. And then when I got to the end I read the epilogue. And it referenced stuff that was in the prologue and I was so confused and finally realized that the prologue contained relevant information! I've never skipped a prologue since. And I just have such a hard time believing that people pick up a book they want to read and then just skip the beginning??
Anyhoo. It is a thing. Some people say to never include them.
I was at Life, the Universe, and Everything Symposium this weekend. (I'm not going to explain it. Click here if you want to know more.) And I went to a panel about Prologues and Epilogues. On the panel were Brandon Sanderson, Todd McCaffrey (Anne McCaffrey's son), Lisa Mangum, Myke Cole and Jason King.
They all agreed that prologues can be dangerous. Mostly because some people don't read them. But even so Brandon Sanderson always uses them. He pointed out that one of the main purposed for them is to set the stage for the story. Instead of beginning Star Wars with Luke walking around with Uncle Owen trying to buy droids, it starts with a battle taking place in space. That battle sets the tone for the story, and lets you know that this isn't only a story about a whiney teenager walking around in the dessert.
This is exactly what my prologue does, minus the spaceships. But Brandon Sanderson said it is so often used in this way, it is almost a cliche at this point.
So I asked a question. "If your story needs the prologue to properly set the tone, how do you do it without falling into the cliche?"
What I didn't anticipate was that by asking the question, the panelists would respond directly to me. Talking to ME, Looking ME in the eye. I had to try very hard to pretend like I was perfectly comfortable with that, and that my eyes weren't starting to itch like crazy for no reason at all, and like I didn't suddenly really needed to go to the bathroom. Cuz, yeah. I was having a conversation with Editors and Best Selling Authors all of the sudden.
The basic response to my question was, "You can get away with it if you do it well."
That was actually kind of the theme of the entire conference. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT IN YOUR WRITING IF YOU DO IT WELL.
Admittedly, it isn't the most helpful advice. Cuz how do you know if you are doing ANYTHING well? I don't. But I'm leaving the prologue in my story anyway. Just FYI.
I do know that I haven't ended this well, but I'm ending it nonetheless.
May 27, 2008
The Writer in You.
So, turns out I like to write. Funny. Ok, it's not really that funny. I'm an avid journal writer. I always liked creative writing in school - but not research papers. yuck. And I tried writing a few songs and stories of my own when I was about 13. Everyone did this, right? I understand that it is part of puberty.
My stories were awesome. Except I never got very far. Mostly I guess I just came up with some story lines, but didn't have the slightest idea how to develop a story. They were all very similar. The heroines were always beautiful girls who didn't know beautiful they were. And there was always some event that threw the heroine and the would be hero into some situation together. I guess that is the basic setup for just about any romance novel.
3 stories stick out in my mind. One about a girl and boy from the same small town who hate each other (a necessary first step in any romance) but then there is a devastating earth quake and the earth splits and divides - you know, like it does in The Land Before Time - and the girl and boy are trapped alone on some kind of earthquake-created island with no way to escape. I suppose I've seen movies with less plot line, but it would have undoubtedly been very predictable.
Another was about a girl who is sent with her family on a ship full of people to populate the moon, or another planet or something. While en route she meets a boy she hates, yadda yadda, etc., etc., that is about as far as I got.
The one I worked the most on was about a Princess - Red Hair, Green eyes. She is arrogant and rude and is saved from something tragic in the woods by a farm boy. Despite her initial disdain, they start to fall in love - but wait! A twist! There is a race of people that can control the emotions of others, of which a guard at the palace is a member. And he convinces the princess that she loves him! Who saw that coming?!? How will the poor farm boy ever win the princess back? (Now that I think about it, it sounds just like Love Potion #9.) I'm pretty sure there was also a royal wizard involved, and other fantasy-esque type characters, but, again, I didn't get much farther in the story. I was typing it up on our Amiga, but those records are long gone.
Still, good times. Marion was always the real writer though. Sometimes we would read our stories to each other. Her stories were always funny, but I just wrote about romance. Do you remember any of your stories Marion? Anyone else? I know we weren't the only ones who did this. Come on, spill the beans!
My stories were awesome. Except I never got very far. Mostly I guess I just came up with some story lines, but didn't have the slightest idea how to develop a story. They were all very similar. The heroines were always beautiful girls who didn't know beautiful they were. And there was always some event that threw the heroine and the would be hero into some situation together. I guess that is the basic setup for just about any romance novel.
3 stories stick out in my mind. One about a girl and boy from the same small town who hate each other (a necessary first step in any romance) but then there is a devastating earth quake and the earth splits and divides - you know, like it does in The Land Before Time - and the girl and boy are trapped alone on some kind of earthquake-created island with no way to escape. I suppose I've seen movies with less plot line, but it would have undoubtedly been very predictable.
Another was about a girl who is sent with her family on a ship full of people to populate the moon, or another planet or something. While en route she meets a boy she hates, yadda yadda, etc., etc., that is about as far as I got.
The one I worked the most on was about a Princess - Red Hair, Green eyes. She is arrogant and rude and is saved from something tragic in the woods by a farm boy. Despite her initial disdain, they start to fall in love - but wait! A twist! There is a race of people that can control the emotions of others, of which a guard at the palace is a member. And he convinces the princess that she loves him! Who saw that coming?!? How will the poor farm boy ever win the princess back? (Now that I think about it, it sounds just like Love Potion #9.) I'm pretty sure there was also a royal wizard involved, and other fantasy-esque type characters, but, again, I didn't get much farther in the story. I was typing it up on our Amiga, but those records are long gone.
Still, good times. Marion was always the real writer though. Sometimes we would read our stories to each other. Her stories were always funny, but I just wrote about romance. Do you remember any of your stories Marion? Anyone else? I know we weren't the only ones who did this. Come on, spill the beans!
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