Melva Gifford

Dave moved his workshop to my condo because of the strange thing happening at the hotel room he reserved.
Here are some notes I took while a fly on the wall:

telescoping: gradually exit one point of view and gradually enter the next point of view character.
Character naming = chose one name a then move. also choose naes that have one sylable and the next has two syllables.
true omniscient view point = people can have hidden motivies and so there are o surprises.

Hooks: (for the beginning and ending of chapters)
Action / danger
Overpowering emotion (gasp)
a surprising situation
Evocative description
Introducing a unique character
Warning or foreshadowing
Shocking or witty dialog (along with humor)
the totally unexpected
Raising a direct questions

Dave added the hooks:
Unique setting
Idea story
beautiful provocative language

most YA books that sell that start at age 16. and begin at age 14.
Woodie Allen was a great comedy writer.
Other good examples of humor: stainless steel rat, hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

Middle grade books should be around 250 pages.

Please feel free to share some of your own ideas.

I debated coming down to be part of the condo which I shared with members of Dave Wolverton’s writer’s workshop. Last time I hosted, most of my roommates excluded me from their conversation. I can understand that I did not attend the workshop, but no effort was made to include me and I felt like a third wheel. I was disappointed in that. I didn’t look forward to being excluded a second time.

This time the group of members is more inclusive and I’ve appreciated that. They are all fun in their own way. Below are some of the things they do or learned that helps their writing and I wanted to share them:

1. Aaron will mark different scenes of a story with letters to identify what emotion is needed. One scene might need more humor so he puts the letter H. Then when the author is in a funny mood then he comes back and writes humor in the story while he’s feeling funny. If he is feeling frustrated about something he can go back to the story and work on a frustration scene.
2. They said that in Dave’s workshop, he gives advice of giving yourself assignments. This is especially useful if you have writers block. One example is to delve deeper in the mind of the character. You tap into their thoughts, their self-dialog, the dialog in their mind that they might create with someone else.
3. Another thing: First person is intimate. You can’t give outside perspective. First person cannot give all the details of a room because that person won’t see them, such as noticing the fridge that is behind them. The reader can see only what they see. Third person is where you’re telling what the character is seeing but it can be expanded.
4. Book on editing: , self-editing for writers by Remington brown.
5. Inciting incident should start within the first 10% of the book.
6. First try fail cycle should occur within 25% of the book, third is within the 40%
7. During the climax: validation of the protagonist’s actions should come from the opponent. The validation shows what makes the hero unique. I.e.: star wars, “you have learned much Luke Skywalker”. Or in harry potter. Lord Voldemort tells Harry “I couldn’t touch you but now I can.” In Harry Potter Professor Dumbledore says “I’m sorry I failed you but you accomplished much anyway.”
8. Look up emotion thesaurus. There is a link to fear and it will provide all the body language that describe the emotion of fear: http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/p/emotion-thesaurus.html
9. The author of the book Wicked approaches description in an interesting way. He will describe a mountain with horse metaphors such as snort, huff, bucked and then the group of characters will ride up the mountain.
10. Dénouement or reader’s validation: the actions of the protectionists has to be validated during the climax by the antagonist and need a guide or sidekick with the hero that validates as well such as Sam in the Lord of the Rings saying “Wd did it” after they tossed the ring into mount doom.
11. Check out this plot chart: http://www.google.com/search?q=plot+chart&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=iJxQUML8IIvU2QXZ74GoCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CC4QsAQ&biw=1440&bih=723
12. Link to descriptions: http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/2008/08/introducing-sensory-saturdaymeet-our.html
13. Here is a something I want to try. I am currently collecting a bunch of the National Geographic magazines. It is my hope to create a note book of buildings, clothes, cultures, landscapes so that when I need to describe something I can flip through the book to help me in my descriptions.

Those are a few things I learned just this morning and thought I’d share. Do you have a pretty juicy piece of advice that has helped you? Please share and provide your web site.

I found some old notes I took while attending a writer’s seminar several years ago at the Spanish Fork Memorial building. These are notes of counsel from Rachel Muses:

Insights gained by writing and publishing.
1. You need to educate yourself.
2. There is a price to be paid.
3. Education can contributing to your writing, but is not mandatory for successful writing.
4. Experience life, book Orinia is from a lot of experiences in her life. You individual memories and events in your life can influence your writing. For what you haven’t done, do research to give you important knowledge.
a. Write smells of different places, write descriptions.
b. Use other’s experiences in your writing too. “Nothing is as touching and forceful as the truth”
5. Reading is also a contributing to your writing. You can recognize what you like and you can determine what you like and thus how you might want to write.
6. Research: The internet has pages and pages on multiple subjects. Covers historical and conventional stuff.
7. Equipment: Equipment could make a big influence. A computer can help you write quickly and you can easily edit. Computer save more time than a typewriter.
8. Set goals and priorities. Writing must be set at a high priority. Writing is NOT a hobby when you want to make a professional life of it.
9. You make the time, it must be priority and you must meet a goal. Family jobs and responsibilities can be delegated. You must be willing to pay the price to accomplish the goad. You can’t wait for inspiration to strike. You must write anyway. When you’re writing the muse will come.
10. How much writing do you do? Set aside your hour in your time. Time verses page or word goal. Page or word goal may be more important than time because it may be more easily to be distracted. She writes 2000 words a day. When she began she wrote 2000 a week then advanced up to 2000 a day. Don’t make it unobtainable. She tries to not work when husband at home and when she is trying to hit a deadline then her husband is willing to tend the kids to help her with her deadline. Give yourself time several weeks after finishing the novel to give yourself time to self-edit.
11. Learn to say no to things you can’t do.
12. Surround yourself with support groups. Let others be a supportive to you. Writing groups lets you meet other writers. You can be happy for each other’s success. Groups and help books will let you avoid the common mistakes of ‘new writers’.
13. If you want to be a writer, you can be a writer, just get down and do it. No one can sit with you to get you to write.
13. Before you submit to a magazine or publishing company read what kind of stuff they are writing.
14. To be a good writer you need to have a big ego and a sturdy spouse. You need someone you can depend on. The fact that you’re writing something makes it worthwhile because you’re a person.
15. Pierce Anthony: took 10 years to publish his first book. Being successful will take a long time. As soon as your write and send out the first story start the next one. Despite rejection then send him something else and sent the first piece to a different publisher. Sending out manuscripts needs to be done. If you never send it out it will not ever got published, if you keep trying to get the story better. Write the best novel today and send it out and write the best experiences for the next novel.
16. Rejections that are not a form letter: hurry and send them something else immediately.
17. Publication eludes only those who don’t persist.
18. Find out what is in a contract and understand all the applications.

Please feel free to give additional suggestions on this topic. Share your comments on the comment section of the blog/site. Thanks