CONFERENCE GOLD: Characterisation

This is a very brief summary of Bob Mayer's session on 'Writing your story in 3 dimensions: Characterisation.'

I stress brief because Bob provided copious helpful notes and I'm picking out a few main points I jotted down too.

-Everyone has a core motivation. Victor Frankl called this the 'One Thing'.
When a character reaches a moment of crisis, we discover their 'one thing'.

-Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:
-What do you want?
-What do you really want?
-What do you need?

-Don't pitch plot, pitch character.

-Give the character an anomaly.

-In your first scene, what your character is doing sets your character.

-In your last scene, we need to see character doing something emotional they weren't capable of at the start. This demonstrates arc growth.

CONFERENCE GOLD: Picking up the pace

Here's a brief summary of Kelley Armstrong's 'Picking up the Pace' session:

-AIM: you want the reader to not be able to put the book down

-HOW to do this:

-shorter chapters (between 10-12 pages)

-end chapter at a point where something about to happen naturally (don't need to invent cliffhangers, let the events happen naturally.)

-'go in late, get out early'. (look for the soonest moment to end a scene and stop there.)

-avoid repetition
eg. Action scenes
1) Set up
2) Action
3) Aftermath
Don't labor the point.

-Taking care of business (eg. starting car, climbing stairs, etc...) CUT these to increase pace UNLESS building suspense.

-RUE (Resist the Urge to Explain.)

-Don't write parts that readers skip (eg. scenery, description, backstory, repetition of character, technical info.)
If need to convey, use in small chunks broken up by action, dialogue, etc...

-Dialogue: if conveying info only & nothing revealed, get away with a couple lines of narrative instead.

-Look at the pulse beat of your story (go back through your story after written, analyse each scene for conflict/interest/high stakes. Rate 1-5. 1=low, 5=high. Should have a good mix.)

CONFERENCE GOLD: Plotting

Here is a brief summary of my notes taken at Susan Wiggs fabulous session, PLOTTING FROM THE INSIDE OUT.

The plotting/pre-writing phase.

-Find your 'white' space. (eg. long walk)

-Make a collage (not an avoidance technique, is part of your 'white' space, being the architect of your story.)

-Make a playlist ('white' space again, even if you don't listen to it while writing it can spark ideas.)

-Focus on a powerful emotion you're experiencing (you don't need a big plot if your character has a big issue/problem)

-Couple an image with that emotion (may lead to something you can hang your story on.)

-Sociogram (what I refer to as mind maps-see previous post on this blog.)

After all this pre-writing, you should have an idea of your main character.
For Susan, this pre-writing phase can take up to 2 weeks, less if tight deadline.

For me, hearing her describe how she uses collaging, etc...(may do it then not look at it again while writing) resonated with how I do my pre-writing. Loads of research, may collage, then don't look at it while writing!

-Go through this process with every main character in your book.

-Take your main character to the point of decision in her life.
(Open blank document, start writing in 1st person present tense, fast writing, where character unloads her baggage/burden she's carrying-great internal problems!)
Also encourages the character's natural voice rather than the author's (about 500 words.)

-Start each day's writing with your character DOING THE NEXT INDICATED THING.

-Self help books also a great source for giving arc of growth for real issues.

Tomorrow, a summary of Kelley Armstrong's workshop, Picking up the Pace.

CONFERENCE GOLD: Snippets

Here are the stand-out quotes from RWAus11 that resonated with me:

-"Park your brain & write from the heart. Write from love, fear, anger. Tap into those emotions." (Susan Wiggs.)

-"We write because we have to write, not because we want to write." (Susan Wiggs)

-"Which channel you choose to publish with isn't important, reaching your readers is." (Stephanie Laurens.)

-"Take a risk, the known quantity is dying." (Bob Mayer)

-"Content is king. Promo is queen." (Bob Mayer)

Tomorrow, a summary of Susan Wiggs' workshop, "Plotting from the Inside Out."

CONFERENCE GOLD: The Fangirl

All this week, I'm doing a wrap-up of the RWAUS conference right here.

Snippets of conference gold I heard.
Recap of workshops.
Enlightening moments from plenary sessions.

To start, I have to gush like a fangirl.

Several months ago, I emailed Susan Wiggs for a favour. Her gracious reply blew me away.
Then I met her in person on Saturday, when the conference organisers asked me to intro her session.
She instantly recognized my name, enveloped me in a big hug and insisted someone take a photo of us which she emailed me the next morning with a lovely message.

Her books are amazing and so is she.

Next fangirl moment: Bob Mayer.

Quite possibly the smartest guy in publishing at the moment.
He's informed and savvy and ahead of the game.
If you're not following his blog, do so!

Stay tuned for the conference lowdown.