Tag Archives: Writers Resources

Publishing, Writers, Writers Conference, Writing

Writing Conference

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This past Saturday I attended my first writers conference. It was free and not to far away.

“Getting Published: What Do Publishers Want?” was the first seminar I attended. While the information obtain was not earth shattering new I still enjoyed being in the presence of actual publishers. Copious notes were taken for me to share with fellow writers who had not attended the conference.

I got two things out of this . The first was that small independent presses are willing to work with the author up front without a literary agent. In fact most prefer you don’t have one. Second, I was introduced to five more firms I can send my query letter to. For me these two things were worth my attendance.

The next seminar that caught my eye was “How To Write for Children”. One of the presenters was a 12-year-old boy who has three books in print. Most of the information was not new to be but I did learn again two thing. What I gained from this was two more publishing house names that I had not come across through the Writer’s Market book.

The last seminar I attended was “Traditional Publishing vs Self Publishing”. This section reaffirms what I have been doing since last March which is creating an online presence through social media outlets.

One of the panelist stated that people who go the traditional route are taken more serious. Also, more doors are open to them through the contacts they meet apart from the publishing house they are with.

If you are an aggressive individual and can promote yourself well self- publishing would work for you. If that is not your style and you need the help of a publisher it was recommended to try to get your book in print.

At the moment I am trying to go the traditional route. My books deserve the chance to shine in this avenue. For the past three weeks I have steadily been submitting query letters, chapters, synopsis and cover letters to various publishing houses. The list I am working from is only half way crossed off. A deadline in my head has been given and when that time frame comes then will be looking at self publishing.

Whether I am aggressive enough to promote myself remains to be seen. At least in this day and age I’m fortunate to have the option of ebooks where years ago that was not the case.

Character Development, Characters, Class, Writing

Bringing Good Things To Life

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Week 3: Bringing Characters to Life

The notes from my Character Development class.

The chart below was passed out. This is one way of testing your character from your storyline. The four sections are for action, how it is revealed, feelings and appearance.

character_trait_chart

Your story should have all of these. The action that occur and how is it revealed. How does the character feel about this occurring and lastly what do they look like physically.

If the function of our characters are not convincing or can act out or function in a believable and right proportion then the reader will get bored.

When you start revising from the first draft onward, your character should stay consistent. If you need to change their actions or thought patterns from A to B, it needs to make sense to the readers and the story.

We need to grab the audience within the first few pages about the main person or else you will lose readers.

One more thing, the naming of one’s character is not something to be taken lightly. You have a small window at the beginning of the book to grab your audience. Giving them a memorable yet interesting name will help.

There were little notes taken during this class since we discussed and asked questions throughout.

Author, Character Development, Creating Real Life Characters, Writing class, Writng

Creating Real Life Characters

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Week 2 Creating Real Life Characters

These are my notes for the second week of my Character Development class


The key thing to look for in a character- What do you notice when you see someone for the first time?

Do we try to describe the person’s characteristics below?

– physical
-personality
-speech- type of speech/ do they stutter/ accent etc-
-clothing
-their habits

What aspect do we pick up first?

Notice after you make a list what you thought of first when you evaluated the person.
What did you include? What did you leave out?

What would I notice about me from someone’s else who would be looking at me?

Characters: We have to make them believable and enjoyable.  Even the villain has to be constructed this way.  If we fail then the characters fall flat. 

Example of habits: twitch, limp, wear the same outfit repeatedly in a time frame.
curves her r when she speaks etc

If we just describe by appearance it makes our characters one-dimensional.

No matter how strong the plot or theme is,  it makes our character undeveloped which leaves readers bored and confused.

Try to get more personal with our characters:
-do they laugh a certain way
-do they have a quirk that makes them different?
-do their lip droop due to a stroke or accident?


Action driven plot- writers who write this way draw from their left side of the brain. They think in a linear function sort of way.  They like structure. They have little trouble expressing words/ descriptions but have trouble finding the right words. They have rational thinking and focus on reality.

Character driven plot- These writers have feeling, creativity and imagination.. They use the right side of the brain. They love the beauty of the language. They are subjective.  They are random and disorganize but see their story as a whole.
–

Character Driven or Action Driven? Which one is your main guy or gal?

Take the following test and see where you fit.

Answer these questions about your cast members.

1- Protagonist’s overall story goal

2- What stands in his or her way of achieving the goal?

3- What does he or she stand to lose, if not successful?

4- Flaw or greatest fault

5- Greatest strength

6- Hates

7- Loves

8- Fear

9- Secret

10-Dream

This was to show which way we lean in our writings.

If you answered 1-3 and had problem we have no dramatic excitement about our character. We are action driven

If we answered 4-10 with ease Then we are character driven in our writings.

If we answered all ten with ease then we write both ways.

If we fail to do 4-10 with ease, more likely our character is action driven, which means they are arranged in order and have conclusion but lack the human element and hence losing the audience attention. You will lose 70 percent of your readers.

Is the description of your character just surface information or does it hit the core?