I have been meaning to announce the pub of my new e-book, Plan Well, Write Well: The secret to crafting your best plots, characters, and settings for an age. It is a downloadable e-book designed to help fiction writers plan their way to successful stories. Plan Well, Write Well is loaded with brainstorming, freewriting, and visualizing techniques that can be used before and during the writing process for both short stories and book-length fiction.
If any INK readers, would like to learn more, feel free to visit my site at http://www.stirlingediting.com/ebook1.html
Also, I will be teaching three workshops for the Southern Chapter of Willamette Writers at the Medford Public Library in Medford, Oregon. The first workshop, "Outlines for People Who Hate 'Em," is free to members of Willamette Writers and $5 for the general public. The two afternoon workshops are $25 each or $40 for the pair:
Rhythm: A study
Adding sound and style to your writing is essential to breakaway fiction, and subtle techniques can help you hone your prose to a musical high. By studying the masters of rhythmic fiction, we will sharpen our own prose to the grindstone of their techniques. Bring examples of your own work.
Fiction from film
Film writers are known for their skillful structure, their pithy dialogue, and their eye for the visual. This workshop will teach you how to employ these powerful techniques to raise your fiction to another level. Bring examples of your work.
For more information or to register for the afternoon workshops, go to http://www.stirlingediting.com/workshops.html
Thanks all! Jumping off the bandstand now . . .
Showing posts with label Chering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chering. Show all posts
Friday, May 23, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
My freewrite from Friday's meeting
"Your protagonist is weak, Janna."
She had been about to interrupt him, but at the coldness in Professor Lanard's tone, her jaw hung open stupidly.
He waited, but she said nothing, because no words formed in her mind, only the vision of a gaping black hole, her usual symbol of the immutable naivety that was her novel.
She could tell by the lean of his shoulders and the fervor in his eyes that he was not finished.
"You aspire too high, Janna."
This popped her out of the fog. "Cardinal rule of dialogue--overuse of character names sounds unnatural to the ear."
She wasn't sure where that came from, but she liked it. She studied his face, waiting to see the tell-tale signs of his classic defensiveness poking through his frown. But he didn't.
The corners of his mouth twitched into a half-smile. "A challenge. That's what you need to give your character. The history the background is all well and good, but we have to see what she makes of the challenges thrown her way."
She thought for a moment, running through story scenarios and characterization weaknesses. In an instant she realized she was forcing her character to survive with just her own timidity.
Somehow the line between the fiction and the real had blurred in her mind, but no more. This was an easy fix.
She looked him clearly in the eye. "I could do that."
She had been about to interrupt him, but at the coldness in Professor Lanard's tone, her jaw hung open stupidly.
He waited, but she said nothing, because no words formed in her mind, only the vision of a gaping black hole, her usual symbol of the immutable naivety that was her novel.
She could tell by the lean of his shoulders and the fervor in his eyes that he was not finished.
"You aspire too high, Janna."
This popped her out of the fog. "Cardinal rule of dialogue--overuse of character names sounds unnatural to the ear."
She wasn't sure where that came from, but she liked it. She studied his face, waiting to see the tell-tale signs of his classic defensiveness poking through his frown. But he didn't.
The corners of his mouth twitched into a half-smile. "A challenge. That's what you need to give your character. The history the background is all well and good, but we have to see what she makes of the challenges thrown her way."
She thought for a moment, running through story scenarios and characterization weaknesses. In an instant she realized she was forcing her character to survive with just her own timidity.
Somehow the line between the fiction and the real had blurred in her mind, but no more. This was an easy fix.
She looked him clearly in the eye. "I could do that."
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Trying out my first blog post here!
Howdy all,
Just wanted to finally give this a try. I'm just about ready to publish my e-book, so I've been reading up on Google Adwords and landing pages and PayPal. Fascinating world that marketing is. Back in college I used to feel slightly nauseated at the thought of advertising, and the idea of the hard sell left me cold and irritable.
Yet when I adjusted my thinking to focus more on marketing (i.e., promotions, branding, press releases, etc.), I realized it didn't have to be about making false or exaggerated claims in order to sell products. What I've done with newsletters and with my upcoming e-book is share the information that I've acquired over time, and that provides the customer, client, or browser with quality information, and sometimes I am able to bill for that information and sometimes not.
Merely the act of sharing has benefits all its own. I am a fiction editor by trade, but in its way, editing is teaching. I used to think teaching must be the hardest job in the world, but is both the most rewarding thing I've ever done and the easiest.
Wow, apparently I have a lot to say on this topic =), but I'll shut up now...
Just wanted to finally give this a try. I'm just about ready to publish my e-book, so I've been reading up on Google Adwords and landing pages and PayPal. Fascinating world that marketing is. Back in college I used to feel slightly nauseated at the thought of advertising, and the idea of the hard sell left me cold and irritable.
Yet when I adjusted my thinking to focus more on marketing (i.e., promotions, branding, press releases, etc.), I realized it didn't have to be about making false or exaggerated claims in order to sell products. What I've done with newsletters and with my upcoming e-book is share the information that I've acquired over time, and that provides the customer, client, or browser with quality information, and sometimes I am able to bill for that information and sometimes not.
Merely the act of sharing has benefits all its own. I am a fiction editor by trade, but in its way, editing is teaching. I used to think teaching must be the hardest job in the world, but is both the most rewarding thing I've ever done and the easiest.
Wow, apparently I have a lot to say on this topic =), but I'll shut up now...
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