Alane Ferguson

I want this -- bad!


Anyone who's familiar with Edgar award winning author Alane Ferguson (she apparently also been nominated scads of times) knows she's spot on with her critiques.

So I wanted to let everyone know that she's going to do a one-page critique as a prize for the WIFYR Spread the Word contest. The chance to get a one-page critique with her is worth entering the contest. It's free, and you don't have to attend WIFYR to enter. Go to www.wifyr.com/blog for details.

Let me add, that if you have not had the chance to see Alane at work in the critique department, you are seriously missing out! Her afternoon critique lectures/workshops are always overflowing and hard to get into. She is very good at what she does.

...disclaimer, I must add that Alane did a critique on my picture book, Decoration Day, I am not playing favorites here, but I have to say that it was an unforgettable experience.

I'm so EXCITED!!!

The

PERFECT

conference workshop is now available

The Lab: A Novel Workshop for 

Serious Writers

by Cheri Pray Earl

The Lab: A Novel Workshop for Serious Writers

From Scraps to (manu)Scripts: Conquering the Murky Middles: Rescue those stalled-out novel manuscripts from your computer boneyard and bring them to this new, innovative, paddling-through-the-murky-middles workshop. This is a workshop for our faithful writers who have polished two or three beginning chapters in a WIFYR workshop in the past, but who need help getting the rest of their novel on paper and submission-worthy.

Workshop Goal:  “Finish, Polish, and Submit” is the mantra of this workshop. 

For five days, you will work harder than you have ever worked before (and so will Cheri), you will work smarter than you have ever worked before, and you will experience writing success like you have never experienced before.

Preparing for the Murky Middles Workshop: 

Prior to the conference, students will submit a murky-middles portion of their work (two to three of their murkiest chapters), a brief description of the problems of those two-to-three middle chapters, and a chapter-by-chapter synopsis (two sentences per chapter) of the entire novel, from the first chapter to the last. This is the material you will work with for the five days of WIFYR, so choose wisely.

Workshop Content: 

Each day, Cheri will share a different solution to novel-writing problems including Plot, Conflict, and Pacing; Character Development and Voice; Setting and Description; Scene, Summary, and Dialog; Developing Themes and Introducing Backstory.

Daily Assignments: 

Participants will write and workshop specific scenes that emphasize plot, pacing, character development, moral conflicts, and so forth, in addition to revising their middle chapters and, in some cases, writing new ones.

Final Project: 

Participants will present two to three completely revised and murk-free middle chapters on the last day of the workshop, a revised and annotated plot outline, a plan for finishing their novel, and . . . they will confess their love for writing, each other, and above all, their workshop teacher.

 

Click on the image to find out more . . .

 

OPPORTUNITY!

Hurry! Hurry!

Have you always wanted to go the the WIFYR Conference?
Money tight this year?
How bad do you want it?

Second Annual WIFYR Writing Contest

Entries due March 25, 2013

Conferences, Workshops,
and Events in Central Utah 

The 2013 Roundup

(arranged by date)

Orem Writes / Events all month
Helping to put aspiring writers together with published writers. A time for novices to pick the brains of the experts.
                                                                                    January 2013  (free)
                                                                                    http://lib.orem.org/
                                                                                    http://oremwrites.wordpress.com 

iWriteNetwork 
Workshops and more
Social Network of writers. Message Boards, Chats, and BlogTalk Radio.
January 26, 2013 ($35)
http://iwritenetworkning.ning.com/ 
http://wewritenetwork.blogspot.com/

 

Timpanogos Storytelling Midwinter Event / Storyworks
Workshops for beginners, performers, educators, healers, business professionals, writers, parents and youth.
February 7-9, 2013 (pricing varies)
http://timpfest.org/



 

  Life the Universe and Everything (LTUE) 

A three day academic symposium on all aspects of Science Fiction and Fantasy.
February 14-16, 2013
                                                                                   ($30-$45 / free for students)

                                                                              http://ltue.net/

Writing for Charity
Live critiques from published authors and interactive workshops.

March 30, 2013 ($45)

http://writingforcharity.blogspot.com/

LDStorymakers

Classes and workshops with optional Boot Camp, Master Class, First ChapterContest and Pitch sessions.

May 10-11, 2013 (pricing varies)

http://ldstorymakers.com/

Conduit 23 

Utah's largest and longest-running general science fiction, fantasy, and horror convention

May 24-26, 2013

http://conduit-sf.com/

Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers (WIFYR)
Week long conference with morning class opportunities to work in small critique groups with published authors. Afternoon only options available.
June 17-21, 2013 (pricing varies)
http://www.wifyr.com/
http://www.wifyr.com/blog









 


BYU Books for Young Readers,
Symposium on Children's Literature
July 18-19, 2013

http://ce.byu.edu/cw/bfyr/






League of Utah Writers
Monthly meetings at Provo Library
http://www.uvwriters.com/  Utah Valley Chapter http://www.luwriters.org/





National Novel Writing Month      NaNoWriMo  
                                           Online community with local events
                                           November 1-30, 2013 (free)                                                                                          
                                           http://www.nanowrimo.org/






 

Timpanogos Storytelling Intensive Workshops
http://timpfest.org/
(watch for these week long retreats 1-3 times a year)

Palimpsest and other Hidden Things

It sounds worse than it is, I promise.

Palimpsest (derived from the Latin palimpsēstus,--which sounds even worse*--a term we get from Ancient Greece, is the basic idea of scraping and using again)  was first introduced to me in a lecture from the beautiful and talented Martine Leavitt, author of Keturah and Lord Death.

I have toyed with this idea for years now and it fascinates me. It is kin to what Heather Forest, author of Wonder Tales, lectured on many years ago as part of a Timpanogos Storytelling Festival event, on getting to the bones of a story. Wherein you take one story, folktale, opera, etc. and either re-write it back up from the basics, or hang your own story on it's frame. In the Heather Forest model, the end work was a re-telling, in your own way, of a traditional tale. In the Martine Leavittt version, it's taking a tale like The Magic Flute and masterfully weaving it into your own unrelated story. Heather's retelling of Aesop's Contest Between the Sun and the Wind and Martine's Tom Finder are the resulting works demonstrating these principles.

 In my own way I have been practicing these ideas. My YA novel is firmly based on the tale of King Midas. Although, I have no over-reaching 'Gods' that reverse the curse and save the King and his daughter. Too much a literal deus ex machina for my tastes.

More recently, in the Throwing Up Words Project Writeway contest I challenged myself to throw in my own hidden set of words, a bit like what Martine did in naming her characters in Tom Finder. I did not go so far as to hang my story on any story bones, after all, I only had the 400 words in which to do my piece.

It came about innocently enough, I just happened to notice that I was using some weaving terms. Fabric came to mind. Looms and Tension. It being a historical piece (and I must say I am NOT big into historical voice, I probably failed miserably in that aspect) I immediately thought that inserting weaving and looms and fabric terms would be an interesting challenge. The key part being that I had to make these words feel natural and not like they were shoved in there. Not unlike the 200 word entries we did a few weeks ago where we were given a list of words to use.

I did not stop there.

Being that I am also fresh out of the latest Cracking the Story Code workshop, I added another challenge. Not only did I want to make my piece more than a slice of historical life, but a 400 word story in and of itself. And, more closely, a certain TYPE of story. In particular a story that mirrors the dynamic found on Snow White.

Let me explain:
In Snow White, ask yourself- who is the System (who is setting the rules?)
   the Queen
Ask- who is the Primary Actor in this world? (who is coloring the story)
    It isn't Snow White, think of the dark and dangerous forest... you got it
    the Queen again
Now ask- who is creating the noise and chaos?
   bingo- the Queen strikes again!

Look at that dynamic: She controls the world. She colors the world. She actually comes down and performs the acts of chaos herself. How can Snow break out of this dynamic? Simple answer. She cannot. She is too innocent and too naive. The only way Snow can be saved is if some other force (or person) comes in and intervenes! The dwarfs find her twice and bring her back. But it takes the Prince in the end to pull Snow beyond the machinations and out from under the Queen's power.

(Off-shoot here: Think of the coloring in Star Wars - On Luke's home planet, he is PA - he and his world reflect each other, but, when he goes into space, we get a very different color dynamic. Whose world are we in now? Who is the PA in this movement? No wonder we went back and got Episodes 1-3 and the story of Anakin. And even more interesting, note the color changes in those episodes, more than a hint at what forces were taking over our Primary Actor)

Now, apply this to a 400 word historical piece. Oh, the challenge!!!!!!!! I love love love it!
In the end, I don't know that I managed to color the piece strong enough to firmly embody the System and the Primary Actor as the dog. I tried. The rabid dog does control Sal's world in the piece. And I tried to have the unseasonal hot day reflect the feverish heat of the sickened animal. It's up to greater minds than mine (or uncluttered, fresh-to-the-piece analysts) to determine if I succeeded. But it certainly made for an entertaining exercise in writing!

(Link to the Project Writeway link, to read the week 4 submissions)

* Been reading Superfreakonomics by Levitt again (...Political Prostitutes etc.) - that's my feeble attempt at explaining where my brain is making connections... Palimpsestus...haha, not a word that sounds nice in casual conversation DESPITE it's real meaning.

Paranormal Haiku

It's that time again!

Project Writeway Season 1 Episode 3
Go visit Throwing Up Words  and choose your 3 favorite Paranormal Haiku

Click HERE for the 13 still in the running
Click HERE for the Play at Homes (we are getting fewer and fewer each week, even here)

Poll is at the bottom of each page.

I tell ya, there's a few I wish I had written, including those pen names. :) Gotta love it when authors get whimsical and really into choosing a nom de plume.
__________
POST CONTEST VOTING EDIT

I suck at poetry, but I'll be brave - here is my entry

nom de plume:
   Flo Tinaway

haiku:
   Wingtips in toilets
   It is harder than you think
   Being an angel

...Question: Is wingtips one or two words? I went with the one word version, only because it looked more symmetrical.

hee hee - the flo goes both ways, toilets and angels (oh, I am such a 12 year old boy at heart)

Week Two Project Writeway

It's down to the wire, voting closes tonight for the Week Two challenge!
Check it out at Throwing Up Words
  (see below for story/voting poll links)
Project Writeway Details
Middle Grade and Young Adult writing/writers
There are two groups of writers, those that made the first cut The Project Writeway Season 1 Episode 2, first 14 and those that are in the PS1E2 - Play at Home group.
There will be 2 winners, the grand Episode 12 winner and, one from the remaining Play at Home group.
Each Monday we get an assignment. We submit our work--anonymously, under a

pseudonym and we are not allowed to tell anyone who we are--and then there is the weekly voting. A popularity vote and a judges vote. Writers cannot vote for themselves.

Vote for your top 3 in each category
The first 14 http://throwingupwords.wordpress.com/project-writeway-season-1-episode-2/
Play at Home category http://throwingupwords.wordpress.com/pws1e2-playhome/

This week's requirements were to use the words, or variation of the words:
jam
plant
squirt
bulldozer
cookies
simplicity

With a twist–someone in the scene has to get slapped
All within 200 words
As you read, look for the following things:
1. Do they follow the rules?
2. Do the required words work into the scene well? Do they stick out?
3. Do you connect to the characters?
4. Do you want to keep reading?
5. Did you laugh?
6. Were you surprised?
7. Which entry stayed with you after you were done reading.
--------

Poll is at the bottom of the list of entries

Have fun - and hey, even if you are not competing, use the prompts, it's great skill-building!
_______
EDIT: (After the voting was closed)

Don't know why I am being brave enough to come out with my entry - it will haunt me. I'll console myself with the fact that, after all, this is a blog post, no one ever comes in here and actually reads any of this and I can always edit it if I agonize too much...

My Entry

All's Fair in Love and Thumb Wars

“Its unnatural. Humans don't just up and go for a fly.”

“Not fly, flight.”

“Fight you for it. Rock, Paper, Scissors. Loser takes first watch.”

Silence.

“Don't tell me. You’ve never heard of it. Ditto for Thumb War?”

This time a glare.

Uh-oh. You don't bring up Em's lack of cultural education. The menacing bite out of that cookie an ominous threat.

I focused on squirting mustard onto my hotdog. The color reminding me of the bulldozer we'd inadvertently commandeered earlier.

“Seriously?” I hinted, “One, two, three, four. . . Come on, it's simplicity in itself. Easy.”

I held out my hand, “Truce?” She slapped it away.

But she couldn't hold in the sly grin.

“Come on, I'll show you,” I took her hand, ”Ouch!” I eyed the bleeding crescents, “ You can't go jamming your fingernails in!”

She was getting the idea, but I was faster. “Em, you're not paying attention.”

“Jake?”

“You giving up?”

“Look.”

“Wha . . .?”

Apparently flying is as easy as forgetting to hold onto the earth.

“Crap.”

Falling is even easier.

Face plant.

That’s gonna leave a mark.

___________

I started with almost 600 words. Winnowing it down to 200 was hard. There is so much I wanted to convey. Not unlike George Bernard Shaw, I start out with a lot of words and it takes time and work to bring it under control.

I also had to take a bit of a time leap after the first attempt at Thumb War - but then my 'Jake' character (unbeknownst to our readers in this snippet) does have a healing advantage over us mere unmodified humans.

Slow getting this one out there

Let me talk about Throwing up Words - -

Yes, you heard me right - as in not unlike the act of tossing your cookies, hurling hunks and blowing chunks,
. . . . writing is a lot like this, according to Carol Williams and company, because sometimes it's the only way.

In any case, The great group at Throwing Up Words are running a Project Writeway Exercise (not to be confused with Writeway, the professional writing software). This contest, patterned after the popular TV series Project Runway, is a battle of words.

Last week saw the posting of the first 150 words of your Middle Grade or Young Adult novel.

I entered.

I already agonize over the mistakes I made in those mere 150 words. Can you imagine what it would be like for a full blown novel - particularly after it's 'set in stone' and has been printed! No wonder writers have such well-developed inner critics. Oh well. That's the life of writing - you get something down, you hit send and then within days (if not hours) of that act, you start seeing all the problems within it.We've honed the craft of self doubt over the course of years and years of work.

I guess this is when I most identify with my characters. It's these deep bouts of doubt. The internal harangue, the pummeling from within that comes when you start thinking that there was any chance whatsoever to become (or do) what you might wish or hope for.

Check out the entries -- there are 60 of them -- here

I like this post on what agents look for and writing style.

Do you want the cold hard truth? I honestly think there are very few entries that would have caught an agent or editor's eye, if any. Including mine. But . . . what are these things for if not to improve our writing? That is the end goal after all.