Showing posts with label workshops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workshops. Show all posts
Friday, September 6, 2013
Dreams…
Yeah, I know we be looking ta go our separate ways soon, and
sail off on new adventures on our own, but I thought today…we could dream a
bit…
About the ideal place to go, and who to go with. But being
writers…where would we go and with what writer…
And to make it extra fun…
1)
Real place, living author as guide/mentor/best
buddy.
2)
Real place, dead author as guide/mentor/best
buddy.
3)
Fictional place, living or dead author as
guide/mentor/best buddy.
Now, what sparked this idea? Terri’s posting of a dream workshop
being offered by Eloisa James. In Italy, ten days long. Yeah, really...go look.
Which, I admit, is tasty sounding.
Got me thinking…where would I go and with who?
Being a big reader of fantas/scifi stuff…I sorta had a
difficulty. Since Middle Earth isn’t real…or the myriad of other worlds I’ve
trod across with a fav author… I had to work my imagination!
So… My picks, and why
1)
Tuscany, with Francis Mayes. Why? Okay, I admit, I
haven’t read the book, but I did see the movie, and it seemed to me that she
would be a fabulous guide to the Italian countryside. And I have a feeling…that
for what I write…I’d get more out of wandering about, talking writing with her
than with Eloisa. (As much as Eloisa is a darling…I don’t write real history.
But I do like to dive into the sort of memoir that Mayes wrote.)
2)
Ah…this was fun… And difficult! Alaska, with Jack
London? New York/New Jersey with Walt Whitman? The South Pacific with James
Michener… The Mississippi with Mark Twain… Ireland with Maeve Binchey… Too many
to pick from! (And yes, all authors I feel I could learn a great deal from!)
3)
Oddly enough, I’m not going to go with the
obvious. Nope, not Middle Earth with Tolkien. I think I’d have to go with the
Foundation Universe, with Isaac Asimov. Though the Chicago of Harry Dresden
with James Butcher is tempting…
4)
And just for grins, I’m gonna add one more…
Fictional place/fictional character. Book or movie!
Commander Taylor and Terra Nova! (Though my
alternate might be the Caribbean, with Jack. Or Hector!)
And with that, I get my hottie of the day in!
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Workshop Wednesday - My Descent Into Writing Madness
Yep, all sounds so fun right?
Since I'm writing this post before class starts - one of the suggestions for the workshop is to write all your blog posts prior to starting - it means I can't tell you how it's going so far. I can say that there are some authors taking the class with me that can’t help but have me thinking, “They write books all the time, how the hell am I going to keep up with that?”
From the introductions so far, it shows that no matter how many books you’ve had published there will always be a time to refocus and work on getting back to just getting your butt in that chair and writing till it hurts. While some might find this idea daunting, it humanizes the authors and the writing process for me. Suddenly, I don’t feel like I’m taking the class because I’m a loser that can’t get her ass in the chair. Having recognizable authors there helps me connect that learning is an on-going activity and not just for writing losers.
I've actually wanted to take this workshop for ages and I'm hoping this class will make me disciplined about moving forward faster. I'm also secretly wishing that this push forces me to write more naturally instead of thinking about how I "should" write. My writing needs to find it's voice and I need to learn discipline. Two birds, one stone.
Many of my illustrious co-pirates have not only taken workshops, but taught them as well. So, I thought what better group to come to for some advice and insight on workshops than right here on The Revenge.
Has anyone taken Candace’s Fast Draft/Revision Hell class before? What workshops have you taken and loved or hated? What advice do you give for getting the most out of an online workshop? If you have a workshop coming up, please share it with us! Oh, and if you want to join me you are only 1 day behind! Click that link at the top to check it out and ignore my evil cackling laugh as I try to coherence you to step into the madness.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Brilliant Guests
As some of you may know, I’m the president of my local
Romance Writers of America chapter. We’re a very small group, less than two
dozen members. But! We are lucky that we are just over the hills – the Santa
Cruz Mountains – of the Silicon Valley RWA Chapter. And they’re pretty big.
Also Black Diamonds in the Bay Area, etc.
Which means we don’t hold conferences or host big names
(can’t pay for them, for one thing), but we are close to chapters that can
bring these people to our area. So, I’ve attended a Donald Maas all day
workshop, a Deb Dixon workshop and an Angela James workshop.
We also have a fair amount of writers within reach. And
those? We tempt them to come and talk to us, plus we have several published
writers in our chapter. We try to host someone every other month, though this
year, my new VP opted to get speakers the first half of the year and we’ll work
on writing the second half. Plus our holiday party and a few months off during
the summer, when we’re at big conferences.
So, why am I babbling about this?
Well, we had Tina Folsom late last year and invited members
from the other chapters and did pretty well. She’s local to the Bay Area. And a
last week, we had Shelley Bates come speak to us. Hal knows Shelley, since she
teaches a master class at Seton University. I know her from doing Steampunk
workshops with her last year at Clockwork Alchemy, in San Jose.
She lives up on the ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Shelley
also writes as Adina Senft. Amish romance. And she does well! She self publishes
a YA Steampunk series and she does well! And the woman is brilliant. She held
all dozen of us mesmerized.
Her topic was “World Building Through Your Characters’
Eyes.”
I have the notes I took. Not many, but I do have the hand
out. And she covered character perception and home and how to use setting to
work inward and reveal and…and…and… If only my brain could make use of this
information!
I sat center, I watched, I listened! I understood! But I
couldn’t relate what she was saying to what I do, period. I honestly couldn’t
think of examples from what I write, or how I could do this or that…nada.
Her words went in one ear and out the other. Understood and
fondled, but they made no connection to my inner writer. I talked with her
after and finally found a metaphor I could use to understand her talk with us.
She was talking about the soundtrack! The motif of
characters, the underlying layer that builds, adds but isn’t intrusive. It
carries the story forward and helps the reader taste the richness, the spice…experience
the magic under the words. Thru words! But not in-your-reader’s -face,
let-me-explain-this words.
I can understand a soundtrack, the subtle nature. How it
adds without distraction.
I can’t decipher Shelley’s presentation. I’m simply blind
that way. I don’t know if it’s my superstitious nature, (I suspect it is), but
I have a block when it comes to using the wonderful aspects of teachers like
Shelley.
Luckily, she’s very understanding and actually, when we did
the panels together, we complement each other’s techniques quite well. She’s a
plotter, a planner, a creatively detailed writer. I’m a wild card.
I attend lecture, workshops, conferences…and I listen. I pay
attention. With my creative writing mind acting like a four-year-old, fingers
in ears, singing la-la-la-la-la. My intuitive mind is very present. I can
analyze, discuss the topic in regards to other books, or movies…but not my
writing.
Terri has seen this. I am so damned oblivious.
I hope that eventually, the information seeps into what I do…without
my having to think too deeply on it.
Because I’m an idiot and fear that if I totally understand
what I do, I won’t be able to do it anymore. I need to believe it’s magic.
How about you? Are
you able to make the connection between what you write and what you learn in
lectures? Does it come together for you all at once? During? After? Ever?
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