SCWC: Why Some Authors Get Published—and Some Don’t

-        Strive to write every day even if you don’t get around to it.  Set writing goals.

-        Read a lot (of good stuff).  If you don’t have time to read, then you don’t have time to write.

-        Read widely within your genre for inspiration

-        Publishers don’t have time to deal with high-maintenance authors.  Do the work they ask for.

-        Try to look at your work with an objective/dispassionate eye when self-editing.

-        Setting/style/period/subject can be what sets your work above the rest

-        Stay focused on your strengths and what’s unique about you and your story when marketing/making your pitch

-        The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron: http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421472/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1  “Bring life in.”

-        Do research to cover a universal theme.  Every nonfiction book is an argument

-        Don’t give up!!!  If something isn’t working, take time to re-assess.  It’s okay to send a query letter to the same agent if you indicate you’ve spent some time researching, revising, improving, etc

-        Online writing groups (Salon, RedRoom, She Writes)

-        San Diego Writers’ Ink, Scribd

-        Community support and interaction is important

-        Editors’ guilds

SCWC: Tweaking - Making the Difference Between Good and Published

-        Build to power.  Always end your sentences with the strongest/most powerful word.

-        Change the order of words in sentences/move sentences around.  Save “what happens” for last.

-        Make material visually attractive.  Hard nowadays to distract people from their busy lives.

-        Paragraphing accentuates dynamic/pivotal points.  Put sentences in their own paragraphs to demonstrate their importance.

-        Use punctuation “tricks” to add drama.

-        Don’t be afraid of sentence fragments or one-word sentences.

-        Ellipses imply the character’s thoughts are trailing off.  A surprise sentence ending.

-        Don’t be afraid of short and/or long sentences.

-        Use prepositions to add more sentence variety.

-        Make dialogue unusual/brilliant

-        The best writing is fast writing—spontaneity creates a better story/flows better

-        Take out dialogue introductions, use “shortcuts.”

-        Most of us are pretty dull most of the time; make the character more interesting than you.  We don’t want boring conversation, we want the best of what we say.

-        Use action tags for dialogue—carefully and sparingly

-        Can characterize people through the words/actions of other characters

-        Pause for reaction time.

-        Make your dramatic scenes long (and longer).  Inject heart-stopping events

SCWC: Show, Don’t Tell

-        Learn the balance between showing and telling

-        Good writing reveals, boring writing explains

-        Use senses to reveal, “telling” comes from the head.

-        Experience/feel with the character instead of listing facts

-        Don’t use abstract subjective terms to convey moments.  Be more sensory/visual/tangible (SHOW)

-        Adjectives tell, verbs show.  Use precise verbs first.  Turn your adjectives into verbs.  Verbs contain the energy of the sentence.  Make a long list of verbs!  Verbs pump us up.  Make more active.

-        The Thesaurus is your friend!

-        Write from the senses.  Readers want to smell, touch, taste the world you’ve created.  We read to escape, experience other realities

-        Be the story as you’re writing it; be your character, experience their world vicariously.

-        Do the writing first, do research after

-        “I remember (sense)ing…” exercise in keeping you in touch with your senses.  Makes you pay attention to mundane sensations.  I remember tasting, hearing, smelling, etc.  “Sense inventory.”

-        Physical reactions to senses, involuntary sensory details, memories provoked, emotion from memories, and then action.

-        Metaphors/similes make writing poetic.  Easier to remember, connects on a deeper emotional level.  “The cancer ate her like horse piss eats deep snow.”

-        Observe the weather/sky and write it down.  Generalities are boring.  Take notes on observations so you remember them better later.

-        The key to description is selectivity.  In each sentence use at least one striking, provoking word.

-        Don’t be nice all the time.  Give them an image that’s hard to forget.  The truth is in the detail.

-        Choose the most powerful details during rewrites.  Also notice where details need to be added or strengthened.

-        http://www.amazon.com/Natural-History-Senses-Diane-Ackerman/dp/0679735666

-        Have a “commonplace” book—jot down phrases and words you read and like (look up “commonplace” website)

-        Scenes/mini-scenes: enter one way, exit another way.  Emotional transition during a scene. Important moment occurs within a scene.  “Telling” is the transition/summary between scenes.  Scene allows reader to experience the situation with the character.

Southern California Writers' Conference

Si, si!  I will be attending the Southern California Writers' Conference!  I'm so excited.  It's going to be held February 17th-20th (Presidents' Day weekend) at Crowne Plaza San Diego.  The registration was my early Christmas present, so I'm bouncing off the walls like a nutter....

More conference info here: http://www.writersconference.com/sd/