I just set up my blog to post to Facebook. Thanks, Ben Crowder, for the idea! I hope it works. I'm not technically challenged, per se, just illiterate. ;-) Creating blogs and interacting online is just something I've done very little with.
Anyway, let's hope this little experiment works. If it does, very, very cool.
Tell me about your experiences blogging and such. What's worked for you? How often do you do it, and what benefits have you seen from it?
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
Dan Wells and story structure
Ok, just watched Dan Wells's presentation on story structure from LTUE on Youtube. If you haven' seen it, you are really missing out. This five-part entry has incredible advice on how to structure the story once you have laid out your characters, world setting, and the main conflict. It opened my eyes for sure. I'm going to apply this to my current epic to see how well I did, then to my next book I'm about to write, and then to my MG to see how well it applies. But boy, it's very exciting. Cool! Watch it, now!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Storymakers 2010 post 2
OK, another thought: This conference has some truly fantastic panels. That said, one of the things I enjoy the most is continuing to develop friendships with other authors, editors, and agents. I spend a lot of time visiting in the hallways. It's not just social, though that is also a wonderful benefit. It's about the synergy from the other great people involved in different aspects of this craft. It's also about the true people and real relationships that are the hidden gem of this industry.
The industry's secret that everyone knows is that networking is key. The secret that we don't often think about is that we are real people, and that real relationships are the oil that greases the world's machine. Our relationships give flavor and joy to the entire process, the interaction, the smiles and jokes and deeper discussions that bring them to life. We aren't machines, despite my previously stated bad analogy. We are real people. How wonderfully that settles the nerves, brings enjoyment to my life, and energize!
I don't mean to get sappy. This is not about a family reunion, though it sort of is like that. It's about the fact that we so often work in the bubble of our homes, our offices, or wherever we sit to create. We grow taller through such relationships. We expand. I'm not just talking about our ability to write because we know more about the world. I'm referring to how it expands us as individuals and motivates us to help each other, to be more than just someone with a laptop. Real people interacting with real people become more than the sum of the parts. And that is what life is truly all about.
The industry's secret that everyone knows is that networking is key. The secret that we don't often think about is that we are real people, and that real relationships are the oil that greases the world's machine. Our relationships give flavor and joy to the entire process, the interaction, the smiles and jokes and deeper discussions that bring them to life. We aren't machines, despite my previously stated bad analogy. We are real people. How wonderfully that settles the nerves, brings enjoyment to my life, and energize!
I don't mean to get sappy. This is not about a family reunion, though it sort of is like that. It's about the fact that we so often work in the bubble of our homes, our offices, or wherever we sit to create. We grow taller through such relationships. We expand. I'm not just talking about our ability to write because we know more about the world. I'm referring to how it expands us as individuals and motivates us to help each other, to be more than just someone with a laptop. Real people interacting with real people become more than the sum of the parts. And that is what life is truly all about.
Storymakers Conference 2010
I'm sitting right now with the coolest editor on the planet. OK, it doesn't hurt that she's also a good friend and just downright nice. Any guesses?
Lisa Mangum!
We're enjoying the LDS Storymakers Conference, 2010. Yesterday's sessions were fantastic. Some of the particularly good sessions I attended (let's not mention that I only attended a couple due to pitch sessions), were:
1. Laura Rennert, senior agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She gave a very informative presentation on how to ace the audition with agents with specifics on on the query letter. Some of this I already knew, but she also directed us toward ways that agents look at the queries. I'll refer to my notes for this, which I may post as an addendum--assuming I can figure out how to do that, hah! It was unusual in that I saw how she looked at the query. Key: Who, What, Where, and Why Should I Care?
2. Elana Johnson on writing query letters. Excellent handout that showed the nuts and bolts of the query. These are terribly difficult for me to craft. Her suggestions about writing in the style of your book and about boiling down the entire story into a sentence finally hit me. I've read this before, but it still needs to sink down. Of course, writing epic fantasy means I think really big, so this is a naturally difficult feature for me.
3. Pitch sessions with Laura Rennert and Nephele Tempest. Nephele asked for 3 chapters, and Laura very gently described to me why she doesn't represent epic, but gave great encouragement on how to prepare my middle grade book and said she'd see it when I got it written. Time to write!
Lisa Mangum!
We're enjoying the LDS Storymakers Conference, 2010. Yesterday's sessions were fantastic. Some of the particularly good sessions I attended (let's not mention that I only attended a couple due to pitch sessions), were:
1. Laura Rennert, senior agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She gave a very informative presentation on how to ace the audition with agents with specifics on on the query letter. Some of this I already knew, but she also directed us toward ways that agents look at the queries. I'll refer to my notes for this, which I may post as an addendum--assuming I can figure out how to do that, hah! It was unusual in that I saw how she looked at the query. Key: Who, What, Where, and Why Should I Care?
2. Elana Johnson on writing query letters. Excellent handout that showed the nuts and bolts of the query. These are terribly difficult for me to craft. Her suggestions about writing in the style of your book and about boiling down the entire story into a sentence finally hit me. I've read this before, but it still needs to sink down. Of course, writing epic fantasy means I think really big, so this is a naturally difficult feature for me.
3. Pitch sessions with Laura Rennert and Nephele Tempest. Nephele asked for 3 chapters, and Laura very gently described to me why she doesn't represent epic, but gave great encouragement on how to prepare my middle grade book and said she'd see it when I got it written. Time to write!
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