April Online Class: “Tapping Into the Secrets Behind the Success” w Carol Hughes
March 29, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives********** permission to forward **********
Hi everyone! Check out the exciting online classes offered by the
Orange County Chapter of RWA!
“Tapping Into the Secrets Behind the Success
of Nora Roberts, Stephen King, and J.K. Rowling
and Every Best Seller and Blockbuster Film”
with Carol Hughes
April 12 to May 8, 2010
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassApril10.html
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
If you have specific questions, email occrwaonlineclass@yahoo.com
ABOUT THE CLASS:
What does Nora Roberts, Stephen King, George Lucas and all of those other blockbuster creators know about writing that makes them the mega stars that they are?
Learn about the 18 scenes that every story contains, no matter its length or genre. Find out how to identify your character’s mental gender and what impact that has upon readers. Discover how your character’s arc drives your story and how your story drives your character’s arc. Learn the four throughlines of every story and how to weave them together.
Every successful story contains characters who come alive for the reader. Every successful story is built on a solid, easy-to-master, story structure that works every single time. Every successful story lives on in the hearts and minds of readers because their authors have mastered the simple secrets needed to turn them into writing super stars. And you can, too.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Award winning writer, poet, journalist, filmmaker Carol Hughes has a lot more in common with Jason Bourne than Matt Damon. But Matt Damon is definitely cuter. So she’s now turning her real life adventures into fictional stories – much to the consternation of former colleagues.
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassApr10.html
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Coming in May 2010–
“Another Time, Another Placeâ€
with Terry Blain
Historical romances should transport readers to another time and another place. This workshop will help you with the tools you need to transport your readers. The class will cover all the elements that make a historical romance historical – from how to do the research to incorporating that information into your story through the craft of writing.
http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html. Check out our full list of workshops.
Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure
you’re signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group! Sign up at
the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html or send a blank
email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
********** permission to forward **********
Perservering Toward Publication
March 28, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category ArchivesPublishing has changed since I started writing seriously back in the last century. At that time, there were a handful of big houses in New York who might buy your book, as well as a few small presses. Electronic publishing was barely a gleam in anyone’s eye. The web was in its infancy. Chats, blogs, Facebook, Twitter–an author did not have to worry about these things like she does today. Now the big publishing houses have consolidated and been bought out so many times that there are only about three corporations running the whole publishing industry in New York. Numerous small presses have come into being, as well as many electronic presses. The options for a writer to sell her work have expanded tremendously. Our market today is very different than it was back in the 1990’s. And yet it seems to be getting harder and harder to sell that first book.
But one thing has not changed. Even with the advent of new technologies, shrinking markets and increased expectations for authors, the single most important thing a writer can bring to the table is perserverance.
In order to get your work published, you must write. The more you write, the more you hone your craft. You must keep striving towards your goal, attending classes and conferences, getting feedback on your writing, constantly making it better. And you must submit.
Some truths about publishing:
- If you submit your work, you may well get rejected
- If you do not submit, you will never get published.
- If you stop submitting–if you give up–you will never get published.
Getting published requires the writer to be in the right place at the right time with the right manuscript. That may seem a tricky proposition, but it has happened over and over again in this business. I know writers who sold almost immediately. Other writers, like me, who sold after only a few years. And I know still others who took ten, twelve, twenty years to make that first sale.
What if the writer who sold after twenty years had given up after ten years of trying? She would never have realized her dream.
I know sometimes it may seem impossible. Insurmountable even. But if you have faith in your own abilities and keep trying, you will create the best opportunities for eventually selling your work. Perservere, and success is sure to follow.
A Fantasy Life by Janet Quinn Cornelow
March 28, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives
Linda McLaughlin and I went to EPICon in
Linda told you about our first day and our plantation tours. There was a tremendous amount of walking and I don’t walk so well. I took my walker and my cane with me, which worked out well. At Oak Alley I scared one of the women who worked there since I insisted upon going upstairs, cane and all. I could tell she knew I was going to fall down the stairs and sue. I didn’t. Falling down stairs doesn’t seem the best thing to do.
We spent lots of time in the French Quarter. It was right across from our hotel. One of you daughter-in-laws wanted voodoo stuff. That was easier said than done. I found some, but it was quite a bit of walking to find anything. The doors to many of the shops in the French Quarter are very narrow. I had to fold up the walker to get in the door.
The conference was fun. It is a small conference, so I had a chance to talk to almost everyone there. I sat with one of my publishers at the awards banquet.
Linda and I gave a workshop on writing and researching historical novels. It went well except for the fact that the only microphone was attached to the podium and we were sitting at a table. The microphone wouldn’t come off, so we talked loud. For me, that is no problem. Linda ended up with no voice.
I am still having trouble getting back into my normal routine and haven’t done much writing since I returned. Hopefully, that will get better.
Isabel Swift wonders…do you make lists?
March 24, 2010 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Deep South, Lists, Road Trip, TravelWell, in addition to “To Buy” lists or the more mundane “To Do” lists?
Years ago I created another kind of list & recently revived it. The summer after high school graduation, a girlfriend & I decided to travel and settled on hitchhiking around England for a month. In addition to planning our itinerary, we also developed The List (as it applied to the UK).
It contained things that we felt were quintessentially of the place, and enumerated things we wanted to have experienced before the holiday was over. The list “ingredients” didn’t have to be difficult to achieve; that wasn’t the issue. It was meant to measure what we felt was a true and full experience of a new environment.
I can’t remember the exact elements for the UK List, but it was things like:
1) eat fish & chips
2) see Buckingham Palace & the changing of the guards
3) drive in a London taxi cab
4) see someone in a kilt
5) visit a castle
6) see Shakespeare at Stratford-on-Avon
7) buy an umbrella
8) drive in a Rolls Royce
9) go to Hyde Park
10) be invited to tea…
You get the picture. We would argue and add things to the list as their quintessential-ness was discovered and determined.
Recently I went on a road trip with the same friend some 35+ years later. She lives in Alabama, so we went on a trip around the area. I found myself creating a list–it sort of was made as it happened instead of beforehand. But we argued through the essentialness of the ingredients, and I think we pulled together a good collection. I realize it is a girl list. You boys will just have to work on your own. Here it is:
The Deep South List:
1) Receive an Unsolicited Greeting
(i.e. hello) My friend didn’t think this should count as a key indicator of Southern-ness. I really had to explain that NO-ONE in New York would say hello to a stranger walking down the street–you’d think they were pan-handling.
2) Courtly Solicitation
#1 was men & women; this is just for women–Male interactions with females are often touched with a decorous flirtation, a sense of ‘Southern Charm,’ an awareness and appreciation of your femaleness, e.g. ‘I always stop for pretty girls,’ or have door held for you..
3) Bitten by Ants
Apparently, this is standard. I can vouch for it happening.
4) Drive on a dirt road; visit a farm/meet a farmer; wait for Cows to clear the road
The South has its share of cities and industry, but rural South seemed quintessentially Southern, not found elsewhere, and needed to be experienced. I didn’t get a photo of him, but our farmer was driving a tractor…not unlike the one pictured on the billboard below…
5) Roadside Attractions
One of the carved living tree in Tinglewood, ALA and Bourbon St. New Orleans, LA
6) Breakfast with Good Ole Boys, eat Grits with Unidentified butterlike substance
OK, he’s not a Good Ole Boy, he’s the god of the forge, Vulcan, who presides over Birmingham, ALA. Magnificent, isn’t he? And I know you’re distracted, but really, there’s no butter in the South. My grits came with a pat proudly announcing it was 40% margarine. It never told me what the other 60% was and I was too scared to ask….
7) Tea: Sweet/Unsweet
Well, I may have to make an exception for New Orleans, where it was hard to find anyone who’d give me sweet tea–it was all DIY. You do have to specify “Hot tea” if that’s your preference, as tea = ice tea.
8) Being asked where you come from
Yes, this would also be on a California list–but it’s just not Northeast in my experience & always startles me & reminds me I am somewhere away from home. In some parts of the South, I am sure you are asked where you are going–i.e. which grave yard will you be joining–to better understand your status. Location, location, location.
9) y’all
10) Cotton fields
Well, I hadn’t thought of posting while I was traveling, so didn’t take appropriate photos, just captured a few things that appealed. Here’s a a rather remarkable ironwork cornstalk fence in New Orleans.
11) Church signage with admonishions, instructions, information about Jesus
I regret not having photographed some of the Church signage: you have to see it to get it. Here’s one man’s front yard sculpture–it captures some of the spirit.
And here we are with our trusty black bug at the end of the trip. Think of the photo as modern art, creating a sense of immediacy and motion (and covering any bad hair or poor clothing choices).
Since we created out list as we went, we were sure to accomplish every one.
Do you make lists?
Isabel Swift
my blog
Possibilities Are Endless by Esi Sogah
March 21, 2010 by Marianne H. Donley in category Archives tagged as Avon, editor, Esi SogahI’ve been wracking my brain, trying to figure out what I wanted to share with all of you. Part of that may be that I’m currently in Georgia, at my brother’s wedding. I’m always so fascinated by weddings, because everyone is so different. Do you do pictures before or after? Sit-down dinner or buffet? Big or small? Considering how long people have been getting married, you’d think it would be hard to always be original. But time after time, couple after couple finds a way to make it unique.
It’s this instinct that I look for in the books I read. Love stories have been around forever, but we keep coming back. Tristan und Isolde, Romeo and Juliet, Tony and Maria. Same basic story, told in new and interesting ways.
I guess that’s the secret, the way you can decipher that publishing code. When editors say they’re looking for “high-concept” stories, it doesn’t mean we want every theme you’ve ever heard of thrown together in a big mish-mash. It’s about bringing something special that will resonate, even if you think they’ve heard it a million times before.
Modern Family, ABC’s new sitcom, is a perfect example of this. If I just told you the plot of an episode–father buys son a bike, sees bike outside of arcade, steals it to teach son a lesson about responsibility–you can probably guess where it’s going to go. But watching it unfold, it’s like you’ve never seen it before. Something tiny, like a quirky line-reading, or an extra twist when you thought it was over, makes it special. (Also hilarious, but I could write pages and pages about Modern Family, so I’m going to hold back.) But other than just enjoying the show, I am drawn in by the sheer ingenuity that went into making it.
The creative process is always interesting to me, which is what brought me to publishing in the first place. In Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George”, a musical about painter George Seurat, this is how he describes the color “white”: ‘A blank page or canvas. His favorite. So many possibilities.’ And it’s true, the possibilities are endless–and a little bit daunting.
That’s why I always remind writers that they are the best part of their writing. Your voice, your point of view, your style–that’s what makes your work unique. Don’t let yourself get caught up in trying to create a plot that has never, ever been seen before. Trust yourself, and you’ll always be happy with the product–and so will your readers.
Associate Editor Esi Sogah joined Avon Books in the summer of 2005. She edits historical and paranormal romance, as well as commercial women’s fiction. http://www.avonromance.com/
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