AKA Pacific Northwest Writers’ Conference 2007 day FOUR:

Today’s session with Alexis Morgan (aka Pat Pritchard) was the best of the whole conference. She spoke in detail about world building and the process she used in developing her Paladin series. I rushed to the bookstore after the session to buy the three books, only to be thwarted by closing time. Alexis/Pat has written two contemporaries, ten westerns, and three paranormal romances. Whoot! She said the number one failing in world building is lacking originality. She started off developing her new paranormal series by picking out her favorite three characters from paranormals she’s read, then analyzing them to see why they work. Her favorite three are the hero from Barbara Hanley’s Those Who Hunt the Night, Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Eric Northham from Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Series. No, I haven’t read/seen any of these. She likes that these characters are dark, violent, and unrepentant about it. Through their journeys they meet women who bring light to their darkness and resurrect their honor. Big themes: redemption, honor, true-love-wins-out, protection of the weak, and good-wins-out.

Alexis’ reference suggestions:

The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines by Cowden et al.
Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Dave Grossman
West of Everything by Jane Tompkins
“Fantasy World Building Questions” (web) by Patricia C. Wrede (my favorite author of Dealing with Dragons!)

Pacific Northwest Writers’ Conference 2007 day THREE session four:

Wo-manning a forum about the Nuts & Bolts of Romance Writing were some great local romance authors: Pat Pritchard aka Alexis Morgan, Pat White, Ann Roth, Kate Austin, and agent-to-the-stars Michelle Grajkowski. The ladies talked about their work, explained the differences between category and single-title romances and between magical realism and paranormal genres, urged new writers to set up a website and blog now to start building a fan base for when it comes time to publish, and gave tips on reference books.

Suggested titles:

English Through the Ages by William Brohough
Goal, Motivation, and Conflict: the Building Blocks of Good Fiction by Debra Dixon
On Writing by Stephen King
Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham
The Synonym Finder by J. I. Rodale and Nancy LaRoche

Or Pacific Northwest Writers’ Conference 2007 day THREE, sessions two and three:

The next two sessions were about the same thing, fantasy world building, so I lumped them together in one post.

Incorporating Paranormal & Science Fiction Elements: Making it Believable, Not a Barrier

Author James F. David was an excellent speaker, possibly, though not necessarily, from practice at his day job as dean and professor of Psychology at George Fox University. He had lots of great advice about making readers accept the paranormal elements in your novel. Most of his comments covered sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, and horror, as his experience is in crossing these genres in his books. That said, he doesn’t recommend cross-genre because his novels get dispersed separate genre sections in the bookstore; there is no “James F. David” shelf. I mostly took notes on the fantasy genre part of his presentation, which deals with complex alternate worlds, quests, rites and rituals, magic, and magical creatures. (Paranormal Romance is a cross between the Fantasy and Romance genres- what I am writing.)

Authors, he argued, must know their readers’ tolerance for ambiguity. Fortunately for me, fantasy readers have a high tolerance for ambiguity and accept the novel world as it is. They don’t need an explanation of why the world became or is this way, unlike sci-fi readers. Secondly, authors must establish internal rules and logic to govern the fantasy world and, most importantly, not violate those rules, ever. Readers will accept anything as long as the rules are consistent.

James’ gem of knowledge was “Finish the one you’re working on.”

The Werewolf Next Door: Urban Fantasy in the Real World

The speakers at this session were two new, young authors by the names of Richelle Mead and Caitlin Kittredge. It was really exciting to meet authors around my age, writing things I want to write about, and making it in the big bad world of publishing. They basically said the same things about world building as James did, namely create rules for your world and do not break them under pain of death. They also shared some of their microsoft word documents with their notes on character and bestiary; it was interesting to see how other authors organize themselves and think.

Recommended Urban Fantasy Authors and Research Websites:

Kim Harrison – novels about demons and the undead
Kelly Armstrong – The Otherworld, paranormal suspense novels
Jim Butcher – The Dresden Files and the Codex Alera series, his website seems to be down, but here is his live journal
“American Gods” by Neil Gaiman – came up in three panels today, so it must be good!
Fangs, Fur, Fey – an Urban Fantasy author community message board
The Encyclopedia Mythica – for online myth research

Richelle and Caitlin also recommended the following agents who represent Urban Fantasy:

Rachel Vader – Caitlin’s agent who works for Folio and has a livejoural
Jim McCarthy – works for Dystel & Goderich Literary Agency that has its own blog!
Kate McKean – a brief google search suggests she also works for D & G
Jennifer Jackson - Jim Butcher’s agent

I am too sleepy to write up my last session right now, and I have to get up early for a last fun-filled day of writer’s camp. Adieu, adieu, parting is such sweet sorrow, that I would say good night till it be…. oh wait, it already is.

Pacific Northwest Writers’ Conference 2007 day THREE session one:

Today’s sessions were great, evidenced by the ton of notes I took, which, lucky you, I will share. I awoke bright and early this morning to attend a session by Alice Orr with the above title, and it was well worth it. Four men even came to learn about the do’s and don’ts of writing about sex. It isn’t just for the romance genre; human sexuality is an important subject for every novel about and for an adult audience. Since most readers of novels are Female, it’s important to know what women want. In Alice’s words, most female readers are not hooked by slam-bam-thank-you-ma’am lust-filled sex; they want giving, sharing, passionate, loving, liberating sex. Love scenes must touch the heart, not just tweak the libido.

Alice stressed that sex in novels must be added thoughtfully to advance the characters and the plot, not thrown in to titillate. Love scenes must be justified through the storytelling. Love scenes are inherently full of struggle, both in sexual tension and internal self-awareness. Each lover is individually thinking “Why am I here? I already have enough going on in this story. Should I expand energy on love and sex right now? All I need is another complication! Should I even be with this person?” The answer to these questions plays out in the emotional intensity of the scene, with feelings so intense that they overcome all logical and rational arguments against it. After the scene the characters’ circumstances are irrevocably altered by their decision to act.

Alice had an explicit list of things to avoid when writing these scenes: AVOID false casualness, too much banter, or verbal posturing; AVOID too much or too detailed physical descriptions; AVOID overly clinical scenes; AVOID cliche romance novel prose, such as heaving bosoms, exploding stars, lightning, and shivers down the spine; AVOID cut-to-the-trees; AVOID aimlessness, meandering, and dragging it on and on; AVOID pretentious, hackneyed language; AVOID coming across as uncomfortable.

“Create the Perfect Male Lover,” she argued. This paragon appreciates a woman who enjoys sex; He encourages her to be herself and express her own sexuality; He sees women as equals and likes women. He takes his time and lets her take all the time she needs. He is a woman’s man, not a ladies man.

Her recommendations for researching love scene lexicon and treatment:

“Natural History of the Senses” by Diane Ackerman
“Little Birds” and “Delta of Venus” by Anais Nin
“Exit to Eden” by Ann Rampling/Ann Rice

And finally the bit of wisdom that I took away from it all: “All writers talk to themselves.” It’s such a relief to know I’m normal!

“This is a profession of rejection.”

- Moderator at the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Conference 2007 – Agents and Editors’ Forum 

I’m not really sure this belongs under Bellilaughs… inspired yet?

Today, despite running late, spilling watermelon juice on my blouse and salad dressing on my skirt, soaking my bag and books with my leaky water bottle, and getting stuck in unbelievable traffic, the conference was quite good.

A few highlights of the agents and editors forums:

1) Most editors do NOT accept unagented manuscripts.

2) The “Urban Fantasy” genre is hot; four or five agents and editors expressed interest in acquiring it. Of course this caused my brain to start revolving, ruminating, reforming my current story into something unrecognizable. By the end of the day I was chomping at the bit to get home and start writing my “new” novel, throwing out all 16-or-so pages that I’ve spent the last month writing. Ha! I need to learn to write a book every two weeks like Sherrilyn Kenyon so that I can keep up with my imagination. I should utilize my mad Master of Urban Planning skills to kick ass in this genre.

3) The “Young Adult” genre is hot. I’ve got a novel in the back of my mind for this one too.

4) Apparently Hollywood won’t accept screenplays that haven’t been made into books first, according to the three agents who represent screenplays in the forum. Studios assume that only books that publishers have already screened and accepted are any good. One agent told a story about how his client had to turn his screenplay into a book, then back into a screenplay after studios accepted the book. The studios wouldn’t touch it when it was a screenplay, but were outbidding each other to acquire it as a book.

5) A lot of authors and agents are lawyers in their “real jobs”. Laura, Jeremy, Steve – wanna start a writing group?

The Craft of Writing: The Weekend Novelist Writes.

In the afternoon I attended a very good workshop by author Robert Ray. He led us in a series of free writes to get our stories flowing. This blog was supposed to be my inspirational free write outlet, but there is no fire starter like a crotchety professor standing over my shoulder to make my pen skim across the page. He was very insistent on writing by hand, then typing up notes. His wise words on writing practice:

Write like an athlete trains; write every day, whether you feel like it or not; write under the clock, timing yourself to distract the internal editor; write with these rules: keep the hand moving, don’t cross out, don’t edit, go for the jugular, go for first thoughts, don’t think, lose control, spend it all.

He has a couple of books out on how to write, and I’ll probably buy The Weekend Novelist.

I was really nervous to share, but it wasn’t so bad. In each free write we were instructed to write for five minutes, letting the words flow and not crossing anything out. We started the first free write with the sentence “I want to write about a character who…”

I want to write about a character who wants to have adventures, travel, experience life, but she is timid, afraid of failure, afraid to try. She is put upon by her boss, her mother, her friends and too shy to stand up for herself and seize her own destiny. She believes she will fail if she tries. My character falls through a magic mirror one day and is confronted by a fantastic world where magic and mythic monsters really exist. She is forced to believe in things she thought impossible. Through a series of events and trials, all dangerous, all new, all forcing her to take control and risk herself and her beliefs, she finds the greatest adventure of all is found when she can risk her heart by giving it to the man she loves.

The second free write started with “The first time she saw him she felt the…” and I found myself all jumbled up about exactly what I wanted to say. Really, it was the “the”. When in doubt, fall back on classic romance novel prose!

The first time she saw him she felt the crushing embarrassment of falling in the mud in front of a gorgeous man, as well as the thrill of being close to him. A shiver of awareness ran down her spine as she gaped at his chiseled features and sparkling green eyes. She felt her face flush as she realized she was staring and closed her mouth. She felt mortified at being filthy and mud splattered in front of him, but resigned that such a handsome man wouldn’t look at her, mud splattered or not. She turned and ran, mumbling a quick thank you behind her.

One of my sharing partners commented that I used all the right romance novel words. Way to be cliché Ciara!

Mainstream & Literary Fiction Track: Establishing the Ground Situation in Literary Fiction

The second session I attended was led by author and professor Scott Driscoll. It reminded me of a high school english class. I didn’t find the session itself quite as helpful, but during the session my imagination cooked up a fabulous opening scene for my book, so overall it was productive.

Today I will be taking The Big Jump by sinking rather a lot of money into attending the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Conference. This means at least a part of me really thinks I might be able to be a writer! The conference is today through Sunday and has both romance and sci-fi/fantasy tracks. Surprisingly, I intend to attend more of the later. I need more help learning how to introduce paranormal elements without making it silly than I do learning about how women writers are important.

Todays events that I intend to attend:

The Craft of Writing: You have the IDEA, now what?

Only interesting thing I learned (though I think Brie told me about it and teaches it to her little kids) is a writing plot outline called a Story Spine. Fill in the blanks:

1) Once upon a time…
2) Every day…
3) Until one day…
4) Because of this…
5) Because of this…
6) Because of this…
7) Because of this…
8 ) Because of this…
9) Finally…
10) Ever since that day…

Mainstream and Literary Fiction: The Power of Storytelling as Testimony

I didn’t end up going to this session because the first session was awful and I was hungry and there was no food to be had.

Dessert Reception with Agents and Editors, Featuring Speaker Shawn Wong

Speaker regaled us with humorous life stories about writing and teaching Asian American Lit and selling women’s clothing.

I will not be meeting with agents and editors because apparently one needs to have a completed manuscript as an unpublished author in the fiction world prior to attracting an agent or editor. Hopefully I’ll finish by October for the Emerald City Writers’ Conference (though for some unfathomable reason it is being held in Bellevue, not the Emerald City!).

Laura’s request for book advice merits an entire post. Since my secret desire is to get all my friends as addicted to romance novels as I am, crafting the perfect seduction is important.

Ooooo! Where to start? My favorites seem to be exclusively Paranormal Romances, which means they have a bit of magic or other-worldliness about them. Here are my top suggestions, in no particular order, to help guide you towards starting your addiction by finding a novel that you will enjoy:

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon:
Pros – The book that seduced me into the genre. Really well written. Men in Kilts. Time travel. Love. Rob Roy in book form. Here is an excellent post on why even those brainy and male might love it.
Cons – Weeelllll, to be honest, if you’ve seen Rob Roy you’ll remember some of the darker, more brutal aspects of the movie, and the book isn’t any different. (ie rape and torture.)

Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Marie Moning:
Pros- first book in the Highlander series, which I’ve enjoyed a lot. Men in kilts, time travel, and a bit of the Tuatha De Dannon legends. Forbidden Love.
Cons- I remember thinking parts of this book were a bit silly, but I can’t remember exactly which parts or why. That said, it’s true of a lot of the books I’ve read, and part of what makes romances fun.

You Slay Me (Aisling Grey book 1) by Katie MacAlister:
Pros – Witty and upbeat. The world MacAlister creates is fantastical and Potter-esque. Sexy dragons in human form, Guardians who guard the portals to hell, hilarious newfoundland demon Jim, other demons, imps, magic Cons – The heroine and hero don’t exactly share wuv, tru wuv. It’s “complicated”. These books are marketed as romance novels because the editor wanted to draw on the large romance market, but they are more detective fantasy novels.

Fantasy Lover or Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon:
While the former is the first book one is supposed to read (the prequel), the later is perhaps more engaging and I, personally, read it first because the synopsis of Fantasy Lover was so incredibly silly.
Pros – Great series for anyone who likes the fantasy genre and (definitely) for anyone who likes Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Xena, Warrior Princess.
Cons – Not your happy-go-lucky fantasy world. Dark and gothic. More sex, less romance. Once again not for the faint stomached- hero has, literally, a tortured past. Graphic Violence.

After Midnight or Breath of Magic by Teresa Medeiros:
Pros – Light and happy, true love. A sprinkling of fairy dust (the paranormal). The former is set in the regency period, if you want to start off with a classic romance time period. More romance and less sex. Vampires in the first book, witches in the second. I really enjoyed the sequel to After Midnight, called The Vampire Who Loved Me
Cons – Warm and fuzzy doesn’t do it for some people. Ha. A bit silly in places.

Blow Me Down by Katie MacAlister:
Pros – If you’ve ever played Puzzle Pirates, you can enjoy this at a whole new level. The hero reminds me of my own true love.
Cons – It’s a bit off the beaten track….a romance novel about Puzzle Pirates? Not for everyone, but then I’m for sure a bit of a geek.

It is 12:16 am and I have obtained the precious Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Unlike plebian novels that sport a synopsis on the back or inside cover, this golden fleece says simply “We now present the seventh and final installment in the epic tale of Harry Potter.” Is that compelling or what?

The real question is, will I sleep tonight or read straight through?

I’m sitting here on my balcony looking out over the lights of fisherman’s terminal, listening to the dulcet tunes of my downstairs neighbor. He’s sitting on his deck playing the guitar and singing, and (thank goodness) he’s very good. He has variety of classic songs in his repertoire, starting with Swing Lo, Sweet Chariot, and has a lovely voice. The girl sitting with him sometimes sings along (unfortunately) and if I had balls I’d join in too. Haha. I wish Ryan were here so we could sit together and enjoy the night music. Only two more days!

They started singing LANDSLIDE!!! My favorite.