yvettecarol posted: " Last weekend, I went to our local annual writer's festival. It was fantastic. I learned a lot and thought I'd share some of the content over the next few weeks. My first event was the Step by Step writer's workshop, run by bestselling author, Graeme Sims" Yvette Carol, Author
Last weekend, I went to our local annual writer's festival. It was fantastic. I learned a lot and thought I'd share some of the content over the next few weeks. My first event was the Step by Step writer's workshop, run by bestselling author, Graeme Simsion. It was an intensive hour and a half of Graeme 'drilling us' as he put it with information. I wrote copious notes in my big old notebook. In this ancient tome, I have kept notes I've taken during writing workshops, courses, and lectures dating back thirty years. My friend from the Fabulatores (we've decided on the name now!) sat looking at me sideways, amazed at how much I was writing. But, I have learned from experience you can never keep enough notes. My memory is faulty, and if I don't record the tips, I'll have forgotten half of the content by morning.
Graeme based the workshop on his method of working, detailed in his recently published The Novel Project: A Step-by-Step Guide to Your Novel, Memoir, or Biography. Billed as a simple guide to the writing process, he led us from premise to proofreading. A fast speaker, Graeme crammed a lot into an hour and a half. I had to write like the wind trying to keep up with him. He gave us an overview and then detailed his process of how to write a book in a series of concrete steps, as well as giving tips on how to develop character and what drives a good story.
At first, I thought I had made a mistake being there when Graeme made it clear that the class was for planners, whereas I am a pantser. In other words, I don't plan anything. I set up the right conditions for my writing schedule and then write whatever comes into my silly little head. Graeme made it clear from the outset of his lecture that this was a formal planning approach. I hadn't realized that key detail when I was booking the tickets. Yet, I liked when he said that even if we were pantsers, perhaps one day in the future we may decide our approach wasn't working anymore, then knowing how to plan a novel would be a great backup. "Think of it as a safety net." That sounded sensible, so I stayed, and it turned out I took copious notes and learned an astonishing amount.
Graeme said he starts from the top with his stories; he likes to start with the concept at the outset, nailing down his soundbite or elevator pitch. As a teacher, he said he had met countless writers who could not tell him in a statement their story concept, which is a big mistake. Once he sorts out his story concept, Graeme works on a synopsis for the whole story, detailing the plot, the characters, and their decisions. He said a book should have an inciting incident to kick things off, a few key events hopefully linked to the characters' decisions, a couple of things to twist the plot around then a resolution.
Graeme had other excellent tips too. I could see myself using his idea for a "bucket of scenes." When brainstorming the content for our stories, Graeme advocated having an actual bucket and using index cards to jot down a couple of ideas each day using the cards. We can then toss the cards into the bucket, aiming for 180 per book, though we might only use 120. Usually, when I'm roughing out a new book, I catch notes on serviettes and the backs of envelopes, grabbing whatever is to hand. I liked the idea of using index cards and getting more organized in my approach. Gee, thanks, Graeme. You see how I'm changing already.
I love Graeme Simsion's bio. He was born in New Zealand, became an IT consultant and the author of two nonfiction books on database design, and then decided at the age of fifty to turn his hand to fiction and virtually became an overnight success. His first novel, The Rosie Project, published in 2013, has been sold in forty languages and the movie rights have been optioned to Sony Pictures. The two sequels altogether sold more than five million copies.
There was such a wealth of information in this one workshop that I can't fit it all into one post. I will do a follow-up post on the Step-by-Step workshop at a later date.
What a fabulous evening. I might be a pantser writer, however, it never hurts to learn new tricks. There is power in information. What do you think?
Talk to you later. Keep creating! Yvette Carol
"If I get writer's block I lower my standards." ~ Graeme Simsion
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Ashish Nain posted: " Expereo, a global provider of managed network solutions, announced the appointment of Sujata Kukreja, General Counsel and Scott Zarriello, SVP Enterprise Sales into its ranks. Both recent appointments come as part of a continued global investment" hrnxt.com
Expereo, a global provider of managed network solutions, announced the appointment of Sujata Kukreja, General Counsel and Scott Zarriello, SVP Enterprise Sales into its ranks. Both recent appointments come as part of a continued global investment strategy to further tailor solutions and experiences to all regions based on customer demand, while maintaining the same best-in-class […]
Gymglish posted: " When beginning to learn a language, one can go about it in many ways: travelling, watching TV shows and movies, subscribing to online language lessons or reading up on some classics in your target language. Books of all shapes and sizes are a fant" The Gymglish blog
When beginning to learn a language, one can go about it in many ways: travelling, watching TV shows and movies, subscribing to online language lessons or reading up on some classics in your target language.
Introduction The situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to present complexity, both in the arena of international law, and of politics. Eastern DRC has witnessed largely sustained armed violence for the better part of two and a half decades, with the cyclical disappearance and re-emergence (and arguably, […]
WorldbyStorm posted: " This was funny, from the weekend and the news that: The leader of Britain's successful Covid vaccination programme has accused health officials of dismantling a critically important database, set up to aid Covid vaccine trials, when it could be used f" The Cedar Lounge Revolution
The leader of Britain's successful Covid vaccination programme has accused health officials of dismantling a critically important database, set up to aid Covid vaccine trials, when it could be used for other vital medical research programmes.
"All this talk about the UK becoming a serious science superpower is bollocks," Dame Kate Bingham told the Observer. "These people don't actually care. If you really want to make our clinical research strong, you don't start dismantling what's been put in place."
And:
The dramatic outburst by Bingham follows a decision by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to insist that volunteers who have already signed up to a national database of individuals willing to take part in medical research must now go through a complex, three-stage verification process to reapply to stay in the scheme.
Bingham, who described the NIHR's move as "ridiculous", said the database was set up in spring 2020 so that the UK had a pool of volunteers who were ready and waiting to be enrolled in trials once candidate Covid vaccines had been developed by researchers.
These volunteers, fully 94% of them, were willing to participate in other trials entirely separate from Covid.
But where is the surprise? All the rhetoric about a 'science superpower' was always just that, rhetoric. It doesn't mean anything because it was a tool, or weapon, to be utilised in furtherance of political aims rather than regarded as a good or an end in itself. And while this is funny, and a joke, the joke is on British people. Because in the wake of a pandemic that has such an injurious impact on lives and health and where the eventual outcome remains uncertain - sure, things are better than they were by far, but that may not always be the case - to dismantle this database speaks of no medium or long-term thinking even in respect of Covid. Let alone other medical research programmes.
Bingham argues that:
"The problem is that civil servants are focused on process not outcome," she told the Observer. "There are simpler ways of keeping all those volunteers on the database without making them go through this complex re-registration. It is straightforward: we should be investing in research infrastructure, not taking it apart."
But this isn't about civil servants, or not fundamentally, but rather political willingness to consider the long term. Without governments that are clear about considering that long term nothing (good) will happen.
