Posted February 1st, 2012 under Books, Conferences, Craft, Writing
Writer’s Digest 2012 Conference: Wisdom From The Pros
Of all the sessions I attended at the Writer’s Digest conference, three had the biggest impact. Here are some words of wisdom from these writing pros that are worth remembering:
Donald Maass
{on writing the 21st century novel}
- A lot of literary fiction titles (i.e. The Help, Water for Elephants) have been on the New York Times bestseller list for 1-2 years, while genre fiction (thrillers, etc.) are only on for 3-10 weeks.
- The whole concept of genre is slowly dying.
- Strong and beautiful writing is dominating. Maass calls it ”high-impact” fiction, which reaches people in powerful ways. It’s personal. Authors bring genuine experiences/emotion and don’t hold back.
- No matter what kind of writer you are and what kind of fiction you’re writing, the techniques of high-impact fiction is available for all of us to learn from.
- Maass’ new book – Writing the 21st Century Novel – will contain 380 prompts using these techniques to improve your fiction. It debuts in the fall!
James Scott Bell
{on conflict and suspense}
- True character is shown during conflict.
- Suspense is withholding information.
- You need trouble from the very first page, something that disturbs the characters’ world.
- First, you need a lead character readers can care about. Types of leads are positive, negative and anti-hero.
- Second, the stakes of the story need to involve death–either physical, professional or psychological.
- Third, open with a disturbance, or at least the possibility of trouble. Readers read because they want to worry about a character.
- Each scene must have a character with an objective, and obstacles in the scene create the conflict. The outcome will be that they accomplish the goal or they don’t. It should either be a setback or lead to further trouble.
Chris Baty
of NaNoWriMo fame
{on the drive to write}
- Novels aren’t written by novelists. They’re written by everyday people who give themselves permission to write them.
- There are four things writers need to pack:
- A deadline. Even more important than the great idea, you need to get your idea moving. Break up writing into small, manageable steps. Ask other writers to hold you accountable.
- Momentum. Remember the scientific rule, objects in motion stay in motion and objects in rest stay in rest? It applies to writing too. Even with a deadline, sometimes manuscripts stall. Even if you don’t write everyday, commit to looking at your manuscript everyday. Tiny victories (i.e. opening your document) will lead to confidence about your project.
- An appreciation of messes. Make as many messes as possible. You need to constantly experiment. Forgive yourself for your mistakes. You get better just by putting yourself out there and doing it.
- Faith, that our books don’t suck, that we’re getting better, and that our work will eventually matter to somebody. Being a writer is an impractical and impossible dream but world holds a lot of great surprises. Everyone has so much more in them than they realize. We have the power to do great things. Outsource the job to friends and family – let them believe in you and borrow their confidence.
I walked away from these sessions feeling inspired and energized to write. Maass, Bell and Baty each have books on writing that I can’t wait to get my hands on. Donald Maass’ new book, Writing the 21st Century Novel, comes out this fall. James Scott Bell’s new book, Conflict and Suspense, came out last month. Chris Baty has two craft books – No Plot, No Problem and Ready, Set, Novel. Baty’s talk even inspired me to try NaNoWriMo! It’s months away so we’ll see if I actually do it. In the meantime, I hope you find these words as inspiring and helpful as I did.Have you ever done NaNoWriMo?
Next week, I’m sharing a guest post from my good friend Gabriela Pereira (of DIYMFA.com) who was 9 months pregnant when she attending the Writer’s Digest Conference. Stay tuned for her unique take on the experience! (Spoiler alert: she didn’t go into labor during the conference…thank goodness!)
