Ted Talk Video
Sunday, August 18, 2013
What To Bring With You to Mendocino
For the purposes of our workshop, please bring the following:
1) Choose a novel that you love and respect. It should be commercially successful. It should be published within the last 20 years. It should be very close to the kind of novel you are trying to write. You don't need to bring the actual novel. But write down a few things you like about it, things you wouldn't mind imitating.
2) A sense of humor.
3) A willingness to be critiqued without being defensive.
4) Some good ideas about how to make the other openings better than they are.
1) Choose a novel that you love and respect. It should be commercially successful. It should be published within the last 20 years. It should be very close to the kind of novel you are trying to write. You don't need to bring the actual novel. But write down a few things you like about it, things you wouldn't mind imitating.
2) A sense of humor.
3) A willingness to be critiqued without being defensive.
4) Some good ideas about how to make the other openings better than they are.
Friday, August 16, 2013
A Few Words About Plot
Plot: Some Basic Distinctions
To truly know how to begin your novel, you should have at least a rough idea of what the driving force in the novel is. That driving force is often known as the plot. It's not the storyline (and then this happened and then this happened and then this happened), it's the sequence of cause and effect (this happened which caused this to happen which caused this to happen) which grows out of the MC's (main character's) initial motivation and initial action to accomplish whatever it is they want.
To truly know how to begin your novel, you should have at least a rough idea of what the driving force in the novel is. That driving force is often known as the plot. It's not the storyline (and then this happened and then this happened and then this happened), it's the sequence of cause and effect (this happened which caused this to happen which caused this to happen) which grows out of the MC's (main character's) initial motivation and initial action to accomplish whatever it is they want.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Best First Lines of Novels | Infoplease.com
Best First Lines of Novels | Infoplease.com
Click on the link to read some famous first lines of famous novels.
What common elements do you see in some of these openings?
Do any of them contain a trace of the genetic code of the entire novel?
How do some of them create suspense?
Click on the link to read some famous first lines of famous novels.
What common elements do you see in some of these openings?
Do any of them contain a trace of the genetic code of the entire novel?
How do some of them create suspense?
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