Photo: David & workshop “kids,” l-r: Tim Heare, Trent Walters, me, Benjamin Dieterle, Juliet, Amrynn Scott, Jeanette Anderson, Erika Marler, Joann, Linda, and Scott Wozniak. Not pictured: Ben Harding, Jacqui Talbot and Sean Young
A good book will always rise to the top. – Lisa Mangum, Author and Editor at Shadow Mountain
This morning, after some critiquing of last night’s exercise, Lisa Mangum came and spoke to us about pitches and critiqued some of our pitches. I offered mine for critique, and it was so helpful for her to ask questions about my novel’s stakes. It gave me ideas of how I can tighten my plot even more. She gave other advice:
On Pitching/Plotting
1.Make your villain as strong as your protagonist. Get in the head of your villain so that the stakes are stronger.
2.Identify hero, goal, obstacle, stakes as starting point of pitch.
3.Be specific. Example: using word “slaughter” instead of “murder”
4.Up your stakes by upping your protagonist’s moral dilemma.
Top genre sellers in Shadow Mountain, typically:
1. Romance
2. Action/Adventure/Thriller
3. Mystery
What they are looking for in fall 2017:
Cookbook, Christmas, General fiction, Mystery/Adventure, Inspirational (how to be a better person, better Christian, overcome adversity), Contemporary middle grade and YA.
Today was the last day of the workshop and seriously, it has changed my life as a writer. Before, I thought I had what it takes to be a successful novelist, if I worked hard enough. Heck, I was an English major in college and a professional writer the past twenty years. I knew how to write a good lead for a story, write to a certain word count and with a theme in mind. Turns out, writing for the paper versus writing a novel that sells require different skill sets.
Maybe you are one of those lucky people who got your parents’ blessing to be a writer. Or went to school in creative writing. (I am not.) Or maybe you’ve heard some of this stuff before (but obviously not from Dave).
At any rate, I’ve mostly learned how to write fiction through the following:
- Trial and error
- Read books
- Attended writer’s conferences
- Writing professionally (nonfiction)
Problem was, I was in a rut. I knew my manuscript had problems, but I didn’t know how to fix them. Dave’s Writing Enchanting Prose Workshop is my first workshop if you don’t count writing conferences. And I got information that most likely would have taken a long time to cover in a regular class situation.
Conferences are great, but the classes are huge, and there’s usually no time for exercises where you can get feedback. In contrast, Dave’s workshop is limited to 14 and is very much a hands-on writing experience. Dave would give us a writing exercise, then we would critique them either later that day, or the next day. Some of the material seemed intuitive, but the writing exercises reinforced the principles. Here’s a “scene transition” exercise that I did last night, for example:
BEFORE
By the time they reached the port city of Cadiz, dawn started to lighten the sky. The rising sun cast an orange glow upon the rows of houses that lined the main avenue. Down past the houses, docked ships lined the harbor, dwarfed by the galleon that would take Raúl away from Spain.
There was nothing for him here, anyway.
Raúl instructed the driver to stop at the House of Trade, where Antonio was supposed to meet them for one last farewell. Raúl took care of his traveling papers, returned to the carriage and sent the driver to inquire after Antonio.
AFTER
By the time Raúl reached the port of Cadíz an hour later than he’d hoped for, there was little sunrise to speak of. Pale yellow streaks threaded through gray clouds. The wheels of his hired carriage splashed through puddles. A damp, salty breeze promised rain. The carriage paused at the top of a rise before traipsing down a narrow winding alley of villas. Minutes later, it entered the plaza of the Catedral de Santa Cruz and stopped.
Raul cursed under his breath and asked the driver, “Why are we stopped?”
“People are crossing the plaza for morning mass, Capitan. It will only be a minute.”
Raúl tapped the window sill impatiently. He had to stop at customs and every minute mattered. The greasy smell of churros filled the air as a female vendor waved him over, but Raúl shook his head. Finally, the church bell pealed seven times, scattering a flock of swallows, and the plaza emptied of the crowd like the receding tide.
They moved on through another maze of alleys which widened to the main avenida that fed into the harbor, where the galleon Santa Maria sat heavy in waters mirroring the dull blue sky, dwarfing other boats. But first, they had to stop at the customs house.
The clerk bobbed his head up and down as he unfolded Raúl’s traveling papers at the Cadiz customs house. “And where are you headed today, Captain?”
“Las Islas Filipinas,” Raúl said.
“The Philippine Islands?” The clerk’s head listed sideways like a ship with a leak. “I wish you better luck than my cousin. He got sick with malaria and returned alive, but just barely.” He stamped the papers and continued. “It’s the accursed weather, always raining, and with swamps everywhere — ”
“Thank you,” Raúl cut him off as he gathered his papers and stood up. “I have a galleon to catch.”
The clerk bobbed his head. “Of course. Happy voyage, Captain.”
If you haven’t taken writing classes, this will establish good writerly habits so that you can write your first draft better, and revise easier. If you usually go to writing conferences, save up and attend this workshop somewhere between those conference years. If the budget is tight, and what author’s isn’t, then be super selective about which workshop to attend. In my opinion, Dave’s workshop was worth every penny. At the very least subscribe to Dave’s free writing newsletter.
For more info on David Farland, his workshops and his books, visit his website.
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