Another WIFYR come and gone

James Dashner, Carol Lynch Williams, Lisa Mangnum, Ann Cannon, agents, and an editor. Another fantastic WIFYR is in the books.

I don’t know how Carol Williams manages to pull this magical week off every year, but she does. And keeps up on her personal writing. And plays Mom to her five daughters. The lady is amazing. She can dance, too.

Ann Cannon was awesome again. We had a baker’s dozen in our workshop this year. When the enrollment looked small, Ann had assigned 20 pages to share. Then one of the instructors dropped out and our class absorbed some of those writers and critiquing that many pages from so many people became a task. Certainly not in negative way. There is something rewarding about working with other writers, all helping each other lift their craft.

One of my favorite presenters was Lisa Mangum. She had a session on pitching your work and another on reader grabbing first lines and openings. For pitching, it depends on the situation. She touched on the tradition 30 second “elevator” pitch, but sometimes you may not have that much time. At a book signing at Costco, for example, you may have only two seconds to interest someone. She gave suggestions for boiling down your book to it’s essence for situations like that.

John Cusick, agent for Greenhouse Literary Agency and a fiction writer on his own, gave an inspiring presentation. One of his tricks for staying on task during his writing moments is a timer program that does not allow email or internet interruptions. As far as pushing yourself to write, he said, nobody cares if you don’t finish your novel. I care.

Those were just a few of the many intriguing and energizing moments. Start stashing away your nickels and quarters now because Carol will be bringing this conference back again next June.

(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)

WIFYR special guests

I don’t know how she does it, but Carol Lynch Williams seems to always pull in some big names to the WIFYR conference and this year is no different.

Thursday’s keynote speaker will be The Maze Runner author, James Dashner. The trilogy includes The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure and the movie hits the theaters in September. The Maze Runner is what he is most notable for, but Dashner has also written The 13^th Reality series, the Jimmy Fincher series and two books in the Mortality Doctrine series.

The book I’m reading now is book one of The Infinity Ring, A Mutiny in Time. As a WIP is a time travel book, I wanted another perspective on the genre and Dashner starts with an interesting premise. Modern society is dystopic, and Christopher Columbus did not discover America. Dashner’s characters must travel back in time to repair breaks in history, such as the one in which the mutineers on the Santa Maria prevented his famous discovery. Similar to the 39 Clues series, each the book is written by a different author, including Utah’s own Jennifer Nielsen and Matt Kirby (a current and former WIFYR instructor respectfully). Scholastic Books has picked it up and has online games that go with it. Talk about use of social media.

Attendees at WIFYR will have greater access to the publisher guests. Editor Kristin Ostby will be there from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Agent John Cusick returns and he represents Greenhouse Literary Agency. The other agents are Michelle Witte from Mansion Street Literary Management and Amy Jameson of A+B Works.

The once thing about this conference is that these agents and editors respect the time and energy writers put into writing and their commitment to the craft. Utah has been noticed by the publishing world and they come to WIFYR seeking that talent.

James Dashner’s keynote is Thursday afternoon, June 19. Conference attendees, of course, get in. Others may come for free, however they must have a ticket, a copy of which just happens to be below and above. Print it out and present it for admission. Print out several and bring your writer friends, too.

(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)

Killer first lines

Life just ain’t fair. You work your heart out on a story, spend months writing, revising, and rewriting some 50,00 words or more. Then you send your precious darling off with high hopes and what happens? An agent or editor may not read more than the first sentence. If you’re lucky or your writing shows promise, maybe they’ll finish the paragraph or even first page.

What’s up with that? Alane Ferguson taught a WIFYR workshop a few years back. She said agents and editors are busy people and hundreds of manuscripts cross their desks each year. They’re not looking at story but need to quickly assess writing potential. Agent John Cusick receives 5,000 queries a year. In a few short sentences, you have to stand out from the crowd. One way to do that is with a powerful first line.

The local SCBWI chapter sponsored an evening event at the Salt Lake City library once with speaker Clint Johnson. In his presentation, titled “Great Beginnings,” he said he tries to hook the reader on the first line. If they are intrigued, maybe they’ll read on through the 1^st paragraph, then the 1^st page, and on and on.

Johnson went further. He said there are three things imperative to a story’s opening. You should present conflict, pose questions, and reveal character. Conflict is the driving element of the story. We naturally want to see conflict resolved so it is a reason to read on. Pose questions, or better yet, write so that readers pose their own questions and thus want to read further for answers. The main character’s POV is the door into the story. Johnson said to try to hit all three in the first line.

Similarly, John Cusick said he wants the entire book in the first line or paragraph.

Then comes the question of where to start the story. Gone are the days of the soft break-in of character or setting. Readers today (and publishers) want action from the get-go. We’re told to never begin at the beginning, but start at the middle. Avoid too much backstory or info dumping.

I rewrote the start of my NaNo story and shared it with my critique group. They get hungry and I have to feed them every once in a while. I spent a few hours perfecting that first chapter. My first line was good, but they didn’t like where I started. They want me to do it again.

Life isn’t fair.