A Writer's Woes

Writer's Conference Gems

The two most memorable sessions of the 16th Annual Writers’ Institute were “First Draft in Thirty Days” with Karen Wiesner and “Loglines” with Laurel Yourke.

“First Draft in Thirty Days” is a marketing wizard’s title for Karen Wiesner’s method of writing a novel. First, she outlines her entire book in a manner that fleshes out the characters, plot lines, and scenes. Her outline consists of the following items: character sketches; setting sketches; a plot sketch; beginning, middle, and end summaries; and research. Then, when it’s time to write the book, there are no loose ends so to speak. Everything has been worked out in the outline stage. This highly structured method eliminates rewrites and multiple drafts and allows Karen to write entire novels in less than 2 months (1 month for the outline, 1 to 2 weeks to write the book). For more information, see her website: http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/FD2.html

The loglines workshop by Laurel Yourke encouraged the published and aspiring author alike to use loglines to define and track their work. These catchy one- to two-sentence descriptions can be done for each chapter and later used as the basis for the synopsis. A logline for the entire book can help keep an author focused on what the book is about. In our session, we were asked to write a catchy logline for “The Three Little Pigs.” One participant suggested, “Three pigs. One wolf. A story of survival.” Loglines should not only summarize the story, they should also have an emotional impact and draw the reader in. While loglines have traditionally been recognized in the screenplay writing industry, they are being adopted more and more by novelists as a way to market their work.

Last, but not least, one book was recommended above all others by the various speakers at this conference. “The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structures for Writers” by Christopher Vogler explores the relationship between mythology and story telling. It is based on the work of Joseph Campbell and details myth-inspired paradigms as well as guidelines for plot and character development.

posted by chrmisha @ 5:55 PM