I’ve been “attending” the SC Writer’s Association’s virtual conference this weekend. The keynote speaker was Patti Callihan Henry, who spoke about “The Soul of Story” and said we are hard-wired for the art of storytelling. We also had a writing workshop with her where we looked at telling a story based on your character’s wants. She asked us to think about the following questions:
- What does your character want?
- Why does your character want it?
- What is the misbelief or unconscious belief that keeps your character from getting it?
- What will your character learn or who will they become?
We also had a sessions on finding humor in tense situations and a panel of literary agents explaining exactly what it is that they do. Patti and her agent, Amanda Bostic, talked about how a manuscript goes from draft to marketplace. The afternoon workshop was on putting emotion into your writing, then we had a query-fest and a prompt party before the open mike night. I read the opening pages of Outlaw Security and it went over pretty well, so I’m happy.
Today, we’re going to start with “The Shy Writer’s Guide to Presenting Yourself” and “A User’s Guide to Novel Structure.” We’ll end the conference with a slush-fest. I didn’t send anything in to that because I already know Outlaw Security starts off strong. I just need to throw in a little tweak I thought up the other day …
It’s been a good conference and a nice weekend. I’ve enjoyed “talking” with my fellow writers and hearing their work.