Writers Plot Retreat took place in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Northern CaliforniaEasy access to San Jose airportClick for information on the next Plot Retreat, this time for 5 days: November 3 - 7, 2010Gorgeous private home on 25 acres of redwood forestTen writers worked on Plot and StructureOur canine companionsWe ate food worthy of a 5-Star ResortA spot with your name is waiting for youTestimonials, and more photos of the 1st ever Writers Plot RetreatClick for information on the next Plot …
What Now?
Q: I'm done! Too exhausted to type more. What now?A: Congratulations! I'm so impressed with how you kept your head down and your spirits high throughout the writing of the first draft of your story. You did it in two months. You are amazing!You're on a high. The best way to protect yourself from a letdown is to know that what goes up must come down and take care of yourself. Sleep, eat well, take long walks -- preferably to all the locations in your story: the cemetery, the martial arts studio, …
Antagonists in Stories and in Life
We make up stories in our minds about events in our lives. Are the stories real? Real only to us and only as far as our perception is capable of seeing at the time. The stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world around us have a direct impact on how we react to new events in our lives.That is the only explanation I have for why one writer is slain by the antagonists that pop up in the middle of her writing journey. While, another writer faced with the exact same problems is able to …
Fiction Author Reaches Climax of Her Book
In plot consultations with writers, I often see how the writing of a protagonist's transformative journey in a novel, screenplay or memoir mirrors the writer's own personal transformative writing journey.A few weeks back, I wrote about a client struggling to bring her protagonist to the Climax of her book. My impressions were that perhaps the writer's problem came from not having truly reached the end of her own transformative journey enough to grasp her own personal power in life and thus is …
Children’s Picture Books and Plot
Uma Krishnaswami, former child writer who now writes for children, and teaches writing in the MFA/Writing for Children and Young Adults program, Vermont College of Fine Arts, asked me to take part in her blog book tour for her newly released picture book for children: Out of the Way! Out of the Way! and illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy.Uma knows what I do with plot. We have worked together in the past and she interviewed me for her blog Writing with Broken Tusk a few months ago.After receiving …
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