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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does your character want?<\/li>
Why does your character want it?<\/li>
What is the misbelief or unconscious belief that keeps your character from getting it?<\/li>
What will your character learn or who will they become?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 …<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s been a good conference and a nice weekend. I’ve enjoyed “talking” with my fellow writers and hearing their work.<\/p>\n
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