SCBWI Conference: North Carolina
Last month I flew across the country to my home state to see my folks and friends. And to attend the SCBWI conference there. I figured, two birds with one flight...or something like that. I hadn't been home since Thanksgiving, and I happily discovered the plane ticket was HALF what I am spending for my upcoming Christmas trip home. So yay for flying at off times!
I'd never been to a local conference like this before--having attending only the LA and NYC conferences. And I worried that it might not be as good--the faculty being smaller and all that. But let me tell you, NC's conference rocked my world. Every single break-out session was amazing and the keynotes fantastic! And I got to know the faculty much better than I would have if there were double or triple the number.
But let me back up a bit. To prepare for this fantastic event, on the plane I read faculty author, Stephanie Greene's The Lucky Ones.
The Lucky Ones starts out in this very descriptive, scene-setting style that in the age of MTV and quick cuts, you don't see as much anymore. And even though it was beautiful, my short attention span was saying, What the? But thank god, thank god, thank god I was trapped on a plane with it! Which sounds like a crazy thing to say, but I have a bad habit of throwing books down after a few pages, and in this case, it would have been a tragedy! Twelve-year-old Cecile's voice is fantastic and her story is now among my favorites ever! This is one of the few books out there that is truly about that in-between, cusp-of-adulthood time, and I highly recommend it. Just fix yourself a cup of tea and don't be in a huge hurry at the start. Enjoy those lovely descriptions!
So fully fueled after this great read, I arrived at the conference and was immediately adopted by Janelle, member of a twelve-person critique group, The Goalies. Instant pile of friends! Woo-hoo!
From scbwi nc
No, the other eleven people aren't invisible friends, they just aren't in the photo.
Anyhow, on to useful writerly stuff...like tension! Unlike in life, in books tons of tension is great!
Mark Johnston, co-author of Secret Agent talks about how tension is the mother of fiction and recommends this book by Jerome Stern, : Making Shapely Fiction, which is where I think this quote comes from: "Characters don't merely face their enemies, they face themselves facing their enemies." Great one, huh?
Okay, here are The Tension Rules:
1. Start tension as early as possible
2. Build to your climax with little to no down time
3. The ends of chapters should raise tension
4. If you ease tension at the beginnings of chapters, you should tighten it back up again quickly
5. If you have anything longer than a 20 word description, it better have tension
6. Keep reader interest alive by adding depth to your character
7. Tension should be present in all character groups (friends, family)
8. Add subplots with tension
9. Don't cheat the climax (should be in-the-moment, stretch it out as long as you can--don't put reader out of their misery, can't be less exciting than mini climaxes)
10. Don't untie all the knots at the end. Tension should still be present after last sentence. Let the reader write the final wrap-up chapter.
Great advice, huh? I learned tons more, but it's time to get back to my own book. Maybe I'll post more from SCBWI-NC later if you're interested.
I'd never been to a local conference like this before--having attending only the LA and NYC conferences. And I worried that it might not be as good--the faculty being smaller and all that. But let me tell you, NC's conference rocked my world. Every single break-out session was amazing and the keynotes fantastic! And I got to know the faculty much better than I would have if there were double or triple the number.
But let me back up a bit. To prepare for this fantastic event, on the plane I read faculty author, Stephanie Greene's The Lucky Ones.
The Lucky Ones starts out in this very descriptive, scene-setting style that in the age of MTV and quick cuts, you don't see as much anymore. And even though it was beautiful, my short attention span was saying, What the? But thank god, thank god, thank god I was trapped on a plane with it! Which sounds like a crazy thing to say, but I have a bad habit of throwing books down after a few pages, and in this case, it would have been a tragedy! Twelve-year-old Cecile's voice is fantastic and her story is now among my favorites ever! This is one of the few books out there that is truly about that in-between, cusp-of-adulthood time, and I highly recommend it. Just fix yourself a cup of tea and don't be in a huge hurry at the start. Enjoy those lovely descriptions!
So fully fueled after this great read, I arrived at the conference and was immediately adopted by Janelle, member of a twelve-person critique group, The Goalies. Instant pile of friends! Woo-hoo!
From scbwi nc
No, the other eleven people aren't invisible friends, they just aren't in the photo.
Anyhow, on to useful writerly stuff...like tension! Unlike in life, in books tons of tension is great!
Mark Johnston, co-author of Secret Agent talks about how tension is the mother of fiction and recommends this book by Jerome Stern, : Making Shapely Fiction, which is where I think this quote comes from: "Characters don't merely face their enemies, they face themselves facing their enemies." Great one, huh?
Okay, here are The Tension Rules:
1. Start tension as early as possible
2. Build to your climax with little to no down time
3. The ends of chapters should raise tension
4. If you ease tension at the beginnings of chapters, you should tighten it back up again quickly
5. If you have anything longer than a 20 word description, it better have tension
6. Keep reader interest alive by adding depth to your character
7. Tension should be present in all character groups (friends, family)
8. Add subplots with tension
9. Don't cheat the climax (should be in-the-moment, stretch it out as long as you can--don't put reader out of their misery, can't be less exciting than mini climaxes)
10. Don't untie all the knots at the end. Tension should still be present after last sentence. Let the reader write the final wrap-up chapter.
Great advice, huh? I learned tons more, but it's time to get back to my own book. Maybe I'll post more from SCBWI-NC later if you're interested.