The Snowflake Method

What I get out of the Snowflake Method:
1. Your story in one sentence.
2. Expand your sentence to a paragraph.
3. Write the blurb for your book (that you see on the backs of books), but include the ending.
4. Write your book in a page.
5. Write a page about each main character - motivations, desires, what they do/what happens to them, end goal reached/ outcomes.
6. Expand your story into three pages - beginning, middle, and end.
7. Break into a plotline with steps, connected with character's pages

There are several versions of the snowflake method, and it really depends on the writer what you want to do. But this helped me figure out what my book was really about and get my plot organized, so I know it can really help!

Some pages on the Snowflake Method/more instructions:
http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php
http://www.writerscafe.org/courses/So-You-Want-To-Write-A-Novel%3A-What-Method-Should-You-Use%3F/4782/The-Snowflake-Method/4783/
http://jordanmccollum.com/2009/10/pros-cons-snowflake-method/
http://bubblecow.co/see-how-easily-you-can-write-a-novel-using-the-snowflake-method/

January Contests!

So...it's almost break...what are we going to do with all the time on our hands? Hey, maybe we can all do some writing! Here are some great contests coming up in January to prepare for :D

Writer's Market has a lot of contests on their webpage, just so you know. Here are a couple they told us about:

John Ciardi Prize for Poetry - $1000 and publication (January 15, 2012 postmark)

Iowa Award in Poetry, Fiction & Essay - $1500 and publication (January 31, 2012)

Good luck with your writing!

Querying & A cool blog..

Here's a quick video from agent Kristin Nelson.

If you check out her blog, she's got a whole list in the side of other blogs that might interest you too! On writing, blogs from other agents - you could learn from this stuff. :)
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/

Creating Worlds

So, Ryan Sanderson is great at crafting worlds, and you can access his lecture videos and information at this website:

http://writeaboutdragons.com/

Writing Query Letters!

All of us who want to get our writing published need to know about querying. It can be kindof a scary step in writing & publishing, but there are a lot of resources out there to help us along the way.

Writer's Market is great for finding who to send the letters to, and it's always a good idea to find out what the SPECIFIC publisher/agent wants. Sometimes you can find information like that in the entries in Writer's Market, or visiting their website.

Here are some good quick tips for writing query letters:
- You ALWAYS want to know about who you are submitting to. It's a little embarrassing to send them fantasy if they only publish historical fiction or romance.
- Know who to address the query letter to (it's better to have a name rather than "To Whom it May Concern" (it'll show that you took the effort of five extra minutes to figure out who the person is. Even if it isn't listed, you can probably find it on their website)
- be formal, and without grammatical errors. Some places toss letters with a mistake without a second look.
- new/different/original idea, present it soon in the letter (they read a lot of letters, don't want to take a lot of time)
- SHORT - only one page for the query letter.

Also, here is a great blog for learning about query letters:
http://queryshark.blogspot.com/

Inscape Submissions Due soon!

Inscape Magazine is taking submissions until October 15th
For more information:
http://inscape.byu.edu/

NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-yourpants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000-word (approximately 175-page) novel by 11:59:59 PM on November 30.



Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing
program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by
the time and effort involved.We’ll be talking about our novelling efforts in the club,
but if you’d like to go to official BYU Write-Ins, join the BYU-Nanoers group.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/  Sign Up!

Poetry Contest

This is a $500 poetry contest.  :)

http://www.1800wheelchair.com/scholarship/

Deadline is December 31, 2012 but go ahead and take a look now!  There are some other GPA/school requirements for the contest.  

Four Centuries of Mormon Stories Contest

Here's something you guys might be interested in!

I just wanted to write quickly to inform or remind you that entries under 2,000 words for the Four Centuries of Mormon Stories Contest, which has a prize of $350, are due September 24th toeverydaymormonwriter@gmail.com.

Do not come lightly

“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair--the sense that you can never completely put on the page what's in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick --- and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.”

- Steven King

How to Submit Poetry

http://blog.writersmarket.com/whats-new/poetry-magazine-submissions-how-to-do-them-right

3 BOOK PUBLISHERS OPEN TO NOVELS

WritersMarket.com lists hundreds of book publishers for writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, writing for children, and more. Here are three looking for novel submissions:  DAW Books, Inc. is one of the rare imprints of Penguin that does not require an agent to make submissions on behalf of writers. The editorial focus at DAW is science fiction and fantasy novels. The editors caution that nearly all their novels are more than 80,000 words long. Milkweed Editions is a literary press based in Minnesota. In addition to novels, this press also publishes nonfiction and poetry. They're currently open to submissions through the end of September. After that, they'll re-open to submissions in January. Grey Gecko Press is a small publisher that accepts about everything—except extreme horror, erotica, and religious fiction. If you're writing in those genres, this isn't the press for you. For everyone else, it might be a good fit. Prospective authors should submit a synopsis and the first three chapters. (NOTE: If you're unable to access the listing, it means you either need to log in or sign up for WritersMarket.com first.) WritersMarket.com lists more than 8,000 publishing opportunities, including listings for contests, magazines, book publishers, literary agents, conferences, and more. Log in or sign up today to start submitting your work.

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