Go Where the Pain & Pleasure Is

I found this video today and I think she gives good advice.

Go to the Pain - think back to the painful experiences you've had, and write from there.

Go to the Pleasure - she says to write what YOU enjoy, write what you want.

She talks about publishing and it's a bit more encouraging than talks on publishing are sometimes. I'm not a hundred percent sure about self-publishing - that's a choice for us all individually - but check out her video and see what you think.

Welcome Zina Petersen to YPublish!

Zina Petersen is our new faculty advisor for the club! We are so happy to have her, and excited to learn from her experience. She shared some websites that might be interesting to take a look at - including blogs from authors and editors.

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/

http://jscottsavage.blogspot.com/

http://www.ulfelder.com/category/blog/

http://www.garycorby.com/

http://jeffreysomers.com/blather/

http://misssnark.blogspot.com/

http://absolutewrite.com/

We also discussed possible connections with Gibbs Smith publishing, and we hope you all will consider querying Gibbs Smith in the future. :)

http://www.gibbs-smith.com/

Plot

Three parts of plot:
SETTING (how the plot is at the beginning)
Tensions in the world before the conflict emerges
i.e. Hunger games - Katniss, in district 12, they're starving and she's sneaking out to go hunt
Level 3. Bystander to fight (and later gets involved in the fight) - more rare (The Matrix - humans against the machines, there's a fight
(The Host - she's a bystander, then get's pulled into the fight/conflict)
Level 2. There's a fight in progress, but it is NOT the same as the conflict.
(i.e. Hunger games - the fight is can they stay alive in district 12 - not the fight/conflict of the actual Hunger Games)
Level 1. No fight (i.e. Monster's Inc, The Hobbit)

CONFLICT
The main conflict in the story
i.e. The Hunger Games, fighting to stay alive
Level 3. Loyalty & Law - Choose between loyalties/laws they are familiar with and something else - element of choice and sides.
(i.e. How to Train your Dragon, Monster's Inc)
Level 2. (Most common) Focused fight - physical or internal, but they are actively fighting. This entails both sides fighting - the people have a chance, and have some control.
Level 1. Perceptual - there isn't a physical conflict - there could be perceptual danger, or
the main character doesn't have much control - they are acted upon. This is harder to do for full length stories. Class struggles can be a type of perceptual struggle.
Oliver Twist, Ever After?

RESOLUTION
i.e. Katniss and Peeta both managed to get out alive

Level 3. (Most common) Defeat using Clever use of Law - (i.e. Harry Potter defeats Voldemort destroying the Horcruxes and using the hallows
Monster's Inc defeats him by using the simulator - using something that's been established earlier. Hunger Games - Katniss decides they should eat the berries. The law is that the games have to have a winner, so taking away a winner means the Capital fails, so she uses that to beat the Capital/games)
Level 2. Physical Defeat - (Can be satisfying but aren't as mainstream now) The team wins, the Hobbit
Level 1. Perception unified but unsolved. These don't work as well with longer stories, but work fine with shorter stories. (i.e. Godzilla - in some versions, goes back into the ocean and he's gone. 1984 - the government finally braks his mind and he knows they're going to kill him eventually, and the book ends with him knowing that but not actually dying.)

The Rule: You should NOT let your plot drop lower. If you're story is a 2-2 ____ you can't end the resolution with a 1.
1-2-3 is okay, 3-2-1 is not. The only way to have a good resolution ending at a level 1 (Perception unified) is if you have your setting and conflict stages be 1 also (1-1-1 works, 2-2-1 doesn't).

Some examples:
Monster's Inc - the conflict begins by a physical conflict of kicking them out (2) but escalates to a 3 when they have to choose loyalties.

Aladdin - setting 2 (starts with his own fight for survival on the street), conflict is 2 (focused fight), resolution 3 (Aladdin uses the rule of genies against Jafar and defeated Jafar)

Twilight - setting 1 (no fight), conflict is 1 (she doesn't have any control over things) or 2 (focused fight - his blood lust for her, her resistance/choices), and resolution 2 - physical win over the other vampire.


The Atonement / Fall Story: 1-2-3

Endings in a Series:
The plot of the first book should come to resolution. I.e. there's resolution to the main conflict for the first book. And the plot over the series is to defeat the main bad guy - THAT is not the main conflict of the book, so they can resolve/solve the fight (and have a good resolution of 2 or 3) and then the main bad guy getting away doesn't defeat the resolution of the first book.

Link to the Class website that Kim is in - thanks so much to Kim for this mini lesson!!
http://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/elang410am/fictionedit.html

Tips from Brandon Mull

Thanks to Mossy for the notes on Brandon Mull's lecture here at BYU this month.

**Day Dreaming & Imagination**

We've all heard that all the stories have been told, that there's nothing new.
Solution? Remix it like a dj.

Take old concepts (i.e. journey to go get an apple from the garden) and put a twist. Remix, recycle, reuse old material adapted to new forms. So it's not really new, but it's new to the readers.

Voice: Every writer has a voice unique to them.

Critique from others: Think about it, don't dismiss it right off, take some of what people say. Sometimes his editor would suggest huge changes, but thinking about things for a few days might make you realize it's a fabulous suggestion that really improves your book.

Write what you love, what you want to read, and what you think is awesome. You should put your all into it. Optimal area for action - it's probably what you know best.

The Dream Press - spread the word!

"Stories are the most powerful way to share what's most important to us." - Ben Ehlert

*If you're interested in learning more about publishing, the English language and Linguistics Department teaches a class on it.

You can submit stories and artwork, and then people vote for their favorites. Those that get voted up - and ones that get voted up will get viewed by publishers. The website's still in development (it's a beta website) but this is a cool new opportunity! Let's all spread the word about it!

Cover photos for your stories you submit on there:
1. Can upload your own cover image,
2. You can pay illustrators to do work - $20 b&w - $25 color - you describe what you want.

3. Drop cap - takes the first letter of the story and makes it that way.

Novels:
Submit just the first chapter, and see how people take to it.



Goal is 3 books in production - cover illustrated, edited, illustrated, designed, formatted, promoted & sold - they're trying to get the first books ready by APRIL. Usually publishing can take up to 2 years for that entire process.

How the sounds of words matter - lecture tomorrow!!

Onomatopoeia. Does a term like this make your heart sing?  

If so, join us tomorrow at the annual James L Barker lecture given by Associate Professor of Linguistics and English Language Janis B. Nuckolls.

“Why Do Sound-Effect Words Matter?”

Janis B. Nuckolls

Tomorrow

11 am

B092 JFSB

Pacing in Your Writing

Cary gave us some tips on pacing today:
Biggest distinction: what the story is focused on.

Fast vs. Slow

Emotions, thoughts,

Fast: background fades away. You will cut a lot of adjectives and adverbs - use descriptive verbs instead.
i.e. was a glorious, beautiful sunrise. --> The sun had lept into the sky.
Slow: wider view. You take in details around you, backgrounds, scenery, overall view of characters.

Transitions: Don't jump between fast-paced and slow-paced. Try to build up to faster-paced sections, and build-down to slower sections.
i.e. including details that give the reader a sense of foreboding makes them expect a faster-paced scene. After an intense, stressful scene there might be a sense of relief, and at that point it is natural for the pace to slow down.

Also, it can be helpful to think about the tone of your scene, and how that affects how you write it. See our post on Tone.