The Value of Taking the Side Path...

Over and over a writer hears that taking a side path, a branch off from the planned route can add, add, add to our work, even as the writer worries about the time it takes to travel them. Yes, I've been down three side paths since last I posted.

1. I took some serious time to do 'writing craft' research on 'plot climax' from as many sources as I had on hand and available through the internet. As a result, I came to understand that my climax was actually a couple chapters prior to where I thought it was. Okay, you're scratching your head going, 'how the f****** hell can Meg not know where the blasted plot climax is after all that time!?!" Turns out, I have one climax that births another that follows immediately after that one. The first is a physical plot climax followed by a final massive mental/emotional climax puzzle to figure out. I'd erroneously figured that the mental section was the massive plot climax...

Decided after research that I had to make the physical climax even more satisfying for the reader and make it the top of my upside down plot chart. Then the mental section is an odd twist that extends that height, or might even be considered to slip down and then get pushed over the top again before resolving the book.

That might seem minor, but it put a whole new spin on how much I had to put into the physical plot climax scene...

Then 2. I've been listening to a "Great Sentence" MFA lecture series from a retired Univ of IA professor. It's a complicated, but fascinating class on sentence structures from cumulative sentences, suspensive sentences, etc. From that reading, I ripped apart Carrie Vaughn's short story from Dark and Stormy Knights to critique when and where she used them in her work to heighten tension, build suspense, etc and also a Meg Rosoff book for the same detail. Both use cumulative sentences in different but fascinating ways.

Both research side roads have paid off in huge dividends when I look at the overall effectiveness of my WiP.

3. An assignment on 'order', not flashback, but conscious reveal of back-story in book real time woven into the work has made three beautiful counterpoints of jeweled nuggets that simply make the emotion zing off the pages. Thank you, BK Loren and the Univ of IA writer's festival!

True Winning Premise Followed by Promise Kept

Why begin with a winning premise? How better to know that you are on the track of something that screams, 'Read me!'

You know that I am taking a class from BK Loren at the Iowa Summer Writer's Festival. She recently received a New Millennium Writings Award. How can you not read this premise and immediately head over to read the story?

"As previously announced, BK Loren of Lafayette, Co, took the $1,000 Fiction Prize for her story 'Cerberus Sleeps,' a surprisingly warm and imaginative story from the POV of the famous Greek hound who once watched over Hades, but now watches over a modern American family on the brink of disaster."

Check out the winners list at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Knoxville-TN/New-Millennium-Writings/68730338624 And you can access BK Loren's story at www.NewMillenniumWritings.com

I finished reading her short story and loved it with passion. Especially since close family friends have recently moved their father into a memory unit. The father and his father spooned together over the walker--simply beautiful.

I'll ask today if the premise led the story or if the story made the premise. I suspect the latter. Wonderful work, but far, far too short. Perhaps Cerebus will return?

Expanding the Writer's Craft Toolbox...

I am ever working to improve my craft skills. Classes have proven, other than actually writing, at doing so. I thought I would share what I've got on tap for the summer.

I'm signed up to attend two one-week courses from the Univ of IA Summer Writer's Festival. http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/iswfest/html/instructor/moranville.html and also http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/iswfest/html/instructor/Loren.html Both should be excellent revision tool classes. I'm looking forward to my first full week workshops. I've attended for weekends, but never the whole week dedicated to writing! The workshops are filled with writers from all over the world and the value of knowledge gained vs cost has never been a concern. I'm so psyched.

My huge what-the-heck have I done was sign up for a DVD/audio class from a University of Iowa professor now retired. http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=2368 The class is called Building Great Sentences:Exploring the Writer's Craft. It's one of those classes you either love because you know it improves your writing or it will make you feel you never should have tried writing at all.

I may have jumped too far into the deep end. I'm hoping my college linguistics class I took is up to the challenge. (It was so lovely and terrifying to be 50+ in with 20 somethings taking that class in person one summer.) With this class, I'll either swim and learn, or I'll be gasping for air the whole time. I'm hoping that the class comes with handouts! If not, I'll sink! The lecture notes were provided for the first class--printing it out was crucial. Let's say that mastering the long sentence is this instructors forte.

The instructor also wrote a key sci fi genre review from 1900's to now that is used in a lot of writing/lit classes. It's from teach12.com

How about you? Are you forging forward with Aiden and his sisters? Plans for class coming up?

A recap is below of the general description.

Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writer's Craft
www.teach12.com
Whether two words ("Jesus wept.") or 1,287 words (a sentence in William Faulkner's Absalom! Absalom!), sentences have the power to captivate, entertain, motivate, educate, and, most importantly, delight.