Before diving into today's topic, I need to spend a moment on November.
Yes, I"m on board for 2010 NaNoWriMo. Are you? I want to expand my buddy list - need all the support I can get:). So please find me (Denny S. Bryce); or just reply here and I'll find you! If you've never done NaNoWriMo before - this is the year to get it done! (Note: I always say this and haven't finished once in the past four years. But, never say die!)
In other news: I'm on a mission and here it is: I have to figure out what's at stake in my story? I also must nail down the premise and the story question. Sounds simple? Well, apparently not in my book (double-meaning is deliberate:).
What put this top of mind (because I've been down this road before, read all the right books, took all the right workshops and writing classes, so why now?) Because getting better ain't easy. But the impetus for this focus is The 2010 Heart to Heart Contest at SFW-RWA.I came in second place in the final in the Paranormal category! Hoorah! However, I didn't get a request for the manuscript - full or partial. In the score card arena, I received mostly 4s and a couple of 3s, but it's the 3s that made be sit up and pay attention. And although I should, and although I thought I had, I didn't have a clear picture of the answers to the following questions regarding my manuscript: What's at stake in the world? What's the story premise? What's at stake for my heroine? I keep thinking I know this, but not always...
So, I found this article - click here - by Bill Johnson. I know I've read this before in dozens of books and heard it any number of times, but this article (an oldie, too) is working for me now. I'm also excited about a class I signed up for with Gotham - multi-time published, romance writer, author, and teacher, Leigh Michaels is the instructor for the online romance writing course at Gotham Writer's Workshop. So this will be fun!
Finally, check out some Steampunk links below. When I was at Phauxcon two weeks ago, I got some great info from the folks there you might enjoy!
