I learned lots of different things at LTUE this past week, despite having gone for the past several years and attending some of the same class sessions and panels before.
It was awesome to hang with some other writers and to make new writer friends.
So, what did I learn?
It was reaffirmed to me that I need to really commit myself. I’ve let job and teaching be my excuse for not writing every day. That needs to stop. I am making a goal, right now, of finishing my tree.love book this year by writing for at least an hour per day (probably at work during lunch), six days per week. Another goal is to write 2 new short stories and to keep submitting old and new ones this year. My ultimate goal is to be writing full-time by 2015.
Speaking of which, I learned a lot about how to structure short stories. I’ve had a hard time figuring out how to end a story. I figured that I was just more cut out for novel-length writing. While most of my ideas do tend to run to longer works, I just was too influenced by the literary sensibilities of short story writing (which doesn’t work well when writing genre fiction).
I thought Dan Wells’ session on How to Scare People was especially awesome. I am not planning on writing horror, but I do want to build more suspense into my novel. I liked the idea of “waiting for the other shoe to drop” in story-telling (from the story about the guy whose upstairs neighbor would always drop both shoes loudly on the floor at night until one night when only one is heard).
Paul Genesse had some great sessions too. One was about hard science concepts and how to present them (presented with Eric James Stone). I liked the idea that Quantum Mechanics equals magic! I was stuck a bit in my novel about how to handle the engine, and the stuff they talked about helped point me in a good direction to solving the problem. Paul also had a nice discussion about the importance of using character as your starting point and plot seed.
The session on Dystopia helped me classify my novel better.
Marketing and Promotion was completely made of awesome! I’ll have to post more about that later. Bree Despain is an amazing marketer – very impressive. I bought her book because I was so impressed.
I learned about the value of music with writing. In the past I’ve not listened to music, for various reasons. But I want to start using some of the ideas to see how things go. It seems to be working well for Stephanie Meyer.
The Romance versus Story with Romantic Elements was very helpful in getting me thinking about those parts of my novel and how to improve the character relationships and the sexual tension.
I haven’t really thought about sequels, but they brought up some great points that I definitely need to consider.
Dave Wolverton (aka David Farland) had a great session about Editing and Revising. Some of what he talked about will be on a to-be-released-episode of Writing Excuses. I especially appreciated the idea of doing a triage edit first.
John Brown’s Lessons from the Hunger Games gave me lots of stuff to think about with that series, especially considering my initial reaction to the story.
And so much more.
I’ll get stuff up here within the next week to share some other lessons and to be more specific about how I want to apply what I’ve learned.
Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management by Howard Tayler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Fun, quick read. This one only took a couple hours to read.
I would go through and analyze setting, plot, characters, and stuff like I normally do, but then it would take all the fun out of the comics.
Suffice it to say that I enjoyed it and am looking forward to starting in on volume 4. I really need to get caught up (to 12 or whatever they’re at now).
The Cradle Will Fall by Mary Higgins Clark
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This pulled me through from beginning to end. I just did not want to put it down.
It is old, but definitely will remain a classic in my collection.
Servant of a Dark God by John Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have known John for many years, and I have even been an early reader of the second book in this series. John had me be a naive reader for his second book, which he is still working on (and I really hope gets finished really soon, really). So, I was pretty antsy to read the first one with the taste I had of the second one already.
I thought this was a brilliantly written book. There is much that I am still unsure on, such as whether I like Talen or exactly how the magic works, but I didn’t really care at this time because I was so invested in what was going to happen to the two families being focused on.
Setting: This is a whole new world that John is building here. I found it easy to understand and John presents lots of different levels of society and cultures in a fairly small space.
Plot: Mostly this was about Talen growing up and "saving the world". But there is so much more here – from family issues to sexual tension to class struggles. There is a good amount of dramatic tension too – the soldiers on the hill and the creator of the monster and the Glory.
Conflict: There are some deep philosophical questions here – trust in a family, religious beliefs, good of society over self.
Character: As I said, I’m not sure yet if I like who Talen is. But, I think that is necessary because this is a series and he needs to grow through all of them. I did love River and Legs. I also loved how the monster was personified.
Text: Easy to read. I was pulled through and read it within just a couple days.
The Authorized Ender Companion by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an encyclopedia of all things Ender. It is not meant to be read straight through, but referenced (although I did read it straight through because I wanted to know everything that was in there . . . and I have read the entire series and all the possible short stories and collections).
There are also a couple sections toward the back that describe the battle rooms, the design of the battle school, and the work of getting the story made into a movie. There is even a section where "friends" of Ender and the series wrote about the effect it had on them. I know a couple people who wrote in, so that was kind of fun to read.
There was lots of good information and insights (meaning that I hadn’t realized the connections when I read – not that Jake Black added his opinions) in the entries.
This was an interesting way of reliving the stories, although I expect it would be funner for those who use it as an encyclopedia and reference it as they read or re-read the series.
I also would like to thank Jake Black for gifting me this book (it didn’t really bias my review though). I never knew he lived just down the street from me. Cool.
I recently saw a program where flags were displayed to either side of a person who was speaking from a podium. The US Flag and the state flag, however, were reversed.
It got me thinking about how many times I’ve seen improper flag etiquette, or incorrect use of the flag. I’m not talking flag burning done in protest, I mean things like wearing it as apparel.
So, I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve learned about the US Flag code and etiquette. I don’t know everything though, and would appreciate any additional insights or corrections.
I will start making posts on this topic within the next couple days. Feel free to comment here about things you’d like me to eventually talk about.
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The only problem I had with reading this now is that I have to wait a long time for the next one in the series. I am seriously hooked on the characters and the plot to this series.
This was a fast read, but definitely not short on action or suspense. I liked the new character additions and the twists of whom Thomas should or could trust.
I am still guessing as to the purpose and ethical merits (or lack thereof) of the WICKED group, and that also helps to keep me intrigued.
Finally, I liked how this one took the story to someplace completely different (sorry Hunger Games – you just keep going back to the same thing) so that it did not feel like a re-hashing of the same story.
Cracked Wheat for Christmas by Ted C. Hindmarsh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another cute Christmas story.
The premise of the family rules was a bit of a stretch for me, and the rules themselves seemed a bit strange in general, but it was a touching story about compassion and service.
The Fourth Gift by J. Tucker Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a cute story. And while I wanted Jeshua to give the other gift to Jesus, I understand why the author did it – I just thought it cheapened all the work that the boy put into it.
The writing was a little repetitive and awkward, but it was still an interesting story.
Merry Christmas, Splat by Rob Scotton
This is the second book that the whole family wanted to read. It is a little too close to home sometimes (kids wanting to help and making more work for us), but that is a good thing because it makes us laugh.
