Welcome to the beginning another year of Laie Young Writer's Club! This year we will have leadership positions to keep order and organize the things that need to be done.
- President: The fearless leader, calls meetings to order
Current President: Micah Curtis
-Secretary: Takes attendance at meetings and writes stuff down
Current Secretary: Annie Aldrich
-Communications Officer: Sends reminder e-mails and writes on the blog
Current CO: Colin Carlson
-Mascot: Symbol of the glorious Writer's Club
Current Mascot: Awesomesauce the Unicorn
-Anthology Editor: Works with the mentor to edit the Laie Young Writer's Club anthology
Current Anthology Editor: Chrysanne Houghton
For all those mentioned above, welcome to office! If you have arguments as to who should really be in office, mention it in the comments below, we will listen to your opinion.
This last writer's club, we talked about the plan for the year. We currently have 33 lessons planned. If there are any that you wish to have yet are not mentioned here, please post it in the comments.
-Humor
-Betrayal
-Death
-Comedy
-Tragedy
-Jedi Council/Evil Doer Sydrome
-Fiction
-Character Development
-Endings
-Middles
-Beginnings
-Animals
-Process
-Monsters
-Invented Creatures
-Villains
-Horror
-Writer's Block
-Side Kicks
-Minor Characters
-Character Goals
-Annoying Characters
-Staying Focused
-Disabilities (Magical and Non-Magical)
-Genius Characters
-World Building
-Character Names
-Technology
-Puns
-Irony
-Weapons
-Post Apocalyptic
These lessons will not necessarily be in this order. But these are the lessons we will be doing this year. There is some space left, so if you want to learn something about writing that isn't on here, then post it in the comments below.
Keep Writing!
~Colin
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Make it through the MIDDLE
What's the hardest part of a book to write? Most of our club members agree, it's the middle! The beginning is the fresh and exciting part of a new story, the end is a terrific climax, but then what do you do about the morass in the middle?
First of all, you've got to keep in mind what the middle of a story is for. Here's what we came up with in our meeting:
Keep writing!
First of all, you've got to keep in mind what the middle of a story is for. Here's what we came up with in our meeting:
- Rising action
- Getting to know the characters
- Letting conflicts brew
- More obstacles!
- Preparing for the CLIMAX
- Discovering backstory
So how do you keep the reader's interest through the middle of the story? Here are a few tips:
Pinch and Turn
Move your plot along with pinches and turns. A pinch is something that makes things harder for your characters. A turn is an unexpected change in the story, something that alters the character's plans. Don't let your characters have an easy ride through the middle, or your reader might feel like its time to put down the book and go and make themselves a ham sandwich.Vary the Tension
You've seen that plot diagram that shows the rising action climb in a nice steady, straight line toward the climax? Well, forget it. That's BORING. While you want there to be an overall climb in tension toward the climax, you've got to have some ups and downs. Let your characters enjoy small victories, or get a moment or two to relax. But then drive the tension upward again with a pinch or a turn. Sorry, characters, nothing personal, we've got a job to do!Try/Fail Cycles
As you move toward your climax, keep in mind that you don't want your character's final confrontation to be his or her first try! Whatever awesome thing your character pulls off at the climax, it should be something that your character attempted in the past and FAILED. For a character's success to be truly satisfying to the reader, that character should have tried at least twice before and failed in both attempts.Pitfalls in the Middle
Here are just a couple of things to avoid in the middle of your story:Useless Scenes
Okay, seriously, if a scene doesn't do anything, then leave it out! Sure, you can write it if you feel like it, but either cut it out of your second draft, or make it move the plot. Also beware of scenes that are exclusively for character development or setting description. You can always, always find a way to make those scenes contain events that are vital to the story, and unless you do, your reader is going to go for that ham sandwich and may never pick up your book again.Inactive Characters
Make sure you give your characters something important to do during the middle of your story. Don't let them take a vacation just because the wonderful climax you planned for them is still a hundred pages away. At every point those characters should have plans and should be doing everything they can to carry out those plans, and you as the author can be pinching and turning things upside-down to upset those plans as much as possible.Marvelous Middles
So enjoy writing the middle of your story. Some of the most wonderful moments can take place in the middle. It's a time to totally immerse yourself in the world and the characters of your creation.Keep writing!
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Horror Happens
The world is full of nasty, scary, horrible things that can kill you, or worse. So we've all been wired with some powerful programming to keep us out of danger. It's called FEAR, and it's one of the most basic, powerful emotions we have. Not just humans, but just about everything that can move knows what fear is.
As a writer, you can use this to your advantage.
Readers enjoy a good scare. If you want to create a horror story, start by thinking about what people are naturally afraid of. We came up with a long list that included things like darkness, mean dogs, unexpected noises, monsters under the bed, and Elmo.
When you write a horror story, you create a cycle of ANTICIPATION and DELIVERY. Let the reader know something bad is coming. Churn up some gut-twisting anxiety. Stretch it out, make it worse and worse, and then, bam! The bad thing happens, in all of its horror. And it had better be even worse than expected or your reader isn't going to experience the same anticipation next time. Once one horrible thing happens, you can continue to build up for the next horrible thing, all the way until you get to the climax of your story. Throughout this cycle, remember the importance of escalation. You don't want the scariest thing to happen at the start of the story. You want to save the worst for last.
One of the worst tortures for readers is seeing a character that they care about make a bad decision that puts them in danger. This works not only for horror stories, but for any kind of story. Nothing makes a reader scream, "NO!!!" like a character who does something stupid that you know just can't turn out well. Be sure your characters make a few poor choices, and then slam them with the full consequences.
Just a final word on endings. It's a convention of the horror genre to have an ending in which the woodsman shows up to rescue Red and Granny, or the monster just falls off the Empire State Building and dies, or some other resolution that really had nothing to do with the actions of the main character. In a way, that's fine, since the point of horror is that something really bad is happening and we're powerless to stop it, so if we're powerless to stop it then something has to swoop in and save us. On the other hand, this kind of ending can be a little unsatisfactory. Consider your other options, like having your characters come up with some clever way to fight the horror that is stalking them, or, on the other hand, you could let the horror win.
Happy Halloween and keep writing!
As a writer, you can use this to your advantage.
Readers enjoy a good scare. If you want to create a horror story, start by thinking about what people are naturally afraid of. We came up with a long list that included things like darkness, mean dogs, unexpected noises, monsters under the bed, and Elmo.
When you write a horror story, you create a cycle of ANTICIPATION and DELIVERY. Let the reader know something bad is coming. Churn up some gut-twisting anxiety. Stretch it out, make it worse and worse, and then, bam! The bad thing happens, in all of its horror. And it had better be even worse than expected or your reader isn't going to experience the same anticipation next time. Once one horrible thing happens, you can continue to build up for the next horrible thing, all the way until you get to the climax of your story. Throughout this cycle, remember the importance of escalation. You don't want the scariest thing to happen at the start of the story. You want to save the worst for last.
One of the worst tortures for readers is seeing a character that they care about make a bad decision that puts them in danger. This works not only for horror stories, but for any kind of story. Nothing makes a reader scream, "NO!!!" like a character who does something stupid that you know just can't turn out well. Be sure your characters make a few poor choices, and then slam them with the full consequences.
Just a final word on endings. It's a convention of the horror genre to have an ending in which the woodsman shows up to rescue Red and Granny, or the monster just falls off the Empire State Building and dies, or some other resolution that really had nothing to do with the actions of the main character. In a way, that's fine, since the point of horror is that something really bad is happening and we're powerless to stop it, so if we're powerless to stop it then something has to swoop in and save us. On the other hand, this kind of ending can be a little unsatisfactory. Consider your other options, like having your characters come up with some clever way to fight the horror that is stalking them, or, on the other hand, you could let the horror win.
Happy Halloween and keep writing!
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Creative Story Lines
You don't want to write the same old same old story? Let's get creative with story lines.
First, here's a basic story line. This is about as basic as it gets:
Okay, that was boring. We can't let the character just have whatever she wants! We need some obstacles.
Still too easy. But we've got options. Maybe when our character tries to overcome the obstacle, she makes things worse! Now her goal is even farther away. Or perhaps while she's making her plan, other obstacles show up that she has to tackle first. Overcoming each obstacle now becomes its own short-term objective.
Are you starting to see the possibilities?
Now let's look at what can happen as our character meets each obstacle.
She can either overcome the obstacle, fail to overcome the obstacle, or even make things worse! Overcoming one obstacle can cause other obstacles to come up.
Through the story, as she meets each obstacle, your character will have some triumphs and some setbacks, but at some point she will come to a major crisis point. Here's the biggest obstacle of them all, and if she can get past it, her heart's desire will at last be in reach.
Now you have to decide if you want your character to succeed and get everything she wanted, to fail and lose it all, or some interesting combination of the two. She might only get some of what she wants. She might get everything she wanted and realize she didn't really want it. She might totally fail but realize she actually wanted something else instead. What are some other possibilities? Think about it. That's where the creative plotting comes in.
To create even more possibilities for your plot, give your character more than one objective, and have the various obstacles work together in interesting ways. Include other characters and their objectives, and interweave them all. Have the characters help each other, or get in each others' way, or have to fight each other to get what they want, or even choose to sacrifice what they want so someone else can reach their goal. Your character can even change objectives throughout the story. It works best if the goals start small, then get bigger as the story progresses.
The combinations are endless!
As a writing exercise, we created potential story line charts. Here's how. Take a sheet of paper and write the following things in a column down the middle of the page, leaving plenty of space between each:
Now, start drawing branches. Under what the character wants, you can list several possible obstacles. Choose a few, and note what your character will do to overcome them. For each obstacle, make more branches. A success, a fail, and one or two alternatives, perhaps even a change in objective.
After your character finds a way past all those obstacles, there comes the final obstacle. What happens now? Make some branches and explore the possibilities. Do the same with your final outcome. Is your character happy now? Or sad? Or has nothing really changed?
Once you have several possibilities mapped out, go back and pick the best ones. The key to being creative is to spend some time thinking about what you're doing. Don't go with the first idea that pops into your head, but work with it a while. Ask yourself what might happen if things went a little differently. Give yourself options to choose from.
In conclusion, whether you use the most basic plot on the planet, or you come up with some fantastically clever and convoluted story line, it won't matter a bit if your reader doesn't care about your characters. If the reader cares, you can walk your characters through the most straightforward plot and get away with it. But if you can make your plot interesting, creative, and challenging, all the better!
Keep writing!
First, here's a basic story line. This is about as basic as it gets:
Character Wants Something
Character Gets What She Wants
The End
Okay, that was boring. We can't let the character just have whatever she wants! We need some obstacles.
Character Wants Something BUT there is an OBSTACLE
Character Makes a Plan
Character Overcomes Obstacle
And Gets What She Wants
Still too easy. But we've got options. Maybe when our character tries to overcome the obstacle, she makes things worse! Now her goal is even farther away. Or perhaps while she's making her plan, other obstacles show up that she has to tackle first. Overcoming each obstacle now becomes its own short-term objective.
Are you starting to see the possibilities?
Now let's look at what can happen as our character meets each obstacle.
She can either overcome the obstacle, fail to overcome the obstacle, or even make things worse! Overcoming one obstacle can cause other obstacles to come up.
Through the story, as she meets each obstacle, your character will have some triumphs and some setbacks, but at some point she will come to a major crisis point. Here's the biggest obstacle of them all, and if she can get past it, her heart's desire will at last be in reach.
Now you have to decide if you want your character to succeed and get everything she wanted, to fail and lose it all, or some interesting combination of the two. She might only get some of what she wants. She might get everything she wanted and realize she didn't really want it. She might totally fail but realize she actually wanted something else instead. What are some other possibilities? Think about it. That's where the creative plotting comes in.
To create even more possibilities for your plot, give your character more than one objective, and have the various obstacles work together in interesting ways. Include other characters and their objectives, and interweave them all. Have the characters help each other, or get in each others' way, or have to fight each other to get what they want, or even choose to sacrifice what they want so someone else can reach their goal. Your character can even change objectives throughout the story. It works best if the goals start small, then get bigger as the story progresses.
The combinations are endless!
As a writing exercise, we created potential story line charts. Here's how. Take a sheet of paper and write the following things in a column down the middle of the page, leaving plenty of space between each:
Your character's name and what the character wants
How the character gets what the character wants
Final Outcome
Now, start drawing branches. Under what the character wants, you can list several possible obstacles. Choose a few, and note what your character will do to overcome them. For each obstacle, make more branches. A success, a fail, and one or two alternatives, perhaps even a change in objective.
After your character finds a way past all those obstacles, there comes the final obstacle. What happens now? Make some branches and explore the possibilities. Do the same with your final outcome. Is your character happy now? Or sad? Or has nothing really changed?
Once you have several possibilities mapped out, go back and pick the best ones. The key to being creative is to spend some time thinking about what you're doing. Don't go with the first idea that pops into your head, but work with it a while. Ask yourself what might happen if things went a little differently. Give yourself options to choose from.
In conclusion, whether you use the most basic plot on the planet, or you come up with some fantastically clever and convoluted story line, it won't matter a bit if your reader doesn't care about your characters. If the reader cares, you can walk your characters through the most straightforward plot and get away with it. But if you can make your plot interesting, creative, and challenging, all the better!
Keep writing!
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Editing for Teen Writers
At the Laie Young Writer's club, we mostly emphasize just writing. Write stuff. Lots of stuff. Then come and read it to us. We love it all!
But someday you're going to want to be a professional writer. And that means you're going to have to deal with...
EDITING.
Some writers are really good at editing, and even like to do it. Others hate it. Whether you love it or hate it, know this. You can not edit your own work and get it up to the quality you need for publication. Sorry. That's the facts. You're going to need someone else to help you.
On the other hand, you are able to take your own raw material and make it much better. In fact, you ought to do some of your own editing before you get a professional involved.
Let's talk about four different kinds of editors
1. Acquisitions Editors - An acquisitions editor works at a magazine or publishing company. Their job is to read stuff and decide if it is even worth editing. Not only are they looking for awesome writing, they want awesome writing they can sell.
2. Content Editors - These people make sure the setting, the characters, and the plot are the best they can be. They don't worry about the spelling errors, they just make sure the story rocks.
3. Copy Editors - The copy editor is the person who checks to see that the main character's best friend who has brown hair in scene one doesn't suddenly have blond hair in chapter seven. They may even check your historical or geographical facts and let you know if you've made a mistake. Oops!
4. Line Editors - Now it's time to get down to the nitty gritty and check every word, every sentence, every punctuation mark to make sure this manuscript is ready to print and share with the world. Line editors correct grammar and spelling, and point out those awkward passages you really ought to reword.
Right now, you may not want to think about editing your stories at all. Write them, write a lot of them, share them with your friends, then put them away someplace. But someday, you'll want to put on your editor hat, and follow these four steps. First, ask yourself if this story you wrote is worth working on. Will other people enjoy it? Can you sell it? If the answer is yes, then see if there's anything you can do to make the story better. Once you've done that, you'd better make sure everything is consistent. Last of all, check your work for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Then you'll be ready to send it out and start the whole process all over again!
One word about traditional vs. self publishing. In traditional publishing, you're going to send your work to an acquisitions editor who will decide if it is worthy or not. In self-publishing, YOU are the only acquisitions editor you get. You decide if your work is worth hiring someone to do content, copy, and line editing.
Keep writing!
But someday you're going to want to be a professional writer. And that means you're going to have to deal with...
EDITING.
Some writers are really good at editing, and even like to do it. Others hate it. Whether you love it or hate it, know this. You can not edit your own work and get it up to the quality you need for publication. Sorry. That's the facts. You're going to need someone else to help you.
On the other hand, you are able to take your own raw material and make it much better. In fact, you ought to do some of your own editing before you get a professional involved.
Let's talk about four different kinds of editors
1. Acquisitions Editors - An acquisitions editor works at a magazine or publishing company. Their job is to read stuff and decide if it is even worth editing. Not only are they looking for awesome writing, they want awesome writing they can sell.
2. Content Editors - These people make sure the setting, the characters, and the plot are the best they can be. They don't worry about the spelling errors, they just make sure the story rocks.
3. Copy Editors - The copy editor is the person who checks to see that the main character's best friend who has brown hair in scene one doesn't suddenly have blond hair in chapter seven. They may even check your historical or geographical facts and let you know if you've made a mistake. Oops!
4. Line Editors - Now it's time to get down to the nitty gritty and check every word, every sentence, every punctuation mark to make sure this manuscript is ready to print and share with the world. Line editors correct grammar and spelling, and point out those awkward passages you really ought to reword.
Right now, you may not want to think about editing your stories at all. Write them, write a lot of them, share them with your friends, then put them away someplace. But someday, you'll want to put on your editor hat, and follow these four steps. First, ask yourself if this story you wrote is worth working on. Will other people enjoy it? Can you sell it? If the answer is yes, then see if there's anything you can do to make the story better. Once you've done that, you'd better make sure everything is consistent. Last of all, check your work for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Then you'll be ready to send it out and start the whole process all over again!
One word about traditional vs. self publishing. In traditional publishing, you're going to send your work to an acquisitions editor who will decide if it is worthy or not. In self-publishing, YOU are the only acquisitions editor you get. You decide if your work is worth hiring someone to do content, copy, and line editing.
Keep writing!
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Author Skype with Tui Sutherland
We had a great visit today with Tui Sutherland, author of the Wings of Fire series, which are some of the Laie Young Writers' favorite books.
Tui gets to write stories about dragons all day. We wanted to know how she got such a great job! She told us she started out working for a publishing company, and eventually got to help edit the Warriors series. She wrote some of the Seekers books under the Erin Hunter name, and now she has her very own series, Wings of Fire. Book six is about to come out, and she gave us a sneak peek at the new cover. It's spectacular!
We asked Tui what it's like writing animal characters. She said she has a set of dragon models on her desk and she used them to help remind her of the sort of things dragons can do, like flick their tails or flap their wings. With the Seekers series she had to keep in mind that bears can't describe things by comparing them to things that humans have. For instance, a bear can't say something is "as big as a dinner plate." Even though her characters have animal bodies, she always writes them with very human emotions.
For others writers who want to write animal fantasy, Tui suggested spending time with whatever kind of animal they're writing about. Once when she was writing about dogs she got a job as a dog walker so that she'd get more experience with different kinds of dogs. We enjoyed meeting the two dogs at her house who joined her for the skype visit.
Tui said that the most stressful parts of being an author were deadlines and the thought of doing book signings and school visits. Deadlines we can understand, but we all had so much fun with her skype visit we hope she's now feeling great about her upcoming book signing tour.
We were excited to hear she's got another Wings of Fire series planned, and we tried to get all sorts of details out of her, but she was very careful not to give us any spoilers.
Thanks so much, Tui, for your visit! We can't wait for Wings of Fire Book 6!
Tui gets to write stories about dragons all day. We wanted to know how she got such a great job! She told us she started out working for a publishing company, and eventually got to help edit the Warriors series. She wrote some of the Seekers books under the Erin Hunter name, and now she has her very own series, Wings of Fire. Book six is about to come out, and she gave us a sneak peek at the new cover. It's spectacular!
We asked Tui what it's like writing animal characters. She said she has a set of dragon models on her desk and she used them to help remind her of the sort of things dragons can do, like flick their tails or flap their wings. With the Seekers series she had to keep in mind that bears can't describe things by comparing them to things that humans have. For instance, a bear can't say something is "as big as a dinner plate." Even though her characters have animal bodies, she always writes them with very human emotions.
For others writers who want to write animal fantasy, Tui suggested spending time with whatever kind of animal they're writing about. Once when she was writing about dogs she got a job as a dog walker so that she'd get more experience with different kinds of dogs. We enjoyed meeting the two dogs at her house who joined her for the skype visit.
Tui said that the most stressful parts of being an author were deadlines and the thought of doing book signings and school visits. Deadlines we can understand, but we all had so much fun with her skype visit we hope she's now feeling great about her upcoming book signing tour.
We were excited to hear she's got another Wings of Fire series planned, and we tried to get all sorts of details out of her, but she was very careful not to give us any spoilers.
Thanks so much, Tui, for your visit! We can't wait for Wings of Fire Book 6!
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Comedy
This week's lesson, by Colin Carlson, got serious about comedy.
The most basic kind of humor is mockery. Poke fun at things. It's a great way to relieve tension and bring a smile to your reader's face, even if the overall tone of your story is serious.
There are plenty of different varieties of humor that you can use in your stories. Here are a few:
First of all, in general, if your characters are laughing at the jokes, your reader is not.
Some stories are just plain silly and funny. "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" tends to fall into this category. Other stories are epic but also have funny parts. We all agreed that "Avatar the Last Airbender" fell into this category. As a whole, we prefer epic stories with lots of funny parts.
If your main character is always joking and never takes things seriously, that makes it very hard for the reader to take the story seriously. So what do you do? Assign the job of funny man to a side character, commonly known as the comic relief.
Also remember that humor is a cultural thing. Different groups of people find different things funny. You have to target your audience with the right kind of humor.
Make your readers laugh. Make them cry. But you don't want to make them cry when you were trying to get them to laugh.
Keep writing!
The most basic kind of humor is mockery. Poke fun at things. It's a great way to relieve tension and bring a smile to your reader's face, even if the overall tone of your story is serious.
There are plenty of different varieties of humor that you can use in your stories. Here are a few:
- Irony (see previous lesson)
- Grim Comedy - making light of subjects that are usually somber and serious, like death.
- Parody - making fun of other fictional works. Parody is so great, we should probably do a whole lesson on it later in the year.
- Slapstick - pain is funny. No, seriously, it really is.
- Puns - poke fun at the language, create a juxtaposition of meaning. For good puns, timing is everything. You want the reader to realize it's a pun a split second after it hits. For bad puns, timing doesn't matter. There's no good time for a bad pun.
First of all, in general, if your characters are laughing at the jokes, your reader is not.
Some stories are just plain silly and funny. "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" tends to fall into this category. Other stories are epic but also have funny parts. We all agreed that "Avatar the Last Airbender" fell into this category. As a whole, we prefer epic stories with lots of funny parts.
If your main character is always joking and never takes things seriously, that makes it very hard for the reader to take the story seriously. So what do you do? Assign the job of funny man to a side character, commonly known as the comic relief.
Also remember that humor is a cultural thing. Different groups of people find different things funny. You have to target your audience with the right kind of humor.
Make your readers laugh. Make them cry. But you don't want to make them cry when you were trying to get them to laugh.
Keep writing!
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