June 28: Kay Kostopoulos - getting into character - learning how to do it!
Have you ever had trouble getting “into your character” so that you could write a more realistic hero/heroine? I sure have. It’s easy to picture your character from a distance like watching actors on a movie screen, but that doesn’t take us into deep POV and can often lead to the problem of making all your characters sound the same—like you. I’ve often wondered how actors “get into character”. For example, how does Johnny Depp become Captain Jack Sparrow ?
On June 28th, Kay Kostopoulos Amarotico, a drama instructor at Stanford University will give take us into the world of acting.
In this workshop, writers will examine and participate in the actors’ process in creation of a role for the theatre, and learn how acting techniques may be applied for the writer.
We will work on character exploration, with a focus on objective, obstacle and action; becoming familiar with such acting terms as: Given Circumstances, Personalization, Empathy, Secondary Activity, and Specificity. In-class activities will include acting games and exercises, some of which are designed to prepare the voice, the body, and the mind to take unfamiliar forms.
Bio:
Please see Kay’s bio here!
May 17: Laurie Schnebly Campbell - Q is for Query AND Mix and Match Motivation
Q Is For Query, A Is For Aaaack!
No writer can get far without the most fundamental tool of selling their work: an effective query letter. Yet it’s frequently a source of dread for writers who create lyrical fiction, yet panic at the idea of creating a sales pitch. Laurie Schnebly Campbell brings 25 years of advertising experience to identifying what makes people want a product — any product — and how to convince them YOURS is the one they want.
Mix & Match Motivation
The heart of GMC is motivation, and all too often it’s underrated. The deeper you go for a character’s motivation, the more interesting the character becomes. So what’ll make your characters do plausible, interesting things that keep the story moving? That’s what this class is about — developing a hero & heroine who’ll create a plot from WHATEVER happens, because their motivation is built in right from the start.
Bio:
Laurie Schnebly Campbell loves speaking to writers about issues that draw on her background as a counseling therapist, advertising copywriter, and romance novelist who beat out Nora Roberts for “Best Special Edition of the Year.” 
Along with how-to books for authors, Laurie writes scripts for commercials (some featuring her voice) at a Phoenix ad agency. She also enjoys teaching a catechism class, playing with her husband and son, and counseling at a mental health center. “People ask how I find time to do all that,” Laurie says, “and I tell them it’s easy. I never clean my house!”
April 26: Jenn Stark - Branding
Ever wonder how best to describe you and your writing in a short, snappy way that will quickly catch the attention of agents, editors, and readers? Jenn makes finding your brand easy and fun. Scroll down to see all of the workshop details below!
Workshop Fee: $65 for members and $75 for guests. Sign up to be an SVRWA member on the day of the workshop and the $10 difference for the guest rate will be applied toward the membership dues.
In order to give a headcount to the Sheraton Hotel for the room size and the lunches, payment, accompanied by your lunch choice and email address, must be POSTMARKED by Friday, April 18th and mailed to the address below. Sorry, we cannot accept walk-in registrations at the door. If you would like confirmation of your check and attendance send an e-mail to mottahary@yahoo.com and Christine will let you know when she receives payment. If you do not e-mail Christine, you will not receive active confirmation.
Send your check to:
SVRWA
Attn: Christine Grissom
3667 Mona Way
San Jose, CA 95130
No reservations at the door.
Fee includes a special packet for each attendee and the following:
AM — coffee/decaf/tea and juice service only —- please eat breakfast before coming to the workshop!
AM Snack — granola bars, protein bars, and cut fruit
Lunch (RSVP must include an option otherwise the default will be the chicken caesar salad)
Option 1: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad — crisp lettuce topped with a grilled boneless breast of chicken, parmesan cheese, and home-style croutons in a creamy homemade caesar dressing.
Option 2: Penne Pasta with Tomato Sauce (Vegetarian Option)
Above meal will be served with rolls and butter. Paradise Iced Tea will be the lunch beverage.
PM Snack — brownies, lemon bars, and whole fruit
Schedule of Events:
8:00 Check-in, coffee/juice (no breakfast), brief business meeting
8:30 Session 1: Branding Overview, Core Brand, Shadow Brand
10:00 Break, snack (granola bars)
10:30 Session 2: Industry Brand and Using your Industry Brand as a writer
12:00 Lunch
12:45 Book raffle
1:00 Session 3 Writing Brand, Slogan
2::45 Break and dessert
3:00-5:00 Writing Brand/Slogan, continued, Brand Strategy overview and Q/A
PRE-SESSION EXERCISE: Research writer/author websites and note what you like and dislike about those sites.
WORKSHOP DETAILS:
Personal Branding Power Pack: Understanding, Creating, and Capitalizing on YOUR Personal Brands
Ever wonder how best to describe you and your writing in a short, snappy way that will quickly catch the attention of agents, editors, and readers?
Join Personal Branding Expert Jenn Stark as she presents a full-day seminar that’s all about YOU. With step by step guidance to help you identify your Core Brand, Shadow Brand and the all important Writing and Industry Brands, you’ll take away an action plan to help you make the most of your marketing efforts as a professional author.
What is a Personal Brand and why should I care about mine?
• How can I maximize the impact of my Personal Brand?
• When do I need a Personal Brand?
• How can my Personal Brand assist me in working with the media?
• What should I keep in mind when I consider changing my Personal Brand?
• How can I present my Personal Brand effectively with my marketing materials?
• Is my Personal Brand about me… my books… or both?
• What are the elements of a Personal Brand?
• How can I use my Personal Brand when I pitch or query my book?
• Why is a Personal Brand disconnect potentially deadly to my career?
The Personal Branding Power Pack supercharges your Branding work with these interactive sessions:
Session 1: Branding Overview, Your Core Brand and Your Shadow Brand
Session 2: Your Industry Brand and Using your Industry Brand as a writer
Session 3: Developing your Writing Brand and Slogan
Session 4: Developing your Writing Brand/Slogan, cont. + Creating a Customized Brand Strategy for You
A.M. Branding Overview, Development of Core Brand, Shadow Brand and Brand Goals. This is a more personalized process, where folks will be working individually to hone their Brand Decisioning skills.
P.M. Brand Development: Writing and Industry Brands, Slogans and Brand Strategy. This will be done in both full group and small breakout-group formats, with Jenn walking around and working with each of the sub groups after an explanation is given for each section.
Bio:
Jenn Stark brings a practical, accessible approach to Personal Branding to help authors at every level present themselves for maximum impact. A vice president of marketing and communications with fourteen years’ experience and a published freelance business writer, Jenn now serves as president of the Ohio Valley Romance Writers of America, and has also served as the chapter’s publicity director, promoting chapter and author events. She is an invited speaker and instructor on Personal Branding and public relations topics, and has worked with several authors one-on-one to help develop their Personal Brands and publicity materials. Her articles on Personal Branding have been featured in the newsletters and online loops of 29 writing chapters in the U.S. and Canada. She can be reached at jenn@knowyourbrand.com
March 29: Rae Monet - Characterization of your true live FBI hero/heroine
Do you wonder what your FBI law enforcement hero/heroine should act like? What type of equipment they wear? What type of gun they carry? What type of regulations, laws and procedures bind them?
Bio:
Rae Monet is a multi-published, national award winning, sensual romance author, former Air Force Office of Special Investigations, former FBI Agent, who worked Violent Crimes Major Offenders and the Cyber Squad. Rae has done her homework. She has a BA, MA in business. Rae is also a member of www.RomVets.com, (former military authors who now write romance). To top it all off, Rae is a licensed PI in the state of California. Rae speaks frequently at national conferences and workshops about the characterization of the FBI law-enforcement hero/heroine.
February 23: Teresa Bodwell - Legal Issues for Writers
Legal Issues for Writers: An author’s guide to protecting your rights and avoiding liability
Disclaimer: This workshop is not intended as legal advice, nor is it intended to create an attorney-client relationship between Teresa and any participant.
Topics:
Copyright Basics:
• The Bouquet of Rights. What are you really selling when you sell your book?
• Great idea! Are you infringing if you use it? When is a work protected?
• Infringement - what’s the difference between plagiarism and infringement? When is copying permitted?
• The Internet. Infringement at the speed of light. What is fair to use on your website? What is the copyright status of your posts on message boards?
Trademark:
What about using product names in fiction? Get ready to strap on those inline skates and don’t forget to bring your portable music device for some tunes while you roll down the street. Runny nose? Use some facial tissues. And when you’re thirsty, have a nice cold soda.
Defamation, privacy and the right of publicity:
How a fiction writer can get in trouble by making her story ring true.
The warranty clause: Or, I’m promising what?
The work is:
• Original
• Does not infringe
• The Publisher may rely upon the representations in dealings with any third party
January 26: Linda Wisdom - How to survive in this business over the years.
Laurie McLean, Linda Wisdom’s agent from San Francisco’s Larsen Pomada Literary Agency will also attend and take pitches!
Bios:
Linda Wisdom is a native Californian. She majored in Journalism in college then switched her major to Fashion Merchandising when she was told there was no future for her in fiction writing. She held a variety of positions ranging from retail sales to executive secretary in advertising and working as a corporate recruiter.
Her career began when she sold her first two novels to Silhouette Romance on her wedding anniversary in 1979. Since then she has sold more than seventy novels and two novellas to six different publishers. Her books have appeared on various romance and mass market bestseller lists and nominated for a number of Romantic Times awards and Romance Writers of America Rita Award.
She lives with her husband, two dogs, two parrots, and a tortoise in Murrieta, California. When Linda first moved to Murrieta there were three romance writers living in the town. At this time, there is just Linda. So far, the police have not considered her a suspect in their disappearances.
Laurie McLean is an Associate Agent with the San Francisco based Larsen and Pomada Literary Agency and is author Linda Wisdom’s agent. Following a 20-year stint as the CEO of a successful Silicon Valley public relations agency, Laurie was able to switch gears in 2002 to immerse herself in writing. Laurie has been writing professionally since high school—first as a journalist, then as a public relations agent. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the State University of New York and a Master’s Degree at Syracuse University’s prestigious Newhouse School of Journalism. She has boundless energy, a wealth of creativity and the business savvy to guide her authors through the tricky world of publishing.
Laurie specializes in romance and young adult books. For more on Laurie, check out her blog at www.agentsavant.com.
December 15th: Holiday Party
The holiday party will be during our usual meeting time. $20 per person is our meeting cost for the hotel space — this includes a breakfast buffet. A great holiday cake will be served. There will be two magic bulldozer critiques and a white elephant gift exchange. This is a great meeting - relaxed and fun. Come join us and exchange some fabulous (and not so fabulous) gifts!
November 17th: Martha Alderson - All day plotting workshop
Beginners, intermediates and advanced writers alike are encouraged to bring your characters and a list of the scenes in your story. For those of you who have not yet started a writing project, let me know on the day of the workshop and I will provide you with everything you need.
The plot writing workshop is divided between lecture and time for development of the plotlines for your individual project. For the sake of convenience, the lectures give independent consideration to the dramatic (action), emotional (character development), and thematic aspects of story, but keep in mind that all aspects of a successful writing project must become integrated into the total structure to create its unity, and that achieving this unity is the goal of every writer.
Time: All day workshop: 8am - 5pm
Fee: $65 for SVRWA members, $75 for non-members
How to register: Please RSVP to Linda Hill by November 14th. You can send your check to Rachel Taylor at 1590 Almond Way, Morgan Hill, CA 95037.
NOTE: If you have NOT RSVP’d, and you come to the meeting, we may not have a seat or food for you. If you RSVP and do not show, you will still owe $65/$75. Let Linda know by November 14th if you ARE or ARE NOT going to make it.
Food:
* Breakfast Menu: Starbuck’s Coffee/Tea service for one hour, granola bars as a mid-morning snack
* Lunch Menu: Paradise Iced Tea, Entree served with Baked Roll and Butter:
a) Turkey Wrap — Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato, and Cheese Wrapped in Flour Tortilla and Served with Potato Salad
-or-
b) Penne Pasta with Tomato Sauce (Vegetarian Option)
* Dessert: Brownies as a mid-afternoon snack
Meeting starts at 8:00am.
Bio:
Martha Stockton Alderson, M.A., is the author of BLOCKBUSTER PLOTS Pure & Simple and two award-winning historical novels; a speaker and publisher; and a teacher and plot consultant. She has transformed the lives of hundreds of published and aspiring writers with her workshops, consultations and her book. Her clients include best-selling authors, writing teachers and editors. Visit Martha’s site for more information!
October 27th: Kelly L. Mortimer - literary agent
Kelly L. Mortimer will be here to share her wisdom and take appointments.
Bio:
Please visit Kelly’s site: http://mortimerliterary.com/
September 22nd: National recap and Gotcha training
August 25th: Stone Creek Media
Websites, online promotion, certificates and more!
Bio:
Please visit their website: http://stonecreekmedia.com/
No meeting in July.
June 30th: Janet Wellington - Condensing Your Story Into the Perfect Pitch
Just in time for National! Get your pitch absolutely perfect!
We will raffle off a limited number of 15 minute one-on-one pitch sessions with her after the meeting.
Bio:
Janet Wellington is an award-winning author, writing teacher, line-editor, and writing coach. Her most recent books are large print reissues of SWEET ON YOU and BACHELOR FOR SALE (both are short contemporaries); also available currently is DREAMQUEST (a time travel historical with paranormal elements).
Janet started learning the art of pitching stories in 1995 when she attended her first Romance Writers of America national conference, and hasn’t stopped since! She has presented workshops on the art of pitching both regionally and nationally, and teaches privately as well as through the online school: Long Story Short School of Writing.
In addition to her own writing, Janet also enjoys assisting other writers in critiquing and line-editing their unpublished manuscripts, and she also does some one-on-one coaching of other writers through her business “Wellington Word.” More information about Janet’s writing and interests can be found at her website: www.janetwellington.com.
May 19th: Simone Elkeles: Boot Camp for Advanced Romance Writers
In this informative and interactive workshop, Simone will share the top ten things she wish she’d known before she was published, the top ten things she learned after she was published, and tips on how to be successful and get published in this crazy business. (She’ll also share her own horror stories she’s never shared before!) Simone will discuss in depth the biggest problems she sees in writing contests (examples: GMC, deep point of view, stilted dialogue and high concept problems). She’ll also have you evaluate your own writing style so you can focus on your strengths and spend less time worrying about your weaknesses. And when it comes to writing sex…well, it’s not all about the act. At the end of the workshop, you’ll have a better understanding of the business, what can make a good story great, and how to focus on your own strengths as a writer!
Simone will also discuss why writing for teens has been so rewarding and how she broke into this hot market. She’ll also discuss how sometimes being true to the romance industry is harder for a teen author than you might think.
Bio:
Simone Elkeles was born and raised in the Chicago area. The day she graduated college, her father got diagnosed with cancer. Two years later her father died and at the age of 24 Simone found herself President and CEO of her father’s manufacturing company, S-T Imaging, Inc. To honor her father, she built up the company and tripled sales to over one million dollars before selling it so she could spend more time with her kids. But never one to stop working, Simone started writing adult historical and contemporary romances as well as young adult romances while raising her two children. Her first YA romance, How to Ruin a Summer Vacation, won the Chick Lit Stiletto contest in 2004 and was recently reviewed as “The best teen comedy/romance of 2006!”
Simone has two more books which will be released in 2007 by Flux, Leaving Paradise (which was out in April) and How to Ruin my Teenage Life (June). Represented by agent Nadia Cornier from Firebrand Literary, she believes anything is possible if you just work hard and keep submitting and refining your work until you find an agent who loves your writing. Simone has served as president, advisor, newsletter chair, programs chair and conference chair for her local RWA chapter, Chicago-North. She remains an active participant in attending her local RWA meetings and loves encouraging beginning romance writers to pursue their dream of being published.
April 28th: Author and writing instructor Alice LaPlante-Craft Workshop: Showing not Telling
March 24th: Author Lynna Banning (aka Carolynn Woolston) - Back by popular demand, bring your first page for a critique!
The instructions for submitting your one page critique to Lynna Banning at the March chapter meeting:
Please bring the first page of your most recent. Format your submission in 12 pt font, Courier New. Your submission must be double spaced, with 1 inch margins all around. You may start at the top of the page. You may put your name on your submission, or submit anonymously. We are focusing on your HOOK, so keep that in mind when you submit.
Barbara Plum will be our reader and Lynna Banning will facilitate critiques. Each reading will take approximately 1 minute. We will allow approximately 5 minutes per submission for the critique. If we have 30 submissions (last year we had 28) we will spend approximately 3 hours, from 10am or until we get through them all (we have the room until 2pm, hopefully we can finish by 1).
This schedule is a rough estimate. Not all submissions will require a full 6 minutes for review and some need a few more, but I’ll be the moderator to keep us on time. I will bring a timer!
Last year, we didn’t get to critique everyone’s submission. This year, if a submission is out of format it will have to go to the end of the queue and it may not be critiqued.
Public critiques are not for the overly sensitive, but I can assure you this session will be professional and constructive. Lynna Banning practices the Praise/Criticize/Praise critique method. So take a chance and get your work out there! This will be a test session before we move into longer, more in-depth critiques proposed for our future meetings.
- Visit Lynna’s site!
Bio:
Lynna Banning combines a lifelong love of history and literature into a career as a writer. Born in Oregon, she has lived in northern California most of her life. 
After graduating from Scripps College she embarked on a career as an editor and technical writer, and later as a high school English teacher.
An amateur pianist and harpsichordist, Lynna performs on harp and psaltery in a medieval music ensemble. She enjoys hearing from her readers; you may write directly to P.O. Box 324, Felton or email carolynw@cruzio.com. Visit Lynna’s web site at www.lynnabanning.com
February 24th: Mary Mackey - Appeal to the Widest Market Possible by Combining Romance With Comedy, History, and Other Genres
In exciting news, Mary has learned that Garrison Keillor is going to read her poems “Chicken Killing” on “The Writer’s Almanac” Feb 15th and “My Methodist Grandmother Says” on “The Writer’s Almanac” Feb 16th. The poems, which are both from her new collection, “Breaking the Fever,” are also going to be available on the American Public Radio website and in podcast. In the Bay Area the show will be playing at 9 a.m. on KALW (91.7 FM). If you like, you can hear them as early as Monday, Feb. 13, by checking out their website at www.writersalmanac.org
- Visit Mary’s site!
Bio:
“No one, but no one, writes loves scenes as sensuously as Mary
Mackey.” –Arts Indiana
Mary Mackey’s published works include five volumes of poetry (Split Ends, One Night Stand, Skin Deep, The Dear Dance of Eros, and Breaking the Fever, to be published by Marsh Hawk Press in September 2006); a novella (Immersion); and eleven novels (McCarthy’s List, Doubleday; The Last Warrior Queen, Putnam; A Grand Passion, Simon & Schuster; Season of Shadows, Bantam; The Kindness of Strangers, Simon & Schuster; The Year The Horses Came, Harper San Francisco; The Horses at the Gate, Harper San Francisco; The Fires of Spring, Penguin, The Stand In, Kensington Books, Sweet Revenge, Kensington Books; and Dangerous Crossings, to be published by Berkley Books in 2007). The Stand In and Sweet Revenge are romantic comedies which appeared under Mackey’s pen name “Kate Clemens.”
Mackey’s works have sold over a million copies and have been translated into eleven foreign languages including Japanese, Hebrew, Greek, and Finnish. A screenwriter as well as a novelist, she has sold feature-length screenplays to Warner Brothers as well as to independent film companies. John Korty directed the filming of her original screenplay Silence which won several awards. The film rights to her comic novel The Stand-In have recently been optioned by director Renée De Palma of OneMotion Pictures.
Mackey’s nonfiction and memoirs have appeared in various anthologies. She has reviewed books for The San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, the American Book Review, and a variety of other publications; has lectured at Harvard and the Smithsonian; and has contributed to such diverse magazines as The Chiron Review, Redbook, The New Age Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, Yellow Silk, MS Magazine, The New American Review, and The Harvard Advocate.
Mackey is related through her father’s family to Mark Twain. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. During her twenties, she lived in the rain forests of Costa Rica. In the’90s she served as Chair of PEN American Center, West. She is a fellow of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and has recently served on the Governing Board of PEN Oakland. Mackey is a Professor of English and Writer in Residence at California State University where she teaches creative writing and film.
(An extensive biography of Mary Mackey is available in the Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series, Volume 27, published by Gale Research, Detroit, MI: 1997. To learn more about her, see her web page at: www.marymackey.com)
January 27th: Margie Lawson - Empowering Characters’ Emotions workshop
Times: All day workshop from 9am to 5pm (see schedule below)
Fee:
- Registering before Jan 10th - $50 for members and $60 for non-members
- Registering between Jan 10th and Jan 18th - $55 for members and $65 for non-members
- NO registration after January 18th
- Food is included in the fee.
We are expecting a full house for this one! So register early!
How to register: Please RSVP to Rachel Taylor - she will give you the address for sending the check. You must RSVP and have the check to Rachel by January 18th.
Food:
- Breakfast Menu: Coffee, tea, water and juice, continental breakfast (muffins, pastries, etc.)
- Lunch Plate Menu: Focaccia turkey sandwich and salad, or vegetarian cheese ravioli and salad (please send an email to Rachel Taylor to request a vegetarian plate lunch).
- Dessert: Chocolate fudge cake, lemon cake. Drinks: Tea, sodas, water and coffee.
Promo: Chapter authors, if you would like to donate promo gift baskets for us to raffle, please send to Kathrynn Dennis, PO Box 507, Menlo Park, Ca 94026-0507. Send an email to Kathrynn Dennis and let her know you’ve sent something. A portion of the proceeds will go to the scholarship fund.
MEETING NOTE: Margie asks that participants bring three chapters (or more—of your current work in progress or chapters from a book you love) and five highlighters (pink, blue, yellow, orange,and green) and a red pen.
Schedule:
| 8:30-9:00 | Registration (Tea/Coffee in the AM, no food) | |||
| 9:00 | Workshop begins | |||
| 10:15 | Break | |||
| 10:45 | Workshop resumes | |||
| 12:00 | Break for Lunch (buffet lunch and drinks provided) | |||
| 1:00 | Workshop resumes | |||
| 3:00 | Break (cookies/chocolate provided) | |||
| 3:15 | Workshop resumes | |||
| 4:30 | Workshop concludes - Questions until 5 | |||
* It bears repeating that Margie asks that participants bring three chapters (or more—of your current work in progress or chapters from a book you love) and five highlighters (pink, blue, yellow, orange,and green) and a red pen.
Workshop Details:
If you want to learn how to enhance character emotions — wrenching emotion from the reader word by word, page by page — this is the workshop for you. Learn the nuances of the unspoken language of the body, practice writing them fresh and feel the intensity of emotion jump off the page.
The following topics will be covered:
- The EDITS system
- Basic, complex, empowered, and super empowered passages
- Backstory management
- Kinesics, Haptics, Proxemics, Facial expressions, Paralanguage
- Proprioceptive stimuli, Involuntary physical responses
- Ideomotoric shifts
- Mirroring, Communications Accommodation Levels of intimacy, Love signals
- Nonverbal gender differences
- Emotional authencity
- Backloading
- In-trancing the Reader
- Writing fresh . . .
- Projecting Emotion for a Non-POV character
- Carrying a Nonverbal Image Forward
- ECE Checklist
For more information: http://www.margielawson.com/Home.htm
- Visit Margie’s site!
Bio:
Margie is a counseling psychologist who’s been a college professor, workshop presenter, keynote speaker, clinical trainer, sex therapist, director of an Impotence Clinic, hypnotherapist, and writer. She holds a Master of Science degree in Counseling Psychology with an additional post-masters specialization in psychiatric counseling.
She speaks at writing conferences and presents Empowering Characters’ Emotions, Defeat Self-Defeating Behaviors, and The EDITS System and Deep Editing in intense one and two-day workshops to writing organizations nationally.
December 9th - Holiday Party
Don’t miss the Sat, December 9, SVRWA Holiday Party held at the Crowne Plaza from 10am to 2pm.
We will have light lunch and Holiday sweets, as well as a white elephant gift exchange. There is NO CHARGE to chapter members, and guests are welcome at cost of $25 each. Please RSVP to Janet Miller ASAP so we can get a head count.
November 18th: Rachelle Chase - How to get published by accident
To become a lawyer, you go to law school, you study hard, you pass your bar exam, and you’re a lawyer. Well, obviously, it’s not that simple, but the point is that to become a lawyer or a computer programmer or a host of other professions, there are specific steps you take and/or things you learn, and if you work hard and complete them successfully, the likelihood of launching your dream career is great.
Not so with writing. You hone your craft, write the best book you can, send it out into the publishing universe – with no idea as to what its fate will be. There are no “rules” to guarantee publication. Sure, there are guidelines you follow, like how to format your manuscript, what to send an agent/editor, etc. But adhering to guidelines does not guarantee a spot on the road to publication. So when it finally happens and you get “The Call,” it feels like you got lucky – like buying your hundredth lottery ticket and discovering it contains the winning numbers. It feels like “The Call” happened by accident.
In HOW TO GET PUBLISHED BY ACCIDENT, author Rachelle Chase will share how she increased the odds of the “accident” happening – how she went from Leigh Michaels’ online romance writing class at http://www.writingclasses.com in 2002, to the sale of the first project she finished – a novella – to Red Sage Publishing in 2004, to a single title two-book deal with Kensington in 2005 (there’s another book deal in the works in 2006) – and how you can, too. Time permitting, she’ll also talk about techniques she uses in her own writing to take mundane, every day events and make them erotic.
- Visit Rachelle’s site!
Bio:
In between writing her current books and fantasizing about the next one, Rachelle Chase works as a business consultant in the unromantic, though sometimes comic, corporate world. Her first published erotic romance novella, Out of Control, appeared in SECRETS VOLUME 13 in July 2005. Next year, THE SEX LOUNGE (May 2007) and THE SIN CLUB (December 2007) will be released by Kensington in the Aphrodisia line. For more information about the author and current projects, please visit her at http://www.rachellechase.com or email rachelle @ rachellechase.com (no spaces!).
October 28th: Phyllis Humphrey - “Word” Person or “Story” Person: Which are You?
I believe there are two types of authors: “word” people and “story” people. I think of their output as the music and lyrics of fiction. Word people have a fine grasp of language, choose interesting adjectives and verbs, outstanding images, and unusual similes and metaphors. Story people–to use a phrase from films–cut to the chase. Their work is marked by action and dialogue; something is always happening.
Successful fiction exhibits both techniques. Books are not made up of nothing but beautiful words linked together, nor are they all action and conversation without enough description to let the reader observe characters and setting. Both music and lyrics are necessary to produce a song you walk out of the theater singing, and both words and story are necessary for a good novel.
Word people sometimes describe things to the point of overkill. Readers are easily bored, they like action and dialogue. Remember what crime-writer Elmore Leonard said about the success of his books: “I leave out the stuff people skip.”
A story person may need to try to find the telling details that describe people or settings. Calvin Trillin once portrayed a character as: “heavy-set, with dark oily hair, he looked as if he sold fake passports on a street corner in Istanbul.”
This workshop will help the author identify what type of writer she is and offer techniques to help a word person learn to tell a better story and a story person to use language more effectively.
Rebecca, Mutiny on the Bounty, Gone With the Wind, The Maltese Falcon, Sophie’s Choice, The Color Purple all tell stories that keep the reader turning pages. If you use both music and lyrics–a compelling story told in the best possible words–your own book will do the same.
Bio:
I’ve sold seven short contemporary romance novels: the most recent are MASQUERADE to Port Town Publishing, which comes out in April, CHARADE to Barbour Books in 2002, ONCE MORE WITH FEELING and TROPICAL NIGHTS to Kensington. TROPICAL NIGHTS was a finalist in RWA’s Golden Heart Awards, and NORTH BY NORTHEAST, a romantic-suspense novel, won the San Diego Book Award in 2002.
My article, on the same subject as the proposed workshop, was published in The Writer Magazine in 2001. The article, “Critique Groups: A Writer’s Best Friend,” appeared in San Diego Writers’ Monthly. I’m a member of Mensa and am listed in Who’s Who in American Women. I’m married, mother of three adult children and live in southern California.
September 30: Cherry Adair - techniques for strengthening dialogue to make it shine on the page.
Dialog isn’t “How would you like your eggs?” (Unless they are dinosaur eggs!) Dialog serves multiple purposes. Learn how to make your dialog sparkle and sing. Discover ways to insert accents or dialects that are readable, but still authentic. Learn how to change narrative into dialog. Learn about ‘white space’ and how to use it to make the story move faster. Find out how to write each character to make them ‘sound’ like themselves so that you don’t always have to use tags to identify them.
This is an all day workshop. The meeting will cost $28 for members, $35 for non-members. Lunch is included, as well as a light breakfast. A tentative schedule is as follows (this is subject to change in the next couple weeks as we confirm with the Crowne Plaza, so please check back):
| 8:30-9:00 | Registration | |||
| 9:00 | Workshop begins | |||
| 10:15 | Break | |||
| 10:30 | Workshop continues | |||
| 11:30 | Chapter business - a little news, no raffle | |||
| 12:00 | Break for Lunch (buffet lunch, drinks and cookies provided) | |||
| 1:00 | Workshop resumes | |||
| 2:45 | Break | |||
| 3:00 | Workshop resumes | |||
| 4:00 | Workshop concludes | |||
Bio:
Always an adventurer in life as well as writing, USA Today best-selling author Cherry Adair moved halfway across the globe from South Africa to the United States in her early years and became a interior designer. After living in the Bay Area for 25 years, she is now a resident of the Pacific Northwest and uses her creative flare to pen the popular adventures of her fictional T-FLAC counter terrorism operatives. Her award winning books have gathered attention as RITA finalists and won numerous Reviewer’s Choice Awards Cherry counts as her greatest achievement her persistence in continuing to write and wait the five years it took between selling her first novel and her second.
August 26th: Cynthia Lea Clark - Deviant Characters
Join us for this exciting workshop where we will delve into the minds of deviant characters!
- Visit Cynthia’s site for information on forensice, psychology and the criminal mind!
Bio:
Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Cynthia Lea Clark began her acting career with the Repertory Theatre of New Orleans, under Miss June Havoc. As former a Miss Chicago (Miss USA), she continued school, graduating from Northwestern University (multiple degreed), attended nursing school, and became a Firefighter Paramedic. After working as an actress in Chicago, she moved to Los Angeles where she worked on many television shows, such as DAYS OF OUR LIVES and STAT, while continuing her education with a Masters in Psychology and then a Doctorate of Psychology. While working on STAT, she was stalked which led her to work in Forensic Psychopathology. She has over 70 interviews with serial killers, mass murderers, etc. She founded CrimeInMind with former FBI agent and author Rae Monet and author Karin Tabke. Today she mixes Forensics with writing and acting.
June 24th: Eva Gordon - Ravens and Wolves as Archetypes
Ravens and Wolves as Archetypes in Fantasy Writing. A brief look at their behaviors and why they enrich our stories.
Biologist and fantasy writer Eva Gordon will be presenting an extensive power point talk about the basic biology of the wolf and ravens. She will also discuss the myth and lore surrounding two of Mother Nature’s most powerful totems. Evil omens, savage killer or powerful mage and wise teacher? What is fact and what is legend? She will explain why the ubiquitous wolf and raven inspire our passions at the subconscious level.
She will then follow up the presentation by taking the audience on a short journey through sound into the deep P.O.V. of either the wolf or raven or both.
Bio:
Eva Gordon has BS in Zoology and graduate studies in Biology. She has taught High School Biology for eighteen years. She is the lead teacher at her school in the Gene Connection Biotechnology Program. Eva was also the first teacher-in residence at UCSF’s Science and Health Education Partnership where she worked closely with UCSF research scientists to implement biotechnology in the classroom. Currently she teaches AP Biology, Anatomy/Physiology and Honor’s Biology at a private school.
Her interests include wildlife biology, animal behavior, eco-travel, falconry, horse back riding and sci-fi fantasy writing. She is a new writer and has written two full-length novels, a science fiction titled Post-Apocalyptic Genome and a fantasy/paranormal, The Stone of the Tenth Realm. Both novels have a strong romance. Although not published yet she hopes to find an agent soon.
Eva lives in San Carlos and is married to an electrical engineer. She has a daughter, son and one almost human Standard poodle. She retired her Arabian gelding and is now “horse-less”. She has a strong connection with ravens and is interested in pursuing the hypothesis that ravens were the selective force that caused wolves to travel in packs.
April 22nd: Get ready to pitch!
Come join us for a spirited discussion on pitching tips and pitch your work!
March 25th: Martha Alderson - The Blockbuster Plot
BLOCKBUSTER PLOTS Pure & Simple (BBP) presents writers with step-by-step practical and concrete strategies that demystify plot and scene. BBP is intended for anyone who wants to or is in the process of writing a novel, memoir, screenplay, short story, or creative non-fiction, and needs help with the biggest problem writers face today — creating plot and scenes for their individual projects.
BBP shows plot rather than talking about it. Using two unique step-by-step visual tools for developing and deepening scenes and plot, BBP shows how the pros layer three distinct yet overlapping plotlines - Character Emotional Development, Dramatic Action, and Thematic Plot. When the dramatic action changes the character at depth over time, the story becomes thematically significant.
BBP uses the Scene Tracker as a visual tool to track the seven essential elements of scene, side-by-side from the beginning to the end of any project. BBP uses the Plot Planner as a visual place to plot out the action, character and thematic plotlines. Both parts are intended as a step-by-step interactive guide for writers interested in maximizing their scenes and providing depth to their stories.
BBP is unique because of its hands-on, down-to-earth multi-sensory approach to learning. BBP provides specific activities linked directly to each writer’s individual project. The book is divided between explanation and activity forms.
By analyzing scenes and plots from classic and contemporary writers such as Twain, London, and McCarthy, writers learn how to add a dynamic, effective twist to their work.
BBP provides writers with the tools and resources to get from where they are - stuck and unable to begin or stuck and unable to finish - to where they want to be - holding a finished project. BBP effectively demonstrates the relationship between scene and plot and explains the principles involved in the art and craft of developing sizzling scenes and compelling plots and story design. BBP offers techniques to help writers maintain faith and enjoy the process of creation.
- Visit Martha’s site for information on blockbuster plots, workshops and more!
Bio:
Martha Stockton Alderson, M.A., is the author of BLOCKBUSTER PLOTS Pure & Simple and two award-winning historical novels; a speaker and publisher; and a teacher and plot consultant. She has transformed the lives of hundreds of published and aspiring writers with her workshops, consultations and her book. Her clients include best-selling authors, writing teachers and editors.
February 25th: Elda Minger - State of the Business
Elda Minger will be talking about the current state of the romance industry, As well as researching this topic with top editors and agents, she will also give her own opinion concerning where she believes romance is taking a dangerously wrong turn. She will have discussed her ideas with professionals in the industry, agents, editors and other published authors, so this will not just be a collection of her own thoughts, but some carefully thought out and discussed ideas that can help those already published or those hoping to make their first sale in 2006. She is also absolutely open to other writers at the meeting throwing out their opinions for a full-scale discussion of where romance is headed and what must happen for it to become a stronger and more viable genre.
“People’s needs change as time passes. This is also true of readers. While some core elements of the romance remain the same, others must shift with the times in order to capture the imagination of the audience you’re trying to reach. But this in no way means that a writer must give up her core, or the crucial questions she wants answered as she explores those various questions and themes in the body of her work.”
Come join us for a spirited and provocative discussion.
Bio:
USA Today bestselling author Elda Minger is a RITA finalist and has won numerous awards, including Romantic Times’ Best American Romance.
Elda enjoys approaching the romance novel from a sociobiological standpoint, and this approach has made her talks different from many other conference presentations. Perhaps the most popular of these was a talk entitled, “Writing Erotic Sex Scenes That Sell”, a discussion of the differences in male and female brains, and how men and women think. The tape from this talk went on to become the bestselling tape from the RWA National Conference in Orlando in 1997 and is still mentioned at conferences today.
Full biography can be found at: http://berkleyjoveauthors.com/author46
January 28th: Tonda Fuller - Undressing Your Heroine
Join us for this killer workshop on exactly what your historical heroine would wear…or not wear. More information to come!
- Visit Tonda’s site for information on historical fashions and much more!
Bio:
Tonda Fuller is an RWA PRO member, and a 2005 Golden Heart finalist. She has done articles about period undergarments and costumes for her local chapter’s newsletter (San Francisco Bay Area), and for the Beau Monde’s Quizzing Glass. She grew up participating in a wide variety of historical reenactment clubs in Northern California, and has firsthand experience creating and wearing the clothes of multiple eras from the Medieval to the Roaring 20s.
Meetings in 2005
November 19: Sally Driscoll - Rhetoric & Copyediting
October 29: Debra Dixon - Book In A Day
September 24: Barbara Plum - First Page Critique
May 21st: Barbara Plum - Finding Your Voice
March 19th: April Kihlstrom - Book In A Week
February 26th: Brenda Novak - NETWORKING: Sowing the Seeds of Success
January 29th: Sueann Snow - Pitches