Sunday 22 August 2010

What I learnt at the RWA conference: part 2

So, what happened next?
Saturday night was the BIG DINNER to announce the winners of all the BIG awards. This is the second awards dinner I've attended - last year's was in Brisbane - and they are great fun.

This year was better because I met some unreal women - generous, optimistic, warm and funny chicky babes who are passionate about writing.

But I digress. Here are my personal highlights from the two SUPER Sunday sessions.

Sunday AM: Writing from the Inside - Deep Point of View with Denise Rossetti

This was my favourite workshop because Rossetti, a tiny, elegant powerhouse of a woman, made us write stuff. We had to "hitch a ride in the character's head" and see the scene through the character's eyes. She projected six images onto a screen and everyone had 10 minutes to write about one of them, using deep point of view. Initially, I was keen to read mine aloud. But then I heard some of the others. The competition is tough out there.

Lightbulb moment: You have to see, hear and feel what the character feels.

Sunday PM: Make that Synopsis Sell with Erica Hayes

Next favourite after Denise Rossetti. Hayes is another dynamic and entertaining speaker who explained the art of synopsis writing in simple terms - a synopsis is a showcase of "everything that is cool and awesome" about your book! But she gave us much more than that. The session was a blow-by-blow description of how to structure the synopsis that will keep an agent or editor engaged. Hayes used Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as an example and wrote a synopsis around that story.

Lighbulb moment: A book is a series of turning points

And isn't that just life?

5 comments:

AJ Blythe said...

Must check out the conference disk for Erica's notes. Good to hear it was a great workshop.

Shayne said...

Anita,
Saturday night is all right for figthting, but the synopsis gets the editor hooked!

Love

Moi XXXXXXXX

Erica Hayes said...

Hey, glad you got something out of the workshop! Sometimes I feel like I'm just confusing everyone with all that business about turning points :)

Shayne said...

Thanks Erica,
It was brilliant. Now I just have to write the book!

Shayne

Mon Wood said...

Shayne, totally agree with your comments. Those workshops were fab.

Erica, it was a wonderful presentation, and your examples were excellent. I plan on working on my synopsis very soon.