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OCCRWA August 2013 Online Class: Symbols with Marcy Weydemuller

July 26, 2013 by in category Archives

OCCRWA Proudly Presents: header

August 12 – September 9, 2013

SYMBOLS

with Marcy Weydemuller

About the Class:
Many symbols are universal but can be interpreted in different ways. In one culture white is considered virginal and pure, and in another it represents death. We’ll examine ways we can discover the concepts inherent in our stories and look at how to develop them to bridge divides, or explore the confrontations when they can add depth to our characters or plots. What mythic metaphors resonant like music? What symbolic language do they share? How do they weave their magic into our stories and how can we use them to highlight magical elements in ours?

About the Instructor:
Marcy Weydemuller has twenty years experience writing, mentoring and teaching, both in fiction and non-fiction. She has a BA in History and Sociology, and an MFA in Writing, with a special focus on fantasy and poetry. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, the Christian Editor Network and Christian Manuscript Critique Service. Her freelance edit services include as a reader feedback, a substantive editor, and as a manuscript analyst. Projects have included historical fiction, YA contemporary, middle-readers—historical and contemporary, suspense-mystery, woman’s romance and memoir.
For enrollment information, please click the link here.



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A Thought or two on Loglines and Mission Statements

July 19, 2013 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

Now how in the world do loglines relate to mission statements?  It kind of surprised me when I realized the connection.
For a bit of background, I was participating in and helping with MFRW‘s great Summer Camp (check out Linda Mc Laughlin’s Blog for more information) Kayelle Allen asked me to take on a logline forum, since I do enjoy distilling a book down to twenty five words or less. On the same weekend I was working with a club on their ByLaws, starting with the Mission Statement.
A Mission Statement is a declaration of an organization’s purpose. Some are complex, conveying many thoughts; the best are direct and simple, describing the organization so clearly one has no doubt of their place in the world. Even better, these simple statements stick with us, and when we’re asked what that organization is all about, we have a clear answer.
What was that? A clear description. Direct. Simple. Something that will stick with us? Sounds like something else I’ve read about recently. 
What do you think? Could the logline be the mission statement of our book?

When not pondering esoteric concepts, Monica writes and reads romance in various genres while living in the high desert wondering when or if it will rain.
http://mona-karel.com/

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emaginings: Buffer for Writers

July 17, 2013 by in category The Romance Journey by Linda Mclaughlin tagged as , , , , , , , ,

While most everyone else was getting ready for this week’s RWA Conference in Atlanta, I went to camp instead. Well, MFRW (Marketing For Romance Writers) online Summer Camp.

If you’re not familiar with MFRW, I recommend checking it out. We have a dynamic group of writers led by the amazing Kayelle Allen, and ably assisted by Paloma Beck, Karen Cote, Kristyn Phipps, OCC’s own Monica Stoner, and a host of other generous volunteers. I’ve learned a lot from reading the MFRW Digests that come into my inbox.

At camp, I focused mostly on the social media classes, since I’ve been taking baby steps into that arena for over a year now. One of the classes was Buffer for the Hard-Pressed Writer, taught by Kristyn Phipps. I’ve had a Twitter account for over a year now, but hadn’t gone so far as to sign up for HootSuite or TweetDeck to manage my tweets, though there were times when I wished I had a way to space them out more. So I figured why not give Buffer a try, esp. since it’s also available as a smart phone app. It seemed like a good solution: a simple app that lets a user schedule tweets and FaceBook shares for release at specified times of the day.

You can sign in using your Twitter or Facebook account, then add a Buffer email and password. You have to authorize Buffer to access your Twitter, FB, Linked In or App.net account.

Buffer also has a section called Analytics that shows you the number of times someone Retweets, Favorites, Mentions, or Clicks your message and the Potential number of users that could be reached.

The Buffer staff is good at answering question via Twitter and the app will also email you to let you know when your buffer is empty. I haven’t had much time to play with it yet, but expect it will be quite useful.

Have you ever tried Buffer, and if so, what was your impression? Or do you use a different program to schedule your social media?

To those who are traveling to Atlanta, be safe and have a wonderful conference!

Linda McLaughlin / Lyndi Lamont
Websites: http://www.lindamclaughlin.com
http://www.lyndilamont.com
Blogs:
Flights of Fancy
Lyndi’s Love Notes
Facebook
Twitter

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Novelists! Writing a Script? Read This

July 15, 2013 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

I’ve written 28 books. I am a USA Today and Amazon best selling novelist. I worked with New York publishers for 25 years. I launched an indie career three years ago. I have taught writing at the UCLA Writers Program, conferences and lectured to writing groups. I thought I was pretty savvy. I thought I could write anything. Then I met my Waterloo. I wrote a screenplay. Actually, I wrote two.

My first one was an original romantic comedy, Saving Seymour, and my second a psychological thriller based on Keeping Counsel, my USA Today bestseller. Both are in development, both have attachments, but the first one almost sent me to the cliff. Generally, what I learned during the process of writing Saving Seymour is as follows:

  • Writing a screenplay is one of the most difficult things a writer can do. 
  • Listen to your producer if you’re lucky enough to have one. He/she truly does know what he/she is talking about even though they don’t write. 
  • When you’re done, don’t buy your dress (or rent your tux) for the red carpet. In the years it takes to actually produce a movie your tastes are bound to change. 

By the time I wrote my second script, I learned a few specific things that made the transition from novelist to screenwriter a lot less crazy making. Here are the top five tips:

  • Be focused. You have minutes to establish whose story it is and the tone of your script. The leisure of a novelist’s scene setting is out the window. Know who your hero is, what the arc is, where the story takes place and what is critical to the telling of the tale. 
  • Be brief. Keep direction to a minimum. Your job is to communicate the story with just enough force, intelligence and excitement that director and actors can interpret that story visually and orally. 
  • Be budget conscious. Okay, you’re not a line-producer, but you can make a difference as to whether producing your movie is attractive for investors. Keep set pieces to a minimum and you not only streamline the story, you streamline the budget. 
  • Be hyper-aware of dialogue. Dialogue needs to be natural, informative & evocative with an eye toward time conservation. Choose your words carefully. Rethink sentence structure. Tighten, Tighten. The reader of a book loses herself in dialogue; a moviegoer will be lost if you don’t get to the point. 
  • Show-don’t-tell. A sense of urgency can be communicated by showing a car speeding away than through dialogue urging a character to hurry. If there is a place where a visual will communicate more than dialogue, use it. 

Visit me at: http://www. Rebeccaforster.com. Look for my books on Amazon.com (print & digital), iBookstore, Barnes & Nobel.com, etc. etc. (digital),or Audible.com. I’ll let you know the minute I get my dress for the premiers of Saving Seymour and Keeping Counsel. In the meantime, happy writing; stay sane.

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A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Loo in Atlanta by Jina Bacarr

July 11, 2013 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No girl forgets her first.

As in her first RWA conference. Mine was Atlanta 2006. Ah, yes, I still remember the Harlequin Party at the Ritz Carlton and the meet-up with the OCC crowd. The boxes and boxes of books stacked in conference rooms, waiting to be opened. The great speech Nora Roberts gave that year.

And my hotel room.

The toilet didn’t work. There I was, just off the Atlanta Link shuttle, exhausted from the long flight, bags in my room, shoes off, when I had to wait for maintenance…

And wait…

And…

Like I said, you remember your first.

Hopefully everyone’s loo is in good working order at this year’s national conference once again being held in Atlanta July 17-20th, but I can’t help but chuckle when I look back at my experience at RWA 2006.

Here’s the video I shot of my bathroom saga:

 
Music: Honey Rose from B&H Gold Music www.bhgoldmusic.com
 

 
 
Coming soon:
 
Pepper O’Malley, the heroine in “Naked Sushi,” my October 2013 Cosmo Red-Hot Read from Harlequin, finds herself up to her eyeballs in corporate espionage in a fancy hotel…more about Pepper’s adventures in future posts!
 
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