
Set phasers to stun -- with knowledge!
Today I travels to the wilds of Houston, but not just so I can quench my insatiable thirst for oil. I arrive today so I can be all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the start of the all-day seminar I am teaching tomorrow for the Houston Writers Guild. People have paid good money so I can tell them how to write a novel, but I’m going to pass it all along to you, the loyal reader, for free. That’s how much I love you. Admittedly, some of these points require a little elaboration, so I may put the drive to good use by trying to figure out what I was thinking when I wrote out this agenda. Rest assured, however, that anyone who attends this seminar will depart with novelistic superpowers.
The agenda of power!
Part 1: Unlocking your inner power animal, and then locking it back up again
- The single most important thing you will ever hear about crafting fiction.
- What gives fiction energy?
- Debunking the myths; or, self-aggrandizing garbage you may have heard from other writers, that I will now tell you to ignore.
- The magic that is the three-act structure.
- The core of the story. How to begin.
- The secret they don’t want you to know – despite my having no idea who “they” are or why “they” would try to keep this from you.
Part 1 (part 2): My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
- Should you outline or not? And how I could possibly know the answer to that question.
- No, you can’t tell me your idea for my next book. And why.
- Using research in your fiction.
- Samuel Johnson on Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” Seriously.
- Voice, tone, style: the things no one ever talks about, even though they should.
- Writing genre fiction.
I paid to attend your Saturday workshop at the Houston Writers Guild and I even drove down from Austin to do it. I have to say that I was glad I did! I really got a lot out of your presentation. And it wasn’t just educational. It was witty and fun! Thanks for really making it worth my time!
~Doug