Planning a POV Workshop

Today's picture goes with last week's post about discovery drafts vs editing as you go. It' a t-shirt I saw in a catalog and couldn't resist. Maybe I'll wear it to my next RWA chapter meeting.

Because I'm going to be doing a workshop on Point of View at the Emerald City conference, I thought I'd share some of the things I plan to cover as I prepare my speaker notes. If you have any POV issues you think I should include in the workshop, let me know. I'll lead off with the various types of POV, but didn't think I needed to include that here. Since I write in deep POV, that's going to be the focus of my workshop.

Point of view (POV) is the vantage point from which we show a section of the story to the reader -- and it's one of the hardest things to deal with when we write.

Usually, we only tell the story through the eyes of one character -- or at least one character at a time. When we switch back and forth, the reader is jerked from one person's head to the other, and it's hard to develop empathy for either character.

Using POV
If we've chosen to use our heroine's POV, then the reader will see what the heroine sees, hear what the heroine hears, and know most of what the heroine's thinking.

The reader won't know what anyone else is thinking, or what's happening behind the heroine's back, or what's said after she leaves the room. If the heroine doesn't see it, hear it, smell it or taste it, then it can't happen for the reader -- not in that scene, at least.

So how do you show the other character's state of mind (like the hero)? We'll know his state of mind by what he says, what he does, how he acts, and what the heroine thinks about it.

Let's try an example. Sally's the heroine, and she has just confronted Joe, the hero, about a lie she thinks he's told her. Sally's the POV character. How can we make sure our readers connect with Sally and know what's going on with Joe?

More Hints for Public Speaking - Workshops

What I'm reading: Murder in the Mind, by L.L. Bartlett; Treachery in Death, by J.D. Robb

Yesterday, I gave a presentation to my local RWA chapter. This was a craft workshop, and there are different considerations when doing an informal chat, which is what I talked about last week.

For a workshop, you're going to need more preparation, of course. Here are a few more hints for a successful presentation.

1. Even if it's one you've given until you think you could do it in your sleep, REVIEW THE MATERIAL in advance. You don't want to have to stop to read your notes.

2. Work from notes, NOT a printout of your workshop. You'll put everyone to sleep, because "reading" isn't "talking." You don't want to sound like a boring professor.

3. Have handouts. People will be more attentive if they know they don't have to struggle to write down everything you're saying.

4. Touch base with the organizer to make sure any equipment you required will be available.

5. Arrive early to set up. Make sure everything works. Be prepared with plans B and C if everything doesn't work. Can you give your talk if there's no powerpoint projector, or if your computer won't communicate with it? While technology can make your talk lively and give your audience something to focus on other than you, it can break down, or not work the way you expected.

6. Try to be interactive with your audience. Ask for their ideas if your topic permits. You're probably not talking about something where you're the only person in the room who's had experience along those lines. (Hint: I offer chocolate to anyone who participates in any fashion. Ask a volunteer to hand it out.)

7. HAVE FUN.

And, although I've never been invited to give a "featured presentation" at a conference, I found this on Bob Mayer's site yesterday and had to share. The tongue-in-cheek humor isn't really all that far off.And I urge you to check his site, because he has some excellent advice for going to a conference as a featured speaker. Some day, you might need it!



Tomorrow my guest is Jacqui Jacobi, who's talking about writing the Second Paragraph. Come back!

A Non-Plotter Plots a Workshop

For the last few days, I've been working on putting together my workshop for the First Coast Romance Writer's February 13th meeting in Jacksonville. (Which is scary enough, because they're billing me as an "award winning author". That's not a lie, but my awards aren't exactly the equivalents of the Oscars or Golden Globes.) And speaking of awards, I seem to have garnered a couple more blog awards, which I'll address in a future post.

The group asked me to speak on the way I plot, which followers of this blog will know is very loosely. In addition, by now you should be aware of my dislike of spoilers. I don't want to know what's going to happen until it happens.


My preference for the workshop would be to have an informal chat, a little brainstorming, and chat about what other folks use for their plotting. I think back to my school teaching days, and of lesson plans, which sends a shiver down my spine. I tended to teach by discussing, questions – more the Socratic method, since I was teaching junior high Science, and trying to lecture to those human bags of hormones was a guarantee to elicit the eyes-glazing over syndrome.

Plotting for Non-Plotters - Sneak Preview

First - another warm fuzzy. I received this email yesterday evening.

Hi Terry
Just wanted to let you know that I finished reading your book What's In A Name? that I won recently in your contest and loved the book. I liked the relationship between the main characters and the premise of the story was believable. The intimate scenes were not overdone like so many stories I see today...sometimes that ruins the story for me ...I think some authors think they need it in order to sell their books but you had just enough. Thanks for that. I'm going to share your book with my sister before I put it on my keeper shelf. I'm so glad I won it...I doubt I'd ever picked up a copy on my own to read. Looking forward to reading some more of your work.

I never used to write 'thank you notes' to authors, but I do now that I'm writing. I know how much they can brighten someone's day, and since we work in a virtual vacuum most of the time, that contact with the end user of our product is priceless.

I have my handout for Saturday's workshop on "Plotting for Non-Plotters" ... um ... plotted. Here are the bare bones. I'll provide more after the workshop.

Keep Reading...

A bit of Googling gave me the following quotes. The first is my favorite.

“It's like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

“Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.”
E.L. Doctorow

"If I had a plot that was all set in advance, why would I want go through the agony of writing the novel? A novel is a kind of exploration and discovery, for me at any rate."
Chaim Potok

"I always start with characters rather than with a plot, which many critics would say is very obvious from the lack of plot in my films although I think they do have plots - but the plot is not of primary importance to me, the characters are."
Film Director Jim Jarmusch

"In order to have a plot, you have to have a conflict, something bad has to happen."
Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-Head, King of the Hill)

"Plotting isn't like sex, because you can go back and adjust it afterwards. Whether you plan your story beforehand or not, if the climax turns out to be the revelation that the mad professor's anti-gravity device actually works, you must go back and silently delete all those flying cars buzzing around the city on page one. If you want to reveal something, you need to hide it properly first."
Colin Greenland


My bullet points:

Where to start

How far to go

Trust your instincts

Tracking

Materials needed

Method

Of course, those bullet points will be fleshed out with examples, suggestions, and caveats. I'll also drag my story and idea boards to the meeting. I'm looking forward to working with Lara. She came over last night, and we had a very easy time deciding what each of us would cover, as her approach is very different from mine.

And don't forget -- tomorrow: The next chapter from the case files of Homicide Hussey.