Scribd

I just finished Ransom Stephens "God Patent" that he put on Scribd and then it got picked up by a publisher. It is now in print form and an excellent read. I'm disappointed to be finished with it since I became attached to the characters and I'd like the plot to continue...all the ingredients we writers aim for and Ransom succeeded with them all.

You can read more about Ransom's book on my June 19th, 2009 post. Or go to his website: www.ransomstephens.com

Anyone else on Scribd? I'd like to know more about it.

East of Eden Writers Conference

September 24th to 26th is the East of Eden Writers Conference in Salinas, California. I highly recommend going. There will be 48 workshops grouped into five tracks: General Fiction, Mystery, Nonfiction, Poetry, and the Business of Writing. I've marked my schedule to hear Penny Warner in the mystery and general fiction areas, Jana McBurney Lin's talk about scenes, Geri Spieler's Fact and Memory sounds great for nonfiction writing, and I won't miss Becky Levine who will tell everything anyone wants to know about critique groups.

Hope to see you there.

Checklist...a short one

Check lists to use for revising scenes and chapters have helped me lately. I found an article in an old Writers Digest that Nancy Kress wrote. Her three "Cs" checklist is a short cut and easy to remember: "cause, climax and change". Cause is what motivates the character to want or do what he/she does.

Climax is when all the characters' motivations collide and to use Nancy's analogy: "your characters should be out in the storm, not safe inside". And, most importantly, don't rush it. You've built up to the climax so give it more than just a few paragraphs...create a power-filled scene. It's what you've promised the reader and hopefully you do it with a bit of surprise.

The last C is for Change. Make sure you show how each major character has changed...how the situation is different from the beginning of the novel. Help the reader have closure with all the characters that have lived in the world you built.

I'm at the change part of Hada now and this checklist reminded me to be sure I didn't leave any character up in the air or forgotten. About one more month and Hada goes into third revision, finally.

Back to my checklist and maybe to find some more changes I can add for the other members of Hada's family.