Here’s another summary of a writer’s conference we’d like to share with you. It’s from one of our fantastic followers, so please give her a warm welcome. And if you have attended, or plan to attend a conference, please let us know. We’d love you to guest blog for us!
When Martina asked me to write a guest post on the Michigan SCBWI Spring Conference I attended on May 1, I have to admit I was a little nervous. It was going to be my first blog post ever. But here goes.
The presenters included Jay Asher, who wrote Thirteen Reasons Why, Beth Fleisher, an agent with Barry Goldblatt Literary, Ruta Rima, assistant editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books, and Lisa Yoskowitz, assistant editor at Dutton Children’s Books. Much of the day was spent in breakout sessions with the presenters, so I didn’t get to hear everyone. I’ll share a bit of what I learned at the conference.
His journey to publication took twelve years which included many “good” rejection letters for many of his picture book submissions and winning the Work-In-Progress SCBWI grant to write his breakout novel.
Ruta Rima presented a workshop on what makes characters great.
She had us do a series of exercises to develop inner conflict and character growth. Here’s a few of them:
- Define what your character wants most and write a piece as if the character wants the exact opposite.
- Consider what your character would never do, think, or say? Write a short piece having your character do this.
Try this and you may discover new ways to develop the character, deepen the inner conflict, perhaps change the plot in exciting ways, and up the stakes.
I don’t see most members of SCBWI more than once or twice a year, but follow some on Facebook. I found I was more willing to talk to people I know through Facebook. I’m definitely going to friend more SCBWI members.
Our Fall conference is a weekend one. I can’t wait. What great things have you learned from the conferences you’ve attended?
