8th Annual Cliff House Writer's Retreat

The Eighth Annual Cliff House Writer’s Retreat held May 2-4, 2014, was another huge success. With such diverse manuscripts, everyone learned something new. We discussed two MG novels, one realistic and one supernatural. Five YA’s— contemporary romance, suspense, historical, steampunk and LGBT.

On Friday afternoon, we brainstormed additions to one member’s final pages, to make a stronger, more effective ending. Her story is headed to her agent and then off to the requesting editors. :)

 

Friday night, all seven of us enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Peter’s Europa House. Toasts were issued around the table. Four of the seven of us had books published within the last year. J

That night, after brainstorming sequel titles and concepts for one of our MG writers, we had a very deep discussion led by Ruth Knafo Setton, writing instructor at Lehigh University and Roxanne Werner, former editor at Stories for Children.  Needless to say everyone ran home to “SAVE THE CAT!” J

Saturday morning began with ‘sunrise yoga’ led by Milan Sandhu. Once we stretched our bodies we were ready to stretch our minds.

 

Readings, comments, critiques and plenty of note-taking commenced. After lunch break, we headed back for more. Writers had individual time to write and revise.

Supper was a community effort with vegetarian red lentil soup, various cheddar cheeses and dill crackers, chicken, grape and apple salad, heritage tomato salad, Spanish olives, chicken cutlets, and a large tossed salad dressed with Italian spices, vinegar and olive oil.

                                                               

We finished up Saturday evening with the last writer critique and brainstormed topics for our next meeting.

Sunday morning, breakfast was a melancholy event, because everyone knew the time to leave was fast-approaching.  

One last round table meeting to cover synopses, queries and pitch lines and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye.

Lookout world, the Cliff House Writers mean business, and with any luck, more of us will be published this year. J

If you are interested in joining us for a paid retreat in the fall, drop me a line and I’ll forward your information to our Fall Retreat coordinator.

gayle@gayleckrause.com

Catch your readers…Hook, First Line and Story

“May I have your attention, please?”

What if you started off your novel this way, asking for the reader’s attention?

If you are a good writer, you do just that, only in not so polite a way. You stick the reader in the beginning of your story with such a traumatic/outlandish/dark & gritty or unusual beginning, they can’t help but read on to find out what is going to happen to the main character in the story.

Examples of great beginnings:

First the colors.

Then the humans.

That’s basically how I see things.

Or at least, how I try.

Here is a small fact…

You are going to die.

THE BOOK THIEF – Markus Zusak 

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We are orphans. We use our brains and our bodies to survive. But the only things that thrive in Metro City are the rats, and not all of them are rodents.

                                                                                                            Jax Stone

 

RATGIRL: SONG OF THE VIPER – Gayle C. Krause

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A narrative hook is a literary technique in the opening of a story that "hooks" the reader's attention so that he/she will keep reading.

Ideally, the "opening" is the first sentence or paragraph. Sometimes , as above they are quotes from a character or a small prologue.

A few more examples where the hook is the first sentence.

***Here is everything I know about France: Madeline and Amelie and Moulin Rouge.

                                --Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins

***Makenna had to stretch onto her toes to reach the small stone lamp, for the shelf that held it was higher than a grown woman's head, and she was only eleven.

                                     --The Goblin Wood - Hilari Bell

***In these dungeons the darkness was complete, but Katsa had a map in her mind.

                                      --Graceling - Kristin Cashore

The hook must create immediate tension, ask a question or find a way to allure your reader into the story. The hook sets up the entire scene, makes way for the plot and opens the door for the characters to shine, flawed and all.

Check over your manuscript and choose the best sentence to introduce your story. It might be the second or even down the page, but your story deserves the strongest beginning you can give it.


Next up on "The Author's ABC's……….Independent Publishing.

The Secret of the Ghost Author

Growing up, my favorite stories were the Nancy Drew mysteries.

I devoured each mystery and I, like many other girls, thought they had a special knack for solving mysteries like Nancy.

I even went so far as to leave written clues about some made-up mystery on small pieces of paper that I slipped into the ceiling moldings of my bedroom in the house were I grew up before we moved to a new house.

And why am I telling you this? Because perhaps my fascination with the Nancy Drew mysteries laid the foundation for the writing career I have today. But one thing always bothered me. How could Carolyn Keene have written the first book, The Mystery in the Old Clock in 1930 and still be alive to write Werewolf in a Winter Wonderland in 2003?

GET A CLUE!!!!

She didn’t. Carolyn Keene wasn’t one person. She was a pseudonym used by many hired authors over the years. These work for hire authors were ghostwriters.

A ghostwriter is a writer who writes books credited to another person.

Celebrities, politicians, and sports often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit written material, which will bear the celebrities name.

Ghostwriters are also hired to write fiction in the style of an existing author, often as a way of increasing the number of books that can be published by a popular author. Hence, Carolyn Keene.

Known popular authors who used ghostwriters:

Tom Clancy

V.C. Andrews

Robert Ludlum

James Patterson

Next up in the Author's ABC's…………. HOOK and HERO's JOURNEY

Before you self-publish…………FORMAT!

So this past month I attended a writer’s conference where the main gist of the panels and discussions was self-publishing. Self-published authors passed around their books, both picture books and novels and had the audience excited about skipping the traditional route and self-publishing their works.

These authors left thinking it was as easy as uploading their manuscript in a Word document file to Kindle Direct, Nook Press, Kobo, CreateSpace and Smashwords. And sure you can do that if you want your e-book to look like this:

arring crash rocks Knottingwood Manor, from the slate roof tiles to the stone cellars.

ted out of a deep sleep, I jump from bed, wide-eyed. My heart beats like stampeding ses in my chest.

her’s antique mirror had tilted to one side of the mantel, knocking two of my paper ns into the hearth and the sheer drape on my harp, in the corner of the room, thered to the floor.

WHERE IS THE LEFT HAND MARGIN?

Or this:

There were once a man and a woman who had long, in vain, wished for a child. At length it appeared that God was about to grant their desire. These people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen, which was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to an enchantress, who had great power and was dreaded by all the world.

EVERYTHING IS RUN TOGETHER. NO INDENTATIONS. NO NEW PARAGRAPHS.

Or this:

Today’s the first day of eighth grade and I should be happy.

 This year, my best friend, Annie, and I get to rule the school. Annie

and Frannie—Double Trouble. But I’m not ready for school. I want

summer to last so I can daydream about the Beatle’s concert I went

to last week. Paul’s dreamy. John’s sexy. George is cute and Ringo’s

funny. I’ll never forget the night of August 28, 1964.

EXTRA WIDE MARGINS, LEADING TO A LONGER BOOK.

Or this:

… end of chapter 1…

“I’m not insane, but I know what I saw,” she said to herself as she jolted down Finnerty’s rickety garage steps and burst through the hedges into her own back yard. Her high heels hindered her movement, but she reached the tree, as the door was about to disappear. Sticking her hand in the opening, the door opened once more. Not thinking twice, she followed her son and Alex into the unknown.

Chapter 2

Snowbird

    This trip to the parallel world was nothing like the last. Al heard Alex gasp for air in between screams of exhilaration, as the velocity with which she fell was remarkable. Looking down he barely made out her pink-capped head in the darkness of the root tunnel, as that is what it seemed to be. Gigantic tree roots reached out from the earthen tunnel, sometimes stopping his descent, and holding him stationary as he watched Alex plummet full-speed below.

ALL ON THE SAME PAGE. NO CHAPTER BREAKS.

So what is the correct answer? I would suggest that anyone who is considering self-publishing a novel or picture book to research FORMATTERS on the web and hire one before you upload your story to one of the online venues. There is a specific way to do it correctly and you should leave it to the experts.

I strongly recommend------

http://www.deliberatepage.com/book-details/

They are professional formatters, very helpful and experts at what they do. You can’t go 

wrong working with them. So remember before you self-publish…………..

FORMAT

Next up on the Author’s ABC’s… Ghostwriter