At a shrunken manuscript conference, you don’t chant, “Hocus pocus, manuscript focus.” That’s fiction! In real life you change your font and shrink your pages preconference. Magic! Right? This is my preconference, unmarked, shrunken manuscript of 41 pages, 141 pages in regular font. At the conference I got Darcy’s book. I analyzed my story and marked up my pages. But…it wasn’t magical. Or easy. My first try isn’t here…I couldn’t mark a single page. Not one! I have a narrative arc, but I couldn’t find it. I got lost trying to find the antagonist/bad guy…mine’s a thing, not a person. URGH!!! Darcy suggested a character arc instead. Easy, I thought. It wasn’t! This time I finished and have the picture below to prove it. But…I quickly realized I didn’t know what I was doing. Exhausted from an early flight, on information overload, I put X’s where ever Poppy battled insecurities, succesfully or not. I marked most pages and battled my own doubts. It felt wrong, but I marked till I hit page 41. Then I took my own advice: 1. It’s OK to fail. You learn more from failure than success. 2. Sleep. You can think about it tomorrow. It worked! The next morning a classmate’s pages showed me what I didn’t understand. Marking shrunken manuscripts is about highlighting important stuff, and leaving the rest white. Then you can see chapter book structure VIVIDLY!!! With a glance, you’ll see where you wrote too much, or too little. Armed with my new revelations, I marked my 5 strongest chapters. They’re above in the 2nd picture, below too. I thought 3 other chapters were strong too. Guess what? I made my own rules and marked them almost strong. I was on a roll! Remember my narrative arc failure? SUCCESS!!! I marked the problem, 3 attempts, final failure, climax, and solution. I even figured out the Antagonist (No food). It’s amazing what sleep, confidence, and the right picture can do! This is a shot of my first 3 pages. Amazing! I thought they were weak. I thought I should delete them, but I changed my mind when I looked at the marks and listened to my writing group! I read Susan, Kim, and Jodie’s manuscript preconference, and they read mine. They helped me see my first chapter was worth saving, and they helped me design a renovation plan. The second picture is my manuscript key. After 4 arcs, I really understand shrunken manuscripts. Experience is a great teacher! Now for my next challenge… marking my character arc. I think…I’ll tackle it…tomorrow! This is my retreat class picture. We all left feeling hopeful, that someday, our manuscripts will be published. Working alone, as a group, and as a class helped us find our own problem areas, then design action plans to solve them, AKA homework. There’s nothing like designing your own homework!
There’s also nothing like hanging out with Darcy Pattison and a dozen prepublished writers like me! Thank you for a great retreat and birthday weekend, for homework, and for getting Poppy’s story one step closer to publication! I would do another retreat in a heartbeat, even on a holiday weekend!
4 Comments
What’s a great way to spend the day if you love books and kids? Volunteer at the Armstrong Air & Space Museum! That’s what I did on Tuesday, April 25th. It was library day, and my day as Volunteer Reader. Christopher Moynihan, Director of Programming and Education, picked two great reads, “Eight Days Gone” and “To the Stars! The First American Woman to Walk in Space.” Both nonfiction, but so different! Eight Days is about the Apollo moon launch in 1969. I was 10 years old when Neil and Buzz landed. It’s fun to share a story I remember, and then try to make it real for preschoolers. As a retired teacher, I love helping kids understand science words like orbit. My young audience did a great job listening and sharing. It’s amazing what they absorb! To the Stars...is the story of Kathy Sullivan, who really did travel to the stars. Then she walked in space and co-authored this book. It was a more challenging read for my young audience. It was longer, had more real facts, and was written for older kids, but the preschoolers did a great job. They liked learning how they were like Kathy, and different. I think a few would hop aboard a plane or rocket, if they got the chance. Who knows? Maybe someday, today’s listener could be tomorrow’s astronaut. After the books came the action part…Museum Executive Director, Chris Burton entered dressed in a spacesuit, something like this. At first the kids were shy but they got over it. They loved trying on the helmet, and their parents loved snapping pictures. Library Day finished with a rocket craft from Kristine Spyker, library youth service director. Our young astronauts made their own spaceship, complete with crepe paper flames. Best of all, a popsicle stick turned the rocket into a puppet so kids can invent their own adventures. Finally many thanks to museum educator, Katie Meyer, who made sure everything ran smoothly, especially the thirty rockets let loose in the museum. Please check out the Museum's Facebook post for April 25th. You can see eight pictures of Library day, and catch a video of me reading. Sorry, no sound! If you love space like I do, here are two special summer events for your calendar: July 22-23 Summer Moon Festival- family fun with inflatables, rides, concerts, science Demonstrations, education activities, rocket launches…AND Buzz Aldrin from the 1st moon landing. Aug. 26-27 Space Station Armstrong- Work together using recycled materials to build a kid-sized space station. You can construct the station Saturday and inhabit it Sunday. |
AuthorWhen I write, I can only have one voice in my head, mine. A little noise is fine. But too much, or worse yet, WORDS, and I must change rooms or pull out headphones. Then I can write on! Categories
All
|