Wrap-Up of the MuseOnline Conference

I had a terrific time at the MuseOnline Writers Conference, which ran on forums and chats Oct 3-9.  This year, I taught six workshops, plus one impromptu on housekeeping tips:

Developing a Unique Character Voice

Editing: Not For Wimps

Help! My Writer’s Block is Buried in Clutter (impromptu chat on housekeeping for busy writers)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Making the Most of Your Research and Articles

Torture Your Characters for Fun and Plot-Fit

Worldbuilding 201

Zombies and Monsters and Pixies, All Mine

(I’ll be teaching these classes next year in other venues or at online conferences, so stay tuned or sign up for my newsletter, http://eepurl.com/dc-8M to get notices.)

The classes were a lot of fun, and I was thrilled at the stuff folks came up with for the homework.  A few said they had great ideas for stories or National Novel Writing Month (in November).  I love that I helped fire imaginations!

My imagination was fired up, too.  In Rosalie Skinner’s class, Focused on Fantasy, I played with my Gapman novel that is waiting its turn to be written, and her questions and assignments helped me figure out the evil overlord scheme a bit and gave me a wonderful crisis for the story.  P. June Deihl had a great worksheet of exercises that that I used to build some fun scenes for Gapman.  In Lynn Rush’s Mind Mapping seminar, I had a wonderful insight into my ship, the Santiago, in its AI.

I also got some wonderful critiques from Jane Lebak and Jim Harrington and learned a lot just listening in on agent Beth Fleisher’s pitch session.  (I was moderator.)  I got a few more marketing ideas, as well as a lot of food for thought.  There were some workshops I just didn’t have time for, but I plan to go back and read them.

Finally, for you DragonEye, PI fans, I discussed the possibility of publishing a few of my novellas with MuseItUp.  They have Live and Let Fly, and we’re both interested in making MuseItUp the home for DragonEye, PI from now on.  Lea Schizas, publisher, liked the idea and she’s a big Vern fan, too, so I’ll be following up with her on those.  Again, register for the newsletter at http://eepurl.com/dc-8M if you want to be kept up-to-date on this and other publishing developments.

MuseCon is over, but the next one is Oct 8-14.  This conference is FREE but worth hundreds of dollars in information, networking and opportunities.  Don’t miss out!  Go register NOW at http://themuseonlinewritersconference.com.  (If you attended this year, you MUST register again for next year.  (if you took the registration poll, then you are good; otherwise, go back to the forums to http://themuseonlinewritersconference.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=175&t=2621 and take the poll!)

The Boys Upstairs by Jane Lebak

Synopsis: Jay Farrell, a crippled priest, has begun housing homeless boys in his rectory. Once a street kid himself, he was riding the rocket-train to a lifetime in prison until the day he drove over a land mine in Iraq. Today he works at an inner-city parish, running a soup kitchen and struggling to manage an impoverished church.

With temperatures below zero and falling a few nights before Christmas, Jay's estranged brother Kevin dumps three more children on his front porch. Kevin, a cop who can't believe in God after all the evil he's seen, hasn't spoken to Jay in years, but he knows Jay will at least give the kids a place to stay. It isn't over yet, though. As they work together to meet the children's needs, they must confront the long-buried emotions that have divided them so long.

The Boys Upstairs examines the real gift of the holiday season and how hope can transform the ones society condemns as not worth saving.

Mini Review: I read this aloud to my 10-year-old son, and he really enjoyed it. I must say that I had a hard time at some points keeping my voice clear because the scenes choked me up. Despite the title, this is really a story about two brothers finding each other again. I would have liked more about the children--perhaps Jane will consider a second novella? I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a heartwarming story no matter what time of year.

Purchase Link: Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/The-Boys-Upstairs-ebook/dp/B004EYT9NW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297290893&sr=8-1

Thoughts on Writer's Voice

Recently, a friend on one of my writer's groups asked about how to find one's voice in writing. I thought I'd share my opinions with you as well.

What is voice? Intuitively speaking, it's what makes your writing recognizable as yours. It's a combination of word choice, tone (friendly or educational), sentence length and structure, approach... It's not easily defined or pinned down, which can make it intimidating to the new writer.

Best advice is: don't worry about it. You don't "make" your voice. You and your voice find each other.

The most effective way of finding your voice is simply writing. I think Jane Lebak said it can take upwards of 100,000 words, though I may have heard that from another author elsewhere.

As for mimicking another author's voice, I know some writers who did that early in their career as an exercise or as play or to move past a weakness in their worn writing. (For instance, if you are bad at description, you copy out a few pages of an author who does wonderful description, get a feel for how they do it, then apply elements to your own work.) However, that doesn't mean you copy someone else's voice for work you submit. It's practice.

Voice can differ by what you write, IMHO. My voice for DragonEye, PI is very different from my voice for my latest book on Catholic living, Why God Matters. One is fiction told by a snarky dragon; the other stories of God's hand in the life of a middle-aged mom. Yet, if you look closely, I'm sure you'll see some similarities in voice.