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I don’t know how Carol Lynch Williams does it, but every year, she assembles a staff of top-notch faculty members. This year is no different.
Nine super writers will run the week-long morning workshops. Additionally, there will be five others one day a week for the mini-sessions. The workshops are the heart of the conference. You and your new best friends spend twenty hour critiquing each others’ work and exponentially increasing your understanding of the writing craft. There are less expensive options for attending WIFYR, but every writer should do a morning workshop at least once.
This year’s faculty members will be examined in this two part post. In alphabetical order, we start with Jennifer Adams, Kathi Appelt, Julie Berry, Ann Cannon and Dave Farland. You can go to http://www.wifyr.com to find out more about this conference.
Jennifer Adams - Full Novel Workshop
Jennifer is the author of more than two dozen books, including the board books in the bestselling BABY LIT series, which introduce small children to the world of classic literature. She’s worked as a book editor and works at The King’s English, a sponsor of WIFYR. You can visit her online at: http://jennifer-adams.com .
Kathi Appelt - Picture Book and Middle Grade Novel
Kathi is the New York Times best-selling author of more than forty books for children and young adults. She is on the faculty in the Masters of Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. (Carol is a VCFA alumni and often pulls instructors from there.) She’s won awards for her THE UNDERNEATH, KEEPER, MY FATHER’S SUMMERS, and THE TRUE BLUE SCOUTS OF SUGAM MAN SWAMP.
Julie Berry - Novel Class
Another Vermont College grad, Julie is the author of ALL THE TRUTH THAT’S IN ME and THE SCANDALOUS SISTERHOOD OF PRICKWILLOW PLACE. She’s also written THE AMARANTH ENCHANTMENT, SECONDHAND CHARM, and the SPLURCH ACADEMY FOR DISRUPTIVE BOYS. Find her online at www.julieberrybooks.com, or on Twitter at @julieberrybooks. I am honored at being able to assist for Julie this year.
Ann Cannon - Trouble Shooting Class for All Genres
I’ve assisted for Ann before and can attest to her grasp of writing, her ease of imparting that wisdom to students. She writes PB to YA and entertains Utahns with her weekly column in The Salt Lake Tribune where she also reviews children’s books. She’s published thirteen books including CHARLOTTE’S ROSE, SOPHIE’S FISH, and CAL CAMERON BY DAY, SPIDER-MAN BY NIGHT. She’s also published feature articles in local and nations magazines.
Dave Farland - Boot Camp
Dave has mentored some bog names in children’s literature. That list includes Brandon Mull, Brandon Sanderson, James Dashner, and Stephanie Meyer. He’s an award winning, international best seller with over 50 novels in print, including ON MY WAY TO PARADISE and THE RUNELORDS fantasy series.
All great authors willing to share their expertise with others. Up next week, Dean Hughes, Lisa Mangum, Natalie Whipple, and Carol Lynch Williams
(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)
James Dashner, Carol Lynch Williams, Lisa Mangnum, Ann Cannon, agents, and an editor. Another fantastic WIFYR is in the books.
I don’t know how Carol Williams manages to pull this magical week off every year, but she does. And keeps up on her personal writing. And plays Mom to her five daughters. The lady is amazing. She can dance, too.
Ann Cannon was awesome again. We had a baker’s dozen in our workshop this year. When the enrollment looked small, Ann had assigned 20 pages to share. Then one of the instructors dropped out and our class absorbed some of those writers and critiquing that many pages from so many people became a task. Certainly not in negative way. There is something rewarding about working with other writers, all helping each other lift their craft.
One of my favorite presenters was Lisa Mangum. She had a session on pitching your work and another on reader grabbing first lines and openings. For pitching, it depends on the situation. She touched on the tradition 30 second “elevator” pitch, but sometimes you may not have that much time. At a book signing at Costco, for example, you may have only two seconds to interest someone. She gave suggestions for boiling down your book to it’s essence for situations like that.
John Cusick, agent for Greenhouse Literary Agency and a fiction writer on his own, gave an inspiring presentation. One of his tricks for staying on task during his writing moments is a timer program that does not allow email or internet interruptions. As far as pushing yourself to write, he said, nobody cares if you don’t finish your novel. I care.
Those were just a few of the many intriguing and energizing moments. Start stashing away your nickels and quarters now because Carol will be bringing this conference back again next June.
(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)
All work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) a dull boy (or girl). It probably makes for uninspiring writing, as well.
WIFYR was, again, amazing.
Ann Cannon is a great instructor, my classmates are serious writers. Carol Williams puts on this annual event and runs it to perfection.
It kicked my butt.
Thus, I’m going on holiday. I’m going away and am not taking my laptop, will do no writing at all. Not even for this blog for the next two Saturdays.
(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)
WIFYR season is upon us and there are 150 or so hopeful writers who are getting giddy about it. We’ve been waiting all year and now it is on our doorstep.
Critique is the main focus of the morning workshops. It is a critical process that every writer and every story needs. We authors get so close, too close, to our work we can’t see it objectively, the way others not as vested can. New eyes can provide a fresh look and clarity where we are unable. The story may be clear in our heads, but we need unbiased evaluations when it is not coherent in the mind of others.
Finding the ideal writer’s group can help you get the most out of a critique. I’ve been in a few, some that have worked and some that have not. Success may depend on organization of the group - convenient meeting times, driving distance, etc. I had a great writer’s group, but the drive from Salt Lake to Ogden was long and tedious and our meeting times were not ideal for me. The key ingredient in the success of a group comes down to the people. My new group is ideal. The logistics are fine, but mostly we’re a good fit, we mesh well together.
Critiquing at WIFYR is unique in that you are thrown in with a hodgepodge of people, most of whom you’ve never met before. Some are strong writers, others are still finding their way. Of course, we seek to improve our own stories, but through the appraisal of others, we enrich our own understanding. Our purpose is altruistic, we’re there to help each other out. Yet, we become better writers ourselves as we pull each other along. You’re only with your WIFYR new best friends for a week, but an intensive five days it is.
I’ve read their incredible stories. I can’t wait to meet them.
(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)
Writer’s should read and perhaps the most compelling reason is that reading good writing reminds us of what we aspire to.
There are a few authors whom I want to write like. On is Matt Kirby after reading Icefall. Gary Schmidt’s Doug character pulled me into Okay For Now. MG author Tom Angleberger impressed me the way he saved the final resolution of The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda until the last page. And John Green is John Green. Who wouldn’t want to write like him?
Add to that list Carol Lynch Williams.
Carol is an amazing writer. I just finished The Chosen One for the second time and once again was blown away. Ann Cannon has assigned reading The Chosen One as part of our WIFYR workshop. I checked it out online through Overdrive and received both the audio version and an epub format.
There are number of elements key to a good book. These include compelling characters, dramatic events, believable settings, and a strong writers’s voice. Carol not only applies them, but squeezes the most from each.
She draws you in immediately with her first line, “If I was going to kill the prophet,” I say, not even keeping my voice low, “I’d do it in Africa.” Thus begins the story of a 13-year old polygamous girl chosen to marry her 60-year old uncle.
Most of us Utahans may have encountered polygamists on the street and peered curiously at them. Carol takes us inside an isolated polygamous community where we accept as normal the three wives of Kyra’s father. Carol enriches her setting with scorching heat, red desert dust, and Russian olive trees.
The Chosen One is character driven and Kyra is a compelling MC. She unquestioningly accepts the lifestyle yet does not fit the mold they have cast for her. Books have been banned as the devil’s words, yet she has a yearning to read. Kyra has an interest in a boy and wants to choose him to marry rather that have the prophet dictate who her husband is to be.
Besides her incredible voice, a technique Carol employees masterfully, is the way she raises the stakes for Kyra. This poor girl not only must deal with her sins against the rules of the community and the approaching marriage to the uncle she despises, but faces other traumas. Carol perpetually ratchets the tension until resolving the story nicely.
Carol’s an amazing writer. She also puts on a great writing conference, coming up later this month. (Classes still open, more info here.)
(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)
It is one of those elusive things. Writers try to develop it. Publishers look for one that is unique. It is an essential element of effective writing. So what the heck is voice?
Simply put, voice is the way you write, your individual writing style. As there are a zillion of us tapping away at keyboards, there are just as many variations on voice. As a trumpet, a clarinet, and a violin all are capable of playing a melody, the sound of each produces will be different. Voice conveys the author’s attitude and personality. It’s what makes writers unique; it’s what makes your writing pop. It’s what draws a reader into a story.
Ann Cannon posted recently on her blog about voice. She says that “we all recognize it when we see it—a narrative style that makes you sit up and take notice, one that feels fresh and wholly original—a style that is as unique and individual as an author herself. Voice elevates an ordinary story and makes it memorable, even extraordinary—and when a voice feels authentic, we as readers feel like something so natural must also be easy to pull off.” Then she confesses it is not easy.
I will be the assistant for Ann at the Writing and Illustrating For Young Readers (WIFYR) conference again this June and my guess is she is planning something on voice. She has assigned us to read the works of two masters of voice, Carol Lynch Williams and Ann Dee Ellis, both Utah writers.
I had read Carol’s The Chosen One a few years back. Rereading it does not diminish the power of her voice. Carol writes with such authority. The main character Kyra’s story is so compelling, the reader is completely pulled in. It is hard to put down and the voice stays with you after you close the book.
Ann Dee Ellis displays her gift of voice in both her first two books, This Is What I Did and Everything is Fine. I’ve just begun hearer latest, The End Or Something Like That, and it promises to serve a big slice of voice. Ann Cannon can’t think of another YA writer “who has the gift of voice in the way she does… Ann Dee’s voice draws you into fictional words that simultaneously ring both eccentric and true. Her use of language is startling.”
Ann Dee will be doing the WIFYR Friday mini-worship and her topic just so happens to be, drum roll, please, voice. Carol and Ann are running morning workshops. Carol’s class is full, but if you want to learn a thing or two about voice, there are still spots available with both Ann and Ann Dee.
(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)
