Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Hey folks, I figured it was about time for a round-up of our possible subjects and volunteers to lead said sessions. More ideas and more volunteers are totally welcome!! So, without further ado, here's what we have so far:

Meet ‘n’ Greet (*highly requested)
Introduction of ourselves & genre
Claudie - icebreakers
dios4vida - Whose Bookshelf is This?

Story

Character Development (*highly requested)
Claudie

Dialogue (*highly requested)
Margo’s Maass exercise (rewriting and merging dialogue)

Prose/Description
Margo’s Maass exercise (character voice in description)

Revisions/Editing
Nicole’s PR/crit group experience

Social Networking

Writer Tools and Technology
Sommer

Insecurities Roundtable (*highly requested)
Everyone

Book Share Roundtable
Everyone

Critique Groups (*highly requested)

Query Workshops (encompassing tag lines, elevator pitches, etc.)

Mythology
Margo
Cookie

Self-Publishing
Margo

We also have random exercises (dios4vida, Sommer) to place into the line-up, possibly as warm-ups.

dios4vida wrote:We also have random exercises (dios4vida, Sommer) to place into the line-up, possibly as warm-ups.

Yes, please! I'm seriously distressed at being the only one with my name coming up that many times. Would rather not make this The Margo Variety Show.

Margo wrote:

dios4vida wrote:We also have random exercises (dios4vida, Sommer) to place into the line-up, possibly as warm-ups.

Yes, please! I'm seriously distressed at being the only one with my name coming up that many times. Would rather not make this The Margo Variety Show.

I definitely agree. If there is anyone who can take over a spot or three for Margo, please speak up!!

Also, if there's something you can teach me and I lead as a proxy for you, just let me know or direct me to the materials. I'll take over a topic for you if you'd like.

I bet Cookie could handle mythology without my interference.

Margo wrote:I bet Cookie could handle mythology without my interference.

I vote Cookie for mythology!

-- Seeking other topics to cover with her meagre knowledge of the craft.

It sucks being awesome at things Margo!

I really want you to walk us through the Maass exercises.

Sommer Leigh wrote:It sucks being awesome at things Margo!

I really want you to walk us through the Maass exercises.

You notice I didn't volunteer to give anything else up.

Hi guys,

Checkin' back in after un-burying myself from work stuff for the past several days. I'm so excited to see how things have morphed - the list is looking great!

I'll start pulling some stuff together for the editing/revising session. Do any of you have specific questions or areas you want to focus on?

Nicole R wrote:I'll start pulling some stuff together for the editing/revising session. Do any of you have specific questions or areas you want to focus on?

I don't know about others, but I'd love exercises focusing more on line-edits or scene-by-scene edits. This is just me, but I'm more experienced with novel-scales revisions and less with things that go on a small scale. So, of course, I'd love to learn the small-scale and practice it with you bright people. I also think this is more likely to be useful to everyone -- in the sense that not everyone will have WIPs in need of major restructuring.

Claudie wrote:

Nicole R wrote:I'll start pulling some stuff together for the editing/revising session. Do any of you have specific questions or areas you want to focus on?

I don't know about others, but I'd love exercises focusing more on line-edits or scene-by-scene edits. This is just me, but I'm more experienced with novel-scales revisions and less with things that go on a small scale. So, of course, I'd love to learn the small-scale and practice it with you bright people. I also think this is more likely to be useful to everyone -- in the sense that not everyone will have WIPs in need of major restructuring.

This is amusing, because I rock at line-by-line edits. I'm the annoying person who also points out typos and grammatical errors in everyday items like billboards and menus. Scene-by-scene, not quite as good. Big-picture edits? No way. I muddle my way through it (like I am right now) but it's a lot of "YAY! This is great!" ... "Man, this sucks." ... "OOH! Figured it out!" (<-- that's this morning) ... "I'll never get this manuscript worth reading." (<-- did that one on Monday night.) I'd love to learn some new tricks for the small stuff, but I really need help with big-picture revisions.

dios4vida wrote:

Claudie wrote:

Nicole R wrote:I'll start pulling some stuff together for the editing/revising session. Do any of you have specific questions or areas you want to focus on?

I don't know about others, but I'd love exercises focusing more on line-edits or scene-by-scene edits. This is just me, but I'm more experienced with novel-scales revisions and less with things that go on a small scale. So, of course, I'd love to learn the small-scale and practice it with you bright people. I also think this is more likely to be useful to everyone -- in the sense that not everyone will have WIPs in need of major restructuring.

This is amusing, because I rock at line-by-line edits. I'm the annoying person who also points out typos and grammatical errors in everyday items like billboards and menus. Scene-by-scene, not quite as good. Big-picture edits? No way. I muddle my way through it (like I am right now) but it's a lot of "YAY! This is great!" ... "Man, this sucks." ... "OOH! Figured it out!" (<-- that's this morning) ... "I'll never get this manuscript worth reading." (<-- did that one on Monday night.) I'd love to learn some new tricks for the small stuff, but I really need help with big-picture revisions.

How much rocking are we talking? Enough to pass for a pro line-editor? I may, within a couple of months, be at the stage of looking for a line editor for MOONRISE, depending on how much revising I need after the editorial review on big picture stuff.

Thanks for the insights - super helpful! I'll bring a mix of stuff, but it sounds like a little more emphasis on scene-by-scene advice and how to make everything hang together (and make sense).

MattLarkin wrote:How much rocking are we talking? Enough to pass for a pro line-editor? I may, within a couple of months, be at the stage of looking for a line editor for MOONRISE, depending on how much revising I need after the editorial review on big picture stuff.

I'm not at a pro line-editor level, but I'm darn good at finding typos and grammatical errors. I'd be willing to study up a bit if you wanted a free, albeit amateur, line-edit. PM me if you'd like to talk about it.

Claudie wrote:

Margo wrote:I bet Cookie could handle mythology without my interference.

I vote Cookie for mythology!

-- Seeking other topics to cover with her meagre knowledge of the craft.

Gah! I don't know if I can do it alone! Maybe I can. I'll have to brush up on a few, but I've got plenty of time. Anyone else want to jump on board with me?

Cookie wrote:

Claudie wrote:

Margo wrote:I bet Cookie could handle mythology without my interference.

I vote Cookie for mythology!

-- Seeking other topics to cover with her meagre knowledge of the craft.

Gah! I don't know if I can do it alone! Maybe I can. I'll have to brush up on a few, but I've got plenty of time. Anyone else want to jump on board with me?

I'm real big on mythology, but I'm can't commit to being at the Workshop yet. I just don't know how things are going to be looking for getting my wife's visa at that time.