Brenda at Surrey Int'l Writer's Conference
I once heard a dissenting voice at a conference. This person ranted about the hotel hosting it, the agents and all the attendees as if they were personally screwing him out of money. I think he was trying to be the epitome of what P.T. Barnum talked about.
He’d said how it was just a money grab off the futile hopes of young writer’s. The hotel fills up for the weekend making tons of money. The cash collected for entry into the conference gets dispersed to the already rich. Authors and agents get all these wannabes to buy their books, not to mention the silent auction.
I’m going to break this down in a rebuttal;
- The people attending the conference are writers (usually-although I’ve met some non-writers at conferences). They go there because they want to. That’s the important part; they want to. No one forced them (at least I hope not). These people spend their money for travel, admittance to the conference and on the hotel in the hope (which isn’t vain) to meet the right people to forward their writing career. After all, they’ve written something they want to share.
- The authors who sell their books at the conference are doing so because that’s what authors do; they sell books. Part of the definition of self-promotion is public speaking. A number of the authors who move their wares also do a seminar or two over the weekend. What a great way for the people who attended the conference to take a little piece of the speaker home by buying their written material.
- The hotel; of course they fill up for the conference. That’s what they do; rent out rooms. If it wasn’t a writer’s conference, then it’d be an electronics show or a conference of Star Trekkers. Either way, why doesn’t the hotel get a right to profit from renting out the space they offer?
This came from a writer who appeared to have done poorly with his pitches to agents. I appreciate that everyone has a right to their own opinion. This blog post is mine. Young aspiring writers were listening to this guy. The spreading of dissent doesn’t help writers who are trying to make it in this industry.
I want people to keep in mind that many book deals started at a conference. People chatting, lounging and pitching has been said to be one of the best ways for a writer to get noticed by an agent. More writers agent up through conferences than by the query process.
Check out the comments section of Scott Eagan’s blog (linked here) how he feels about conferences. Also, in the most current Writer’s Digest section called, “Breaking In”, you’ll see that James L. Rubart found his agent at a conference. They do work.
I believe in conferences. I have met great people at conferences, like my fiancé. We shared our first glass of wine at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference. This post is dedicated to my Brenda.
Have conferences been beneficial to you?
Brenda with C.C. Humphries
Brenda with Diana Gabaldon
Brenda with Michael Slade (Jay Clarke)
Brenda and I at Surrey Writer's Conference
It’s all over. We capped the conference with a wonderful day, a great meeting with my editor and a couple pictures. Let me cover everything one by one;
In the morning we attended a seminar on ghosts and hauntings in fiction. It was hosted by Michael Slade and Diana Gabaldon. Below is a picture of my Brenda with Michael Slade and another of Brenda with Diana Gabaldon;
Diana Gabaldon and Brenda Grate
Michael Slade and Brenda Grate
After that, Brenda joined me in the hotel restaurant to meet with Lisa Rector-Maass. She is my editor from a company called Third Draft out of New York. After years of revising, Lisa told me for the first time today that she felt my manuscript was ready. Her words, her opinion was that it was saleable. An agent would pick it up the way it is and make a sale. She did have a few suggestions for making it being even better, but concluded it was ready which is quite exciting.
Lunch was great with Donald Maass giving the last keynote speech of the conference. Then everyone left and headed home or to wherever their writing nooks are.
Overall, this was a fabulous weekend. We met a lot of great people and got some work done on getting published.
All the best,
Daryl
Dear Reader;
What a day we had. It’s been non-stop for us (Brenda and I) at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference as we mingled, talked story lines, books and attended classes. During this evenings banquet everyone was required to bring a mask of some sort. Here’s Brenda and I after the dinner;
Brenda and Daryl
And here’s Brenda and I without our masks…
Brenda and Daryl
We were quite fortunate to have the honour of sitting beside a special person who has contributed so much to the writing community and the novel reading public; Diana Gabaldon. We enjoyed dinner as we talked about travel plans, book tours and Diana showed interest in our lives asking us what we do for a living and what we write about.
After dinner I took this lovely picture of C.C. Humphries with Brenda, mask on and mask off.
C.C. Humpries and Brenda at SIWC
C.C. Humphries and Brenda at SIWC mask off...
We retired to the lounge area (bar, drinks, you know) and sat with Elizabeth Lyon and one of her clients. What a fabulous editor. I have read a couple of her books on editing fiction and I completely recommend her work. We talked for at least two hours over glasses of wine and learned a lot about a great human being.
We have made our way to the room and are about to crash. We will talk soon…
Don’t forget, for my short story readers. I have another story called “The Ghostwriter” coming within a few days to the site. It’s about a woman who writes the autobiographies for men and women in old age homes. She follows the story of a man named Markus John, with certain surprises along the way. A twist in the end takes her to a place she never thought she’d experience.
All the Best,
Daryl
Brenda and I just finished a Master Class with Donald Maass from the Donald Maass Literary Agency. His class was titled “The Tornado Effect”. Summarizing it; we talked about scenes and how we can deconstruct them and then reconstruct them.
He made a great point about taking the defining moment in a scene and stepping back ten minutes before it happens. How does the POV character feel, what are they going through emotionally? What is the lighting like? Is it night, day or early morning? What sounds define the area of the POV character ‘s surroundings?
Then go to ten minutes after the defining moment in the scene and examine how the character feels now. What has changed, what is the character going through? Are they confident? Happy? Or the opposite; morose, anxious or sad.
Really examine this character and feel their trepidation. And then see if you can show the same event (defining moment) through the eyes of another POV character. Show how this moment can affect someone else with their POV.
As shown when bombs are dropped; the recipients of the bombs cry and bellow for the wounded and the dead.
The people who sent the bombs rejoice in a mission well done and then there is a third POV; the cities of the bombers, where mother’s may even put their kids to bed feeling safer now.
Take all this into consideration when developing a scene that has moments that can actually define a character’s motivation. and then try to show this with multiple POV’s, but yet it doesn’t have to be done in every scene.
Donald Maass’ point was to get the student to a place where they work on the sagging middle. His issue was too many novels have this common plight.
Overall, a fabulous three and a half hour seminar.
Stay tuned for an update tomorrow evening on the conference and a new short story should be posted just after the weekend. It’s called, “The Ghostwriter.”
All the best,
Daryl.
Sacrifies. A payment due before the result. To sacrifice; to go through an unpleasant experience for a desired result. The flight to a writing conference can be enjoyable. To fly to a writing conference when the plane is searching for turbulence is not fun.
The flight crew were fantastic. I need to add that. But the turbulence was nasty. It’s not that it was seriously heavy turbulence, it’s just that it was prolonged. Our flight was a notch short of five hours; at least four of them were shaking and stirring. We even had a couple “drops” in the sky. One of them felt deep, far.
Sacrifices…
The International Surrey Writing Conference officially starts on Friday, but they’re putting Master Classes on a day earlier. Brenda and I are here already (Wednesday night) to settle in, write (blogs), and read.
This weekend is going to be fabulous. We both have our new promotional bookmarks. We’ve both got work we’re passionate about and we’re pumped.
Check out Brenda’s blog for her feelings about the flight and the conference. I’ll update each evening because the people we meet and the seminar’s we go to are invaluable.
There will be food and not just for thought; for the scribbler.
Until then, enjoy the world you live in…
Daryl
