The ACFW is the largest organization that supports Christian fiction writers in the country. They hold this conference each year, and for several years I’ve had to deal with the sins of jealousy and covetousness when seeing other writers announce they are going. (Just kidding) (Sorta)
I’m excited to go. I’ve heard different opinions on when to go to your first conference. Some have said early on to go to the workshops and get training, others have suggested waiting until you’ve done something significant related to writing.
For a general writer, my advice would be to evaluate potential conferences and see if they offer courses or workshops for your level. If it seems geared to someone who is farther along the writing path, maybe that isn’t the best fit. If, like the ACFW conference, they have several levels of training offered, it would be a great start even if you’re pretty new.
For the Christian writer, there’s the added consideration of what the Lord is leading you to do. I wanted to have my first novel finished before I thought about it. I wasn’t finished when I signed up, but I have since then. However, I feel the doors have been opened for me this year that weren’t before, so I have a confidence that I’m making the right decision.
The cool thing about the ACFW folks is the length they go to in order to make us “first-timers” feel welcome and the support offered. There’s a email loop with advice for us covering various topics. The first day has a noob orientation. There is a lot of prayer that goes into everything that happens there. That is very encouraging.
The conference is September 20-23 and I head out the Wednesday night before. I’ll post more about this before I go.
Everyone raise your hands. We’ve all done it. Whether it is with our food choices, our daily activities, or our writing, we’ve been in the place where we get stuck and can’t move on to new and exciting things.
The rut is comforable. You don’t have to think about it. The path is set, all you need to do is follow it.
My family just did a weekend road trip that included seeing part of the Oregon Trail. To me it was amazing to think that thousands of people trekked west in the mid-1800’s for a new life. The standard path was so well worn that there are still ruts visible over some grassy hills in southern Idaho after all this time.
I’ve been stuck in a grammatical rut for the last couple of chapters. I’m trying to finish for a deadline. That might be pushing me to stick to a comfortable routine. My rut is this: “James wanted to finish his coffee, but Kristin was giving him that look.”
Nothing wrong with that by itself, right? My problem is that I keep using this compound sentence structure EVERY paragraph it seems. I don’t want simple short sentences every time, but this way of using a conjunction is becoming to repetitive. SEE! I just did it again.
Argh. It is hard enough pushing toward the end. I can see it. The end. No more mirage shimmering in the distance. It really is there. But in fighting toward it I still want to do a decent job and not have to return to edit every single “Blah, blah, blah, BUT/AND/SO blah, blah, blah” clause that I can’t seem to avoid.
At least I am recognizing it. We all have blind spots as authors. Better to know now than be surprised withthe edits. Now, how to get past this? There’s always the “bomb under the sofa” technique.
— What say you? What have some of your ruts been? Anything goes here! For writers, how did you get out of said rut? —
I hope this has been properly established. Just in case it hasn’t, I’m married to a wonderful woman, I like explosions, football, and bacon. If I can have an exploding football while eating bacon, life is good.
Why then, as a beginning author trying to write a novel, do I have a female main character?
Perhaps it is because I am crazy?
It is actually what the story demanded. That’s what popped into my head, and I ran with it.
Still, it is hard enough to come up with a story arc that can hold interest yet believability for 80,000 words. Why complicate things by trying to envision it as the opposite sex?
I know I’ve messed up in the process. I’ve had friends critique things as I go along, and I’ve especially tried to get female perspective on things. My frequent question is “would a woman think/do this?”
Probably the hardest thing I had to deal with is being told my main character, Jenna Dawson, “wasn’t likeable.” I meant her to be a type A, driven personality who is a bit impulsive and impatient (another challenge, because I’m not a type A person). She’s pushing to be an emergency physician, so she has to be strong. The problem became that she was too harsh according to some friends I respect. I’ve had to work on revising old stuff and watch that in my latest writing.
I would say that’s the biggest thing I’ve had to do – get feedback and be open to the criticism. In a recent writing contest, I submitted my first 15 pages. Thankfully, I received good comments on Jenna as an engaging main character. Hopefully I’m learning!
The interesting thing is, according to the Gender Genie, I’m more of a feminine writer. Mike Duran posted about the difference between male and female writers, and used this fun little web site in his discussion. I don’t think the site is very scientific, but it still was interesting to try it out.
Words: 1195
(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)
Female Score: 1478
Male Score: 1407
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!
Should writers be afraid of writing the opposite sex? Well, unless a man is writing about monks or a woman’s book is in a nunnery, you’re going to have to anyway. We’re going to use our imagination anyway, so we need to do our research and be willing to change if our females are too manly, or a male lead is too girly.
In closing, here is some classic teaching on the difference between men’s brains and women’s brains. Enjoy!
I hope this has been properly established. Just in case it hasn’t, I’m married to a wonderful woman, I like explosions, football, and bacon. If I can have an exploding football while eating bacon, life is good.
Why then, as a beginning author trying to write a novel, do I have a female main character?
Perhaps it is because I am crazy?
It is actually what the story demanded. That’s what popped into my head, and I ran with it.
Still, it is hard enough to come up with a story arc that can hold interest yet believability for 80,000 words. Why complicate things by trying to envision it as the opposite sex?
I know I’ve messed up in the process. I’ve had friends critique things as I go along, and I’ve especially tried to get female perspective on things. My frequent question is “would a woman think/do this?”
Probably the hardest thing I had to deal with is being told my main character, Jenna Dawson, “wasn’t likeable.” I meant her to be a type A, driven personality who is a bit impulsive and impatient (another challenge, because I’m not a type A person). She’s pushing to be an emergency physician, so she has to be strong. The problem became that she was too harsh according to some friends I respect. I’ve had to work on revising old stuff and watch that in my latest writing.
I would say that’s the biggest thing I’ve had to do – get feedback and be open to the criticism. In a recent writing contest, I submitted my first 15 pages. Thankfully, I received good comments on Jenna as an engaging main character. Hopefully I’m learning!
The interesting thing is, according to the Gender Genie, I’m more of a feminine writer. Mike Duran posted about the difference between male and female writers, and used this fun little web site in his discussion. I don’t think the site is very scientific, but it still was interesting to try it out.
Words: 1195
(NOTE: The genie works best on texts of more than 500 words.)
Female Score: 1478
Male Score: 1407
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: female!
Should writers be afraid of writing the opposite sex? Well, unless a man is writing about monks or a woman’s book is in a nunnery, you’re going to have to anyway. We’re going to use our imagination anyway, so we need to do our research and be willing to change if our females are too manly, or a male lead is too girly.
In closing, here is some classic teaching on the difference between men’s brains and women’s brains. Enjoy!
As a PA, I examine people all day long. I do a lot of physicals, and it can get routine. I have a little trick that helps me through the day.
When examining my patient, my back is to the garbage can. You know the little black tips on the ear light (otoscope for those medically inclined)? I like to toss them over my shoulder in a no-look shot. I miss more than my fair share, but the patient isn’t expecting it, and it usually makes them perk up a little, enhancing our interaction together.
Laughter is the best medicine, right?
Today I thought about some of the little touches I’m putting into my WIP. They’re the things that may not matter to others, but it keeps my interest in this project I’ve worked on for so long. They also may lead to story threads.
I’m a soccer fan, and I’m listening to the Euro2012 tournament in between patients. I had my heroine be a star player for her high school team (much better than I ever was). At first it was just a character detail from my background work.
Then it became a plot hinge.
It helped me introduce another character and the connection shared between her and my protagonist. I had no idea that it would turn out that way, but it fit perfectly.
Another tech for the dust bin of history…
Another time I saw a magazine ad with the image of a man and woman resting on the beach, his arm around her from behind (the “spooning” position). I liked the picture, so I cut it out and kept it in my writing notebook for kicks and giggles. I didn’t know how I could work it into my story, but I didn’t forget it.
I recently hit a point where it made sense to put this set-up in, sans the beach. It isn’t important in the scheme of things, but it suggests I should listen to my gut whenever I notice details or come up with some character quirk. You never know when these ideas will play out.
Too bad I lost the memory in my old Palm Pilot (remember those?) where I had so many ideas stashed.
As a PA, I examine people all day long. I do a lot of physicals, and it can get routine. I have a little trick that helps me through the day.
When examining my patient, my back is to the garbage can. You know the little black tips on the ear light (otoscope for those medically inclined)? I like to toss them over my shoulder in a no-look shot. I miss more than my fair share, but the patient isn’t expecting it, and it usually makes them perk up a little, enhancing our interaction together.
Laughter is the best medicine, right?
Today I thought about some of the little touches I’m putting into my WIP. They’re the things that may not matter to others, but it keeps my interest in this project I’ve worked on for so long. They also may lead to story threads.
I’m a soccer fan, and I’m listening to the Euro2012 tournament in between patients. I had my heroine be a star player for her high school team (much better than I ever was). At first it was just a character detail from my background work.
Then it became a plot hinge.
It helped me introduce another character and the connection shared between her and my protagonist. I had no idea that it would turn out that way, but it fit perfectly.
Another tech for the dust bin of history…
Another time I saw a magazine ad with the image of a man and woman resting on the beach, his arm around her from behind (the “spooning” position). I liked the picture, so I cut it out and kept it in my writing notebook for kicks and giggles. I didn’t know how I could work it into my story, but I didn’t forget it.
I recently hit a point where it made sense to put this set-up in, sans the beach. It isn’t important in the scheme of things, but it suggests I should listen to my gut whenever I notice details or come up with some character quirk. You never know when these ideas will play out.
Too bad I lost the memory in my old Palm Pilot (remember those?) where I had so many ideas stashed.
