Warning: Some Violence and Much Strong Language.SHE WROTE: The Syllabus
Bob was supposed to post this but he's cleaning his office. He found the early notes from when we started DLD and he's taking a walk down memory lane, saying things like, "It's amazing we produced a book as [expletive deleted] up as we were back then." Like we're sane now. Anyway, I didn't want to side track him by reminding him that he was supposed to post the syllabus for HWSW 2007, the How To Write Fiction Blog, so I'm posting it. This is tentative because we're still working it out, but this is the plan so far. Feel free to comment on anything you feel is missing. Syllabus is subject to change without notice, so don't get attached to it or make plans around it or anything. You know us. We're erratic.
January: The Original idea
1. Jan 1: Introduction (Jenny)
2. Jan 7: What to Write (Bob)
3. Jan 14: The Girls in the Basement (Jenny)
4. Jan 21: The One Sentence Idea (Bob)
5. Jan 28: Situational vs. Character Ideas (Bob)
February: Story Core
6. Feb: 4: Central Story Question (Jenny)
7. Feb: 11: Protagonist & Antagonist (Bob)
8. Feb 21: Goal & Motivation (Bob)
9. Feb 28: The Conflict Box (Jenny)
March: Character
10. Mar: 4: Character Types (Bob)
11. Mar 11: Character Archetypes (Bob)
12. Mar 18: Levels of Motivation (Bob)
13. Mar 25: Internal & External Goals (Jenny)
April: Character
14. Apr 1: Character Flaws (Bob)
15. Apr 8: Ficelles (Jenny)
16. Apr 15: Foils (Jenny)
17. Apr 22: Community (Jenny)
18. Apr 29: Relationships (Jenny)
May: Plot & Pacing
19. May 6: Narrative Structure (Bob)
20. May 13: Subplots (Jenny)
21. May 20: Climaxes (Bob)
22. May 27: Beginnings (Bob)
June: Pacing
23. June 3: Foreshadowing (Jenny)
24. June 10: Tightening the Story (Bob)
25. June 17: Turning Points (Jenny)
26. June 24: Exposition (Jenny)
(Semester interlude to focus on the publishing business and being an author as the authors’ new collaborative novel is released and they go on book tour and travel to Australia and New Zealand to present at conferences)
July: Business One
27. July 1: Collaborating (Bob)
28. July 8: Publishing (Jenny)
29. July 15: Bookselling (Jenny)
30. July 22: Marketing Internet (Jenny)
31. July 29: Agents (Bob)
August: Business Two/Sex & Violence
32. Aug 5: Editors (Jenny)
33. Aug 12: Being an Author (Bob)
34. Aug 19: Action Scenes: Sex (Jenny)
35. Aug 26: Action Scenes: Violence (Bob)
September: Unity
36. Sept 2: Metaphor and Motif (Jenny)
37. Sept 9: Repetition and Pattern (Jenny)
38. Sept 16: Theme (Bob)
39. Sept 23: Unity (Jenny)
October: Editing and Rewriting
40. Sept 30: Outlining (Bob)
41. Oct 7: Finding Patterns (Jenny)
42. Oct 14: Everything But the Story (Jenny)
43. Oct 21: Beta Readers (Bob)
44. Oct 28: Copy Editing (Jenny)
November: Point of View
45. Nov 4: The Camera (Bob)
46. Nov 11: First Person (Bob)
47. Nov 18: Third Limited (Jenny)
48. Nov 25: Head-hopping (Jenny)
December: Everything Else
49. Dec 2: Third Omniscient (Bob)
50. Dec 9: Setting (Jenny)
51. Dec 16: Dialogue (Bob)
52. Dec 23: Conclusion (Bob & Jenny)
I can already see some things I want to change. Who wrote this outline?
Bob? Bob?
Well, the book isn't being released until August, so we'll probably teach fiction through July and then bump publishing/promotion down into August/September. And I don't know think we want to waste a week on a "Hi, how are you?" introduction, do we? Nah.
Bob? BOB?
Maybe he found Moot.
51 Comments:
Oh! Virgin blog, and I even thought of a sentence!
The syllabus looks fine to me. Then again, I'm a reader, not a writer, and find it's better for me to avoid learning too much about what goes into the sausage -- I mean book.
kindred spirits quite kindly lick up vodka (blue)
Whee!
just missed it, didn't i?
You really think he mighta found Moot? That would be good. I miss Moot.
Jenny, this thing looks great. Of course, we know it will change. However, you guys are going to be my college for next year. No, I'm serious. You really are. I figure there's no way that I'll learn any more about this business than I'll learn from you two. Besides, I like and trust you both.
So...nothing but good times ahead, right?
oh yeah, contest ends on the book blog tomorrow.
and we reviewed "Santa Baby" over there today.
just sayin...
I am very excited about this. I need all the help I can get, and this will be very good for me. I love to learn new things, and let me tell you, I have a lot of learning to do when it comes to writing!
Wow - ambitious, and tasty.
The only problem with this course is that it will be given over twelve months.
And you thought we were impatient about Agnes.
I can't wait.
Fabulous. I'm looking forward to it. I love everything I've learned from you two. And yes, here's to finding poor Moot buried beneath a stack of manuscripts, or down the couch cushions or something.
BTW: I think you'll be in Australia August 10th-12th and New Zealand the following weekend. I know because I may be there myself. Maybe. If I can save up my lolly money *grin*
rg
I'm three posts behind in comments but wanted to say
Great news about the gallery Bryan.
Theresa Congratulations on finding a flat and finishing your article. Good luck with the dissertation and the new job
Margaret Take care of yourself.
When Nano is over I am going to catch up. Maybe.
Moles. There is an old wives or husbands solution. Put chewed Juicy Fruit gum into the hole. It is supposed to get rid of them.
It doesn't
RG said I think you'll be in Australia August 10th-12th
Thank goodness you said that - I was panicking, lol - "WHAT?? A month less to save up???!!! Eeeeeeek!!!"
lol
Can't wait 'til next year and all this gets underway :D
Oooh, we have a course syllabus? Scanning over the topics, I can't wait for 2007!
Uh, where's Bob's session on Prologues? Absolutely twitching for "Metaphor and Motif".
***Cookie Biz***
If you're a part of the Thanksgiving Cookie/Goodie Exchange, don't forget to mail your packages this weekend!
Wow - I'm excited and looking forward to your 'class' and I'm not even a writer. You guys are so great!
Theresa
oo, this was nice. just wrote a paper on domestic violence so could use something light/happy before i go to bed. looks great Jenny. but yeah, i really wanted that one on prologues too. i'm cool if you want to combine it with epilogues. :) geez, i'm going to be making a lot of notes. how cool.
iszap: seems poetic to me. deep meaning. something something. i'm going to bed...
All I can say, Jenny, is that if you write it, we will come. (Oh, get your mind out of the gutter--yeah you, the one over there! Sheesh!)
My question. Is this going to be something that we can download and print out for our own use? Because I can already see as I read through the syllabus a lot of stuff I am going to want to study. I am really excited about this! There is so much for me to learn and I have already gotten so much out of just being around you and the other Cherries over the past few years.
I haven't written seriously in probably twenty years, and now I can't seem to stop! But while I am gung-ho I can also see that the lack of practice over the years has seriously impaired my style. Pretty sad when one looks back at stuff one wrote 20+ years ago and realizes that it is SO much better than the drivel one is writing now... So yeah, I think the syllabus looks great. I will be on the sign-up list...
And may I just say "thank you"? I can't believe you and Bob are going to do this for us. It amazes me sometimes when I am faced by the constant generosity from both of you and your willingness to share yourselves and your knowledge with us. I cannot tell you how much you have helped me already. It was truly a great day when I picked up my first Jenny Crusie book and became part of the ordhard...
I'm looking forward to this. I'm not a writer either, but I've learned so much these past months and have really come to respect all the work that goes into really good writing. But then I always enjoy learning something new.
And I know you two might think the concept for the 2006 blog went a bit astray (what the the pirates boarding and all) but you'd be surprised by how much everyone has already learned. We were having so much fun we almost didn't notice. You know what they say: Talk to your kids; they listen more than you think.
wow. Just wow. Thank you so much, both of you, Jenny and Bob, he and she, for being willing to share your craft with us like this.
Becasue I need all the help I can get.
Can't wait for the sex and violence talks.
But do we really have to wait til November for the POV talk? can we move that up? Please Please Pretty Please?
I think it sounds great, but agree you might want to skip the Intro and dig right in. Not to mention it'd be really risky to say "Hi, how are you?" because that could lead to, well, you know, chattiness and hot on the heels of that might be piracy and then before you know it trouble would ensue. Save the Intro for the book version, sort of like a prologue.
Seriously, every time I think of something I'd want to add to the list (yeah, I've thought of plenty) I stop myself and think: no, that's probably going to be covered under [section xx]. Or I think no, probably everyone but you already knows about that, don't ask stupid questions. Or no, that has nothing to do with anything. Or geez, with all this great stuff they're going to talk about, you want more?
But you know, I'm thinking you could probably just go ahead and start in December. That's my only suggestion. Really.
bw
I agree with me on the point of POV. *grin*
Could we move that topic up please?
We had an open forum at our last chapter meeting and POV is the one thing most newbies don't get. The subject has been continued with Q&A's all week long on our link. What newbies are doing is following the style of Nora Roberts who is well known for head hopping within a scene. IMHO there are few newbies who can transition
well enough to make it smooth to the reader.
I told them it was the kiss of death if they wanted to get published for the first time. But I've been pooh-poohed on this and told there are no such things as rules, a writer can do anything he or she wants.
So, I think there a lot of us out here who would like the inside scoop. *grin*
rg
Mechanics of this class:
Must we sign up for it to view it?
Is there a cost?
And, will there be a graduation (implying a final test)?
Other than wanting publishing info, every time I think you all should do what I'm about to suggest, you do far better than what I would say; so I'm keeping a low profile.
I'm sure there is a valid reason for POV coming so late in the class but I too would like to see it sooner. Trying to correct the newbie head hoping RG just mentioned I've somehow slipped into third person omni---(I don't have a dictionary handy and can't spell the word well enough for spell check to recognise it).
I need to review Bob's toolkit and some other craft books. And I will. Starting Dec 1st after Nano is over.
GatorPerson,
My understanding based on previous comments by J&B was that the class in free, posted as blog entries, with discussion (strictly limited to class topic) contained within the comments.
Just one question: Will there be handouts? Serious question. Will there be accompanying, supportive materials for download?
This is going to be awesome!
BTW, thanks to those who commented on the blog that I missed. Mine seems to have some kind of random way of deciding what goes to moderation and what get's posted immediately. I've got you now. /;+)
Keep writing all you other NaNo-ers!
mfnfqj (blue)
mouse fingers, nutria fingers, quite jiggly
(hey, I wrote about 8-9K in the last two days, that's the best I can do)
Thank you both for the coming terms of teaching. I could use the help. I also would like POV moved up since in the other piece I was working on I head hopped all the time until my writer's group told me I couldn't do that. Now in my NaNo piece it is mainly the woman's pov.
there's that zaza 8 or 9k in what a weekend? Holy man. I wish I could come up with that many at one go. I write until my fingers stop telling me what to do. Then I wait until they are ready again. I write to find out what is going to happen. I can't wait to see how this piece ends. /,D
red hmyyie
Heard Mayer yelling "Yex is Everywhere."
I've read books where the head hopping bothered me not a bit. But yeah I can see that doing so seamlessly takes a more experienced writer. I'd tell the newbies that you can't control what you can't understand. Once mastered perhaps judicious use can give a story depth, but like most things if they don't know it works they'll probably do it wrong.
Well, you see, I'd rather they moved Plot and Pacing up ahead of Character, but that probably has more to do with where I am in the current ms.
I have attended several really good workshops/lectures about POV and deep POV and camera view given by experienced writers who are good at explaining things. As a result, when I break those particular rules, I know exactly what I'm doing and why I shouldn't do it. If it works, I do it anyway. If it doesn't work, it's not all that hard to go back and fix it. But you all are correct in that you do have to first understand it.
Some fairly intelligent guy said something similar in some Toolkit book I read -- make sure you know the rules before you break them (yes, that was paraphrasing).
bw
Ok, I'll bite here -- what the hell is a ficelle? Is it something like a character as motif or symbol? Frankly, ficelles sounds like small French pastries to me, (fine with coffee) or maybe even small French items of lingerie. But whatever they are, I need to know...
Hi Anne Gracie, and welcome! Way back in Sep, Jenny wrote about this because Bob didn't know what it was either and we all teased her. Which was mean because she was sick. Anyway, you can either go back to Sep 23 OR you can go up to the top of this page where it says "search" and type in ficelle and click "search this blog" and it will take you to the post.
No way am I going to try to explain it when Jenny has already done so.
bw
Bryan et. al. I've been dealing (not here) for days and weeks with a whole lot of stuff that shouldn't have happened and wouldn't have if there had been documentation specifying charges or not, obligations or not, who's doing what and who is NOT doing what.
Maybe J&B have minimum requirements of participants' expertise, a minimum am't of participation by each, and who knows what. This inquiring mind would like to know.
Someone asked what a ficelle was.
I think it has something to do with a character that comes in late, had to get caught up, or something. Heck, I don't know. Guess I need the lesson.
Can't see anything you guys left out, besides a prologue. I wrote my first one today while freezing my butt in a hockey rink somewhere on this planet. It was kind of fun, but I'm still trying to figure out if it has purpose or not. And I'm trying to make my heroine likable. You know there is a problem when the auther thinks her heroine is a total bitch.
Yeah, and skip the intro...I don't think there is a person on the planet (or mine) that doesn't know you. So, skip the intro and go right to whatever was next on the list.
Hello Anne Gracie!
Dunno, I like the idea of an intro. It would set the tone. And as HW/SW 2007 is supposed to be a clean slate and a new and different forum, it might not be a bad idea. And sometimes you know new people wander in the blog. Like Anne Gracie. The intro would explain to the new folks what the new blog is about.
GP: From what I understand, it will be a blog just like this one, no entry fee or minimum requirement for participation. The only "requirement" is that we not resort to chatty commenting (unless we want to have said comment deleted by J&B -- and don't we all just know who is going to be tempted to test that? Hey. Don't look at me. I am behaved.). Jenny has said it will be a classroom environment with the focus on writing. I assume (that's dangerous, I know) that, as in any classroom, one can sit quietly in the back row and pay attention, and ask questions if any come to mind. Or not.
It just might be one of those things that sounds too good to be true, but really is. A rare thing.
And sorry to hear you're dealing with difficult people. Sounds like one of those things where "shoulda, coulda, woulda" need to be put firmly in the past while the focus shifts to "where do we go from here." Might help to put someone in charge who isn't going to cry all the damn time. JMO.
bw
BCB wrote: "don't we all just know who is going to be tempted to test that?"
Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh (me waving my hand frantically as if I were Horshack from welcome back Kotter). And I sit right in the front.
There will be room for us to ask really intelligent questions, right?
veygfvpt - the noise I made when I found out gym was a requirement for graduation and I had to make up 2 years worth!
Ficelle ... if I recall correctly a ficelle could be a Watson to whom Holmes explains everything thereby letting the reader in on it as well. Or if you prefer Christie, Hastings to Poirot.
See, some of us were paying attention.
Scope Dope Cherrybomb said...
there's that zaza 8 or 9k in what a weekend? Holy man. I wish I could come up with that many at one go.
Yeah, but even after that, I am still not at 30K. Haven't put everything in one place and done a word count, but I'll be lucky if I make 30K tonight. So, Miss over 40K, don't you go giving me a bad time. LOL!
It's hard to push out the words when they don't seem to be there, but this is NaNo. My whole spine is in an uproar from all the sitting and typing madly, so I'm paying for the high word count in a short time.
ffoul (red)
speaks for itself
Thanks to rg and Ercia for pointing out the bleeding obvious. Nearly spat my coffee, alright wine, all over the screen when I saw that Jenny appeared to be coming to Oz a whole month earlier than we're expecting her!!!!
What about you the divine Ms Gracie? Come on, admit to a small heart flutter ;-)
fdzlf - funny daze, laugh frequently
Hi Anne Gracie
GP hope things straighten up soon
Thanks JenT. Now I've got the Welcome back Kotter song circling in my mind with no place to land.
Hello Anne Gracie. I rushed through the comments the other day (still spinning from the traumatic critique from the GAM) and thought your name seemed familiar. You're the Aussie writer Anne, famous Anne of the historicals. *grin*
Welcome to the blog. Yeah, that Jenny she's always got some interesting word up her sleeve, and no I don't mean "those" words although she's got lots of those, too. *grin* The day she wrote the blog about the ficelle I scrambled for a dictionary.
Looking forward to the Aussie national and hope I make it. Not positive yet. So much going on in Aust. for me this year, looks like a trip in March comes first. Another wedding. But I did so love the last one in Brisbane. You blokes put on a banger of a show.
rg
sigh. Australia. I better win the lotto. Then we can all go
Oooh, how cool. A CB convention in Sydney. The harbour will never be the same.....
Yes rg, that Anne Gracie with her fabulous Rakes.
Thanks bon cheri bomb and mcb for the directions & explanation of ficelle (and to others who said hi).
So a ficelle is a small piece of french lingerie that Watson wore to prompt Sherlock Holmes to explain stuff. Got it! ;~)
Count me in as another one who's looking forward to August 07 in Sydney.
Forgot to say, I did look ficelle up yesterday before I asked -- the French apparently believe it's a small baguette.
Anyway I didn't think Jenny was going to hand out recipes.
Anne Gracie said...
So a ficelle is a small piece of french lingerie that Watson wore to prompt Sherlock Holmes to explain stuff. Got it! ;~)
LMAO! Oh my you have to come back and play with us again.
No, Anne Gracie, thank you.
a small piece of french lingerie that Watson wore
*snort*
Ah yes, I can hardly wait for -- when is it? second week in April? -- for Jenny to explain that one.
I'll bet Bob is even now deleting all references to ficelles from his conference slides.
bw
welcome anne gracie. and yeah, you're going to fit in just fine.
GP: hope it gets better.
intro: maybe just post something (with no comments) explaining what the plan is, but also have the first "class" that day too. (just a suggestion, but i know, more work)
Ooh, this is going to be good.
Heh heh. Funny, Anne Gracie.
Snickering in the library thanks to Anne Gracie. Good thing I wasn't drinking anything.
Jenny,
I'm not sure if it's incorporated in some way already, but I would really love a lecture on Subtext. I struggle with this everytime!
Thanks,
Chelle
Well, I couldn't get into the most current post, so apparently we are time-travelling again. Wheee.
mcb: i couldn't get to ANY posts
Would you consider adding a section on comedy and humour? It's one of the things I love about your work.
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