A Weekend with Your Novel: Characters, Conflicts, and Complications

Prepare to gain a professional edge. That’s what this weekend is all about.

You might be at the idea stage for your next novel, or mired in the middle of your current novel. Perhaps you’ve written five manuscripts and are collecting rejections. Perhaps you’ve never written a novel but you’re darn serious and want to write it with some wisdom in your back pocket.

Whatever your stage, you’ve probably vowed, “Enough is enough, I’m going to push my writing to that next level and get published.” (Or published again after a hiatus.) Bring that “can do/will do” attitude, and let’s get that book polished and published.

This program is for those writers who want to “rejection-proof” their manuscripts in a fast way. Each fall we collect a whole bunch of tips on a new topic and put them together in one place to save writers time and heartache. You get your manuscript into the shape. This year. Not in five years.

Writers of all genres of adult fiction will find this useful, as well as those writing young adult fiction. (Note that this year’s structure workshop book selection includes a popular YA novel.)

Can’t decide which workshops to take? Bring a friend! Share notes afterward! Make this a weekend “spa” for your novel or your writers’ group. Go out to dinner on Saturday night with your friends and exchange notes. Set up your writing plan for the coming winter months.

Take advantage of the camaraderie and idea sharing. Craft a more powerful novel. Make it your goal to make agents, editors, and readers go “wow.”

“As an English major, an advertising writer, Writer's Boot Camp attendee, and an avid reader of how-to-write fiction books, I didn't know how much I would get out of Weekend with Your Novel. It turned out to be the best investment in my writing I've ever made. Worth much more than my entire library of how-to books! Don't hesitate to sign up. Seriously. How much do you really do in a weekend at home anyway?!

“Just go! You'll love it and so will every single one of your characters. Even your antagonist will thank you.”—Karen Doornebos, Riverside, Illinois

This weekend is also an ideal warm-up for those of you attending spring conferences across the country where agents take pitches, including the March 27-29, 2009, 20th anniversary edition of Writers’ Institute in Madison.

At a glance

Dates: Saturday, October 25, 2008, with optional critique sessions on Friday, October 24 (p.m.) and Sunday, October 26 (a.m.)
Location: The Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St., Madison.
Fees (choose one option):

• Option 1, $145 (before September 26; $165 after): For those wanting a critique session plus Saturday daytime workshops plus Saturday late afternoon novel structure workshop. Critique workshops, choose one: a) Marshall J. Cook, 7-8:45 p.m., Friday, limited to 6; b) Christine DeSmet, 7-8:45 p.m. Friday, limited to 6; c) Robert Curry, 9-11:30 a.m., Sunday, limited to 7; d) Laurel Yourke, 9-11:30 a.m., Sunday, limited to 7.
  
• Option 2, $125: All Saturday workshops including 3-4:30 p.m. workshop. No critique.
  
• Option 3, $95: Saturday daytime workshops only; not attending 3-4:30 workshop.
  
• Option 4, $35: Saturday 3-4:30 p.m. novel structure workshop only

Please note: Critique workshops "a/b/c/d" are available only to those attending Saturday 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Material for critique groups must be received by Friday, September 26.

Instructors for Saturday: Marshall J. Cook; Christine DeSmet; Laurel Yourke
Lodging information: Several hotels are located nearby, including Lowell Center, 610 Langdon St. Lodging costs are on your own. Call toll-free 1-866-301-1753.
To register: Call 608-262-7942. Program #7102.

Critique sessions—we must receive your material by Sept. 26.

Critique sections fill fast. Please call 608-262-7942 to register. Choose one from a, b, c, or d:

Friday evening:  7-8:45 p.m., 6 writers each:  a) Marshall J. Cook, b) Christine DeSmet

           New session added for Friday evening: e) Angela Rydell. She teaches regularly for us in our June retreat and at our spring conference and is an experienced critique group leader.

Sunday morning: 9-11:30 a.m., 7 writers each:  c) Bob Curry, d) Laurel Yourke
            A session will be added with another instructor, if a waiting list warrants it.

The critique workshop focuses on YOUR craft issues that stand between you and publication. Editors and agents tell us they know within just a few pages whether a manuscript is “right or ready.”

Please send the first three pages of your project, OR a scene of one- to three-pages long from any “problem” area—by Sept. 26. Send a half-page, single-spaced summary of what’s transpired in the book up to the point of your scene (if it’s not the opening scene).

Pages must be in standard format, double-spaced (not 1.5, no cheating, please), 12-point Times New Roman typeface, one-inch margins. For this workshop, you can use the whole page instead of dropping down if it’s the first page of a chapter.

Use Microsoft Word, or Rich Text File, or a PDF.

Please submit your three pages by Sept. 26 by email attachment in proper format to Christine DeSmet, cdesmet@dcs.wisc.edu or by postal mail, Christine DeSmet/Novel Weekend Critique, 610 Langdon St., Room 621, Madison, WI 53703.

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Schedule

Saturday, October 25, 2008 (See also Friday night and Sunday morning options)

Workshop descriptions

1. Backstory, prologue, and flashback: why agents hate them; how to use them effectively.
The word “Prologue” at the top of the first page of your manuscript might be enough to make an agent or editor stop reading. Same with the flashback that begins on the middle of page one and doesn’t end until page 30. Bury that agent in backstory on your characters before she has any reason to care about them, and she’ll walk away—and won’t even bother making a polite excuse. We’ll examine these three turn-offs and probe for any other land mines in your novel or synopsis that might get you a fast rejection before the agent has even encountered your wonderful story.

2. Scene diagnosis:  Make your scenes less claustrophobic, static, and slow
Scene by scene, you sell your manuscript. Scenes must have tension, character action/reaction, and move the plot forward in ways including action and new information. Movement and tension mean creating more than a clichéd chase scene. And some scenes are strictly dialogue, or a quiet moment of decision, so how do you keep those from going flat with too much reliance on “smiled/gasped/laughed/glanced” sorts of business, or the constant sipping of a cup of tea? We’ll look at what makes scenes claustrophobic and how to open them up. We’ll review a list of clichéd scenes and actions that editors roll their eyes at, and figure out solutions. (Hey, that chase scene is valuable. But how do you make it fresh?) We’ll pump up “scene business”—that little stuff characters do or that others do in the background of a scene. We’ll also look at the five dreaded “S” actions that are non-actions, and you’ll take home the cures. 

Bonus critique opportunity:  If you would like a scene from your manuscript given free first aid in class under the gentle tutelage of the instructor, please email two pages only in Word by Oct. 10 to Christine DeSmet, cdesmet@dcs.wisc.edu. Pages must be double-spaced (not 1.5 spacing), 12-point Times New Roman, with one-inch margins. Those not discussed in class will be returned afterward with written remarks. Please give the instructor the genre and title of your novel in your email. You may also mail it to:  Christine DeSmet, UW-Madison Liberal Studies & the Arts, 610 Langdon St., Room 621, Madison, WI 53703.

3. Hook ’em from the start
Few tasks are tougher these days than catching the reader’s—or agent’s!—attention with that crucial first line and first paragraph. What makes a dynamite opening? Is it the same as it was twenty years ago? One hundred twenty years ago? Does “Call me Ishmael” still work? What about “Man, I look fantastic in this derby”? You’ll explore what’s changed and hasn’t through examples of splendid and not-so-splendid starts. After defining some characteristics of the vibrant opening, you’ll get to work on either revising or starting your own. If you like, bring along a first paragraph or idea to play with.

4. Chapter 1.
Your first chapter has 10 important jobs to do—and it has to start doing them from word one. With the first words your reader encounters, you must begin to: 1) establish point of view, tone, voice, and attitude; 2) create a believable world for your reader to live in and characters she’s willing to spend time with; 3) build tension and conflict; 4) get the reader to worry and to wonder, because that’s what will keep her turning pages. Add them all together, and they constitute your promise to the reader: spend some of your precious time with me, and I’ll deliver a story well worth that time.

5. Creating your story’s spine: Who “has” to do what by when in your novel?
Is your novel great in one section, and flat in another? Do all your characters keep vying for attention and you can’t decide what to do about it? Is your manuscript way too long? Too short? Is introducing a subplot vexing you? Understanding your story’s spine can help you write and revise with more precision, satisfaction, and mastery. We’ll draw from your story problems as we address these questions:  What should your lead character do by certain page areas of your manuscript? What about the buddy or mom character--how many scenes should they have? Are you missing functional characters? What types of characters are “necessary” for a novel to flourish? How do you cut or combine characters wisely with no tears? What kind of action by your protagonist or hero makes a Plot Point versus not a Plot Point? Do you have a “ticking clock” in your story? Is it strong enough? Is your Central Story Question strong enough? To get the most out of this workshop, bring your logline, a list of your characters (main and secondary) and what they do mostly, and a one-page synopsis of what transpires for your main character in your story from beginning to end. Sharing your story idea will be optional.

6. The protagonist’s journey
What do Dara Marks, Don Maass and Christopher Vogler share in common besides some of the same initials? Despite radically different approaches, all three are about exploding painfully familiar characters and plots to create a breakthrough, one that blends universal appeal with entirely fresh characterization and plot. Sounds great, but how do you get there? Whether you’ve been fiddling with your protagonist for years or barely know what she looks like, you’ll take her through the main steps of Christopher Vogler’s “Hero’s Journey.” Next, Dara Marks has some ideas about making sure the journey balances external and internal, so you’ll revise what you just outlined with this in mind. Finally, to write a break-out novel, you have to let your protagonist explode past the customary. You’ll get to try that with some element of your plot. Back home, you’ll be able to apply this strategy to your entire plot.

7. Creating conflict through dialogue. What your characters say—and don’t say—is not only a great way to dramatize conflict and create and sustain tension. It’s the best way! We’ll share 10 dialogue techniques that will put conflict on every page of your novel: 1) Open warfare: tug of war, attack/defend, and pursue/withhold; 2) What isn’t said: subtext, the potent pause, talking around the subject, covert manipulation, and body language; 3) Time constraints; and 4) Word choice designed to underscore conflict. Armed with increased awareness of how these elements work separately and together, you’ll create dialogue well calculated to have your reader hanging on your characters’ every word.

8. How setting and sense of place sell novels
Let’s take a giant step beyond all those workshops about describing things and the five senses. Let’s go to “advanced land.” What’s the difference between the way you’re using setting and the way it’s used in books like Water for Elephants, Adam Canfield: Watch Your Back!, Plainsong, Lonesome Dove, or a children’s book about three little pigs and a wolf? Do you have your character in the wrong setting? How can you tell? When and why should the setting change in your novel? And to what? What are the clichés of setting? In your genre? What about contrasts within your setting—are you creating any? What do editors mean by “contrast”? What about the balance between “interiors” and “exteriors”—why does that matter to an editor? “Place” also often has its own plot unfolding—what’s your setting’s plotline? We’ll create one on the spot. Can your story be set anywhere without harming the main plot? If so, that’s an oops we’ll work on in class, too. How are you using objects and other aspects of your setting to enhance conflict, characters, and complications? …This workshop helps you use setting in a way that makes your manuscript irresistible and memorable.

9. Punch up characterization with Point of View
Whether you’re writing in 1st person or 3rd, in an intimate voice or an omniscient one, you can exploit point of view to deepen characterization. How? By withholding secrets, linking setting with plot and choosing details strategically. After a quick review of point of view, you’ll discover strategies for disguising the limitations and enhancing the opportunities for your chosen point of view.  If you like, bring along a paragraph or sentence focused on characterization. During this session, you’ll get some time to revise what you have or start something new. Come experiment with deepening characterization by using point of view.

10./11./12. (Choose one.) Please read ONE novel before attending this workshop.
This is not a book talk; it’s a workshop. This optional workshop takes you inside a wonderful, well-written book’s structure, characterization, and more. You’ll take home new techniques that the author used to develop characters, conflict, and complications.

As you read each book and each page, think about this:  What’s on this “manuscript” page that made this story and the author’s writing irresistible to the agent or editor? What techniques could I borrow and adapt to help improve my novel?

If you’re new to our UW programs or you’re not sure about signing up for the whole weekend, pay $35 and attend this workshop only. It’s a perfect way to get to know us and our style of teaching at a very reasonable fee.

Please give the Registration Office your section number: 10, 11, or 12.

10. Adam Canfield: Watch Your Back!, by Michael Winerip, instruction led by Marshall J. Cook

Adam Canfield is the star reporter for The Slash, the official newspaper of Harris Elementary/Middle School. He’s a good, over-achieving, insecure, criminally over-scheduled young man whose troubles begin when he’s mugged while out earning money shoveling snow. He soon becomes immersed in bullying, race relations, school politics, and parental involvement in their kids’ science fair projects, among other things, but the Big Issues never eclipse a great story.

Michael Winerip is a bit of an overachiever himself, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the New York Times. He’s also a wonderful writer, and he can be your mentor if you write or hope to write young adult fiction.

A few things to note for discussion:

1. How does Winerip increase the pressure on Adam as the story unfolds?
   
2. What draws Adam irrevocably into the central conflict (despite his attempts to escape)?
   
3. Watch Your Back is part of a series. (You don’t need to have read anything else to understand and love this novel, however.) How does Adam’s character develop and grow in this novel? In particular, how does his relationship with Jennifer, his co-editor, evolve?
   
4. What part do adults play in this “kids’ drama”? And, as with any book you read, consider:
   
5. How does Winerip keep me turning the pages? Consider how he creates dialogue, reveals and withholds information, handles rising and falling tension, and any other elements that seem important to you.
                                                      

11. Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, instruction led by Christine DeSmet

Each of us can write a novel like this. Really. Even the author says so. She knew nothing about a circus and had never been to one before she began writing this character-driven novel.

This #1 New York Times bestseller (available in paperback everywhere) charms readers  because of its flawed characters and fresh setting—a traveling circus of the 1930s. The novel is also told with the present-day voice of an old man in a nursing home looking back on his adventures in the circus. (Flashbacks? Or not? Is this a memoir?)

There’s something for all readers and writers in this novel. It’s got mystery, suspense, humor, adventure, action, and romance. And of course animals. It’s also a coming-of-age story. The lead character is twenty-three-year-old Jacob Jankowski (whom we see in his nineties as well). He’s fresh out of college, and needs to find his way in life. A problem with college is the first of many complications that create his plot.

Questions to start our discussion on Saturday afternoon:

1. What does Jacob need in his life? In other words, what drives him through this adventure? Does he have a “fatal flaw” he must face? Why stick with the circus and not just walk away? Now apply the same questions to your novel. Let’s discuss.
2. What craft techniques make the scenes between Jacob and other characters work so well? (Example of a technique:  Showing how a character loves animals, which gives us rooting interest in that character.)
3. What were the more important conflicts that drove the book for you? Complications for characters? What are the complications in your novel so far? Make a list. Please bring it with. (A complication might be any of these things and more: an obstacle, a big problem, worry, shocking surprise, secret, reversal of fortune, accident, bad weather, emotional jeopardy.)
4. What was utterly magical or beautiful or entertaining for you? After all, we writers must entertain on the page; that’s part of our job. What’s utterly entertaining and memorable in your book so far? Bring your list! Let’s discuss.
5. There are some skillful techniques illustrated with the way this author used setting to push her plot along. What are they? Why must your story be set in its setting or location? How is your setting integral to your plot?

We’ll also define the “Central Question” that drives the characters and what that question might be in your book. Let’s talk about secrets and objects, too, because they can create conflicts and complications in the blink of an eye.

Plan to take home new techniques you can use in your own writing. I want you to create a memorable manuscript AND have fun writing your novel.

12. The Sea Lady, by Margaret Drabble, instruction led by Laurel Yourke

Alisa Kelmen and Humphrey Clark met as children and grew up into separate lives. When they next saw each other, they fell madly in love, swiftly married and painfully divorced. When the novel opens, they haven’t seen each other for thirty years and are about to reconnect at their childhood haunt. Here’s the central question. Will a determined feminist and a serious scientist share anything in common? And what might Darwinian theory reveal about their choices? This novel weds science, philosophy and politics while following the characters back to the dreams they lost once ambition got in the way.

At this session you’ll tackle craft questions like these:

• Point of view. Can you spark electricity by defying convention? How far can you push the experimental envelope?
  
• Flashback. You’ve been told not to. But if the secret is big enough, can you get away with it? And for how long?
  
• Sense of place. How do you create it? Interweave it with character?
  
• Romantic passion. Is it only for the young? Can a love story about folks in their sixties pull readers in?
  
• “Telling.” When is it “legal”? What does a master like Margaret Drabble reveal about this potential tool?
  
• Metaphor. Can you make it feel integral to the story rather than artificial and tacked on? How much metaphor is too much?

This is an ambitious novel—with plenty to chew on in terms of characterization, technique, theme and innovation. After seventeen novels, Drabble has lots of tricks up both her sleeves—and we’ll discuss them all (or as many as we can fit into the time allowed).

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Instructors

Bob Curry writes fiction, plays and screenplays, including the script for The Last Great Ride, starring Ernest Borgnine and Eileen Brenna, and teaches writing and acting for the UW–Madison Division of Continuing Studies and Madison Area Technical College. Bob teaches fiction at the School of the Arts in Rhinelander as well as the "Write-by-the-Lake Writer's Workshop & Retreat" every June in Madison. He also edits fiction and drama on a professional freelance basis. He has MFA degrees in fiction and acting and is currently still working on a novel. He's been a professional actor for 25 years.

Visitor information

The following links will take you to visitor information pages from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• Campus information and visitor center
• While you're on campus - things to see and do
• Campus map
• Directions to campus
• Parking and transportation

What they said about past editions of this program

“Wonderful—inspiring—motivating. Very generous program.”  Jay Kist, Palatine, Ill.

“The Saturday lineup was fantastic! Something for writers gestating ideas and/or polishing their final work. Great job!”  Jessica Riley, Oshkosh, Wis.

“I learned so much. This weekend really followed my bliss.”  Jane Govoni, Oxford, Wis.

“Well instructed. After each session or workshop, I came out with answers, questions, and invigorating inspiration! Thank you. I especially appreciated the opportunities to reflect on my own novel (as well as others). The suggested resources and readings are much appreciated. In summary, every cent spent for this weekend was returned ten fold. Definitely worth the time and money.”  Phonekeo Siharath, Madison

“I have attended a number of seminars on writing. A Weekend with Your Novel was far and away the best. I plan on attending your next seminar. Terrific!”  Michael Cummins, Lake Forest, Ill.

How to register

1. Review what you want to do. What days? What workshops? Critiques or not?
2. Write down or circle the workshops. Be prepared to give the registration person the number or title of the preliminary Saturday choices. (You can change your mind later.)
3. Read one of the three books listed, if attending Saturday's 3:00 pm workshop.
4. Send your three pages to Chris DeSmet by Sept 26 if attending critique workshops. Register by calling 608-262-7942. Credit cards and checks are both accepted. Tell your friends to visit out website for this same information. We're at www.dcs.wisc.edu/lsa/writing. Prepare to gain a professional edge. That's what this weekend is all about.

Confused? Need guidance on which book to read beforehand, or which workshops to sign up for? Call Christine DeSmet, 608-262-3447, or email her at cdesmet@dcs.wisc.edu.

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