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Saturday, April 9, 2011

Summing up Saturday Part 1

After such a heavy week of exploring our characters I think it’s a good time to relax and take it all in. We have learned a lot over the past week: two days of Schemas and traits (wipe the sweat from your brow stuff), fundamental attribution error (more on change), functional analysis and functional assessment (some powerful stuff here), and last but not least staying motivated (very important).

There have been many great comments:

-Pam Torres from http://soimfifty.blogspot.com/ said, “I think Emily has it right. It's about striving to live a writers life: writing everyday, observing the world like a writer, listening to the people around you, reading, and always working to get better at getting words on the page. [It doesn't hurt to have a few cheerleaders on the side.]”
-Emily from http://eayounker.blogspot.com/ said, “Knowing your character is important but in my mind there also has to be room for plot. Whether you have plot driven characters or character driven plot doesn't matter so long as there is something there to keep the reader involved in the story and give them a feeling of satisfaction when they finish. I love to write but even I get bored if there is no plot.”
-Jennifer Shirk from http://jennifershirk.blogspot.com/ said, “In books, I usually try to show change by how the MC is in the beginning of the story--by establishing what they believe either about themselves or others.
Then you have to give them a lesson that will cause them to change that belief. By the end you can actually see if they think or feel the same way when given a circumstance that forces them to choose an action based on what they believe.”
-April Hoyt (whose blog is private) said, “I think this is important even for understanding ourselves better. To understand why I react to certain stimuli or certain people. Very interesting...”
-http://www.duosays.com/ said, “But the challenge, like you said is to make the antagonist, all characters, essentially realistic. For that they need to have flaws, especially the antag. I like them to have a REASON why they behave a certain way. This for me, gives the MC an edge in defeating them.”

Awesome, these are some amazing comments that have helped me understand better the things we have talked about. I appreciate all of your help and wish I could have put all of your comments up but due to space and time we only get a small taste of what was said over the last week.

So what was your favorite comment over the past week? What post did you like best? What did you learn?

11 comments:

  1. My fav was the post about motivation. Sometimes that is the one thing that is the hardest to do, motivate myself. I have been reading several writing books, not really how to's but more motivation like Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott and The Right to Write by Julia Cameron. It sort of helps but I think the biggest thing is to just get out of my own way!

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  2. There's some awesome links here, thanks again for all the work you put into your posts :)
    Wagging Tales - Blog for Writers

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  3. I learn so much ready your blog. Im eager to try my hand at fiction.

    Thanks for all your kinds comments on my work.

    Lisa
    InspiredbyLisa

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  4. I've had too many awesome comments to pick one but it really has been a wonderful week. I've learnt there are more fabulous bloggers out there then I could hope to read!

    Ellie Garratt

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  5. Thank you for your kind words while taking the time to visit my blog ~.^

    There is a certain magic about poetry and the people who create it. The imaginings of artistic talent is inspiring and hard to resist, no matter what form it takes. Creativity manifests as if by magic. Something from nothing ~ Helena

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  6. Thanks for the amazing comments and thoughts. I enjoy coming back and reading them and learning from them.

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  7. Thanks for the follow at my site. I did my undergrad at NAU. I then got my master's and specialist degrees in School Psychology! Isn't that funny? Will follow you too and hope to keep the flame alive inside me to finish my book. I am unhappy with it at the moment, feel a little stuck and feel like it needs a major overhaul. I have a hard time finding time to write and work on it. (full time working mom) I am hoping to get to know my character better and round out her personality so that the story can come better.

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  8. Sorry, me again. Because of what we have in common I thought perhaps you would like to check out a couple of pieces of mine:

    http://www.pampersandpinot.com/2010/08/safe-place.html


    http://www.pampersandpinot.com/2011/01/i-am-mummy-and-my-head-fell-off.html

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  9. I appreciate the acknowledgment! It takes a lot of time to explore other people's blogs, and I love that you visit mine!! Good luck!

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  10. nice. thanks for dropping in today...read through a couple days and really enjoy what you are doing here...

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  11. Writers learn so much from each other just by sharing thoughts.

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Comments are what help us all learn together.


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