When A Workshop Works

A couple of weeks ago I went to a workshop - StoryMasters - that was one of the best I’ve ever attended. It was a four-day affair, run by three of the giants of the writing world: Christopher Vogler, James Scott Bell, and Donald Maass.

Vogler is renowned as the man who brought to the writing world the mythic structure identified by Joseph Campbell in Vogler’s fabulous book The Writer’s Journey. Bell, in addition to being an award-winning fiction author, is also author of a couple of my staples, Plot & Structure, and Conflict & Suspense. Maass, a high-powered agent, has written what I consider to be the best revision guide on the market, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, plus a couple of other great craft books, The Fire in Fiction and Writing 21^st Century Fiction.

I felt as if I’d ascended Mount Olympus. (I confess to having a fangirl moment meeting the very friendly and warm Vogler, whose book was the first I read when I began to write. And, by the way, all three of these guys were friendly and warm and totally accessible.)

Each of these masters of the craft took one entire eight-hour day to dissect and explain all aspects of story-telling. They used examples from books and movies – the entire fourth day was devoted to a scene-by-scene analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird. Their approaches were radically different and meshed perfectly (they’ve been friends for a long time, and Maass is Bell’s agent.) And they sprinkled, or in Maass’s case larded, their lectures with exercises.

It would be impossible for me to distill what I heard: I took forty-two pages of notes. I can only encourage you to check the schedule for a future workshop by one or all of these guys. The StoryMasters Workshop was sponsored through Free Expressions, and they host a number of workshops and intensives. 

This workshop resulted, once I returned home, in a frenzied revision of my WIP, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

Some workshops really do rise above. I’d love to hear from anyone who’s had a similar experience – let’s share!

Footsteps: Revision

A few weeks back I gave out some practical revision ideas, but today I want to examine a more nuanced way to look at revision.

My walk in the summer and fall.

Every day I try to take a walk. Usually I’m taking the same walk, retracing my footsteps. It’s a good walk, part exercise, part meditation; I use my walking time to let my brain ruminate on my current project, and more often than not, that rumination is fruitful.

In fact I find that I reach a breakthrough idea at about the same point every walk - that must be the place where my brain relaxes into my physical exertion and my internal editor goes on vacation, because I come up with my best ideas as I reach that rock, that tree.

Today, while walking this route, I could see the imprint of yesterday’s walk in the fresh snow. I put my foot in the same imprint at times; at times, I moved away for easier footing or a more direct route. Sometimes I moved even further, if I heard or saw something of interest that I could incorporate into my walk, weaving a deer sighting or a wolf track into the thread of this walk and into memory.

Winter dawn at my new Bozeman house...just because.

This is how I see revision. I walk in the footsteps of my previous work. Sometimes I work to make something more direct. Sometimes I clarify. And sometimes I find an entirely new thread, a new path, or a new and exciting interest.

I love revising, almost as much as I love walking. The generation of work is exciting, just as walking a new route can be a thrill. But walking the same route every day is a pleasure of a different kind – awakening my senses and sharpening my focus.

So I’m off to revise...right after my walk!