Words4Every1 Writers’ Group:October 10th

Introduction

Words4Every1 Writers’ Group: October 10th

TIMINGS:

- 3:00 PM: Intro/meet and greet

- 3:10 PM: 11 Writing Tips and Tricks

- 3:45 PM: Writing Activities

- 4:15 PM: Editing Workshops

- 4:45 PM: Guest Speaker: Saqib Deshmukh

Introduction

Words4Every1 Writers’ Group: August 22ndTIMINGS:

- 5:15 PM: Break/Networking

- 5:30 PM: Readings/Performances

- 6:00 PM: Pub!

Introduction

Your Host

Hi, I’m Dane

- Social media marketing specialist of four years

- Author, poet and musician

- Debut novella – No Rest for the Wicked – available now

- Industry speaker/commentator

- General Arts4Every1 busybody

Introduction

11 Writing Tips and Tricks

Last Time

Last Time- We kickstarted our new writing exercises

- Author J.G. Clay talked about finding inspiration

- An introduction to social networking

- Awesome performances (kudos Neil, Dave, Carys, Daniel and Lorraine!)

11 Writing Tips and Tricks

Eight Point Story Arc1. Stasis2. Trigger

3. The quest4. Surprise5. Critical choice

6. Climax7. Reversal8. Resolution

11 Writing Tips and Tricks

Spontaneous Prose- Championed by Jack Kerouac

- Also known as ‘stream of consciousness’

- Involves writing without stopping to think

- Little or no editing

- Typically features long, drawn out sentences

- A useful exercise to combat writers’ block

11 Writing Tips and Tricks

Live Writing- Writing on location

- I.E. Sitting in a coffee shop, writing about the conversations you overhear

- Could also be used to write about nature

- Also popular over the internet at events

- Can be another great source of inspiration

- Next month, we’ll be doing a live writing exercise in the church!

11 Writing Tips and Tricks

Found Writing- Using material you find elsewhere to create something new

- I.E. a story made from newspaper clippings

- Very popular with experimental writers

- Poets, for example, wrote poems using only words that they saw used around them

- Another example is taking a second hand book and striking chunks of text out to change the meaning

11 Writing Tips and Tricks

Hypertext- Dave will be happy to tell you about this

- Basically, the narrative isn’t linear

- Like how Wikipedia works – you can click links at any point in the text

- Became very popular in the early days of the internet

- Can also be done on YouTube with annotations

11 Writing Tips and Tricks

The Three Types of Narrative- Associational

- Let the reader decide

- Circular

- The story loops

- Episodic

- The format we’re most used to

11 Writing Tips and Tricks

Active V.S. Passive- Active

- John sheared the sheep

- Passive

- The sheep was sheared by John

- Active voice is almost always preferable (unless passive is being used for effect)

11 Writing Tips and Tricks

Types of Editing- Conceptual Editing

- The editor suggests ways to improve the story- Includes checking for realism, anachronisms, etc.

- Copy Editing

- Focuses on checking for typos, grammar mistakes etc.- Layout checks often come under this stage

- Be sure you know which type of editing you’re asking for

11 Writing Tips and Tricks

Crippled Verbs- Offshoots of the word ‘to be’

- Any variation on ‘be’, ‘are’ or ‘is’

- These should be avoided

- Instead of: “There was a flock of sheep in the valley.”

- Use: “A flock of sheep grazed in the valley.”

11 Writing Tips and Tricks

Fake Intensifiers- These are used when we feel insecure

- Are used in regular speech as well as writing

- Add nothing to what you’re saying

- Examples:

- Really- Very- Completely- Simply

11 Writing Tips and Tricks

Close Observation- Write about an object or an event, but in close detail

- i.e. when writing about a pencil, look at the grooves where it was sharpened

- Helps you to look at the world from a different perspective

- Usually more useful for practice than in ‘serious’ work

- Nevertheless, can be used to great effect

5 Marketing Tips and Tricks

Keywords- Keywords are vital if you want to get found by searches

- Most important places: Blog titles and YouTube video titles

- I.E. Not ‘Tony Open Mic’

- Use ‘Tony Dubinski – Changes (Live at Arts4Every1, High Wycombe)

- Think about what people might search for

- What words do they use? ‘Car’? ‘Automobile’? ‘People Carrier’?

5 Marketing Tips and Tricks

Analytics- The most powerful tool at your disposal

- Analytics show you detailed stats on your performance (i.e. number of views)

- Google Analytics is super powerful and should be installed on all websites

- Anyone interested in a workshop on Google Analytics?

- Most social networks also offer analytics

- Use analytics to determine what works, then act on it!

5 Marketing Tips and Tricks

Outreach- Refers to reaching out to people (typically bloggers) that you don’t know

- Great for authors seeking reviews of their book

- Steps:

1. Create a list of people to contact2. Create a template e-mail to use3. Offer them a freebie (free copy of the book, for example)4. Adapt your message slightly to be specifically relevant to them5. Keep track of who you’ve contacted and follow up with them

5 Marketing Tips and Tricks

Brown-Nosing- I couldn’t think of a better term to refer to it

- Essentially, say nice things about other people to fish for retweets

- For example, ‘Loving the new @Mark_Haddon book – everyone should get a copy!’

- Mark will then see this, see it’s positive and retweet it

- This then exposes you to their followers

- Make it natural, though!

5 Marketing Tips and Tricks

Further Resources

- A few websites that you might be interested in:

- Search Engine Land- Search Engine Journal- Social Media Today- Social Media Examiner- The Next Web- The Drum- HubSpot

QUESTIONS?

The Book!

THE BOOK!- So, I’ve had an idea…

- Let’s write a book together!

- Each workshop will have a different theme

- Submit your entries to dane.cobain@booktrope.com before the next workshop

- All formats welcome

- No promises, but we’ll see how it goes!

Activity

Writing Challenge: Teamwork- Get into groups of three

- Write a short story together

- The catch?

- Only Person A can use adverbs

- Only Person B can use adjectives

- Only Person C can use verbs

EDITING WORKSHOPS

GUEST SPEAKER:Saqib Deshmukh

Saqib Deshmukh was born in South London in 1967. He has worked all over the country as a youth worker

and he settled in High Veecombe/Wycombe in 1997. He has

been writing since 1984 and published a collection of his poetry TIMEBOMB in 1992 and has been

published in newspapers, magazines and anthologies as well as some dodgy publications that he would rather not

talk about.

GUEST SPEAKER:Saqib Deshmukh

Saqib Deshmukh was born in South London in 1967. He has worked all over the country as a youth worker

and he settled in High Veecombe/Wycombe in 1997. He has

been writing since 1984 and published a collection of his poetry TIMEBOMB in 1992 and has been

published in newspapers, magazines and anthologies as well as some dodgy publications that he would rather not

talk about.

BREAK:Please speak to Dane if you’d like to do a reading!

This Month’s Theme

This Month’s Theme- Hallowe’en

- All interpretations welcome

- No particular word count – as many or as few as you need

- All genres and formats welcome!

- E-mail your work to dane.cobain@booktrope.com before the next session to be considered for the anthology

READINGS:Next Workshop:

3 PM – 6 PM On Saturday 7th November

Guest Speaker:Elaine Will

THANKS FOR

COMING