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Selina Shapland

Tag Archives: Dean Wesley Smith

Learning the Art and Craft of Fiction

11 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by selina in Courses, Creative Writing, fiction, Fiction Writing Courses

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Brisbane Writers Workshop, creative writing, David Farland, Dean Wesley Smith, fiction, Margie Lawson, Writing Courses

The Misadventures of Tuppence Weatherstom Manuscript - Phase 1My first novel manuscript has had an assessment by the brilliant editors from Brisbane Writers Workshop, and I couldn’t be happier with the guidance I have received.

I’ve received layers of feedback on the overall story, the plot, the theme, the characters, scenes that don’t do the story justice and those that do, and so much more.  This feedback is gold and it will assist me to become a much better fiction writer.

I have a great deal of work to do on developing my showing and not telling skills.  And there is a theme in my story that was identified that I hadn’t been aware of.  I’ll be focusing on bringing that out as I rewrite.  I’ll also be reworking scenes to stick to a tight plot and not go off on any tangents.

I’ll be taking all of this valuable feedback into account and pacing myself as I work through each part of the process rewriting my story.

You see, I believe that editors are brilliant people and professionals because they save writers from making fatal mistakes in our manuscripts before the story goes to publication.  Editors see things that I can’t see, and I like to think of them as an author’s guardian angel as they help us writers bring out the best of the story for the reader’s pleasure.

Sometimes feedback stings a little but it’s always meant to be of assistance to improve the manuscript for an audience.  I think it’s important to listen to expertise to create the best story I can write.  So, I’ve been swimming in my story, thinking about all the feedback and considering how I can put it to best use and chisel away the dross to create the best piece of art on the page that I can.

Today, I’ve also finished my first six-week writing course with Dean Wesley Smith – Depth in Writing. This course challenged and stretched my creative writing skills and reoriented my thinking as I learned a new way to approach writing story openings.

I learned how to use the five senses and character opinion to focus the depth in an opening.  This course was so beneficial to learning the art and craft of writing, and I’m so pleased I invested in it.   I’ll be saving up to do more courses with Dean Wesley Smith in the near future. Maybe sometime in 2017.  I’d like to do the Character Development, Plotting with Depth, and Writing Mysteries courses, just to name a few.

The week after next, David Farland will be here in Australia. He’s teaching a couple of writing courses, including Writing Million Dollar Outlines which equates to how to write stories that sell.

I’m pretty excited because I’ll finally have an opportunity to meet David Farland face-to-face.  I’ve been studying writing with him since December 2014 and what I’ve learned has been beneficial to developing my own creative writing style.  I’ve learned how to plot a story, flesh out characters, develop settings, think about theme and consider treatment too.

Then, on 9th October, I will have another opportunity to attend a course with Brisbane Writers Workshop as they will be holding a Polish and Publish course.  This course has a maximum of 4 to 6 people and will focus on giving each participant time to polish 1500 words of their work-in-progress manuscript.  I can’t wait for this course as it will really help me with my manuscript.

And, quite a few months ago, I signed up to another online writing course with Margie Lawson, called Visceral Rules: Beyond Hammering Hearts.  This course starts 1st October, and is designed to teach the importance of visceral responses in writing and helps writers to move beyond cliches.

One day, I hope to have a story that will be published and people will truly enjoy reading.

Until then, I’ll keep learning the art and craft of fiction writing.  And when the hard moments hit and I want to turn away from the course I’ve stepped upon, I’ll continue because I do love to create and I love to write.

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Desolation – Book Review Vlog

08 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by selina in Author/Book Review, Book Reviews, Creative Writing, Vlog

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Dean Wesley Smith, Derek Landy, Desolation, The Demon Road, YA Novel

Today I uploaded a Vlog to my YouTube Channel.  It’s a book review of Desolation.

Desolation is the second book in a YA Series by Derek Landy, called The Demon Road Series.

This is my first real go at doing a video book review and I’m still working out how to do the recording, so you can see the titles of the books are mirror image.  I’m still working on getting a better video recorder.

But, if you watch the video, I do chat about the two books I’ve read in the series and I’m sure you’ll get what I’m on about.

I enjoyed reading Desolation.  Probably more than the first book, Demon Road.  The main character, Amber grows into her independence and this book has a love interest that I did not see coming.  It was a great read and fast-paced with horror and thriller beats that kept me hanging on for more.

I’m going to study this novel and see how Derek Landy hooked me so well and then see if I can use what I learn in my own creative writing.

Dean Wesley Smith encourages his students to use this method.  Read for pleasure and then review to find out how the author created such a great story that appealed to your personal reading tastes.

Thanks for reading.  Thanks for watching and I hope your writing is going great too.

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Video

Dean Wesley Smith on How to be Original

13 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by selina in Courses, Creative Writing

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creative brain, creative writing, critical brain, Dean Wesley Smith, fiction, Outlines, writing novels

Recently, I’ve found a set of YouTube videos by Dean Wesley Smith from an online course he does on How to be Original.

I’ve listened to and watched up to week 5.  It looks like a great course and one that would challenge the writer’s mindset because the purpose of the course is to set your creative mind free and develop your own take on writing stories.

He talks a lot about how to write from the creative brain, which he indicates comes from the back of the head.  Then he talks about how we often write from the front of our heads, which is where the critical mind or internal editor sits, furiously reviewing our work and slashing it to pieces.

I think it is so easy to get caught up in editing and polishing a work in progress before the actual birth of creativity has taken place, and watching these videos by Dean Wesley Smith have cemented that idea in my mind for me.

His course gives you permission to “let your inner two year old out to play” and from personal experience of both being an internal prisoner to my critical mind and a free spirit of my creative mind, permission to be who we are and do what we love most is vital for creative success.

I think I’ll investigate taking some of Dean Wesley Smith’s courses on writing in the future.  He’s been a pulp fiction writer for almost as long as I’ve been alive.  He writes all the time, has written Star Trek and hundreds of other stories that may or may not have his name on the front, because he also does ghost writing when publishers need a work finished by a deadline and the original author is unable to meet the date.

He’s a great teacher because he’s honest about the process of writing and making art on the page.  One of the things I found particularly freeing is his comment that “there’s no right way to write a novel.”  Knowing that is so important because beginning writers search like crazy for the secret to writing a novel.  There are methods and structures and plots that have all been done before which create the foundation of learning to write stories, but in the end, once the writer has assimilated that information and it has become a part of who they are, they are then free to let that stuff come out as a part of the process of writing the novel without fear of doing something wrong.

What I found freeing and fascinating about one of Dean’s video lectures was that he talks about the way he outlines a book.  He writes the chapter and then outlines backwards.  He jots down what happened and keeps it in a file for quick reference.  I was so excited because that’s my preferred method of outlining.

He says (and I’m paraphrasing) that “outlining comes from the critical part of the brain which doesn’t allow for original voice.”   This struck a cord with me because when I try to outline and be serious, I get stuck in an anxious feedback loop of critical thought and have been unable to complete the outline.  But when I watch and listen to my characters and write down what they are doing and saying, then jot down the outline afterwards, it works for me.  My writing is creative and I have a lot of fun while still creating a structured story and keeping track of all the threads that make up a novel.

So, if you haven’t heard of Dean Wesley Smith, check out his YouTube channel or you can find a link to his website on my Writer’s Resources page.

Enjoy being original and having fun with your creative expression.

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