Yesterday, July 11, 2008, our first lecture was by Shelley Tanaka, author of many creative non-fiction picture books, and the second was by Tim Wynne-Jones, author of Rex Zero, King of Nothing. Both lectures were fascinating. Later in the day we had a funny lecture by MT Anderson, author of Feed and Octavian Nothing among many others. He was a great speaker, but in listening to him I realized how little I really know about the science of writing! The auction later in the evening was hysterical-with the auctioneers being MT Anderson and Tim Wynne-Jones. I wish someone had recorded it-we could've put it on YouTube! The auction raised $8500 for the school's scholarship fund.
What did I learn today? I learned about motivation, and how important finding your character's motivation is for you story. How motivation drives plot. And I learned how much I still need to learn!
Today's agenda: Picture book day with lectures by Illustrator Janet Stevens and picture book author Susan Stevens Crummel, author Sarah Sullivan, and agent Jeanette Larson. Later is the big party!
Tomorrow: Norma Fox Mazer is coming to discuss her new book, The Missing Girl. And...tomorrow night we find out who our faculty advisor is for this semester!
1 comment:
Motivation is so critical! Sometimes I need to really think about what a character's true motivation is, and it helps me totally refine my story.
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