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Accept the 90 Days to Your Novel challenge – with Sarah Domet

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Meet fiction author Sarah Domet!

Sarah Domet is the author of The Guineveres, originally released from Flatiron Books/Macmillan in October 2016. It received starred reviews from Booklist and Library Journal along with praise from O Magazine, People, Elle, Real Simple, Harper’s Bazaar, and The New York Times Book Review. Southern Living voted it one of the Best Books of 2016 by Southern Authors and Bustle included it on their list of 2016’s best debut novels. Sarah is also the author of 90 Days to Your Novel, and her short fiction and nonfiction have been published and anthologized in numerous places. Sarah holds a Ph.D. in literature and creative writing from The University of Cincinnati, and she currently teaches in the creative writing program at Ball State University.

Sarah’s MWW20 sessions include:

  • 90 Days to Your Novel Challenge – A line has been drawn in the sand. Come prepared to cross it and to accept the 90 Days to Your Novel challenge. This session will help you arm yourself with a deadline, some good writing habits, and an outline in order to imagine, structure, and complete a draft of a novel in 90 days.
  • You Finished Your Manuscript, Now What? – Completing your manuscript is only half of your job as a novelist. This session will address the necessary next steps toward publishing and promoting your work.
  • Character + Yearning = Plot – This session will explore how understanding your character–and your character’s yearning–serves as the crucial foundation for the plot of your novel.
  • Panel: Outliner or Pantser? [Tracy Clark, Sarah Domet, Sarah Aronson, Moderator: Angela Jackson-Brown]

 

Sarah Domet - MWW20
Sarah Domet – MWW20

Angela Jackson-Brown, Midwest Writers Workshop board member, interviewed Sarah for this faculty Q&A.

MWW: Often times writers have a “do as I say, not as I do” approach to writing. What is some advice that you give to your students, that you wish you did more of in your own writing? 

SD: I always tell students to let go of perfectionism in the first draft of anything–just write and have fun with it. Enjoy the process. Revel in the pure joy of language. Follow the energy of the story to unexpected places. Whatever you do: keep writing. The sentences and pages will add up. I do feel I could follow this advice a bit more. On occasion, I find myself reworking the same paragraph/page/scene over and over again, and usually this is a sign that I’m stuck. I’m a big believer in the idea that the first draft of anything is simply a process of trying to figure out how to tell a story.

MWW: In your novel The Guineveres, you have four characters who share the same name. How easy or difficult was it developing their individual voices? What are the techniques/strategies you used to make sure each character resonated off the page?

SD: Voice is everything in fiction. I always tell my students that once you find your voice, you find your story. Part of narrative voice is discovering who is telling the story, of course. But perhaps equally important is figuring out who the imagined listener of your story might be. In The Guineveres, the turning point for me was figuring out just who was listening. Why were these girls telling this story in the first place? In the end, the answer surprised me!

In general, I find it useful for writers to think about this question: Why do I want to tell this story? If you can answer this question clearly, then you can often tap into your characters–and their motives–in more authentic ways.

MWW:  What are the main takeaways you want conference attendees to walk away with after taking your workshop?

SD: I hope attendees walk away with confidence in their voices and with concrete plans for finishing, revising, or submitting their work.

[Support Midwest Writers Workshop by purchasing MWW20 authors’ books with Amazon Smile! Click here.]
Join Sarah and the MWW Community to help you move forward with your stories! Check out this awesome schedule — and you get access to ALL 23 sessions!

Register for Virtual MWW20 here today!

Need help “Nailing the First Page”? Tracy Clark has advice!

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Meet award-winning author Tracy Clark

Tracy Clark is the author of the Cass Raines PI series. The series, set in Chicago, features ex-homicide cop turned PI Cassandra Raines, a hard-driving African-American gumshoe who works the mean streets of the Windy City dodging cops, cons, killers and thugs.

Her debut novel, Broken Places, made Library Journal’s list of the Best Crime Fiction of 2018 and was shortlisted in the mystery category on the American Library Association’s 2019 Reading List. CrimeReads also named Cass Raines Best New PI of 2018. The novel also received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, a rave from Kirkus Review, and was nominated for a Lefty Award for Best Debut Novel, an Anthony Award for Best Debut Novel, and a Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel.

Her second Cass Raines novel, Borrowed Time, released in May 2019. Book three, What You Don’t See, recently released in May 2020.

A native Chicagoan, Tracy roots for the Cubs, the Sox, the Bears, the Blackhawks, the Chicago Shy and the Chicago Fire equally. She is member of Sisters in Crime and Sisters in Crime Chicagoland, Mystery Writers of America Midwest and International Thriller Writers. She is also a member of the Bouchercon National Board and secretary of her MWA local chapter.

Tracy’s sessions for MWW20 include:
  • Listening to The Voices In Your Head: about developing characters, main and secondary. Fleshing them out, giving them distinctive characteristics.
  • Panel: Outliner and Pantser? [Tracy Clark, Sarah Domet, Sarah Aronson, Moderator: Angela Jackson-Brown]
  • Nailing the First Page
  • Crafting Dynamic Dialogue
  • Panel: What No One Tells You About the Writing Life, But Should

Stephen Terrell, a member of the Midwest Writers Workshop Board of Directors, caught up with Tracy recently and interviewed her for this Q&A.

MWW:  Your first novel in the Cassandra Raines detective series was nominated for an Anthony, a Lefty Award and a Shamus Award for first novel. One of your topics at MWW2020 is “Listening to the Voices in Your Head” and developing characters. How did your character of Cassandra Raines come about? You’ve now written three books in the series. Has Cassandra changed from your initial concept, or was she fully formed in your head at creation?

TC: Cass Raines has been rattling around in my head, as a voice, as a character, almost fully formed since I was maybe twelve or thirteen. She popped up around about the time I started really getting into mysteries and reading them exclusively almost nonstop. I started with Nancy Drew, spunky, intrepid, progressed to Agatha Christie, then careened into the Golden Age of female crime writers in the early ’80s. I don’t think Cass has changed all that much in all that time. She’s still the same ferocious champion of the underdog she was when she presented herself to me, but I’ve got deeper understanding of her today than I ever could have had at thirteen. I understand her better today. Now I just go where she leads me.

MWW: Your stories are set in your hometown of Chicago (“Go Cubs”). How do you go about making your Chicago setting come alive for readers?

TC: Chicago’s a great city, and I work really hard to get it right, capturing the smells, the sights, the sounds, the corruption, the grit, the traffic snarls, the perennial nuisances that Chicagoans have to deal with. I use all of it to paint the picture and bring the city to life on the page. It takes a bit. I spend a lot of time on it. If a reader is familiar with Chicago, I want them to say, “Ah, I know that place. That’s exactly how it is.” If a reader knows nothing about the city, then I want them to get a sense of what they’re missing.

MWW:  Dialog is so important in your writing. You are teaching a class on “Crafting Dynamic Dialog.” What are the key points people listening to your presentation will be able to learn about improving their dialog?

TC: Dialog is key to revealing your character. How people speak, what they say, how they say it, tells you a great deal about them. But it is equally important what a character holds back. What he or she perhaps won’t say and how that can be conveyed in long pauses or short hesitations. All of that counts toward dialog. Every character has to want something. Not all characters are evolved enough to ask for it. Dialog therefore can be a delicate dance. Getting it right will assuredly elevate your story, muffing it will certainly kill it.

MWW: You are speaking on “Nailing the First Page,” which I think is one of the toughest tasks a writer faces. How do you know when you get it “write” or when you still need to re-write?

TC: For me, I equate it with hitting a tennis ball and getting that sweet spot on the racquet. That hit, that dead-center pop has a distinctive sound. You know the instant you hit the spot that you’ve hit it, and that the shot’s going to be good. It’s kind of the same with writing. Each sentence, each paragraph, each page has a rhythm to it. The words work or they don’t; your pace is slow or fast, your intent is conveyed or it isn’t. Your characters are revealed, their wants and needs expressed, or none of that is accomplished and you’ve lost your reader. And you know you’re done writing when all the elements of story work together, when you’ve hit that sweet spot. You can feel it. You can hear it when you read your work aloud, and every writer should. When you’ve gotten it right, your story will sing to you. That sounds goofy, but it’s an organic sort of thing

Join Tracy and the MWW Community to help you move forward with your stories!

Register for Virtual MWW20 here today!

What?!! ALL 23 sessions!

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What? You’ll have access to ALL 23 sessions …

Yes. We have a need for community and now there’s the technology to create new community spaces for writers. No more choosing among breakout sessions online. Attend ALL 23 sessions live or watch recorded sessions for up to one month later. You can even rewatch sessions you find particularly helpful. [Check out the sessions here.]

 

What? You’ll save $150 because the cost has been reduced to $249 …

Yes. Do the math. That’s quite a bargain per session!

 

What? You’ll meet a community of writers through the private Facebook Group …

Yes. Join this all-star faculty line up and the expert workshops we have planned and move forward with your writing. MWW offers a way to build community among writers during this odd time in which we find ourselves. Let’s live Zoom the sessions together; let’s share on the private FB group with an amazing community of writers. [Check out the faculty here.]

With the COVID-19 pandemic, not only are many people’s work lives being disrupted, but their very capacity to focus, prioritize, and stay creative and buoyant also are challenged. But times of surprising challenge also give us the opportunity to center our attention and create in new ways.

Mary Oliver asks us, with your one wild and precious life?

The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

 

Something, I hope, more than worry.

Something, I hope, more than hoard or blame.

Something more than hole yourself up in a cabin and wait for this thing to blow over.This crisis is an opportunity to create something new. To step out into a “virtual” conference.

Because the world has changed and keeps changing, and it will need your contribution, your words, your stories. In a week or a month or a year from now, how will you look back on this time? Will you have used your opportunity to contribute something to this new world? Or will you have only enjoyed an abundance of hand sanitizer? We’ve all probably watched too much Netflix, called too many friends to validate us, refreshed our social media feed too many times. Now it’s time to get to work. To do something. To pursue your dream.

And I invite you to join us for Virtual MWW20.

And now that it’s all coming together…I can’t believe how freaking fun, valuable, and powerful this virtual event is going to be!

Register for Virtual MWW20 here today!

Yep. We’re going virtual, too

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Registration Re-Open NOW! MWW20 Moves To Online Format!

MWW20 Virtual Conference

Monday – Saturday

July 20-25, 2020

We’ve been working on this since the day we found out we’d have to cancel our planned in-person Midwest Writers Workshop at the Ball State Alumni Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We went from being so disappointed and sad about having to cancel MWW20 in Muncie, to seeing this as incredible potential for us to help lots and lots of both aspiring and advanced writers like you through a virtual conference!
And now that it’s all coming together… we can’t believe how freaking fun, valuable, and powerful this MWW20 virtual event is going to be!
We have an all-star line up of authors and valuable sessions!
“Virtual MWW20” is now SIX days … so get ready! 

We have designed an online version of MWW that offers plenty of instruction, networking, and the sense of community that makes MWW so special.

Our online conference features:

From July 20-25, a total of 23 sessions, via Zoom video conferencing. The sessions will feature a variety of content that will be determined by the individual faculty member and may feature lecture, possibly prompt work, and vital, informative, enjoyable discussions that build your skills as a writer.

MWW20 features a remarkable faculty who know their stuff, providing information for both aspiring and practicing writers at all stages of their journey.

**Instruction led by renowned faculty for the genres of:

  • novel (Lori Rader-Day, Sarah Domet)
  • mystery (Tracy Clark)
  • middle grade/young adult (Sarah Aronson)
  • nonfiction/memoir (Kelcey Parker Ervick)
  • And special sessions with
    • Carol Saller – contributing editor to The Chicago Manual of Style
    • Jamie Thomas – director of operations at Women & Children First Bookstore in Chicago

 **“Happy Hour with Lori” (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) Lori Rader-Day: An Autopsy of a Novel — Lori will walk you through her entire process for writing her novels. Session participants are encouraged—not required—to read The Lucky One by Lori Rader-Day prior to MWW20. Lori may need to talk about some spoilers to tell this story. Reading the book prior to the conference will help attendees understand Lori’s writing process without spoiling the plot twists. [Support Midwest Writers Workshop by purchasing The Lucky One with Amazon Smile! Click here.]

**Private Facebook Group for camaraderie and to build connections with other participants and faculty.

**Can’t attend all the sessions live? No problem. MWW is offering archival video access to ALL attendees for ALL sessions and the content from other faculty members, allowing you to audit other sessions at your convenience during MWW20 and for the following four weeks.

It’s important to keep our MWW writing community as active as we can during this pandemic and that’s why this online version of MWW can be more important than ever to helping nurture aspiring and accomplished writers to improve their craft and achieve their publishing goals.

The cost for our Virtual MWW20 experience has been reduced to $249.

No more choosing among breakout sessions. Attend ALL 24 sessions live or watch recorded sessions for up to one month later. You can even rewatch sessions you find particularly helpful.  You’re getting more sessions for less money, and you can attend in your PJs!

At an on-site conference, your head can be spinning with all of the new information. Our online conference gives writers a place to go back and revisit and catch some of the content that they missed.

 

We’re still offering our **NEW Catapult Your Writing Workshop. This intensive will expose writers to the critique process in a positive environment and foster the idea of collaboration as an imperative skill. Learning the fine art of critiquing will prepare writers to work with editors, understanding that criticism is not personal, and looking at their own work in a clearer, more honest way. Topics addressed in the workshop include craft, style, plot, characterization, grammar, and more. This community experience will expose writers to each other at all stages of the development. Every work will be considered by its intention in a supportive and safe environment with the focus on making the manuscripts the best they can be in the time shared. Students must apply. Limit 12.

    • CATAPULT YOUR WRITING WORKSHOP: July 20-25, 2020 (9-11 am, 1:15-2:15 pm)
      • $299 [includes access to all Virtual MWW20 sessions]
      • Submissions must be emailed by June 1, 2020.

Do you dream of getting your story out of your heart and into a book? It’s time to turn that dream into reality. Let’s get those words onto paper and craft your story into a powerful offering.

That’s the vision behind our mission statement and our passion to help writers; MWW20 is designed to guide you to the next step in your writing journey.

Whether you’re a beginner with zero experience, or you’ve been writing for years, you’ll want the collective wisdom of our conference faculty. These authors will empower you to dream, write, and publish the story inside you.

Join us during the week to be inspired and equipped to take the next step in your writing journey.

Find the entire schedule: here.

Find the faculty bios: here.

Register HERE!