Fifty First Chapters Webinar AND a Book Release!

We interrupt this post to let me, the blogger, say how much I love local authors. *Sigh*

Lauren Ritz hails from Salt Lake, has recently released Heart of the Castle and will give a door-prize to every person who participates in her launch party here. For those of you who already know what you’re looking for: the puzzle piece you need is below. Don’t forget to look at the freebies on this page while you’re here, and congrats to the ultimate winner!

Okay, back to new about the free web seminar . . .

Fifty First Chapters is a free web seminar taught by two grand prize winners of the LDStorymakers First Chapter Contest (Nikki Trionfo and Heather Clark).  We plan teach three thirty-minute sessions over three weeks using Google hang-out starting January 8^th.  Everyone who signs up to attend will be entered into a drawing for a free critique of their first chapter.  Again, FREE!

For a general course description of Fifty First Chapters, go here.

To attend the seminar:

1. sign up for a newsletter (this also signs you up for the free critique)

2.  visit this website Thursday Jan 8th, 15th, and 22nd at 8 PM Mountain Time and click the link I’ll have waiting for you.

Please, please note you will only to be entered into the drawing for a free critique of your first chapter IF you sign up for the newsletter.  (That way I won’t have to sort through names during the seminar.)  If you show up for the webinar without signing up, off with your head.  Or just get on the newsletter for the following week’s drawing.   You must be “present” at the webinar to win the critique. I plan to record the seminar and post it on my blog, so if you’re busy on Thursdays, check for a video soon after each session.

Now, here’s what we’ll be teaching:

~ Session One on Jan 8 ~

Covers the basic criteria judges look for in a first chapter, adapted specifically from the 2013 LDStorymakers judging sheet.  This includes a discussion of premise (including logline), hook, conflict, characters, setting & mood, pace & style, and read-on prompts. For those of you who already have my hand-out, you’ll be getting the lecture that’s supposed to go with it.  🙂

~ Session Two on Jan 15 ~

Tackles two broad categories: inciting incidents and story arc, theme, & inner conflict (or, The Big Three).  You may think it’s okay to reveal the inciting incident in chapter two.  You may think you’ve hinted at The Big Three enough.  But if the inciting incident and The Big Three are not on the page in the first chapter, you do not have the strongest first chapter available to you.  For example, is the theme of your story a question or a hypothesis statement?  By whom is it stated and where?  In dialogue, in narration?  We’ll talk about not only understanding these story attributes, but how to communicate them in powerful, clear, and yet subtle ways.

~ Session Three on Jan 23 ~

Discusses picking the right scene for your first chapter.  I know it’s a little late in the game to change the scene for the 2015 LDStorymakers contest, but this info really good to consider while we’re on the topic of first chapters.  Also, I saw on the contest support group page that someone had a question about prologues, so we’ll talk specifically about prologue pros and cons and which types of stories benefit from them most. The tasks of good story-telling is much easier when the first chapter opens in the right place.  Because there often is a better starting spot than the one originally landed on, we’ll cover various strategies for changing the order of your scenes, like timeline alteration, embedded backstory, and methods for using flashbacks.  In case that’s not enough, I’ll throw in a bit about mining your story for awesome first lines.

Final note: We will use vocab words and phrases like scene and sequel, inner conflict, theme, plot point, midpoint, mechanics of desire, etc.  If you want some info on this stuff, or a refresher course, here are some websites to visit:

Scene & Sequel  Inner Conflict  Emotional Beats  Plot Points & Midpoints  Mechanics of Desire