Tuesday Workshop – The Business of Writing and How to Show Not Tell
Stephanie Chandler and Verna Dreisbach (President of CCYW) –
Photograph by Elizabeth Donham
Stephanie Chandler gave our young writers a crash course on the business of writing. She showed how we can use social media networks as a way of marketing ourselves, our books, and our ideas. For example: blogging. You can write a blog and then share links of that blog on your Facebook, your Twitter, or your Google + or whatever else you can think of. By doing this you create an audience. Then when it comes time to publish a book you can decide whether you want to do traditional publishing or self publishing. She was able to show us that you don’t need the book deal to publish a book and you don’t need the money to do it either – just use the internet.
Deborah Grabien speaking – Photograph by Elizabeth Donham
Deborah Grabien was our resident rocker chick this week. She discussed the differences between showing and telling. Typically, as a journalist you are asked to tell – just give us the facts, but as a fiction writer it’s important to show – give us a tangible world, one we can feel in our guts. As Deborah said, “The problem with cutting it to the bone is you lose muscle,” and that’s an important thing to keep in mind when writing. The detail gives your story some meat for the reader to grab hold of.
