Antioch Writers’ Workshop 2010: Day 2
July 13, 2010.
When I walked through the doors of Antioch Midwest today, I felt much more prepared and less nervous than on my first day. I settled in close to my seat from yesterday, set up my laptop, and broke out my new poetry book for some reading before the first class started.
In today’s Fiction class, we covered the four basic styles of telling a story: narrative summary, description, scene, and half scene. As an exercise, we wrote a short narrative summary, and then added dialogue to change it into a half scene. For homework, we were instructed to compose a scene, keeping in mind that it’s a mini story with a beginning, middle, and end. After lunch, I spent about an hour and a half writing a short scene.
We had a real treat for our second class. Janet Reid, Literary Agent, spoke for about 20 minutes about things every author should know when approaching an agent. (I’m also checking out her blog.) Then the rest of the hour she answered questions. Each person was allowed a question of no more than 10 words. Since I figured most people were asking about novel submission, I asked about something different.
I asked, “How would someone pitch a mixed genre anthology to you?” She asked who the primary author would be, and when I (sheepishly) said “myself” her answer was, “You wouldn’t.” Ouch. She said that they’re lots of fun, but unless an already famous author contributes to it they are very hard to sell. She then suggested submitting a novel instead. I didn’t mention I have a novel since it’s nowhere near ready. It still needs heavy editing, and since that’s not an agent’s job (something every author should know about an agent) I didn’t mention it. She was very informative and funny, and if you get the chance to hear her speak I highly recommend it.
During our third class, we analyzed two poems about loss written in very different styles. The instructor made suggestions on how to read like a writer so as to glean information and techniques to use in your own writing. Also, before the class I spoke with her about her poem, “Thyme,” in A Book of Minutes which she graciously signed for me. Anyone who loves poetry should definitely check this out. I’ve already read many of the poems several times.
The morning’s last class began a few minutes late, which was unfortunate since we had to rush through some of the points. The information she packed throughout the class kept me typing notes the entire time. I intend to more fully review ‘The Writer’s Toolbox’ tools that she discussed at a later time. It’s fascinating.
After class, I bought my obligatory bottle of rocket fuel (read: Highly Caffeinated Beverage) and ate my lunch in the student lounge. It was nice. I had the place to myself, spread all my books and things on the table, and did homework and reading for the next three hours.
My tweets this week will necessarily be much less frequent, though I do intend to try to blog daily about the conference. Between reading books and working on homework, I’ll try to catch up reading more #fridayflash. I do have something prepared already for this Friday though, as well as the 52/250 flash challenge. I’ve been working on some poems also that (hopefully) will be finished this week. I could probably polish them off tonight, but I want to use what I learn in the classes to improve my work. Until tomorrow (maybe), Good night and keep writing!