The Writer's Workshop

Writing for Story: Summer Seattle Creative Writing Class

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:01:24 +0000

Writing for Story: Summer Seattle Creative Writing Class

This summer I’ll offer a Seattle Creative Writing Seminar entitled “Writing for Story: How to Recognize, Organize and Write Narratives.” This course will demonstrate how to heighten conflict and resolution in fiction and nonfiction, greatly enhancing the readability and publishability of the finished piece. You’ll receive detailed, constructive criticism of your fictional and nonfictional stories and book chapters. In addition, we’ll discuss dramatic scenes, outlines, cover letters, and other topics of interest to you.

The course will run June 13 to Aug. 1 on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. and one Monday evening July 9 in Room 221 of the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood (4649 Sunnyside Avenue North).

In addition to the classroom work, I will schedule individual conferences with each student. This will give me a chance to go over your story or book with you one-on-one and suggest ways to improve it. There will be six assignments: a 150- to 250-word story idea or book concept statement, a 250-word dramatic scene, a 25-word outline of your story, a 1500- to 2500-word story or book chapter and its revision, and a cover letter for your story or book. The cost will be $575 per person. Texts: Writing for Story by Jon Franklin; The Art of Fact edited by Kevin Kerrane and Ben Yagoda. Both titles are available at the Elliott Bay Book Company.

To enroll, please send me check for $575 to 201 Newell St., Seattle, WA 98109. Enrollment is limited to 15. For more information, take a look at my website, www.thewritersworkshop.net, or contact me at nick@Thewritersworkshop.net or 206-284-7121.

Share on Facebook

JIM HOLMES’ CIEL DU CHEVAL DEFINES THE EXCELLENCE OF RED MOUNTAIN

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:01:17 +0000

Jim Holmes and Ryan Johnson

Red Mountain rises above the low, brown sagebrush country outside of Benton City, Washington. Located northwest of the Tri-Cities, Washington’s smallest and most prestigious American Viticulture Area (AVA) looks more like a hill than a mountain, one of a series of rounded basaltic ridges marching southwest along the Yakima River.
The landscape is bare, dry, austere, nothing like the carefully tended gardens of Burgundy or the regal architectural jewel boxes of Bordeaux first growth Chateau Latour. There are no restaurants, hotels or wine trains on Red Mountain, but there likely will be someday. For now, the area is as pure and abstract in its undulating beauty as a landscape in Tuscany.
The road to Red Mountain follows the meanders of the Yakima River. The asphalt climbs past farms and discarded machinery. Unlike the world’s highly developed wine regions, this is still farm country, with an unfinished quality to it. I pass the white chiseled granite sign, Welcome to Red Mountain, the only indication that I’m approaching one of the premier wine growing regions in the world.
Rows of grape vines line the road. Carefully tended clusters of Cabernet, Merlot, and Syrah grapes hang from beneath the vines, reflecting the perfectionism of growers like Ciel du Cheval’s Jim Holmes, whose astonishing fruit reveals the power and elegance of the Red Mountain AVA. Wines made from these vineyards earn stratospheric scores from wine critics. Influential wine critic Robert Parker rates Quilceda Creek Vintners wines from this vineyard among the best in the world.
I turn left and head up the road toward Ciel du Cheval Vineyards to meet owner Jim Holmes, one of the pioneers of Washington State wine. In recent years, the industry has experienced staggering growth, from 155 wineries and 28,000 acres of vines in 2000, to 700 wineries and 40,000 acres today. As the industry explodes with growth and innovation, I sought to understand where it’s headed by talking with him, Red Willow Vineyard owner Mike Sauer, Nefarious Cellars of Chelan, Syncline Winery of the Columbia Gorge, Saviah Cellars of Walla Walla and Woodinville Wine Country, the center of the state’s industry.
Though not a winemaker himself, Holmes sells grapes to some of the best wineries in the state: Betz Family Winery, Andrew Will Winery, Delille Cellars, and McCrea Cellars. Red Mountain specializes in red varietals like Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah. I park the car and greet Holmes, a sturdy man wearing jeans, a jean jacket and a baseball cap.
“Making great wine is like painting a great picture: you have to have some idea of what you want to paint before you put paint to canvas,” he says, indicating the vine rows. “We’ve got a great site – we’ve got great paint! If you want to make a great bottle of wine, you’ve got to think about what you’re doing in the field. You’ve got to know why you did this, and why you did that, and why one worked and the other didn’t work. You’ve got to keep working at those things because the desire is to put great art on the canvas. “
At 75, Holmes still enjoys the challenge. A systems engineer who grew up in the Bay Area north of San Francisco, he developed an early taste for wine. When he moved up the Tri Cities area in 1958 to work for Hanford, he wanted to drink some decent local wine. So he and partner John Williams eventually bought 80 acres of land on Red Mountain. A short time later, Washington State University professor Walter Clore released his ground-breaking report on Washington wine in 1972. It made the case for growing vinifera grapes in Washington. The rest is history.
“It was a great report,” Holmes says. “He’d done 20 years of research. It turned out to be the start of the whole thing.”
Clore’s data convinced Holmes that growing wine grapes was worth doing, but it wasn’t a sure thing. “It was a high level risk,” he says. “Anyone who planted grapes on Red Mountain back then could qualify as crazy.”
For the rest of the story, read the June issue of Alaska Airlines Magazine. For more on writing classes, please visit www.thewritersworkshop.net.

Share on Facebook

CREATING COMPELLING CHARACTER SKETCHES

admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 02:14:36 +0000

I taught a writing class at Seattle’s Hugo House today entitled, WRITING COMPELLING CHARACTER SKETCHES. Strong characters are the heart and soul of every great story, whether fiction or nonfiction. A character sketch introduces the main figures in your story and makes readers care about them.
Strong characters are the heart and soul of every great story, whether fiction or nonfiction. To make your story compelling, you have to ensure that readers care about your characters. Even a topic as seemingly dull and unpromising as Great Basin geology can enchant readers if the story comes through someone who cares deeply about it. This is exactly the strategy John McPhee employs in his book, Basin and Range. McPhee is a writer interested in everything: the Merchant Marine, Russian Art, the Swiss Army, the cultivation of oranges, the building of birch bark canoes, the collection and consumption of road kills. Yet he doesn’t assume a similar level of interest from his readers. Instead he courts them by seeking colorful individuals through whom he tells the story and so entices readers into the subject. In Basin and Range, he chose the geologist Kenneth Deffeyes.
“Deffeyes is a big man with a tenured waistline. His hair flies behind him like Ludwig van Beethhoven’s. He lectures in sneakers. His voice is syllabic, elocutionary, operatic. He has been described by a colleague as ‘an intellectual roving shortstop, with more ideas per square meter than anyone else in the department–they just tumble out.’”

The class participants had a chance to draft some sketches, mainly of their protagonists and antagonists. It was a great opportunity for them to get some writing down and an opportunity for me to contribute to the Hugo House, a vital part of Seattle’s writing community. Here’s a comment from one of the students:

I just wanted to reach out and thank you for today’s class. I didn’t get very much written, but that’s the fickleness of inspiration. What’s more important is that the foundation was laid and I walked away with concrete, applicable tools with which to harness the abstractness of thought.

And I did get a little written: “His smile was wicked. His eyes flickered with intention. And yet he had a forgettable figure: thinning, limp brown hair; pale elbows that broke into hives from too much sun; hazel eyes that turned grey under the Seattle sky; thick, brown-rimmed glasses; and a slightly discernible belly. All of which hinted at his potential to settle.” Your class got me thinking of how to recycle the cloud of ideas that I’ve been juggling (trying to write a screenplay) into other works so that the “voices” that do not fit in my screenplay will be satisfied to find themselves heard!

I already have a trip planned to Switzerland this spring but would love to hear of other travel writing opportunities. What is the best way to stay aware of the offerings?

Thanks!

Rebecca

Share on Facebook

How to Successfully Publish & Sell Your Memoir

admin — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:39:33 +0000

Last summer, I attended the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference in Bellevue where in addition to teaching a class in travel writing, I participated in a discussion with 30 New York agents. I asked the assembled agents the following question.
“How will the digitalization of the book affect your business?”
The question drew a puzzled response. Finally, one of the agents replied, “We just don’t know.”
This is not an acceptable answer. The transformation of the book from a hard copy to a digital copy is remaking the field of publishing. If agents don’t understand this and find a way to capitalize on it for their clients, they will not be in business much longer.
After that conference, I began looking for people who understood where the digital world would take the book. I found such a person in Ingrid Ricks, a former student, who self-published her memoir, Hippie Boy, and quickly grew a large audience for it–without the help of a New York agent or publishing company.
Ingrid agreed to tell her story below. The story ran in the last issue of The Writer’s Workshop newsletter. The newsletter covers the publishing world, writing techniques, writing classes and jobs in the publishing industry; if you’d like to sign up, go to our website, www.thewritersworkshop.net and click on the email newsletter box to sign up.

All best,
Nicholas O’Connell
www.thewritersworkshop.net
nick@thewritersworkshop.net

How to Successfully Publish & Sell Your Memoir –
With Or Without A “Publisher”

My memoir-publishing journey started in Nick’s winter memoir writing class in January of 2010.

I’d been working on Hippie Boy: A Girl’s Story for years. Every six months or so, I would open up the computer file, spend a week hammering away at it, and then shove it aside again. But in January, I decided to get serious and Nick’s class was the final push I needed to get to work and get it done.

Over the next five months, I devoted two to three hours a day to my manuscript, and by June, I had what felt like a finished product. I wrote a book proposal, started sending out pitches and soon landed an agent. I thought I had made it until about five minutes into my new agent conversation, when she told me that without a solid platform, I could kiss my publishing chances goodbye.

For a minute I was perplexed. What did she mean by “platform”? Hadn’t she read my book proposal that detailed how I planned to sell it once the publishers did their job and got it out into the universe? I had already launched a book web site and Facebook page. What else did they expect me to do?
“Publishers don’t care about what you say you can do AFTER your book is published,” the agent said quietly. “They want to know who is already lined up to buy your book. I can’t tell you how many great books I’ve represented recently that have been turned down by publishers because the author didn’t have a built-in platform. I don’t want that to happen to you.”
I hung up the phone feeling overwhelmed but determined. I hit the Internet and began researching, and immediately stumbled on Scribd, a social publishing community with tens of millions of monthly visitors. It was August 2010 and I set to work uploading excerpts from my book, reading work from writers I enjoyed and slowly developing a following. Over the next few months I spent time on the site nearly every day, connecting with readers and sharing my work. To expand my base, I also started a story blog and began profiling interesting people who were turning their dreams into reality. And because I needed to keep priming the pump, I began writing essays and discovered I loved the essay format. After a few months, Scribd began featuring my work on their home page, which in turn drove more followers.
My agent started shopping my memoir in early December and attracted the attention of several top publishers. But when their feedback came, it was always the same: Enjoyed the story but the memoir market is saturated and it’s tough selling these types of stories. Good luck and no thanks. After a few of these, I decided that part of the problem was my manuscript. I told my agent to stop shopping it around until I could hire a top editor to evaluate it for me. The editor I wanted was booked five months in advance. That gave me more time to keep pounding away on my platform. I began cross-promoting my excerpts and essays on Smith Magazine and Open Salon, two other open submission platforms, and soon my work was being spotlighted on these Web sites as well.
By June, four of the essays and book excerpts I had published on Open Salon were selected for publication on the parent magazine, Salon, and my exposure soared. When I received my manuscript evaluation back from the editor in late July, I realized that I had a platform and no longer needed a publisher. I said goodbye to my agent, spent six weeks doing nonstop rewrites thanks to the amazing direction I received from the editor, hired a cover designer, proofreader and e-book formatter, and struck out on my own.

I launched my eBook October 1st and in early November, I published my paperback through Lightning Source, a print-on-demand printer with distribution agreements that make it possible for bookstores and libraries to order my book. Because of the platform I had developed, I quickly sold my first hundred eBooks, followed by a hundred or so paperbacks. Then sales stalled and I went to work. I started sending Hippie Boy out to top book reviewers, even though I knew I was shooting for the stars. I began lining up eBook advertising spots on online web sites because I read that all the wildly successful indie authors were advertising. I also reached out to KUOW and pitched my story there. And on December 8th, when Amazon unveiled its new KDP Select Program – which enables indie authors to run free eBook promos to gain exposure – I jumped at the opportunity.

Soon my efforts were paying off. A one-day free eBook promo on Amazon drove more than 4,000 downloads, followed by more than 1100 paid eBook purchases over the following three weeks. In late December, I received an email from Booklist, the official review publication of the American Library Association, saying they had reviewed my book for their February issue. I landed an interview with KUOW and in early January, I was notified that they liked my story so much they were airing three separate stories. I was invited by an English high school teacher to form an author partnership and together, we launched a month-long writing curriculum around Hippie Boy that kicked off January 4th. And on January 6th, I received an email from one of the top literary agents in New York saying she had read and loved Hippie Boy and wondered if I had an agent.

A few months earlier, I would have done ANYTHING to work with this agent. Now, I’m not sure that I want or need a big publisher to acquire my rights and take control over my book. Eventually I hope to partner with an innovative, out-of-the-box thinker who can help me expand my exposure, land a movie deal and secure speaking engagements. For now, though, I’m going to just keep doing what I’m doing. Because it’s working.

If you want to successfully publish and sell your memoir or novel, the secret to success is simple: First seek out the writing instruction you need to hone your writing skills and write a great book. Then hire an editor to help you elevate your manuscript and once rewrites are done, find a top-notch proofreader. From there, it’s all about marketing, marketing, marketing – whether you go the traditional or self-pub route. As part of Nick’s spring memoir writing class, I’ll be stopping by to share my step-by-step process for navigating the new world of publishing, which is where I’m convinced the future of book publishing is at. Hope to see you there.

About the Author – Ingrid Ricks is a Seattle writer and speaker who focuses on overcoming adversity and embracing life. Her stories have been published in Salon, Ladies Home Journal, The Seattle Times and a variety of other publications. Hippie Boy: A Girl’s Story is her first book. Hippie Boy is available as an eBook or paperback on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Hippie-Boy-Girls-Story-ebook/dp/B005RGXNVU

Share on Facebook

Independent Book Store Elliott Bay Book Company Navigates the New World of Publishing

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:48:57 +0000

Ebooks. Kindles. Nooks. Ipads. Wave after wave of change rocks the publishing industry as tech titans Apple, Google, and Amazon carve lucrative new businesses from the digital world.
Amid the turmoil, many traditional book stores are closing or declining (witness the recent implosion of Borders), while others like Seattle’s celebrated Elliott Bay Book Company find ways to survive and thrive. How has Seattle’s iconic independent book store succeeded where others have failed?
It did not come easily. Despite its iconic status as one of the best independent book stores in the country, Elliott Bay was losing money in its former location in Pioneer Square, forcing a move in 2010 to try to revive it. Finding a new location in the bustling Capitol Hill neighborhood and using new media like Facebook and Twitter proved critical to turning things around.
“The new move has felt good,” says head book buyer Rick Simonson, who spoke to The Writer’s Workshop writing class. “But we’re still learning our way. It’s a volatile climate with ebooks and everything else. Will people read both ebooks and paper books? What will they read as ebooks? What as traditional books? We still don’t know what people are going to do.”
As the store finds its way in the new publishing world, they draw even larger audiences to the store’s signature reading series. Formerly, they would draw five to six people; now they draw 15 to 20. Well-known authors pack the store to standing room only. With some 500 author readings a year, the store continues to bring in customers.
Independent book stories like Elliott Bay are critical to the literary and intellectual life of the Seattle as well as that of the nation. David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars, for example, gained national traction in part from the early boost the book received from Elliott Bay. Similarly, first-time authors often develop their audiences through independent bookstores, even if they later gain national attention.
For all these reasons, it’s heartening to see Elliott Bay thriving amid all the transformations in the publishing industry. their reading series continues to be one of the best in the country, a great, free introduction to the riches of the literary world.
For more on Elliott Bay Book Company and other great stories, please look for the next issue of www.thewritersworklshopreview.net, which will be out shortly.

Share on Facebook

Writing Class in the North Cascades: The Art of the Quest Narrative

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:25:08 +0000

I just returned from teaching a writing class on The Art of the Quest Narrative at the North Cascades Institute on Diablo Lake in the heart of the North Cascades. As usual, the class went very well as students had a chance to unplug from busy lives and spend some time getting black on white.

Nick O'Connell of The Writer's Workshop on top of Pyramid Peak in the North Cascades.

Prior to teaching the class, I embarked on my own quest to climb Pyramid Peak, a steep, snow-clad summit that towers over the institute. Fortunately, the quest was successful as you can see from this photo of me on the summit with the amazingly wild Picket Range in the background.
Climbing Pyramid put me in a great frame of mind to teach the writing class, which addressed human aspiration in all of its myriad forms, whether seeking to find the perfect peach or reach the summit of a mountain. Here are some comments from the writing class participants:

I learned about the structure that underlies any good story. Nick provides a lot of information in clear, simple terms. He is encouraging, helpful and open with his knowledge. Taking this writing class makes me want to keep writing!
Carolyn Adams, Kirkland

I arrived with some material I found in a 1927 diary written by my mother when she and her mother moved from Indianapolis to L.A. in a Franklin roadster. I’m leaving this writing class with a method for structuring this quest story, but also a process for structuring other types of stories. Most importantly, I leave with a process for keeping me writing. Thank you, Nick!
Mary Brown, North Bend

I’ve taken four other writing classes with Nick and always come away with new learning, encouragement, help toward publication, and a fairly well-worked new story, with ideas and tips for many more. Nick is always positive and helpful and can be trusted to help, not harm, each writer’s progress. I now have a good model for structuring and developing many more stories, and the setting for this class at NCI made it especially enjoyable.
Linda Lockwood, Seattle

I thought the format for the writing class was excellent: well organized and the information helpful. I took your class 16 years ago and it was good to renew your acquaintance and now I’m inspired to take more writing classes. I especially appreciated the individual critiques — always very positive. The setting for this class is terrific. I think you’re a great teacher!
Terrie Britt, Seattle

Extremely helpful writing class that helped me understand and apply narrative structure. Nick was incredibly encouraging. I appreciated that we were given a deadline to produce a short, manageable story. Knowing I can complete a first draft in such a short period of time has reinvigorated me to get back to work! I appreciated that this workshop took place during the week, which works better for my schedule than weekends. My only suggestion is that I would have enjoyed one more day to polish, revise, and take advantage of the location. Thanks Nick!
Laura Johnson, Olympia

My goal for this writing class was to overcome my dread at seeing a blank page. I produce and edit technical legal and regulatory documents…I’ve became very bored with my writing. The Quest format gives me lots of ideas for revitalizing my work. The writing class was well organized, fairly stress free and full of information. I really enjoyed working with the other students in the class.
Karen Terwilleger, Lacey

I took this writing class because I wanted to get back into freelance writing after a 5-year hiatus. The structure of the Quest Narrative offered the perfect way to reorganize my thoughts and files, and sort through the overwhelming process of choosing what to write first. I appreciate your low-key and organized process, and the time for actual writing. Thanks!
Pat Hughes, Seattle

This writing class appealed to me because I had been writing, but felt my work needed more structure and purpose. I have been hoping to take a workshop with Nick, but the schedules never worked out. This 3-day experience gave me a chance to understand the structure of different types of articles, but gave me the time to work on pieces. Thanks for being approachable, fun, and informative! I can’t wait to take another workshop.
Reisha Holton, Sammamish

Share on Facebook

The Perfect Pitch

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:31:53 +0000

Pitching is an essential skill for all writers. If you want to get assignments and or have someone publish your book, you need to make a pitch. David Remnick of
The New Yorker will not magically find the brilliant manuscript hidden in the bottom of your desk; you have to send it to him along with a pitch letter describing why he should publish it. Ditto with your novel or memoir or nonfiction book. You need to write a short, succinct, winning pitch to get an agent or editor for it.
I’ve been doing this for years; it’s all part of writing for newspapers and magazines and publishing books. Pitching is not a skill much discussed in MFA programs, but it’s one I always explain in my Seattle writing classes and my Travel, Food and Wine writing classes in Europe. And I ask expert editors to speak about what they like to see in a pitch
Recently, I asked Kristen Russell, the Managing editor of Seattle magazine, about what she likes to see and not see in a pitch. She came up with a very useful list of mistakes to avoid when pitching magazine editors, which I’ll include below.

1. The vague pitch: “I would like to write something about the locovore food movement.”
2. The resume builder: “I am passionate about this topic and would love to see it published in Seattle magazine.”
3. The not-really-Seattle trend pitch: “More and more people are skipping their vacations because of the economy.”
4. The why-now? pitch: “For three years, this program has been putting bikes into the hands of at-risk kids.”
5. The off-tone pitch: Match your pitch to the “voice” of the publication. Do not be overly formal or overly slangy, unless that’s the style of the magazine.
6. The “it’s your problem” pitch: Don’t throw an idea out there without suggesting a possible use for it. The best pitches make it easy for the editor to see where the story fits into the publication.
7. The irrelevant-to-the-magazine pitch: “I propose an article on my son’s first day of kindergarten” only works for magazines with a focus on parenting or education.
8. The mistake-ridden, typo-covered pitch: Don’t do it. Editors will notice.
9. The redundant pitch: Search the magazine’s website to make sure it hasn’t just run a similar article.
10. The so-last-year pitch: “How about a story about Seattle’s food trucks?”

For more about pitching newspapers, magazines and book publishers, please consider enrolling in my fall class, Revising Your Life, http://thewritersworkshop.net/classes_seattle.htm

Share on Facebook

Planning or Spilling?

admin — Fri, 06 May 2011 19:31:19 +0000

Are you a planner or a spiller? Do you like to think ahead about your writing or do you simply like to get black on white and let the Muse take you where she will? Though there is much to recommend in both approaches, it really pays to be something of a planner when it comes to writing. You don’t need to know everything in advance about your story or book, but it’s good to know the broad outlines of it; this will allow you to focus on characterization, details and dramatic scenes.

Structure is the biggest challenge for most writers. While most have mastered sentence structure and paragraphing, they have trouble organizing individual paragraphs into a larger coherent story.
One of the best ways of structuring a story is to begin with an outline. This needn’t run pages and pages: sometimes even a simple three or four sentence outline can do the trick, such as the one I’ll explain below.
By using this outline, whether for a story or book, you’ll have a good chance of figuring out the larger shape of the story in advance. If you fail to do this, it’s like building a house without a strong foundation; it can easily collapse.
The dramatic outline allows you to chart the emotional peaks and valleys of the story so that you’ll know where you’re heading when you sit down to write.
The five short statements below describe the major actions in the story. There is one statement for each major focus.
This is not like the outline you wrote in English composition class; these statements highlight on the dramatic actions in story. They help you focus on what’s essential to the story.
This is a conflict-resolution outline, with the conflict introduced in the first statement, developed in the next three statements, and resolved in the last statement.

1) Complication – Make it simple and active. Have you chosen active verbs to show action? Is the main character included statement? How will you illustrate the main action? Do you have the source material for this? Is the action dramatic enough?

2) Development Action – Clear, cogent, related to complication.

3) Development Action – Clear, cogent related to complication, tied to previous development, tied to main character.

4) Development Action — Clear, cogent related to complication, tied to previous development, tied to main character.

5) Resolution – Must fit the complication.

Writing this outline will save you a lot of time. You’ll be able to figure out in advance where the story is going. You can still change it as you go, but at least you’ll have a clear direction when you write the first draft of your story or book chapter.
For a more in-depth look at storytelling, please consider signing up for ones of my summer Seattle writing class, Writing for Story, or one of our online classes.

Share on Facebook

Writing for Story: The Secret Sauce of Compelling Narratives

admin — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:03:13 +0000

When I conduct an interview, I never know exactly what I’ll find. Yes, I may have researched the person’s life in detail, perhaps even read their books, but I won’t know exactly what I’m looking for until I conduct the interview itself.
When I sat down with the winemaker Robert Mondavi, I sought to steer the conversation towards good stories. Mondavi, a saavy marketing man, sought to give me the standard PR pitch about his winery, which was interesting, but lacked the drama of a true story. By focusing on the moments of his life that made for good stories–his differences with his brother Peter, early problems with money, and the challenge of taking his business public-I made the profile of him much more intriguing than the PR version of his life.
But to do this, I had to know what I was looking for. Stalking the true short story requires that you understand the patterns of a story and then seek to find them in your subject. In Writing for Story, Jon Franklin defines story as the following:
A story consists of a sequence of actions that occur when a sympathetic character encounters a complicating situation that he confronts and solves.
Franklin’s definition sounds simple, but it contains the essence of a memorable nonfiction story. Writing is an art, and to succeed at it, you to need to use the artifice and elements of storytelling to enhance your work.
Let’s break down the definition. A sequence of actions. Stories are based on chronology, one of the oldest and most effective ways of organizing a narrative. They are part of a sequence; they are related to each other, not strung together willy-nilly.
Action brings readers into a story more quickly than any other technique. Vivid actions get things moving quickly. Hook the reader with your opening action and then save most of the background and description for when the story is underway.
These actions should lead to reactions, reflections on the action by the main character in the story. This focus on action will provide pulse and momentum. By including both exterior action and interior reflection on it, you’ll have a story that will succeed on two levels. Not only will readers be impelled by the action, they’ll learn something from the person’s reflections and be changed by them.
In every good story, a reader starts in one place and ends up in another place, changed and enlightened in some way.
For a more in-depth look at storytelling, Seattle writing classes and online classes that will help you acheive this in your own work, please take a look at my website, www.thewritersworkshop.net.

Share on Facebook

What Makes Washington Wine Unique?

admin — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:45:50 +0000

Washington State’s star is rising. Awards flood in from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, the Wine Spectator and many other publications. But what’s distinctive about the region’s wine? Is there a style or flavor profile that sets it apart? Is there a standout varietal? And is it riesling, merlot, cabernet, syrah or something else?

Sandy Block, Master of Wine, and Drew Hendricks, Master Sommelier, discuss the unique qualities of Washington wine.

These were the questions raised during a lively seminar at the 2011 Taste Washington on March 26 in Seattle. The panel included winemakers, journalists like yours truly and retailers who debated these questions.
“What the hell is Washington?” asked moderator Bruce Schoenfeld, the wine editor at Travel & Leisure magazine. “Do you define yourself by a grape or a style?
Schoenfeld compared Washington’s diversity with the more unified image of Chile and South Africa, whose regions are making very different wines, but have been forced to work together for marketing.
“Any viticulture district has to be defined by its physical characteristics,” replied Bob Betz, of Betz Family Winery and a Master of Wine (MW). “It’s climate and topography. I’m a terroiriste; the conditions where you grow the grapes lead to sensory expression.”
This begged the question: what are Washington’s distinct sensory impressions? Is there a commonality between Chelan, Red Mountain and Walla Walla?
“We have the ripeness of the new world, and the earth and the elegance of old world regions like Bordeaux and Barolo,” said Shayn Bjornholm, Master Sommelier (MS) of the Washington State Wine Commission. “But we don’t have a sound bite. It’s difficult to give people an elevator pitch.”
Some of the panelists disputed the need for such a pitch, saying all consumers really want is a great bottle, no matter where it comes from.
“Consumers want something delicious,” said Sandy Block (MW) of Legal Seafoods. “If it has a story, a clear identity, the staff will form a picture of how it will work with food. If it’s hazy, with a vague story, it’s a harder sell. What is the story? People don’t have all day to pick out a wine. What causes people to look at the Washington section?”
Part of the reason the story may be hazy is that it’s still unfolding. The region is still in its infancy. Much of its growth and development still lies ahead. After years of leading Travel, Food and Wine Writing Classes to established wine regions like Bordeaux, Provence and Montalcino, Italy (http://www.thewritersworkshop.net/travel.htm), I’ve come to understand just how long it takes regions to develop such distinctive styles and traditions. It will be a while before Washington gets there, no matter how high its quality.
“Old world structure with new world fruit,” said Betz, summing up what he finds distinctive about the state’s wine. “But sometimes the best gauge is the two-point scale—yum or yuck.”
The panelists may not have been able to define exactly what makes Washington wines unique, but they all agreed on its quality. Yum!
Are you a fan of Washington wine? What do you like or dislike about it? What is your favorite house or varietal? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Share on Facebook