Jeffery E Doherty - Author / Illustrator
Connect
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Olivia Stone Books
    • Paper Magic Book Site
  • Writing
    • Stories and Excerpts
  • Galleries
    • Traditional Gallery
    • Illustrations Gallery
    • 100 Day Challenge
    • Cover Art
    • Leaf Art Gallery
    • Digital Art Gallery
  • Blog
  • Schools
  • Store
  • Contact
  • Links
  • The Guardian Club

What I Learned From Kate (Part 1)

12/3/2012

6 Comments

 
Picture
For those not lucky enough to attend the “A Touch of Magic” writing workshop with Kate Forsyth on Sunday, I have decided to pass on some of the things I learned during the day. First and foremost in this regard is that Kate is lovely, she is genuine, funny, knowledgeable and forthright in her advice.

There was just too much information in this workshop to share in one blog post so I will break it up into parts.

I try to attend the children's literature festival and at least two writing workshops each year and always come away riding a wave of enthusiasm and new-found knowledge. This recharge of inspiration inevitably improves my determination, my writing or at the very least my writing habits. I’m not meaning to take anything away from the quality of any other workshops I have attended but this one seemed to strike a chord with me.


The Workshop

After each participant in the workshop shared what they like to read, a little about themselves and their current writing project, Kate wrote two words up on the whiteboard.

FOCUS (One project at a time)

and

DISCIPLINE (See a project through to the end)

Several participants had three or four projects on the go and some had a bunch of half finished projects they had moved on from. I have to admit, I am one of the latter although more from a lack of planning than from a lack of discipline.

The other thing Kate stressed at this stage was the need to set a realistic weekly word count, and stick to it.



Picture
 Being a fantasy writing workshop, the first part of the day was dedicated to what fantasy is and what the different genres of fantasy are.

My take on the definition of fantasy writing – across all the genres – is:

Fantasy stories draw upon fairytale and myth or have a quality of strangeness and wonder.

The genres covered included;

High (or Heroic) Fantasy

·         Imaginary world
·         Serious tone
·         Epic in scope – grand struggle – good v’s evil
·         Hero’s journey
·         Often multiple volumes
·         Often involve magic rings/swords, mythical creatures
·         Happy ending.

Adventure Fantasy (used to be called Sword and Sorcery)

·         The journey is important
·         Heroes are often warriors, thieves, wizards, pirates or charming ne’re-do-wells
·         Adventures usually end with a happy return to home.

Historical Fantasy

·         Set in our world during a true historical time period
·         Will include elements of fantasy to some degree
          o   Mythical creature
          o   Herbal Lore
          o   Persecution of witches or those with ESP abilities
          o   Fortune tellers
          o   Time Travel
          o   Duel linked time periods

Fairy Tale Retelling

·         Either retells a well known fairy tale, or
·          Deals with personal transformation
·         Quite often YA

Dark Fantasy

·         Focus on stories with elements of horror in a fantasy setting
·         Fantastic creatures – evil to the core
·         Evil appears early, usually after a brief opening scene of calm
·         Evil intensifies as the story continues

Romantic Fantasy

·         Romance – growing love
·         Usually a love triangle
·         Fantasy, magic, mystery elements or setting
·         Blending the two genres together

Urban Fantasy (trend appears to be over)

·         Modern real world setting
·         Fantasy elements intrude into the real world

Magic Realism

·         Magic happens in the midst of everyday events
·         Subtle, the line between reality and fantasy is blurred.

One genre Kate did not touch on is alternate history. Some people believe this category was invented by writers who wanted to write historical fantasy but were too lazy to research all historical details. Any blunders can then be attributed to the “Alternate” part of the genre.

The second part of the workshop looked at The Writer’s Tool Box

·         Character   -   Plot   -   Setting
·         Structure
·         The writing style – language, word choice, sentence structure
·         Parts of novel – Action, Dialogue, Description
·         Pacing
·         Peaks and Troughs  -  Light and Shadow
·         Surprise and Suspense



I will expand on these topics in part 2 of this blog post.

6 Comments

I Should Be Writing

2/8/2011

9 Comments

 
Picture
Sometimes following links around the internet just for the fun of it can take you to some unexpected and life changing places. One night several years ago I was net hopping and stumbled across a site called Escape Pod. At the time, I was supposed to be writing my book but I was procrastinating as usual, doing anything except write. Anyway, Escape Pod hosts a large collection of short audio stories. I listened to one or two stories that were listenable but only average. As I was about to jump to another site, a story title caught my eye. ‘Stuck In An Elevator With Mandy Patinkin’ by Kitty Myres. I like Mandy Patinkin so I listened. The story was fun but the most striking thing about it for me was the reader. Mur Lafferty.

Mur has a vocal quality and really pleasing accent that made me want to find out more about her. I jumped across to Google, opened some more links and eventually landed in the Murverse.

Vist ISBW site  HERE

Picture
When the screen cleared from the down jump transition – Sci-fi talk there – I flushed a little guiltily. Mur’s podcast site is called “I Should Be Writing.” I felt even worse when I finally went to bed, very late that night. I had still done no writing, but had listened to about dozen episodes of Mur’s Podcast.

By the time I woke the next morning, I had made a decision. If I was going to write, there would be no more pretending, no more “I’ll write my book tomorrow.” I would be serious and professional about writing, or not bother writing at all.

Yes, “I Should Be Writing” changed my attitude toward writing, pulling it from a hobby to “I’m really going to do this. Mur’s ISBW podcasts follow her own writing journey and includes tips and pitfalls she has learned along the way, plus interviews from other writers, podcasters, editors and new media personalities. All pass on their own experiences and writing insights. Mur’s site also links to many writing resources and other writerly sites of interest.

I can recommend “I Should Be Writing.” It is one of the most professional podcasts I have listened to. It is sure to have something of interest for anyone with an interest in the writing industry.

9 Comments

    Author

    Jeffery E Doherty is an children's writer and artist who writes chapter books, picture book texts, junior and young adult novels.

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    August 2024
    June 2020
    January 2017
    February 2016
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2014
    March 2014
    July 2013
    April 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    August 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    October 2010

    Categories

    All
    1970's Queensland
    Aboriginal Art
    Alan Tucker
    All The Colours Of Paradise
    Always The Children
    Art Commissions
    Artist
    Art Prints
    Art Sale
    Awards
    Batgirl
    Bathurst Arts Trail
    Black Death
    Bob Wall
    Boofheads
    Book Review
    Books
    Books Kingdom Of Silk
    Callum Blue
    Canada
    Children
    Children\
    Children's And Young Adult Literature Festival
    Children's Fiction
    Children's Writing
    Christopher Cheng
    Christopher Lloyd
    Christopher Paolini
    Colin Cunningham
    Cover Art
    Cross Culture
    Dark Secrets
    David Mack
    Duncan Ball
    Escape Pod
    Expo
    Family Tree
    Fantasy
    Festival
    Firehead
    Forever Fifteen
    Friendship
    Fun Humour
    Gallery
    Geek
    Golden Bat
    Hal Junior
    Hal Spacejock
    Hayden Panettiere
    Heritage
    High School
    Horror
    Ifwg Publishing
    Illustration
    Interviews
    Isbw
    I Should Be Writing
    J E Doherty
    Jeffery E Doherty
    Jennifer Hale
    Jim Cheung
    Junior Fiction
    Kate Forsyth
    Key Rings
    Kids And Young Adult Literature Festival
    Kimberly Steele
    Kirby Krackle
    Kitty Myers
    Leaf Art
    Lisa Berryman
    Literature And Latte
    Literature Festival
    Literature For Kids Magazine
    Mercedes Mcnab
    Michael Rosenbaum
    Mo Johnson
    Moon Called
    Mur Lafferty
    Murverse
    Narrator Magazine
    Natalie Tena
    Nerd
    NSW Writers' Centre
    Paintings For Your Pocket
    Paper Magic
    Pass It On Newsletter
    Picture Book
    Playing For Keeps
    Podcast
    Prizes
    Publishing
    Relationships
    Reluctant Readers
    Reviews
    Samauri Kids
    Sandy Fussell
    Sarah Davis
    School
    Science Fiction
    Sci-fi
    Sci-fi
    Scrivener For Windows
    Short Stories
    Simon Haynes
    Sq Mag
    Stuck In An Elevator With Mandy Patinkin
    Studio
    Supernova
    The Dancing Suit
    The Secret Signal
    The Year Of Jeffery
    Vampire
    Venero Armanno
    Vic Mignogna
    Walker Books
    Writers
    Writing
    Writing Resources
    Writing Tools
    Writing Workshops
    Ya
    Yvonne Craig

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly