Southern California Writer's Conference

I attended the Southern California Writer's Conference over the weekend and it was great! I spent most of my time in a NovelCram workshop learning so much that my head was spinning by Sunday night. Ms. Drusilla Campbell, author of Blood Orange, led the NovelCram workshop. She shared so much wisdom with us from her own experiences writing novels. She's written 14! Amazing! She helped me better understand "how to write" a novel and piece my thoughts together. Here are some key points I remember her saying:

• If you want to write novels, read three a week. It will increase your vocabulary and the voice in your head gets stronger.
• Read in your genre. If you write sci-fi, then read sci-fi.
• 1st drafts don't have to be beautiful
• Think dramatically
• Create a character that your readers can "get behind" and be excited/interested in....
• Have a worthy goal in your novel - undo a wrong, find an enemy, capture an enemy, save a group, get group to safety, escape, make your way home, win acceptance, save the child, get the girl, get the boy, expose someone, prove your innocence, prove someone else's guilt, search for a treasure, save a relationship....get it?
• Show...don't tell

Some of Ms. Campbell's other novels include: Bone Lake, Wildwood, and The Edge of the Sky.

**The Good Sister, her next novel, comes out Feb. 2011. She shared a few tidbits with us about this book and I can't wait to read it to see what happens in the end to Roxanne.