How to Write a Logline

Over the weekend at the Surrey Writers' Conference, one of the most useful things I took home was a simple formula of how to write a logline, courtesy of Luke Ryan from Disruption Entertainment.

During his workshop, he had the ability to make so much of the screenwriting and targeting your audience processes seem so easy. I don't have much time to blog today, so thought I'd pass along his formula.

Fill in the blanks from your work in progress (and if you can't easily fill in the blanks, perhaps that will point you to a potential problem or an area of your manuscript you can make stronger).

I'm interested to hear if you think this is as useful as I do!

Luke's Logline Formula:

____________________ (Main Character) sets out to ___________________________________________________(achieve a goal) but runs into ___________________________________________________(unexpected or sometimes ironic obstacle) and must
__________________________________________________(grow in a way to triumph or face certain doom.)

Thankful Thursday: Book Bloggers, Teachers, Librarians, and Booksellers

I was going to add this to yesterday's post, but thought that post would get far too long. Because I have plenty of thankfulness when it comes to bloggers, teachers, librarians, and booksellers. In fact, you're even in my acknowledgements for NEVER ENOUGH (I wanted to put you in big flashing neon lights, but that was vetoed at higher levels because of cost). I'm now moving into publishing my second novel. I'm not Sarah Dessen or JK Rowling. And yet, I'm seeing support already, all over the place, for NEVER ENOUGH. My gratitude is huge.

Let me start with Book Bloggers, because you hold a very special place in my heart. You gave my debut book a chance before it was even released, before you had even heard of me, and not only that, but you plastered it all over the Internet, telling others they should read it too. Whenever anyone questions the value of book bloggers, I want to punch them in the nose.

Teachers: I feel for you. You get a bad rap a lot of the time, and I feel worse, because I gave you a bad rap for many years. It's the same kind of regret I feel for not noticing how great my parents were when I was at that age where everybody sucked. You deal with that age--that suck rep--every day. You shape the next generation, and open their eyes to so many great things (like books they might not pick up otherwise). You deserve a medal for putting up with ungrateful kids like I was.

Librarians: Let me just say, that as a profession in general, you are some of my favorite people in the world. There is nothing more refreshing to me than to walk into a building (a library) where I *know* I will end up running into someone passionate about books. I could hang with you people all day long.

Booksellers: Of anybody on this list, I feel a kinship with you. You have to mesh what you love with what sells every day. And sometimes you don't get to sell what you love. But when you do, you make sure everybody knows about it. I'm so incredible thankful for the many bookstores that carried my first novel--that took a chance on me--and even put extra care into displaying my book and hand-selling it to your customers.

This is why, when I received an extra galley of NEVER ENOUGH this week, all of you were first on my thoughts. I wanted so badly to get my next book into your hands. If you fit into the list above, or even if you don't, but you really want to read and help spread the word about NEVER ENOUGH, make sure to sign up and get on the ARC Tour. I hope everyone who wants to gets a chance to read it and I hope you love it!

Thank you again, all of you, for everything you do!

Bloggers! Teachers! Librarians! Want to Read NEVER ENOUGH?!

Eeeeeeee, look what I got in the mail this week:

Even the spine is so pretty!! For those of you who don't know anything about this book yet, it is my second YA Contemporary novel and will be releasing from Simon Pulse / Simon & Schuster in July 2012.

Here's the little back of book synopsis:

Never Enough

Loann’s always wanted to be popular and pretty like
her sister, Claire. So when Claire’s ex-boyfriend starts
flirting with her, Loann is willing to do whatever it
takes to feel special…even if that means
betraying her sister.

But as Loann slips inside Claire’s world, she discovers
that everything is not as it seems. Claire’s quest for
perfection is all-consuming, and comes at a
dangerous price. As Claire increasingly withdraws
from friends and family, Loann struggles to
understand her and make amends. Can she heal their
relationship—and her sister—before it’s too late?

I already put one call out for bloggers, teachers, and librarians who want to read this, and I did receive a number of emails from people, but I thought it would be easier to keep track of to add a form here, then I can make sure I get the same info from everybody. Also, at this point I can only open this up to people with a Canadian or US mailing address. I'm still hoping NEVER ENOUGH will be available some other ways for overseas bloggers. I'll let you know when I have details.

But before I get to the form, I want to ask a few favors from you.

First, this is really EARLY to have an advance copy, but since I only have TWO copies (with one of them I will look like Gollum and his Precious, so don't be thinking you'll pry that one out of my greedy little hands ;) But I'd like to make sure my one "spare" galley makes it through to as many people who want to read it as possible. So I'd like to start it on it's tour right away!

I'd love to ask if you read it, if you'd save any reviews you might post until at least April 2012.

I'd also ask that you be gentle on the book, so it can hopefully hold together for as many people on the list as possible.

Please read and pass on to the next person as quickly as possible, hopefully within two weeks (if you know you won't be able to do this, make a note and I'll try to put you closer to the end of the list).

I think that's it! Please full out the form below thoroughly if you're interested in reading an early copy of NEVER ENOUGH!!

Spotlight on VIRTUOSITY by Jessica Martinez!

While away at the Surrey International Writers' Conference, you may think I was hanging in the bar, partying my nights away. But no. My wonderful editor had just sent me a couple of books the week before, and there was one in particular that I Could. Not. Put. Down. So, yes, I was the girl who sat in her hotel room reading every chance she got!

This book captivated me from the first page. I loved being taken into the world of a teen professional performer, as I was one of those (to a lesser degree than Carmen) myself. Did I mention there's a hot British boy in it too?


Here's the synopsis from the back of the book:

Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love.

Two weeks before the most important violin competition of her career, she has bigger things to worry about—like growing out of that suffocating "child prodigy" label, and not disappointing her mother.

But it isn't just the wrong time. It's the wrong guy. Jeremy is Carmen's most talented rival, and according to her mother, he's only interested in one thing: winning.

He isn't the only one.

Carmen is so desperate to win she takes anti-anxiety drugs to control performance nerves. But what started a year ago as an easy fix is now a hungry addiction. Carmen is too terrified to quit, but sick of not feeling anything on stage, sick of doing what she's told.

Sometimes, being on top just means you have a long way to fall....

About Jessica (a fellow Canadian, I might add): Jessica was born and raised in Calgary, Canada. As a child she  played the violin, read books and climbed trees incessantly. She went on to study English and music at Brigham Young University, and since then has been a high school English teacher, symphony violinist, elementary school teacher, violin teacher, and mother. She currently lives in Orlando, Florida with her husband and two children.

I don't generally review books on the blog, but when I find a book I love, I want to share it. I hope you'll pick up a copy of VIRTUOSITY and because Jessica is also pretty hilarious, you should follow her on Twitter.

#SIWC2011 Recap!

I had a great time at the Surrey International Writers' Conference. It was the 19th year, and you know what that means. Next year is the big 2-0, which promises to be a huge celebration. The theme will be Roaring 20's, and there will be a big dress up gala on the Saturday night. Write it on your calendar now: October 19-21,2012.

But I'm getting ahead of myself! What about THIS year? I went to some great workshops and took oodles of notes. I'll have to spend a bit of time sorting through them and figuring out what will make sense to you, but here are a few of the highlights:

On Thursday I took in Donald Maass's Master Class: Impossible to Put Down: Mastering the three levels of story to construct a gripping novel. Don talked about the iron skeleton, upon which the big problem of the novel is built, the scene by scene tension, and the micro-tension.

 My biggest takeaway phrase from this class was: "What would you do in your story if you were a braver writer?" Don spent a lot of time helping us wrap our mind around pushing the boundaries and our characters further in our novels.

One of my favorite workshop presenters was my friend, Eileen Cook (and I'm not just saying that because I like her, either!) She came prepared with notes and jokes (she goes everywhere with those), and even movie clips. One of her workshops was on tension (Make War, Not Peace) and talked about how we can take the rules of counseling on how to resolve conflict and reverse them to put our characters into some entertaining situations.

Eileen's other workshop was on the stages of change. Her made-up character "Stan" went on a hilarious and though-provoking journey throughout the class as she took him through the stages of change - starting with getting hit by a bus. If you ever get a chance to take a workshop or writing class from Eileen Cook, I highly recommend it!

 I also enjoyed taking a screenwriting class from Luke Ryan, and even though I'm not a screenwriter, I've always found the principals of screenwriting extremely helpful with novel-writing. He talked about appealing to the four quadrants of viewers: under 25 year old men, over 25 men, under 25 women, and over 25 women, as well as what producers are looking for and why.

Hallie Ephron is another great teacher. Several years ago I took a mystery-writing workshop from her, and I still refer back to my notes from that class. This year, I was able to glean some insight on beginnings and endings, and suspense-writing.

There were lots of other wonderful workshops, and I'll be back later this week with some notes. The food was awesome. The company was even better (*waves hello to the Calgary ladies and all the new folks I met this year*) but probably a highlight for most people was seeing Donald Maass strip an auctioned T-shirt off of Robert Dugoni. True story.

Any of you who were not fortunate enough to attend this year's conference, I highly recommend listening to this inspiring (and funny) keynote by Robert Dugoni:


http://booksontheradio.ca/2011/10/21/robert-dugoni-this-day-we-write-live-audio-from-surrey-international-writers-conference/

Conferences and Kismet

I'm having a great time at the Surrey International Writer's Conference. I've blogged a bit about this idea before, but this conference has reminded me again that kismet is key to the business of writing and publishing. But the thing is, there's not a lot of opportunity for kismet when you're sitting in your house.

I know it's not always possible to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to go to writing conferences. I was extremely blessed this year to receive a grant from the Access Copyright Foundation, which has covered my conference expenses for this weekend. But even if you can't attend a conference, I encourage you to get off of your computer once in a while, get out around other writers, booksellers, librarians, whomever, and get some facetime that's focused on writing and books.

Every time I've come to this conference, or any writing conference, actually, I've had moments of kismet that I can look back on and pinpoint--certain people I've spoken to that have ended up making a difference in my writing life and/or career. In every one of these cases, it took a little bit of coming out of my comfort zone to make the opportunity happen.

This weekend I've seen friends of mine get really impacting writing advice, find new opportunities, and one friend even got an offer of representation right on the spot here. I've had several very informative conversations with professionals about foreign rights, e-rights, film options, and many other things. Not only do I feel enlightened, but I have some new contacts in the business, some of which I have high hopes will be fruitful.

So I encourage you...step out. Talk to someone new about books and writing, and see where it leads. Even if it's a little uncomfortable.

Saturday Stuff

I'm at the Surrey International Writer's Conference and having a fabulous time. Plenty to do here, so just a quick update:

No, I did not shake hands (or offer a signed copy of LOSING FAITH) to the ex-presidents.

But...much more exciting....I have been able to hang out with some great authors, including Eileen Cook, KC Dyer, Elizabeth Boyle, Elena Aitkin, and the ultra-fun Calgary gals! (One of these ladies even got an offer of representation right at the conference! - Which is understandable if you hear her pitch. Still laughing out loud thinking about it).

Aside from celebratory drinks and laughs, I've also been taking some great workshops! Highlights include a great workshop on screenwriting by Luke Ryan (I'll be back this week sharing his extremely easy way of writing a logline), a wonderful, in-depth master class with Donald Maass on making your book a page-turner, and an inspiring keynote by Robert Dugoni.

And I still have two days left of the conference!

I'm just starting another session right now, but I'll be back with more. Lots to share!