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The COVID-19 epidemic prevents the retreaters from meeting face-to-face this year, but thanks to the generosity of the organisers and the presenters, the retreaters are gifted with the same high calibre of RWR Workshops.
Day One
We are introduced to Jack Heath, an award-winning Australian author best known for YA novels. He skilfully navigates the Zoom Masterclass on TENSION AND PACE through seven exercises to get the retreaters flexing their writing muscles, and triumphs.
Using movie titles and bite-sized sentences, the retreaters learn the beauty of word brevity. Jack demonstrates how to edit a generic sentence and the choice words that improve it.
He elicits a plethora of inspirational paragraphs from the retreaters with an exercise focusing on a Main Character’s lack of sight. He taps away at the keyboard and adds his own paragraph where the tension is evident as his character closes his eyes and navigates in the dark. Jack expertly takes us through the character’s thought process on what his kidnapper’s next move might be, and his hope of reversing his predicament with a flick of a switch.
Providing an excerpt of his first adult novel Hangman, Jack demonstrates how to describe a minor character:
“Another agent appears at the top of the stairs. He’s a white, skinny smoker with the mashed-up ears people get from wrestling or boxing. His jacket is faded on the left side from hours of driving in the Texan sun. He’s not wearing a lanyard, but I’ve met him before. His name is Gary Ruciani. The other agents call him ‘Pope’, because he’s Italian.”
Jack Heath ends the workshop by typing a sentence based on combining three movie titles. He manages to inspire the retreaters to produce brilliant sentences within minutes via Zoom Chat, a 2020 writing tool that many of us are learning to use.
Worth watching is Jack Heath’s talk on Hangman and his writing about a cannibalistic detective.
The afternoon’s Masterclass MASTER THE SCI-FI STORY by Cat Sparks. Her credentials include being a multi-winner of the prestigious Ditmar Awards, a past editor of the Cosmos magazine, and one of the handpicked authors to attend Margaret Atwood’s The Time Machine Doorway workshop.
Cat masterfully takes us to the world of Science Fiction. She points to the relevance of Sci-Fi in literature and elicits from Raelene Purtill a Ray Bradbury quote on how Sci-Fi is a shorthand way of dealing with the world’s longhand problems, and Lexcia Dalton adds a Jean M Auel’s definition, “Science Fiction is Fiction based on Science.”
Cat shows how the genre has changed with Sci-Fi book covers from the 1960s, and since the groundbreaking path carved by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). She covers Sci-Fi titles, opening paragraphs, characters, and World-Building. Inspiration on board a Norwegian cargo ship, using postcards are all part of her writer’s toolbox. She points to the importance of writing off the page (like painters sketch before starting a painting); Plotters vs pantsers; Opening lines; and reading stories from Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, and Locus magazines.
These exercises bring a plethora of evocative titles and paragraphs from the retreaters, and supportive comments on each other’s writing.
I’m inspired to buy Cat Spark’s Dark Harvest to inspire my Sci-Fi story entry for the next RWR Anthology.
At 7pm, instead of 2019’s drinks at the bar at O’Reilly’s looking out to the sun set over the World Heritage-listed Lamington National Park, I sit in my kitchen with a cup of tea, and converse with the other retreaters.
Day Two
Charmaine Clancy’s Masterclass, EDIT YOUR NOVEL FOR SCENES & STRUCTURE
Charmaine shows the extent of her endless talent as a writer, teacher and RWR organiser as she guides us through her 30 informative slides on how to edit plan for a novel.
Showing cropped book covers and eliciting guesses from the retreaters, she illustrates the importance of genre. Watching the obligatory cat scene in Horror films - It’s Just a Cat - she demonstrates the significance of the expected scene.
A feature of this Masterclass is the Zoom Room activity in which retreaters create a list of the expected and obligatory scenes of an assigned genre. Unfortunately my Wi-Fi fails me and apart from contributing the genre (Action Adventure) and Chase Scene, I’m cut off from the Zoom Room (my apologies to my fellow retreaters). I manage to restore my internet connection and catch up when the retreaters offer their Genre Lists.
Charmaine gets the retreaters thinking about Scenes and Sequels - where a Scene has a Goal, Conflict, and Disaster; and a Sequel has a Reaction, Dilemma, and Decision. e.g. A scene where the Character is facing death with a werewolf leaping at him and his goal is to survive, the Sequel is the father’s dog jumps in to save him, and the character's dilemma is to run or save the father’s dog.
She suggests a list; a coloured card system; the Hero’s Journey with the obligatory Genre scenes; and a table with edits to sort out Scenes and Sequels and ensure theme and premise are followed.
Generous with both her information and time make this a Masterclass to remember.
Day Three
Anthony Puttee’s Masterclass on BUILD YOUR AUDIENCE WITH A MAILING LIST
Anthony, a Self-publishing Lab founder and author of Publishing E-Books for Dummies, conducts his Zoom class from the U.S. He guides us through the importance of Social Media for authors and how to use the different platforms to generate indirect interest to their books as well as engage with their followers:
Gina Harding’s PawLife Pinterest account with 260.5k followers features dog treat recipes to promote Dog Care At Home.
Neil Gaiman’s Instagram provides insights into his daily life and his writing to 623k followers.
Brad Thor’s Facebook illustrates the use of current events to highlight his thriller Spymaster.
Stephen King’s Twitter his political and environmental tweets generate interest in his writing and generates more followers.
Websites help create and maintain an Author Brand and sell books, like Kate Morton’s website. Anthony provides a website template and uses it to audit Christine Titheradge website’s landing page filled with beautiful illustrations, and enviable fonts and content.
Retreaters Workshops
Charmaine shows her skills as a host by providing a detailed introduction of the Retreaters presenting three thirty-minute workshops:
Robin Adolphs - The Ideas Toolbox for Picture Books
Robin, a Children’s author, who skilfully gives a voice to children dealing with difficult issues. In this workshop she shares her knowledge regarding the logistics of a Picture Book (32 pages, around 500 words that tell what the illustrations don’t), and recommends using literary devices (Rhythm, rhyme, repetition). With ten questions based on our surroundings, memories, loves, children’s comments, Robin sparks a plethora of ideas to be mined. She expertly adds, ‘What If’ to shape the idea into a story.
Pamela Jeffs - Building Setting Around Character
Pamela, a speculative fiction author, has an impressive 75 published short stories and uses her background in Interior Architecture to strengthen narratives. She provides a worksheet with the headings: Character Description, Setting Mood, Built Environment Considerations, and Narrative to be filled by the retreaters and enhance a story. An excerpt of Saloons and Stardust illustrates where she tactfully inserts the elements of the built environment into her story.
I am petrified (given present company) and excited to present my first RWR workshop and showcase my passion for languages using my background in linguistics and Portuguese heritage. With 15 slides I illustrate the why and how to insert Foreign words in English fiction with three major points: Translation, Italicisation, and Accent Marks. A discussion on the logistics and the benefits of inserting mots étrangers ends the workshop and RWR2020.