The AWP Conference at the Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota was one of the best I’ve been to– well organized, fascinating, and as always, high energy. Here are a few highlights and moments concerning writing… and writers:
Publishing a book can be a lesson in humility.
Transformation is what makes a story.
The act of writing is tied to our own desire for transformation. We want to be wiser. We want to be enlightened.
“I love pretty sentences about exploding helicopters.” – Benjamin Percy
Novels are built scene by scene. Every scene should have that mystery: “What’s the matter here?”
When writing a story, think of time as an escalator with 8 steps. Where does the character get on? Where does he get off? On the third step, the character sees he can’t get off; he’s committed to get to the second floor. Near the top he sees the demon is right behind him.
“I have some problem with snark.” – Christopher Merkner on his Twitter account.
Overheard conversation: “I got drunk three times yesterday. So, like, ugh. But yeah I’m having a great time.”
We’re all seeing a wider breadth of work due to small press publishers. Small presses can take risks on books that aren’t seemingly recognizable as commercial.
“We try to make sense out of chaos when we write memoir.” – Ann Hood
“The past is not fully understood until we write it.” – Sue Silverman
A bookseller commented that people seem to think bookstores are for window shopping, and then they go home and order the book from Amazon. Sometimes they even write down the ISBN number before they leave. Another panel member asked if he wanted to go up to those people and knock them in the head. The bookseller said, “I just tell them that the next time they’re at Amazon, ask to use the bathroom and see what happens.”
Josh Isard describes the writers conference with introverted writers as “A whole bunch of people collectively experiencing social anxiety,” something I can relate to as I learn how to promote my book, In the Context of Love. It’s not easy.
an umbrella
