What I Learned at OYAN

by | Jul 2, 2013 | Writing

Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms. She writes weird books for teens in lots of weird genres like, fantasy (Blood of Kings trilogy), science fiction (Replication), and dystopian (The Safe Lands trilogy). Find Jill on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or on her author website.


Two weeks ago I had the privilege of attending the One Year Adventure Novel Summer Workshop. I’ve been dying to blog about this, but I forgot my camera’s SC card and had to wait until I got home to upload pictures.

And this story needs pictures.

One Year Adventure Novel is a curriculum created by Daniel Schwabauer that helps students write a book in a year. It’s primarily for homeschoolers, but some public schools have adapted the curriculum for their classrooms as well. Pretty sweet.

Click to see their website.

I show up in Kansas City with Jeff Gerke, and the next morning Stephanie Morrill picks me up in her car and off we go. We get to the location of the conference, and I’m giddy to see students everywhere, and I’m totally excited to see that lots are in costume! I’m SO bringing a costume next year, if I get to come again, that is . . .

My ride is here!

The first session I taught was on building a science fiction or fantasy storyworld. There were 215 teen writers in the auditorium, plus parents and younger siblings in the back. Every time I showed a new slide, they would cheer. And for good reason. Who doesn’t cheer when they see something like this on the big screen?

A slide from my world building workshop.
I know, right?
From Monday to Friday, the OYANers got together to talk writing. It was a little slice of heaven, I’m telling you. Unless you hate writing, I suppose . . . 
I also got to have mentor appointments with teens, which was a lot of fun. And this one guy comes in and right away starts asking me about my books! It threw me off. Most the attendees hadn’t read any of my stuff before. Not so with Samuel. He’s read it all, I think. His first question was about To Darkness Fled. His second question was something like this: “In all your books, you have a girl who rescues the guy. I just wanted to know if you do that on purpose?”
Say what?
Me and Samuel. I need to remember this guy! 🙂
But then I started thinking about all my stories and analyzing them, because I was, like, “No I don’t!” But the more I thought about it, maybe I did do that! People often ask me why I like to write male protagonists. Apparently it’s because I like to have a female side character swoop in and save the day. Who knew? Samuel, that’s who.
My view of the crowd before Jeff Gerke came on in costume!
So, I went to OYAN to teach, but I learned something about my own writing. Thanks, Samuel, for keeping me on my toes. 
And thanks, OYAN and Mr. and Mrs. S for inviting me! I really hope to come back next year, and this time, with a bunch of costumes. Oh, yes. It will be a most excellent adventure.

Have you ever had a reader teach you something about your own writing? If so, share in the comments.