Shannon Dittemore is the author of the Angel Eyes trilogy. She has an overactive imagination and a passion for truth. Her lifelong journey to combine the two is responsible for a stint at Portland Bible College, performances with local theater companies, and a love of all things literary. When she isn’t writing, she spends her days with her husband, Matt, imagining things unseen and chasing their two children around their home in Northern California. To connect with Shan, check out her website, FB, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest.
It’s Friday, friends! We have so many exciting things happening in 2017 and today I’d like to tell you about one of them.
As Jill mentioned last week, we’re going to be experimenting with video blogging this year–primarily recording panels in which the three of us share our thoughts on writing by answering YOUR questions. As hard as we try, we simply cannot get to every email that drops into our inbox, but we do love being helpful and we’d like to give you a chance to ask us those burning questions.
But you’re going to have to earn the opportunity!
Here’s how it’ll work. Most Fridays, I’ll post a writing exercise here on Go Teen Writers. When you participate, leaving your work in the comments section, your name will be entered into a drawing. Every quarter (or thereabout) we’ll draw names and each winner will get to submit one writing-related question for the three of us to answer. Steph, Jill and I will then stage a panel and film our answers and post the video here on the blog!
You’re cheering, right? Right? Come on, wave those pom pons! This is exciting! Because, seriously, if compelling the three of us to brush our hair and put on makeup in the middle of a writing day isn’t incentive enough for you, I promise to do everything in my power to see that
Jill’s parasol makes an appearance, okay? Okay.
There’s an added benefit to this whole thing, you know? It’s not just that you might have your name drawn, that you might get to pose a question–it’s more than that because you’ll be refining your technique by participating in exercises meant to stretch you and get you writing.
Because here’s the thing. The only way to get better at writing, is to write. And we want to do a better job of giving you exercises that will teach you technique as you put pen to the page.
My goal on most weeks will be to match the Friday exercise with the topics Steph and Jill (and our guests) are blogging about, but I reserve the right to veer off and take you adventuring with me. Like today. Today, we’re heading into the choppy waters of conflict and dialogue.
So, let’s get started!
Consider: Is Character One nervous? Overly confident? Chatty? Quiet? Which emotional response would generate more suspense in the mind of the reader?
Give your mind a moment to color the scene and then put your fingers on that keyboard and practice writing conflict in conversation. If your word count starts to skyrocket, please choose your favorite chunk and leave that for us. We’ll have quite a lot to read and want to make sure we get to everyone’s.
Leave your work in the comments section below and be sure to come back throughout the weekend to encourage your friends. Remember, everyone who submits a response will be entered to win a chance to ask us (almost) anything!
