May 3 - 28, 2010
Show Don't Tell: Say More With Less
by Kris Kennedy
Every writer knows the importance of "Show, Don't Tell," but what's the best way to achieve that? One of Kris Kennedy's favorite techniques is replacing backstory with implication, because writers don't need to spell everything out. "Trust the reader. She's smart. She'll pick things up." This class provides specific tools for saying more with less, such as focusing on here-and-now vs. there-and-then, specifics vs. generalizations, choosing the right details, and a variety of other techniques to create gripping books with a lively pace, deep characterization and compelling conflict.
Concepts include:
* Creating tension on every page
* How conflict and pacing affect bestselling fiction
* Making readers ask questions, and making them worry
* How to imply back-story, viewpoint and more
* Using dialogue (or avoiding a conversation) to increase tension
* Intensifying the external world as a pacing tool
* The power of understatement, denial and emotion in the moment
After winning RWA's Golden Heart Award for Best Historical Novel and landing a two-book contract with Kensington, Kris Kennedy realized that in order to balance her love of craft with publisher deadlines and family, she needed some highly efficient writing techniques to call up the Muse. Some of those strategies include using "implication" to say more with less. Her latest book, THE IRISH WARRIOR, releases June 2010, followed by two more from Pocket Books.
To register for the "Show Don't Tell: Say More With Less" course, click HERE.