On Saturday afternoon we had the opportunity to hear from Victor LaValle.  I will summarize this course, "Got Plot" with some great tips and notes.  (My black journal is covered with 35 more pages of ink because of this conference....)

You can sway a reader if you state it with confidence. 

We used the story excerpt from The Deadly Circle by Samuel Fuller and San Francisco by Amy Hempel.  Two very different plots and one was much easier to decipher than the other.  But once we were shown how the writer was guiding us, this reading opened up opportunities for us in our own writing. 

He finished with another statement:  The writer should be calm and assertive.  I will take those words with me, for sure!!

Later that afternoon and before closing, I along with others attended two more discussions.  The next was with Naeem Murr, Meeting the Stranger.  He used a great analogy of dreams and how there are no uncesssary 'inputs' in dreams... everything is there for a reason in our dreams!!  So do the same thing in your writing.  If it really is not necessary, if you cannot explain the significance, and if your reader cannot understand it.. well then kill your little darling.  Convince the reader.  We discussed Flannery O'Conner, A Good Man is Hard to Find and I have actually been reading her stories before the conference.  There was not much discussion but rather a lot of speaking by Naeem.  He has a lot of great information. 

I finished the day with Submitting to Literary Journals!!!  I was pleasantly surprised to hear them say, they typically skip cover letters and in most cases, most journals don't even ask for a cover letter.. They get right to the work.  I agree!!  The "Hook" was a topic and of course when you are reading thousands of submissions and will only publish a handful, you need a hook.  Make the writing stand up on its own and lesson learned; don't try to be cute, just write well!!  Finally, do not put any work in its full form on a blog or website if you plan on submitting it for publication consideration.  If you do so, well guess what?  By putting it out there, you have published it.  You would think this would be obvious but the editors explained they have had this happen. 

Some great places suggested for Literary Journal submissions- Duotrope.com   New Pages   Luna Park   Lit List Review and cwrwopps plus the Million Writers Award.  I have yet to go to any of these, so I hope they are correct if you go looking.  If not, please comment if you have the correct site!!

Thank you for reading and check back on Friday for the Final Part III