Here We Go Again
The next Writers Conference is just around the corner. Digital Authors & indie Publishing starts this Friday, November 6th, 2020. As the last one, it will run throughout the weekend, in the evenings all week long and conclude the following Saturday. That’s actually a lot of learning for your bucks. You don’t have to miss one panel because it conflicts with another panel you want to attend. It’s not too late to sign up. Go to www.wcwriters.com
There are many reasons to attend these conferences such as the education and networking. One of the greatest is the opportunity to have your work reviewed in a ProCritique by an agent or editor. It is a separate fee, but for that fee, a professional agent or editor will read the first twenty pages of your work and give you a critique. They will tell you what your strong points and your weak points are, and how a publisher (for books) or studio (for scripts) will view it.
If you go to their ProCritique page, http://www.wcwriters.com/ccwc/agents.html you can see the different agents and editors available at this conference. More importantly, you can see what genres they work with so you can choose one that understands yours. A while back, I had a ProCritique with Steven Hutson. As you can see from the page, he handles a “wide variety of fiction and nonfiction”. From previous conferences, I knew he handled science fiction and fantasy, which I why I wanted him to critique a Christmas story I’m working on. In the past year, he has taken on as a client a fellow writer who was in one of my critique groups, Brandy June https://www.brandiejune.com/?fbclid=IwAR0PTnaDbkc1ID78fr1Kj46ViKtC6iedLwKs50y6IQKzw0_u0fvNRx6gab4
Twenty pages might not seem like a lot, but if you have problems in your first twenty pages, you probably have those same problems in the rest of your work. To me, a ProCritique is like the final step in feedback. You start with showing your work to your family and friends. Then you share it with a critique group, fellow writers who understand your genre and are just as serious about writing as you are. Some groups are let by a professional in the industry – that’s a big bonus. Finally, you take it to a professional in a ProCritique.
Even after you get an agent for your novel, they might recommend changes or direct you to a professional editor. It’s all part of the creative process. As GLAWS President, Tony Tadaro, is fond of saying, “The Book is not done until the press starts to run.”
And that is a more definite end than a script. You can finish a script and sell it, then the producers might hire other writers to make changes, then the director and actors might make changes on the set, and then the editor might cut things out and move things around. And once your movie has its big premier and you think it’s done, a Special Edition could come out twenty years later.
Dennis Amador Cherry
33rd article completed.
First Steampunk novel: 59,826 words.
And speaking of, “Here We Go Again”, I love this AMV (Anime Music Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyVONYS2wRk It’s amazing how much work is put into these things.
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