From February 8 - February 28, 2010, we'll be presenting "Writing Action Scenes the WWETM Way" as an online workshop for the Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal Chapter of the RWA. For details, see http://www.romance-ffp.com/event.cfm?EventID=82.
| Matthew, Natalie, AG Devitt, Sally Bosco, Donna Munro, and Deanna Lepsch presented their writer's bootcamp at Seton Hill University's In Your Write Mind writer's retreat, June 25 to 28, 2009. |
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| Description: Spend fifteen minutes at each writing "station" learning new techniques for improving your writing. Think of it as circuit training for your brain! |
| Takeaways:
From Matt's "Targeting Your Genre" presentation, a genre checklist handout. Have people--as many as you can persuade--read the first part of your story or novel, and then select the genre from the checklist. It should be (relatively) easy for them. If it's not, find out why and fix it! From Natalie's "Word Choice Workout," a character lexicon and word choice checklist. Use the lexicon to keep track of your characters and their favorite words. Use the checklist to trim the fat in your prose. Enjoy! |
| Matthew and Natalie presented their seminar "Writing Action Scenes the WWETM Way" at the New Jersey Romance Writer'sTM Put Your Heart in a Book conference, October 24 & 25, 2008. |
| Description: Former professional wrestler, Matt Duvall (The Prince of Polyester) and his wife Natalie will guide writers through the steps necessary to create pulse-pounding action sequences so real you'll need two aspirins after reading. The Duvalls will talk about realistic and unrealistic action based on their training in multiple martial arts and Matt's experience as a professional wrestler. Exciting live demos! |
| About the instructors: Matt wrestled professionally for 10 years, appearing on national television with World Wrestling Entertainment. He and Natalie train in Krav Maga and Isshinryu karate. Both hold Master's degrees in writing popular fiction from Seton Hill University. Matt published a number of short stories, and Natalie freelanced for the local paper. |
| Workshop Name and Date | Comments |
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| Writing Action Scenes -- June 27, 2008 | "Great job -- great info -- very effective presentation encompassing individual and group material." -- Carmine Coco DeYoung, author of the award-winning book A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt |
| Writing Action Scenes -- June 27, 2008 | The thing I liked best about the workshop was "...the humorous delivery of the presentations." -- Ed Kelemen, columnist for the Blairsville Dispatch, short story writer, and novelist |
| Writing Action Scenes -- June 27, 2008 | The best part of the workshop was the "...variety of approaches...humor...and the 'fight' scene. Fun!" -- Lee Allen Howard, writer and founder of Dark Cloud Press |
| Writing Action Scenes -- June 27, 2008 | "Great job! Made me think differently about action scenes." -- Sally Bosco, author of AltDeath.com |
| Writing Action Scenes -- June 27, 2008 | "Thank you very much. As a WWE fan for many years, I really enjoyed bringing pro wrestling into the workshop." -- Gary Frank, author of Forever Will You Suffer and Institutional Memory |
We'll be adding more tips here as time, energy, and our own writing schedules permit. For now, we've included an online workshop we presented in May of 2006. Enjoy!
| How to "Not" Write Like a Man: Introduction |
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| How to "Not" Write Like a Man: Lesson 1 |
| How to "Not" Write Like a Man: Lesson 2 |
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