WOMEN WRITING THE WEST...... A great organization! ...... By Gail L. Jenner

One of the best conferences for anyone writing westerns or historicals is Women Writing the West. This year the conference was held in Redmond, Oregon – the first time it’s been held in Oregon. This year's conference celebrated "Distinctions of the West...Writers Explore the Northwest!"

Attended by more than 130, WWW is one of those organizations that offers what a lot of bigger conferences offer but still retains the distinct flavor of an intimate organization. It's like friends meeting friends every year!

At the book signing at this year's WWW Conference in Redmond, Oregon

Not “just” for women writers (although the majority of members are women), its focus is on women’s “stories” in or centered on the “West” – but that can mean stories that are historical or contemporary, fiction or nonfiction, memoir/essay/poetry/YA/children’s, etc. The group’s broad parameters means that attendees can find information or establish a network that includes writers from all genre.

I’ve been a member since 2000 and have missed only 4 conferences in the last 16 years. I look forward to the conference, which is usually held the 2^nd or 3^rd weekend of October. Locations move around the West, but Denver is the “home” of WWW. Each year a conference committee pulls together a theme and then invites or seeks out workshops and/or presenters from all walks. This year Jane Kirkpatrick and Shanna Hatfield were the conference co-chairs; Carmen Peone and I assisted in helping to organize the workshops and agents/editors. Anne Schroeder was this year’s President and she will be the 2016 WILLA Chair. There are a number of PRP authors who also belong to WWW --

One highlight at every conference is the agents and editors who attend and who make presentations as well as invite meetings. To date, I have met 3 of the 6 publishers I’ve worked with at WWW conferences. For me, this has become one of the best ways to pitch new ideas and/or look for new avenues of publishing.

Another highlight of WomenWriting the West is the nationally-recognized WILLA Literary Awards, given out in 7 categories. As stated on the WWW website regarding the upcoming 2016 Awards guidelines: “The WILLA Literary Awards is a nationally recognized award given annually to writers for books featuring women’s or girls’ stories set in the West. WomenWriting the West, a nonprofit association of writers and other professionals writing and promoting the Women’s West, underwrites and presents the awards. Only books initially published and copyrighted in 2015 (in any form) are eligible for the WILLA Literary Awards. In cases where the publication date and copyright date differ, copyright date shall prevail. Books previously released/ published in ANY format (hardcover, softcover, e-book, CD, Internet download, POD, etc.) prior to 2015 are not eligible. All submissions must be made in bound hard copy form. Professional librarians select Winners and Finalists. Awards will be presented at the WWW annual conference in October, 2016.” 

The deadline for the contest is February 1, 2016; entry fee is $50.  For more on the contest, visit: www.womenwritingthewest.org.

I was fortunate to win the 2002 WILLA Literary Award for my first novel, a historical, ACROSS THE SWEET GRASS HILLS – which was re-released by Prairie Rose Publications in 2013.

Another contest sponsored by WWW is the Laura Award for members only. It is a short story contest and again, finalists and the winner are honored at a special dinner and event during the October contest.

WWW also publishes a beautiful catalog that is distributed nationwide and offers a directory for members looking for speaking engagements. This year the organization will also be attending one bookseller’s convention. Next year’s conference will be held in Santa Fe, NM.

If you haven't "tried" Women Writing the West, it is definitely an organization any Prairie Rose author would appreciate! 

WHAT MAKES A GREAT PLOT? OR ....... WHAT MAKES A PLOT???? By Gail L. Jenner

 
Is there an EXACT number of PLOT "TEMPLATES"? DO PLOTS EVEN HAVE TO FOLLOW A TEMPLATE OR PATTERN???   Yes??  No?? Maybe??

If not, how do writers "arrive" at a plot?

As a writing teacher I have had many students ask about PLOT and how to develop it. They wanted to create a plot and then plug in whatever characters might move through the episodes of their stories.

In the beginning, I didn’t know how to turn that notion around, although I sensed that starting with PLOT was not the answer.  As I analyzed the stories that touched me most profoundly -- the novels and stories that were keepers, I discovered that plot was not the primary tool used.......Unfortunately, I now believe some writers think that if they can just get hold of the right kind of plot – or set up a series of actions/events that will make their story exciting -- that the work involved in developing a good story might also come easily.

I sincerely believe this is a mistake.  I also believe that even if there was such a thing as the most PERFECT plot -- it would NOT make the act of writing any easier at all!

In the quest to understand plot, I have picked up a number of books over the years. In 20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them), Ronald Tobias asks that very question: “How may plots are there?” He then lists a number of possible answers, including: Thousands or maybe millions? Sixty-nine? Thirty-six? OR Two, period?

I had to laugh the first time I read that….I knew that Aristotle had ascribed to the two basic plot theory, but the other responses were new to me. I learned that Rudyard Kipling ascribed to the idea of sixty-nine plots (WHY 69??), and Carlo Gozzi (who?) felt there were thirty six (Okay….).

Honestly, I don’t know if there IS an absolute answer to the question of plots, but I do recognize that in life, there are universal questions that seem to come up every day, no matter where we live or who we are. These are the deep, deep questions that each of us has to answer for ourselves about our life. I now see those deeper questions as being the force or energy behind any great story.

Plot, then, seems to grow out of those questions, and those are the same questions that our characters must confront and resolve. So for me, the POWER in story comes out of character (NOT plot); that is, Plot IS Character.  OR – another way to say it is that “character + conflict = plot”.

So does that mean there are two or thirty-six or sixty-nine or thousands of plots out there? I’m still not sure. There is an unlimited number of possible complications and conflicts, but how many ways can a character resolve his/her conflict? Interesting question, right?

There is, of course, tragedy. There is also comedy and adventure, etc., but those are actually genres – which do, in fact, carry certain plot elements that become part of a reader’s expectation. They are the patterns that most writers instinctively or deliberately follow.  

Writers recognize that readers expect a number of predictable elements to be present when they pick up their preferred genre. Break those unwritten “rules” and you may have some very frustrated readers. For instance, in a romance, a reader generally expects a “happy ever after” ending; if not entirely “happy,” the ending must at least be satisfying – or else that story/novel may end up thrown against the wall.

Of course, readers of “literary” fiction are often looking for those less predictable elements – even the less than satisfactory ending. I always found it amusing when my students would tell me that literary fiction was just boring fiction and that’s what made it literary! 

What matters most to a writer should be that he/she understand the elements of a particular genre (if a commercial genre is the goal), and along with that the patterns that lend themselves to the selected genre. However, that does not mean a writer can lean on those prescribed elements and forsake deep character and the questions that arise from a character’s internal struggle. No matter how simple a plotline a writer may employ, it is character that makes a story unforgettable.

So how do we arrive at those deep character questions?

We all face similar issues in life and great stories reflect those issues, eg: What complex choices can we then set up as obstacles that our hero or heroine must face and overcome? What dilemmas can we forge, which force our readers to recognize that there are no easy solutions in life, that sometimes doing the right thing actually means doing the “wrong” thing? Or what sacrifices will our protagonists have to make in order to get or have or achieve their goals? What losses are required in order to “win?”

This kind of thinking, this kind of character development is, in my opinion, what takes an average story into the better and best category of story. So, the challenge should be to take our characters on a journey that causes our readers to cheer or cry or scream!

As in the words of Willa Cather, “There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.”

These are the kinds of dilemmas I played with when creating the characters that people my newly re-released WILLA Award-winning novel, ACROSS THE SWEET GRASS HILLS from Prairie Rose Publications. It’s more than just a romance. It’s the story of a man, a woman, and a people – all pitted against the terrifying and historical drama of the little-known Baker’s Massacre of the Blackfeet in 1870. Questions of loyalty, sacrifice, love, and forgiveness are the questions each of the characters must answer for themselves.

In appreciation and gratitude, I’d like to offer TWO free downloads of ACROSS THE SWEET GRASS HILLS! Leave a comment and I’ll enter your name into a drawing. 

TWO winners will be selected on WEDNESDAY of this week!