Uncategorized – Ann Angel

Has it really been a year?

Ann Angel — Thu, 13 May 2021 21:05:09 +0000

It’s been almost a year since I’ve posted anything on my blog. I suspect my reasons for not posting are pandemic blues. At first — in fact for months and months — I thought I was handling isolation well. I told people I’d learned that I don’t like crowds, which I don’t if people are pushing and shoving like at an airport gate or at a concert. But I do miss being with friends and students at school and I miss my friends who used to come here for supper and who we met up with a few times in their garage. Not being able to hug family was killer. And teaching completely online proved to be not fun for me. I missed seeing my students’ smiles and nods of understanding or uncensored comments that argued against or for one idea or another.

I’m looking forward to coming back out into the world in many ways. Being in a classroom. Traveling. Eating with and hugging my family. What have you missed?

Making a graphic memoir….

Ann Angel — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 19:54:36 +0000

I’m teaching a 4 week graphic novel workshop and so I decided I could create my own graphic memoir comic as an example. This is a bit blurry but I can work on it. Anyhow, it’s fun to do something completely different.

Let’s get this party started…..

Ann Angel — Sun, 17 Sep 2017 22:06:34 +0000

Hey there!

I’m back. In fact, I’m back in so many ways — back to teaching for the semester, back to writing this blog, and back from the Wisconsin SCBWI conference which was the perfect place to gather my writer self and remember why I write. I taught a breakout session on beginning a novel – how to create characters, scenes, and inciting incidents.

In case you want to take a peek, I’m listing some highlights of my talk here for you….

Setting up the Big Picture or pre-writing….

Answer the following

Whose story is this?
Usually the first character the reader meets
What is the problem?
What is the inciting incident that sets the action in motion? The inciting incident is “…a situation beginning, ” says Cheryl Klein, editor and author of The Magic Words.
Can the protagonist solve this problem?
What might the complications be?
As Cheryl Klein says, “…when readers open a novel, they should be able to see immediately that its world has been imagined and thought through in full, and it’s waiting there on the page to engulf us: We believe in it. Often this credibility is established via another principle: specificity. Did I mention you‘ll want to pick up a copy of Cheryl’s book, The Magic Words ? it’s amazing!
Only when we can see this clearly can you hook the reader with your first lines…

Additional elements to consider

Plot problems and inner need should be established in the first chapter..
Plot problem should be where the action occurs
Inner need is where the character discovers something about him or herself in a way that he/she evolves through the novel
Theme comes out of these…

Getting Started

Find your primary character (protagonist)
Find your antagonist and secondary characters
Define conflict
List possible scenes
List possible settings
Use the novel structure to plot out your story arc

The Hook

It is a first line, a first paragraph, a first page….one leads to the other
The premise (conflict)
A statement of what is to come in the text
Establishes character, narrator or setting
Is often a shocking piece of information
A powerful first line

Okay, your turn…..write five first lines. Select the three best and write a paragraph. Pick the one you like best and write that first chapter…..you have the beginning of a novel!