On Becoming The Designated Typist

Next month I'll be teaching an online writing class for Writespace Houston for YA writers who are interested in organic plotting, that is, creaitng plot from your character. I wrote two posts for Cynthia Leitch Smith's blog about my approach to plot to give potential students an idea of what we'll be exploring. There's still space in the class, if you're interested. I'm also doing a giveaway of a 5-10 page critique of your YA. Here is the first bit of the post, and then you can head over to Cyn's blog for the rest and more details about the class and entering the giveaway:

For some people, starting a new novel is like that scene in The Sound Of Music, where Maria’s tralala-ing on a mountaintop, arms spread out, spinning in delirious joy. (Let’s all take a moment to acknowledge that we secretly hate these writers). If you’re like me, though, that blank white page isn’t cause for bursting into song. Bursting into tears, yes. The endless possibilities are overwhelming, so many possible plots and characters to choose from—and what about voice, structure, tense and…and…and… In order to banish the insanity and keep your freak-outs at bay, it can be tempting to hurry up and create a nice, tidy plot that you can stick characters into, much like those Velcro and felt landscapes in pre-school…