Day 9

I woke up and critted 3 stories and squeezed in breakfast before today's lecture/critique session.

Walter kicked things off with a concise lecture and character. And he also gave us a great 4 page hand out on generating backstories for both minor and major characters.

We then had 4 stories critted. Mine was first: a teen fantasy about an ugly duckling girl who competes with a high school beauty queen for a Spanish exchange student with a love potion that's not a love potion.

Considering that I don't normally write YA fantasy or a lot of girl characters, the story went over well with a lot of people in the group. I got a lot of great suggestions on taking it up another notch.

The other 3 stories were also critted with five minute breaks and one 20 minute lunch. I'd say that today was the best session so far (probably thanks to the weekend break).

Hopefully people won't get too ground down as this final week goes by.

Connie capped things with a lecture on different character POV, like: 3rd person omniscient, authorial, stream of consciousness, etc.

Very interesting.

I did my fitness thing, but was a bit worn out when I did. Maybe the altitude's affecting me more than I realize. Being active for 7 of the last 9 days must also be taking a lil' toll, too. But one has to stay energized.

I've got 3 stories to read for tomorrow and another assignment: write a 100 word scene 3 times with the same character, but using a different POV.

I'll be curious to see what I come up with.

That's all fer now.