I guess the most inportant thing to say about the workshop is that Jenny and Bob are both absolutely brilliant so basically I left the thing with a severe case of brain ache.

We started at 9:30 (after a yummy hearty breakfast). First Bob started with “The Original Idea - the heart of your story.” If you read their dualing blog you’ll see that they didn’t think this part was great. Personally I liked it. Mostly because it talked about the “heart” of your story, while the rest of the workshop was spent on more analytical stuff. This was the good beginning I think the workshop needed to speak to your heart before it started to hurt your brain.

Then we moved onto conflict. Jenny did her conflict boxes, which I admit, I’ve seen it 3 times now and I still don’t get.

One of the things that I admit really worked for me and the workshop was that Jenny & Bob have comepletely different processes. Bob calls himself a “front loader” in that he does a lot of work beforehand with outlines and graphs and stuff. Jenny is the opposite (and so am I actually). She writes EVERYTHING, and then works on forming the story into something coherent - that’s how I work, too.

Actually Bob made a good point when he said that Jenny says she doesn’t outline, but he think she does. She just calls it a first draft. Intersting thing to think about, huh?

Then we went onto Plot and Outline with Bob. Some of his stuff was way too structured for me, but he did have examples of other things that I think would really be helpful.

After lunch (sandwhiches and cake) Jenny went onto Plot and Pacing, Bob did Character and POV and then Jenny tied it all up with Unity.

Personally, I didn’t find I got as much out of the afternoon sessions as I did out of the morning ones. Not to say that they weren’t good, it’s just stuff that I seem to have a better handle on already.

The Unity section, though Jenny flew through it, was good and I think would have been better with more time. She talked about theme and stuff, but she also talked about the “extra” stuff in a book. Like symbols and stuff like that. Stuff that I don’t think romance needs, I don’t think a lot of romance has, but when it does (like with Jenny’s books) it adds something extra.

All in all, a fantastic workshop. And if you ever get the chance to see them speak (either together or separately) DO IT!!

In other news, today is Day 1 of the Other Booklovers Convention on the VP Chatters Loop. Here’s a schedule of events for the entire week (note: tomorrow you can spend the morning with me!)

THE OTHER BOOKLOVERS CONFERENCE EVENTS

Tuesday
Party Greetings
What is happening all week
Mr Romance Contest Nominations Open
Summer Box Drawing

Wednesday
Mr Romance Contest Nominations and Games
All About the Man – Emma Sinclair [9am-1pm est.]
Fantasy Festivities – Skylar Sinclair [1-5pm est.]
Random Excerpts [5pm and beyond]
RT News Update [whenever]

Thursday
Mr Romance Contest Nominations and Games
Historical Gathering – Hosted by Jennifer Mueller [9am-1pm est.]
Bad Girls Do It Better – Hosted by Isabelle Drake [1-5pm est.]
Random Excerpt [5pm and beyond]
RT News Update [whenever]

Friday
Mr Romance Contest Nominations Games
Romantic Suspense – Dorothy McFalls [9am –1pm est.]
Booklovers Ball – Hosted by Tilly Greene [7-10pm est.]
Word Searches Winner Announced
RT News Update [whenever]

Saturday
Games
Vampire Gala – Hosted by Trista Ann Michaels [7-10pm est.]
Mr Romance Contest Winner Announced
RT News Update [whenever]

Sunday
Scavenger Hunt Winner Announced
RT News Gang Basket Drawing

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