Lizzy Shannon Hosts Book Launch for A Song of Bullets

Lizzy Shannon launches her new book, "A Song of Bullets," a period thriller inspired by real events in her life growing up in the worst era of the Northern Ireland conflict. The signing, with questions and answers and refreshments, is at Another Read Through, 3932 N Mississippi Ave, Portland, 7 pm.

Lizzy's career is as varied as the genres she writes. Starting out as a library assistant in a Northern Irish rural town, she moved on to study Theater Arts and Literature in London, and toured the United Kingdom as a professional actress. Roles ranged from the goddess Hecate in Shakespeare's Macbeth to Gustav, the Amazing Dancing Bear in a clown troupe. Now living in the Pacific Northwest, she is an active mentor within the writing community.

For more information about Lizzy, visit http://www.lizzyshannon.com

"Unlock your Creativity" with Eric Witchey 11/1

Are you unsatisfied with how long it takes you to edit a chapter? Do you have trouble meeting deadlines, or polishing your work to perfection? Join us at the Old Church this November 1st for a creativity discussion with award-winning author Eric Witchey.

Every writer has a production pace at which they are most comfortable, but few writers are satisfied with their pace. Some need to speed up in order to get more material out and hit deadlines. Others need to slow down in order to find deeper richness in their characters and prose. However, most end up defaulting to their natural pace.

That's where Eric Witchey comes in. The author of over 100 short stories, 4 novels, and many non-fiction and ghost titles, Witchey knows how to dive into creativity. He has been recognized by Writer's Digest, Writers of the Future, Short Story America, and many other organizations and his writing How-To articles have appeared in The Writer Magazine and Writer's Digest Magazine, among others. E

Learn More at www.willamettewriters.org

Enlisting an Audience Into a Cause, notes on Florence Foster Jenkins

The set up for this film is that Florence Foster Jenkins (played by Meryl Streep) is a wealthy patron of the arts who also believes she has a talent for singing opera. Based on a true story, the film set in 1944 shows how Florence's husband, played by Hugh Grant, maneuvers to protect her from the reality of what the public would think about her singing, let alone music critics.

This process tends to work based on Florence funding a Verdi club of society matrons who are mostly partially deaf and partly along for the free lunches she provides (heavy on the potato salad). Her husband bribes the occasional small paper music critic, and some well-known opera people of the time are happy to accept her donations in return for keeping their opinions about her singing to themselves and instead praising her love of opera and her passion to sing.

All seems lost when she rents Carnegie Hall for a performance attended mostly by serviceman and one big New York paper music critic.

The underlying story point I want to make is that the film enlists the audience to feel invested in Hugh Grant protecting Florence's idea that she is an accomplished singer. Once the audience is drawn in to care about this, the drama of the story becomes (to the degree a viewer enjoys this kind of film) intensified.

Enlisting the audience (whether viewer or reader) in the cause of some story character is one of the prime functions of storytelling. Yes, in this era of anti-heroes, an audience can be lead to care about all kinds of outcomes for all kinds of characters, but in many stories the goal of the storyteller is to enlist the audience in the outcome for a main character.

Fail at that, or fail to enlist the audience as quickly as possible, and a story is unengaging, uncompelling.

In most cases, readers and viewers move on to become enlisted in a more compelling narrative.

Its a very basic question I have as a reader/viewer, do I care what happens next to this person?

Following, an early film by Christopher Nolan, is a fiendishly clever thriller that doesn't ask us to care about the main character. The film will probably never appeal to large audiences (or even many small ones) because the story never asks us to care what happens to the main character.

Every storyteller writing for a general audience should be able to answer the question, why should my audience care about what happens to my main character?

When I ask struggling storytellers this question, they often have no answer. Which is a big reason they are struggling.

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To read some of my longer reviews of popular movies, check out my writing workbook, A Story is a Promise & The Spirit of Storytelling, available on Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Noble's Nook.

Writing Critiques Offered at Write on the River Conference

Bill Johnson will be offering manuscript critiques as part of the Write on the River conference. Bob Dugoni is the featured speaker and Rachel Letofsky is a featured Literary Agent.

Write On The River is North Central Washington’s only writing conference. Two days of content-packed workshops with professional editors, successful agents, bestselling authors and nationally-acclaimed speakers, Write On The River is the best way to hone your craft, build your dream and move your writing forward. Whether your goal is to be a published author, write articles for a local magazine, develop your poetry, or simply write for your own enjoyment, Write On The River has something for you. Held every May on the beautiful Wenatchee Valley College in Wenatchee, Washington, Write On The River is a writing conference not to be missed!

The conference gives you a unique opportunity to learn from the best in a casual, intimate atmosphere. There are plenty of opportunities to rub elbows with publishing professionals, get one-on-one writing advice from successful authors, bond with fellow writers, and pitch your project to a literary agent or publishing editor. Write On The River can really move your writing life forward in an inspiring way!

The 2016 Conference is May 13, 14 & 15. With a world-class faculty and renowned writing instructors from all over the world, it promises to be a highlight of your writing year. Attendees will also have the opportunity to pitch their projects to a literary agent and a book publisher. Click HERE to learn about 2016’s exciting line-up of workshops, and HERE to meet our esteemed 2016 Conference faculty.

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For reviews of popular novels that explore principles of storytelling, check out A Story is a Promise & The Spirit of Storytelling, available on Amazon's Kindle and available on Barnes and Noble's Nook and on Apple via Smashwords.