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HIGH SIERRA WRITERS
NOVEMBER MEETING WILL BE AT THE RENO POP CULTURE CON AT THE RENO CONVENTION CENTER
Our November meeting, 11/9/19, lands right in the middle of the Reno Pop Culture Con. The convention organizers have invited us to hold our meeting at the convention and we have accepted. Details are still being sorted out, so check back at the web site as we get closer for more details about when, where, and how to attend. Tentatively, all currently paid members of HSW will be admitted free to the convention on Saturday only.
The Convention Center is on South Virginia at Peckham Lane, just across from the Atlantis Hotel and Casino.
Our guest for this meeting will be Alexanne Stone, who is an expert in the interpretation of body language. See Matt’s article for more about this.
BODY LANGUAGE – HOW TO MAKE CHARACTERS MORE DYNAMIC
by Matt Bayan
We have an opportunity to book a leading expert in the interpretation of body language. “What good is that to a writer,” you might ask. That’s what I asked when first presented with the idea.
Then I thought about it. How does a reader get an understanding of a character’s thoughts, his mood, whether she is nervous, whether he feels guilty? How would skill at body language help a detective interviewing a suspect, a wife who suspects her husband of cheating, a job interviewer?
In dialogue, think of the little tics and actions that characters do and which we want the reader to see. He looked into the distance and pulled on his left earlobe.
Body language is showing, not telling. Body language is visual. Body language allows writers to engage the reader with an image rather than a passive-verb description.
She was nervous becomes She hid her hands under the table so they wouldn’t see the sweat which seemed to pour from them like a faucet.
We’ve scheduled Alexanne Stone, an expert at interpreting body language, for an hour at our November meeting to give a preview of what understanding body language can add to our quiver of writing arrows. We need to gauge your feedback to see if it would be worthwhile to book her for a workshop in the spring of 2020. So, please attend the November meeting to catch her presentation and Q & A. I’ve met with her, and I think this will be very interesting.
If you have any questions about our upcoming events, please email Programs at programs@highsierrawriters.org.
FIRST PAGES
Bring in the first page of your story or novel! It’s the most important page in your manuscript, so let’s talk about how to get it right. Completely anonymous. Turn in your first page to Matt Bayan at the start of the meeting. Don’t put your name on the page, but please show the title and genre of the work. Print on letter paper, 1-inch margins, preferably 12 point in Times New Roman or Arial (14 pt would help Matt maintain his eyesight).
