Marie Dry's Editing Journey Part 2



Marie Dry is back with the second part of her editing journey! Let's welcome her...



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Marie is a proud member of ROSA, Romance Writers Organisation of South Africa.







I promised to talk about Lori Wilde, Margie Lawson and a few other craft books and places. Oh and body language for dialogue tags.

Cassandra and I both did a course with Lori Wilde that entailed plotting, rough draft and editing. If you ever get a chance to do this course with Lori Wilde, take a loan on your house or something because it will be worth it. The course was offered by www.savvyauthors.com  Unfortunately she haven’t done it for a while due to work pressure but if she ever offers the course again I might just do it again. The thing I liked most about her was her work ethic. I don’t think that woman ever sleeps. She set deadlines and stuck to them. I think there were at least more than twenty of us in class and she read each and every assignment and gave feedback. ON TIME.  So you had time to do changes and keep up and learn a lot if you put in the required hours every day. 

The funny part was that she did not know paranormal romance. She did not write it or read it so certain concepts were strange to her.  She admitted this up front and even so, this course was excellent for Cassandra and me because we both write paranormal romance. It was hilarious because sometimes she asked questions or gave feedback on things that someone who read paranormal would immediately understand. Sometimes Cassandra and I just shook our heads good-naturedly. However, for a pantser like me she taught how to do more plotting, the tools available for plotting. Enneagrams, the hero’s journey, the heroine’s journey, Michael Hauge’s plotting method and the three part plot etc.
Next up Margie Lawson. She offers excellent courses although if you are living in the US try and attend one of her immersion classes. I am drooling over those. If I ever get to attend the RWA conference I will try my best to hook an immersion class onto that. She offers all her lecture packages on her website and it’s worth every dollar. www.margielawson.com  I took a few of her classes and I could see the difference in the quality of my writing after each course. She really pushes you a step higher. And yeah, you guessed it, Cassandra steered me to her classes.

Body language is an indispensable tool for a writer. There is a series ‘Lie to me’. It is about a company that specializes in body language. I cannot remember the name of the actor but he is the owner of this company and has a daughter he is very protective of. I watch this programme every few months and it’s amazing the  subtle nuances I can add while editing when I am just more aware of body language.  You get to watch a great series and sharpen your body language skills at the same time. There are many books out there about body language and I don’t think you can ever have enough. I ordered one written by Desmond Morris and of course that would be the time we had the post office strike in South Africa. I’m keeping fingers crossed it still gets to me.

I mentioned WriterU in the previous blog and here is the link to their website.  www.WriterUniv.com Lori Wilde sometimes do classes with them as well as Mary Buckham so it’s worth it to check their schedule every now and then.

Lastly a list of books I found helpful. It was great chatting to everyone and thank you so much to Kelly Steel for the opportunity to do this blog.

Scene and Structure – Jack M. Bickham
Goal motivation and conflict – Debra Dixon
Self editing for fiction writers. – Renni Browne  and Dave King
Dialogue – Gloria Kempton
Writing the breakout novel – Donald Maas
The emotion thesaurus
Writing active settings – Mary Buckham (Keep an eye out, more of her craftbooks are coming)



Marie Dry's latest release...

In a bleak and apocalyptic future, Julia Benzoni flees the violence-saturated world of her mafia family to build a peaceful life in a No Name Town, Montana. Now, while civilization disintegrates into anarchy around her and evil men prey on the innocent, she’s pursued by an alien, whose warrior life thrusts her back into the world where might makes right and violence is the order of the day. Torn, she now has to choose between her need to distance herself from war and violence and the alien warrior who holds her heart.
You can purchase Alien Mine from the following stores:
 
Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords
Black Opal Books | Kobo Books | All Romance Ebooks


27 comments:

  1. Kelly Hashway25 February 2015 at 12:39

    Body language is so important!

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    1. Marie Dry25 February 2015 at 23:17

      Kelly, I lived in Morocco for a few years and its weird how some gestures differ. I could make myself understood with gestures in some countries but in Morocco I found they just interpreted it differently. I'm still searching for the definitive book on body language.

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  2. Chrys Fey25 February 2015 at 13:23

    There just can't be dialogue. There also has to be body language to go with it. :)

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    1. Marie Dry25 February 2015 at 23:19

      Chrys, It took me a long time to learn to add body language but I saw the difference the moment I did.

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  3. The Armchair Squid25 February 2015 at 13:50

    Hello again, Marie. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

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    1. Marie Dry25 February 2015 at 23:19

      Pleasure Armchair Squid, I love talking about writing almost as much as writing.

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  4. Jemi Fraser25 February 2015 at 16:45

    One of these days I'll be able to fit in a course or two. These sound fabulous!

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    1. Marie Dry25 February 2015 at 23:21

      Jemi, all these courses are really excellent but its worth buying Margie Lawsons notes. I think is $20 for one course. If you buy only one set buy Empowering characters emotions. I bought it and printed it out and had it bound and its never far from me when I edit.

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  5. Beverly Stowe McClure25 February 2015 at 18:19

    Great information. I need more on body language. My characters do the same things over and over. Boring.

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    1. Marie Dry25 February 2015 at 23:23

      Beverly, I felt exactly the same way, still do but I did find watching that program Lie to me helpful. Its weird how much you pick up on body language while you just relax and watch the series. I've read a few books on body language but I still don't feel as if I know what I should.

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  6. Meradeth Houston25 February 2015 at 22:04

    Great post! The courses you recommended sound great. And body language is so incredibly interesting to me--definitely a fun aspect to add to any book!

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    1. Marie Dry25 February 2015 at 23:26

      Meradeth, I wish I could do some of those courses again. I think I would get a lot out of them now. Body language fascinate me as well. Especially with the differences in cultures. By the way I am Afrikaans speaking so every now and then I am speaking Afrikaans to someone and then I email Cassandra and I would love to see her face when she opens it.

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  7. Sherry Ellis26 February 2015 at 11:31

    Body language is a powerful thing. So much can be said without using words.

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  8. Sherry Ellis26 February 2015 at 11:31

    Body language is a powerful thing. So much can be said without using words.

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    1. Marie Dry27 February 2015 at 01:46

      Sherry, I think more is said sometimes with bodylanguage than with words. Especially when the body language and words differ.

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  9. Rachael Thomas26 February 2015 at 12:44

    Congrats on your latest book Marie! A great post, body language is so important!

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    1. Marie Dry27 February 2015 at 01:47

      Thanks Rachael, I'm on a m&b presents reading spree and really enjoying it but I need to get back to writing. Love your books.

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  10. Carol Kilgore26 February 2015 at 16:40

    Great to meet you. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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  11. Cherie Reich27 February 2015 at 09:48

    Congrats, Marie! And I loved Lie to Me. It was a great show, and I enjoyed learning more about body language while watching it.

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    1. Marie Dry2 March 2015 at 00:41

      Thank Cherie, I wish they would make more seasons of Lie to me.

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  12. DMS28 February 2015 at 08:25

    Best of luck to Marie! I don't remember hearing of the show Lie to Me, but it sounds interesting. I like the idea of learning about body language by studying shows that use it well. Thanks for sharing!
    ~Jess

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    1. Marie Dry2 March 2015 at 00:42

      Thanks DMS, the great thing about the show is its the main characters business to know facial expressions and body language and they show photo's of people lying and telling the truth etc while drawing you into a great story.

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  13. Anonymous1 March 2015 at 05:43

    Great post, Marie. Body language is very important. Dialogue and action falls flat without it.

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    1. Marie Dry2 March 2015 at 00:43

      Thanks Medeia, I just wish it was easy to do. I stress with every book that I'm using boring visuals or being repetitive etc.

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  14. Karen Lange1 March 2015 at 18:03

    I agree - body language adds great dimension. Wishing Marie all the best! Thanks Kelly, for hosting!

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