Author JD Dudycha

J.D. Dudycha is a former college baseball player and coach. He has over ten years of experience in baseball at the collegiate level. After the birth of his son in 2012, J.D. retired from coaching to be a stay-at-home dad. Since his retirement, he redeveloped his love for writing, an outlet he so desperately needed in the absence of baseball. Though his stories are fictional, he has drawn from his personal life as well as his expertise and knowledge of the game to craft his novels.

 

Jon’s WAY Class

Author of Paint The Black JD Dudycha

 

What makes a character memorable? What draws you in? Creating character’s people will remember is no easy task. There are so many tired clichés that people have read/seen over and over again. The answer may be different for everyone, after all we are all unique.

As an author, it is my job to make you—the reader—feel. I try to tug on the emotional side of your imagination. I try to make you care about what happens on the page, but more importantly, care about the character on the page. If I can do that, then I have done my job.

I will stretch your limits, give you examples of other brilliant characters, and hopefully move you into the direction of creating your own memorable characters.

You can find John here:

 

Website: www.jddudycha.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/jdsmancave

Twitter: @JDDudycha

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/J.D.-Dudycha/e/B00YZ3ON38/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1457983887&sr=8-1

 

 

Author J. Chris Richards

 

Chris Richards has been writing for as long as she can remember and became serious about getting published about 20 years ago. Her debut novel, Shattered Trust, combines her heart for solving problems in community and living as the wife of a police officer and soldier.She is the Young Adult Managing Editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas.

She is a member of ACFW, Words for the Journey, and Writers on the Rock. She has spoken at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference, the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference, Write to Publish, The Write Stuff, and the Castle Rock Writers Conference. She is also the co-founder of WAY – Words and Youth Conferences; writing conferences for teenage writer and holds these conferences about three times a year. Her passion is for helping other writers fulfill their potential.

Chris’ WAY class:

Characters can be built from the outside or inside out.

Which method builds the right characters for your story? We will spend part of the class building different characters for your work in progress.

You can find Chris here:

www.PassingTheQuill.com

www.Facebook.com/JChrisRichards

@JChrisRichards

Author Cherilyn Grace

 

Cherilyn Grace was born and raised near Baltimore, Maryland.  As a former newspaper columnist, she broke an initial investigative case against a  local School Superintendent and his Chief Financial Officer. They were eventually indicted on charges of embezzlement, theft and forgery.   After  children and marriage, she made a career change in pursuit of fiction and The Great American Novel.  Her first novel is Walking through Rain, which she self-published one year ago.  Currently, she is working on a year-long devotional book, as well as another fiction title.

Cherilyn’s WAY Class

 Everyone has them, but nobody really knows how to make them come to life.  What are they?  They are your characters!  Join her in an hour-long class as we explore a few points on characterization.  How do we think them up?  Where do they come from?  Does my old Aunt Fanny count as a character?  She will introduce you to a few her own  characters.  What is your guess on them?  Did I allow them to live or die?  Join us at WAY and we will find out the answers!

You can find Cherilyn here:

Find her book on Amazon: Walking Through Rain 

or

 

http://outskirtspress.com/bookstore/details/9780578136172

Her website:  Graciesword

 

WRITING CHALLENGE

Let’s warm up your writing fingers, dust off the laptop, fire up the WATTPAD.

One reading resource “Joy Writing” by Kenn Amdahl talks about writing badly. Kenn characterizes mudslinging like Bart Simpson letting out the inner child. He suggests one particularly interesting exercise.

“Another trick is to try making connections between seemingly unrelated concepts. How is a chair like a bird? … Make lists of things that have not apparent relationship, then try to create sentences that link them in some way.”

One paragraph he came up with using the words music and fire was:

“The guitarist began his solo slowly, his fingers moving across the strings as if they were twigs he rubbed together. Notes rose like smoke, overtones sparked from the strings. Soon his fingers moved too quickly to see, and arpeggios and chords blazed in the night. “

Let’s try it! Here are some words to try, or try your own list. Reply in the comments. Have fun.

Hair	Street
Sunglasses	Snow
Cellphone	Roses
Keys	Saddle Horn
Ring	Cash Register
Court	Hospital
Nails	Coyote
Generation	Scissors
Photograph	Jail

Check out Ken’s book: Joy Writing

Registration Now Open

Registration for April Teen Character Writing Conference is now open. We are very excited to announce we will be BUILDING CHARACTERS. 

GUEST SPEAKERS ARE ENLISTED!

THE SCHEDULE IS COMING SOON!

Whether you are in the middle of your manuscript or just starting, come join us and learn to enhance, debilitate, torture, inflict pain, let fall in love, relieve, or let your character become a hero.

Do you need to motivate your character? Are your character’s actions moving your story along?

Even a villain has some redeeming quality. What is it?

Come join us April 16th for the WAY Words and Youth Character Building Writing Conference.