Teresa Jade LeYung's BLOG

Posts Tagged ‘metaphors’

Coach Teresa, what happened on Feb. 16, 2012 at San Francisco Writers Conference?

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here . . . this is what happened from my point of view. Tell me and my colleagues your point of view by submitting comments to this blog post.  How? Click on the blue title bar of this post, scroll down to get the boxes, fill in boxes and click on “submit comment” button.

I took BART into The City and then MUNI #1 to meet co-presenter & colleague Mary E. Knippel.  At 6:00pm we were to deliver BE YOUR OWN EDITOR at the San Francisco Writers Conference at the Mark Hopkins Hotel at top of Nob Hill.

Authentic details for writers who want to get to the top of Nob Hill: If you off-board BART at Embarcadero station, come up to street level that is closest to Drumm Street. Walk northward on Drumm, then westward on Sacramento Street (a one-way street). At Sacramento St. (near Davis St.), you’d catch the MUNI #1 bus that travels westward on Sacramento Street. $2 fare (driver gives  y0u a transfer that’s good for 4 hours).

The ride is about 10 blocks or .7 mile (through Financial District and Chinatown, and up the hills).  If you’re concerned about not knowing how to push the bell or pull the cord to request your stop, ask the bus driver or fellow passengers to look out for you. Off-board at Mason; walk a block southward on Mason to get to California St. (California St. is parallel to Sacramento St.).  Wait for signals to cross the street.  There you are–at the International Mark Hopkins.

As soon as you step onto the bricked courtyard, courteous hotel employees will greet you.

**

Linda Lee and Jane Glendinning among the first to arrive to help make SFWC THE writers conference

Story Consultant and Writers' Platform-Building Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan happy to present at SFWC again

presenters Mary E Knippel & Linda Lee solve mystery over their luggage at Mark Hopkins

**

**

***

I saw Laurie McLean, Barbara Santos & Richard Santos, Nina Amir, Neal Sofman, dear mentors Michael Larsen & Elizabeth Pomada, Stephanie Chandler and other colleagues.  Our session was to begin at 6:00pm.  Among the writers who attended our session “Be Your Own Editor” were memoirist Jing Li,  journalist and novelist Don Hudson and Margie Yee Webb (author of Cat Mulan’s Mindful Musings)!

Thank you, Patrick, for setting up the microphone–the room was long–without the microphone, the writers sitting in the back would have had difficulty hearing us.

Thank you to each writer in the room!  Here’s an offer to you if you were in our session on Feb. 16, 2012 –  I’ll be happy to read and give feedback to the first 2 pages (double spaced; pages numbered; manuscript title and your full name in the header) of your manuscript.  Email me: your full name; your project’s genre; list of your themes.  Then I’ll let you know when would be the best time to email me your first 2 pages. I’ll arrange my schedule so that I can focus on one writer a day.  My email address is at gmail.com  My User Name is:  WritingCoachTeresa

Session hand-out for Mary E. Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan’s presentation BE YOUR OWN EDITOR

Mary E. Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan
Being Your Own Editor
Ensure Your Manuscript 100% Ready For the Next Step
•    hire a book doctor/developmental editor OR
•     pitch to agents or acquisition editors OR
•     be  your own publisher

fiction / narrative nonfiction / prescriptive nonfiction (“how-to” books)

YOUR NAME: ______________________________ Your Project: ________________________________

Tool #1   Grounding Reader with the three Ws (Who? When? Where?)
Tool #2   Hooking Reader from first page to last with core theme and “What does Protagonist want?” (in prescriptive nonfiction “What does Reader need?”)
Tool #3     In Fiction & Narrative Nonfiction (both genres are forms of  “story-telling”) Who are your protagonist, antagonist, and other archetypes?
Tool #4    In Fiction & Narrative Nonfiction (front story / back story)
Tool #5    Foreshadows  Metaphors   Recurring Images
Tool #6    Authentic Details
Tool #7   Monologue   Dialogue   Vernacular
Tool #8   Misspelled words; misplaced modifiers; other frights

and 15 minutes for Questions & Answers

Thank you, dear mentors Michael Larsen & Elizabeth Pomada, for inviting Mary and me to deliver our signature presentation “Be Your Own Editor”!

Thank you, dear Birgit Soyka author of To Drink the Wild Air, for bringing your camera tripod!

Thank you, dear Margie Yee Webb, author of Cat Mulan’s Mindful Musings: Insight and Inspiration for a Wonderful Life, for introducing Mary and me, for taking photos, for having written the purr-fect gift book and letting me show in our session how every page of a prescriptive nonfiction book ought to contain inspiration, wisdom or a metaphor.

Thank you, Camille Thompson, columnist at SanRamonPatch.com, for your gracious help, making our session an enjoyable one.

**

**

**

**

authors & story consultants Mary E. Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan use classics to draw examples for BE YOUR OWN EDITOR at SFWC--photo by author Margie Yee Webb

authors & story consultants Mary E. Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan give 8 tools at BE YOUR OWN EDITOR packed house session SFWC–photo by author Margie Yee Webb

**

authors & story consultants Mary E Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan attract writers at BE YOUR OWN EDITOR packed house session SFWC-photo by author Margie Yee Webb

**

testimonials from Mary E Knippel & Teresa LeYung-Ryan's BE YOUR OWN EDITOR session

**

**

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan says: "Wearing your 2 hats as a writer---to polish your manuscript and to build your platform---can be as fun as riding a San Francisco cable car."

**

Across the street at the Fairmont Hotel –  LEARNING & the BRAIN Conference–Connecting Educators to Neuroscientists and Researchers

Vehicular traffic was blocked off in the area because President Obama was to speak at the Masonic Auditorium that evening!

Coach Teresa here took the cable car to go home and pack for Day II of San Francisco Writers Conference.  Please see next post.

Sincerely

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

“Reach out, not stress out, to materialize your dearest dreams!”

http://writingcoachteresa.com
author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW

As editor/story consultant, Coach Teresa helps her clients polish their manuscripts by identifying themes and archetypes.

Her novel Love Made of Heart is used in college composition classes. Thank you, Teachers & Students!

Coach Teresa Advises Reading While Rewriting

Dear Writers,

Are you stressed out while rewriting your project?  Breathe. Drink water. Exercise.  And read, read, read.

Whatever genre you’re writing, give your characters new sparks by rereading your favorite book of the same genre.

Study how the author of that favorite book show:

• what the protagonist wants (early in the story)–to connect with Reader
• the authentic details in the setting, circumstances, vernacular
• sensory details
• dialogue and body language that reveals each character’s personality or what he/she wants to show
• hooks, foreshadowing, metaphors
• archetypes help move story forward
• thematic threads

I’m cheering for you!

Sincerely,
Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

http://writingcoachteresa.com

Teresa LeYung-Ryan has helped over 1,000 writers.

As editor/story consultant, Coach Teresa helps her clients polish their manuscripts by identifying the themes and archetypes in their stories.

Her novel Love Made of Heart is used in college composition classes.

As author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW, she coaches authors before and after publication. 

http://writingcoachteresa.com Read other posts in her blog.

Coach Teresa, How do I fix my children’s story? Agent says it’s too episodic.

In my previous blog post about how to remedy an episodic storyline  . . . here’s an argument from one of my clients who writes children’s books . . .

“But kids aren’t that sophisticated, are they? Shouldn’t stories for that age group be episodic?”

Coach Teresa here . . .  Kids know what a good story is, especially if they’ve read the timeless classics (to name a few:  The Hobbit; The Wind In the Willows; Charlotte’s Web; The Phantom Tollbooth; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. What are other memorable children’s books? Wordsworth the Poet by Frances Kakugawa is a contemporary favorite of mine )

Also, keep in mind that a children’s story has to hook adults (agents, acquisition editors, publishers, booksellers, reviewers, shoppers).  How do you hook adult-readers, even if you choose to be your own publisher?

Answer:  Create memorable characters and follow screenwriting teacher Terrel Seltzer’s advice:  “Someone we care about wants something badly and is having a terrible time getting it.”

Here’s my post from May 26, 2011 about Terrel

I encourage you to set the stage.  Give the reader sensory details—not only sight and hearing but also taste, smell and touch.

To create a story with thematic significance, let your metaphors / similes / inferences move your story forward or provide clues.

Coach Teresa says: “Reach out, not stress out, when pursuing your dreams!”

Want to attract agents  & publishers?  Want to be your own publisher?

• Get your manuscript professionally edited
• Build your writer’s platform NOW

Email:  Teresa_LeYung   at    yahoo.com

http://writingcoachTeresa.com

Coach Teresa  LeYung-Ryan loves to edit:

• novels & memoirs with feisty protagonists and universal messages;
• children’s novels that help young readers understand their feelings and build self-confidence

Writing Mentor Mary E. Knippel asks “What gives you sparks in your writing life?”

Hi, Writing Mentor Mary,
As an author and manuscript consultant I get sparks ( for scenes, plot points, metaphors, foreshadows)  by rereading a favorite book, re-watching a favorite movie, observing and taking notes while riding public transit. My dream world also provides sparks. Martha Alderson’s new book The Plot Whisperer gives me sparks.

I love helping my clients identify the archetypes and themes in their stories. Speaking of themes, your helping job-seekers create their “success story & collage/vision boards” gives folks “sparks” to go after what they really want. I tagged you in these 2 posts: Coach Teresa, what’s happening for business owners on November 5, 2011 in Gilroy, CA? and  Coach Teresa, what happened when you hosted Plot Whisperer Martha Alderson on your blog?

Mentor Mary Knippel helps job-seekers create their success stories--cheers from Writing Career Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan--photo by Anne Campagnet-Reed

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung-Ryan says: “Reach out, not stress out, when pursuing your dreams!”

Writing Career Coach/Manuscript Consultant

author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW (print edition & eBook edition)
Author of Love Made of Heart (inspires adult children of mentally ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas and find resources for their families)

This blog post is to encourage my clients and all the writers who are on their umpteenth rewrites.

When you’re writing a novel, a memoir, or any lengthy story, keeping track of the elements (plotlines, character arcs, archetypes, themes, hooks, foreshadows, metaphors, dialogue, front story, back story, internal monologue, exposition, irony) becomes a monumental task.

My analogy:  The elements in your story make up the pieces of a ten-thousand-piece puzzle.  Revising a piece of the puzzle could mean adjusting all the other pieces, especially when you’ve been rewriting and rewriting. Has your overall puzzle become a fuzzy picture?

Here’s my advice: Work in sections. Start with the first quarter of your story. Print your pages and read them out loud, chapter by chapter.  As you read, take notes; use color coding to track each element.  Example:  you might use yellow highlight to track your “hooks.”  Whatever method you choose to track, ask yourself these questions:  What’s my intent to introduce this hook?  Am I going to keep the reader engaged by re-baiting this hook in successive chapters?  At what point will I satisfy the reader by releasing the hook (delivering the “aha” moment)?

Happy rewriting and tracking!

I salute you!

Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan

author / manuscript consultant / writing career coach

author of Love Made of Heart (the story that inspires adult-children of mentally-ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas and to gain resources for their families)

author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW

http://writingcoachteresa.com

A Week of Wearing 3 Hats – Writing Career Coach – Author -  Publisher

As Writing Career Coach

I presented “Build My Name, Beat the Game” to delightful writers at the Redwood Writers Conference.  Writers in my session, please scroll down until you see my post/column entitled “Redwood Writers Conference Pure Joy” and follow instructions please to build your names.

There’s post-conference work for me.  I’ll email colleagues and follow up on our conversations; I’ll email writers in my session some coaching notes; I’ll pitch my workshop to other organizations.

Do you know a non-fiction writer who wants to go to a writers’  conference but can’t afford it? Encourage her/him to ask family and  friends to chip in (what better Christmas gift or birthday gift!).   Check out Writing for Change Conference.

As Author

I’m writing down “gems” as they pop into my head.  Gems in the form of dialogue, metaphors, descriptions, hooks, and story-questions.

I had a chance to chat with Martha Engber at the Redwood Writers Conference and read the jacket copy of her novel  The Wind Thief.  I started reading it when I got home Saturday night and have been reading a little everyday.  What lovely prose and sensory details! What a gifted writer.  Tanya Egan Gibson is another gifted writer; I’m also reading her novel How to Buy a Love of Reading. My reading well-written books can only make me a better writer.

As Publisher

I’m updating Build My Name, Beat the Game: 22 Days to Identify & Develop My Writer’s Platform to Attract Agents, Acquisition Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention so that I can take the next step in publishing the next edition–and that is letting Nancy Mulvany create the index.

This evening I attended a Business and Leadership program at the Commonwealth Club on “iPad Revolution and the Future of Digital Magazines” with Matthew Davis of Zinio and Matt Carlson of Hot Studio, two pioneers in this emerging field.  Kevin O’Malley, President, TechTalk/Studio was Moderator (Thank you, Kevin, for inviting me.  The program was enlightening).

Sincerely,

Teresa LeYung Ryan

Coach Teresa says: “Reach out, not stress out, when building your writer’s name/platform.”  

To comment on any of my columns (blog posts), just click on the blue title bar of the post, fill in the boxes and press “submit.”  Please click here http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/ for Home Page of my blog.

New Year’s approaching, new year to give your writing project a new look.

Ask me, Writing Coach Teresa, to edit 22 pages at a time.
Gain tools from my coaching with each installment of your manuscript. Affordable too.

Learn how to use  archetypes, themes/universal messages, metaphors, hooks, foreshadows, pivotal plot points, seamless transitions, and poignancy to make your story a page-turner.
I like to edit fiction and narrative non-fiction with strong and quirky protagonists, memoirs, young adult fiction, and short stories.

Visit http://WritingCoachTeresa.com home page to find out what it means when an agent or editor tells a writer that his/her story is episodic.

Writing Coach & Manuscript Consultant Teresa LeYung Ryan who helps writers 22 pages at a time.

California Writers’ Club–SF Peninsula Branch Presents
“Build Your Name While You Write”
with Writing-Career Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan

January 16, 2010, 10am to noon
Belmont Library, 1110 Alameda De Las Pulgas, Belmont, CA
Cost: $15  CWC members;  $18 non-members

Reservations are advised:
Call 650-615-8331 to leave a message or email Chris Wachlin at <reservations@sfpeninsulawriters.com> with your name and the meeting date.

More info & PayPal available on:  http://cwc-peninsula.org

Can you relate to any one of these statements?

* Agents and acquisition editors say publishers prefer to work with authors who are already celebrities or have established platforms (i.e. means to build fan base).  How do I compete?

* I am published. There aren’t enough hours in a day to write, let alone run around and network.

* I believe in my writing and I’m committed to building my career, but, my budget is limited.

Optional exercises before January 16:  http://cwc-peninsula.org/

On January 16, 2010 Teresa will debut her guide Build Your Name, Beat the Game: Be Happily Published

Teresa LeYung Ryan’s bio:  http://WritingCoachTeresa.com