MORE DISCOVERING STORY MAGIC

DISCOVERING STORY MAGIC
with Laura Baker, Laura DeVries, and Robin Perini
(May 1999 meeting summary)
By
Lee Guttierez

Heart of Denver received a rare look into how magic happens for award winning trio, Laura
Baker, Laura DeVries and Robin Perini. Although Laura DeVries couldn't make it, her
presence was felt by all as Laura Baker and Robin shared their secrets behind plotting and
characterization.

So how does magic happen?

First, you need to find two other committed authors with whom you can live and work in a
remote hideaway for three solid days--and I do mean solid. Try twelve hours per day of
solid.

Second, you need to find a location which doesn't have strict laws regarding noisy, excited
females scaring hard working cabin managers. And third, you need a white board, post-it
notes, pens, paper, chocolate, and your "Box". What box, you ask?

Well, it's the box that contains a skeleton story idea you've been kicking around to no avail.
You know that to make it come to life, you need larger-than-life characters and a scintillating
plot. You need magic.

Our magicians taught us how to wave our magic pen over a Character Grid, where an inciting
incident, a long range goal, a short range goal, a character flaw, a relationship barrier, and a
realization/resolution ... breathed life into our hero and heroine. This technique also works
for nasty villains and/or secondary characters.

Then they showed us the value of a story board in plotting each chapter with our turning
points in their proper places.

It's all brainstorming, not brain surgery--as some of us are prone to believe. With everything
now where it belongs, you can go home to your computer and make your own magic happen.

It's fun! It's exciting! It's pure magic.

If your chapter would like to look into hosting this wonderful ‘it really works!”
workshop, you may contact: Laura Baker, 12301 Cedar Ridge Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM
87112 , Email: lbaker10@aol.com; Phone: (505) 298-2021.

Laura will also be presenting two workshops at SWW this year: a 2 hour pre-conference
workshop that's an extended version of "Write The Story They Can't Refuse," then a 1
hour workshop on Novel Structure.