Comments ranged from nice alliteration, liked the use
of onomatopoeia, too many shifts in perspective, voice feels didactic and many
comments on rhyme and character. There were also comments about conflict,
narrative action, transitions, wrong format for age and /or subject and 100 more opinions.
We broke for a delicious Panera lunch.
After the First Pages were concluded, Sean ran a
workshop on pacing. Below are the topics: Pacing, Meet the Characters, Anticipation
and Escalation of Conflict, Character Driven Action, Crisis and Resolution,
Lasting Memory and Transformation. Sean discussed all of these in more detail.
We closed out the afternoon with a Faculty Q &A
with Sean, Meredith, and Beth.
We want to thank our attendees for their continued
support of the Children’s Writers of the Hudson Valley and for our faculty, Sean
McCarthy, Meredith Mundy, and Beth Terrill for spending the day teaching us how
to make our first page stronger, clearer and more inviting. Last but no least,
we want to thank our hard working committee members for another successful
conference.
