MCRW 2006 Retreat: Always a Winner
Author: Cheryl Martin
Original Publication Date in Love Notes: March 2006

I wait all year for Retreat Weekend. For 48 straight hours, I get to be a writer. Nothing more. Nothing less. Not to mention, I don't have to cut anyone's meat or wipe anyone's nose.

I always take the Friday of Retreat Weekend off. In my world, it's up there with most national holidays. This year I drove only two hours to the lodge. (Thank you, Teble and Tammy). That meant I had time to write before I left home, so I was on a writer's high before I checked in.

Friday night we played an icebreaker during which we learned that Jody is a former cage dancer, Allison sang at the Atlanta Olympics, and you should never cross Monica when she's armed with a pitcher of soda.

Saturday we woke to a beautiful snowfall. The forecasters were wrong, and we weren't snowed in. Now Teble could relax a little and enjoy the rest of the retreat. Of course, the snow would have been prettier if it had been warmer.

Alicia Rasley, a Rita-award winning novelist and the weekend's speaker, focused on journey, theme and motif.

Journey. Using a journey arc allows the writer to shape plot based on character. The journey generally starts with a short scene that sets the stage and then a call to action. The character doesn't always want to go on this journey, but the call to action doesn't allow her to stay in her current position. Where the journey ends determines the end of the book. Characters do not change too quickly in response to events.

Theme. The theme of a novel is the overall value or lesson it teaches. Alicia cautioned writers to wait until the first draft of a manuscript is complete before trying to establish the theme. Theme is determined by the entirety of the book. Sometimes it's easier for someone else to see the theme in an author's story. When your theme isn't working, look at the end of your book. Your last scene might be subverting the theme of your book. Then you have two choices: make the ending match the theme or make the theme match the ending.

Motif. Motifs are recurring items, props or scenes that have meaning and help bring out the theme. Motifs should mean something to the character, either culturally or personally. In establishing motifs, remember the rule of three. If something has occurred twice in your story, look to see if you can make it happen three times, but each of the three occurrences should be different. As with theme, building on motifs is best done after a draft of the manuscript is finished. This allows the writer to weave in items or characters to add continuity to the story.

Most of Saturday afternoon was set aside for alone time. At least that's what I call it. For me that meant settling in with my Alphasmart and working on my manuscript. A thousand words later, I was pleased with myself. I may even keep 500 of those words, but I hadn't made that much progress on the story since the weekend I'd started it.

For our evening's entertainment, we watched several intelligent women try to hook up a portable DVD player to the television in the suite. Those 30 minutes were great. Oh, wait, the entertainment was supposed to be the movie we watched once George got it working.

Thanks, George, and thanks, Jody, for letting us borrow him.

Sunday morning everyone headed home early. Well, almost everyone. Personally, I called the front desk to see when I had to leave. Then I wrote another thousand words. John and Caroline could survive a few more hours. Once I was home, I knew Caroline would wrap her arms around my leg and not let go until bedtime. This was my chance to write.

Retreat Weekend always leaves me excited and energized about my writing. I'm eager to sit in front of my computer and beat my head against my keyboard for a few weeks--or months if I'm lucky. With the latest retreat under my belt, I've set a goal of writing a thousand words a day.

Of course that hasn't happened since real life returned with a vengeance, but most days I at least sit down at the computer and work. What more could a writer ask for?

***

Cheryl Martin is a Kentucky MCRW member who writes contemporaries and has been known to final in RWA contests.

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