Workshops And Conferences May Be Slowing You Down

This one is going out to all of you who love going to conferences and workshops, or those of you who love surfing the net for those little nuggets of knowledge to help you out with your latest work in progress. You know who you are. I have seen all of you, sitting there diligently with your notebooks, furiously jotting down notes, nodding your heads, asking questions, and discussing what you learned during those quick coffee breaks between sessions. 

And you are the same people who, after one year, are still working on that same story. 

So, why are you still on that same story? The answer is simple. At every one of those conferences, with every one of those blog posts, workshops, articles or books you read, you found something you "learned" and then you felt the need to change your story. We're not talking about just something to pay attention to, we are talking about a full blown "remodel of your story." Ugh!

Now, don't get me wrong. If a story is in REALLY bad shape, there is nothing wrong with throwing an entire project out. I have told authors that in the past. Sometimes, authors did not think it out before they started writing which I have talked about here before. However, the odds are, in many cases, many of these authors are just over reacting.

I have sat in workshops and speakers have made statements such as "if you do this, it will make your story amazing or marketable" and "every agent or editor will buy it." Well, heck yeah, I'm going to buy this product. This is like those guys in the old west selling Snake Oil to unsuspecting buyers. What the authors don't understand is that these steps may indeed work assuming other variables are in place. The authors don't hear that part.

The other problem with making all of these changes after every one of these workshops and conferences is that these changes are often contradicting each other. Sure, one of those changes may have worked with helping developing your character, but then the other change you make to adjust pacing now ruined that change you just made with your character. 

Finally, a lot of you are just making these changes without thinking. You heard that these changes work and not thinking if this change is going to work with your story. If you have read my posts here, I often say that what works for one person may not work for someone else, and even then, what works for one of your stories may not work for another story. I am talking about the same thing here. 

Look, I want you to learn from these workshops, but I also want you to think before you leap.