Lauren Oliver – author of astonishing tales for all ages, including the New York Times Best-Selling YA series “Delirium“, and “Liesl and Po” and “The Spindlers“ (for younger audiences) AND one half of the evil genius team (with Lexa Hillyr) behind the innovative Paper Lantern Lit literary house – returns to the Big Chair at the Roundtable to apply her experience and writerly mojo in the workshopping of a tale offered up by Guest Writer Kebreht Walker. Keb comes load for bear (or wolf, as the case may be) with a very cool YA spin on the Red Ridinghood fairy tale, full of intrigue and danger. Ryan Stevenson and I dive in and everyone brings their “A” game resulting in a huge basket of Literary Gold. Don’t take it to Grandma’s… hit ‘play’ and keep it for yourself! (and you’ll get even more writerly goodness over at Lauren’s Showcase Episode!)
PROMO: “A Minor Magic” by Justin Macumber
Workshop Episode 50 (Guest Host: Lauren Oliver)
[caution: mature language and themes – listener discretion is advised]
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A veritable truckload of Awesomeness is coming from Lauren…
As a Crafter of fine tales…
- Creator of “Liesl and Po” and “The Spindlers“ (for younger audiences)
- Author of the New York Times bestselling Delirium Series
- includes “Delirium“, “Pandemonium“
- The conclusion “Requiem” is to be released March 5
- Learn about all of Lauren’s fabulousity at her website
As Evil Genius (with Lexa Hillyr) with Paper Latern Lit…
- They’re going to be at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference seeking writers with the passion and mad skills to write for PPL
- From the publishing side…
- The sequel to “Popular Clone” – titled “Cloneward Bound” – hits the stands Feb 15th
- A lush YA tale, “Truth or Dare“, comes out in May
- “Eternity“, the conclusion to the “Fury” trilogy, comes out in the fall
- Also in the Fall, the second book in the “Venom” series, “Belladonna“, will be in fans hands
- The full 411 can be found at the Paper Latern Lit Website
I like where the direction of the story was headed. The thing I would cut out, and perhaps it’s a little darling, are the demons. It wasn’t until 3/4 of the way through the cast when I knew there even were demons. I’d stick with the werewolves and the red hoods, but that’s just me. It just seems like overkill to include a third faction.
I love the idea of a war between the two factions (werewolves and red hoods) and someone trying to ignite the flames of war. I nice archetype would be to have Bianca be the main antagonist for Ren. This brings the larger than life conflict of a war down to a more personal level. That fight between Bianca and Ren the podcasters mentioned could be a nice stopping point for a book, because Ren started off as not accepting her powers to accepting the fact that she needs them.
Backpedalling a bit to the history of the world, what if the first red hood was supposed to be an ambassador for the humans? That would give the humans a reason for hating the werewolves. However, to make it even more juicy, the werewolves heard a different story. One that says that the humans started the war. It becomes a “which came first?” scenario?
As for the structure of the piece, I like to use what Dan Wells calls the “Seven Point Story Structure.” It’s used for plotting, but I feel it works for creating character arcs as well.
Hook: Ren lives a carefree life, trying her best to avoid conflict.
Plot Turn 1: Ren learns of her destiny as a red hood.
Pinch 1: Ren’s mother dies and passes the torch.
Midpoint: Bianca is captured by her pack when she refuses to join them, if it means killing her best friend. Ren takes the fight to the werewolves
Pinch 2: Ren and Bianca fight.
Plot Turn 2: Ren kills Bianca, using her powers.
Resolution: Ren accepts her duty as a red hood.
That’s all I’ve got. Hope everything I’ve said makes sense.
I enjoyed this episode.
I like the idea of Red Riding Hood’s descendents being protectors of the paranormal. I also liked the idea of the Red Hoods protecting an artifact that is the source or cause of the paranormal creatures and happenings around the town. However, I wanted to know why the Reds would just keep it around instead of destroying it.
So, what if the artifact is actually a lifeboat of sorts for the Fay, an Ark they used to flee from a great evil that destroyed their world. Moreover, the Ark, combined with the freely given life force of a Red Hood, creates both a region in our world where the Fay can exist and a barrier which even the Great Evil that pursues them cannot breach. However, when Ren’s Mother dies the barrier begins to weaken because Ren has not taken up the mantle of the Red Hoods yet. With the barrier weakened the Great Evil reaches out to Fuego, promising power and gives her the Fay Slayer, a sword that kills the Fay and destroys their influence in other creatures, bring normal to the paranormal.
Wow, these comments are fantastic! I love the idea of having the first Red Hood being an ambassador and Tracy’s idea of an artifact that Ren would protect. I am so happy you all liked the pitch and thank you so much for your comments
– Keb