Write the novel you were meant to write!
Reviewer Hannah Pearson Interviews Karin Adams, Author of The One Week Writing Workshop
Rare is the reader who doesn’t occasionally entertain the dream of writing. But too often, that lovely thought gets challenged by all manner of negative voices: you don’t have time; you can’t even spell; who do you think you are, Agatha Christie? Similar voices also descend on published writers: you’re an impostor; you should write everyday; don’t try something new, your muse will leave you forever.
Novelist and writing coach Karin Adams has heard it all—and this is how she responds: Just give me one week, and I’ll help you quiet those voices, start writing your novel, and actually get it done.
Hannah Pearson’s recent Clarion review of The One Week Writing Workshop sparked our interest in Karin’s unique ideas. In fact, she’s not afraid to challenge some of the most revered writing rules of all, but only because many of them cause unnecessary guilt and are stultifying. Indeed, as she says in the interview with Hannah below, many of the activities she recommends are designed to invite joy into the writing process.
If writing a novel has always been a dream too far for you, Karin just may be the inspiration you need.
Give us the elevator pitch. Of all the books on writing out there, what makes The One Week Writing Workshop stand out?
Ok—here’s my pitch! Let’s get together and take 7 Days to Spark, Boost, or Revive Your Novel. This is a weeklong writing workshop-in-a-book. Take it with you anywhere you go! It’s the book you grab when you’re finally ready to start writing your novel and actually get it done. You may be starting your first novel, stuck in the middle of a draft or have an old project that could use a fresh perspective. With over seventy practical, fun, and inspiring activities, I’ll walk you through my complete novel writing process. You’re going to write as you read. We’re going to draw out your own ideas, experiment with them, and build your story. Don’t worry—I’m not claiming you can write your novel in only seven days! But you will learn a complete novel writing method—one you can put into practice immediately and finally get your book written!
What makes The One Week Writing Workshop different from other writing guides is the premium I put on taking action so you can start writing now. Many guides break down the novel—the finished product—into components and beats and then ask you to shape your own ideas into stories that contain them. What I do differently is to break down the writing process—the actions we take as we write—and I invite you to get writing with me basically from page one. I share the real, everyday things I do to get a book written—the same process I’ve been sharing in my in-person workshops since 2010. My activities cover story essentials, but they’ll also stir up what you already know about writing and help you get it all out on the page.
I’ve included some outside-the-box and away-from-the-desk tactics, too. Sometimes we need to shake it up a bit and challenge our creative muscles to get the most out of our writing. You won’t see a lot of these tactics elsewhere, but I share them with you because they work. Also, I believe that a sense of joy and wonder is a huge part of successful writing—in fact, it’s our fuel. Many of my activities are designed to actively invite joy into your process. The One Week Writing Workshop is a lot of fun!
The first exercise in The One Week Writing Workshop asks readers to copy the phrase, “Hi! My name is __________, writer,” and fill in the blank with their name. What makes this exercise so powerful?
It’s common for anyone wanting to write a novel, whether it’s a first book or possibly even a third, to have certain expectations about what writing and a writer’s life looks like. It might be about the number of pages a writer should be producing daily, the number of hours you should spend at your desk each day, or maybe how many books you should write to be considered successful. These aren’t bad things to think about.
But problems can arise when we find that our own writing practice looks different than what we expect, different than what we think we “should” be doing. I know this all too well! Rather than motivate us to dig in and try harder, I think for most people this gap between the “shoulds” and reality is deflating. At the very least, it zaps the joy and excitement out of writing. At worst, many people disqualify themselves from “being a writer” and stop writing altogether.
That’s why I urge my workshop participants and anyone reading my book to do away with the “shoulds” and claim their status as a writer immediately, no matter what their current writing practice looks like. Writing is a process, and anyone engaged in that process, even if it’s “only” that you’ve taken the first step by deciding you want to write, is a writer already. You don’t have to earn your identity, you are a writer right now, and that allows you to simply get busy working at the process, without the baggage! As for what writing can and “should” look like for a writer like you, that’s what we’re going to discover by drawing out your own unique ideas and going through my process step by step.
Some of your recommended exercises are crafty or physical—they involve little to no actual writing. Discuss the role of nonwriting activities in a healthy writing practice. How important is stepping away and getting active?
I’m glad you asked this question! I think the handful of art-based and physical activities I offer is one of my book’s most unique features. These are things that I do myself and use in my in-person workshops. They’re effective, inspiring, and fun. In fact, I prefer to call them “non-desk” activities as opposed to nonwriting activities—I truly believe they are a part of the writing process, too!
I’ve always drawn maps, made rough sketches, and used different colors for notetaking in order to develop my stories and energize my imagination. Using color and imagery has a way of opening up the mind and allowing the brain to problem-solve in a way that typing black and white words on a page can’t always do. (I’m speaking as someone who isn’t a trained artist, and I don’t expect my workshop participants to be, either!)
As for the more crafty tactics, these are newer ideas that I’ve borrowed from a workshop I co-created with an artist friend of mine where we made mixed media storybooks. I was so impressed with how some of the tactile art techniques we used, like scrapbooking and collage, inspired story ideas that I started using them as whimsical creative exercises in my own process. Of course, the arts-and-crafts-based lessons in my book are optional, but I urge everyone to give them a try—I’ve seen more than one writer get inspired or unstuck this way!
The main physical activity I talk about in my book is something I call a Writer’s Walk. This tactic is so important to me, I shepherd groups on Writer’s Walks in my live in-person workshops when time allows! I’ve always found that stepping away from my desk for a walk is a powerful way to work out story problems, sometimes by actively pondering the story, other times on a more subconscious level. Often when we feel terribly stuck in our story, doubling down and powering through just turns into spinning our wheels. But unsticking ourselves from our desk can unstick our minds—I’m not sure exactly how or why, but I know it works. Even if all you get is a brain break when you walk, it can help (or even save!) your writing.
Your mini storyboard exercise is your most popular live workshop. What is it about this activity that resonates with your students? How can a writer get the most out of this chapter, even if they typically resist outlining?
My mini storyboard exercise is a strategy that prompts writers to consider the overall shape of their story before they begin their draft, but we’re not planning out all the beats and scenes. I think this approach allows enough grounding for planner-types prior to drafting, but it’s also broad enough that outline-resisters don’t feel pinned down. The flip side of this is that the planners don’t spend all of their creative time planning, and the “pantsers” have something to fall back on if they hit a dead-end. It’s a healthy compromise!
As for those who resist outlining, my purpose isn’t to convert anyone into something they are not! However, I’ve noticed that sometimes writers who declare they don’t outline simply haven’t found the right planning strategy. I’d also add that if you’re reading my book or attending one of my workshops, chances are there’s something about your current approach that isn’t getting you the results you’re craving. You may not even know exactly what it is that needs tweaking, but you’re looking for something different. So, like all the lessons in my book, what I say about the mini storyboard is: Give it a try—experiment! You may be surprised by how much you love it. Or even if it’s not for you overall, there still might be something within the activity that you can take forward with you to help spark your story.
Toward the end of the book, you give writers permission to zig zag. That is, you encourage writers to jump between stages of the writing process without guilt. What are the benefits of zig zagging? What do you recommend for writers who would prefer to find the flow state instead?
I would say that overall I aim for flow in my own writing—that is, progressing through the writing steps, stages, and even the drafting itself in a fairly orderly fashion. My teaching approach also prioritizes a flow mentality. I’ve structured the activities in each chapter of The One Week Writing Workshop according to an order that flows: Warmups, Core, and Stretches. My core drafting strategy is aimed at establishing a daily writing practice. I think there’s much about my process that will appeal to writers who strive for a flow state.
However, I’ve also experienced moments as a writer when things aren’t flowing—despite wanting and intending to flow. It might be that a given step in the process has me hung up, or that halfway through chapter two, I find myself unable to shape the next half. My natural tendency is to jump to another step in the process temporarily or to another chapter or scene in my draft. I used to think of this tendency as “cheating” or otherwise less than ideal because it wasn’t “flow.” But then I realized this is how I keep going and keep connected to my story. So, I’ve reframed zig zagging as a strategy, one that’s certainly preferable to stopping altogether. It’s why I urge writers to proudly zig zag and jump around when it feels right, or as an antidote to a flow that has suddenly stopped. It isn’t cheating or lazy or not being a real writer. It’s a tactic for crafting our stories and can even prepare us to step back into flow.
You modify the creative writing mantra “Show, don’t tell” into the refined “More show, less tell.” Are there any other “rules” of writing in need of an update?
I understand the function and appreciate the wisdom of common writing rules, and you won’t find me advocating to toss them all aside! However, I think there is value in softening some of their edges, like transforming “Show, don’t tell” into “More show, less tell.” Similarly, something like “Write every single day” could be modified to “Write regularly” to accommodate the reality of more writers. Maybe it’s that for me, statements containing words like don’t, never, every, or always seem at odds with the creative process, where we’re trying to keep ourselves wide open to possibilities.
One common piece of writing advice that I break or at least bend in my own practice is “Never revise when writing a draft.” I get it—the rule is meant to save you from slowing down your writing momentum. However, the regular writing routine that works for me includes new writing as well as a light “polish” of the previous day’s writing. My polishing tactic allows me to step back into the flow of my story where I left off the day before. It also warms up my voice for that day’s new writing. Not only that, when I’ve finished my first draft, I have something that is a little more refined than had I sprinted through start to finish without any reflection along the way. It has worked for me on three books and counting, and I offer this approach as a strategy in my book. I think it will resonate with many writers despite the (mild) challenge it presents to a well-known “rule.”
Your seven-step writing method covers ideas, character, setting, plot and planning, drafting, rest, and revision. In your experience, do writers tend to struggle with one particular stage more than the others? Which stage is the most challenging or misunderstood?
I’ve seen struggles at any given step of the process. Project to project, it’s even possible that different stages might present different creative challenges for the same writer. That’s certainly been the case in my own writing life! It’s one of the reasons I wrote The One Week Writing Workshop the way that I did. Not only can it be used as a self-contained workshop, writers can use it like a reference guide with tactics to get them out of particular creative jams as they arise.
If I was to pick one stage overall that is the most challenging and misunderstood by writers, I’d say that it’s revision. Some writers I’ve worked with initially resist doing any revision at all—once they’ve written “The End,” they’re done. Related to this is the misconception that revision isn’t up to the writer, it’s an editor who will take the lead at this stage. While it’s true that writers often work with editors on revisions, the idea that a writer will go through several rounds of revisions themselves before an editor or anyone else lays eyes on a manuscript is foreign to some.
There’s also a tendency to conflate revision with editing or proofreading. Again, there may be overlap here between these two stages, but according to my experience, it’s best to think of them as distinct from one another. Revision is a creative step where we are still honing characters, story world, and language. That’s how I teach it in my book. I break down revision into a series of creative steps so that even reluctant revisers can enjoy it and succeed. It’s not just about slashing, it’s about bringing your creative vision into focus! This is a lot different than proofreading where we’re looking for typos, grammatical issues, and proper punctuation conventions. In revision, we’re continuing to shape our story into what we want it to be.
You write that “merely by reading (and reading and reading) you are a student of writing.” Could you expand on the role of reading in honing a writer’s craft? How should an aspiring writer narrow down their reading list?
We learn in different ways. Sometimes it’s through a conscious, methodical approach and other times it’s more like osmosis. So, we can choose to read deliberately to learn and grow as writers, with an eye toward noticing structure and technique. We can pay attention to how other authors before us have handled their narratives. New writers and seasoned writers can both benefit from reading in this way. I know that for me, project to project I encounter different creative questions. Turning to books as mentors to inspire new techniques has been immensely helpful to me.
When we’re doing this “deliberate” kind of reading, I would recommend to aspiring writers—writers of any background, really—to choose books and authors who write in the style or genre that most resembles your own project. But I always add the caution that you shouldn’t dissect every book you read, and you shouldn’t necessarily study your very favourite book. It’s important to also read for your own pleasure.
On the flip side of this, I believe that reading whatever we’re drawn to, even if this means reading well outside our chosen book genre, still fuels our writer’s soul. Writing is about expressing your thoughts, ideas, and creativity in written form. Any book we choose to read is the product of someone else’s process, and we expand our own writing horizons by experiencing their work, no matter the subject or genre.
You’re a middle grade fiction writer who writes nonfiction for adult audiences. Give us a peek into your next project—is there another novel or writer’s workbook in your future?
I’m working on projects in both areas at the moment! Currently, I’m developing an online video course version of The One Week Writing Workshop with similar aims—to inspire and encourage fiction writers through the process, step by step. I’ve also been putting together a nonfiction writing guide for those who teach writing to groups. I want to share what I’ve learned about the unique challenges and possibilities that arise when working with groups to help teachers and writing workshop leaders be successful—and have a great time!
In the realm of fiction, I’m working on a fairytale retelling and having a ball with it. It’s something I’ve been mulling over for quite a while. The story will appeal to a slightly older audience than I’ve written for in the past, and the fantasy elements are somewhat new terrain for me. Up to this point, my fiction books have been contemporary stories rooted in the real world. I’ve always loved reading fantastical tales, and I’m enjoying the stretch that writing one of my own is providing. I’m doing a lot of exploring, learning, and growing as I write. I’m excited to see where it goes!
The One Week Writing Workshop
7 Days to Spark, Boost or Revive Your Novel
Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5
An encouraging writer’s workbook with a bevy of suggestions to get one’s creative juices flowing, The One Week Writing Workshop is a helpful, exercise-laden guide.
Karin Adams’s personalized storytellers’ guide The One Week Writing Workshop is about brainstorming, drafting, and revising works of fiction with speed.
Arguing that one can draft a short story or novel excerpt in seven days, this workshop-inspired text focuses on one stage of the writing process per day. These stages include idea generation, drafting, and revision. Each is made up of a core activity and a series of optional warm-up and cool-down exercises. Day four, which includes a multistep plotting activity to be followed in its entirety, is an outlier in that the book does recommend following its guidance from start to finish. Recommendations for expanding the one-week writing workshop conclude the book, with guidance on using these tools to write an entire novel. Common roadblocks, including writer’s block and disillusionment with one’s plot, are also addressed.
Herein, writing is treated as a process that can be approached in a “practical, activity-centered” manner. The book accounts for a variety of writing experiences and styles: “Some writers prefer to dive right into their first draft and see where the writing takes them,” the book notes, while “others like to plan their entire story in great detail before drafting a story’s first word.”
The chapters are concise, and their advice is actionable and innovative, as with the modification of the common advice “show, don’t tell” to a recommendation for a “‘more show, less tell’ approach.” Elsewhere, a mini-storyboard activity involves writing plot points on sticky notes and placing them at the beginning, middle, or end of the story to represent moments in the protagonist’s arc, recentering plot elements like rising action, the climax, and the resolution to better flesh out the main character’s story. The separation of the middle of the story into two distinct spaces—in the first, obstacles abound and tensions ramp up; in the second, the story slides toward the resolution—is also edifying. And to illustrate such exercises, a novel-in-progress is imagined and introduced, complementing each stage of the process.
However, the example story—about Mark, a teenage swimmer—is itself flat, working somewhat against the exercises’ own persuasiveness. As a representation of what the one-week writing workshop might achieve, it’s an ineffective throughline. Still, while not all of the activities will work for all writers, as with the suggestion to create a full scrapbook from the point of view of a character, the book is appealing in its acknowledgement and validation of differing styles, as where invites reflection on what is most effective for each writer:
You might find you have a different writing personality. There may be something off-putting to you about my approach. That’s okay! When it comes to getting through a draft, it’s about setting the kind of schedule or goal that you will show up for.
One Week Writing Workshop is an imagination-sparking fiction writer’s guide to beginning a new project or reinvigorating a work in progress.
Reviewed by Hannah Pearson October 7, 2024
Hannah Pearson
