Brandon Mull

Brandon Mull came to speak to my Novel Writing class last Tuesday!

I had been eagerly anticipating this event for two months, and was not dissapointed in the slightest.  There was too much advice contained within his seminar to write in a blog post, but I'll include some of the basics.  --1. BE A GOOD OBERVER.  When you're looking at a beautiful or striking landscape, try to put it into words.  This develops your ability to make the reader see what you want them to.  This technique can also be applied to personalities.  2. CHARACTERS are what make you care about the book.  From them arrise the plot, the conflict and the relationships that make a book interesting.  Make your characters consistent, and make it so that the reader can relate to them.  3. RELATIONSHIPS.  Conflict arrises from them.  Most novels have a protagonist and an antagonist (hero vs. villains), and from these come the main conflict of goals and ideas that shapes the book.  There are also many minor relationships to create, all of which intertwine to make an enjoyable book.  4. TROUBLE.  This goes with the theme already mentioned  of conlfict and how it contributes to the book.  Trouble makes a book interesting.--  This is a watered down version of Mr. Mull's presentation.  It's not possible (as I already said) to convey everything he said in detail, and I regret I can't share the full presentation with everyone. 

In addition to his presentation, I got Mr. Mull's signature in each of his books and on a poster that now hangs on my wall. 

All in all, a once in a life time experience!