Omega Writers Retreat: Views from the Pews

On 10-11 October, many of us tuned in to the Omega Writers online retreat. Omega Writers is an Australian Christian Writers network that helps to encourage one another, and provide skills and resources to help others in their writing journeys. This year's theme was 'Transformation: Renewing Our Minds, Sharpening Our Skills, Writing With Purpose'. We had the chance to hear some amazing speakers and network with fellow writers flung near and far.

It started out on the Friday night with the annual AGM and writing workshops in our smaller genre groups. Then the main retreat day on the Saturday included:

• A keynote address by American author Lori Roeleveld, with some insights from the book of Nehemiah to strengthen our writing.
• An action-packed advertising and marketing presentation by Carolyn Miller.
• An AI panel with Pete Court, Karen Brough, Susan Bruce and David Rawlings.
• A panel on publishing models with Meredith Resce, Jenny Glazebrook, Rochelle Stephens, Carolyn Miller and Gina Walters.
• More time in our genre groups.
• Later that night, we capped off the event with the CALEB awards for unpublished manuscripts.

I asked some of the attendees if they could share something they got out of the retreat and here are their responses.

Barbara McKay, Southeast Queensland

As iron sharpens iron, so likeminded people can sharpen and challenge you, refine you, and strengthen you. This is what I experienced from the girls in the Toowoomba Omega chapter who warmly welcomed me to the Online Retreat last Saturday. Their kindness was overwhelming.

As an octogenarian with physical challenges, I loved fellowship with these girls and others in Omega Writers online. Our speaker, Lori from Rhode Island in the USA, shared insights from the book of Nehemiah highlighting how she coped with adversity. I love this Old Testament book. Her words did encourage me to keep writing. I will listen again to her words, and like Nehemiah, take on board those Biblical principles of prayer, total dependence on a living God and planning, to help me achieve my writing goals.

Donna Gains, North QLD

It was so nice to see faces I haven't seen for a year and to be able to spend time with my tribe—writers with similar hearts and connecting beliefs. Lori's words spoke to my core reason for being a writer; God has called me to this, I am assigned and designed for these times, and I'm needed to build my part of the wall. So encouraging, like a vitamin shot in the arm.

Sara Powter, Central Coast NSW

Having never done an online retreat, I was somewhat fearful of what to expect. I had no idea whether there would be ten people or a thousand (not that it really matters). But I loved it. Due to various family commitments, we couldn’t attend the face-to-face conferences, but having them online was great. Although meeting other known names was fabulous, I selfishly wondered how this would help my writing. Well, it did!

I loved the talks from Lori and Carolyn, but the completely new area of AI—something I have NEVER been game to experiment with—was eye-opening. Consequently, I have been playing with ChatGPT using an incognito window. Ask it, 'What sort of books does so-and-so write' (in my case, Sara Powter), and it's amazing what you can find. I then asked it more questions—How many books has she written? How can she improve her writing? How can she improve her visibility (re advertising)? Potential areas for improvement & strategies for growth? And lots of other questions. This is BRILLIANT.

Then I played with shortening blurbs (I have done this through Grammarly Pro before). Once I had the blurb, I entered my draft title and asked it to suggest other options. I’ll probably stick with my original, but their suggestions make great subheadingss for advertising. When asked about other plots, it supplied those and suggested both how to make the main characters stronger and how to make the secondary characters more interesting. So, to the Adelaide team who led the AI panel, I bow with thanks. I still won’t use it for my writing, but for a dyslexic girl like me, this is a game-changer. (N.B. You can find Sara's books here.)

Adam Collings, Tasmania

There was a lot to love at the Omega Writers Online Retreat last weekend, from the many useful tips shared by Carolyn Miller in her marketing session, to celebrating the amazing winners of the various CALEB prizes. But for me, the standout was Lori Roeleveld’s keynote talk. I especially connected with her second point: “you were specifically designed and assigned to these times and this place.” While we can sometimes feel out of the loop here in Australia, I feel that doubly so in Tasmania. I love my state with a burning passion, but I sometimes identify with Luke Skywalker’s words. “If there's a bright centre to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from.” We don’t have comic-cons or a large assortment of author markets (although we do have the biggest dedicated indie author book fair in the southern hemisphere!) But while I may not have the same opportunities as others, God chose me for here and now. And that’s exciting. (N.B. Adam writes as Adam David Collings)

Wrap-Up

Thanks for those comments, everyone. I can reiterate what everyone has said. I too got a lot out of Lori's talk, especially regarding writing the assignment God has given you without fear. Carolyn shared a lot of helpful tips on marketing. The AI panel was thought-provoking. I'm probably one of those who had looked on AI with trepidation, so it was good to hear more about the pros and cons and how you can think through ethical uses of AI that could help in your writing tasks. I appreciated that the publishing panel also explained a bit more about how to tell the difference between genuine author services that help you to self-publish your own work versus the vanity presses that rip you off. And the genre groups were a great way to liaise with others who are writing in a similar area.

Thank you to the Omega president, Carolyn Tonkin, and to all of the office-bearers, committee members and helpers who organised the retreat. Thank you to all of the presenters and genre group leaders for your efforts, and a big shoutout to Tamara Wenham and the judges who did so much work towards the CALEB awards.

Next Year's Conference

The 2026 Omega conference will be held  at the Nunyara Conference Centre in Belair, Adelaide from 16-18 October. Guest speakers have already been lined up from the US and the UK, and local speakers will be announced at a later date. So mark your calendars now.

If any of the other retreat attendees would like to share what you got out of the retreat, we'd love you to add a comment below. It was a blast!

____ 

Nola Lorraine has a passion for faith and social justice issues, and loves weaving words that inspire others with courage and hope. Her books include the inspirational historical novel Scattered, the Christian devotional book Comfort Zone, and the Christian charity anthology Glimpses of Light which she co-edited with Jeanette O’Hagan. She also has more than 150 short publications, including fiction, poetry, devotions, true stories, magazine articles and academic papers. She loves sharing the words and stories God impresses on her heart, and prays that He will use them to bless others.  http://www.nolalorraine.com.au

Using Transformation to Create Riveting Stories by Nola Lorraine

 

We all love a good story, whether it’s Luke Skywalker defeating the forces of darkness or Elizabeth Bennett getting her man. However, we can sometimes wander off to the land of mesmerising metaphors or take a detour on the sidetrack of scintillating subplots before we’ve really come to grips with the essence of our story.

Sometimes we use the terms ‘plot’ and ‘story’ interchangeably, but they’re not the same. Good stories have transformation at their heart. Luke Skywalker realises his destiny as a Jedi knight. Elizabeth Bennett overcomes her prejudice. The plot helps us to show these transformations through a series of actions, circumstances, dialogue, revelations and more.

Entire books have been written on this topic, so I’ll only scratch the surface in this post. However, here are three authors whose methods have helped me to see ‘story’ with clearer eyes.

James Scott Bell’s ‘LOCK’ System

For James Scott Bell, the four components of the LOCK system make a good story.

• L = Lead – A compelling lead character you can sympathise with. This doesn’t mean he/she is perfect. In fact, it’s better if you also incorporate some flaws. However, you need to care what happens to him/her.

• O = Objective – The lead should be trying to get something or get away from something. This needs to be important enough that the reader will care about the protagonist’s journey towards his/her goal.

• C = Confrontation – This could be conflict with other characters or it could be some outside force, such as an avalanche. In any case, it won’t be easy for your protagonist to reach his or her goals. We have to see him/her battling the obstacles.

• K = Knockout ending – Is there a twist? A brilliant tying together of threads? Has the lead changed during the course of his/her journey?

For more information, please see the following book:

Bell, James Scott (2004). Plot and structure: Techniques and exercises for crafting a plot that grips readers from start to finish. Cincinnati, OH: Writer’s Digest Books.

Bell also offers an online course on ‘How to Write Best-Selling Fiction’. 

 

Lisa Cron – Story Genius

For Lisa Cron, the story is about the protagonist’s journey.

 

• What is your main character’s misbelief?
• Dig deep to find the roots of their misbelief.
• What situation are they going to be thrown into that will challenge their misbelief?
• How do they change over the course of the story?

These questions need to be answered before you start plotting. First work out what the character is going to learn over the course of the novel, and then work out what plot will allow them to learn that lesson.

I’ve written another post that fleshes this out a bit more and you can read it here.

You can also find out more in the following book:

Cron, Lisa (2016). Story genius: How to use brain science to go beyond outlining and write a riveting novel. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

I also highly recommend her course on www.creativelive.com called ‘Wired for story: How to become a story genius’.

 

Jessica Brody – Save the Cat Method

Jessica Brody also sees transformation as key. Give the lead character a problem, a want, or a need. The plot is about fixing the problem or striving towards the ‘want’ or ‘need’. Obstacles are thrown at them, and they often learn lessons along the way that they didn’t expect. The plot shows the protagonist’s inner journey as they learn the life lesson they need to learn.

Once you have the main problem that needs to be fixed, you can start structuring a plot that helps the protagonist learn that lesson.

Using the ‘Save the Cat’ method popularised by screenwriter Blake Snyder, Brody shows how you can structure your novel using 15 beats, from opening image to catalyst to dark night of the soul to a brilliant final image. It’s beyond the scope of this blog to explain all of the beats, but you can find a full explanation and lots of examples in her book:

Brody, Jessica. (2018). Save the cat! writes a novel: The last book on novel writing you’ll ever need. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

Also see her online course on www.udemy.com called ‘Writing a bestselling novel in 15 steps’.

Summary of the Techniques

Although these three writers approach plot in different ways, they all emphasise the importance of the lead character’s change over the course of the story. The plot isn’t just a bunch of things that happen, no matter how interesting or exciting. The plot allows you to show what your lead character has to learn over the course of the novel. Every scene needs to advance that story in some way.

A Few Comments about Transformation in Christian Stories

In the past, a recurring theme in 'Christian' novels was that one of the non-believers would become a Christian by the end of the book. That still happens in some novels, of course, and there's nothing wrong with that. However, just be careful to show well-rounded characters with real struggles. It's seldom as straightforward as one person sharing a gospel message and the other 'praying the prayer'. 

Also, Christians can go through the whole gamut of issues, problems and struggles that others go through. It's not always about someone being saved. I remember a dear old gentleman who came along to a missions talk one of my friends gave once. Afterwards, he expressed disappointment that she hadn't given a clear message about what her life was like before she met Christ and what it was like after. He came with very clear expectations, but that wasn't the purpose of her talk. She wasn't giving a personal testimony; she was talking about the mission trip she'd been on. But even if she had been giving a testimony, did it have to include a salvation message? It would have been equally valid for her to talk about one issue God had helped her work through. I think the same is true in fiction. Transformation can take many shapes.

In my historical novel Scattered, for example, my protagonist Maggie has abandonment issues and she needs to learn that God is the one person who will never leave her regardless of what other circumstances come her way. 

What examples of transformation have you seen in some of your favourite novels? I'd love to hear your examples.

Author Bio

Nola Lorraine has a passion for faith and social justice issues, and loves weaving words that inspire others with courage and hope. Her inspirational historical novel Scattered was released in October 2020. She also co-edited the Christian charity anthology Glimpses of Light; and has more than 150 short publications, including fiction, poetry, devotions, true stories, magazine articles and academic papers. She and her husband Tim run a freelance writing and editing business, The Write Flourish, from the home they share with their two adorable cavoodles in southeast Queensland, Australia. 

She would love to connect with you through her website: https://www.nolalorraine.com.au/

You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

You can purchase Nola's novel 'Scattered' through Amazon, Koorong, and Breath of Fresh Air Press.

N.B. Featured photo by Tumisu on Pixabay. Free for commercial use.

 

Brass Heavens

From around the year 2000 for roughly seven years, I experienced what my hubby calls a 'brass heaven,' or what I called disappointment with God - and it had nothing to do with writing. The Lord didn't answer my prayers the way I wanted Him to and I became very discouraged, to the point I found it hard to speak to Him (in any kind of deep and personal way). It is hard to explain in a few words, but I felt as though God had let me down. My relationship with the Lord had once been amazing, a giddy kind of romance, but then it all disappeared. A phrase in my head at the time was "oh the heights from which I've fallen." (I now know this was all me of course, God is perfect.)

When it comes to writing, I am a detailed plotter. I plan out characters and chapters, everything, before I start to write. However, in early 2009 an idea hit me so powerfully that I sat down at my computer with my bible and just started typing. Over the course of a year I wrote a whole manuscript and it seemed as though the Lord was speaking to me, waking me up, reshaping my thinking.

It is not a 'Christian Living' book. It is not even non-fiction. It is purely medieval fantasy romance, but it is allegorical in nature. The writing of this manuscript transformed my life and I will never be the same. I learned things about the grace and love of God that fundamentally changed my character.

All throughout that year, everything pointed to this story. The songs on the radio. Sermons preached. God was working in my heart and mind in a very profound way.

You can imagine therefore that this manuscript is closer to my heart than anything else I've written, as though pieces of my soul are stitched in the pages. Funnily enough, it is the one I have the most trouble getting published. I am looking at a complete re-write. But, I have no peace about re-writing. So, I wait.

I wait on the Lord to give me direction. He will bring it to pass in time. He will give me a nudge, or an idea. I am not discouraged or disappointed about the rejections. Ironically, if I had never written this story, I would not be so at peace with the process. And if it never sees the light of publication, so be it. It has done its job in me. Or rather, He has done His work in me.

Have you ever written anything which God has used to teach you?


Amanda Deed resides in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne where she fills her time with work, raising a family, church activities and writing historical romance novels. Her new novel, Ellenvale Gold was released at the beginning of November, 2011. For more information, see:
http://www.amandadeed.com.au/
http://amanderings.wordpress.com/