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About Anne Greenwood Brown

Anne Greenwood Brown (@AnneGBrown) writes Young Adult ("YA") fiction. She is represented by Jacqueline Flynn of Joelle Delbourgo Associates. She is the author of the LIES BENEATH trilogy (Random House/Delacorte Press), GIRL LAST SEEN (co-author/ Albert Whitman & Co.), and COLD HARD TRUTH (Albert Whitman, April 2018). Anne was a proud contributor to Writer Unboxed's AUTHOR IN PROGRESS as well as a presenter at the 2016 UnConference. She also writes adult romance under the pen name "A. S. Green."

Recent Posts by this author:

  • Planning Your Own Weekend Writers’ Retreat
  • How to Write Emotional Scenes When You’d Really Rather Not
  • Visual Thinking
  • Cleaning the Lens
  • In Memoriam
  • *Pinch* Are You Awake?
  • Character Connections
  • Untitled
  • Fun With Literary Allusions
  • Collaboration
  • Plotting, Pacing, and Crossing Over
  • Practical Tips for Writing a Series

    • Planning Your Own Weekend Writers’ Retreat

    By 3 Comments

    Photo Cred: Alex Robert

    With the WU Uncon just around the corner, many of us are getting excited for a writing retreat. There is the anticipation of seeing old friends and meeting new ones, the expectation of learning something new, and the chance to gain insight and inspiration for the current WIP. And while big retreats like the Uncon pack a big punch, there is also much to be gained from smaller, more intimate retreats—especially ones you plan yourself.

    I’ve done a few of these with my critique groups over the years. If you haven’t put one together yourself, here are some ideas to get you started. It might be just the thing to tide you over during the Uncon’s off years.

    [Before I get going, I wanted to note that I reference a number of websites in this article. I am not affiliated in any way with any of these businesses, nor have I used all of them myself. Rather, they are selected from my own research file, which I have compiled over the years for planning writer retreat weekends.]

    Location, Location, Location. The location for your retreat goes hand in hand with the number of people you can invite to attend. There are, of course, places specially designed for writers retreats. For example, the Highlights Foundation offers private writing cabins in the Pocono Mountains, and offers a lodge where everyone can congregate for meals. There are smaller places, too, like this writers and artists retreat home available for rent in Wisconsin, or this one in Tennessee. In fact, airbnb is an excellent place to start if you don’t have a private home or cabin available to you.

    Whatever you choose, you’ll want to make sure you have not only sufficient bedrooms, but also ample space to spread out during the day for quiet, undisturbed writing time. I also suggest asking what everyone’s writing process is beforehand. For example, many people like to listen to music while they write. Be sure that headphones are required. Others like to read aloud to themselves, or they use Dragon software as part of their writing process. The other attendees will appreciate it if that person has some space where sound can be contained and won’t bleed over into others’ work areas.

    Schedule. You can do whatever you like, of course, and it’s always a good idea to ask the attendees what they want to do. However, I’ve found that providing a schedule before the event sets the right expectation: this weekend is meant for writing first, socializing second. This is particularly true because people are likely spending money to participate. The following schedule has worked well for my retreats in the past:

         8:00 AM Breakfast

         8:00 AM- 12:00 PM Write

         12:00 PM Lunch

         1:00 PM Recreational Activity to Recharge

         3:00-6:00 PM Write

         6:00 PM Dinner & Drinks

         7:30 PM Time to Share Aloud the Products of the Day

    Food. Consider meal-prep sharing, where certain meals are assigned to certain people. This typically helps even out the costs and labor. Also consider foods scientifically linked to increased creativity, for example: [Read more…]

    How to Write Emotional Scenes When You’d Really Rather Not

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    This book gave me “all the feels.” We all strive to write the quintessential delivery system for “feels,” whether we know it or not, whether we’re consciously striving to deliver, or not. We do this because that’s what drives us to tell stories in the first place. Somewhere along the line—whether it was Vonnegut or […]

    Visual Thinking

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    A month or so ago, I was deep into first-pass editing. This is the stage after you receive an editorial letter that poses questions about character development, suggests adding scenes (or removing them), and encourages other “big picture” thinking. I posted a photo of what my editing process looked like for that morning, and Therese Walsh […]

    Cleaning the Lens

    By

    I have a daughter. She’s seventeen. She’s a fantastic writer (truly), and a big-time reader (no surprise). She’s also totally blind. And this is where things get interesting. A few weeks ago, we were driving down the road. She was reading aloud to me from her work in progress—a fantasy that featured a blind person […]

    *Pinch* Are You Awake?

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    Photo by alq666 We all have an inherent sense of story. There is an expected rhythm to it, like breathing, and we notice when that rhythm gets interrupted. This is why we give up on a novel we’re reading because it’s moving too slowly, or why we are dissatisfied with an ending because it felt […]

    Character Connections

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    (Photo by Alexis Mire) I’ve been thinking a lot about empathy lately. It’s been an obvious subject of conversation in the wake of the Orlando massacre and high profile sexual assaults. Violence is often the result of one person’s inability to connect with and appreciate the value and integrity of another person. In that regard, […]

    Untitled

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    Once upon a time (because that’s how all good stories start), the title of my work in progress was: LATEST BOOK. I considered submitting it that way. It was ironic. Poignant. It begged a deeper question of philosophical importance. Maybe. Or maybe the truth was: While I am rarely a victim of traditional writer’s block, […]

    Fun With Literary Allusions

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    Let’s talk about literary allusion. For some of you, it may be a literary device you haven’t thought much about since tenth grade English, but it is a technique that I love as a reader and turn to often in my own writing to inform a character, to enrich a scene, or to evoke emotion. […]

    Collaboration

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    In April of this year, I got a call from my agent that went something like this: She:“I’ve been hearing from several editors that they’re looking for a book like X. They were wondering if I had anything to submit that would fit the bill. I don’t, but I do have an author who could […]

    Plotting, Pacing, and Crossing Over

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    Awhile back, I attended the three-day Story Masters Workshop, given by James Scott Bell, Donald Maass, and Christopher Vogler. I highly recommend it, and you can check out more information about their workshops here. Vogler’s expertise is movie scripts. One of the things that I found most interesting about his presentation was his 12-stage hero’s […]

    Practical Tips for Writing a Series

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    There is no one way to write a series. There are, however, some practical considerations that will save you time and frustration as you take off on your journey, particularly if you intend to pursue a traditional publisher. Some of these tips I learned from agents and editors; others I learned myself (the hard way) […]

     

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