How to "Unkefer:" Advance the Story and Reveal Character
Ned Bixby -- April 14, 2006
He doesn't do yoga, he prefers cigarettes and Newcastles, but Diet Cokes are always on the menu. Bring your questions, your notebooks, your pencils, pens, crayons or computers and open your ears. Dress in your most beautiful, elegant, bold, jazziest, funnest, even decadent threads and get to Duane Unkefer's class. It's party time for Start Your Novel or Finish Your Novel at the Wake Center for Adult Education.
If this is your first attempt since What I Did on My Summer Vacation, or you're intent upon writing the Semi-Great American Novel, or your agent is waiting for your next manuscript, there is something here for you.
The classes fill with repeat offenders from years gone by, the freshly scrubbed looking for insight, guidance, wisdom, and knowledge, and writers sharpening their senses and tools needed for the craft. Duane brings the New York Times' bestseller list and a box full of rejection letters as credentials to the front of the room. He is a working writer, teacher, and artist who wears authenticity from a lifetime of earning it.
All of his classes begin with a short Q&A period as students hustle in from day jobs. The floor is open to all questions and this window of time allows for a forming and/or non-forming of the group, while the "How do I get an agent?" questions and some of the perplexing thoughts that just never seem to get answered are willingly grabbed and tossed around as people create their own Unkeferisms.
His agenda begins with such transformational topics as, What You Need to Know First, Formatting Your Manuscript, The Writing Process, Plot, and Great Beginnings, to name a few.
These fundamentals of the work and art of writing become powerful as students toil and create the pages. Duane will provide war stories from all angles of this process. He's had to find an agent, fire the agent, find another, work with publishers, and fight with them. Issues surrounding editors, packagers, book contracts, vanity publishing, query letters, copyrights, and film options are all dealt with in his course. His instructive words for those interested in Hollywood are, "Get a lawyer and cash the check."
After hanging on every word, taking notes, reading all the handouts, trying to implement the ideas (or not), and writing until hands bleed, mind explodes, and the the liquor cabinet is empty, you may choose to turn over your work to Duane for a professional reading and critique.
This may be the first time anyone has seen your words naked, or perhaps you're stuck, or maybe you're demonstrating that you've listened to his coaching and are showing off, but the criticism is worthwhile: his students grow as writers and improve as storytellers as they explore the human condition through fiction in all its genres.
Start Your Novel, starting April 11 for 7 Tuesdays, 5:15-7:15 p.m. Room 16, Wake Center.
Finish Your Novel, starting April 113 for 7 Thursdays, 5:15-7:15 p.m. Room 14, Wake Center.
The Wake Center is at 300 N. Turnpike Rd., Santa Barbara, CA 93111, 805-964-6853