Honing your Craft: How Workshops can help

After a partial professional edit for my current WIP, my editor suggested I check out a few writing workshops. Actually, her exact words were "workshop the hell out of this baby" ... meaning my manuscript. Needless to say, I've taken her advice and I'm one of the 4 people accepted into the First Five Pages Writing Workshop for the month of November. You can check out the entries here:   http://firstfivepagesworkshop.blogspot.com

Tension

So after the excitement wore off, I realised just how much work I was in for. Started with 'tension.' My editor had mentioned this to me briefly but prior to the workshop I must confess I hadn't given it much attention. My primary focus was the telling of the story. However, I since learned that tension is very much a part of that. A story should never just sail along with obstacle, challenge, danger, fear - this is the stuff that will keep readers interested enough to turn to the next page. If an agent says "The story doesn't have enough tension for me," it's bad news. Think of ways to introduce more conflict and raise the stakes. This will literally keep readers at the edge of their seats.