Ali Shaw is the owner of Indigo Editing. In her role as editor, she has worked with hundreds of authors to identify their story’s strong points and that elusive spark that’s missing—and taught them how to add it. At HippoCamp 2019, she will be presenting “Writing the Villain: Tools for Drafting 3-D Adversaries” which will mix story science, examples from the masters, and psychology to provide practical lessons to writing memoir with true tension, depth of character, and gripping plot points.
HM: Tell us a little about your involvement this year at HippoCamp. If you’re running a break-out session or workshop, what can attendees expect?
AS: This session [“Writing the Villain”] will define what makes a villain, give practical tools for crafting the villain in a believable way, look at examples from bestsellers, and include some short writing exercises to foster later in-depth writing sessions.
HM: Our motto is “memorable creative nonfiction.” Tell us about one of the more recent memoirs, essay collections, or individual essays you’ve read and why it was memorable. If it’s online, share a link!
AS: The Hone Bus by Meredith May is my new favorite memoir. She layers a remarkable story of the losses she experienced in her family with a beautiful metaphor of matriarchy in bee communities.
HM: What made you decide to participate in HippoCamp this year as a speaker? If you’re returning, how did your past experiences encourage you to want to come back?
AS: I loved attending HippoCamp in 2017. It’s such an incredible community of writers who all have the same genre in common. And I’m passionate about helping memoirists address their pain points (villains in memoir are a common pain point!) and strengthen their skills to solve them.
HM: What’s going to keep you busy between now and HippoCamp?
AS: I’ll be finishing up edits on two clients’ memoirs between now and then, so it’s a fun month!
HM: Since you’ll also be attending the conference, when you’re not wearing your “speaker hat,” what are you most looking forward to learning or doing?
AS: I really love having genuine conversations with other memoirists, and HippoCamp is a place where I feel I can slide easily between my roles as speaker/editor and writer, which is a huge value.
HM: We love introducing Lancaster to attendees. If you live here or have been here before, what would you recommend to other attendees?
AS: Last time, I spent every single moment at the conference, wanting to soak in as much as I could. That could very well happen again! But I’d love to check out some local foods too.
***
Thanks for bringing your experience and expertise to HippoCamp 2019, Ali! And reader, if you’re excited about a weekend full of creative nonfiction, including Ali’s take on villainy, register now!
–post by Viannah E. Duncan
There are 0 comments