Harrison Demchick - The Writer's Ally™

Harrison Debuts New Presentation for MWA Annapolis—November 19, 2014

TWA Editor Harrison Demchick was honored to premiere his talk, “The Skeleton in the Closet: What Film Structure Can Teach Us About Crafting Our Stories” at the November 19^th meeting of the Annapolis Chapter of the Maryland Writer’s Association. As a nonprofit organization dedicated to support of writers throughout Maryland, the MWA remains a wonderful local resource for aspiring and published writers alike. At their November meeting, Harrison was able to join Annapolis writers to discuss the intersection of plot structure and the standard, precise three-act film structure.

Throughout his talk, Harrison discussed three main factors present in the three-act structure that help writers understand how stories are constructed and how to use these lessons to improve and grow as writers. These factors are:

How inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement are reflected in the precision of three-act screenplay structure.
What the precise location of plot points in film, specifically points of no return, can teach us about building a story through the principle of cause and effect.
Why the protagonist typically faces his lowest moment, sometimes called the all is lost moment, shortly before the climax in the third act—and why novels and memoirs can benefit from this approach as well.

Harrison’s talk had everyone involved, incited thoughtful questions from his audience, and sparked a lively discussion at the conclusion of the presentation. Secretary of the Annapolis MWA chapter and author of Up the Hill to Home observed,

Harrison is an engaging and entertaining speaker with plenty of practical knowledge that he loves to share.–Jenny Yacovissi, Crownsville, MD

It was a very successful and stimulating evening, and Harrison and I would like to thank Program Chair David Joyner, Chapter President Kat Spitzer, and the members of the Annapolis MWA for inviting him to speak. Please visit www.marylandwriters.org for more information about this great organization!

Harrison Presents at the Just Write. Writers Conference—September 28, 2014

TWA editor Harrison Demchick had the wonderful opportunity to present at the Just Write. Writers Conference hosted by the Harford County Public Library on September 28^th, 2014. Harrison was able to spend his Sunday presenting two talks and joining fellow experts in a panel discussion of genre writing.

The Just Write. Writers Conference is an annual event sponsored in part by the Maryland Humanities Council that brings successful regional writers together with local aspiring writers. Harrison was able to present his talk on the origins of conflict and tension in character, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It and I Feel Fine,” as well as discuss the interaction of creative invention and story logic in “Bad Math, or How Right and Left Brains Work Together.” Later that afternoon, Harrison sat down for a panel with local authors Austin Camacho and Jon McGoran to discuss writing for specific genres.

A few conference attendees commented on Harrison’s presentations:

Found this session very informative and helpful. Good material. Harrison is personable and easy to listen to.—Vivian Smith

Listening to Harrison talk made me excited to run home and start writing! It was awesome hearing an editor’s point of view as opposed to just a writer’s. It was more all-encompassing. Great talk. I would love to read a book he writes about this topic! Very knowledgeable!!!—Kevin Henkel

Harrison had a great time at the Just Write. Writers Conference in September, and we both want to thank the dedicated Bethany Hacker and the Harford County Public Library for the wonderful experience. We hope to return and to see all of you at Just Write in Fall 2015.

The Writer’s Ally Own Harrison Demchick Releases Debut Novel, The Listeners

The Writer’s Ally has an exciting announcement: our own Harrison Demchick is celebrating the release of his first novel, The Listeners, just out from Bancroft Press this month. It’s a dark and terrifying journey into loneliness, desperation, and the devastating experience of one young boy in a world gone mad. Yet this orphaned 14-year-old finds hope even in the midst of a deadly plague and a precarious gang known as The Listeners.

“The Listeners provides a peep hole to a ravaged world of survivors living day to day with the burden of being human. With stylistic and emotional flourishes largely missing from the post-apocalyptic sub-genre, this is a novel that really shouldn’t be missed!” writes Benjamin Kane Ethridge, Bram Stoker Award Winning author of Black and Orange and Dungeon Brain.

If you think this sounds like a novel about zombies, well, you’re not far off, but don’t expect this book to follow in the footsteps of the latest pop-culture hype. “Demchick’s debut is not a zombie novel, but basically it is,” writes Daniel Kraus of Booklist and author of Bram Stoker Award finalist and Odyssey Award-winning Rotters. “Sicko action is minimal, with Demchick instead following the workaday structure of Colson Whitehead’s Zone One (2011) while also incorporating the kind of primary documents seen in Max Brooks’s World War Z (2006). [With] evocative nonlinear prose . . . Demchick’s depth of focus is both confident and impressive.”

It’s that depth of focus that has readers turning pages with fascination and critics raving about this fresh new take on the zombie threat. “Prick up your ear(s) for a compelling new voice surging over the literary landscape,” writes Ron Cooper, acclaimed author of cult hit Purple Jesus, which was declared a “literary event of the first magnitude” by The Washington Post. “Harrison Demchick has crafted a story of horror and heart, of humanity both abject and noble, of a world relentlessly bleak where a rare drop of hope seeps through the cracks. Get off the main road and read The Listeners.”

We certainly will! We also plan to celebrate Harrison’s awesome achievement at his book release party on December 17 at Ukazoo Books in Towson, MD. If you’re in the Baltimore area, come celebrate with us!

Harrison Demchick came up in the world of small press publishing, working along the way on more than two dozen published novels and memoirs, several of which have been optioned for film. He is an award-winning, twice-optioned screenwriter, and the author of literary horror novel The Listeners. He’s part of The Writer’s Ally team as a developmental editor of fiction and memoir, for which he’s currently accepting new clients.

Harrison’s Advice About Rules of Logic Published on Book Dreaming

It’s always a privilege to be asked to contribute a guest post to great blog! The Writer’s Ally editor Harrison Demchick recently penned “The Bird and the Biscuit: Playing by the Rules,” for author Shannon O’Donnell’s blog, Book Dreaming.

In this article, Harrison shares the dangers of including even one little snippet of illogic in your story. He warns that even if you tell a fantastic tale, readers will always be distracted by details, small as they may be, that don’t fully jibe with the rules of logic you’ve established for your story. When you read his post, you’ll find how he helped resolve a flawed series of events involving a bird and a biscuit for one of his clients.

Shannon’s Book Dreaming blog features articles that offer helpful advice and inspiration to writers, especially those who write for teenage, or middle grade, audiences. Shannon herself is the author of two picture books and a middle-grade novel. She is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary. With a master’s degree in Education, she teaches high school English in Montana and works with young writers in her community.

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