“When other novelists ask me how I avoid writer's block, which has never afflicted me, I answer that self-doubt is the cause of all blocks, that I have more self-doubt than any writer I know, but that the trick is to embrace this demonic imp and cherish it.” --Dean Koontz
Writer Advice
WRITING ADVICE
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You Gotta Have Friends
by Joanna Campbell Slan
With all the emphasis today on “friending” people through social media, you’d think the message has sunk in: Friends are an invaluable commodity. However, writing is a solitary business, and writers are typically introverts who often prefer solitude to crowds. Many would-be authors hesitate to join professional groups. They feel they can’t justify the expense of dues. They shy away from on attending conferences, because they see the time and money as costs, not investments.
That’s shortsighted. Professional groups and conferences are two of the best places for an author to meet other authors, and in this topsy turvy publishing environment, friends are critical to your success. While we can sustain relationships through social media, face-to-face interaction still trumps cyber-connections. There’s something honest and real about meeting a person in the flesh. No matter how good your computer interface is, it can never replace the bond that comes from sharing a cup of coffee or feeling a kindly pat on your shoulder.
Friends—people you can rely on and who, in turn, rely on you—are indispensible to any author’s success.
Here are just a few reasons why:
1. They keep you going. Several years ago, a friend posted on her personal blog that she considered herself a failure because her first series couldn’t get any traction. I fired off an email to her. I’d always considered her a success, and I encouraged her to hang in there. Today she’s a New York Times bestselling author. I think of our exchange often; it’s a constant reminder to me to never give up.
2. They brainstorm with you. Last summer my good pal Shirley Damsgaard and I spent hours and hours working on new proposals. As a result, Shirley put the finishing touches on a query for Die Standing, which will be published by Avon. I know I benefited from our discussions as well. Only another author can understand how fragile the process of sifting through ideas can be!
3. They make you look smart. My agent called with an opportunity for me. She didn’t have long to chat. She expected me to take the information and run. But I still had a few questions. I called a friend who’d recently tackled a similar assignment, and she kindly answered my questions. As a result, I looked good because I could take the ball and run with it.
4. Friends tell you the inside scoop. How does co-op work? What is sell-through? What’s the best way to get on a panel? Where can you get bookmarks printed? There’s a shadowy world, a place where questions and insecurity hold hands. Your friends will lead you through the darkness. They’ll shine a light of understanding so you don’t trip, fall, and lose your way.
It can be tough to tear yourself away from your comfy office, to change out of sweatpants and into presentable clothes. It can be hard to brave the elements, to take time out of your day to sit in traffic, or to justify the cost of a cup of Starbucks when you could brewed java at home. But over the long haul, the investment you “spend” in making friends will come back to you many times over. You just can’t put a value on friends, as a commodity they’re precious--especially if you’re in this business for the long haul.
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Joanna Campbell Slan is the author of eleven non-fiction books as well as the Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel—Paper, Scissors, Death, which was the first book in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series. The third book in the series—Photo, Snap, Shot—will be released in May 2010 by Midnight Ink. Visit Joanna at www.JoannaSlan.com or at the blog she shares with five other mystery authors http://KillerHobbies.blogspot.com
Writing "The Trip to Goodbye"
by Douglas Crago
Ideas for stories come to me from a variety of sources—from something observed, from a dream, from a personal experience, from something read. There's no real magic involved; it's primarily a matter of remaining open to the flow of ideas and being mindful of when they materialize. I keep a journal of story ideas, and I make an entry in it as soon as an idea comes to me.The central idea for "The Trip to Goodbye" came to me one evening quite unexpectedly. I was going through a rough time and was thinking about getting away to the mountains for a few days. I've
always found that nature has a restorative and consoling effect on me, and many of my best writing ideas come to me when I'm out in the country. As I thought about the trip and how I was feeling, the image of Christopher sitting in the truck, which I describe in the discovery scene of the story, suddenly appeared in my mind. I found it provocative and compelling. A trip to goodbye, I thought, seeing him there behind the wheel, the truck loaded with gear. Once I had that in my head, I knew that I had the beginning of a good story.
A few months passed before I sat down to write the story. I wasn't sure which direction to take, so I concentrated on getting to the place inside of me where the idea began, and to connect with the strong emotions surrounding it. The first scene that I developed was the ending. It came to me right away—the story would end in silence, the truck's motor choking to a stop, the quiet evening closing in around them. I then began working out the rest of the story. I was having difficulty developing a typical storyline, so I wrote a series of scenes with the intention of connecting them later. As the writing progressed, I realized that it would be more effective to leave them separated, the threads of the story unfolding side-by-side. I set the main series of scenes, those that follow the actions of the main character, in normal font, and the parallel, complimentary scenes in italics. This structure allowed me to convey the parallel nature of the events in a natural way, play the scenes off one another within the context of the main character's journey, and then bring everything together in the scene at the river, setting off the ending to great effect.
After I completed a rough draft, I made several editing passes through the story, revising it into a first draft. I then passed it to my editor, and she and I repeated this process until we both felt that the story was finished and ready to submit to prospective publishers. I like this method because it allows me to open up and write freely at the time I'm developing a story, and then focus on perfecting the prose and other elements during the editing phase, finalizing it in collaboration with my editor.
There are many paths to a great story. I hope that my description of how this little story came about will be helpful to you in some way. Whatever the case, I believe that a writer must find the story that is relevant to him, and then write it from his heart, for that is where all great stories come from, in the end.
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Douglas Crago writes short stories, poetry and music. To read his award winning story, "The Trip to Goodbye," click http://www.writermag.com/The%20Magazine/Online%20Extras/2010/01/2009%20Short-Story%20Contest%20First%20Place.aspx.
by Eugenia West
What is it like to be writing and publishing after age 85? I hope the story of how this happened will give encouragement to writers of any age.
After collecting a pile of rejections, I decided to self-publish Without Warning as a Christmas present for family and friends. The praise was so genuine that I took a deep breath and entered the St. Martin’s Press Malice Domestic contest for first unpublished mysteries. Months went by. One morning I opened my email, and there was a message from renowned editor Ruth Cavin. The book was too international for the contest, but would I accept a contract for two books? After nearly thirty non-published years, I levitated out of my chair. Suddenly I was a pro again, no longer the wannabe with nose pressed against the glass. I could write Author on forms. Ma’s “hobby” commanded respect. Without Warning was published in 2007, Overkill in 2009.
Why such a publishing gap? I was a late starter. For years, I darted around like a hummingbird, tasting different genres. In my forties, I became a freelance reporter for local papers. Great training, but then came the nagging question: Instead of 300 words, why not 300 pages? The first book was trash. The second, a historical/suspense novel, The Ancestors Cry Out, was published by Doubleday and Ballantine in 1979. In hindsight, it might have been more productive to stick with that genre. Instead, I spent years of research on a heavy historical. And when that didn’t sell, I decided to try mysteries.
Easier said than done. There are rules. Mystery readers expect sly red herrings. Judiciously scattered clues. Surprise endings. For me, there is something satisfying about a genre that deals with the great absolutes: Death, retribution, punishment. The villain is always caught.
Motivation? I have an on-going compulsion to try to give readers total immersion into another world—in these chaotic times, I believe that the need for escape reads is greater than ever. My characters tend to be strong people who are working their way through disasters with a certain amount of sophistication, all set in interesting backgrounds. By now I’ve come to know my protagonist Emma Streat as well, maybe better, than my own daughters. I really love her, which is just as well as I’m about to be spending a lot of time with her as she survives a complicated love life and more looming disasters.
What about process? My plots aren’t set in concrete, but I like to sit in bed eating breakfast and planning the next few pages. Once in a while there’s a logjam. At that point I write What If at the top of a blank page, followed by the situation, followed by possible solutions. It usually works.
There’s no getting around the fact that it takes time to evolve a voice. I’ve learned, the hard way, to keep in mind that as writers we are entering a relationship with our readers. Clarity is key. For mysteries, I’ve whittled my style down to a minimum of adjectives and adverbs. I use a lot of short sentences and action verbs—all aimed at compelling the reader to turn the page.
It’s fair to say that writing at any age requires a major dedication of time. To be young means there’s the luxury of experimenting. When the numbers are heading towards ninety, there can be a slowing down, as well as an awareness that every day should count; slip on the ice and in a nanosecond life changes.
On the other hand, science has given the “wrinklies” some useful tools: the computer, affordable self-publishing, internet access to information and promotion. Above all, it’s a great blessing to wake up in the morning with the urge to create—and it can happen just sitting at a table.
Twelve Rules of Screenwriting
by Allison Burnett
1) Every page should be more interesting than the one before.
2) Take your time revealing who your characters are. Disclose their secrets carefully, for maximum effect. Reveals can be just as powerful as plot points.
3) Movies need movie stars, so always write a great role for a movie star. Two roles for two movie stars is even better.
4) Every speaking role, no matter how large or small, should leap off the page.
5) Begin each scene just before it starts to get interesting and cut away before it starts to bore.
6) Never reveal or even imply what is going to happen next. Keep the reader off balance. If a man asks a woman to dinner, don’t show her saying yes; just cut to the date.
7) Narration should be a last resort. If you must use it, make sure that the narrator never tells us anything that we already know or can see with our eyes.
8) Human beings in conversation rarely call each other by their names, so why should characters? Cut every name, unless absolutely necessary. They are dialogue killers.
9) Make scene descriptions terse, visual, and filmable. This is your chance to write good prose. Refrain from smart aleck asides. Never do anything to interrupt the dream.
10) Never suggest specific songs for specific moments. It’s amateurish. It’s not your job.
11) Structure is everything. Structure is logic.
12) Write and write until you discover your own rules.
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Allison Burnett is a screenwriter and novelist living in Los Angeles. His novel Undiscovered Gyrl was published by Vintage in fall of 2009. Read about him at allisonburnett.com.
I'll Take a Community With That Book, Please!
By Fauzia Burke
With today's search empowered readers, do we need to market and publish books differently? Does general publishing makes sense in an age of Google searches, micro communities and niche marketing?
Today's readers are tech savvy and resourceful. They know how to get the information they need and have higher expectations from publishers and authors. They don't just expect a book, they expect a community with their book.
I often hear publishers say that there are "very few brands in book publishing." But to thrive in today's competitive, niche markets, perhaps brands are exactly what we need. What readers choose to read is personal and an extension of who they are. Shouldn't their book choices be supported by a publisher, a brand that is invested in their interests?
Many small publishing companies have done an enviable job of branding themselves and building reader communities around their books. Take O'Reilly, TOR and Hay House. You may not read their books, but you know what they publish. Their communities trust them. People who share their point-of-view flock to their lists. These companies publish for a niche community, and are trusted members of their community. They provide extra resources, and often their authors are members of the community itself. TOR has even launched a bookstore to meet their readers' needs. These publishers show passion for their books and an understanding of their readers, and as such their readers reward them with loyalty.
Publishing books for the community
Besides reader loyalty, publishing for micro communities may have other long-term benefits as well. For example, the focus would help publishers save money on marketing. Marketing through online communities is less expensive and much more powerful than trying to reach the general public and hoping to find the right match. The publisher's Web site wouldn't have to cater to a wide variety of people. It would be designed to serve the needs of a small group. Instead of expensive advertising, they could announce the book to the community that has already bought into their brand. Publishers and authors could enlist the support of the community to spread the word (which will always be the most efficient method for marketing books.) The logo on the book spine would mean the readers have a promise that the book is worth reading. The readers would know that the publisher looked at over a thousand manuscripts all on the same topic and is offering them the very best.
So are large, general publishers at a disadvantage with today's search-empowered, community oriented readers? I think so. General trade publishing is for everyone, yet there is no "everyone" out there. Readers are part of micro communities. They want good books, and they need publishers who will support their interests and passions.
The bottom line is that publishers and authors need to evolve their marketing and publishing strategies to accommodate for a new kind of reader. A reader whose expectations demand more interaction and community. A reader whose loyalty you can have once you have earned it. A reader who wants more than a 6-week marketing campaign so you can sell a book. This new reader requires an investment of months and years.
Is that too much to expect? Perhaps. But this is your new reader, and she will stay with you if you stay with her.
Stay tuned for Web marketing tips in future weeks, or follow FSB on Twitter to see our results in real time: http://twitter.com/FSBAssociates
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Fauzia Burke is the Founder and President of FSB Associates, a Web publicity firm specializing in creating online awareness for books and authors.
For more information, please visit www.FSBAssociates.com.
One Nap at a Time: A New Mom's Musings on the Writing Life
By Katie M. Flynn
One week before my daughter was born, I finished a draft of my second novel. I wrote feverishly to the end, not knowing when I’d be able to return to it. I said goodbye to my writing group too, assuring them we'd reconvene soon, but secretly I wondered if that were true. Like many women, I would be balancing motherhood, a career, and writing, and if something had to give, it would by necessity be my writing.
1. Wait for the fog to rise. And for the first few months, I was right. Even if I’d had the desire to write, I don’t think it would have been particularly good. My brain felt foggy; I was exhausted, brain-dead, and far too enraptured with my baby to sit at my computer for very long.
2. Beg your friends for help. At about the three-month marker, the fog lifted. I was excited to write, to come newly to writing, but I wasn’t sure how to schedule in the time. So I called upon my writing group to reconvene. I asked the group to come to my house instead of the cafe where we customarily met, and they graciously agreed. I held the baby during our meetings, passing her off to my partner or another member of the group when I needed to take notes.
3. You know what they say: write what you know.
In those first weeks back at work, it didn't matter who I was talking to, or what we were talking about; I could steer any conversation back to my daughter. Though it might have driven my coworkers crazy, it wasn't necessarily the worst thing to happen to my writing. As a parent I have a whole new well of experience to draw from and a greater capacity for love and fear, responsibility and duty that can only help to deepen my writing.
4. Save the guilt for someone who has time.
The guilt I feel when I'm away from my daughter is similar to the guilt I feel when I don't write, only amplified. To avoid it, I simply never choose writing over my baby; when I'm home and she's awake, we're together. But at about six months, as she seemed to fall into a fairly regular sleep schedule, I learned to let my daughter's routine dictate when I wrote.
5. Take advantage of naps and nighttime.
At ten months, my daughter takes two naps a day and has a fairly regular bedtime. In those quiet times, when I know she's safe and sleeping, I write with the kind of focus and ferocity that only scarcity could inspire.
As my daughter's first birthday nears, I finally feel ready to return to my novel. I've printed a copy, and it sits on my desk, staring at me, waiting to see what I'll do. In some ways, it's similar to my baby. Both have to be fed and loved, cared for. But let's face it; it's not my baby. I'll feed it, sure, but only after my daughter's gone to sleep.
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Katie Flynn, who won Third Place in Writer Advice’s Flash Prose Contest, lives in San Francisco with musician Brian B. James and their daughter Thea. Her stories have appeared in The Bellingham Review, Pindeldyboz, Quick Fiction, and other journals. She directs the Menlo College Writing Center in Atherton, California.
Follow the Energy: Writing Aikido
By Judy Ringer
When my friend Lynn asked how I incorporate the principles of Aikido into my writing practice, I was surprised and dumbfounded–surprised by the delightful question and dumbfounded because I've been practicing Aikido for fifteen years and teaching and writing about Aikido almost as long, but I'd never considered how my Aikido and writing practices might be connected.
Aikido–The Way of Blending with Energy–is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba in the early 20th century. It employs no blocks or counterpunches. The goal: to disarm without harming. The method: blending and redirecting.
The student of Aikido learns to "catch" the attack energy, to blend with it and redirect it to a safe conclusion. In order to blend, we move off the line of attack; we get out of the way. We step back, slide sideways, or move into an opening created by the attack, then contain the attacker with a pin or throw.
Consequently, the person delivering the attack usually ends up on the floor. And learning to fall safely becomes a key skill and indispensable option–another way to catch or receive energy. Aikido represents a new way to engage, to blend with whatever comes, and to transform resistance into connection.
You may already see the link between Aikido and writing. Like Aikido, writing is both an art and a practice. When I practice either with intention and regularity, technique improves and eventually becomes invisible.
Like Aikido, when I'm writing well, I'm in a flow state. I acknowledge and blend with all that is going on in mind, body and spirit. When I feel stuck, for example, I ask: Why is this hard? What am I resisting? Or, What am I really trying to say here? I pay attention to what wants to emerge, and I connect with the stuck energy until it begins to flow.
In both Aikido and writing, the goal is alignment. Instead of pushing back on an idea or forcing it, I listen to where it wants to go. Instead of seeking the perfect word, phrase, or preposition, I let words flow, even if ungrammatical or nonsensical, in order to let the energy of the moment, the thought, flow freely. I get out of the way. Later I look and see what I've got. Sometimes it's useless, and sometimes I don't change a thing. But the "letting it flow" part is really fun. Catching the energy.
These are not new ideas. But the physical sensation of using energy on the mat helps me to find it off the mat. O'Sensei said: "Always practice the Art of Peace in a vibrant and joyful manner." When writing feels hard, I remember and return to the joy–a practice that works in Aikido and in writing.
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Judy Ringer is the author of Unlikely Teachers: Finding the Hidden Gifts in Daily Conflict and two CDs, Managing Conflict in the Workplace: An Aiki Approach, and Simple Gifts: Making the Most of Life's Ki Moments, as well as the award-winning newsletter, Ki Moments. A black belt instructor in the martial art Aikido, Judy provides conflict, communication, and presentations skills training throughout North America using its principles. Visit her website at www.judyringer.com.
A Sudden, Brilliant Burst:
Making Flash Fiction Work
by Gabrielle Hovendon,
First Place Winner of Writer Advice’s Flash Prose Contest
Merriam Webster describes the noun "flash" as "a sudden and often brilliant burst." This definition encompasses the two essential characteristics of successful flash fiction, its brevity and its effulgence. But how to achieve both at once? How to create a gemstone when you only have 500, 700, 1000 words to do so?
While there is no formula for creating a concise plot for a flash fiction story, many ideas can be adapted into a short short. A walk in the park, a confrontation at work, a conversation overheard in a bar - all can provide that diamond in the rough to make a great short story. The writer's job is simply to refine and hone the idea until it shines.
A few tips for coming up with these scintillating ideas: Peach cobbler is great, but unless it's somehow poignantly linked to a tragic car accident, it's not going to make an exciting story. Illicit drugs, illicit affairs - illicit anything, for that matter - make great controversy and therefore great short story topics. The idea doesn't have to sustain a huge discourse, it just has to spark interest in you and in your readers.
As far as brevity goes, some people think of creating a short story like packing for a trip: They write it out without worrying about size and then remove half. This technique can make your story feel sparse and devoid of details, though, especially if you're trimming out all your adjectives and modifying clauses to make a word count.
For me, the most helpful thing to remember when writing flash fiction is the story arc. Short stories work through a delicate balance of beginning, middle, and end. If it takes more than a few hundred words to introduce your protagonist and the situation, your middle and conclusion will be cramped. If you're planning a long and complex ending, chances are that you won't have room to adequately develop your characters.
For that reason, I write and rewrite each paragraph in turn until it's concise enough, grinding and polishing the gem until it sparkles. Ask yourself: Does every sentence have a purpose? Is anything irrelevant? Winnow out the unnecessary details as you go, allowing yourself no room to get sloppy as the story proceeds.
Above all, remember that flash fiction should be enjoyable. If you're bored as you write, the audience is certainly going to be, too. Enjoy your topic and the words you put to it, and you'll be well on your way to making your fiction flash.
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Read Gabrielle Hovendon’s story, “Vital Signs,” and her bio on our new Flash page.
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Zero to Sixty in One Page:Writing Short Fiction
by Lisa Shafter
Second Place Winner of Writer Advice’s Flash Prose Contest
All stories, flash fiction or otherwise, originate with an idea. Note that I don’t say “a deeply meaningful idea,” “an original idea,” or even, “a good idea.” I’ve discovered that if you weigh every concept on a scale of profundity, originality, or virtue, you severely limit yourself. No, your job is simply to collect ideas— any ideas. This is the easiest part of the process because story seeds are everywhere. Keep your ears and eyes sharp, and you will discover a thousand possibilities: everything from dead ladybugs in a fallen-down house to an ex-Marine who complains that hookers in ’Nam got too expensive when the army moved in. Jot down evocative phrases and let them simmer in the back of your mind until one or two stand out above the others.
The next step is turning your ideas into some sort of plot. I like to start with a character who has a strong narrative voice, and write a rough outline of his story based on the idea. Once I get a feel for the overall shape of the story, I can hone the content into something interesting.
Flash fiction’s greatest weapon is the element of surprise, often in the form of a plot twist. This simple formula works surprisingly well: “Readers think that (fill in the blank), but at the end they discover that actually (fill in the blank).” Another way to add interest is to write from a unique perspective. When I taught flash fiction, I encouraged my students to narrate from an unusual point of view, revealing the narrator’s identity at the end. I was rewarded with extremely creative stories, told through the eyes of everything from dust bunnies to a stick figure in a drawing.
Once you’ve decided what kind of plot devices to use, write the rough draft of the story to get the ideas on paper and the structure in place. Now comes the hard part.
You must take this rough draft and transform it into something wonderful. In a story that barely exceeds a page, the writing must be muscular: quick characterization, vivid description, tight dialogue, meaty nouns, active verbs. It’s helpful to read the story aloud to help you listen to the overall flow of the words. Sometimes the editing process takes a few hours and sometimes it takes weeks, but at one time or another, you can honestly say, “Someone will want to read this.”
Finally, remember that the best way to learn flash fiction is to write it. Don’t worry about being “good”— write bad stories, strange stories, stories too embarrassing to show your mother, stories too crazy to show to your friends. If you write with honesty, persistence and courage, you will create something worth reading. Writing is the key to writing, after all. +++
Read Lisa Shafter’s story, “Epilogue,” and her bio on our new Flash page.
How To Improve Your Writing Without Writing a Word
by Chandra Moira Beal
Writing does not consist merely of creating words; it is the culmination of our life experiences translated through ourselves. These experiences come from every corner of life and influence our writing in a myriad of ways. Although writing every day is still the best practice, there are many ways to improve your skills without really writing at all.
Here are a few:
Read : Reading a wide variety of authors and styles is one of the best creative stimuli. Every time I read a new book, I grow as a writer. I learn new words; I notice phrasing and construction; I think about what moves me as a reader. Reading someone else's words helps to get the writing juices going and often inspires.
Walk : Take a walk in the middle of your work day or when you feel yourself getting stuck or losing energy. Exercise will get your circulation going and deliver oxygen to your brain, clearing it of that incessant "mind chatter." Thinking too much is sometimes what kills the writing spark. Get out of your mind and into your body. As you walk, notice abstract details such as the color of a house, flowers blooming or the shapes of clouds. You never know when a street sign, a window display or an overheard conversation will inspire you. Some of my best ideas come when I'm walking, showering or driving.
Talk : I used to think that my writing wasn't "real" until it got published. Rubbish! Your writing exists the moment you have an idea. Use every opportunity to talk about your work, including the seeds of new stories, your current projects and your frustrations. If you have access to a writers group, use it. It is healthy to get your ideas and projects "out there" so your work has some tangible value and you're not creating in isolation. Activating your writing creates momentum. By sharing it, you will create a sense of legitimacy for yourself, and others will respond to your confidence.
Listen : Practice taking in information. Go to a restaurant and notice the way people talk and communicate with each other. Observe nonverbal clues such as body language and gestures, or listen to the symphony of sounds all around you (birds chirping, the hum of the refrigerator). Simply notice the world of communication around you.
Network : Get out of the office and rub elbows with other writers. Not only is this valuable for making contacts and getting job leads, but most likely other writers are struggling with the same issues as you. Attend a writers conference or workshop and allow yourself to be supported by others with the same passion.
Learn : Good writers never stop trying to improve their work. Take a class, read a how-to book, or interview other writers about subjects that interest you. Immerse yourself in new ideas, or try writing in a different genre to keep your writing alive and fresh.
Draw : Drawing forces you to use the right side of your brain and think in a nonlinear fashion. Use crayons, pencils, paint or whatever medium feels good to you. Draw whatever comes to mind. Draw what your characters look like, or scribble color to express emotions. This exercises your creative muscles in a way that doesn't deal in words, but the energy will carry over into your writing. Go wild!
Dance : Put on some music, roll up the rug and dance around the living room. Feel the rhythm and let it evoke whatever feelings come up. Express your own words through your body, or listen to song lyrics and pick out rhymes and patterns. Music speaks to us in nonverbal ways. How would you translate it?
Fantasize : One of the greatest elements of writing is that imagination is allowed and encouraged. Take 10 minutes to close your eyes and fantasize about anything you want. When you find yourself staring out the window, take a moment to let those daydreams go wherever they want. Take a seat in the audience of your own mind and enjoy yourself. Do not judge any feelings or images that come up; this is one time when anything goes.
Do nothing : Doing nothing is not the same as procrastinating. It is essential to take a break from your writing to recharge your batteries, get some perspective and come back renewed. This can be as simple as deep breathing or stretching for five minutes. I often put my first drafts in a file, then let a week lapse before looking at them again. When I come back to them, I see them with new eyes and am ripe to improve my work.
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Chandra Moira Beal is a freelance writer and editor who has written several books and hundreds of magazine articles, as well as a DVD. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in library and information science. Find her at www.chandrabeal.com .
A New Job Requirement for Authors
by Sherri Rifkin, author of LoveHampton
Who knew that one needed to be so thoroughly tech-savvy to be an author?
I’m not just talking about knowing how to create chapter headers in Word (I don’t but I fake it well enough) or being able to change your printer cartridge. Nowadays, you have to know how to blog-vlog-flickr-twitter-facebook-wordpress-upload-youtube-blip.tv
in order to be an author, that is, if you have some hopes of being a successful commercial author. It helps if you have nice friends who know how to do all this stuff (I have a Jeff, a Mary and an Anthony) but there are only so many times you can sweetly plead for their help and certainly a limit on the number the exclamation points you can put after “Thank you!!!!!!” in your emails. (Six seems reasonable; seven is just desperate.)
I’ve logged several hours, possibly equaling days at this point, uploading my book-related videos to the various viral distribution sites, creating the first of what is sure to be many photo albums on Flickr.com, adding a fan page on Facebook—and boy is my laptop tired! And I still have a “Book To Do” list two pages long.
Believe me, as a former cable TV marketer for Bravo and Oxygen, I am very grateful to be publishing my novel at a time when all of these free marketing tools are available–especially since I don’t have the same (read: any) budgets to spend on paid marketing placements like I did when I was employed by someone else. Short of walking around Manhattan with a LoveHampton sandwich board strapped over my shoulders, sitting in front of my laptop waiting patiently for my uploads to be complete seems like a far lesser evil.
But I’m fairly certain that once I’ve mastered the twitter-blip and the blog-vlog, there will be yet another technology for me to beg a tech-savvy friend to teach me how to do. (Note: In addition to multiple exclamation points, treating your advisors to a nice meal or an expensive bottle of champagne are good ways to show them your appreciation.)
5 Tips for Promoting Your Book Online Without Spending One Penny of Your Tax Rebate (Or, At Least, Not All of It)
1. Think “Multimedia”: No matter whether you write fiction or non-fiction, you can bring your book to life through video and photos—you’d be surprised how many different ways you can use such assets online. These days, more authors are making trailers, spoof music videos, how-to’s, mini-documentaries (especially good for memoirs and history), or like I did, video book excerpts. Plus, if you produce these pieces early enough, your publisher could show them at their sales conferences and/or the sales reps can use them when they meet with the big distributors and major chain accounts. Your publicist could even use them to help pitch you for electronic press.
If you’ve got an HD video camera (which I bought especially for this purpose) and an Apple computer, iMovie and iPhoto makes all of this immeasurably easier (or so I’m told; I’ve got a PC). Although, as is the case with writing, there is an art to this, so you might want to consider hiring someone with an expertise in this area to help you, like I did (the Mary mentioned above).
Video Don’t: Do not sit in front of a stationary camera, read from your book for ten minutes and call it a “video book excerpt.” Use the bandwidth—and your creativity—toward something that will not only help you sell books but enhance your readers’ experience.
2. Distribute your video content widely so it will do the promotion work for you—even while you sleep. Once you’ve created some killer videos, post them on all the free video-sharing community sites (YouTube and Blip.TV), social-networking sites that allow for video posts (Facebook—see below, MySpace, Twitter), as well as on your own web site (you’re getting one made, that’s a given) or blog, and your publisher’s site. Add relevant tags so the videos come up in searches. YouTube and Blip.TV are especially useful because they a) make sharing your videos across the web easy for you as well as for your fans using “embed codes” and b) offer free applications that can be used on third-party sites. Also, Google loves videos. The more places your name and your book’s title appear across the web, the better for you and your book sales.
3. Become an active member on at least one social networking site: This is by far one of the most time-consuming plays but could have the biggest payoff because you’ll be preaching to the choir, aka your friends and friends of friends. Since MySpace is kind of over unless you’re a musician, Facebook has taken its place as the social networking addiction du jour and has become my preferred digital diversion. (Some of my friends like Twitter but I don’t get it; business networking types prefer LinkedIn.) In addition to being able to create your own personal profile and start “friending” people you know, you can create a Fan page for your book for free. Anyone can become a fan of your book page without you having to know or approve them. There’s a whole viral component because all your activities are published via your News Feed, so be sure to play a lot on your Fan page (e.g. add your blog feed; post photos of all your Facebook friends—and i.d. them). I could write an entire book on marketing through Facebook, but I’ve got a second novel to finish…so my last word on this is: pick one social networking site and become active on it long before your book’s publication date. Nobody becomes a social networking star overnight unless you’re, uh, already a star.
4. Make Amazon your new BFF: Amazon has added some cool tools for authors to enhance their book pages, much of which can be done ahead of your publication date. Customize your book page through their Amazon Connect program (your publisher will need to verify you as the author). Create a profile specific to your book (I suggest creating one separate from your existing personal account, otherwise all your purchases and other community activities will be logged on your book page) and add your photo, favorite books, movies and anything available on Amazon, and even create a feed from your existing blog to automatically update to your profile page. If you don’t have a blog, you can write discreet entries instead.
5. Flickr is Not a Dirty Word: Flickr is a community-driven photo-sharing site with a super easy interface (take their tour to see how it works). You can create themed photo albums and allow public access to them as well as invite people to add their own albums under your given theme. There are countless ways to tie photographs into your book regardless of whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. To get more mileage out of your efforts, cross-post your Flickr albums on your own site or blog or use their applications to share your albums on Facebook.
Check out Sherri Rifkin’s tech-savviness at:
Author Site: www.sherririfkin.com
YouTube: LoveHampton21 or www.youtube.com/user/lovehampton21
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/LoveHampton-by-Sherri-Rifkin/13427443474
Flickr Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26107774@N08/
Amazon book page: http://www.amazon.com/LoveHampton-Sherri-Rifkin/dp/0312380216/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210001612&sr=8-1
Sherri Rifkin, a former TV marketing executive, lives in New York City, where she writes for a variety of entertainment and media clients, including Bravo, USA Network and the Style Network. Her first novel, LoveHampton, has just been published by St. Martin’s Griffin.
Rejecting Rejection
Arlene Mandell
It happens all too often. Over a course of six months, a well-published writer and poet goes cold. Everything she sends out – a brilliant short story, an ethereal poem, a biting essay – everything trickles back. Each stamped self-addressed envelope returns with a stingy strip of rejection paper: "Not right for Blathering Hills magazine. Try us again."
She paws through her submissions file and starts following up with the silent editors. Some have totally disappeared from the web. Some couldn’t even be bothered slipping that curt message into her envelope. One has had serious surgery. Another is in the throes of "major life changes."
Frustrated, she cleans out her closet, brushes the burrs out of her retriever’s golden coat, and wanders through the November garden yanking the occasional weed. She reads the inspirational words of illustrious dead poets like Allen Ginsberg: "Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness." And dead novelists like William Faulkner: "The necessity of the idea creates its own style. The material itself dictates how it should be written."
Yes, but . . . she isn’t having difficulty writing, just in finding the right outlets. Why, in the past 19 years, she’s been published 457 times in literary magazines and web zines.
Time for a meta-analysis, she decides, though she doesn’t quite know what that is or even if it’s a word. Many of the refusals were from publications which advertised in Poets & Writers, a magazine read by every MFA in America. These literary journals were probably swamped, she reasons. All but one of the remaining refusals came from magazines in which she had not previously been published. In the simplest terms, they didn’t know her. Furthermore, some were "local" publications promoting the writings of local authors; while they said they would consider work from the whole U.S., most of their pages were devoted to their own voices in Poison Ivy County, which is not unreasonable, for if they don’t publish their local scribes, who will? And some had too much material, but politely invited her to try again. Which could mean something . . . or nothing.
What now? Keep writing, revising, following up on leads from her growing network of online updates on the marketplace. Avoid the impregnable fortresses of metafiction, fantasy, and horror zines. Thank the editors who have recently published her work. Read their publications cover to cover and tell them what she most admired. So many writers focus on getting published that few actually read beyond their own page.
Buy more stamps and envelopes.
Submit.
Arlene L. Mandell, a retired English professor, recently survived a blizzard of rejection slips.
How Do You Become a Writer?
By Amanda Eyre Ward, author of Forgive Me
I remember going to hear Joyce Carol Oates read when I was in college. I wanted desperately to be a writer, and I hung on her every word. When she mentioned that she wrote by a window, I noted write by a window. When she said she drank tea, I wrote tea. Whenever I met a real writer, I asked them where they wrote, how they wrote, and when. I wanted to know the rules, how to organize my life in order to succeed.
I know now that every writer makes his or her own rules. The advice I give to beginning writers is to have faith, love the process, and to value writing, to put it in the center of their lives.
Having faith is hard as rejection letters and bills come regularly in the mail. But of my friends and colleagues who studied fiction writing with me at the University of Montana a decade ago, the only ones who have not published yet are the ones who gave up. The rest of us make a living now by writing. (Or writing and teaching.)
Valuing writing is the fun part. Set aside a desk for writing, set aside a day. Spend some money on your favorite tea, an important pen, a book you want to read. Play music, and feel proud when you’ve written a page. Take a walk if you need to. Get a sitter. Surround yourself with objects that inspire you. The rest of the writing life is difficult, and can be heartbreaking. This is what you get: a solitary morning, a cup of coffee, the luxury of bringing words into the world, the joy of a perfect sentence.
Putting writing in the center of your life is also challenging, when so many other important things beckon. Oprah and everyone else tells me I can make time for an exercise routine, but I can’t seem to do it. But living as a writer doesn’t always mean being alone. You can take care of children, or a job, or a spouse while you think about writing. When you see a movie, ask yourself why it is working or not. If you lose interest in a friend’s story, ask yourself what she could have done to hold you. What magazines are you reading, and why? What could be going on with the bank teller and her strange expression? Living your life as a writer is a way of participating fully, but also taking notes as an observer. It’s something that takes practice, but I have found it to be essential. I have been completely stuck in a novel, left it for the day, and then found my answer on the playground or at the library. I am always thinking about my novels.
And, thanks to Joyce Carol Oates, I always sit by the window.
AUTHOR
Amanda Eyre Ward is the award-winning author of How to Be Lost and Sleep Toward Heaven. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her family.
Speaking Your Mind
by Joan Reinhardt Reiss
How many times have you listened to a radio commentary and thought that you could do better? The reality is that you probably can create an opinion piece that is superior to what you just heard.
In 1995, I was a regular listener to KQED, a San Francisco public radio station. KQED featured Perspectives, a series of free-lance commentaries. No one was doing environmental pieces. I phoned the editor, pitched the idea, and left my first opinion piece in his home mailbox. With that beginning, I became the environmental expert. Over the years the Internet arrived, editors changed, and my pieces evolved into environmental health issues. Eventually, I added personal stories, as well as musings on family and aging.
Before you embark on creating an opinion editorial, plan on intensive marketing research. Determine whether your local public radio station is interested in receiving free-lance commentary. Spend time listening to existing commentaries so you can hear the variety of subjects.
An excellent source for commentary outlets is the website run by the Association of Independents in Radio, http://www.airmedia.org/. Click on "Member Resources" and then go to the "Pitch Page." Several listings include requests for commentary. An alphabetical program list appears that includes famous outlets like NPR and Marketplace as well as lesser known entities like Sound Medicine and Weekend America. If you submit to a program that is not in your area, be sure to ascertain the recording process. For example, when I did pieces for Marketplace , I recorded at KQED.
Each public radio station usually has guidelines for initial email submissions as well as three key elements: subject, style, and length. The abbreviated KQED Perspective guidelines that follow are a good example of the three key essentials needed for all commentary:
Subject
Perspectives are often geared to Northern California issues; state and regional topics are best. Essays on local issues work well if they illustrate larger concerns with which other communities are struggling. Observations on everyday life are frequent topics especially when linked to a broader, more universal idea.
Style
Most Perspectives are opinion pieces that say what is wrong or right with something, offer a better idea, an insight or an unusual angle on a matter of common interest or concern to our listeners. They are strongest if they draw from personal experience. The best essay, like the best Perspective contains a solid idea that is well-told.
Length
The time limit for all KQED pieces is two minutes; approximately 350 words. Note your script time by reading aloud, clearly and with feeling.
Combine these fundamentals, submit, and be prepared to work with the editor for the final polishing. Once my editor is interested in a piece, we usually go through several drafts before the final recording. Recently I recorded a KQED Perspective on all the tainted Chinese products that enter the U.S.and how unlikely it is that there will be any new regulations on this avalanche of goods. The opening and closing sentences illustrate successful framing of the piece.
Opening: "My grandson adores his Thomas train collection. But Thomas is dangerous to his health. Mattel recalled over a million Thomas trains made inChina."
Closing: "Thomas the train may have been sidetracked, but the global economy locomotive won't be derailed by your health and safety."
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With a Perspective this is Joan Reinhardt Reiss
Joan Reinhardt Reiss is an environmental health consultant, public radio commentator, and dedicated athlete.
Joan Reinhardt Reiss
PH: 415 647-2687 San Francisco, CA
Marketing IS Editing:
Boning Up on First Impressions
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
First impressions are important. We all are aware of that as we brush our teeth and try to unknot the rat's nests from the back of our hair each morning. In fact, first impressions are part of our marketing efforts, whether we are marketing ourselves (say, an interview or a TV appearance) or marketing our books. And, yes, editing is an essential part of that first-impression effort, thus an integral part of marketing and promotion.
Here are a scattering of helps gleaned from my HowToDoItFrugally Series of books (www.howtodoitfrugally.com).
Five Editing Myths Waiting To Trip Up Your Campaign to Market Your Work
Five Things to Avoid for a Pristine Query Letter
We are selling our work when we approach any gatekeeper, an editor, an agent, a contest judge. Here are five little things to avoid so you'll look like the professional you are.
Here's one last suggestion for fiction writers 'cause they're so often neglected when it comes to marketing. Avoid using italics for internal thought. Yes, it's being done more and more but it is often a crutch that fiction writers use to avoid writing great transitions and point-of-view; the best agents will recognize it as such.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson is award-winning author, a former publicist for a New York PR firm and an instructor for the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. She is an editor with years of publishing and editing experience. Learn more about the author and her award winning books at http://HowToDoItFrugally.com.
Why Write?
By Debra Finerman
Author of Mademoiselle Victorine
When someone asks why write? My answer -- writing is like making love. When they ask how to write? Same answer. For each writer the act of writing is as individual as his/her own personality.
I write because I have to. I have to because I want to. I want to because I love it. When I was a journalist for the Hollywood Reporter magazine and Capital Style, I wrote my pieces in a smart-sassy magazine journalist’s voice. In my head, I was a cross between Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday and Dorothy Parker. But when I started to write my first novel -- historical fiction set in Paris in the time of the Impressionists, I discovered I had to develop a new way of writing, a new “voice.” This voice was more lyrical, even poetic. I did read poetry to develop a capacity for metaphor. I read or re-visited classic novels written decades, even centuries ago to understand why they endure.
I feel presumptuous giving advice to writers on how to write. There are far better sources for that: E.M. Forester’s Aspects of the Novel is a classic and as useful today as when it was written in 1927. There are dozens of excellent how-to books for writers that outline the craft. Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger is helpful. Is writing a craft or an art? It’s both. To learn the mechanics of the craft, consult those manuals. To learn the art, consult your heart. I would like to share my experience writing my first novel and hope it resonates with other writers.
Inspiration. I believe the inspiration, the idea, for a book comes from the Universe. In my experience, my novel came to me as I was studying for an exam on the Impressionists for my class at Christie’s Education graduate program. For me, reading that art history textbook was as fascinating as reading a novel. Were there any novels about these people I wondered? In the year 2000, I didn’t know of any. I had seen clips of a film about Vincent Van Gogh starring Kirk Douglas. And of course, the musical Gigi loosely based on a story by Colette. But these were both Hollywoodized and set after the truly important years of 1860-1870.
Characters. My novel began with the characters. I knew it was important for my main characters to change as they experienced their lives. I wanted the heroine, in particular, to become a changed person at the end of the story from who she was in the beginning because that is true to real life. I wrote concise back-stories on index cards for each character so I would know where/when they were born, their parentage, their childhoods -- all the factors that shaped them to become who they were in the novel. I didn’t use the back-story in the narrative, but the footprint was there between the lines.
Place and time. The more hours I spent at the library researching the history, the art, the politics, the changes in technology and social relations, the more at home I felt in that setting and knew I could transport others there with me. The number of reference books I read is prodigious. But I’m a nerd and love that aspect of writing. I worked as a library assistant in college and still feel in a safety cocoon in the musty stacks of a library.
Plot. Plot unfolds as life does -- as a consequence of characters’ choices, actions and reactions. In my case, plot was also guided by history because historical fiction must be accurate at all costs on the “history” side. The fiction side can be pure fun. Writers are all a bit mad, I think, and I am no exception. I remember waking up in the middle of the night, hearing in my head the perfect dialogue between two of my characters for a scene. Of course, I got up and scribbled down some notes before falling back asleep.
Music true to the time period was helpful for me at some points in the narrative process. I deduced that listening to the music that my characters would have listened to in 1867 would help put me in their world. It was transgressive and I credit the verisimilitude of some emotional passages in the book to those waltzes of Strauss and Offenbach.
Polishing. Finally, the most enjoyable part of writing for me is rewriting. It feels like putting the final touches on a painting, adding highlights and correcting mistakes. I remember spending three hours changing the wording on just one paragraph. But what a paragraph it turned out to be!
Writer’s Block. For me, it doesn’t exist. If you have something to say, then write. If you don’t, go do something else. Come back when you do. Then you can write a heartbreakingly beautiful novel and experience the joy of those two little words . . .
++++
Debra Finerman attended Christie's Graduate Program in Connoisseurship and the Art Market. Mademoiselle Victorine: A Novel(Published by Three Rivers Press. July 2007;$13.95US/$17.95CAN; 978-0-307-35283-5) is her first work of fiction after a career as a journalist in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. She worked for The Hollywood Reporter Magazine, Beverly Hills Today, Beverly Hills Magazine and Capital Style. She currently lives in New York and Connecticut.
WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN’T
Pat Schneider, author of Writing Alone And With Others says, “If you do not record your own story, your tiny bit of the history of the human race is lost. Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare’s vision. Dickinson wrote Dickinson’s.
“Who will write yours, if you do not?”
She makes a significant point that writing teachers sometimes overlook. Nobody sees the world as you do. No one can tell your stories from your unique point of view. Your truths will resonate if you dig deeply and present them well. Be true to your voice. It’s your strongest tool.
I asked the four judges for the 2007 Flash Prose Contest, who were last year’s winners, to rank the finalists and make comments. Here’s a sampling of what worked for Lyn Halper, Jennifer Hurley, Kirsten Beachy, and Mary Vallo. These statements are listed in random order.
And here are 10 concerns the judges noted:
WARNING: What works in one story may not in another. What appeals to one reader may bore another. One critique does not fit all. Don’t try to copy someone else’s style. Instead, hone your own until it sparkles.
Reading the submissions for two different prose contests in the last two months made me realize that a writer’s authentic voice is a unique gift. It becomes powerful when it is shared with readers.
Voice makes a story clever and engaging. It turns simple prose into powerful prose. It is original and its twists and turns surprise the reader. It delivers punch with subtlety and nuance. It draws readers into the internal thoughts and unique logic of unique characters. So watch your technique and develop your details, but above all let your authentic voice ring true.
As noted author Barbara Ueland says, “Everybody is talented, original, and has something important to say.”
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Writing heals. Whether you are a current, former, or long-distance caregiver for a parent, spouse or special needs child You Want Me to Do What? Journaling for Caregivers can help you process stress and find solutions. Click on Journaling for Caregivers to order the book or visit www.Amazon.com.
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Unlikely Teachers:
Finding the Hidden Gifts in Daily Conflict
by Judy Ringer
A practical tool to generate clarity, power, and flow in your life, Unlikely Teachers offers stories, reflection, and practice.
Click on Unlikely Teachers to order or visit www.Amazon.com.
Writers can be in charge of their own careers in this economic downturn with Carolyn Howard-Johnson's multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. www.howtodoitfrugally.com
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