Writing Tips 2010

December Writing Tip
Surviving the Holidays
November  Writing Tip
National Write A Novel Month
September Writing Tip
Back to School: Your Writing Space
August Writing Tip
Literary vs Mainstream Fiction: A review

July Writing Tip
Writing Prompts

Writing Tips 2010

June Writing Tip
Grammar Goofs

May  Writing Tip   

Good Books About Writing

April Writing Tip   

Look At Your Work Like A Book Reviewer - Gulp

                                          January 1, 2010 Writing Tip

                                                  Be Particular

It's the first day of the new decade and everyone is busy making resolutions. If you've made too  many resolutions and you are undecided about which ones to pick, her's one that covers just about everything: Be Particular. I read this advice in a book by The Sweet Potato Queens.  If you don't know who these ladies are and you like southern humor, check out their website. http://sweetpotatoqueens.com/

Back to the one resolution that will carry you through the entire year: Be Particular. As a writer, you will want to be particular about:

The company you keep. Make sure your fellow writers are supportive, encouraging and have the ability to offer gentle and constructive criticism.

The books that you read. Yes, everyone enjoys brain candy now and then but reading brilliant writing will elevate your standards and encourage you to write better.

The environment in which you work. You need to be comfortable while you work. Check to see if your writing space has the proper lighting, inspirational items, and a place near the entrance where you can post a "writer at work" sign.

The way you talk to yourself. Be kind. If you saw a tiny duckling going the wrong way you would lean down, gently pick it up and put it in a better place. Do this with your writing when it needs to go in another direction.

The food and drink that you put in your body. Not to go all hippie on you but good fuel is important to a balanced life. The myth about needing drugs or alcohol to be creative is just that - a myth. The best writing comes from a clear head and dedicated heart.

Be particular. The best resolution going! Now you get going too and keep writing!

           Writing Tips 2009                          

                 Back by Popular Demand: Beating the Holiday Writing Blues

 If you feel that you can't get into your narrative or concentrate during the holidays, small writing exercises can help.  Exercises like the ones that follow will help you develop your narrative structure, build your characters, accomplish instructive work in quick bursts and relieve the pressure of wanting to work on the actual text during the frantic holidays.

1.  When you go shopping take your main character with you. Have him make comments about the people and events he sees.  Go home and write down what he said.

2.   Go to the movies, pick a character and write about how that character would get along with each of your three major characters.

3. If you go to a Christmas party, bring your main character with you.  See how he reacts to the other attendees (this will keep a smile on your face!)

4. Help define specific voices for each character. Pretend each of your three main characters have to explain to a small child that there is no Santa. They will each use a different vocabulary and tone.

5.  If you are baking, have your characters bake with you - have them interact as they try to find ingredients, set out baking pans and so forth.  If you have two adversarial characters, make them bake together. Note their arguments, pay attention to their vocabulary and interaction.

6. As for your actual narrative - chart your story/plot line on a legal pad or large piece of paper and check it for time.  Have enough days passed from one scene to the next? How many years passed before this or that happened? 

7.  Write about one or two of your characters spending Christmas alone.

8.  Have each of your main characters open a heinous present in front of the person who gave it to them.

9.  Again, if you have adversarial characters, have them go to the Christmas tree lot to pick out a tree and have them decorate it.

10. Have your characters participate in different religion's holiday celebration - Chanukah, Kwanzaa and so forth.

11.  Write a quick, one-page letter to your manuscript telling it why you are so busy and how much you enjoy the time you spend writing.  You can also address any problems you are having with your writing.

Here are two industry blogs you might want to check out this month:

http://thewritethought.com/blog/ The Write Thought

http://www.mediabistro.com/GalleyCat/   Galley Cat

Have a happy and safe holiday season!

                                          November Writing Tip

                                          Handling Interruptions

So you are in the zone, writing. The world is a million miles away. There. The perfect phrase. You continue, sinking deeper into the realm of creativity when the taser jolt of a telephone ring yanks you back to reality. "Hello. I'm calling from the campaign office of incumbent Senator Quagmire..." We can just see the steam pouring from your ears. Been there. Done that. In fact we have several tee-shirts.

Here are some suggestions regarding how to head off interruptions before they even arrive (or call).

1. The universe. If you have a website or any other type of presence on the Internet, post your "do not disturb" hours.

2.  The front door. Have a sign posting your work hours and indicate that interruptions are not invited.  You might want to also have a small box with pencil and paper for people to leave messages.  Do not answer the door. Just don't.

3.  The phone. Turn it off. Seriously. Turn off the ringer and volume. If you are within listening distance and can hear the answering machine click on, then move the machine to another part of the house. The same for your cell and Blackberry. Put them in another room. The break from constant yakking will do you good.

4. The Internet. Most of us work by computer and it is very easy to just pop over to check email, Face book, MySpace, and so forth. If you have a difficult time controlling these urges disconnect from the Internet before you sit down to work.  Or at the very least, turn off all notification programs so when you are deep into that magical sentence, you do not hear the tone signaling the fact that some knuckle-brain you barely know has posted his first grade photo on Face book.

5. Your writing space.  Post your writing hours outside of your space. I have a picture of a crab with the caption "The crab is in" that goes on my door and that pretty much takes are of my husband trying to interrupt me.  It helps everyone to be reminded in a humorous way that boundaries need to be respected.

These boundaries will become increasingly needed as the holidays approach.

Enjoy the lovely fall weather and keep writing!

October Writing Tip

Feed Yourself

Has anyone been watching the Ken Burn's film "The National Parks" on PBS? The film is beautiful and as usual Burns does a masterful job. One of the most recent segments featured the story of naturalist John Muir. He was passionately in love with the wilderness but, as life often goes, he set his passion aside, married, had children and proceeded to run the family farm. After a time he literally began to decline and his very wise and loving wife sent him back �to the wilderness that fed him.� Once there, he flourished and fought for the establishment and maintenance of our national parks.

It is October and for most of us there is a snap in the air, an anticipation of holidays to come, a lingering sense of the sharpened pencil, the scruffy book bag or backpack.   This attitude often makes us just a bit more aware - aware of the air, of the changing colors of the leaves, of opening the house to a fresh breeze. So for this month, stop and pay attention. What makes you pause and take note or give a wistful sigh? What feeds you? Note it, remember it, write about it.   

For me it is the sunlight. This time of year the sun is at an angle often used for lighting movie sets. That's why things appear so dramatic, so clear.  So I take the light and its angle and focus it on an overheard angry conversation between a teenage boy and girl.  I write about how the light accentuates the planes of their faces and reflects their feelings. I use the drama of the light to write the event as a movie scene. The October light makes me want to write with a snap and gnash of teeth, with a mental bounding into the air wielding the pointed pencil as a sword. Yes, the light feeds me. 

For this month, pay attention to what gets your attention.  On your calendar or day planner or whatever you use, make at least one note per day of something arresting. On the weekend pick one or two of these things and write about them - doing your own leap into the air.

Remember what the doormouse said: "Feed your head."

 September Writing Tip

Playing with Words

Last week as I sat watching my husband lay stones for a patio while valiantly holding back helpful suggestions, a blue and red tick-like bug ran past my feet. As they say in the movies, levitation, yelping, and husband-eye-rolling ensued.  Once I recovered, I went inside and Goggled �red and blue tick like bug� The web�s friendly entomologists informed me that I had observed the nymph stage of a predatory stinkbug. Struck by the name I paused, envisioned a photograph of the most recent scandal-plagued politician with the caption �Predatory Stink Bug� and fell all over the floor laughing.

Don�t you just love words? Of course you do. You�re a writer! I bet you�re just like the blogger Maggie at http://www.aloveofwords.com/ who says, �And sometimes - sometime I just love a word.  Undulating, purple, wicked, smooth, scintillating � how can anyone see or hear words like these and not want to jump into the page and dance with them?�  Indeed

Tell me you can read the following sentence written by Ken Tucker reviewing a television special for EW.com and not fall wildly in love with it: �Octomom: The Incredible Unseen Footage was a repulsively grim two hours.�  Lovely

And since it is September and everyone has that underlying back-to-school feeling - here is an assignment. Play with words this month. Cut words out of the newspaper like the Unabomber and arrange them on the table. Buy a box of magnetic words that you can stick on the refrigerator and every morning before coffee, arrange them in patterns.  Look at your most recent work and try to find at least three substitute words for nouns and verbs (and yes, the occasional adjective/adverb, although there should be very few in your marvelously tight writing.)

Here are two websites for you to visit for exploring your love of words:

http://wordie.org/ A social networking site where you make lists of words and phrases that you love or you hate and share them with other Wordies on the site.

http://www.wordspy.com/ The Word Lovers Guide to new words and phrases. Ex: intexticated - adj. Preoccupied by reading or sending text messages, particularly while driving a car.

So let those words dance through your head and onto the paper and have fun.

Happy September and keep writing!

                                                       August 2009
                                                     Memoir Writing

Summer usually means vacation and sometimes that takes us back home to visit relatives. For better or worse, this brings up memories and for writers this often means grabbing a paper and pen.

Memoir writing remains a strong sell in the publishing industry. It has evolved into its own specific genre so lets take a look at some defining traits:

�    Shorter than an inclusive autobiography.
�    Uses a narrative structure, including many of the usual elements of storytelling
�    Concentrates on a brief period of time; does not cover a great span of years
�    Examines an event or series of related events
�    Focuses on a conflict, its resolution and on the writer�s understanding of events in retrospect
�    Maintains a fictional quality
�    Shows a higher emotional level than autobiography
�    Contains a therapeutic aspect for the memoirist, especially if it is a crisis or survival type of memoir

Basically a memoir is a snapshot of a specific period of time seen through the filter of the writer�s emotional camera.

To get started, you might want to check out William Zinsser�s terrific book "Writing About Your Life: A Journey Into the Past."  Zinsser maintains that the most important element in the genre's power is truth.

A website you might want to take a look at is  Suite101.com.  Feature writer Lisa Koning has a very good section on writing memoirs http://writingmemoirs.suite101.com/

So put on your big girl/boy pants, go to that family reunion and take notes. The next best-seller just might be lurking in your granny�s house.


                                                           July 2009
                                         I Can Write A Novel In Six Words

Welcome to summer. The days are long and with the heat and humidity there is a tendency to become - let�s say languid instead of lazy.

Here�s a fun exercise that you can do while swinging in the hammock or resting in your chair at the beach. It just takes a small piece of paper or index cards, a pen and creativity.

Most of you have heard about the six-word-story. The tale is that Ernest Hemingway once said his best work was a story he wrote in just six words: 'For sale: baby shoes, never worn.'  We�ve googled the term and have come up with these gems:

It can't be. I'm a virgin. - Kate Atkinson
He read his obituary with confusion. - Steven Meretzky
Corpse parts missing. Doctor buys yacht. - Margaret Atwood

So here is your task for the long hot days of July. Tell a story in six words. Begin with three of your favorite novels just to get your brain in gear. Then try for a story of your own. Give it some thought. Clever is not enough. Reach for those six perfect words that will give you a novel - maybe your next one???

Two sites with six-word stories:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/mar/24/fiction.originalwriting

Sip that lemonade and keep writing!



                                                          June 2009
                                           More Character Development
                                         The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator


Whether writing fiction or creative nonfiction, if your characters do not ring true, your story will fall flat. It is critical that you know your characters intimately. We�ve touched on character development in other newsletters. This time we�d like to give you a great tool to use.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences regarding how people perceive the world and make decisions.
You can use the following chart to figure out how your characters would solve relationship problems and handle a crisis. These fundamental dimensions of personality identified by Myers-Briggs can guide you along the path to building solid believable characters.

The four dimensions come in pairs. Your characters will fall somewhere along a spectrum between the poles of each pair. Once you have your character plotted, toss him into a crisis, see how he reacts, and check his reaction against what you know about him. You might find you do not know your character as well as you should and more work needs to be done.

Extraversion (E)    ----------------|---------------    Introversion (I)
Sensing (S)    ----------------|---------------    Intuition (N)
Thinking (T)    ----------------|---------------    Feeling (F)
Judging (J)    ----------------|---------------    Perceiving (P)


Here is a quick description of each dimension:
Energy:
Extraversion (E) -- Gets energy from people, activities, and objects. Likes to interact.
Introversion (I) -- Gets energy from ideas, emotions, impressions. Likes to concentrate.

Attention:
Sensing (S) -- Focuses on facts. Practical and proceeds step-by-step.
Intuition (N) -- Focuses on possibilities. Theoretical and proceeds in leaps.

Decision-Making:
Thinking (T) -- Makes decisions according to a logical system based on consistent principles. Believes in justice.
Feeling (F) -- Makes decisions according to a value system based on a desire for harmony. Believes in compassion.

Lifestyle:
Judging (J) -- Proceeds towards goals in an organized way. Likes to make plans and come to decisions.
Perceiving (P) -- Adapts to life in a spontaneous way. Likes to gather information and keep options open.

For more information on The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and to take the on-line Myers-Briggs Tests (always an eye-opener!)  visit http://www.keirsey.com




                                                    May 2009
                                     Defining Creative Nonfiction

Have you ever been captured and held hostage by a book about a real-life event? You know about the event, you know how it all ends but the story is so compelling that you stay up all night reading.  If so, you were reading creative nonfiction. Think The Perfect Storm, Into Thin Air, The Right Stuff.

Creative nonfiction uses literary craft in a compelling and vibrant manner to present factually accurate prose about real people and events. Creative nonfiction combines the elements of journalism and storytelling to present truthful and well-researched information, that holds the interest of the reader.

Defining traits of creative nonfiction:
   Has an apparent subject AND a deeper subject
   Timeliness is NOT important
   It is narrative � Always tells a good tale in definite story & scene.
   Contains a sense of personal reflection on the part of the writer
   Pays serious attention to the craft of writing � far beyond the journalistic who/what/ when/where/how

If you want to try your hand at creative nonfiction writing, it�s good to know specifically how it differs from fiction:

FICTION: stories you make up
CREATIVE NONFICTION: stories you discover

FICTION: writers refer to plot
CREATIVE NONFICTION: writers refer to theme.

FICTION: writer arranges story according to a naturally occurring series of events
CREATIVE NONFICTION: writer sees a pattern and imposes it

There are wonderful true stories out there just waiting to be captured by your pen. Go forth and bag one.




                                                    April 2009
                                 Writing Dynamic Dialogue

In reality, we engage emotionally as we listen to other people speak. In writing this occurrence is impossible to show. That is why writers often have the characters speak, then they tell the reader what the character feels.  This results in dialogue that is stilted and filled with adverbs.  Here�s a technique you might want to try to alleviate this situation.
 
Agent and author Evan Marshall outlines the perfect device for creating dynamic dialogue in his book The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing. http://www.amazon.com/Marshall-Plan-Novel-Writing/dp/1582970629   The device is called FAD.  Feeling Action Dialogue. This device uses chronology, inner thought and psychological action/reaction to produce realistic, easy to follow, clean dialogue.

Here is an example where the writer has the dialogue first and then has to �tell� the reader what the speaker is feeling.
 
"Don�t you understand?"  Sharon yelled. "The aliens have landed on the beach." 
"You�re insane," Karen answered in a trembling voice. There was no way this could have happened. Aliens were only on The X-Files.

Here is the same dialogue using the FAD technique. The writer shows the Feeling, supplies the Action that supports the feeling, then writes the Dialogue.

"Don�t you understand?"  Sharon yelled. "The aliens have landed on the beach." 
Dread curled in Karen�s stomach. Sharon had seen too many episodes of the X-Files. There was no such thing as aliens. Everyone knew that. She wrapped her arms around her waist. �You�re insane.�

Do you see the difference here? With Feeling Action Dialogue the writer takes the reader on the same journey the character is making at the same time.  This is what we want. Engagement. Touch down.  And not an adverb in sight.

Until next month remember �The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.�



                                                 March 2009
                              Be The Calm and Assertive Owner of Your Writing

Karen is currently addicted to the television show The Dog Whisperer. Every Friday evening she tunes in to the National Geographic channel to see Cesar Millan �rehabilitate dogs and train people�. It�s a hoot.  The dogs are great, Caesar is marvelous and the owners � well you can certainly see why there are so many misbehaving dogs.  It seems that the owners let the dogs �own� them.  Caesar encourages the owners to become pack leaders and be calm and assertive.

All of this to get to our point. Writing is such an intimate experience that by the very nature of it, you develop a relationship with your work. Now that many of you have been working on your book for a while, ask yourself the following questions. Do you own your book or does it own you?  Does it drag you around, chew on your mind, interrupt your schedule and poop on your day? Yes, we thought so.

In the January 11, 2009 issue of the Sunday newspaper insert, Parade Magazine,  Caesar Millan had the following suggestions for people to follow in order for them to have a more fulfilling relationship with their dogs.  We offer his suggestions with our special twist on you having a more fulfilling relationship with your writing:

1. Live in the moment.  Your work is what it is in the moment. Quit seeing it as it was, could be, and should be. See it as it is, objectively.

2. Nurture a balanced life.  Make a scheduled time to write, fulfill this obligation and then get on with the rest of your life. This will help with that nagging �I should be writing� feeling.

3. Trust your instincts. If you have a wild off-the-wall desire to take your writing in a goofy direction � do it. See where it goes. It usually leads to some wonderfully creative writing.

4. Be direct and consistent in your communication. When you talk to yourself about your work, be positive, steady, and keep the message on target.

5. Learn to listen. To yourself, to your gut, to your writing.

6. Don�t hold grudges. If your work does not progress well one day, let it go. Do not carry the feeling of futility over to the next day.

7. Live with purpose. Set the goal, envision the result, keep the head held high. Get up out of bed, sit down and write.

8. Celebrate every day. Look at your work and pat yourself on the back. You�re WRITING for heaven�s sake. You�re living your dream.  You should be proud of yourself. We�re proud of you. And Caesar would probably be proud of you too.

http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/
http://www.parade.com/pets/articles/090111-dog-whisperer.html



                                          February 2009
                                      Stop, Look & Listen
                   Print on Demand, Anthologies & Book Doctors

February is usually a time for curling up beside the fire or in a patch of sunlight pooling in from the window and thumbing through all of those writing magazines you didn�t have time to read during the holidays. Lurking in the pages are seductive advertisements with come hither lines like  - Get Published Now!  -  You�re only a few edits away from your best seller! -  Have your writing included in this Prestigious Collection of Contemporary Writers!  - Bridge in Brooklyn the latest investment powerhouse � oh wait � wrong magazine. But you get the idea.

If you are interested in hiring a book doctor, or submitting your work to an anthology, or becoming published by Print On Demand, a Vanity Press or an E-publisher � we�d like to say � breath deeply and remain serene.  Then take a look at our latest installment of Stop, Look & Listen.

Book Doctors
STOP
 Request a resume or CV.
Ask for titles of books the book doctor has edited.
Verify that the editor is independent and not associated with your agent.
LOOK
Is there a referral from a literary agent or publisher?
Can you find a recommendation from a publisher's editing services?
Is this a direct solicitation?
Do they refuse reasonable requests for information?
LISTEN
http://www.the-efa.org/about.php
The Editorial Freelancers Association

Anthologies
STOP
Read the fine print
Find a �real� address and phone number
Review a copy of their last anthology
LOOK
Solicitation � are there ads in various publications?
Is there guaranteed publication for finalists and semi-finalists?
Is there a request for money: $40 or $50 for the anthology
LISTEN
Worst poetry contests
http://windpub.com/literary.scams/endall.htm

Publishers � Print On Demand, Vanity, E-publishers
STOP
Is there a fee?
What is the publisher's track record / sales figures?
What is the publisher�s marketing strategy?
Are other writers happy with the publisher?
LOOK
Can you find a referral from a literary agency or freelance editor?
Is there a promise (stated or implied) of a profit?
Is there extravagant praise or an excessive guarantee?
LISTEN
http://www.writerswrite.com/epublishing/ebookchoose.htm
http://www.writing-world.com/publish/subsidy.shtml

February is a great month to write.  So get on with it. Dream, plan, take a deep breath and plunge in. We�ll be swimming right along with you.

Happy New Year. 2009 is just waiting for you to tell it what you want.

At this time of year just about everyone sits down and makes lists of what they are going to do. And these lists are usually tossed aside by the end of January.  While there are many reasons for such lists being thrown away, the major cause is often a lack of specific intent.

In writing as with most of life, intent is critical for success.  Vague aspirations of becoming published, or of writing that novel, or of getting an agent who will recognize your talent will hang, looming over every day, pressing you down with its weight.  Bam! Throw that resolution away!

Specific intent to the rescue.  Here�s the plan.

Get a large poster board or plain sheet of paper.
Divide it into twelve sections, one for each month of the year. At the top of the paper write your goal. One sentence. Example �Write my novel�

On a separate piece of paper, jot down all of the major steps necessary to accomplish this goal. Example: Do research, write rough draft, edit rough draft, have final draft, have someone read it.  Once you have this list, you can write these major steps on the poster board according to what month you plan to begin and finish.

On another piece of paper, jot down all of the supporting steps you can think of that will help you accomplish each major step. Example: for research � read two books on Scottish history, look at websites listing style of dress and weaponry of 13th century Scotland -  and so forth.  Write these supporting steps on the poster board according to when you plan to begin and finish.

You should keep at this task until you have something to accomplish each week that will lead you to successfully fulfilling your goal.

Understand that there will be lots of scratching out and erasing and pieces of paper tossed in the trash. But better these pieces of paper than your New Year�s resolution.

So go forth and write. Plan. Dream. Right along with us. We�re there with you doing the same thing on the first day of 2009.

                                          December 2008
                              Beating the Holiday Writing Blues

 If you feel that you can't get into your narrative and/or concentrate during the holidays, small writing exercises can help.  Exercises, like the ones that follow will help you develop your narrative structure, build your characters, work in quick bursts, and relieve the pressure of working on the actual text during the frantic holidays

1.  When you have to go shopping, take your main character with you. Have him make comments about the people and events he sees.  Go home and write down what he said.

2.   Go to the movies, pick a character on the screen and write about how that character would get along with each of your three major characters.

3. If you go to a Christmas party, bring your main character with you.  See how he reacts to the other attendees (this will keep a smile on your face!)

4. Help define specific voices for each character. Pretend each of your top three characters have to explain to a small child that there is no Santa. They will each use a different vocabulary and tone.

5.  If you are baking, have your characters with you - have them interact as they try to find ingredients, set out baking pans and so forth.  If you have two adversarial characters, make them bake along with you and note their arguments, paying attention to their vocabulary and interaction.

6. As for your actual narrative - chart your story/plot line on a legal pad or large piece of paper and check it for time.  Have enough days passed from one scene to the next? How many years passed before this or that happened? 

7.  Write about one or two of your characters spending Christmas alone.

8.  Have each of your main characters open a heinous present in front of the person who gave it to them.

9.  Again, if you have adversarial characters, have them go to the Christmas tree lot with you to pick out a tree (and have them decorate it - har!!!).

10. Have your characters participate in different religious holiday celebration - Chanukah, Kwanzaa and so forth.



                                     November 2008
                   Writing Outside of Your Comfort Zone.

November is an interesting mix of warm and cool days. On my daily walks I’ve seen runners trying to adjust to the temperature swings. Some are bundled up, some shiver as they run and others run with a sweatshirt tied around their waist.  These people are running outside of their usual comfort zone and it’s interesting to see them struggle to adapt.

As writers we struggle to stay in our own comfort zones.  After all, writing is hard enough, right?  Well, yes and no.  Our challenge to you this November is to step outside of your comfort zone and try writing something that you have never written before.

Here are a few suggestions:

 - A Haiku is a Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Traditionally a haiku involves an aspect of nature or the seasons. Let’s shake it up.  Take a careful look at the room in which you write.  Now look closely at each corner. Write a haiku for each corner.

 - Write a short newspaper article about something you have witnessed - an altercation at the supermarket - two people yelling about the upcoming election (should be easy enough to find), an interesting story you see on the evening news.  The article should be written in the journalistic Inverted Pyramid, the most essential information in a story at the very top of the article; followed by important but not absolutely necessary information, and the least relevant facts grouped at the end.

 - Boom shaka lacka. Write a love scene. Seriously.  Take people you know in real life, have them stranded on a dark road, they get scared, then bond, then discover they are wildly attracted to each other.  Now this can be tons of fun – especially if you use your obnoxious boss and the office worker who absolutely hates him.  Not to mention it will have you smiling at work for at least a week.

 - Write a press release for the debut of your book. Be sure to include who, what, where, when, and why. This comes under the heading of “putting it out there for the universe”.

So shake a tail feather this November. Step out of your comfort zone and try your hand at something new.  You never know where the next great idea for a book is lurking.


                                        October 2008
                                       Writing Horror

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." ~ H. P. Lovecraft

Horror: painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay.  Merriam-Webster Dictionary

October. Halloween. Trees with clacking branches. The smell of decaying leaves. It might be time to turn off the lights, light a candle  and boot up the computer for a little horror writing.

The first thing you need to know is the difference between horror and terror. According to Devendra Varma in The Gothic Flame (1966): "The difference between Terror and Horror is the difference between awful apprehension and sickening realization: between the smell of death and stumbling against a corpse."

Yeowsa! Horror is the revulsion at what has been seen; terror is the dread of the horrifying experience that you will/might see.  You can pull the covers over your heads any time now.
 
Horror has many sub-genres: Fantasy Erotic Horror, Dark Fiction, Noir, Gothic, Lovecraftian, Soft, Supernatural, and Surreal, just to name a few.

The genre has gone through many changes and seems to shift with the times.  The Gothic stories of Poe may seem dated but can still bring quite a chill. The gore and slash of the 1970s horror writing has faded. Unfortunately, for quite some time, any fiction with a morbid, gruesome, extremely suspenseful or fear-provoking subject has been called "horror". But things are changing.

The Horror Writers Association says this about the current state of the genre:  "Horror has once again become primarily about emotion. It is once again writing that delves deep inside and forces us to confront who we are, to examine what we are afraid of, and to wonder what lies ahead down the road of life." Copyright © 2007 by Horror Writers Association

Wait – what’s that scratching at the bedroom window? Why is the dog growling in the back of his throat at the closet door?  I would love to write horror but I’d scare myself silly.

If you want to explore the craft of horror writing, the Internet abounds with websites. Here are some fine places to start:

The Horror Writer's Association includes Stoker Award winners, excerpts from new novels, a reading list, and related websites.  http://www.horror.org/

Dark Echo Horror is deeply creepy. It includes interviews, articles, essays, reviews, and a good link collection. http://www.darkecho.com/darkecho/index_new.html

Horrorfind is horror search engine that covers about 6,000 sites covering all aspects of horror. http://www.horrorfind.com/

Horror Factor is a terrific site that includes writing tips, market evaluations, genre explanations, articles and a lot more. http://horror.fictionfactor.com

Have a great October, keep writing, and be sure to check under the bed.



                                      September 2008
                                     Writing Contests

It’s Labor Day.  School starts tomorrow. The first day of fall is 21 days away.  Time to sharpen those pencils, put away the lethargy of summer and get cracking.  For many that means getting serious about being published and thoughts turn to entering writing contests.  These contests can be a good way to gather publishing credits for a resume, hone your skills, get motivated and receive valuable feedback. Writing contests can also, alas, be a good way to waste your money, time and effort.

So just like we learned in first grade, it’s time to Stop Look & Listen.

STOP
Who is conducting the contest?
Is there an entry fee over $25?
When was their last contest?
Who won their last contest?
Where have these people been published?
Who is judging?
 
LOOK
Is there an extra cost associated with a publication prize?
Is the contest listed on the web as reputable?
Can you find a telephone contact number? An address?
Is the contest discussed on blogs?
What exactly is the prize?
What other function does this organization serve?

 LISTEN
to what is being said on this site:
http://www.sfwa.org/Beware/contests.html
This excellent site expands on the items listed above.

I’ve entered several writing contests and the feedback has been excellent.  These contests were run by large, reputable writing groups such as:
The Virginia Writers Club, Inc.    http://www.virginiawritersclub.org
James River Writers   http://www.jamesriverwriters.com/
The Writers' League of Texas     http://www.writersleague.org/

Two websites that give good advice about how to successfully enter writing contests are :
http://www.writing-world.com/contests/articles/judge.shtml
http://writers-editors.com/Writers/Contests/Contest_Tip_Sheet/contest_tip_sheet.htm

So by all means, pick up those sharpened pencils and try your hand.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Just be sure to Stop Look and Listen first.

                                             August 2008
                                   Using Good Sense with Agents

 

While there are many trustworthy literary agents who provide high-quality, ethical representation to their clients, there are also dishonest ones who charge expensive fees, refer clients to costly editing services, and conspire with book doctors and subsidy publishers in kickback referral schemes. 

 

Kathleen and I absolutely love our agents and good agents are out there just waiting to work with writers. But be advised- dastardly agents lurk under rocks, waiting to dart out and trip the unwary writer (I’ve been reading a lot of science fiction/fantasy this summer)

 

Here is a brief cautionary list.  Read and go forth!

 

·      Good agents are found by researching successful authors in your genre and finding their agents or by checking the Association of Author’s Representatives and sending irresistible query letters.  Successful agents do not advertise, period.

 

·      Bad Agents advertise in magazines, on the Internet or through direct mail.

 

·      Good agents are usually in major cities such as NY or LA (but not always) and have a street address.

 

·      Bad agents are usually from smaller cities (again not always). A post office box is a very bad sign.

 

·      Good agents read and evaluate your ms for free.

 

·      Bad agents charge fees to read, evaluate or critique your ms.

 

·      Good agents tell you if you need an editing service but will make no specific referral.  They will often assist with the editing themselves.

 

·      Bad agents offer to edit your ms for a fee or refer you to a specific editing service.

 

·      Good agents offer to represent your book

 

·      Bad agents offer to represent your book if you pay a contract fee.

 

·      Good agents offer their authors as references and have a list of recently sold books.

 

·      Bad agents are evasive or secretive about their authors or books sold.

 

·      Good agents pass along minor processing fees but take these fees out of the royalties.  They may charge for postage, phone calls or copying but they will carefully document their charges.  Others will charge a one time fee that should be under $75.

·      Bad agents charge you up front for everything they do.  They usually will not document these charges and the fee will be over $100.

 

·      Good agents help you find a reputable publisher

 

·      Bad agents tell you that joint venture or vanity publishing is how everyone gets his or her first book published and that this practice is fast becoming industry standard.

 

 Basically, you should stop, look and listen just like you were taught to in first grade:

 

STOP and ask…

How long has the agent been in business?

How many books did he sell in the past 3 years & to which publishing houses?

What are the titles and who were the authors and publishers?

Will he provide names of satisfied authors you can contact?

Is he a member of AAR? (does not have to be but is a very good sign)

 

LOOK and see if the agent…

Charges a contract fee

Gives a referral to a specific editing service

Advertises in magazines, on the Internet or through direct mail

Charges fees to read, evaluate or critique your ms

 

LISTEN to what this excellent website has to say…

http://www.sfwa.org/Beware/

 

A few more things:

 

The Association of Authors Representatives is a not-for-profit organization of qualified literary agents and dramatic representatives of authors at www.aar-online.org  Not every reputable agent is listed here, but these agents do adhere to guidelines.

 

Keep in mind that most books/websites listing agent information simply collect the information. They usually do not investigate the information.

 

It is up to you to investigate any agent who offers representation.  This means calling the publishing houses, contacting previous clients, researching agents on the internet and so forth.

 

Have a great August and keep writing!

                                                       July 2008
                                           Terms You Should Know
 We’re right smack in the middle of summer.  The days are hot and hopefully so is your writing.  Part of being a writer is becoming familiar with the business side of writing.  To that end, here is a brief list of terms commonly used in publishing.


ADVANCE: money paid to author by publisher once book is under contract. 1/3 of advance is generally paid upon signing of the contract, 1/3 upon delivery of an acceptable manuscript, 1/3 upon publication.  Advances are paid against future royalties, so there are no additional payments until royalty earnings have exceeded the amount of the advance.

BACKLIST: books from previous seasons that are still in print

COPYRIGHT: designates ownership of the book. Most publishers will copyright the mss in the author’s name so that when the work goes out of print all rights revert back to the author and the book can be sold to another publisher.

FLAT FEE:  "work-for-hire." Author is paid one lump sum. No royalties.

FRONTLIST:  books published in current season.  Often featured in the publisher's current catalog.

HARDCOVER:  "cloth", refers to books bound with a hard, cloth-over-cardboard cover and covered with a paper dust jacket.

TRADE PAPERBACK: refers to a book bound with a heavy paper cover, usually the same size and with the same cover illustration as the hardcover edition, but lower in price.

MASS MARKET:  "rack-sized", a paperback book smaller in trim size than trade paperback, usually with a different cover illustration than the hardcover edition, much cheaper.

TRIM SIZE: the outer dimensions of the finished book.

INSTITUTIONAL SALES: books sold to schools and libraries. Both trade and mass market books can have institutional sales

MASS MARKET PUBLISHERS: companies that produce paperback books inexpensively and in large quantities; their titles tend to follow trends and sell high volume in a short amount of time.

NET PRICE:  "wholesale price", money the publisher actually receives from each book sale after discounts are given to book stores or buyers. Some publishers base the royalty paid to the author or illustrator on net price. Check your contract!

RETAIL PRICE: cover price. Most larger publishers pay royalties based on the cover price.

ROYALTIES: a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of each copy of the book. Royalties can range from 3% - 15%, depending on the type of book, amount of experience author has, and so forth.

SUBSIDIARY RIGHTS: sales of your book, either by your publisher or your agent, to other outlets such as book clubs, foreign publishers, magazines, or movie studios.  If the publisher sells the subsidiary  rights, the proceeds are split with the author (usually 50/50).  If the agent sells the rights, the author keeps all the proceeds minus the agent's commission.

There are several excellent glossaries of writing/publishing terms on the www.  Check out http://www.scribendi.com/advice/glossary.en.html 


Now remove that business hat and put on your ever-so-lovely writing hat and get going

               
                                                       June 2008
                      Managing Family & Friends During the Summer

It is officially summer! Whoo Hoo! Days are longer, the sun is hotter, kids are home from school, partners take time off, people come for visits.
Hold it! Wait a minute – could we go back to winter?
 
Summer can be especially tricky for  writers as they try to manage their writing time.
Here are some tips to help manage family and friends.

Give Notice
Let everyone know your writing schedule well in advance.
 - Post your schedule on the refrigerator or family bulletin board.
 - When inviting people for visits, mention your schedule and plan activities that visitors can do on their own.
 - When you are actually writing, put a sign on your writing room door noting this. If you do not have a door, get an inexpensive easel or make your  own sign stand and place it near your writing spot.
 
Offer Rewards
 - Children can be a challenge. You might want to let them help you make rules for their behavior during your writing time. Ownership can sometimes ensure compliance.
  - A mild form of behavior modification often works.  One mother used a timer and rewarded her children with tokens for every 10 minutes they did not bother her. At the end of each week the children exchanged their tokens for a treat.
  - Partners can also be a challenge, especially when they have time off. You will want to discuss this in advance and make a plan that involves time for both writing and play.

Be Reasonable
You can not always shut yourself away if someone is visiting from Tibet for one week.
And you may not be able to accommodate your writing during your own  vacation.
 - Write a quick, one-page letter to your manuscript telling it why you have to take a break. Make a promise to return refreshed.
 - Use the time away to jot ideas on note cards or journal about your work.
 - Take your characters with you and journal about their reactions to things that happen.
 - Journal your characters’ remarks about the people with whom you come in contact (lots of fun!)

Now go forth and enjoy your summer.  You might want to take Rita Mae Brown’s book Starting From Scratch along for vacation reading.


                              May 2008
                     Point of View & Narrative Voice

Writers are sometimes confused about the difference between Point of View and Narrative voice. Here is the difference:
Point of View is who tells the story. Narrative voice is how that story is told.
Definitions
 - Don Fry:  Voice is the sum of all the strategies used by the author to create the illusion that the writer is speaking directly to the reader from the page.
 - Karen Jones:  It is the way you tell the story.  It is your own voice but flavored to match and enhance what you are writing.  Hint - choose the POV first.
 - Roy Peter Clark Senior Scholar, Poynter Institute:   Voice is the way your writing 'sounds' on the page. It has to do with the way you write, the tone you take--friendly, formal, chatty, distant--the words you choose--everyday words or high-brow language--the pattern of your sentences, and the way these things fit
Using Narrative Voice and Point of View
First Person POV:  If you are writing in first person, the narrative voice is the narrator's voice (not the voice of the writer, but the voice of the character telling the story). It involves the narrator's manner of speaking, word choice, dialect and so on.
Other POV:  If you are writing in a point of view other than first, the voice is your own (the writer’s).  It is, however, tinged with the flavor of the story and is how you make the story sound.
Examples
Mystery/murder/noir: Short choppy bleak, police reporting style
 - First Person POV:
   It smashed on my head. The rain, I mean.  That was okay. The body in the alley had been smashed with something harder.
 - Other POV:
   It rained.  Not that it made any difference. At least not to the body crumpled  in the ditch.  
Southern memoir -  long, accented, descriptive.
 - First Person POV:
   I inhaled deeply, trying to pull the popcorn and cotton candy and hot dog smells into every cell of my body.
 - Other POV:
   It was a popcorn and cotton candy and hot dog and wood shavings and horse manure and plastic melted from the lights smell. 
Finally –
The most powerful tool on your workbench to test your writing voice is oral reading. Read your story aloud to hear if it sounds like you.
Keep writing!


                                           April 2008
                                 Finding the Time to Write

 

Where does the time go? As writers we know that time is a valuable commodity - and one  that is often elusive. If you’ve been having trouble finding the time to write, we have some suggestions.

  For one week use your day planner and jot down what you are doing every half hour.  This means including time spent watching reruns of Law & Order (and yes, we realize that everyone needs downtime and we completely agree that Sam Waterston is one cute patootie). 

At the end of this week take a good look at the list.

 

 - You will find chunks of free time you didn’t know you had. These chunks of time can be turned into writing time.

 

 -  You will find patterns to these chunks of time. These patterns will help you arrange a regular schedule for writing.

 

 - You may look at your list and find very little free time at all. If this is true, here’s a tip; you’re doing too much.  This is when you sit down, take stock of your situation and back away from the commitments! This does not mean you leave your child stranded at  piano lessons, it means taking a good hard look at how you are spending your time.

 

It is critical for  writers to have solitary time for writing.

 

Think of your day as an entire key lime pie (or pecan or chocolate).

You wake up in the morning and you are given a lovely, yummy, completely uncut pie.

As the day unfolds, everything and everyone in your life gets a piece of that pie.

Your work gets a slice, your partner gets a slice, your volunteering gets a slice, your children get a slice and so on until the pie is gone. At the end of the day, if you haven’t gotten  a slice for yourself, you’re going to be one cranky writer.  And that can lead to all kinds of self-blame and discouragement. We certainly don’t want that. Besides, pie is good!

 

So get out your day planner, or index cards, or what ever works best for you, jot down what you are doing each half hour. We guarantee you will find bits of  time that can be turned into a slice of pie just for you - no calories – we promise.

 

                                          March 2008
                           Creativity & the Inner Critic

  “Creativity is more than an occasional good idea.  It is an attitude toward life, a way of expressing inner reality by bringing it into our outer world.  It incorporates innovation, new perspectives, passion, humor, playfulness, joy and inspiration.  Living a fluid creative life enriches the texture of existence, brings sensation to a new level of experience, and allows for a new understanding of our connection to the great Mystery.”
Kathleen Brehony, Awakening at Midlife

As a writer, accessing your creativity is essential. And as writers all of us have experienced times when accessing our creativity feels like an impossible task. It is a very good bet indeed that this creative stopping-in-your-tracks is the result of fear. Yes, good old-fashioned fear. 
Imagine someone saying to you:
 “No one will like your book. They won’t even buy it. People will think you are stupid and you’ll look like a fool. You have no idea what awaits you and anyway, you’ll probably fall flat on your face with the second book.”

Meet your Inner Critic; the voice inside of you that says you will not succeed. We’ve all heard it. And it feeds on fear.  Here is a list of the top six tasty treats on the Inner Critic’s menu:

Rejection -  “No one will like it.”  “No one will want to be my friend.”
Failure -  “No one will buy it.”   “No one will publish it.”  
Ridicule -  “People will think it’s dumb.”   “People will think I’m dumb.”
Exposure  -  “I’ll look like a fool.”  “People may find out more about me.”
Change -  “I will lose structure of my life.”  “I don’t know what awaits me.”
Success -  “If I succeed I will be expected to continue this success.”

One way to deal with this fear is to confront it:
 -  write down the things your Inner Critic says
 -  write a letter to your Inner Critic. Ask why it is saying such things. Ask if it could turn some of these hurtful words into positive suggestions.
 - make a list of rules that your Inner Critic must follow. For example: You may not criticize my first draft writing. You must sit in the corner with your mouth closed until I ask you to help me with editing. When you help me with editing, you will phrase suggestions in a positive manner.
Writing to your Inner Critic will help you understand why you are stopped in your creative tracks.
 
A book you might want to read:  Goldberg, Natalie, Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life. New York: Bantam Books, 1990.


                                     February 2008
                       Literary Fiction vs. Mainstream Fiction


“What’s the difference between literary fiction and mainstream fiction?”
If Kathleen and I had a quarter for each time we’ve been asked this question, we’d be on a tropical island right now. Heck, we’d own a tropical island right now.
 Everyone seems to have a slightly different definition of literary and mainstream fiction.
These two categories can, and often do, share similar traits.
While there are no hard and fast rules - literary fiction often being "I know it when I see it",  there are some definite differences:
  
Mainstream fiction
 - is a broad and loosely defined category
 - is “popular” fiction. Think John Gresham, David Baldacci, Anne Rice.
 - is usually (although not always) about contemporary issues.
 - is usually about a character’s life and the event that changes him
 - is focused on plot
 - is more sensational than thoughtful
 - has contemporary language  - even when historical
 Literary fiction
 - is a smaller category
 - does not fit into genre writing - mystery, romance, suspense
 - is often about deeper themes
 - is usually about relationships - interpersonal and societal
 - is less focused on plot and more focused on the message
 - is more cerebral than sensational
 - has language that is elevated, can be experimental, and employs an expanded vocabulary
 If you’re not sure which category  best describes your book, think about the average person who will buy and happily read your book. Who is this person?  Would he also read Stephen King?  Vince Flynn?  Would he belong to a small book club and could tell you about Mr. Darcy?  These answers will help you decide.


                                       January 2008
                                   Finding Your Story
 
By now you have your New Year resolutions in place. And we suspect some of these resolutions have to do with sitting down and writing a book. If you know you want to write but do not yet have a story or topic,  the suggestions below should help you find just that. These suggestions can also help if you are continuing on with a current project and are mired like Br'er Rabbit with the Tar-Baby.

 Finding Your Story

 What you will write is already inside of you. So start with yourself.

 1.  Answer the following questions by writing each question in the center of a blank page and writing the answers around it. This technique helps loosen that tightly-latched left side of your brain.
•          What do you know?
•          What are your experiences?
•          What do you like to read?
•          What are your interests?
•          What type of person intrigues you?
•          What type of story carries you away?

 2.  Try some brainstorming techniques:
     Index cards:  hundreds of them / quiet room /relax / meditate
     Jot thoughts down as they arise / one per card / do not edit / do not think
     Try this for fifteen minutes a day for a week / then sort & group similar cards
     Pay attention to how you feel about groups/ play with groupings

 3.  Take a part of a book or movie that grabbed you and write about it. What did you like? What was it that made it memorable? 

 4.  Find an interesting character and write down the traits you like. What drew you to this character?

 5.  Find an interesting event and fast forward 100 years.

 6.  Find an interesting person and invent an ancestor.

 7.  List your reasons for wanting to write a book:
•          What do you want to happen?
•          What do you intend to show in the book and to whom?
•          What do you intend the reader to take away from the book? 

Have fun with these exercises. They are great way to ease into the habit of accessing your creativity. Who knows what wonderful stories abound within.



                                         December 2007
                                       Revision 101: Pace

 December can be a difficult month in which to find large blocks of time for creative writing.  Short chunks of time can be easier to find and can readily be used for revising what you have already written. Last month we focused on revising plot and story. This month, we’ll focus on Pace.

D. W. Griffith said, "Pace is the secret of the director's art...[It is] the ebb and flow of...tides of excitement, the rhythmical movement of events toward...consummation."  So it is with writers.  Pace is an important part of your story. There is nothing worse than having the reader run his eyes lightly over your words so he can get to the next “good” part.

Basic Rule
If it’s important give the details.  If it is not important but necessary, write it quickly.
 A novel is comprised of scenes and sequels and narrative bridges
 Take a look at your manuscript and…
  
 -  Check your major scenes.  They should:
     have a high word count
     feel fast and close
     involve the reader on every level
     show the important action
     be intense
     be significant
 
  - Check your sequels. They should:
    be much shorter than scenes 
    move the story to the next scene
    give the reader a chance to slow down and catch his breath
    summarize the action 
    prepare the reader for the next scene

   - Check your narrative bridges. They should:
    have a very low word count
    feel slower
    quickly move the story to the next scene
    Remember you can use the start of another chapter as a narrative bridge
  
Try Spielberg’s technique for pacing emotion:  using green for envy, red for anger, yellow for happiness and blue for love/friendship, highlight the edges of the text looking for a good mix of emotion, and problem areas where one emotion dominates for too long.