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By: MP,
on 9/11/2013
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WOW! Women on Writing Blog (The Muffin)
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Focus is at the heart of success. Unfortunately, we do not live in a world that nurtures concentration and single-minded devotion to one’s art. So, how can you minimize those pesky interruptions that keep you from writing?
Digital DistractionsLet’s start with all things online – they are just beckoning for your time and attention. Luckily, there are some tricks to reduce your susceptibility to those online Sirens.
- Only check email, social networking and news sites once or twice a day. If absolutely necessary, check every hour but only for five minutes
- Turn off email and smart phone notifications of any sort while you are writing
- Close your Internet Browser while you’re working – do your research beforehand
- If feasible have a dedicated computer or lap top that is strictly for writing – nothing else, not even checking the weather
Activity DistractionsOf course, not all activity distractions are digital. You may be pulled in by your favorite TV show or sidetracked by the need to clean the house from top to bottom. It’s also not unusual that cravings for ice cream or potato chips supersede the writing process (I’m in the potato chips category). Here are some tips to minimize the temptation to self-interrupt:
- Create a very calm and nurturing writing environment
- Remove TVs from your writing area
- If at all, only keep very small amounts of snack food in your writing area
- Leave all reading material that is not immediately related to your novel outside your writing space – read for fun in other areas of the house that you can’t see from your desk
People DistractionsWhile you have quite a bit of control regarding the Internet and activities that pull you away from your novel, people distractions are a little bit more complex. Setting boundaries can be challenging.
First of all, decide on the people who are allowed unlimited access to you – such as small children. Then list the people who are very dear to you but would be fine with you being unavailable at times. In these cases, telling people in advance when you are busy is most helpful – especially when you live in the same house.
People on your periphery are much easier to deal with. A simple, “Sorry but I am really busy right now. Can we do this later?” usually does the trick. In addition,
- Turn off your cell phone while you are working – or at least your message notifications
- Assign a gate keeper if you are living with somebody - that person can screen phone calls and visitors for you
- Protect your writing time with velvet fists
- Practice saying no to anything you don’t really want to do
No more distractions – let the words take over!
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Renate Reimann, PhD (bottom photo) is a co-instructor in the upcoming class, WRITING YOUR NOVEL FROM THE GROUND UP: How to Build Your Story While Building Yourself as a Writer for Long-Term Success–In Two Parts. Part I starts on Tuesday, September 17, 2013. For more information, visit our classroom page.
by Karen Cioffi What exactly is a landing page?
According to
Hubspot.com, “A landing page is a web page that allows you to capture a visitor's information through a lead form.”
Copyblogger.com says, “A landing page is any page on a website where traffic is sent specifically to prompt a certain action or result.”
So, landing pages are designed for specific purposes, such as a selling page for a product or service or for an email opt-in. But, no matter what the purpose is, it must be focused.
The page itself can be a separate website or a page on an existing website. But, since you want it completely focused, without distractions, a separate website usually works better.
It’s this landing page focus that allows for better conversion.
An effective landing page is designed and focused on a target market. This means if your site pertains to a specific cancer or illness, your content, opt-in, and any products you’re selling should focus on people dealing with this particular health issue. That’s your target market. And, your keywords should also reflect the page’s purpose.
If your site is about baseball, the same holds true. The landing page design, content, and any products or services being offered must pertain to baseball.
The landing page is kind of like a path on which there’s no way to stray off or be distracted. It’s intended for visitors to read exactly what you want them to, guiding them to say YES to your offer. There are no other pages for them to click on and hopefully no sidebar to be distracted by.
While inbound marketing strategies will get the visitor to your landing page, it’s the copy or content that will motivate him to follow the path and be responsive to saying YES.
Your content needs to be conversational, effective, and provide the WIIFM (what’s in it for me). People are overwhelmed with the amount of information being bombarded at them and with all the offers for books, ebook, and products. You need to write copy that (1) quickly lets the reader know what you’re offering, (2) lets the reader know exactly what the benefits are, and (3) lets the reader know what you want her to do.
Landing pages are no place for guessing games. They need to be fine-tuned, to the point, and simple. The more hectic you make the page, the more anxiety it will cause the reader. Anxiety isn’t good for conversion. Simple always works best.
You should also create separate landing pages for different offers or purposes. In other words, you don’t want to explain why a visitor should opt into your mailing list on your book selling landing page. And, you shouldn’t sell books on your subscriber opt-in page. Focus is a key element to motivating or leading a visitor to go through the necessary steps to saying YES to whatever it is you’re offering.
Bringing traffic to landing pages is done through inbound marketing strategies, such as email campaigns, special offers, guesting posting, and press releases. Other inbound marketing techniques include pay-per-click, ad banners, social networks, and affiliates.
----- Do you want to extend your marketing reach as an author? Sign up now for Karen Cioffi's class,
Creating and Building Your Author Online Presence: Website Creation to Beyond Book Sales, which starts
Monday, January 7, 2013.
If you are reading this post, you are either a) procrastinating buying and/or wrapping gifts for Christmas b) recovering from a festive Hanukkah c) thinking about your writing goals for 2013 d) unsuccessfully trying to come up with something spectacular to do on New Year's Eve e) cursing those Mayans and their end of the world theories because you're still reading this post or f) all of the above. Whatever you're doing, thank you for taking some time out to learn the new stuff we have going on in the WOW! classroom for 2013.
First, we have a FREE class this January.
Did I mention it's free? We are trying out a teleseminar class through the website anymeeting.com. You
do have to pay long distance charges if they apply; but hopefully in today's telecommunication world you have a cell phone or unlimited long distance on your home phone, so this will still be "free." The topic is
show versus tell and overwriting in children's literature from picture books to YA novels. It takes place on January 8 at 6:00 CST time, and we are hoping to record it for anyone who wants to attend, but can't. There's a super short registration form for you to fill out if you want to attend the class, so we know whom to expect. That link is:
http://www.anymeeting.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=E950DB86834C3C . (We will contact you by e-mail to see what you thought after the class, but just once!)
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| Melanie Faith |
We have some new classes, too! Melanie Faith is teaching
MEMORY POWER! Crafting Fierce Flash Nonfiction, a class about writing brief (250 to 750 words) essays. The Muffin blogger and WOW! columnist Sue Bradford Edwards is now bringing her knowledge to the online classroom with her course WRITING NONFICTION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS. Lynne Garner is offering a class about how to turn your hobby into a writing project and get it published with her class, HOW TO WRITE A HOBBY BASED HOW TO BOOK. I'm offering two new classes this winter/spring: the first is WRITING WORKSHOP: WRITING A CHILDREN’S or YOUNG ADULT NOVEL , which is a class for anyone working on a novel for ages 7 to 18, and the second is Writing Children’s and Teen’s Short Fiction for Magazines and E-zines, which is a complementary class to Sue's about nonfiction. You can read the syllabi and sign up at this link: http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/WOWclasses.html.
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| Annette Fix |
Besides the new classes, we have some old favorites, too, from memoir writing to finding an agent by former WOW! executive editor Annette Fix, building an online presence by Karen Cioffi, literary devices by Gila Green, finding your muse by Kelly L. Stone, journey through life's losses by Alice J. Wisler, novel writing by Diane O’Connell and Renate Reimann, PhD, and more! Don't forget we have some classes that are offered every week or every month--self-publishing by Deanna Riddle; writing screenplays, plays, or TV pilots by Christina Hamlett; and beginning freelance writing by Nicky LaMarco. We can answer questions about any class here in the comments OR by e-mailing classroom (at) wow-womenonwriting (dot) com. Have you signed up for our free newsletter yet? This is a good way to keep track of our new class offerings and when a new issue goes LIVE! You can sign up for FREE on our home page: http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com.  |
| Karlyn Thayer |
We want to send our deepest sympathies to the family, friends, students, and colleagues of former WOW! instructor Karyln Thayer who passed away earlier this month. We have heard such wonderful things from her former students about how much her classes helped them, and we are hoping her family can find some peace and comfort this holiday season.And to all of you, the holidays become such a busy time of year--no matter where you are or what you celebrate. Being a writer often seems to get lost in that shuffle. Don't be too hard on yourself and enjoy your time with family and friends, knowing that January 2, 2013, you are ready to tackle your writing goals. If taking a class from us (don't forget the FREE one) is something that will help you, then we'll "see" you in the classroom.Margo L. Dill is an editor and online instructor for WOW! Her first children's middle-grade historical fiction novel, Finding My Place: One Girl's Strength in Vicksburg, came out in October 2012. To find out more about Margo, you can visit her website and blog at http://www.margodill.com.
By Lynne GarnerA few months ago the lovely ladies at WOW sent me a link for
PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month). Children's author
Tara Lazar devised the concept. The basic idea is to come up with 30 ideas for picture books over a 30-day period. Thankfully, you're not expected to complete 30 manuscripts in 30 days. Simply come up with at least one new idea per day. This could be a title, a character, an idea based on something you saw or perhaps overheard.
I'll admit the idea was a little scary. I debated for a week or so before I took the plunge and signed up. I've seldom had a problem coming up with ideas but I definitely felt out of my comfort zone during this challenge. Some days I struggled to come up with anything. Other days I had two, sometimes even three, ideas. For example, whilst driving home on day 12 I had three ideas. First, I spotted a For Sale sign that had a large black hen on it. A few days earlier I'd read
The Little Red Hen. I now had a friend for her, a big black hen. The story will focus on how these two friends use their size difference to help one another. Secondly, seeing a queue at a bus stop reminded me of a joke where people joined a queue but didn't know what they were queuing for. So this story will focus on what each character hopes is at the front of the queue. Finally, I was stuck behind a very slow moving tractor. Thankfully I had plenty of time, but this made me think about how life seems to put slow things in your way when you are running late. So this story will focus on how my character deals with slow things when he needs to be fast.
Taking part in Picture Book Ideas Month has reinforced my belief that ideas can be hidden around every corner. It has also highlighted to me that in order to improve your writing you have to set yourself the odd challenge or two. This challenge could be anything. Perhaps writing in a story format you've never used, crafting a story in rhyme or telling a story with a limited number of words. It could be joining a local writing group or a national group such as
SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writes & Illustrators), writing a story to enter into a competition or, as I did, signing up for Picture Book Ideas Month.
So, go on, give your writing a boost and set yourself a challenge.
-----Would you like to try writing a picture book? Sign up now for Lynne Garner's class,
How to Write Children’s Picture Books and Get Published, which starts on January 5, 2013.
If you've taken a picture book course before then you can enroll in Lynne's advanced course,
5 Picture Books in 5 Weeks (Advanced Course), which also starts on the same day.
by Kelly L. StoneOne of the most powerful actions you can take to establish writing as a habit in your life is to carve out time to write every day for at least 30 days, and make a commitment to write every day for that entire 30 days. Even if it’s just 15 minutes a day, if you make the short-term commitment to do this, you will soon have a deep understanding of a very important concept: there is power in daily writing!
Daily writing leads to success, no ifs, ands, or buts. That’s because it forces you to focus like a laser on your work in progress and hone your writing skills whether you feel like writing or not. This in turn influences your subconscious mind to help you start thinking of yourself as a writer (or reinforces that belief) and that in turns affects your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors toward writing. Writing begets writing. Daily writing begets writing success.
Success is predicted by how you think, feel, and behave toward your writing goals. A person who has success-oriented thoughts and who feels confident in her abilities will naturally take daily actions that bring about her desired outcomes. She will feel enthusiastic, motivated, and dedicated to those outcomes because she thinks, feels, and acts her way toward reaching them, and she does the things every day necessary to achieve success.
This is the case with writing. An aspiring author who thinks positive thoughts and believes in herself will touch her craft daily, which will generate the enthusiasm and motivation to set goals. She will then cultivate the dedication required to take steps to reach those goals over a long period of time. She will write every day or take action every day toward her writing dream. She will act in methodical, self-disciplined ways that bring about desire outcomes. She will think, feel, and act in ways that stimulate enthusiasm, motivation, and dedication for achieving success as a writer as she defines it.
You can be that writer. Even if you have gotten off-track with your efforts to become a successful writer, it’s never too late to start again! Through daily writing, you can generate the enthusiasm, motivation, and dedication needed to work toward your long-term writing goals. You can create for yourself what is known in psychology as a positive self-fulfilling prophecy, which is a belief system that sets you up to succeed!
***
Kelly L. Stone (www.AuthorKellyLStone.com) is the author of a women’s fiction novel, GRAVE SECRET (Mundania Press, 2007) which Romantic Times Book Reviews called “powerful” and “well-written.” She is also the author of the TIME TO WRITE series for writers: TIME TO WRITE: No Excuses, No Distractions, No More Blank Pages (Adams Media, 2008), THINKING WRITE: The Secret to Freeing Your Creative Mind (Adams Media, 2009) and LIVING WRITE: The Secret to Bringing Your Craft Into Your Daily Life (Adams Media, 2010). She is a sought after keynote speaker and workshop presenter at writing conferences across the country and offers online classes, critiques, and coaching services to writers. Contact her at [email protected].Make your writing a priority and join Kelly in the WOW! Women On Writing Classroom!EmpowerYour Muse, Empower Your Writing Self starts
September 3, 2012.No MatterHow Busy You Are, You Can Find Time to Write! starts
October 8, 2012
LinkedIn seems to still be a mystery to many writers on how to use it effectively. In one of WOW!'s issues, we had a LinkedIn expert write an article for us about the best way for freelance writers and published authors to use LinkedIn for marketing and networking purposes. If you missed that article, you can check it out by
clicking here. If you are a published author--traditional or self, print or e-book--you are looking for readers. So, how do you find readers and connect with them on LinkedIn? It's not as hard as you may think. It will be easier for some authors more than others--depending on the type of book and the subject matter. But all in all, authors can take these few strategies below to help find an audience on LinkedIn when their book comes out.
- Who is your perfect audience? For example, if you are writing a memoir about being "an army brat" and traveling the world with a father as a colonel, you have a lot of different possible reader-types. Make a list: memoir writers, army brats, military wives and moms, and military enthusiasts. Now go to LinkedIn and go to the "Groups" choice in your tool bar across the top. Click on groups directory and start doing searches for the different perfect audience members. Some of the groups are open to everyone; some are closed. Decide which ones will accept you and what you have to offer and join. One word of warning: Don't join a group and start a hard sell. NO ONE wants to be pitched to. Build relationships in this group. Mention your book if it comes up casually. Make connections with others in this group. Writers tend to join groups of other writers on LinkedIn. How many writers groups are really going to help you sell your book? You need some for networking purposes; but other than that, you need to find readers!
- If you have a nonfiction book, you should be in the ANSWERS section of LinkedIn often to become an expert and meet people who have questions about your subject matter. To find this section, go to the tool bar and click MORE. You will see ANSWERS appear underneath it, click on this. Next, you will see several categories listed on the right-hand sidebar such as finance, human resources, and management. Click on one of these fields to read questions other LinkedIn users asked under this category. If you know the answer, you can comment. You can then connect with the person who asked the question. You can answer several questions in one category several different times to get to know more people in this section. Again, this is not a place where you are going to make a hard sell. If your book comes up naturally, great! If not, then you need to connect with others, mention your book in passing, and so on.
- You can do a general search for a type of job or skills on LinkedIn. I have a middle-grade historical fiction novel coming out soon. To look for readers to connect with on LinkedIn, I can do a search for elementary school teachers. There are tens of thousands of teachers on this site, so I might want to narrow it down. Plus, LinkedIn does not allow me to spam and contact all the people on this list. But if they are a 2nd or 3rd connection to me or in the same group as me, but I haven't "met them yet," then I can contact them as a friend and/or ask another one of my connections to introduce me. (There is a limit to how often you can get an introduction or send an "INMAIL" to someone you don't know with a free account. All of those details you can find on the site.) Anyway, if I wanted to connect with some of these teachers, who I want to read my book, I can start with this search. Then I can narrow it down by looking at the left sidebar, and clicking one of the choices, such as: GROUP MEMBERS or 2ND CONNECTIONS, and start sending connection requests. Then when I get more teachers linked to me, I can update my status or e-mail about my book.
Two of the worst things you can do is hard sell your book to your connections every time you communicate with them and/or only join and connect with other writers. Writers are supportive. Writers know a lot of people, but they also know a lot of people who already have books. Find people interested and needing your subject matter on LinkedIn. And always, always get involved in your alumni groups if you have some on LinkedIn (or Facebook, too). A lot of these people will support you because you went to their high school/college!
For more tips like these for using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, (and possibly Goodreads and Pinterest, too, depending on the students' needs and desires), consider taking Margo's ADVANCED SOCIAL NETWORKING CLASS (online). It starts 8/13 and goes for 6 weeks. For more information, a syllabus, the fee, and to sign up, please go here.
by Lynne GarnerAs a writer, there are many ways you can tell your story. One method that is often used in traditional stories is known as "repetition." This is where actions and words are repeated to create your story. However, there is also a variation known as the "cumulative" story structure or a "chain story." It is where the character repeats the same actions and/or words but with each repeat a little extra information is added.
This type of story not only uses repetition of words but is sometimes written using rhyme. To demonstrate this let's look at
The House That Jack Built. The rhyme starts with:
The is the house that Jack builtFollowed by:
This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack builtFollowed by:
This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack builtAs you can see more detail is added to the previous sentence, creating a story kids love.
Another equally famous cumulative story is
There Was an Old Woman. The story starts with the old woman swallowing a fly. She then swallows a spider to rid herself of the fly. She then swallows a bird to rid herself of the fly. As the story progresses the animals the old woman swallows get bigger. They include a cat, dog, goat, cow and finally a house. Which brings the story to an abrupt end because "she died of course!"
I'm hoping you can see the possibilities this type of story offers a picture book writer. If so and you'd like to give it a go then why not read a few books written using this structure for inspiration. The following link provides a great list of books you may wish to start with:
http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/cumulative-tales.
***
Lynne Garner has been a freelance writer and author since 1998. Since that time she has written for a large number of magazines both in the UK and the US. She has 21 books published; this includes three picture books, with a fourth to follow shortly. Her first title ‘The Best Jumper’ was recorded for the CBeeBies children’s radio channel (part of the BBC) whilst ‘A Book For Bramble’ has been translated into five languages including Korean and Indonesian.
***
Join one of Lynne's latest WOW! Women on Writing classes:
or
Both start on Saturday, August 4th. Classes are limited to 15 students.
I'll admit, when I first starting to write picture books I didn't approach it from the same angle as I did when writing my nonfiction books. That is to say, I didn't see my stories as a product that had to fit in a competitive market. However, when I finally experienced that light bulb moment I quickly placed my first picture book,
A Book For Bramble.
What changed?
I started to research the market. I visited the local library and spent hours looking at picture books. As I read, I took notes. I noted the names used, how sentences were constructed, what themes were covered, how humor was included, word count, etc. I then visited the local bookstore and repeated the exercise (slightly more discreetly) to discover if there were differences between what was being published and what had been published (the books in the library). Armed with these notes, I returned home and tried to discover if I could see patterns in subject matter, in the way subjects were covered, and in the way sentences were constructed.
I discovered:
- Humor appears to play an important part in many books.
- Tools such as repetition are used to help move the story along.
- The magic number three appears in many books (for example in The Gruffalo, you'll discover "'three" hidden all over the place).
I started to use the patterns I'd found in my own stories. Within months of changing the way I looked at my stories, I fulfilled one of my lifetime ambitions of becoming a published picture book author.
Today I still continue to research the market and read picture books as often as I can. The receptionists at my dentist, doctor, optician and vets are used to seeing me rummage in the stock of picture books they provide to keep kids entertained. The assistants in the library and bookstore now take no notice as I read their picture books. Family and friends watch in amusement as I encourage their children to show me the latest addition to their bookshelf. Without this research I'd not be able to keep up to date with a changing market. By keeping abreast of what the reading public wants, I'm able to write stories I can place with a publisher.
So if a new writer (of any genre) wants to become published, my advice is research, research, research.
***
Lynne Garner has been a freelance writer and author since 1998. Since that time she has written for a large number of magazines both in the UK and the US, having over 300 features printed. She has 21 books published; these include 10 craft-related how-to books, working with both publishers and packagers. Lynne designed, produced copy, and photographed many of the craft projects featured on The Craft Ark
.*****
Join Lynne's latest WOW! Women on Writing class:
0 Comments on Researching the Picture Book Market as of 1/1/1900
My Name is Jocelyn, and I’m a Punctu-holicby Jocelyn KasperI’m on week four of a six-week
WOW! Young Adult Novel Writing workshop with author Bonnie Hearn Hill. She’s got me on a no-exclamation-point diet. Bonnie says I’m in rehab.
F. Scott Fitzgerald said that an exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke. It’s a substitute for a lively little remark, added to the end of a perfectly good sentence, such as, “Isn’t that special?” Some people would substitute the word
amazing to get the same effect. But I hate that word.
Bonnie says I need to use words, not punctuation, to express ideas and feelings. I told her I will lay off the punctuation brew and instead grow my language skills. I think my sentences are actually funnier, friendlier and smarter without exclamation points.
But sometimes I worry someone will think I’m drier than I mean to be. So I’ll add a colon and shift+zero, which, after a thoughtful tap of the space bar in a properly working Word program, turns into a smiley face, which is just as bad. I’m trying to get used to the new me.
Bonnie says get rid of colons and semi-colons in fiction. They’re too authorial. Let the reader get swept away by the writing, not by the writer. I want my readers to fall in love with my characters on their own and not notice there’s an author hanging around telling them how to feel about it.
Punctuation feels like music notation to me. In fact, like interpretation of music notation, it’s almost spiritual. A comma or em dash signals a musical rest of particular length and temper. Question marks and periods convey vocal inflections. But putting a word or phrase in italics or quotation marks (orphan quotes) for emphasis is off limits. Bonnie says not to think of myself as an actor, singer or composer, but as a writer. Again, use words.
This whole anti-punctuation thing is really just what the doctor ordered. You see, punctuation can make me feel like a smart person, even if I’m not. Like all those books on all those bookshelves do, which I haven’t read in years or ever.
Except for when I type smiley faces. I don’t feel so smart then. Just because I like to doodle, I shouldn’t scribble faces, parentheses, dots and other flyspecks all over my manuscripts to prove I’m smart. Or artistic.
Thanks to Bonnie, I’ve thrown my Punctuation Princess crown all the way across the valley. And still, I hear a million echoes of shattering glass, as it bounces from mountain to mountain.
It might seem like I’ve only learned junk about punctuation from Bonnie Hearn Hill. Or that punctuation is junk—on many levels—or both; but that wouldn’t be accurate. Oops. There goes a semi-colon.
I’ve been learning so much more. But you’ll have to wait for another blog day to hear about all the rest. In the meantime, use your words.
* * *
Jocelyn Kasper loves to write. In her spare time, she teaches people how to sing. She lives in Nashville, TN with her husband, three dogs and one cat. Read more at www.KasperMusic.com.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. W
by Melanie FaithIt’s so easy to slap a subject down and jump ahead to the snazzier adjectives and dynamic verbs. Yet, point of view can make an enormous difference in a poem’s development and also impact the way readers approach your work. Let’s look at the three points of view—1st, 2nd, and 3rd—and how each pronoun choice molds your poem.
Of all the pronouns, I is most immediate. Since an author’s personal experiences often trigger the rush to the page, it is only natural that many poems have their genesis with an I speaker and continue in that vein. The Confessional School of poets in the 1950s and 1960s, a la Sylvia Plath and her one-time teacher, Robert Lowell, freed the way for ample use of I in lyric and narrative poetry. It is worth noting, however, that even poems with a first-person narrator may not 100% reflect the experiences of the writer, but may include as much fiction as a third-person point-of-view. An example of a first-person narrator removed from the poet’s experience would be a female poet crafting a poem from the perspective of a father. As a creative artist, it is within your skillset to assume a persona.
Advantages of Ist person: it is compelling and has the power of a strong personal or character voice.
Draw-backs: can sometimes become self-indulgent, and it is difficult to create enough distance from the material to pick which images, similes, or metaphors should or should not be included.
Second person, you, may be read several ways. A you subject may address the audience directly. Or it may be used like “one,” to note universal human experience. Also, the you might be an unnamed, absent character who receives the unstated questions and actions of the poem, such as when an employee addresses her boss, “you always made me work/ overtime,” or when a friend addresses another friend who has betrayed him.
Advantages of 2nd person: great for drawing readers into the poem’s action. A comfortable form for most writers, especially for comparing or contrasting two characters’ behaviors.
Draw-backs: with certain themes—political topics, religion—may alienate readers by having too accusatory a tone.
“The advantage of the third person is that it gives both the poet and the reader some personal space from the action of the poem....This can create breathing room to write things you might not otherwise feel comfortable expressing,” Sage Cohen notes in
Writing The Life Poetic. It is difficult, if not impossible, to write objectively about a painful or joyful personal experience. Third person narration encourages honesty as well as trimming unnecessary phrases and lines. The obvious
drawback, however, is that the third person may appear too dispassionate or dull. Try this exercise: swap one pronoun for another in a draft. How does that affect the poem’s tone or theme and your approach to it? Switching pronouns may inspire new ideas and make it easier to edit parts of the poem which are not as compelling.
***
Melanie Faith is a poet, essayist, and photographer who holds an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte, NC. Her writing most recently was published in
WOW! Women on Writing’s very own Jodi Webb recently read her essay, “If You Don’t Do It, Who Will?” on public radio. We chatted with her briefly about her experience submitting and recording her piece.
Check out her essay and recording here, then get the inside scoop from Jodi about creating an essay that gets broadcast on the airwaves.
WOW: Jodi, congratulations for having your essay featured on public radio! What inspired you to submit a “This I Believe” essay?
Jodi: I had always been aware of the This I Believe segment because I'm a big fan of Edward R. Murrow. Murrow was the one who first started the program. You can submit essays for consideration online and over the years I've submitted an essay or two. After all, the title says it all "This I Believe". It's a natural writing prompt and brings so many ideas to mind. What do we believe in? I could think of a different answer every day of my life.
But I was always nervous about the recording aspect of This I Believe. So when I heard that they were looking for submissions for a This I Believe book I was very enthusiastic. No recording! So I pulled out all the stops and submitted an essay about my mom and volunteering.
WOW: What was the submission process like, and how long did it take to hear that your essay was accepted?
Jodi: It was one of those "dropping a pebble in a wishing well" submissions. I submitted it and, aside from the automated "We've received your submission" email, nothing--for months! I actually forgot about it when I got an email from John Gregory telling me it had been selected for the book. I was so excited. Of course then more waiting until the book was finally published and ended up in my mailbox. About a year from submission to actual book.
Of course then I learned that they intended to have everyone included in the book record their essays. What?! I was very nervous and actually tried to stall them for a while but John was persistent.
WOW: How did the recording take place? Did you practice your reading of the piece?
Jodi: Normally NPR schedules time for you to visit a local radio station that broadcasts NPR programs and record it in their studio. But the nearest NPR station was an hour from my house. I had to cancel once for snow but finally made it the station in Harrisburg, PA. It was a HUGE building. There was a great guy there named Joe who was my man on the spot. Then I had John from NPR on the phone giving me direction. So I had earphones on, a mike in front of me, Joe sitting across from me working the technical aspects(playing sections back for me, etc.) and both of them talking to me through the earphones in this tiny little room. It was so weird.
First, John asked me all these questions about my writing and my family. I suppose to get me accustomed to the microphone. Then I read the entire thing three times (the first time at super speed!), but I also read just sections and a few sentences what seemed like a million times. They can take a bit from here and a bit from there and splice it all together. Which was a relief because at least I didn't have to read the entire thing perfectly in one shot! John would say thin
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I remember fondly sitting at the dentist's office with my mom and flipping through the latest Highlights for Children magazine. I loved the Hidden Pictures and the comic strip stories. I loved the poems and arts and crafts. I also remember getting my Jack and Jill magazines in the mail and sending in my own poems and drawings. These were some exciting days as a child.
When I decided to write for children, I wanted to publish a book, of course. But all the advice I read and heard at writing conferences was that while I was working on my book, I needed to build a publishing history. I needed to submit to magazines. This was one way I could work on my craft and learn the business at the same time.
So, I started on fiction stories, as most writers do. I thought back to those doctor's office waiting rooms and reading stories with my mom and dad. I remembered using my Jack and Jill magazines to play school, and reading with great expression the stories out loud to my stuffed animals.
This nostalgia got me rejection after rejection--and only one acceptance to a small, independent magazine because I placed in their fiction contest.
What I soon learned was that I needed a critique group. I needed to try my hand at nonfiction, too. I needed to learn about fillers and editors and query letters and more. So, through my correspondence classes at the Institute of Children's Literature and the wonderful members of my critique group (as well as all the conferences they dragged me to), I soon realized there was no place for nostalgia if I wanted a career as a writer. I needed to put away those memories of Highlights and Jack and Jill and face reality.
I see this SO OFTEN with new writers and/or people who have been trying to get a children's book published for years. They want to write a book like they remember from their childhood. They don't want to hear about e-zines or Walter, the Farting Dog or picture book apps. They don't want to hear that nonfiction sells easier than fiction, and that magazine editors are dying for boy stories with humor. They don't want to hear that they have to go study the market and figure out how it is always changing.
As the saying goes, "This is not your grandma's" publishing business any more. If you find yourself receiving rejection after rejection on your picture book or middle grade novel manuscript, take some time t
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A very common mistake writers make in their first drafts is to head hop, or change point of view, between the characters in a scene. This is usually not done on purpose. Here’s an example:
Eleanor wondered what could possibly be in Harold’s box. “That’s a really small container. I thought you were bringing all your old office supplies.”
“I am,” Harold said, laughing to himself. Eleanor was such a busybody. He would teach her to mind her own business.
“So, this is some kind of joke, then?” She asked, knowing Harold didn’t have a very good sense of humor.
In this scene, we are clearly in the minds of both characters. The scene has more than one point of view.
So, isn’t this omniscient point of view then? Can’t the narrator know what both characters are thinking? Some may argue yes. But omniscient point of view isn’t used much today; and when used properly, it has to sound all knowing—the narrator has to know everything about everyone. That’s not happening in this short scene. There’s definitely head-hopping going on.
Why does it matter?
Readers want to connect with the main character in a story. One of the best ways for writers to accomplish this connection is to reveal his or her thoughts and feelings—not just action and dialogue. Most readers love character-driven novels, so writers should strive to create a character that readers want to follow through an entire novel. Filter the story through this character’s eyes, so readers experience life like him or her.
How do you fix head-hopping?
To fix the above scene, pick a point of view character and filter everything through that character’s eyes and mind. Pretend to be that character. You know you can’t read another person’s mind. You can only recognize body language, tone of voice, and dialogue. Your characters are the same way. So, try this:
Eleanor wondered what could possibly be in the box Harold carried. “That’s a really small container. I thought you were bringing all your old office supplies.”
“I am.” Harold smirked and shook the box.
“So, this is some kind of joke, then?” She asked, knowing Harold didn’t have a very good sense of humor.
H
by Bonnie Hearn HillVampires? Zombies? Steampunk werewolves? Trying to dream up a fresh plot for a young adult novel can take you to some crazy places. Yet until you have a strong protagonist, you have only a daydream, not a story. This is as true in young adult fiction as every other genre. There are no shortcuts. Not even the most dazzling over-the-top plot can conceal an undeveloped protagonist.
Your protagonists race your plot forward, swerve around obstacles, and yes, sometimes barrel over the antagonists in their paths.
Sometimes the antagonists barrel over them.
Is your protagonist a sleek, nitrous-injected Corvette, or is he a Gremlin so meek and sickly, that even you, the author, feels the need to get out and push?
Think about some of the traits of great protagonists. Are they intelligent? Warm? Giving? Clever? Brave? Those are perfectly good traits, but if they are all you have, you’re running the risk of a perfect character. Have you ever known a perfect person or someone who pretends to be? What happens when you encounter these people in real life? Do you like them? Can you relate to them? Can you stand to spend any time in their presence? Case closed.
If you want to touch hearts and sell books, your protagonist needs only two basic traits. Think for a moment. What two traits can allow you to trust your story with this character you’ve created? These two. Your protagonist must be proactive, and she must be sympathetic.
• Memorable protagonists are proactive.A strong protagonist
protags. That doesn’t mean that he rushes out the door like a modern day Don Quixote. Something happens—a change—that forces him to take action. Perhaps a loved one is in danger. Maybe he’s motivated by money, honor, even a threat. Regardless of how reluctant your protagonist, something compels him to move forward and refuse to give up, win or lose.
• Memorable protagonists are sympathetic.You want your reader to cheer for and relate to your protagonist. In order for that to happen, that character must be worthy of such attention. In short, your protagonist needs to be sympathetic or at least empathetic.
Sounds easy enough, right? It’s safe to say that an unfeeling tyrant who marches through the countryside searching for orphans to steal is not sympathetic. Yet, it’s rarely that simple. A protagonist who cares for nothing, who feels nothing, or who robotically floats through his life is just as unsympathetic.
Only by revealing the vulnerable parts of his character, the squishy underbelly that most people try to protect, can we allow the reader to feel for him. The protagonist must have a hole in his life, and you must reveal it.
Maybe Mary had to drop out of school to raise little sis. Unfulfilled dreams are an excellent hole. Or she could be in love with somebody who will never return her feelings, which might remind her of how her father always loved the other sister more. A hole in your life is some missing element that both drives and impedes you. You’d better believe that every person on earth has one.
What’s yours? Look around at your friends and family. What are the holes in their lives? What makes them vulnerable? Any person who claims to have it all together, to possess everything he ever wanted, is usually concealing the biggest gaping black hole that ever devoured a galaxy.
Remember, your goal is to reveal the deep emotions that we’re taught as children to hide. Shame. Longing. Envy. Guilt. Those feelings come without
Social media is a great marketing tool. It's a chance to connect with writers, readers, publishers, editors, and agents like never before. It's easy, and it's fast; but in order to use it effectively, you still have to follow old-fashioned, pre-social media rules of networking and building relationships and connections. You have to give before you can take. You have to be personable, and you have to share something of yourself. If you forget this, in your quick use of social media to promote yourself, then you will not be as successful. You cannot constantly ask people to do something for you without sharing yourself and giving to others.
Joel Comm, author of Twitter Power, which is a book I highly recommend, states on his website, "Whatever your industry, make sure that you're not just building followers but building those relationships and networks, too."
So, how do you do this? How do you stop ONLY promoting yourself and start interacting?
- On Facebook, you can visit other writers' pages and leave comments. You can follow your writing friends' links to their blogs and or book pages. You can leave encouraging words on their walls. Respond to their book signing and blogging events, even if you cannot attend.
- On Twitter, you can retweet a friend's interesting tweet that links to her bog. You can recommend another author's book as a holiday gift. You can get involved in a hashtag chat and share your opinion and ideas with other writers.
- On Linked In, you can recommend friends whom you have worked with personally or whose books you have read. You can answer questions in the QUESTIONS section of the site. You can also participate in group discussions in the groups that you are in, especially if someone is asking for people's advice and/or experience.
I know what you're thinking. This is going to take more time, and you're right--you could spend hours on this. But you have to limit yourself, and you have to look at it as marketing/networking time, which in today's publishing world is as equally time-consuming and important for the author as creating new work. Devote thirty minutes a day to social media for a couple weeks, and make sure you are sharing and building relationships--not just promoting yourself. See if you notice a difference. Are you gaining more followers or fans? Has your blog traffic increased? Have you sold any more books? Be honest with yourself. Are you being as consistent as you can? Are you sharing bits of yourself while also selling your work? A final note--if all you do is constantly put up links to your blog and your books on the three major social networks, people will stop reading your tweets and status updates. They gloss right over it--at le
By: MP,
on 12/7/2011
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The 5 Biggest Mistakes in Writing Scenesby Diane O’ConnellHave you ever seen pictures of a Hollywood back lot? The buildings look amazingly real, but they’re really just false fronts. There’s no “there” there. Likewise, a scene in a novel may have all the elements that make it appear “real,” but can be as flat as a Hollywood edifice. Events happen, characters say and do things, but the scene doesn’t come alive. So what’s wrong? Likely, the writer has made one or more of these mistakes:
1. Not having a clear point of view Some writers hop from one character’s thoughts to another—a habit I refer to as “brain billiards.” At the other extreme, some scenes don’t have any point of view whatsoever. Events happen in a vacuum, not through the lens of any one character’s viewpoint.
Remedy: Stick to one POV per scene. When choosing which character to use ask, “Who has the most to lose or gain?” Once you answer that, it should become obvious whose POV to choose.
2. Relying too much on dialogueWhen you have a scene that’s almost all dialogue, your readers can get lost and consequently feel disconnected to the scene. Dialogue should be used like spice: sprinkle in just enough to give the scene flavor.
Remedy: To keep readers anchored, break up your dialogue with action, description, internal thought.
3. Piling on the actionThis is a particular danger in thrillers. The writer drags the reader through every step, giving a “blow-by-blow” account of what’s happening. The result is all show and no tell. We see the punches being thrown, struggles, chases, knife fights, but we don’t get the impact of what’s happening.
Remedy: Step back, take a breath, get inside your character’s head, and find ways to combine lots of smaller pieces of action into a bigger picture.
4. Summarizing what happenedThis has the opposite effect of piling on the action. We’re told what happened instead of being thrust right in the middle of the action. Consequently, we don’t really feel involved.
Remedy: Allow the scene to unfold in real time rather than simply saying who did what to whom. Use enough details so that the reader can film a “movie in her mind.”
5. Not having a clear purposeIt’s not enough for a scene to be emotional or funny or colorful or scary. It must have a reason to be in your novel. In my work with first-time authors, too often I have read scenes that seemed more like window dressing than an integral part of the story. In these cases, the scene might be interesting in and of itself, but it leaves the reader scratching her head wondering why the author put it there.
Remedy: Before you write any scene, ask yourself how it serves your story. Each scene should either help a particular character move closer to his ultimate goal—or put up obstacles, creating a struggle.
Once you’ve become aware of these mistakes, and challenged yourself to correct them, you’ll find that your scenes are much richer, deeper, and livelier.
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Besides impressing others by being able to say, "Oh, I'm a freelance writer," or "Yes, I've been published in Family Circle," there are other reasons why pursuing a freelance writing career or even working part-time as a freelancer are good for you as a writer.
- Flexibility: One of the best benefits of being a freelancer is the flexibility. I'm not going to tell you it's easy--because it's not. You'll work hard, and you'll work long hours; sometimes just to get one article finished or five query letters researched and sent in. But you can generally do this work at 5:00 a.m. or 5:00 p.m.--whatever your schedule calls for. Freelancing is perfect for stay-at-home parents who have a different schedule almost every day or even writers working day jobs but hoping some time to freelance full time. I would say my favorite thing about freelancing, besides how interesting it is to write different articles and meet a wide variety of people, is the flexibility!
- Extra income: That's the joy of freelancing--you get paid--or at least, you are supposed to. And in real, live money--not copies and not t-shirts or other merchandise. Whether you write for small or large markets, glossy magazines or your local paper, a paycheck should accompany your hard work. It's hard for me to tell you how much you should get for your submission--until you break into the national magazines, you are probably not going to be funding your child's college education. But you could easily fund next year's Christmas purchases or that cruise vacation that you wanted to take with consistent querying of small to medium-size markets. And I always encourage my students to go for the glory--why not send in that query to O the Oprah Magazine first before you send it to a regional woman's magazine? You never know when an editor might love your idea.
- Your resume: If you're freelancing while you're working on your memoir, a nonfiction book proposal, or your novel, you're also building your resume or platform and collecting clips. You also probably have a bio included in several of these freelance publications, where you can list your blog, your website, your upcoming work, and so on. Any exposure you can get for your upcoming work is great. Any networking you can do while freelancing is doubly great. And finally, you are getting all types of writing and publishing experience that is invaluable during these experiences.
If I haven't convinced you yet, then here's a reason I know will convince you to give freelancing a try. (smiles) You become better at TRIVIA! (Think of all the trivia nights you can attend--people will be fighting over you to be on their team.) You are bound to learn interesting tidbits of information about your community, history, sports, and so on while researching and writing articles. In other words, you are building your trivia knowledge.
Recently, I had a Twitter conversation with one of our followers and she asked how she could get more involved with WOW! I'm asked this question by several of my WOW! online students also; and so I thought I'd take a little time today to highlight some of the ways you can interact and connect with other WOW! fans, readers, and team members. You want to stay connected!
- Newsletter: We have a free newsletter when a new issue comes out and periodic e-mail blasts about special opportunities for WOW! subscribers. To sign up, go to our home page at http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com . On the top right-hand side, you will see a box that says, "Sign up for our free newsletter." If you were already signed up, you would have been notified about our new issue, our special offers from our sponsors, and what we are looking for from freelancers this week!
- Facebook: Like us on Facebook! We allow fans to post information about their blogs, books, or businesses once a week. We let you know about all our new classes. We respond to questions on what type of submissions we are looking for and when contest notifications go out. Our Facebook page is a great place to ask us questions and let us know what YOU are up to with your writing. You can also meet other women writers here for networking and support. Anytime we have a special offer or new blog tour with a book giveaway--we post it here.
- Twitter: We have two Twitter accounts you can follow--our general one at http://www.twitter.com/womenonwriting or one specifically for WOW! blog tours at http://www.twitter.com/WOWblogtour On both, we interact with followers; on our general account, we tweet links to helpful articles and contests as well as updates to our class lists and the freelance job board. We point out our sponsors whom we have checked out, and we encourage writers through the hashtags #amwriting and #nanowrimo. Our WOW! blog tour account lets readers know where our authors are appearing and when people can win a prize or learn important information.
- The Muffin: Our blog, which you are reading now, can be subscribed to through e-mail or RSS feed. We update The Muffin each day, so you don't want to miss one thing our bloggers have to say. You can also become a part of our blog through the Friday Speak Out program. For more information, click on a post written on ANY FRIDAY, read it, and then contact Marcia at marcia (at) wow-womenonwriting.com
Finally, don't forget about our
quarterly flash fiction contest, judged in the final round by a literary agent, or the
WOW! classroom, where the 2012 classes are now listed--there are some new ones to check out. And if you are freelancer, we are accepting queries (send them quick!) for our January/February issue--it's an open theme, but anything about beginning a new year, edit
by Gila Green"I want to make a paradigm shift in time for that offline chat," says Ilene.
“Sizzle! Think: accountability targeting, transparency concerns, high impact." Savana puts a finger to her temple and then aims it at Ilene. “Pow! We’re fatal to the competition.”
What?
Writers need to be weary of overusing diction (
paradigm shift, offline) and onomatopoeia (
sizzle, pow)—or any other literary device. Diction, in the sense of word choice, is an excellent literary technique to master because few stories have no dialogue at all, which means just about every writer must consider word choice for her characters.
What’s wrong with the above example? The writer is trying to write a modern story, so she’s using modern diction presumably to reinforce time, location and character development. But she’s gone too far. We are lost and probably feeling as though we are reading an advertisement. There’s a good chance the reader is not going to read on.
What is the solution to this problem? Recognize that overdoing modern diction and onomatopoeia means your writing is buzzing with buzz words—a big no-no. A good rule of thumb is no more than three buzz words per line and, even in that case, the dialogue must really suite your character.
Why is this such a sin? Because buzz words often make readers feel as though you are trying to impress them with just how current your writing is and once the reader is aware of the writer you are in danger of losing her, not to mention most readers don’t enjoy pompous writers. For this reason literary devices, such as diction and onomatopoeia in particular, can quickly turn into buzz words. (Buzz words should also not be confused with jargon or insider talk, but that’s another article.)
Mastering literary devices aside, some writers simply don’t notice buzz words. Certain buzz words become everyday words and, in turn, part of our everyday writing. The primary purpose of employing literary devices as a group—not individually—is to reinforce your theme and, thereby, deepen your writing. Overusing those same devices often has the opposite effect: shallow, superfluous and ineffective writing.
So by all means, explore literary devices and go way beyond the two I have used as examples here, but don’t go so far that your writing buzzes into oblivion. Talking down to your readers, inadvertently or not, is a surefire way to lose them.
Don’t go so loopy with literary devices that readers perceive you as pompous.
Originally from Ottawa, an excerpt from Gila Green’s new novel “King of the Class” is short-listed for the Summer Literary Seminars Award (2011). Her stories have appeared in tens of literary magazines in the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Israel, and Hong Kong. Her short story collection, White Zion, is a finalist for the Doris Bakwin Award (Carolina Wren Press, 2008). Her stories have been short listed for WordSmitten's TenTen Fiction Contest (2008); The Walrus Literary Award (2006/7); the Eric Hoffer Best New Writing Award (2008) and the Ha'aretz Short Fiction Award
I am currently teaching WOW!'s Social Networking online workshop, and it's made me think more and more about how important it is to have goals for your social networking sites. I know what you're thinking: I already have goals for my personal life. I have goals for my novel and some for my daily writing tasks. I don't need another set of goals--especially for Facebook and Twitter. But I believe this is a mistake many of us make. This is why sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook become overwhelming and a time-suck. So, what kind of goals should you make and how do you use them to help you with your social networking skills?
Ask yourself this MAIN question: Why am I signing up for Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/GoodReads/Google Plus and creating a profile?
Your answer may be something like some of my students:
- I want to promote my book.
- I want to find clients for my life coach business.
- I am trying to build a network of writers because I plan to host an online writing conference.
- I am new to the writing world and am going to be trying to find an agent for a YA book. I need to make contacts and educate myself.
- I am trying to drive more and more readers to my blog, which is the platform for my self-published e-book.
You get the picture. These are specific reasons why these writers have signed up to use social networking. I'm not saying that they aren't also going to connect with high school friends or follow Ellen on Twitter, but this is the main reason why they are on the sites.
Once you know WHY you are on, now you can set some goals for the use. If you are on Facebook to promote a book, then contact everyone you've ever known that could be a potential reader and re-connect with them. Create a Facebook business page for your book. Join a Facebook fan page that has members who will want to read your book. Create events that surround your book--either in person or online--and promote them on Facebook. With the goal of promotion in mind when you log on, you will use your time more wisely.
One final note, you should never ONLY promote yourself on any site--even LinkedIn. The best way to connect with others and get them to buy your book/hire you/read your blog is to take a personal interest in others. Spend five minutes one day responding to your friends' Facebook status messages. Spend five minutes another day reading tweets and re-tweeting or replying. This is what causes people to notice you and want to help you with your goals.
Artfully Editing Your Personal Essaysby Melanie FaithAh, the spark of inspiration—the keys clacking, the ideas flowing, the wind at your back! Shortly, however, the initial draft is finished, and it’s time to begin the more arduous editing journey. Take heart…and these tips to sculpt your personal essay:
1. Division decision— A bit of creative structuring may take a piece to an exciting new level. In
Crafting The Personal Essay, Dinty W. Moore notes: “While most of my nonfiction writing follows a pretty traditional path, I have also composed essays that mimic the form of a coroner’s report, a made-for-television movie script, and a Zen koan. One of my favorite experiments, ‘Son of Mr. Green Jeans: An Essay of Fatherhood, Alphabetically Arranged’ borrows a form known as abecedarium from the world of poetry.” Consider unique subject headings or organizational methods. Poem titles, favorite thematic quotations, place names, even times of the day may all structure an essay into an intriguing mosaic.
2. Time, time, time— Although writing nonfiction, that doesn’t mean that a writer must adhere strictly to chronological order. Consider flashbacks and flash forwards, mixing chronological time with the more sophisticated timing of personal epiphanies and hard lessons well-learned.
3. Spotlight self—A writer may include many other “characters” within the piece—siblings, neighbors, exes and friends—but the central moments of change must occur for the speaker. Readers want to discover the aha! moment via the first-person narrator; she is the one readers root for and identify with most strongly. Edit or omit sections where discovery takes place through or for another person. An essay will be stronger for narrowing the focus.
4. “You don’t say!”— Dialogue can be a great tool for compression. Are there whole rambling sections describing setting, clothing, or personality that could be expressed more succinctly in a tart remark or an aside? In
Naked, Drunk, and Writing,
Adair Lara advises, “Dialogue is very readable, makes writing move fast, and is the fastest way to reveal character…Keep dialogue short and punchy. We’re not allowed to say much before we’re interrupted by others or something else is going on.” Characterizations are strengthened by lopping off background fluff. A short interchange between speaker and friend can easily demonstrate more complex conflict. Lara further advises, “Dialogue gets interesting when there’s subtext: what characters are saying between the lines.” Trust that your readers will intuit much from less.
5. Edit details that don’t showcase theme(s). While interesting, does this portion contribute to the whole piece? Ask yourself: would a reader who had not experienced this person/event find a meaningful connection with the rest of the essay?
6. Set it aside. Then trust your gut. When writing truth, a writer’s emotional connection to the material can cloud editorial judgment. Take breaks of days or even weeks to let the material cool. With the passage of time, an essayist often finds the courage and perspective to hit the backspace key.
***
Is Your Scriptwriting Guilty of TMI?by Christina Hamlett
How much do you really need to know about someone before you’re hooked into wanting to learn more? The process of setting up character introductions for your screenplay or theatrical script has a lot of similarities to the 1990’s matchmaking invention of speed-dating. Credited to an L.A. rabbi seeking to provide a social forum for Jewish singles, the concept of investing only a few minutes to scope out potential mates isn’t unlike using a few sentences to bait a reader’s curiosity about why your heroine collects ceramic owls, why your hero doesn’t own a car, or why the villagers never go to the lake after sundown.
Like many a bad first date, though, new screenwriters and playwrights have a tendency to not only spill too much too soon but expect every detail divulged to be permanently stored in the recipient’s memory. The result? Excessive backstory doesn’t just slog the pace of the plot; it makes it hard to distinguish what’s actually relevant and necessary in order to follow the action. In other words: too much information.
The use of backstory as a literary device traces its roots as far back as Greek mythology, was frequently employed in Shakespearean works to explain rivalries and revenge, and has long been a mainstay of soap operas to account for brooding obsessions and family secrets. Whether revealed partially, fully, chronologically or intermittently, backstory elements that are used wisely serve the purpose of lending depth and providing a context for understanding what has brought the characters to their present situations and mindsets.
In fiction – as in life – people aren’t born interesting; they become interesting as a product of shake-ups in the status quo that challenge and transform them. Because the majority of storytelling is linear, however, writer often embrace the notion that viewers of the film or play have to be brought up to full speed on everything that has happened in the past before they can possibly begin to grasp the meaning of the immediate problem. This approach either takes the form of copious scenes that recite highlights of the hero’s life, interactions and influences or an extended prologue that focuses on the era, environment and cultural framework in which subsequent events will transpire. Both of these strategies are guilty of violating the “show, don’t tell” rule and forestalling a plot’s official kick-off. They’re also typically comprised of specifics that never make a second appearance (i.e., Tim’s childhood turtle named Horton), much less have any connective value to the development or resolution of the core conflict.
Viewers today have shorter attention spans and more distractions competing for their leisure hours than prior generations. Accordingly, the first 10 minutes of a story for stage or screen creates an expectation of what will follow. That said, if your contemporary murder mystery set in Hawaii starts out with volcanic eruptions and screeching pterodactyls, it better be pithy and pertinent or you’re likely to lose your audience long before you get to your first dead body floating in the Halekulani swimming pool. By tightly focusing on your characters' relationships to the core conflict and to one another in the now, you're on your way to writing a leaner and more marketable script than one which takes too long meandering through life in the past lane.
You won’t believe how much time you can spend on a social media site if you don’t set a time limit, say 30 minutes a day at the most. One of the problems is you can easily get distracted by personal messages, tweets, and status reports. For example, you might spend 30 minutes commenting on your best friend’s photo album of her daughter’s 4th birthday party instead of finding links about writing and posting them to your Facebook page. I agree that Facebook is great for keeping in touch with friends and family, but you can make it a point to do these personal interactions on the weekend IF you have a limited amount of time for writing during the week.So, what are ways to use your time wisely on Facebook?
• Set up a fan page—this would be a page on Facebook where people could join and become a fan of your work• Invite people to an event—events can be real world events such as book signings or conferences. They can also be cyber events such as blog giveaways.• Update your status to say something about your writing career. • Find other writers and comment on their statuses or "like" their fan page. • Post links of writing articles or blog posts that you find helpful.• Write notes about writing contests, issues you are having with your novel, or a hot topic such as book covers.What are ways to use your time wisely on Twitter?
• Take part in one of the groups/chats such as #amwriting, #writegoal, or #kidlitchat. • Tweet about your recent blog post. Make sure to write a headline with your link that catches people’s attention such as: “Here’s a book that kids will talk about long after they’re done reading it” and then attach the link.• Find other authors’ and writers’ promotional tweets and retweet them. If you know writers personally, then do an exchange. Ask them to retweet information to their followers, and you will do the same for them.• Go to people’s links that you see on Twitter and leave comments on blogs. Always, always, always leave either your blog’s URL or your Twitter ID, so these people can find you and repay
By: MP,
on 6/18/2011
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WOW! Women on Writing Blog (The Muffin)
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by Nicky LaMarcoMany freelance writers lack organization and this can cause lost income, which no one wants. Learning how to manage your freelance writing projects is vital to your business since you are working on several different writing projects at a time.
Use a TemplateStart with inbound client paperwork. Keep it on your desk at all times. When a client calls or emails you with a new project you will be able to ask all of the right questions and get it all on paper. Templates save you time and energy. You can create them for invoices, project outlines, e-mails, interviews, articles, and just about anything. To get an idea of what freelancers use them for, check out these helpful
templates for research on WOW
! You can get some other helpful templates on Jennifer Mattern's blog,
All Freelance Writing.
Coordinate Calendars You should have a desk calendar, a home calendar, and a daily planner. Keep them updated on a daily basis. Write deadlines and appointments on your desk calendar. If you need to go to a business meeting write that on all of your calendars. Use your daily planner to write out the tasks you will need to complete every day in order to meet your deadlines and make the money you need to every day. Before the start of your work week pull all three calendars together to ensure you have everything written on each one. And if you don't want to lug around printed calendars, you can always create calendars online with
Google or get an app for your smartphone.
Use a Schedule Create your own schedule and stick to it. If you plan to work from 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday, then do it. Work when you are scheduled to work and do not work when you are not scheduled to. This will help you manage your freelance writing projects and avoid overworking.
Determine Your LimitHow much can you write every day? What is your limit? Knowing this will help you manage projects because you can immediately accept or decline new freelance writing projects. For example, if you mainly write articles and you can write 10 articles a day, but no more, you will know that you can accept more if you are currently writing 8 articles a day. Use a little math to determine how many you will need to write each day in order to meet the deadline. If you can write 2 articles a day to meet the deadline you can immediately accept the new project. If you can't you will need to have a later deadline or decline the project. Don't be afraid to say, "I am sorry but I am currently booked until March 1st," for example. Overworking yourself on too many freelance writing projects will cause burnout and may end up in broken contracts and projects that do not get finished. This results in lost money and a client that will probably never contact you again.
Managing your freelance writing projects will help you become more successful.
Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net*****
All of you pantsers out there have probably asked this question, "Why should I waste time planning my novel?" You may have even stated, "I could never spend all that time on outlining my novel or doing character studies. I just write what comes to me." This is a fine and dandy way to write a novel. Poll 100 successful novelist, and a large majority of them will state they write by the seat of their pants.
But one thing I've discovered lately while teaching the
writing the middle grade novel class for WOW! is that doing a little pre-writing really does help your novel. It, at least, makes the turmoil of getting your first draft down on paper a little easier. Student after student has written to me and said that they enjoyed the weeks of pre-writing, they felt they knew their characters and plot better, and they actually had new ideas for subplots.
What type of pre-writing did we do? It's nothing groundbreaking. We spent a week discussing our favorite middle grade novels and why they are our favorites. During this week, students wrote a summary of their novels like it would appear on the back of a book jacket. This exercise made writers focus on who and what their story was about.
Next, we did a character study on the main character and an important minor character. I let students choose what type of character study to do, as I feel like some writers need to answer questions to build a character like, "What's her favorite food?" or "What's a happy childhood memory?" Other writers build characters better if they can write about them in paragraphs with prompts such as, "What are your character's hobbies?" or "Who is in your character's family?"
Finally, the middle grade writers in my class made a list of problems or issues a child the same age as their main character could have. We shared these lists with each other, and then students created an external problem, an internal problem, and subplots. Once all these pre-writing activities were completed, writers started chapter one.
So, why plan a novel? I wasn't convinced that it was a good idea before I started teaching this class. But now, I believe it makes a novel easier to write. I believe we'll have less backtracking later on. I believe we'll know our characters inside and out.
But what do you think? And do you have
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Focus is at the heart of success. Unfortunately, we do not live in a world that nurtures concentration and single-minded devotion to one’s art. So, how can you minimize those pesky interruptions that keep you from writing?
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Distractions are going to be the death of my writing. The "platform building" aspect of writing: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, are important and deserve, as you mentioned, a selected time during the day for attention. But they can too easily start to be "productive procrastination" distractions as I numb out on the computer and avoid the creative work of writing. I. Must. Be. Better.
Computer and phone distractions are the worst. It does help to silence incoming e-mail, texts, etc., or even shut down everything except the Word doc you're writing. Easier said than done though!
I laughed at practice saying no. It does actually take practice--not so much the physical act of saying NO (although that may help) but the guilt/indecision--should I do this? after you say no. Believe me, I need to practice!
I needed this 'smack upside the head'. If my writing is going well, time just slips away and I lose track of everything else, to the point of letting the kettle boil dry. If I'm bogged down, everything else is appealing, from Facebook to running a load of laundry. MUST learn to focus and stick it out, no matter what. Thank you for the reminder and suggestions.
Julie, I see your point. Sometimes productive procrastination on tweets and Facebook posts can be a good thing. But the "numbing out" might be the moment to take a break. Then switch to your creative writing. Let me know if that works for you.
MP, sometimes it helps to set aside certain periods during the day when you are "off the grid." But let people around you know when that is so they won't get nervous about you not responding. No need to upset anybody.
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Lynn, sometimes it's a good thing to do something else like the laundry when you are stuck. Just instruct your subconscious mind to find a solution to whatever is in the way. Going for a walk or meeting a friend can also give you new insights that will bring you back to your creative writing.