HERE ARE FOUR OF LITERATURE’S MOST POWERFUL INVENTIONS THAT YOU PROBABLY USE TO TELL STORIES, BUT DIDN’T REALIZE THE ACTUAL NEUROSCIENCE BEHIND THEM

By El Ochiis

I had an English professor who was considered an eccentric by New York standards; he collected shopping bags. His position was that each bag told a story about the store and the patrons who shopped there – that these containers for capitalism were a most interesting invention. Now this wouldn’t have been such an oddball thing save for the fact that he was as spendthrift as he was inimitable; he never shopped in these stores – merely using them to hold books he had checked out of The New York Public Library.

We waited each week for the bag and its contents therein. He never let us down with each introduction of something new in literature and writing. One week the professor brought a few books in his arms, sans a bag, and announced that he would be introducing us to literary inventions, through the ages, showing how writers have created technical breakthroughs—rivaling any scientific inventions—and engineering enhancements to the human heart and mind

1. Plot Twist - This literary invention is now so well-known that we often learn to identify it as children. But it thrilled Aristotle when he first discovered it, and for two reasons. First, it supported his hunch that literature’s inventions were constructed from story. And second, it confirmed that literary inventions could have potent psychological effects. Who hasn’t felt a burst of wonder—or as Aristotle called it, thaumazein—when a story pivots unexpectedly? That’s why holy scriptures brim with plot twists: David beating Goliath, parting the Sea of Reeds to escape an evil Pharaoh …

2. The Hurt Delay - this invention’s blueprint is a plot that discloses to the audience that a character is going to get hurt—prior to the hurt actually arriving. The classic example is Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus, where we learn before Oedipus that he’s about to undergo the horror of discovering that he’s killed his father and married his mother. But it occurs in a range of later literature, from Shakespeare’s Macbeth to paperback bestsellers such as John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars.

3. The Tale Told From Our Future - This invention was created simultaneously by many different global authors, among them the 13th-century West African griot poet who composed the Epic of Sundiata. Basically, a narrator uses a future-tense voice to address us in our present. As it goes in the Epic: “Listen to my words, you who want to know; by my mouth you will learn the history of Mali. By my mouth you will get to know the story. . .”

4. The Almighty Heart - This invention is an anthropomorphic omniscient narrator—or, to be more colloquial, a story told by someone with a human heart and a god’s all-seeing eye. It was first devised by the ancient Greek poet Homer in The Iliad, but you can find it throughout more recent fiction. The invention works by tricking your brain into feeling like you’re chanting along with a greater human voice.

THE LATEST ADDITION

Meet a New Columbia II Writer

LIS ANNA-LANGSTON 

Lis Anna-Langston was raised along the winding current of the Mississippi River on a steady diet of dog-eared books. She attended a Creative and Performing Arts School from middle school until graduation and went on to study Literature at Webster University. Her two novels, Gobbledy and Tupelo Honey have won the Parents’ Choice Gold, Moonbeam Book Award, Independent Press Award, Benjamin Franklin Book Award and NYC Big Book Awards. Twice nominated for the Pushcart award and Finalist in the Brighthorse Book Prize, William Faulkner Fiction Contest and Thomas Wolfe Fiction Award, her work has been published in The Literary Review, Emerson Review, The Merrimack Review, Emrys Journal, The MacGuffin, Sand Hill Review, and dozens of other literary journals.

 She draws badly, sings loudly, loves ketchup, starry skies, and stories with happy aliens.

You can find her in the wilds of South Carolina plucking stories out of thin air.  

 www.lisannalangston.com

Lis's first post follows.

TRUST THE PROCESS

By Lis Anna-Langston

My third year at a Creative and Performing Arts School, I came to a crossroads. Home was chaotic and I took up study at a Buddhist Temple. It wasn’t a decision of faith but a simple response to my environment. With a fine combination of new athletic shoes, city buses, and catching rides, I set out to learn a lesson in commitment. It was a lot of work for anyone, especially a Sophomore in high school to get up at 4:30AM to catch a bus but I took up the reigns of my new choice with profound enthusiasm.

At the library I devoured ancient texts. I meditated on the meaning of nothingness, because, unlike the existential nothingness at home, I found something unique. I studied on buses and weekends, keeping up my pace. Making choices cleared my mind, gave me focus. In time I noticed my studies overlapped into my artistic work. What I learned from ancient texts applied to writing and being on stage. The same process I used to align myself with the universe was the same one I used in writing to go deeper into the material. The same path I took to a poem led to divine truths. These paths became interchangeable. Unique by design but more similar than I imagined. A magical place where art and philosophy intersected. An invisible border where commitment merged into trust.

There are few things more exciting than watching inspiration at work in your life. Seeing all that come alive made me even more excited about processes that required a lot of work on my part. There weren't a lot of things I could trust in my life, but I started to see through the cracks. I had to learn to trust. Trust myself to know what I wanted. Trust the art of allowing. Trust myself to get the idea onto the page. Trust myself to dive into the raw draft. Trust myself to show up to the work every day. Trust that the final draft would be completely different than the first. Trust that every way is the right way. Trust I’m serving the work in ways I couldn’t have defined yesterday or the day before. It’s a hard concept for people to grasp.

People want absolutes. They want to know. But art isn’t about knowing. Trust opens doors to beginnings and endings. It is the rope binding each part of the artistic process to the next. It’s the edge of the cliff, the beginning of an idea, the thing that lights our way, the thing that reflects back what we’re thinking and doing, the thing that catches us in midair. A paradox of paradoxes. Letting go of results shifts us into a position to trust. From inspiration to drafts to rewrites, trust becomes the key to open those doors. Write your truth is an empty phrase until you first learn to trust. I see now that commitment to writing practice shapes and hones art. Trust is a powerful tool for writers. The gateway from which all great ideas enter.

SORRY, NOT SORRY

By Kasie Witener

I like the sex in the story.

I read romance novels almost exclusively and I’m not embarrassed to say I like the sex scenes.

The characters are important, of course, and the tension leading up to that point when they finally give in, but it’s the intimacy of the sex that keeps me reading.

I’ve been known to stay awake into the early hours of morning reading romance novels.

I’ve abandoned books that had terrible, awkward, or clinical sex scenes.

I’ve read entire series of books by authors who made dozens of sex scenes seem original every single time.

I’m not alone. Romance is the most popular genre on Amazon. It’s the single biggest genre of fiction accounting for 23% of the overall fiction market in 2016 and growing exponentially. While 83% of the readers are female, Romance Writers of America estimates 16% are male, with the average age between 35- and 39-years-old. I’m 44 and I’m not the oldest romance junkie I know.

Like most genre fiction, romance is governed by reader expectations, chief among them is the HEA (happily ever after) which is what separates the romance from a love story. Split into dozens of subgenres, Romance also meets readers where their desires are: contemporary, erotic, historical, dark, paranormal, “spiritual elements” or Christian romance, romantic suspense, sweet or “clean” romance, and young adult with teenaged or early-twenties characters.

Writers have also embraced the tropes: billionaire, boss, athlete, rock star, outlaw (motorcycle, mafia), and military. Like I said, they meet readers where they are.

What this teaches me, as a writer, because I don’t write romance, is to focus on those moments in the book that I want to become the reader’s favorite.

For example, in After December, my first-person male protagonist has a couple of really great moments. There’s the time he cold-cocks a former high school rival for calling his ex-girlfriend a slut. Then he takes the bartender home and … well, it’s a moment some readers have said made them throw the book across the room. Writing important moments—the scenes that will stick with the reader—that’s what I want to do. I don’t write romance, but I don’t back away from the sexuality of my characters, either.

My second novel, Before Pittsburgh, is out this week (August 17) and I have dozens of favorite moments. One of them is when Brian is teasing his ex-girlfriend with a cookie in his hotel room. It’s not sex, but it’s a sexy scene. One of dozens.

Revision, for me, focuses on solidifying those scenes. Making each moment impactful, meaningful, memorable. So, when my readers flip through the book, they’ll know what it was they loved about it.

Maybe it will be the sex. But I hope will be the vulnerability around Brian’s mental health, the deep forging of friendship bonds, forgiveness of his parents, or the delicate untangling of bad decisions.

Oh, who am I kidding? Of course it’s the sex. And I’m not even sorry about it.

Writing Someone Else's Story

 

By Sharon Ewing

Writing a historical fiction novel about a real or imagined person becomes a journey of telling someone else’s story.  I use the word journey because like many of my trips, it’s one filled with anticipated adventure and unexpected pitfalls.

If the character is a different gender from the writer, the challenge is to stay true to a male voice, and this is where I draw on the many stories I’ve read and movies I’ve viewed portraying strong male characters. Of course, the tone of the male voice depends on the strength of the male character himself.  The same applies to the female voices in the story. 

Another pitfall is keeping my story and my emotions from becoming too much a part of any character.  Like all writers, I possess a lifetime of experiences and those events determine how I view the world. Universal emotions of love, joy, sorrow and pain are part of every life and of every story I’ve read.  But each character in my story must provide and process their own set of emotions and the resulting lessons from the obstacles life throws into their path, thus I can create a diverse, interesting and even thought-provoking cast where no one character resembles me.

I love reading and writing about characters in places and time periods other than mine.  Doing this draws me into research, another of my favorite activities. But I’ve learned I must limit my enthusiasm for information, taking only what I need for the story, refuse to be drawn into the next interesting fact. It’s my Achilles heel, both an adventure I love and a pitfall where I can lose all sense of time.

A sense of place, of course, is critical.  I get some of this from reading, but to actually be there adds a dimension of experience that inspires me in a way just plain research can’t.  On a trip back to my birthplace I was recently driven to write a personal essay about the layers of history there. A set of historical maps also helps create a concrete sense of place.  I have a map of Philadelphia tacked on my wall where I write, the setting of my current story.  It helps me see the physical lay of the land which hasn’t changed since the city was developed, and I’m planning a trip soon to walk the streets and inhale all historical aspects.

Another important aspect must be the correct vernacular of the time, including accents, brogues, regional language, vocabulary and sentence structure.  Exploring the many ways the Irish used words to express their feelings, expound on their superstitions and religious phrases, has given me some moments of amusement and has solidified the time period of the story. 

The more I immerse myself in creating this historical fiction story, the richer my life becomes.  I don’t think I’ll ever live long enough to learn everything I need to know to become a proficient writer, but the journey is well worth the effort.

LIKES, SHARES, SMILES, AND SALES

By Jodie Cain Smith

Yes, this is a marketing post.

We all know that authors must market. The hustle is part of the job, but the marketing hustle is daunting. Questions: How do I begin? How do I market a book? Do I need a hook? Can’t I just post my book cover and all my adoring fans will buy it? Answers: Begin with yourself, build relationships, yes, and uh…no. 

Ye0s, start with yourself, especially on social media. You are the brand. Post about you. Readers want to know you, your personality, your interests other than your writing. Your friends and families really don’t want their feeds filled with only “Buy my book!” posts. That’s a sure-fire way to get snoozed on Facebook and unfollowed on the Gram. 

That brings us to building relationships. You’ve all heard that social media marketing is about building relationships, but I believe all marketing is about relationships. On social media, interact with your commenters. Comment back, comment on their posts, comment on posts that speak to you (keep the rage on low), spread the love. Even if you dedicate only 15 minutes a day to interacting on social media, it will pay off in increased followers and higher visibility for your posts. 

And, building relationships isn’t just online. Holding a book signing? Stand rather than sit. This is a much more welcoming, less intimidating posture than sitting behind the great barrier of the table, desperate not to look like a friendless loser with 100 unsold books in front of you. 

Make your book an experience. For upcoming events, I have made selfie props that play with the hook of my latest book. On the book table, a jar decorated to coordinate with my brand color palette holds the selfie props. Anyone who buys a book receives a magnetic bookmark with NO BRANDING on them (bought dirt cheap in bulk). Another jar holds stickers for kids who happen to approach the table. Yes, I am that person—lure the child to the table with a sticker, mom or dad will follow. 

I work with libraries, museums, and community centers offering workshops. For these events, I offer the organizers three 45-minute writing workshop options to choose from, depending on their patrons needs. Admission is free with the option to purchase a book. I have never failed to make sales at one of these events. At the last one I held for the launch of The Woods at Barlow Bend I sold out—40 copies to attendees and the last ten to the museum director for the gift shop. 

Now, for the hook of the book your promoting. For Bayou Cresting: The Wanting Women of Huet Pointe (July 31, 2021, Crowsnest Books), I created the social media campaign “Which Huet Pointe woman are you?” Each woman has a featured post with very brief description, picture, and call-to-action. These posts align with the selfie props and a poster collage of all the women displayed alongside the books at events. 

So, with these tips, get out there and market your work. Build your readership by building your community. Build this writerly community by sharing your marketing tips below in the comments.