Book Review, Part III: STORY ENGINEERING by Larry Brooks

By Chris Mathews

I have been looking at the usefulness of Larry Brooks’ Story Engineering to the aspiring writer. We have looked at three of what he deems the six core competencies of storytelling: concept, character, and theme. Although I believe concept and theme could be combined into one category, I did find his breakdown of character very useful in identifying it as having three dimensions (surface, backstory, and character growth, or character arc). However, Brooks, I believe, takes too long to get to the most important aspect of writing from which the title comes, not beginning his explanation of structure in good storytelling until Chapter 22, almost halfway through Story Engineering. I have been using the story of Little Red Riding Hood to test out his advice(my choice, not his).

He breaks storytelling into “four boxes.” The first box is subtitled “The Setup.” In this section of the story, we learn what the stakes are for the main character(what he or she has to lose). There should also be some foreshadowing of the antagonist in this section. And empathy for the main character or hero needs to be created. In the case of Little Red Riding Hood, box one would include her backstory that her mother told her not to leave the path, and her encounter with the wolf. Here we see how naïve she is when the conniving wolf wheedles information about the grandmother out of her and tells her to pick flowers thereby leaving the path and we glimpse the wolf’s duplicitous nature. Box One ends with the first plot point when we sense what conflict is going to take place—in this case Innocent Red versus scheming wolf. According to 

Brooks this is where the story really begins.

The protagonist’s quest begins the second box, which should show the hero studying the problem faced. In Little Red, this section would include Little Red’s questioning of the wolf(“My, grandma, what big eyes you have”), culminating in the Wolf’s “…the better to eat you with.” Brooks calls this moment the midpoint of the story. For Little Red, her purpose is clear: the wolf is out to get her.

This third box, the attack, occurs in stories when the protagonist becomes proactive. At this point, the protagonist usually mounts his or her strongest attack against the antagonist or dies trying. In most versions of Little Red, it is the later. The hunter’s entrance on the scene would mark the second plot point. The final struggle now takes place in this box.

The fourth box is the resolution. In the Grimms’ Brothers version, the hunter cuts the wolf open and Little Red and Grandma are both freed, and after he replaces rocks for humans and sews him up the wolf meets his demise. According to Brooks, Little Red would fall into the category of “lame part 4 hero status” because she is not the primary catalyst in the story’s resolution, the hunter is.

In a final blog on this book, I will examine Brooks’ remaining structural component of structure, milestones. In addition, I will comment on his final two competencies, scene execution and writing voice.

My Musings About a Music Mogul

By Kimberly Johnson

I had no intention of reading The Soundtrack of My Life, music mogul Clive Davis’ biography. I assumed it was a mea culpa about the late Whitney Houston. It wasn’t. It was a handcrafted tale of how a Harvard law grad working at Columbia Records in the late ‘50s, transformed the record industry by becoming the producer-manager-confidante to folks like Simon & Garfunkel and Alicia Keyes. I thought it was an industry insider’s regretful recount of a pop diva. It wasn’t. For me, it was about a storyteller (Davis) and a story writer (Anthony DeCurtis). Anthony DeCurtis, a 30 year veteran of Rolling Stone magazine, employs the simplest of writing techniques to recreate the venerable Brooklynite’s rollercoaster life.

Rollercoaster ride 1: ‘ 70s icon Barry Manilow. DeCurtis chronicled the music lawyer’s tempestuous “handling” of the songwriter. By infusing a casual tone, the author made me feel like I was there when Davis and Manilow slugged it out over Mandy, a song that Manilow detested. Davis won: 1974’s Mandy catapulted Manilow into the stratosphere.

Rollercoaster ride 2: American Idol runner ups Clay Aiken and Chris Daughtry. DeCurtis glosses over the producer’s “I know what’s best for you” attitude by portraying Davis as a veteran trying to mentor neophytes.

Rollercoaster ride 3: Whitney Houston. DeCurtis threads the needle on a sensitive subject: Houston’s career and untimely death. He helps the producer to combat the Svengali “handling” of Houston by portraying him as a father figure that was unaware of her demons.

I thought those rollercoaster rides were enough. They weren’t. Davis’ pre-Grammy parties and peccadillos added to the ride. I recommend you get this book.

Don’t Sell Me Your Book—Sell Me YOU!

By Len Lawson 

Much has been written in recent years about how the publishing industry and its consumers have changed. The gaps among the success of authors published through traditional publishing, small press, and self-publishing continue to be diminished. The difference in the success remains in the marketing of the product. Regardless of the means of publication, an author in today’s writing industry needs to have a clear marketing strategy for their own work. Publishers may even be more likely to consider an author’s work if authors submit their queries with some options for marketing their books.

The core of these marketing ideas exists in the individual author. Readers not only want to read a good book, but they also want to read from a good author and more books from that author. Then, they will tell their friends about this great new author whose book they read. The more readers can identify with their authors, the more likely they will be return customers. The key here is more transparency, especially for first-time authors. Authors that market themselves can turn readers into fans!

Below I provide some tips for how an author can brainstorm ways to impress agents and publishers how to market—and eventually sell your book.

• Be unique. To establish a brand, discover a quality that distinguishes you from the millions of other authors in this saturated industry. For example, if you are a teacher, start a blog that is unique to your subject area or to education in general. As a platform, you can speak at teacher conferences or write articles for teacher newsletters to build an audience. Share the story of your career path or your passion for your subject. Once again, the key is transparency. If you have a niche or a passion, then there are readers waiting to learn more about you and subsequently about your writing!
• Be proactive. After you decide who your audience is, find the readers where they are, talk to them directly, and establish more settings to meet readers besides just book signings. Finding book clubs to join or market to is a good idea, but why not start your own book club? Rally other readers around you who enjoy your genre. This creates a built-in audience that can expand exponentially! Don’t just sit back and wait for readers to come after you write your book. Go out and get ‘em before the process starts!
• Be enterprising. Some of the best partners for book marketing are in other industries. Someone you know with their own business can use your assistance in exchange for publicity. For example, a store owner may provide a space for your books in their shop in exchange for publicity. Partner with others who believe in your work. The key here is to be creative and to think like an entrepreneur.
• Be diverse. Since your readers are diverse, different aspects of your book may appeal to different readers. For example, your romance novel may be set at the beach. During the summer, this would be a great read! Therefore, you could market to beach readers or readers going on a long trip. Once again, be creative.

The possibilities are endless for aspiring authors to market themselves along with their stories. Millions of readers are waiting for their next book to buy and read. They are also waiting for an author that appeals to them. Being transparent as an author can open the door to more opportunities with agents, publishers, and ultimately readers.  Don’t allow your book to be the barrier between you and your readers, and don’t wait for publishers and agents to have the last say in the marketing. Your readers are waiting; give them what they want. Give them you!

Drama in Everyday Life

By Bonnie Stanard

Human experience, especially misery, is fertile ground for writers. Misery is not hard to find, whether produced by our fellow man or visited on us by nature. Just think of the books written about cancer, diabetes, and other diseases. The criminal hardships we visit on ourselves, such as murder, slander, and theft inspire innumerable books. Governments, because of their authority, are capable of widespread misery, and writers like Stephen Ambrose, Elie Wiesel, and Philip Caputo have made careers of recording warfare’s toll on us.

I’ve just finished reading Mukiwa, A White Boy in Africa, a personal account of life in Rhodesia at the time of its civil war. Author Peter Godwin begins with his childhood, which is recalled with nostalgia and only the occasional hint that the indigenous tribes are chafing under unfair government policy. The pleasant life of the first pages is the quiet before the storm.

Black resistance becomes more organized and develops into guerilla warfare, and the winds of change ratchet up to gale forces. Godwin, in spite of his sympathy for the oppressed blacks, is forced to fight in Ian Smith’s army. Atrocities occur, and as we already know from history, the whites lose control and are defeated.

Rhodesia becomes Zimbabwe. Just as there’s hope that the new black leadership will usher in a judicious government, the storm becomes a hurricane, exceeding in misery and death the former rebellion. The Shona tribe, which controls the government, attempts to wipe out the Matabele, resulting in wholesale slaughter of unarmed villages.

Zimbabwe’s government is able to make peace with its victims and survives with impunity in spite of the bloodbath, or perhaps because of it. From the Matabele perspective, peace is purchased at an enormous price.

Godwin’s story grew out of a background of insurgency and warfare. However, many good books are written about less dramatic challenges. Writers like Joan Didion, Bill Bryson, and Tobias Wolff call attention to everyday events in a way that allows us to see them in a different light. Some of our workshop writers are in situations that are mundane or exciting, depending on our way of seeing. For instance, here are titles for books they might could write (yes! might could—they might, they could):

My Worst Moment with Shakespeare (Leigh)

Mother is Funny, But She’s not a Joke (Sarah)

Dropping into a War Zone (Mike)

A Lightweight In the Ring with Fighters (Laura)

Lucifer’s Embrace—Friedreich's Ataxia (Ginny)

An Alien In Antarctica (Shaun)

I Had No Idea I Had An AVM (Debbie)

Sometimes the things closest to us escape our notice. We hardly think of writing about them. We wait for a lightning muse to strike us when the earthy one is with us all the time.

Book Review Part II: Story Engineering, Mastering the Six Core Competencies of Successful Writing

By Chris Mathews

For those writers looking for a sure-fire way to create a powerful story, Story Engineering, Mastering the Six Core Competencies of Successful Writing by Larry Brooks illuminates some of the shadowy precepts of structure, while at the same time acknowledging that good storytelling can never just be a paint-by-the-numbers process. With a working knowledge of the tools and process which Brooks calls the six competencies of storytelling--concept, character, theme, structure, scene execution, and voice--, the writer can discover how to create a great story. Without these craft secrets, Brooks contends, great storytelling is just not possible.

As I stated before, I was very dubious of concept as a core competency apart from theme. However, Brooks does a credible job of making the case that the writer should write with an intention of theme, and not just let it emerge mystically. Theme is, of course, what a story is about, but Brooks expands the definition adroitly. Theme must be “relevant” to life itself; in a real sense, Brooks believes that theme is the launching pad for story in that it is what “makes us think and feel” about the plot.

As far as implementation of theme, he believes what the story means can be linked like the double-helix with character arc, the character’s growth.  It’s why the critics panned The DaVinci Code, he maintains. The main character’s growth was secondary to plot and therefore Robert Langdon appeared an empty suit. The character has to conquer both inner and outer forces to make a theme viable. Like the main character in Dan Brown’s novel, Little Red in Little Red Riding Hood does not change very much, remaining naïve until the wolf makes his “all-the-better-to-eat-you” speech. Little Red’s rose-colored world comes crashing down as she fails to grasp the wolf’s trick until it is too late…unless you buy the dues ex machina of the hunter. The theme could be: You have to see things for what they are or you’re going down. The wolf’s cross-dressing makes his character development much more intriguing than Red’s, but the story’s theme emerges. In defense of Dan Brown’s writing and in most best-selling novels, plot takes precedence over character.  

After spending half the book on other core competences, Brooks finally devotes the second half of his book to what he clearly believes should be the mantra for aspiring writers—structure.

To be sure, he qualifies his advice, constantly reminding the writer, that all of the other core elements need to be intertwined into the story to make it truly riveting. The hopeful note for the writer here, as Brooks points out, is that structure can be learned.

In a final blog, I will examine in more detail Brooks’ concept of structure, the pith of Story Engineering.

My Mother Loves My Writing

By Sarah Herlong

So my mother loves my writing. What’s new, right? She really likes it because it’s about her. That’s right, I write about my mother. I write about her struggles with mental illness and physical decline. She likes this. But what she really enjoys is that I wrote an entire comedy routine about her. I only have this hilarious information because I live with her. 

My parents had been very strict and very religious parents to us kids. When I first moved back home this was a problem. I scoured her old books to see where they came up with their parenting styles and convictions. I grabbed her journals to see just who was she at this time. But they weren’t personal journals, simply spiritual writings. It gave me insight into what she believed, which I already knew, but not who she was as a person. I then found a book of hers on anxiety. Not only had she underlined passages pertinent to her, she also filled in the little scoring sheets determining how anxious she was. She was very anxious. Something I never knew about her. Something I actually had in common with her. It was the next best thing to a journal from that time period.

Now I’ve discarded my wish to know my mother of the past, I want to know her now in the present. The person she has become. Frankly what I found was amusing. This is what gave birth to the comedy routine. The routine was initially just stories I would tell my siblings, something to enlighten them that she wasn’t the strict person she used to be. Now I’m actually starting to really like my mother, which is different from loving your mother.

This isn’t the first time I’ve written stories about relatives. The night before my grandmother died, I sat at the computer and wrote down every story I could remember about her. Now years later people still ask to read it because it brings her to life again if only for a few minutes. Now I’m doing it before my mom dies, that way she gets to enjoy it too.

My mother was there for me when no one was, and I’m trying to do the same for her now. What I get for my taking care of her is that I know her from a different perspective. We’re much closer because she is learning about me too. Sometimes when she goes to bed she says, “You know, I really like you Sarah Anne.” Which of course is different than loving your daughter.

A Reason To Write

 By Sarah Herlong

When my friend, Neil, was diagnosed with colon cancer I was a continent away. We would stay on the phone for hours at night talking. He wanted me to write about him so he wouldn’t be forgotten. I made notes on all the funny stories as I could remember about him. Only once he died, and the pain subsided somewhat, did I work on writing the full version of my notes. Then my cousin wanted me to tell her about Neil. It ramped up my writing about him, culminating in what I call the Book of Neil.

It was a passion of mine to fulfill this obligation. Get the material down while it’s fresh. Document our relationship so I’ll have it for the future, and so I can share Neil with others. And I can read it in the years to come to remember him as a well-rounded person instead of a shadowy person from my past.

Now I’m faced with a slightly different situation. My friend Lizzie has just been diagnosed with lung cancer. Whenever Lizzie would come over she would show interest in my writing, asking me to read her my latest creation. I would, and it passed the time while she helped my mom with various tasks. She even enjoyed my comedy routine. She had me practice it over and over with her.

Now she is in the hospital waiting to hear if they can do surgery, and waiting to start chemo. She called me today and wanted to talk. I asked if she wanted me to be there in the hospital with her now, and she said yes. I grabbed my latest two stories and arrived at the hospital in record time. She requested that I read to her. I began with Bernadette’s Big Night. Then I read Ghost Story to her. As always she liked both of them. I asked if she wanted reading material, some magazines, but what she requested is for me to read her more of my stories. She told me it helps her stop thinking about the cancer for a while.

So now my work is cut out for me. I need to write as productively as I can to polish old writings, and create new work. Maybe then I can provide her a respite from cancer even if just for a few minutes. 

Writing for Documentaries

By Laura Puccia Valtorta

The two types of independent films I’ve been crafting involve two different types of writing. With scripted screenplays the filmmaker begins with a regular formatted script, the various elements zapped into place by such programs as Final Draft or Adobe Acrobat Premiere.

Documentary writing is more complicated. The producer or director should start with a treatment. The treatment resembles a simple short story – a narrative of the plot and message the director expects to convey in the documentary.

The treatment does not sell the documentary. The director uses the treatment to guide her in filming the documentary and piecing it together.

Don’t ask me, the neophyte, how to write an effective treatment. The writer must follow her gut. David Trotter defines the treatment well in his book The Screenwriter’s Bible. He also differentiates among the synopsis, the outline, and the treatment.

I adore my new documentary White Rock Boxing. Cliff Springs and I filmed and edited it without a treatment. The process took 13 months. I believe we could have cut that time in half had we started with a treatment (as I plan to do with my next documentary – Blind Runner).

Here is sample text from the treatment for Blind Runner:

This film will trace Amy’s life from a child who became blind at eleven and                                was ridiculed because of her deformed face to a star athlete who inspires      everyone around her. 

White Rock Boxing was a joy to produce, and I learned a million lessons from it. The public premiere will be on September 23, 2013 at 7 p.m. at the Russell House on the University of South Carolina campus. We expect it to be aired on Southern Lens, a series on South Carolina ETV, in the fall or spring of 2013-2014.

A Primer on Inspiration From a Few Masters

By Leigh Stevenson

It’s always been of interest to me what motivates writers. Where do they get their inspiration? Newspaper articles? Childhood memories? Music? Art? Other writers? From your own personal Job Bank, as Sarah put forth in her humorous April 7^th blog? Is it a conscious creative exercise or do ideas spring fully formed? Do you say, “I think I’ll write about golf,” and then go do it? Do you pay attention to what you feel in any given situation, or are you an observer? Both? Neither? Looking at a few published authors, some literary icons, some not, offers some interesting clues about their process.

Elizabeth Strout, the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for Olive Kitteridge suggests marriage as one rich source of drama for fiction writers. She said, “I hope when I pick up a book to find that part of myself that I never dared say anything about.”

Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame, says it’s important to literally “touch the earth,” as in feel the soil, experience nature. She goes on to say that she believes “creativity is an entirely spiritual practice.”  She thinks “you should treat your gift with the highest possible respect” and the Archetype of the suffering artist is outdated. Instead, she suggests you ask yourself, “where have you felt joy in your life?”

Téa Obreht, author of The Tiger’s Wife, a New York Times Bestseller and finalist for the national Book Award, calls herself a National Geographic nerd. She merges a unique blend of mythic folklore, story and memory in her work. She says it is surprising how one’s work takes on a life of its own and describes one experience of only fully realizing a character after meeting the “real-life” version in a Moscow flea market.

It is said that Emily Dickinson was inspired by the mysticism of William Blake, the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe and even the Bible.

In a recent interview, Josephine Humphries said she is stimulated by her hometown of Charleston. She called it a place with a complex, difficult history. She feels lucky to have been born in a city that is rife with contradictions.

What gets your creative juices flowing? I would love to hear your thoughts on your personal artistic process.

Inspiration

By Alex Raley

                                                                     We look for inspiration when we write. Often it comes out of the blue or from the pleasant and interesting things going on around us. A couple months ago, I found myself with my head against the wall waiting for the 911 folks to arrive and wondered why I had put myself in that situation. In the hospital and on my way to recovery, I began to think of all the experiences a hospital brings: some debilitating, some embarrassing, and some just downright nasty. With the right attitude they can be funny. I began to think poetry as soon as I settled down in hospital routine (meals to the minute, vital signs as soon as you fall asleep, the day’s date with nurse and nurse tech names, shift changes with new names, morning doctor visits. I imaged everything poetically, including the 911 activity. When not interrupted by hospital routine, I was constructing poems, poems much too bawdy for a blog but poems that will eventually see the light of day. Does that seem odd?

                                                                       Do not let experiences pass by you. Even the most unusual or gruesome can be an inspiration to write. I had never thought of gruesome as an inspiration, but I cannot tell you how my mind raced once I wandered into the groove. Now that I am at home I need to hit the computer and put those bawdy poems to paper.

Let Them Say I Failed—

By Shaun McCoy

What happens to those writers, whom we all know and struggle not to be, that tell people at parties that they love to write. You know the kind I’m speaking of, the kind that don’t write. The kind that had a brilliant thought or two as they passed through college. Maybe once a decade they put pen to paper, or fingers to keys, or whatever it is.

One moment, at age thirty, as I stared at the stream of water that poured from my bathroom sink while it washed away the last of the hairs from my morning shave, I realized that I was dangerously close to finding out what happens to them. I was about to be one. Wasn’t writing my dream? Had I really never submitted a story? Had I really never written and finished anything?

They say that truth is many things, but she is seldom accused of being pretty. At that moment, she was downright ugly. It was time to put some lipstick on that pig. I was going to do this, I was going to write. More than that, I was going to be a writer.

The first part was the hardest, I had to admit that I didn’t know how to write… see, I told you she was ugly.

I spent the next few months learning how, reading self-help writing books and watching inspirational Youtube videos. Then, while on an airplane, I imagined a pretty, young professional girl on an elevator, headed down. I didn’t know what was at the bottom of that impossibly long and futuristic elevator shaft, but I knew it was evil.

This became the first scene of the first story I wrote after I decided to actually become a writer. It was called Simon’s Folly, and it was the first story I sold.

But writing is hard, as time consuming as it is soul destroying. It is a draw on one’s mental and emotional resources like no other. My day job was the biggest obstacle in my way, so it had to go. I began living off half of my paycheck each month. I did this, living a minimalistic lifestyle, for two years. Those two years ended on March 24^th, when I left my workplace for the last time. Now I have two years to write. Two years to make it.

It is, I must say, a stupid gamble. This same money could easily be spent on buying a house. I could have married the nice girl I was dating and started a real life. But I don’t care. It’s not that I don’t care about failing. There is nothing in this world that would devastate me as much, that would hurt me as deeply, as failing in this … well, almost nothing.

I imagine myself at near the end of my days, looking back on my life, wondering why I never wrote a damn thing. Wondering why millions of people had never read one of my novels. I know what I’d say to myself. “I could have,” I’d say, “if I had only tried.” Maybe I’d believe it. Maybe I’d figure I was lying to myself. Maybe, but whatever. Let them say I failed. Let them say I crashed and burned, that I waded through a sea of mediocrity on the way to an island of ignominy, before they say I never tried. 

No Namby-Pamby…Just Write It.

By Kimberly Johnson

To borrow a phrase or two from singer/songwriter John Mayer: “It’s better to say too much than to never…Say what you need to say, Say what you need to say…”

Those words underlie the crux of Jason Whitlock’s sports column Real Talk—say what you mean or better yet, write what you mean.

That’s why I relish reading Whitlock’s articles for FoxSports.com. Whitlock has the chops. He majored in Journalism from Ball State University. He’s the first sports writer to win the National Journalism Award for Commentary from the Scripps Howard Foundation. He even played high school football with Jeff George, a former NFL quarterback. He’s got some notoriety for being fired from ESPN.

I want to strengthen my writing style and use Whitlock’s techniques. I don’t if I could take the stones and daggers from his detractors. No worries though, I still like his flair because:

#1: He frames out his main argument in simplistic terms. Most writers know that is not as easy as it sounds.

#2: He provides provocative examples to illustrate his argument.

#3: He has an astute sense of humor.

Here’s one example from a September 7, 2012 column:

“Some football fans believe I dislike Peyton Manning and refuse to recognize his greatness out of some twisted loyalty to my high school teammate and former Colts QB Jeff George. …“Breaking Bad” is Peyton Manning. We want both of them to be what they once were. We want them to fulfill their promise. It’s not going to happen. That does not mean I hate either of them. It simply means I’m not going to sit quiet as a significant portion of the media mislead (and in some cases lie) you into believing something that isn’t true. Elway and/or Montana are still the greatest. Tom Brady has the best chance of catching them. Manning is one of the 10 or 15 best QBs to ever play the game.”

Ouch. For non NFL fans, that’s the equivalent of soap opera diva Susan Lucci slapping a young, blond ingénue in the face for disrespecting her. Again, Whitlock got to the point (Peyton Manning ain’t that great.). He provided an example. (Read the full story online). He gave us a laugh. (Compared him to a t.v.show).

By the time this blog comes out, there’ll be a winner in the NCAA basketball tourney.I’m sure that Jason will have a lot to write…and mean it.

Source: http://msn.foxsports.com

The Latest Addition

Meet Our Newest Blogger

SARAH HERLONG 

Sarah spent 10 years on the west coast and hopes to return someday. She is currently writing children’s literature and short stories. She takes care of her mother and was inspired to write a comedy routine, all about her mother. Sarah nervously delivered this routine at a benefit for Turning Pages, and hopes to keep getting inspired to write more comedy. 

Sarah's first blog with us follows.

What’s a Job Bank?

 By Sarah Herlong

One thing I find helpful in my writing is to keep a Job Bank. Everyone has been in an interesting workplace at some point in her life. Okay, maybe not. Perhaps you’ve only worked in boring office jobs, but somewhere in there are details that a writer would love.  You never know when in your writing this information will come in handy. 

Keeping a Job Bank is like the opposite of a resume. This is the list that would get you fired. These are the down and dirty details that made the job hell or so enjoyable you miss it. Describe those annoying coworkers. Hopefully you’ve had a tyrannical boss that still gives you nightmares. Did your office have a bad odor? Did one of your coworkers catch a potato on fire in the office microwave? Describe it in detail as you would for a story.

Start a Job Bank by listing all the jobs you’ve ever had, even the ones when you were a teenager.  For me this is quite a list. Then when you’ve hit a roadblock with your writing, just work on your Job Bank. Fill in smells, characters and events as you remember them. You’ll be surprised how many stories crop up that you had forgotten long ago. Remember no detail is too small, something what was completely normal or humiliating to you, might be hysterical to your readers. These details can make your characters feel more like real people.

This isn’t something you complete in one sitting. This is something you can work on whenever you have time, or suddenly remember something. Create your own Interviews From Hell section, everyone has some of those, surely.

Creating your Job Bank

List all of your jobs, and write down everything you can remember about each one.

Fill in the descriptive blanks over time as they come to you. 

No detail is too small. Remember this is the down and dirty stuff.

If it reads like a resume you’re doing it wrong. This is the anti-resume.

If you are laughing, fuming, or cringing, you’re doing it right.

A Little Too Much Description!!!

By Fred Fields

Since his death in 2001, 23 new novels have been published in Robert Ludlum's name. Tom Clancy and James Patterson rarely write the new novels attributed to them; WEB Griffin, one of my favorite authors, has turned his writing chores over to his son, William E Butterworth IV (WEB).

I mention these facts to demonstrate a new era in publishing, one that causes some pain to readers when the substitute authors don't meet the standards of their originals.

Here is a demonstration of the quality of Butterworth's writing, and why I no longer look for Griffin in the bookstores. The following is a synopsis of eight pages, early in the book, Double Agents, by Griffin (Butterworth IV).

Bottom of  Page 17: President Franklin D. Roosevelt welcomes General William J. Donovan to the Oval office, followed by a description of Donovan.

Page 18: Begins with two paragraphs commenting on Donovan's recent promotion from colonel to brigadier general. This is followed by two paragraphs about what Donovan thinks of Roosevelt's happy state of mind, and that he is sorry to be bringing bad news. Donovan says how happy he is to note the President's good mood. Roosevelt thinks Donovan looks unhappy. The next paragraph discusses Donovan's experience in World War I.

Page 19: Continues Donovan's record, including partial wording of his Medal of Honor citation, followed by eight paragraphs describing the two men's original meeting and subsequent friendship.

Page 20: Six more paragraphs about the friendship. Four paragraphs about what FDR is thinking about the lack of coordination of intelligence gathered during World War II.

Page 21: The whole page is devoted to the history of interagency warfare between intelligence services and the formation of the department of Coordination of Intelligence, headed by Donovan.

Page 22: More on the Coordination of Intelligence Department and its transition to the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services.

Page 23: History of the President's desk, (yes) along with a description of its contents, including FDR's stamp collection and how the State Department saves foreign stamps for his collection. A paragraph describing the Oval Office. Roosevelt looks out the window at his rose garden, rolls his wheelchair behind the desk, and asks about Donovan's family.

Page 24: Five paragraphs about the Donovan family condition. Two paragraphs about Major James Roosevelt, USMC. Donovan goes back to discussing his son's military activities

Page 25: In paragraph two, General Donovan finally delivers the news that the Germans have nerve gas in Sicily! On the ninth page after we learn that General Wild Bill Donovan has important news for the President, we finally find out what the news is.

BORED TO SLEEP? ME TOO! By this time, I have put the book down and decided no longer to search for Griffin books in the bookstores.

Cultivating Readers

By Fred Fields

I used to be a public speaker.

The first thing one must learn when speaking to a group, is "Don't put your audience to sleep". Keep them involved, wanting to hear more.

The question is, "How do you do that?"

Every good speaker knows there are two tricks to the trade, humor and good stories. Make your audience laugh, and make them want to hear the rest of the story. And if you can slip a little message in there, so much the better.

President Kennedy said, "Open with a joke. Get the audience on your side, if that's possible."

Zig Ziglar was probably the most famous public speaker in America for years because he had the talent to wrap his message in humor.

The same is true of writing, whether it's fiction or non-fiction. When I start a paper, whether it's a short blog or a novella, my first thought is, "Who will be interested in what I'm writing, and how long can I hold their interest?"

Of course, humor is not always the answer. A textbook, certainly, won't have a lot of humor. But if the writer is inventive, it may contain some.

For example, a textbook about the Civil War might include the story of President Lincoln asking his cabinet for a vote on the wisdom of enacting the Emancipation Proclamation. Every cabinet member voted against, with Lincoln alone, voting for the Proclamation.  President Lincoln's ruling on the vote; "The ayes have it."

When we write fiction, we hope that the story is a good one, one that will keep the reader involved until the last word. Much fiction is humorous, but even the dreariest, saddest, most serious piece should have a humorous quip or two to relieve the tension.

Right now, I'm considering a book of historical fiction about Simon de Montfort, a thirteenth century English earl who led a revolution that took over the government of England from Henry III for a year. And in that year, de Montfort invited the first commoners to participate in the English Parliament. My question is "How many people would read a book about some unknown figure from eight hundred years ago?" Simon was a unique, interesting, exciting man, but can I write his story well enough to generate that interest?

So you see, choosing what to write about is as important as how to write about it. It will be a waste the time and effort writing a book, if no one is going to read it.

A Mix of Business and Pleasure

By Bonnie Stanard

Writers are artists. Even in a league that includes musicians, painters, dancers, actors, and sculptors, we’re near the bottom when it comes to getting respect, whether that be media coverage or invitations to dinner. Some of us (read that Bonnie) were naïve enough to think our published book would be greeted with uproarious approval (Yes, uproarious…) with scores of sales and devoted fans (YES, fans!). My imagination got me into this absurdity.

Something I often forget is that art and business are partners. Even an inferior book can sell if it has the right business management. And a superior one can flop without it. We get respect not for writing a book, but for selling our ideas/inspiration/dreams to a general public. This is where the fat hits the fire.

The writer in me says I don’t want any part of business. I have to make an effort to participate in the writer’s life—the conferences and author events. I don’t like to make time to read book reviews and best sellers in my genre. The writer’s life, however, is where we grow professionally and gain the respect of our peers.

With the media promising us instant celebrity, we forget that most success stories start small and local. With that in mind, there are ways we can support ourselves and our community of writers. Columbia’s annual Book Festival, coming May 17-19, is a good example. If you miss a convention center filled with people who love books, you’re missing more than just the Festival.  

Hub City in Spartanburg (http://hubcity.org) is a bookshop, writers organization, and publisher. It has a history of promoting local writers with contests, readings, and other events. If you’re writing poetry, you may want to move to Charleston where The Poetry Society of SC (http://www.poetrysocietysc.org) not only holds regular meetings but sponsors poetry contests and readings. Upcoming the weekend of October 26 our own SC Writers Workshop (http://myscww.org) is sponsoring a symposium in Columbia on writing for publication. This is but a sample of ideas. The point is to become involved in not only writing but the profession.

The Free Times newspaper is doing us a favor. Charlie Nutt, who took over as publisher in December, has introduced a feature in the newspaper’s arts section dedicated to books either by local authors or about local topics. At the time I’m writing this, they feature six books on topics ranging from hospital reimbursements to Italian graffiti to a novel inspired by a 1909 SC court decision. Several weeks ago, I contacted the paper with information about my novel Kedzie, and they published a picture of the cover with a descriptive paragraph.

Whatever the difficulties we face today as writers, it’s not a time to be discouraged. This is the best time to write, the best time to be published, the best time to promote a book. As Fred Fields reminds me, we have “good stuff, like self publishing, not needing the approval from publishers, etc., as our predecessors had to have, free internet advertising, easier-to sell cheaper e-books, availability of associations like SCWW and a few good guys like Charlie Nutt.”  

Sarcasm: A Conversation at Downton Abbey

By Kimberly Johnson

Full disclosure--Maggie Smith’s acting is the reason why I watched Downton Abbey. The acclaimed actress plays Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in the PBS period drama. Smith dispenses stinging sarcasm to her cast mates better than an angry honeybee attacking a brown bear raiding its honey tree.

Here’s proof:

Lady Grantham (Smith): “You are quite wonderful the way you see room for improvement wherever you look. I never knew such reforming zeal.”

Mrs. Crawley (Penelope Wilton): “I take that as a compliment.”

Lady Grantham: “I must have said it wrong.”

Here’s more proof:

Mrs. Crawley: “What should we call each other?”
Lady Grantham:“Well, we could always start with Mrs. Crawley and Lady Grantham."

I take my fedora off to writer and creator Julian Fellowes for his interplay of mockery and cynicism in keeping the dialogue so fresh and so uniquely British. The finest scenes are when the Dowager and Lady Crawley trade barbs. I think that sarcasm bridges the gap between the two spirited women who have nothing in common, yet have to get along for the sake of the family. Fellowes uses the confrontations to create tension which is a great way to construct conflict.

With this in mind, I researched how a writer can use ironic or satirical remarks as a writing device to lure readers into his text. I found blogger David Hartstein of Wired Impact. He blogged a satirical post that received mixed reactions—mostly negative. He concluded:

#1: Writing sarcasm to an audience that doesn’t know you personally will probably fall flat. Focus on the message that you want to deliver to the reader.

#2: Sarcasm is in the delivery, according to Hartstein. “It’s about your inflection and emphasis. This requires a bit of extra thought when you’re trying to convey it in writing.” Use bolded words and italics for emphasis.

#3: Sarcasm is in the eye of the beholder and someone may take offense to it. Hartstein adds, “In fact, chances are you’ll come across as a jerk. The feeling of it being something of an inside joke is actually what makes sarcasm worthwhile. You just have to craft your delivery to make as many people feel like insiders as is possible.”  

I wonder does Julian Fellowes go through the same thing.                    

Source: http://wiredimpact.com/blog/sarcastic-writing-risks, http://www.btvision.bt.com/

Who Killed Fred?

By Laura P. Valtorta

All of us who attend South Carolina Writers’ Workshop, Columbia II, have thought now and again that Bonnie would make a great detective. The round glasses, the penetrating attention to detail, the no-nonsense hairstyle. She could be another Miss Marple. Hercule Poirot.  A LIsbeth Salander – American-style.

Fiction writers are often tempted to steal characters from the world around them. It’s so much easier to describe the quirks and wardrobe of a real, living person than to invent someone imaginary. Woody Allen explores this phenomenon in his masterpiece movie, Deconstructing Harry. The women in his life become homicidal after he tears them apart in his fiction. The fictional characters Harry creates are better looking but internally the same as the people around him. Harry makes little effort to disguise them. “Jane” becomes “Janet.”

Borrowing characters from life can be constraining as well as disconcerting. If I were to write a mystery in which Ginny killed Fred, I would be limited by the real Ginny and the real Fred. Ginny, the killer, would have to be demonic. It might be difficult to fit the real Ginny into that mold. Fred would have to morph into a victim. And nobody wants to see Fred go down in flames.

When writing is going particularly well, the characters are almost completely fictional. My wine-growing motorcyclist named “Otis” is an invented character – and he’s freer than many of the other characters in that novel. I can bring out parts of myself and embody them In Otis more easily than I could if I wrote about Sarah, the FBI agent or Mike, the Inside Trader.

As tempting as it might be to cause Shaun to earn his living as a balloon artist, or force Leigh to explore the Amazon, it’s much better technique to fashion a personality out of thin air.

Every character we create is a part of ourselves. If we squeeze that part into the friends that surround us – like fitting meat into a sausage casing -- the effect is less convincing than building an imaginary friend.

Writing Is Hard

By Len Lawson

Writing is hard. You first have to find time to write in your busy schedule, and when you do have time, you have to be in the right mood. Otherwise, you procrastinate, and your time is wasted. Once you finally do get to write what you consider to be your best work (if your friends and your family have not discouraged you into quitting by the time your work is complete), you try to get it published somehow whether in magazines, journals, or by some publishing company. This process is where you decide to just quit on your own.

Publishers will tell you that your work does not suit their needs, or it is not a “good fit” for them. They may simply feel that your work lacks merit or just plain stinks. Next because you can’t get a deal with these publishers, you may decide to self-publish. Following making a substantial financial commitment to the work, you must market yourself and your work continually if you have even a glimmer of hope for a return on your investment. Then, you have to decide, Why am I doing all of this? Is it because you want to be the next John Grisham, James Patterson, or Janet Evanovich? Is it for fame or fortune? Is it because someone told you that you’d be a great writer and that people will read and buy your books? Did they tell you it would be easy?

Well, it’s not easy. It’s hard—every bit of it. However, the ones who survive the rejections and the failure do not neglect their craft for a Saturday night movie or a night out partying away their inspiration. They focus on their craft. They improve their weaknesses, and they maximize their strengths. They seek out other successful writers in their genre and ask them for tips. They cheer on their fellow writers when they succeed instead of finding a reason to justify their own failure.  Successful writers have counted the costs of their profession. They have embraced the struggle. They have decided that their writing means more than momentary fulfillment in activities that ultimately do not culminate in their success. They live for every word they write. They are passionate, vigilant, and unrelenting.

You were misled if you thought this was going to be easy. If you still want to be a writer, the first bit of advice you need is to endure. Writers accept the difficulty and become addicted to their writing habit. Writing is hard, but those who embrace the challenge may reap not only material rewards but also fulfillment for their lives and a claim to their place as a voice in the world amongst their generation.