Time to Write

Feed Your Head

One of the best things for us writers to do, I think, is to feed our heads with interesting thoughts and new ideas that are not necessarily just about writing. A great place at which to get some of this brain food is the Business Innovation Factory website. One of the features there is the Innovation Story Studio, which hosts fifteen-minute lectures by a variety of thinkers.

One is Frans Johannson (left), author of "The Medici Effect," which explores how innovation tends to occur at the intersection of different businesses, fields, or cultures. Another presentation I liked is Curt Columbus, Artistic Director, Trinity Repertory Company, talking about the potential role of theatre in today's disconnected society. These are both from Bif-2, so to see them, scrowl down the page and click on BIF-2; there are also loads of videos from Bif-1 and this year's Bif-3 that I'll go back and explore the next time I want to procrastinate, er, to get some mental stimulation. 

New Media Writing & Producing

I see that Michael Eisner's experiment in online programming, the 80 times 90-second series, "Prom Queen," is already in profit. It's housed at MySpace and repeated via a variety of online and mobile phone outlets, and has a predictable but entertaining combination of female and male eye candy (that's "Chad" on the left), mystery, and teen anxiety (as usual, these 'teens' look a bit older than they should).

What I found most interesting is Eisner's comments to the Financial Times, that although user-generated content started the gold rush to online video, it's professionally-produced content that will keep it going. He cited the example of HBO, which started out by distributing feature films to homes but really made its name with high-quality original content like "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City."

If Eisner is right, it's good news for writers and other professionals. Maybe less of the online space will be taken up with people falling down or setting fire to themselves, and more with interesting original comedy and drama.

Fighting Back: Taking on a Critic

Have you noticed that hardly anybody ever talks back to a critic? Maybe it's a losing proposition, since the critic is paid by the people who run the publication, but I ran across an entertaining fight-back letter to the editor--this dates from 1994, and was written by producing director Billy Berminham, of Chicago's Torso Theater, in response to a review in the Chicago Reader by their critic Adam Langer (caps as in the original):

"Any publication with an iota of integrity or PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS would not only FIRE LANGER out of SHEER EMBARRASSMENT but would also CUT OFF HIS HEAD, AFFIX IT TO A PIKE AND PROMINENTLY DISPLAY THE SOGGY MELON OUTSIDE its FRONT DOOR AS AN APOLOGY TO THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY FOR SUCH A FLAGRANT DISREGARD FOR THE ETHICS OF RESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM!!!"

I have no idea who was right, but when so much writing is vanilla-flavored, it's fun to encounter a jalapeno pepper once in a while.

How to Write Flashbacks

One of the people who is coming to my workshop sent an email asking whether I am going to be talking about flashbacks. Probably I will touch on it, but I thought I’d also give some quick ideas here.

One typical structure is using “bookends.” That is, starting in the present, then making the body of the novel one long flashback, and returning to the present at the end. You can use the first section to create interest or curiosity, then take the readers back and lead back up to the present. For instance, in a novel I’m working on, there is a brief section at the start in which the narrator finds out that a teacher he was close to years before has died, and says, “That’s the nicest thing he’s ever done for me.” Then we go back ten years and gradually find out the nature of the relationship and the terrible thing that happened that makes the narrator pleased that the teacher has died. Finally, we come back to the present and find out what the narrator will do now that this part of his life finally is truly over.

In a novel set in the present, generally it’s a good idea to avoid flashbacks unless they’re really necessary. They always interrupt the flow of the action. Sometimes they are essential for creating a certain effect, so don’t be afraid of them, just be clear why you need them and the result you want.

When you do use them, be sure the reader will understand the time jump. You can do this by leaving an extra space, or sometimes (if the flashback is short) by putting it into italics. If you need to add cues in terms of the language or location to avoid confusing the reader, do so.

There are alternatives to using flashbacks, of course. For instance, a character can talk about what happened in the past. This sometimes turns into rather dull exposition, so you might consider whether there is a way to make the scene more emotional. For instance, maybe one character remembers a particular situation differently than another, and they get into an argument about what really happened. Whenever you add emotion to exposition, it tends to distract people from realizing they’re taking in a lot of information.
(PS: get info about my upcoming London workshops from [email protected])

Writing: The Importance of Viewpoint

In issue 213 of TV Zone magazine there's a long article about the new Shaun the Sheep animated series from Aardman. What I found interesting was one story related by series director Richard Goleszowski and producer Julie Lockhart, about an episode in which Shaun's friend, Bitzer the dog, has a bad tooth:

"This shows the difference between writing the script where you think it's funny and then shooting the storyboard," Lockhart points out. "It actually looked like torture, because Bitzer didn't want to have his teeth pulled! Because you couldn't put nice words in, it actually looked like they were submitting him to real torture!"

Goleszowski adds, "In the storyboard he was being dragged behind the jeep on a piece of rope tied round his tooth, and it all seemed very funny, but when you saw it, it just looked so cruel and hideous we had to start again."

This points up a common problem for writers: how we intend something and how it looks (on the screen or in the mind of a reader) may not be the same thing. One way to get over this is to use the dissociation technique. When you are writing the scene, you probably are living it along with your characters--you are associated. For one of your rewrite-readings of your material, imagine it playing out on a movie screen, and yourself as a person in the audience (this works for novels, too). This is the dissociated state, and the effect of the scene may suddenly be quite different.

Writing to Music

It was in an older issue of Movie Pictures Magazine that I ran across a reference to how writer-director John Krokidas uses music as a source of inspiration when he writes:

"It's about using music to enter the emotion of a scene. You pick a song that represents the emotion of the scene you're hoping to create, then put it on repeat...The whole purpose is get so used to hearing it in the background that you become connected to the emotional thread of the piece. It's like a subliminal umbilical cord that enables you to translate the emotional truth of the music into the page."

Suggestion: if you decide to try this and you live with somebody, use headphones!

Pitching: Is My Visual Pitch Worthwhile?

I had an email asking my opinion of a new service called My Visual Pitch (myvisualpitch.com), so I thought I would share it here.

The idea of My Visual Pitch is that writers and musicians create a trailer for their screenplay, TV series idea, band, or other creative project they are trying to sell. They upload it onto the site (it costs about $10 a month), where it will be seen by industry executives who (ideally) will buy the project.

There are already sites up like this where scriptwriters can post script summaries, but the hook this time is that you can make your pitch visual and therefore more appealing. I have to say that I found the samples on the site a bit too much like a typical trailer, along the lines of a gravelly voice intoning, "Two men, one woman, and the curse that ties them together for all time..." If I'm a busy producer, I want you to cut to the chase: what's the story? We can figure out the teaser ads later.

But the real flaw with all services like this is that generally they are not used by mainstream show business buyers, for three reasons. One is that by registering with and accessing such sites they may leave themselves open to lawsuits brought by writers who think they have been ripped off; another is that they just don't have time to browse sites like this since they are already inundated with material from established agents. And the third is that, frankly, quite a lot of material on these kinds of sites is not very good. If My Visual Pitch can overcome these problems and demonstrate that legitimate producers and network executives are actually coming to the site, it could be a worthwhile investment--but I'd advise you to get some convincing facts and figures before you get out your credit card.

Writing Prompts: Two Sites

I've mentioned in the past that I collect advertising postcards and sometimes pick one or more at random to see what ideas come up if I'm stuck. There are also two sites that can help you do the same thing (I found out about these at the excellent 901am.com site, where the motto is, "new media news every morning").

The first is FlickrSpy--you probably already know that Flickr is a hugely popular photo-sharing site, and Flickrspy shows you what new photos are being uploaded at that moment. This means you have a never-ending flow of images going past. If you want, you can grab the image and move it to your desktop (of course you're not allowed to use it for commercial purposes). It can be fun to grab, say, 3 images at random and get your idea flow going by making up a little story that connects the three. Or you can force an association between a random image and whatever you are writing, as I do with the postcards.

The other site is ficlets.com, where people can upload a little story and anybody who wants to can add a prequel or sequel section to extend the story. Again, it's a nice way to limber up. The 'inspirations' page of the site also offers a batch of photos, and suggests lines that could start a story or end one.

Warning: while these sites can help get your creative juices flowing, they can also distract you for too long from actually writing your own thing!

Finish Your Novel: Maggie Gee's Advice

I've just discovered an excellent website for writers, at www.spreadtheword.org.uk. One of the features on the site is an article by novelist Maggie Gee ("The White Family," and "My Cleaner") about finishing the novel. Here's a little part of her advice:

"If you're stuck, or bored, with a particular chapter, either bring it to an end, or move elsewhere. Try moving to another character, or a part of the plot that really excites you. Write the end, if you like, so you have somewhere to go. I very often write the end of the novel first, so there is somewhere for me, on my rope, to swing to."

I'm quite intrigued by that approach; I've heard some novelist say they have to know how the story ends (while others say they would be too bored to keep writing if they knew the ending) but it's an interesting idea to actually write the ending first. Maggie Gee stresses in her article that she's only discussing what works for her, she doesn't presume it will work for everybody else, but it's another useful strategy to consider if you get stuck.

Writing: The 30 Day Trial Strategy

Here's a great strategy from one of the best personal-development sites, StevePavlina.com. He writes:

"A powerful personal growth tool is the 30-day trial." It's an idea he borrowed from the software industry, where often you can download a trial version of a program for a month before deciding whether you'll pay for the real version.

He explains, "We often psyche ourselves out of getting started by mentally thinking about the change as something permanent--before we've even begun."

The alternative: commit to the new behaviour for only 30 days. That way it's not so daunting and by the end of the month, if it's working, you'll be inclined to continue. If not, you can make some adjustments or try something else.

I'm sure you can see how easy this would be to apply to any writing tasks you may have found too intimidating. Want to write a novel? How about committing to working on it for 30 minutes a day for one month? If that turns out to be too hard to keep up, at the end of the month you can switch to 30 minutes every other day, or whatever you think would work better--and you'll have a month's worth of effort to give you momentum.

Too Old to Write that BooK? (uh uh)

Here's a story from UPI that I include for any of you who may have thought maybe it's too late for you to write a book:

The author of "The Invisible Wall," a memoir about growing up Jewish and poor in a British mill town, is described by his publisher as a late bloomer; he's 96.

Although Harry Bernstein wrote short stories that were published and a novel he said sold at least one copy, he didn't begin writing "The Invisible Wall" until after his wife died in 2002, USA Today said.

  Despite Bernstein's earlier novel, Random House touts "The Invisible Wall" as a debut by a 96-year-old author during its U.S. release March 19. "It makes for good publicity," said Bernstein, who lives in a Brick, N.J., retirement community.

Bernstein is putting the finishing touches on a sequel and is in contract negotiations. "I don't blame them for making sure I finish it," he said. If they give me an option today, I could be gone tomorrow."

Writers Networking Advice

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm always interested in ways that we introverts can network. Here's a tip tip from Ilise Benun, whose website is Marketing Mentor:

Wouldn't it be nice if you could make qualified connections to a whole bunch of people at a networking event - without doing a lot of legwork? Here's how: Stand up and ask a question.

Instead of just listening, participate. During the initial Q&A, introduce yourself and ask a question that reveals your area of interest. Establish yourself and your interests to the group, and people with similar interests or concerns will flock to you afterward to introduce themselves to you. You never know where those encounters might lead.

(This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.)

Writing to Yourself

Nobody writes letters anymore...except to themselves. One of the more interesting web phenomena is FutureMe.org, a site where you can write a letter to your future self and store it to be delivered anytime between a month and fifty years from now.

An article by J. R. Moehringer in the Los Angeles Times says that since the site was launched four years ago, it has received almost 400,000 e-mails and millions of hits. You can specify whether you want your message to be public (although without your name revealed) or private. Reading the public ones makes you laugh--and sometimes cry. The whole gamut of human emotions is there, aimed at ourselves: love, hate, fear, hope, despair.

Later this year, there will be a book collection of 200 of the public messages, edited by the founders of the site, Matt Sly and Jay Patrikios.

The article suggests one thing the founders might write if they were posting a letter to their past selves: "Dudes, you gotta charge for this thing, it's going to be huge!" (The site is free.)