Time to Write

Getting Support for Your Writing (Tom Didn't)

Tom Clancy was an insurance salesman before he became a best-selling novelist. But taking time to write wasn't that popular at home. In an article at the amctv.com blog (here), this is what he revealed:

"What I did was take time away from how I earned my living. My wife gave me hell – ‘Why are you doing this?’ – but she doesn’t complain anymore."

His wife admitted as much: “He was writing at home every weekend. I told him he should go back to selling insurance – I’ve eaten those words a few times. But once I read the book, I changed my mind. Tom said he’d be happy if it would sell 5,000 copies, but I told him not to worry – it’d sell a lot more than that.”

You can succeed without support from family and friends, but it sure helps to have it. How to get it is the topic of one chapter of my “Your Writing Coach” book (available now at book stores and online). Of course it all starts with you--you have to demonstrate to them and yourself that you're serious about your writing. One way to start: set aside one period every week, maybe a few hours on the weekend, that you will be writing and that you will give up only in case of a real emergency. Family members may still grumble but they will also start to respect your passion.

How to Write Good Dialogue

On a guest post on the argh ink blog (here), Jane Espenson gives some tips on dialogue. She knows whereof she speaks, having written for Buffy, The Gilmore Girls, Battlestar Galactica and more. Here's what she says about learning how to learn to write good dialogue:

"Good dialogue-writing skills are partly inborn, I believe, stemming from a good ear for how people talk. But a lot of it is certainly learnable. If you want a character to tell another character “I missed you,” but that’s just too bald a statement for this particular person to make, have them say, “I really– You were gone a long time.” There. By having them start a sentence they never finished, the audience will figure out what they were going to say and pulled back from. This is actually a special case of a larger rule-of-thumb: people get less articulate, not more, when they’re emotionally moved. Want to write an emotional moment? Increase your quotient of stumbles and restarts."

Great tip!

She also has something to say about exposition (avoiding): "Relax and let the reader figure out what’s going on as the scene unfolds. It’s all right for people to be a little confused. They’ll pick it up. Ever join Law and Order 15 minutes in? It’s a totally plot-driven show, and of course they’re making no effort to catch you up… but you do catch up. Readers and viewers are better than we give them credit for at dredging their own exposition out of our words."

A Free Book (and a Way to Sell Your Book?)

Allan C. Weisbecker has decided to put his new book, Can't You Get Along With Anyone? on the internet for free download.

It's his second book of memoirs (the first was In Search of Captain Zero). The author and publisher figure that after reading a few chapters you’ll want to own the book, be able to curl up with it, not squint at a computer screen to read it.

After reading the first 17 pages on screen, I’m inclined to agree…they reveal adrug deal in which the ship goes down, a bordello with rapacious ladies, threats to the editor of a major magazine…

Of course I'm also intrigued whether this really works as a marketing model. Watch this space, and if you want his book, you'll find it here.

A Legal Case that Could Impact Writers

Reuters reports that J K Rowling and Warner Bros are suing an independent US publisher over an unofficial encyclopedic companion to the Harry Potter series, as it infringes copyright and attempts to cash in on the brand.

The target is The Harry Potter Lexicon, which is due to be released by RDR Books on 28th November in the United States. The 400-page book is based on a Steve Vander Arks' fan Web site, www.hp-lexicon.org, that was used by 25 million visitors and had been called "a great site" by Rowling herself.

Rowling said in a statement, even though she loved fan sites, she hoped to write "the definitive Harry Potter encyclopedia, which will include all the material that never made it into the novels" and donate the proceeds to charity.

The outcome of the case is of importance to writers, as currently there are a lot of books that piggyback on other works, usually feeling that adding a label such as "an unauhorized guide to..." will keep the lawyers at bay.

By the way, in a separate story, Rowling has made seven copies of a fairy tale collection that was mentioned in her last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She will auction one for charity and give away the six others. She said the books were a "wonderful way" to say goodbye to Potter. But the lawsuit suggests she's not really ready to say good-bye.

Four Secrets of Writing Success from Frank Close

There are some interesting lessons for writers in a Guardian Unlimited article about Frank Close, one of Britain’s foremost science writers. He makes complicated ideas easier to understand by keeping his writing straightforward. He says, “…I enjoy talking about science, I enjoy giving lectures. I try to imagine when I'm writing my books that I'm actually giving a talk, so I can end up writing it as you speak." That’s a useful technique—I’ve given many lectures purely in my imagination in order to clarify what I’m writing about (even though what I write about isn’t rocket science).

When Nature magazine asked him to report on a scientific conference, he learned to step back and put yourself into the mind of a reader. He also realized that an intriguing headline could draw in readers who ordinarily might not be interested in his subject. The same applies to book titles, of course.

When Close wrote his first book, he sent the manuscript to a publisher who’d had a best-seller with a book that was somewhat similar. They weren’t interested, and he realized that often when a publisher has had success with a book on a certain topic, rather than wanting more they consider they’ve been there, done that. Often it's better to go to a different publisher but reference the success their competitors have had with a similar topic.

An editor who saw that first manuscript, The Cosmic Onion, recognized its flaws but also its potential. He said, “If he is prepared to be brutalized I’ll give him a half hour of my time.” Close was prepared to be brutalized and the feedback helped him revise the book and it became his first big success. The (tough) lesson: be open to criticism.

Historical Novels: How Does Dobbs Do It?

In an interview in the American Chronicle, novelist Michael Dobbs discusses how he goes about writing historical novels. First, why write them?

Dobbs says, "I was brought to writing them when I discovered just how unsatisfactory many history books were. They miss the greatest motivating factor of all in history, the will of the individual, the passions, the fears, the love. Historians can’t deal with personalities and emotions very well, that’s what novelists do, and that’s why there is a huge role for fiction in helping others understand what really went on."

A lot of writers find the research for such novels daunting. Here's how Dobbs does it: “I go to the personal records of those involved. Many of these were written down in the 40’s and 50’s as diaries and short memoirs, and even if they were published have been long out of print, but they bring home the passions of the moment far better than most history books. Much of the material came from records in the Imperial War Museum, but some were also obtained from second-hand booksellers.”

Dobbs' new novel, "Never Surrender: A Novel of Winston Churchill," is his 15th.

Is 90 the New 50? (Never Too Late to Start Writing)

Think maybe you’re too old to write that novel? Think again (unless you’re over 90…)

The Los Angeles Times says, "Bowl of Cherries," the debut novel from 90-year-old author Millard Kaufman, is full of twisted family dynamics, romantic obsessions and wholly improbable story line delivered in a deadpan voice simmering with mirth."

He was nominated for two Oscars in the 50’s. He told reporter Steffie Nelson, "I decided, knowing that nobody my age gets work in movies, and that I had to do something, otherwise I'd get into terrible trouble, that I would try writing a novel. It always kind of interested me, but as long as I was busy I never got around to doing it."

"I don't know what I'm writing until I see it on paper," Kaufman admitted, "and that was the case here. I wanted to get it down and take a look at it and see what direction it could go. And there were a number of directions I could have gone, and I went in all of them."

His secret, after being a writer for seventy years or so: "You just put one word after another. If you do it long enough, you got some pages."

Still think you're too old to start writing?

Warning for Writers: Will You Give Up Rights You Should Be Keeping?

The Bookseller recently hosted a seminar about audiobooks for 120 publishers, retailers and audio specialists. Media lawyer Robert Lands suggested having audio rights and book rights be separate, rather than having the book publishers nab them. Naturally the book publishers didn’t warm to that idea, but Lands had a good point: "Audiobooks in a way have far more in common with films than books in that there are actors, producers and a performance. There are a whole bundle of rights involved here that books just don't have."

There was agreement that one reason audio books haven’t caught on as well as they could is that agents and publishers aren’t necessarily the most technologically aware people. Agent Simon Trewin noted, “The book industry is very insular and cliquey, and often we like to deal with people we know. [Audiobooks] people are coming in from outside with new ideas, and we are not sure how to react."

If there's a book contract in your future, it might be worth trying to keep the audio book rights separate, especially if your publisher generally doesn't exploit such rights. Frankly, they'll resist, but at the very least you might be able to improve on the initial proposal.

The World's Smallest Book Tour? (Steal This Idea)

Via the always excellent thepublishingspot.com I found that poet Dorothea Lasky is holding her own unique version of a book tour. Here’s how she describes it:

"I am going to squeeze a book tour into my Philadelphia apartment, and invite guests to experience the readings by joining me there and here on this website. Guest readers, musicians, dancers and other performers will join me for a series of readings in the kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom, fire escape, and hallway. It is my big hope to both gain agency over the event of a poetry reading, as well as demystify the experience for a larger poetry-hungry audience, by providing easy access to my readings over the internet."

Videos are up at www.birdinsnow.com. The camera person need to drink less coffee (or get a tripod), and I think maybe I’d rather read Dorothea’s poems than listen to them...still, what a great idea—if you do something similar for your writing project, do you think your local media would pick up on it? I think so.

Thinking of Blogging? Tips from Las Vegas

I’m in Las Vegas currently and yesterday appeared on a panel at Blogworld and New Media Expo. We discussed “Finding Your Voice.”

It was a bit unusual in that half the people attending were interested in their literal voices (which you can hear in their podcasts) and the other half were interested in ‘voice’ as in style of writing. In fact, the mix worked out fine, with more cross-over between these two approaches than one might have expected. The key points to keep in mind if you have or are considering getting a blog or podcast:

• let your personality be reflected in what you write
• often your true voice appears after a period of imitation of writers you admire
• don’t be afraid that some people won’t like you and the way you write (some won’t, so what?)
• keep posts short enough to read fairly quickly (break up longer posts into parts)
• let your passion for your topic be the driving force—your excitement will come across

As for the best platform, one speaker was enthusiastic about WordPress, another championed Typepad (this blog is written on Typepad, you can find out full information at typepad.com).

If you missed this year's Expo, it'll happen again in September 2008, and if you're seriously interested in blogging or podcasting, including how to turn them into profitable ventures, it will be well worth considering a trip to Las Vegas next time.

The Panic of the Almost-Finished Writer

I’m in the final stages of writing my book, FOCUS, which Pearson will publish in May 2008. I guess it’s appropriate that I’ve had to focus a lot this month to be able to get it done! One tip: leave the first chapter (the introduction) until last. Inevitably, the book has changed somewhat, including finding that two of the proposed chapters work better when combined into one, and that it made sense to switch the order of some of the chapters. Since the introduction includes a guided tour of the rest of the book, it’s best to do that last.

The second tip is don’t panic if you start to doubt whether your book actually works. This is my sixth one and on every one I’ve had a point at which I was sure it was all falling apart, didn’t make any sense, wouldn’t interest any readers, etc. I think it’s part of the natural process once you get so deeply into it that you lose perspective (it happens with screenplays, too). Yesterday I wrote what will be the final chapter, “Putting It All Together,” in which I set out a program for applying all the material in the book in a structured way, and was happy to find it does all make sense. Whew!

Rejection and Persistence in Writing - Tom's Story

In an article in Canada's National Post, Ben Kaplan writes about how writer Tom Perrotta nearly gave up his writing not long before his breakthrough. Perrotta has written six novels in all, including two that became popular films: Election and Little Children. Kaplan reports:

"In 1993, Perrotta, then teaching at Harvard, wrote Election. No one would publish it, and he figured he'd wear chalk on his sleeves forever. "I was a composition teacher, struggling financially, and thought I'd go on to an academic career," he says. He produced two more unheralded works of fiction, Bad Haircut, a fairly autobiographical collection of stories set in '70s New Jersey, and The Wishbones, about a greying wedding singer who doesn't want to settle down. It was a Hollywood producer who turned Perrotta into a successful commodity. After hearing him read at a college book store, she helped make Election, then unpublished, into the hot film of 1999.

"Total fluke," he says of his book's success on the big screen, which he followed up on by publishing Joe College the next year. "That experience, to say the least, changed things."

Should You be Striking, Too?

Dear Fellow Writer,

A writers’ strike seems a bit weird to a lot of people, especially when they hear about the massive amount of money a few movie writers earn. They don’t know that the vast majority of writers (and actors, and artists of all kind) struggle to make a living wage, and that a year of feast can be followed by seven years of famine. Some may wonder why it’s important to ask for a fair share of the income from the new media, when that income barely exists. It’s because the same argument was used when videos and DVDs first came out—“agree to take a tiny share now and we’ll talk again if and when there’s any money in it.” We took it, and “if and when” arrived, but the producers haven’t been willing to talk again.

That led me to daydream this morning about what would happen if writers of all kinds went on strike. What would they ask for?

Maybe they’d ask agents, if you want more income, why don’t you focus on getting us more money rather than raising your commissions from the standard ten percent to the now almost-standard fifteen percent?

They might say to certain editors, why don’t you give us the courtesy of a reply, via an email or the self-addressed stamped envelopes we provide, rather than telling us that if we don’t get a reply it’s a ‘no’? That way we’d know to move on, rather than wondering whether you’ve rejected our material or are still considering it.

They might say to certain publishers, why don’t you drop the demand that we submit our manuscripts to you exclusively when your response time can be three months, six months, or even more?

They might say to certain profitable magazines, why do you still pay a pittance for the articles that are the reason that you have readers at all?

And maybe most of all, they (we) might say to each other, why do we too often see ourselves as supplicants rather than colleagues of the people who need our work?  Why don’t we demand the respect that we deserve?

Maybe that rebellion needs to start in our hearts.

Your colleague,

Jurgen

MySpace Enters the Book Space

Publisher HarperCollins and MySpace are set to collaborate on an environmental handbook for young people to be published on Earth Day (April 22) 2008. Tom Anderson, co-founder and president of MySpace, said, "The first MySpace book is just one more way we are working to engage the MySpace community in environmental issues and encourage people to take action." He will write the foreward for the book, which will be written by freelance journalist Jeca Taudte and will include environmental tips posted on the site. They are planning a first printing of 200,000 copies.

MySpace senior vice president, Jeff Berman, said that more book projects are likely, adding "We're always talking to potential partners about big ideas and this one with HarperCollins made a lot of sense," Berman says. "We want to be at the forefront of user-generated media, and books are an important part of that."

That creaking sound you hear is a new market opening up. Lots of sites that are popular, if not as mega as MySpace, might be interested in this kind of synergy.

Scriptwriting: Robert Benton Reveals...

There’s a great interview by Elvis Mitchell with writer-director David Benton on the KCRW radio site (here). Benton, who co-wrote the classic “Bonnie and Clyde,” tells some fascinating stories, including how he made sure that Dustin Hoffman’s improvisations would fit into “Kramer vs. Kramer.” He also reveals one of the rules of Hollywood: “If you want something, they won’t give it to you; if you don’t want it, they throw it in your face.” He was referring to his first directing job, which he really didn’t want and got despite never having directed anything before. But his first day on the set, he got the directing bug and recently has directed a film he didn’t write, “Feast of Love.”

(For tips on screenwriting, check out my sites, www.timetowrite.com and also www.yourwritingcoach.com.)