Time to Write

Swearing on the radio

I had fun the other day doing a guest spot on the radio show, “McCauley and Company,” on BBC Radio Scotland to promote my current book. No, I didn’t travel north, it was all done via a link from BBC headquarters in Central London. It was a very relaxed morning show, and the host mentioned the book title (“Focus: the power of targted thinking”) a couple of times.

 They’d told me that they’d ask for advice on how one of their listeners could achieve her goals. The one they picked was that she swears too much.

 I suggested attaching a penalty to the behaviour—specifically, paying her spouse or children or a friend 50 pence each time she swore. She said, “You !x!!?, what kind of  !x%!! stupid suggestion is that?” …No, she didn’t. But she didn’t seem too keen on handing over any money, either.

 By the way, they’d emailed me a list of the questions they planned to ask, so I’d thought through all the answers carefully. Needless to say, what they actually asked was mostly different—and that’s par for the course when you do radio or TV.

--How to promote your writing using TV and radio is just one of the many topics I cover in my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and bricks and mortar book shops.

 

How's your mental filter?

The Washington Post featured a long article by Gene Weingarten, describing how a violinist played during the rush hour in front of one of the main Metro stations in Washington, D.C.

 As Weingarten puts it, “the fiddler…was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made.”

 His name is Joshua Bell. He was playing a Stradivarius for which he paid a reported $3.5 million.

 It was arranged by the Washington Post “as an experiment in context, perception and priorities.”

 What do you think happened? In that 45 minutes, how many people stopped to watch and listen? How many gave any money? How much did he get?

 Seven stopped and listened. Twenty-seven gave money. The total was $32 and change.

 OK, so many of those people passing wouldn’t be fans of classical music. But thousands went by, so we have to assume that at least a couple hundred liked classical music. But it was morning, they were on the way to work and anyway, a guy playing for change at a Metro station can’t really be any good, can he? I’m betting at least a few of the people who went by had spent $100 to hear Bell play at Carnegie Hall.

 It’s a powerful demonstration of how our expectations colour our perceptions. It’s the same reason why a script or manuscript gets rejected when you’re a nobody but is considered great once you have a name.

 More proof? When he started out, Banksy was one more graffiti artist violating local laws. Now the same spray paint art sells for millions and the art establishment proclaims him a genius. The art (or “art” ) didn’t change.

 I think the trick is not to buy into other people’s perceptions. Not when they think your work is worthless because you’re a nobody…and not when they think it’s great because you are a somebody. 

---Tips and techniques for being more creative & productive are yours free every month when you subscribe to my monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request now to [email protected].

The importance of parties

On his Personal Branding Blog, Dan Schawbel interviewed Jamie Malanowski, former editor for Playboy. He asked Malanowski what tips he wold give to someone first starting out in writing or journalism. He said:

 “When I started out, I sought advice from two very fine journalists, John Leo (then of Time) and Nick Pileggi (then of New York magazine), and each of them, unknown to the other, gave me identical advice:

‘Write as much as you can, and go to as many parties as possible.’

Both tips turned out to be amazingly useful. To those I’ll add this: be aggressive. No editor in whole wide world has ever woken up and thought, “Let me see what shy, hidden talent I can uncover today.” It’s a put-yourself-forward business, one in which people value enterprise, energy and persistence in a young person above something vague and evanescent as talent.”

---

 In my scriptwriting career, I have emphasized the former and pretty much ignored the parties (due to party shyness) and I think especially in Hollywood that hurt. These days it’s a lot easier to socialize using the Internet, although it’s still important to get out there in person as well.

 Shouldn’t we be judged on our writing alone? Yes, but then again, there shouldn’t be any wars, world hunger, or bad things happening to good people…

My little creativity party on paper comes to you once a once, free, when you subscribe to my Brainstorm ebulletin. Just send an email request now to [email protected].

A great new approach to film

As described in the Charlotte Business Journal, here’s a great creative idea that combines film-making with civic engagement. The film is called “Crossroads Charlotte,” and it’s actually four films, each one envisioning a possible future (the year 2015) for the city of Charlote, North Carolina. They range from the bleak (“Fortress Charlotte”) to the idealistic (“Eye to Eye”).

Patricia Zoder, the film’s Executive Director, said, “…this film is one example of utilizing art to help drive people to action. The film was also a great use of local talent as all of the production people, writers, actors, and film crew are local.”

It is designed to inspire people and organizations “to do what they can to help steer our community towards a positive future and away from a negative one,” she added.

This looks to me a like amodel that could be used in a variety of ways—with other communities, even with young people facing choices in their lives. While film is the most dynamic medium for it, it could also be done in text or audio.  You may even want to do it for yourself: what are four possible futures for you? Which one do you want? What do you need to do to get there?

(For tips and techniques for being more creative, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request now to [email protected])

"Dexter" author interview - how it all started

If you like the TV series “Dexter,” or if you’re interested in crime fiction in general, you will enjoy this five-minute interview with Jeff Lindsay, author of the series of Dexter books upon which the series is based, including “Darkly Dreaming Dexter”--I especially liked his amusing story of how the character first occurred to him).

(If you can’t click on the video below, you can go to:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAK48ID7bjM&eurl=http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/moviezone.aspx )

Poe the pioneer

It’s Edgar Allen Poe’s 200th birthday and in the Guardian’s Film Blog Danny Leigh assesses Poe’s influence on film. Here’s part of what he says:

“Naturally, he could claim territorial rights over pretty much anything that might be called horror. Beyond that, however, given that The Murders in the Rue Morgue essentially created the detective story, there's a case to be made that his shadow falls long across the entire sprawling genres of thriller and crime drama. And that's without factoring in his monkeying around with the divide between fiction and reality in presenting The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym as a memoir, its hero's gruesome misadventures aboard the whaling ship Grampus a factual document drawn from life – a meta-marketing device which last showed up in the phenomenon that was The Blair Witch Project.”

Time to go back and re-read your favorite Poe story and remind yourself of how good he was!

100 years later--literary success!

The Bookseller reports that publisher Michael O'Mara plans to publish the memoirs of a WWI soldier, which were first made public on a blog established by his grandson. According the report: 

"Bill Lamin discovered his grandfather Harry Lamin’s letters home to his family from the First World War trenches and posted them on a blog, Experiences of an English Soldier (http://wwar1.blogspot.com), posting up the letters on the equivalent day 90 years later. It has attracted over 2 million hits so far.  The book is a collection of Harry’s letters, with historical background to his life and battalion written by Bill and illustrated with original letters and other personal documents, plus black and white photographs and maps."

Get up into that attic and check for old letters!

For fans of Dr Who, Life on Mars, or Goodnight Sweetheart

If you’re interested in writing about time travel, or a fan of “Doctor Who,” “Life on Mars,” and “Goodnight Sweetheart,” here’s a great half-hour video featuring writers from those three shows. 

The genesis of “Life on Mars” is especially interesting. Co-creator Ashley Pharoah reveals that it was born during a drinking session and took eight years from idea to production. 

This is one of the BAFTA webcasts you’ll find on their site. Click here to access it.

(A show I had fun writing for was "Relic Hunter"--I wrote nine episodes and you find it on Sky3.)

What's your metaphor for 2009?

In my Brainstorm e-bulletin, I mentioned that one way to set the tone for the new year is to create a metaphor that you'd like to have represent it. A few of the readers shared theirs with me:

* Adventures and oases. 

* An Assault on Everest! 

* The year of living dangerously. (trying new things)

Mine is:   * Re-mix – a new blend of the best of the past, plus some new zesty ingredients and speed up the beat a little.

What metaphor would you choose?

(You can sign up for the free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin by sending an email request to [email protected])

Why having a crappy job can help a writer

One of my favourites of the new films is Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino.” It was written by Nick Schenk. AP writer Jeff Baenen writes, “Working at a liquor store or a construction site, Nick Schenk developed an ear for realistic dialogue. Eventually he wrote a script on scrap paper while sitting at a blue-collar bar in northeast Minneapolis.”

 The story concerns the relationship between a retired auto worker and a Hmong family next door. Baenen writes, “Schenk had worked with Hmong families in a factory job and visited a Hmong cultural center in St. Paul. He also got authenticity from the veterans he ran into on the job. Shenk says,"I had guys tell me their stories, their war stories, because they could trust me or I was sympathetic and respectful. So they would tell me stuff that they could not tell their wives and would not tell their kids."

 Soaking up information like this makes for authentic scripts and novels—and makes it easier to bear crappy jobs, too.

(If you're interested in writing a screenplay or a novel but not sure how to get started, see my book, "Your Writing Coach," available on Amazon and in book stores.)

Could this be the secret of success?

I listed my request for a new logo on a website where designers submit their rough ideas and then the person requesting it chooses the one they like best and pay a sum that they’ve declared previously. My specifications were pretty simple: I wanted a graphic element, my name, and a tag line that I provided. The colors were to be black, and red (on a white background).

 So far, twelve designs have been submitted (some designers submitted more than one). Of these, three didn’t have a tagline. Three changed the tagline to a shorter version they made up. Three ignored the requested color scheme.

 Now, I know that this kind of site will not attract the top designers—I assumed it was used by people just getting started, or maybe designers in less-developed countries—but even so I’m amazed that most of them paid no attention to the rather simple brief.

 I’m probably naïve to be surprised. An agent friend tells me that a good 50% of the submissions they get are not formatted correctly, or are full of spelling errors, or have “warning: I’ve copyrighted this material” pasted all over them, or other mistakes that could have been avoided by anyone who has read any basic book on scriptwriting.

I think it was Woody Allen who said 50% of success is just showing up. Maybe we could also say that 50% of success is just being awake and getting the basics right. This should give you heart if you're just getting started--half or more of your competition is asleep!

(For tips and techniques for being more creative and productive, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request to [email protected])

Charlie Kaufman on the struggle of writing

Charlie Kaufman writes weird films (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, among others). They don’t always work but they’re always interesting. 

His latest is “Synedoche, New York.” Here’s a six-minute video from a Writers Guild of America series, in which Kaufman talks about the struggle of writing, the audience relation to movies, and his strategy for making his films worth seeing more than once. 

Writer's rant: "I have the idea, all you need to do is..."

Below is part of a post on a bulletin board site for writers. It's the sort of thing that drives me crazy. I'm not making fun of the person's spelling, punctuation, or wording---most likely English is not his native language. No, it's the attitude:

'I have written the story all i am really looking for is someone experienced with some time on the hards to put the story into a proper correct script format for me and also give me any guidance and pin pointers as i am wanting this to get produced and once the script is completed i will be getting in touch with some production companys a few popular ones have infact said they are keen to see a completed script.   Although this is a no pay role, I will offer you to be credited on anything with regards to the drama."

If you're a writer, I'm sure you've heard this before: "I have an idea, all you have to do is write it up and when we sell it, I'll give you half the money. The last is usually said with the implication that the speaker is being incredibly generous and that we could probably knock off a book or script in a few hours of spare time. 

Grrrrrrrrr!

From YouTube to fame & fortune with Simon's Cat

Here’s a true internet success story. Simon Tofield created some short animated films featuring black and white line drawings of a man and his sneaky, always-hungry cat. They became an internet sensation, drawing more than 20 million hits on YouTube and winning awards including “Best Comedy at the British Animation Awards.”

 Now The Bookseller reports that ‘Cannongate has won ‘a fierce auction’ for the world rights to two illustrated books by Tofield. They will be gift books and one will be published at the end of this year, the other for Christmas 2010. The publisher already is in discussion about merchandising rights for the “Simon’s Cat” brand.

 The animated films are charming and obviously resonate with cat owners. This one is called ‘Simon’s Cat: TV Dinner.”

Woody Allen's take on the creative process

Timesonline features an interview with Woody Allen. His view of the creative process, while dark, probably will ring a bell for most of us:

“I almost always feel disappointed when I see my movies,” he says, returning to his theme. “When you’re conceiving them at home, it’s only happening in your mind and everything’s fabulous. Then you find out that Javier and Penelope are not available, you’re not gonna be able to get Buckingham Palace and the cameraman doesn’t quite get the lighting exactly as you want. By the time the thing is over, between your own mistakes and the compromises and the money that you don’t have to reshoot scenes, you never think, ‘This is amazing.’ Instead it’s: ‘Oh, God, if I take it back into the editing room, cut this, put this over here and add some music, I think I can save it.’ You start out convinced you’re gonna make The Bicycle Thieves and, by the time you’re in the editing room, you’re just fighting for survival. You’ve given up all your aspirations, greatness is out the window, you just don’t want to embarrass yourself and for it to be coherent."

 But he never gives up:

“However,” he adds, “I would like to make a movie I could show at a film festival, where it would sit right up there with impunity alongside The Bicycle Thieves and Citizen Kane. That’s a goal you can’t approach head on. You just have to make movies and hope one of them turns out to be really great. I don’t know if that will ever happen with me . . . but I keep trying.”

Amen!