Time to Write

What makes a good story (says Ira Glass)

Dallas Morning News Staff writer Michael Merschel recently reported on some of the speakers at the Mayborn Literary Non-Fiction Conference:

 RAY BLOUNT JR – essayist and humourist

“If you can write things that make the tongue move around pleasantly and write things that make the reader's mind move around pleasantly, you can hold a reader's attention."

 IRA GLASS – host of National Public Radio

“He talked about what makes a good story, which included a structure that allows for build-up, surprise, and most importantly, a mixture of emotions. To write a piece that conveys only one feeling is ‘just a total failure to the craft.’

 I find Glass’s observation the more interesting, especially since it seems so much of current entertainment lacks this ambition. I think maybe that has to do with age—when you’re young, you want things to be simple; when you get older, you realize they’re not and want to understand their complexity (or at least get the feeling that you’re not the only one who is confused by how easy it is to hold two equally valid but conflicting ideas or emotions at the same time…).

(In my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin we feature all kinds of sometimes conflicting great ideas on how to be more creative and productive. You can subscribe by sending an email request now to [email protected])

Book piracy and angry monkeys

A service that helps fight book and article piracy is gaining popularity. Called Attributor, it scans billions of pages on the internet to find the locations where books or other textual material is being housed without authorization and asks for it to be removed. It works in 13 language and its first two publishing clients are Hachette Book Group and John Wiley & Sons.

 I’ve discovered my book, “Your Writing Coach,” on the web in its entirety a couple of times but of course it could be on many more sites without my knowledge—these days the pirates are clever enough to change the title and author’s names so a simple Google search doesn’t necessarily discover them. These pirated works may be hosted on sites that will take them down only if you find them and demand their removal.

 I wonder whether it would work to include a unique combination of words in your book—something like “angry Sicilian monkeys”—and then periodically Google that phrase. Of course you’d have to figure out some way to justify the phrase in the context of your book…

 If you want to read more about Attributor and get a link to a video demo, click here.

 (And for tips on how to be more creative, with and without angry Sicilian monkeys, subscribe now to my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin by sending an email request to [email protected])