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Painters are as fascinated by people as writers are, and I think we can learn something from them about observating and using what we observe. This thought was promoted by an interview in Artists and Illustrators magazine with painter Celia Paul.
I found some of the details of her life as well as her general observations quite interesting--and often connected.
Here's how she got started painting: "My father was head of this religious community in Devon and I was sent to a boarding school. It was a really terrible school but it had a great art teacher. Painting was my way of being private and having control over my own world."
That probably rings a bell for a lot of writers, including me.
She draws a related conclusion about why women painters often do self-portraits: "I think a women's position in the world is less secure. People are often referred to as the wife or daughter of somebody and you only have to look at a questionnaire to see 'Are you Miss, Ms, or Mrs?' Women generally question who they are." I'm sure that although she is a renowned artist in her own right, she has sometimes been categorized via her association with Lucian Freud. That's one of her self-portraits to the left.
Another thing that will resonate with many writers is her statement that "I couldn't work from the model because she didn't mean much to me. I started to realise I needed to work from people who mattered to me."
A lesson I draw from that is not necessarily to write characters closely based on people you know, but to get to know your characters well enough that they mean something to you, and then it gets easier to write them.
A fascinating insight into her character comes from her statement , "I think you have to be selfish as an artist. I've got a son, he's now 26. I've had to make clear that London is my work space so he's never actually lived with me--my mother helped me bring him up in Cambridge. I've had to be very ruthless about that, which has been very painful for me and probably for my son, although I think he accepts it."
Whether or not you consider that a reasonable approach to parenting, it certainly is the kind of thing that immediately suggests a rich character for fiction. Equally interesting is that her son, Frank, has become an artist. She says, "I suppose you could call him a surrealist--he's a dreamer, really." Hmm, reminds me of a little girl who got into art because her parents sent her to boarding school." That's one of his paintings, "Mum," to the left.
If you ever need inspiration when you are coming up with characters, go to a gallery that features portraits. Pick a few to spend time with, to study, to imagine what they are like and how they might relate to your story. If you don't have any galleries nearby you can also visit galleries online, including London's National Portrait Gallery (at www.npg.org.uk) which has one of her etchings, a self-portrait, in its collection.
(I'm adding lots of tips for innovative ways for you to create powerful, unique fiction and screenplays to the online Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program. The next session starts on Jan. 7, 2012. To find out more go to www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com )
Do you want to keep your writing brain active, even if you’re not working on a project at the moment? Once a week I’ll give you writing prompts in three different forms: a person, object or place; a starting point, and an image.
I suggest you use one, two, or all three of these together as prompts for a micro-story (250 words or fewer). On the go? Write it on your smartphone or in a little notebook.
If you are working on a longer project, notice whether any of these gives you a new idea about some aspect of that.
Don’t worry about making it perfect or whether it’ll get published-–although if you like it, why not publish it on your blog or send it to a friend?
The person, object or place: A tent.
The starting point: A secondary character asks your protagonist to take a picture.
The image:
(Do you want to make next year the year you finally write that novel or screenplay or other project? The best way to be sure you'll know how to make time, know how to get started and keep going, and get support all along the way is to join my Writing Breakthrough Program. The best time to sign up is now--there are great bonuses for anybody who joins before the end of the year, ready to go into action in mid-January. Find out more at http://www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com)
It’s time to get your New Year off to a great start! That’s why I’m inviting you to the Massive Action Day on Saturday, January 7, 2012.
As usual, it will include:
It lasts a total of 16 hours, so you can participate from almost any time zone. It will begin at 9am UK time and go through to 1am Sunday morning. (Yes, I'll be stocking up on Red Bull and espresso).
I’ve upgraded to a paid video feed service so I’m charging a token fee--£5/$8/€6. I’m sure you’ll get many times that value. One participant said it was the most productive day of her life, and I’ve had wonderful testimonials from many participants.
Let’s make 2012 your best year yet—and it all starts with one fun, focused, powerful day. To sign up, scroll to the bottom here: http://goo.gl/LB6FO
I look forward to working together to get your year off to a productive, enjoyable start!
Jurgen
PS: My next online coaching program, Writing Breakthrough Strategy, starts on Monday, Jan. 16. It will give you 60 days of support, lessons, conference calls, and more (there's also a one-to-one coaching option). To find out more: www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com
When feedback is constructive and helps you achieve what you set out to achieve it's terrific.
When it's destructive or a rejection, it can get to you if you let it. However, there are ways to cope.
One method comes from an illustrator I admire, Jeff Fisher (his images illustrate this post). What annoys him most is clients who hire him to use his creativity but then micro-manage the job.
He says, "I get annoyed with fussy clients. I write cross letters and emails--they calm me down. I draw over the letters and make a piece of artwork out of them, then usually throw them away. It makes me feel better." (Quoted in Making Great Illustration, Derek Brazell and Jo Davies. By the way, the place you are most likely to have seen Fisher's excellent work is on the cover of the paperback of Captain Corelli's Mandolin.)
A method I recommend is to imaginge yourself a month from that point. Will the rejection or criticism still sting? What about six months? What about a year? What about five years?
If you are strongly visually oriented, a way to make this method more powerful is to imagine the rejection filling your full field of vision right now--probably that's how it feels.
Then imagine it as a much smaller part of the picture six months from now, because you'll have all kinds of other things you'll be thinking about then.
By the time you imagine all the things, both past, present and future that you'll have on your mind half a year from now, today's thought will be just a tiny dot.
When you return to how it looks today you may be surprised to find it has already shrunk.
If you are more auditory, do the same thing with rejection as a voice or sound. Right now it's loud, but what will it sound like in a month, three months, six months? At each point in the future there will be many more things to hear, and today's roar will turn into a whisper.
You can do the same with a feeling. Today it's strong, in the future it will be just one tiny pin prick, if that.
The third is to hope for acceptance but not expect it, to remind ourselves that all of life is a mixed bag. I've noticed that when something bad happens, people say, "Why me?!" but when something good happens seldom are they shocked or do they question why they were so fortunate.
Maybe we were read too many "and they lived happily ever after" fairy tales. For most of us, it takes a good deal of living before we accept that we're not the exception; as unfair as it seem, we will not be spared slings and arrows, and at the end of it all, we'll leave the game the same way that millions before us have left it and the world will go on as before. In that context a rejection shrinks in importance--but an acceptance is still better!
(One thing that makes it easier is to be working alongside others on the same path, and to get support from someone who can give you a constructive outside perspective. Those are on offer via my Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program. It's an 8-week online coaching program also available as a one-to-one process. The next session starts on January 16, 2012. You can find out more here: http://www.writingbreakthroughstrategy.com/)
What do people like to read? Maybe a selection of the 20 top free apps in the Apple App store this week give us a clue:
5. Sex facts 500
6. Weird facts 1000
8. Love Quotes 500
10. Bible +
14. Dirty Sex Jokes
15. 100+ Horror Stories
20. Disney Comics
I’d say that’s a pretty good X-ray of the human mind!
My newest book is now available from Amazon.co.uk and just waiting for you to press that little "Add to basket" button!
I think it's a great book. The tone strikes a good balance between chatty and knowledgeable. It's definitely a book I could use with my students. The layout of each chapter works as a lesson plan - a presentation, with examples, followed by practical exercises.
Robin Gott, creative writing teacher, Sweden
Your Creative Writing Masterclass distills some of the most incisive wisdom of the literary greats, helping to guide modern-day authors who wish to write fiction well, and to better understand the career and lifestyle of a professional author.
Michael J. Ross, writer
A wonderful resource for both individual writers, and for writing groups. It helps writers feel that even when sitting alone at their desks, they are not alone. Opening this book, they access the wisdom of great writers, and the practical help and advice from Jurgen Wolff, a generous and constructive writing companion.
Julie Everton, playwright and creative writing and screenwriting teacher, University of Brighton.
It costs only £9.89 at Amazon.co.uk and a very reasonable £10.99 if you prefer to support your local indie bookshop by ordering it through them.
It won't arrive in time for Christmas, but how about a nice New Year's gift for that special someone? (Or yourself. you're special, too).
Seriously, the reason I wrote this book is that there are a lot of people out there saying "write a best-seller in two weeks" or "use this formula to write a book" and I wanted to give reader/writers a chance to find out what the true masters of fiction have advised over the years. Chekhov, for instance, had brilliant advice as did Mark Twain.
It probably won't be as popular as the books that make the easy promises but I think it was worth doing. I still have a bit of work to do on the matching website, but I hope that, too, will be a useful resource.
ps: I've had a word with the publisher and they're going to add the "look inside" feature at Amazon when they come back from the holidays. It will be available in the US probably in mid-January.
With apologies to Charles Dickens, or perhaps his ghost, I've written a story for you writers and aspiring writers that may bear some passing resemblance to the master's best-known story. I post it here for you with my best wishes and with the anticipation of another year of trying to write what only we can write. It's not easy, but what helps is the realization that there's nothing else we would rather do. And now I yield the stage, or at least the post, to the protagonist of...
A WRITERLY CHRISTMAS CAROL
It was nearly Christmas and Wood B. Writer was in his usual bad mood.
A man with the name of a good cause printed on his shirt asked, “Sir, would you write a short article for our charity newsletter?"
“Are there no articles in the public domain?” Wood B. snarled. “Are there no posts you can copy from someone’s blog? Anyway, I don’t have even a minute of spare time!”
He rushed on.
That night he fell asleep while watching “Dancing With the Pop Idol Cupcake Makers.” It was the very important weekly elimination episode.
Suddenly he awoke with a start. Before him hovered a ghostly figure, a light shining from its head.
“They did warn me about acid flashbacks,” Wood B. muttered, “but I didn’t think it would take this long to happen.”
“I am the ghost of Christmas Past,” the spectre announced, “and I’ve come to remind you of what once was!”
“I’m not into nostalgia,” Wood B. said, but the ghost took him anyway and together they flew through the sky. “You must save a fortune on airfares,” Wood B. said.
Below them they saw a group of children. "Hey, that's me!" Wood B. cried. "I recognize that terrible haircut. My mother used to cut my hair. Talk about humiliation!"
“Never mind the haircut, listen to what the younger you is saying!” the ghost ordered. “Listen to the dream you have abandoned.”
His younger self held a beloved book, tattered from many readings. The boy was telling his little friends, “I’m going to be a writer when I grow up! I love reading stories and someday I’m going to make up stories other people love to read!”
A tear trickled down Wood B’s face. “I’m crying about the haircut!” he said.
The ghost knew better.
Suddenly Wood B. found himself back in his chair at home. “I missed the elimination! Was it Paris Hilton or Katy Price that failed the frosting test,” he wondered. “I must have dozed off and had a nightmare.”
But a moment later another spectre appeared to him. This one was huge. “You must have trouble buying clothes,” Wood B. said. “Do you go to a specialist shop?”
The ghost frowned. “Finding shoes is even harder, but I’m not here to discuss my wardrobe. I am the Ghost of Christmas Present!”
“Ghost of which Christmas present? Don’t tell me—you’re the ghost of those terrible socks I got last year from my neighbor. Look, I had to throw them away, who in his right mind would wear socks that color?”
The spirit shook his head and sighed. “This confuses people every time. I’m the Ghost of Christmas now—present as in the present. Get it?”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Wood B said. “How can you be the ghost of something that still exists?”
The ghost gave Wood B. a slap to the side of the head. “You’re seeing a ghost and you want to discuss logic? Shut up and look at this!”
In front of Wood B. was a view of the entire globe and it was accompanied by an almost deafening sound.
“I’m missing the ““Dancing With the Pop Idol Cupcake Makers” after-show," Wood B. shouted. "They always interview the loser. And what’s that noise?!”
“You are hearing the sound of the keyboards of the hundreds of thousands of people who do find the time to write!” the ghost said. “Most of them are just as busy as you but they have not forsaken their dream.”
“I’m going to write someday,” Wood B. said defensively. “Just not in the present. In the future.”
“The next ghost is in charge of that,” said the ghost of Christmas Present. “By the way, you know that haircut you had in the past? The one you have in the present isn’t that much better.”
Before Wood B. could answer, the spectre was gone. And before Wood B. could catch the start of the plus-one broadcast of his favorite show, a third ghost appeared before him.
“Don’t any of you people ever knock?” Wood B. said. “I'm busy!”
“Yes, and you shall stay busy until your dying day!” said the third spectre, who wore a black hooded robe.
“That’s a very unsettling look,” Wood B. said. “If you have to go with black, how about a black t-shirt and jeans. It worked for Steve Jobs.”
“Quiet, mortal!” the spirit said, and identified himself as the ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. He added, “And now we will look at the Christmas after your demise!”
“Do we have to?” Wood B. asked. “I’m thinking if we go into the future to see who wins this reality show I could place a bet and—“
“Silence, fleshling!” the ghost roared. “Look down, see your legacy!”
“You’re very dramatic and you have an amazingly deep voice,” Wood B. said. “Have you ever considered going into musical theatre?”
“I tried out for ‘Cats’ but I didn’t get a call-back. Anyway, I appreciate the compliment but this is not about me.” The spirit pointed a bony finger. “View the future!” he boomed. “You know,” he said, “I’m pretty sure if James Earl Jones hadn’t been available I would have gotten Darth Vader. What a life-changer that would have been! Not that I’m alive.”
“You’re right, this is not about you,” Wood B. said. He looked down. He saw the charity collector and a waitress in a cafe, having a chat.
The charity collector was saying, “Do you think it’s OK for a man to get Botox? Because these frown lines are making me look older. Or filler injections, what do you think of those?”
“What does that have to do with me?” Wood B. asked.
“Nobody has time for the establishing scene any more,” the ghost grumbled. “OK, OK, I’ll fast-forward.”
Now the charity collector was telling the waitress, ““That grumpy guy, Wood B., kicked the bucket the other week. He used to come in here, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, no loss,” said the waitress. “You know what he used to tell me? He used to say he was going to write a novel someday!”
They both laughed as though this was the funniest thing they’d ever heard.
“I’m glad I never left her a tip,” Wood B. said. But his lip was trembling. “Look, ghost, is that how the future has to turn out?”
“Not if you change your ways,” the ghost said. “There is still time for you to write your novel.”
“Thank goodness!” Wood B. said. “I will do it! I will stop watching so much television and I will write what only I can write!”
In the blink of an eye he found himself back home. He began work on his novel that very night! Knowing that it can really help if you have support and guidance, he enrolled in Jurgen Wolff’s “Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program,” which lasted for sixty wonderful days of online lessons, biweekly phone calls, and other almost magical resources. He’d found the details at http://www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com
In a mere few months he finished his novel! He sent it to an agent, who read it and told him that although it was well written, the whole three ghosts thing had been done and the book needed a different angle.
So Wood B. threw in some vampires and self-published his book. He priced it at $.99 and sold many, many copies, completing the transition from procrastinator to successful author. He still didn’t give to charity or leave tips, but come on, one character arc is enough.
The End
The ebook revolution is all about writers selling their work directly to their fans and we know there have been a few huge successes. Now a stand-up comedian has done the same with a DVD of one of his live shows, with interesting results.
Louis CK decided recently to finance the filming of his stand-up appearance at the Beacon Theater and sell it directly to fans for $5. The DVD has no digital rights management protection (normally used to try to prevent piracy).
Would he sell enough to make more than if he’d done the show for HBO and taken the usual royalty on a traditionally produced and marketed DVD? Would pirated copies reduce the demand?
In twelve days he grossed more than one million dollars.
On his blog he says, “I guess I want to set an example of what you can do if you all of a sudden have a million dollars that people just gave you directly because you told jokes.”
He’s using $250,000 to cover the expenses of production and marketing via the website.
He’s using $250,000 to pay his staff and the people who work for him on his TV show and this production “a big fat bonus.”
He’s giving another $280,000 to five charities.
That leaves $220,000 and that’s what he’s keeping.
He also said he could have made more via the traditional channels, but his fans would have had to pay $20 instead of $5.
I’m sure that by setting an example of generosity rather than greed he’s strengthened the loyalty of his old fans and won a lot of new ones.
What does this tell us about marketing work directly on the web?
First, that if you have a great following already, you can market to them directly and make it a win-win for you and them.
I have to admit that before this I’d been only vaguely aware of Louis, but to give you an idea of his popularity, he has 852,131 Twitter followers. He writes, directs, stars in, and edits a comedy series shown on FX. In case you're wondering about the "CK", apparently it approximates the correct pronunciation of his Hungarian surname.
If you don’t have a big following…well, probably you’re not going to gross a million dollars in direct sales. So your first priority will be to develop a big following.
That’s not easy but it wasn’t easy for Louis CK, either. According to Wikipedia, he worked as a car mechanic while trying to get up the courage to perform. His first open mic spot was five minutes long but he ran out of material after two. That spooked him so much that another two years went by before he tried again.
For writers, this is all about building what the publishers call your platform. I’ve been researching this for quite a while and will be sharing some ideas about it with you over the next month or two.
One element of your platform is your blog, of course. At times it can be a challenge to come up with material every day (although daily posting isn't a requirement, it's recommended)--and I've just noticed that this is my 2000th post!
Obviously I still have a lot of work before me, because if I apply the ratio of my Twitter followers to Louis CK's, if I launched a similar campaign to sell a $20 value product for $5, I'd gross...er...$4000.
Still, I enjoy sharing information and encouragement with my fellow writers and the fact that the blog has had more than 320,000 page views is gratifying.
Do you want to keep your writing brain active, even if you’re not working on a project at the moment? Once a week I’ll give you writing prompts in three different forms: a person, object or place; a starting point, and an image.
I suggest you use one, two, or all three of these together as prompts for a micro-story (250 words or fewer). On the go? Write it on your smartphone or in a little notebook.
If you are working on a longer project, notice whether any of these gives you a new idea about some aspect of that.
Don’t worry about making it perfect or whether it’ll get published-–although if you like it, why not publish it on your blog or send it to a friend?
The person, object or place: an old church
The starting point: Your protagonist drinks too much.
The image:
(Do you want to make next year the year you finally write that novel or screenplay or other project? The best way to be sure you'll know how to make time, know how to get started and keep going, and get support all along the way is to join my Writing Breakthrough Program. The best time to sign up is now--there are great bonuses for anybody who joins before the end of the year, ready to go into action in mid-January. Find out more at http://www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com)
The Society of Authors reports that Ticktock Books and Ticktock Direct and Ticktock Media have all gone into voluntary liquidation last year, but Ticktock Entertainment continues with a publishing imprint called Wise Walrus.
The Society suggest you get in touch with them before signing any deals with Wise Walrus or any company run by Managing Director John Twiggs.
I have no personal experience with these companies, but I have known of other companies that take your money, go into liquidation or bankruptcy, and then promptly start up again under a different name.
As a general guideline, always do a Google search of any company you are thinking of signing with. Be sure to go past the first page or two of search results because sometimes unscrupulous companies populate those with phoney blogs and websites.
(For more on how to take your idea all the way to a finished book and avoid the dangers waiting for unwary writers, get my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other booksellers.)
What percentage of the net price of an ebook should the royalty get as a royalty? This is a battleground at the moment, but here’s what the UK Society of Authors says:
“We have still not been given any persuasive reason by publishers as to why ebook royalties should not be 50%; and in the meantime urge them to offer a minumum starting royalty for unenhanced ebooks, including the academic, educational and specialist non-fiction sectors, of 30% of net receipts.
We also strongly believe that ebook royalties should be on a rising scale (increasing after a specified number of copies have been sold, when the advance has earned out, and/or when ebook sales exceed print sales).
For enhanced books the royalty rate should be negotiated on a case-by-case basis to reflect the degree of additional content, software and costs involved.”
You’ll find, of course, that publishers won’t necessarily see it this way. On one of my recent books, the best I was able to get was 25%; however, it was a book that due to its format did incur greater than typical costs on the publisher’s part when they printed the traditional version.
FOR ONCE, WE HAVE LEVERAGE
There is still a lot of variation on what publishers pay, but for once we authors have a good negotiating tool—namely that we have the option of self-publishing ebooks easily. (This applies before we give away the ebook rights, of course; if you signed a contract for the print version of a book, your contract probably will have given the publisher the electronic rights, too.)
If we self-publish, we take away something like 70% of the receipts. Let’s look at an example. Let’s say the book costs $10 (or pounds or euros).
If a publisher pays a royalty of 30%, you get about $3.30.
If you self-publish, you get about $7.
Let’s say that you are willing to invest the difference in marketing your book: $3.70 per book. That would mean that if your target is selling 1000 copies, you could invest $3700 and still make as much as if you went with a publisher.
There’s no guarantee that investing this amount would lead to selling 1000 copies, of course, but I think if you spent the money wisely it would. There’s also a good chance that selling the first 1000 would raise the profile of your book enough that you’d have to spend less to sell the next thousand.
This example assumes you charge the same price as the publisher would. As you know, many authors, especially first-time novelists, are pricing their books at 99 cents or $1.99, in hopes this will lead to much higher sales and they'll make up in volume what they're reducing per sale, and that people will like their first novel enough to buy others, perhaps at a higher price. That has been very successful for some authors. I'd love to see a study of how it works out on a broader basis.
(The second edition of Your Writing Coach has updated chapters on self-publishing and marketing your book—you can order it now from Amazon.)
