Time to Write

How to make money writing--without being scammed, cheated, or misled

Have you wondered how you could make money by writing? In this economy, it's a good idea to have more than one stream of income. Your writing skills can help you achieve that. 

It's not easy and you have to beware of all the "make money fast" schemes out there. However, there are legitimate options that you can pursue in your spare time. Here are three suggestions:

* self-publishing an ebook (this can be done very inexpensively) - of course you will also have to market it so people are aware it exists. If you have a particular expertise, probably a non-fiction, how-to ebook would be your best choice. There are people making good money self-publishing novels as well. 

* helping small businesses set up or improve their websites. You might want to consider partnering with a web designer/developer. They do the tech stuff, you provide the words. You could start with local businesses you use yourself. Check out whether they have a site. If so, identify how it could be improved to bring in more customers. Copywriting is persuasive writing, so you'd need to educate yourself in that but there are good books available. 

Often these sites are missing a crucial element: good testimonials. If you can collect and add these, there's a good chance that alone will boost their results. 

By the way, don't sign up for an expensive course until you've checked out other ways you can learn this craft. Some of the high-priced courses make extravagent claims as to how much you'll earn. Yes, there are copywriters who make very big money, but they're not beginners. It's like telling an acting student he or she can make $20 million a picture because that's what a top star earns.

* propose writing and editing an e-newsletter for businesses to send to their customers. Many businesses are desperate for ways to bring in more revenue and may be open to this. They may be reluctant to spend money without knowing whether it will work, so you might propose doing one free for 3 months. Let them see the results, get testimonials from them, and then start charging them, and use this proof to demonstrate the benefits to other businesses you approach. 

AVOID OR APPROACH WITH CAUTION:

By way of warning, there are also some ways NOT to make money with writing or writing-related activities:

* proofreading. Don't believe the ads that suggest there is a terrible shortage of proofreaders and if you take their course you'll have more work than you can handle. The publisher of one of my books told me there is no pressing demand for proofreaders.

* writing articles for the web. Actually, if you can crank out half a dozen or more in an hour, maybe you can make some money, but there are a lot of scams that try to get you to pay a registration fee or a monthly fee and then never give you the promised lucrative assignments. 

Before signing up with any services, Google them. Read past the first page of results--many such services put up websites in someone else's name.

If you google "Moneypotts Writing scams" for instance (a made-up example), you'll come on to lots of apparent review sites that say, "Do you wonder whether Moneypotts is a scam? No, it's not, it's wonderful. I make thousands a month writing blog posts for clients, thanks to Moneypotts!" These are phoney sites and the people behind them are good at techniques that keep these on the first page or two of Google results. They are counting on you to give up before you get to any real reviews.

* travel writing. Yes, there are people who do make money writing articles for newspapers, travel magazines, and some large websites. If this is your passion and you're good at it, you can make money from it. But it's not the thriving, high-paying,free-ticket giving hive of activity that some people trying to sell you travel writing courses like to pretend. These days, people rely less on travel writers, more on reviews by other customers. 

* courses that claim to show you how to write a best-seller in 30 (or 14 or even 7) days. Sure, it's possible to write a book in 30 days--thousands and thousands have just done it during the National Novel Writing Month. Most of them are aware, though, that what they have is a rough draft that will need extensive rewriting. 

And as for best-seller…well, if you have some willing supporters you can write a book, especially an e-book, that you can get to the top of the Amazon charts for a day. That makes it an Amazon best-seller, even if it drops down to number 112,543 the next day and stays there. Is it worth paying a lot of money to learn how to do that? I don't think so. In fact, if you're really interested, I'll write a future blog post about exactly how to do it. 

When somebody tells you how great a particular field of writing is, just check whether they're coming from the desire to profit from having you believe it. 

I sell courses, too, including the Breakthrough Writing Strategy Program. But I don't promise that what you write while we work together will turn into a best-seller or a hit movie. I can only promise that if you put in the work, you will end up with something that could do well in the marketplace--and that if you don't write it, for sure it won't!

The other thing I can promise is that if writing is a dream of yours, you will be happier doing it rather than ignoring or delaying it. The benefits of expressing your creativity are not just monetary, they go much deeper than that. 

Those promises don't bring in as much money as the ones made by the "write a best-seller in 7 days" crowd, but they have one advantage: they're true.

IF YOU KNOW ANY ASPIRING WRITERS WHO YOU THINK COULD BENEFIT FROM THIS INFORMATION, PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO THEM AND ALSO USE TWITTER & FACEBOOK TO SPREAD THE MESSAGE.

(For additional honest guidance on how to write, see my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other booksellers. My next Breakthrough Writing Strategy Program starts on Jan 16, 2012 and is offered four times a year. For more information, see http://www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com - sign up there and you'll also get a copy of the 2012 Writing Breakthrough Report, the most useful and comprehensive report I've written on how to find the time, the motivation, and the skill to write your book).

 

How to find a plot that works--guaranteed!

One way to come up with an interesting plot is to reinterpret something that already has worked. Of course this has been done many times with modern interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays, the works of Jane Austen, and soon a version of Moby Dick in which the whale is a spaceship! And let’s not forget the books that added zombies to Jane Austen’s genteel world (actually, let's forget those).

I'm not talking about plagiarism, I'm talking about finding a structure that has stood the test of time, and a universal situation. I've done this very loosely with something I'm writing in which a patriarch calls together his family because he's dying. Yes, there are elements of King Lear--although of course you don't want to follow Shakespeare's structure too closely, it tends to wander.

Here’s another example (he reveals his source right at the end of this short clip):

 

 

 

Your book title: are you choosing it for the right audience?

You’ve probably been reading about the search for “the God particle,” but did you know that the term comes from a book the author wanted to call something else?

The book is by Leon M. Lederman, A Nobel Prize winner. He told friends he wanted to call it “The Goddamned Particle,” because it was so frustrating trying to find it. His publishers thought that would be offensive and convinced him to call it “The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question?”

Newsdaily.com points out that most physicists dislike the term. Pauline Gagnon, one of the team looking for the particle, says “I hate that ‘God particle’ term. The Higgs is not endowed with any religious meaning. It is ridiculous to call it that.” Higgs boson is the official term for the manifestation of the theoretical field that gave mass to the most elementary particles, thereby creating the universe as we know it.

Journalists, on the other hand, love the term. It’s easy to remember and dramatic. That's also what is going to catch the eye of a person browsing for books in a shop or online. 

 Someone smarter than I will have to tell you about its implication for science, but I can tell you what it means for your book title: make it dramatic and a bit provocative. If you can imagine journalists using it, probably you’re on the right track—for marketing purposes, if not always for strict accuracy.

One solution: have a dramatic title and a more down-to-earth, explanatory subtitle. 

(There's a lot of information about marketing your book in "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

Do you make this mistake in the opening pages of your book or script?

An article in the New Yorker (Dec. 5, 2011) quotes writer-director Michel Hazanavicius, whose movie The Artist is a hot prospect for an Oscar for Best Picture. This is what he says about the first part of a movie:

 “You have fifteen minutes to tell the audience, ‘These are the rules.’ Jurassic Park teaches us to expect a T. rex, but if a T. rex comes thirty minutes into When Harry Met Sally you won’t believe it.”

I think this applies equally to novels—you have about fifteen to twenty pages to orient people to the world you are creating. If there’s something about it that is different from what we might expect based on those pages, you should at least foreshadow it.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have surprises—quite the contrary. But they have to be plausible in the context you have established. 

This includes the characters you have created. If they act out of character, we expect to find out what causes the change. In many action pictures, it’s a threat to someone they love. In comedies it might be getting drunk. In horror pictures it could be a demon that takes up residence inside them.  By the way, the argument that many people are inconsistent, while true, isn’t a good defense—we expect people in films to act with more consistency than in life.

This is a good first thing to check when you’re writing your second draft—if something occurred to you as you were writing the later sections that significantly changes the nature of the story or the character go back and adjust.

(There are many more writing tips in the book, "Your Writing Coach," available now from Amazon as a paperback and in the Kindle store.)

Writing Prompt: the secret of the doorman, the money, and the key

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: hotel doorman

The starting point: Your protagonist comes into some unexpected money.

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)

 

 

Want to get published but have no connections? Here's how to make some.

You've heard it before: in the writing game, it's who you know that counts! That's not entirely true, but it's not entirely false, either. It certainly helps to have an insider on your side. If you don't, however, all is not lost. 

On my scriptwriting blog (http://www.ScreenwritingSuccess.com) I posted about a group of recent USC film school grads and the artist's collective they have formed. Some are writers, some want to he directors, others producers, etc. The idea is that whenever one of them gets a job on a film or TV show, he or she will try to make an opportunity for others in the group as well. 

Doing this as prose writers is a bit different. It could be made up of writers anywhere, using the internet. It would be more about sharing information that can help you open doors. The kinds of information you could share could be about:

* writing contests

* writing conferences, especially ones where you can meet agents and publishers. If one of the members attends, he or she can send the others notes, or record the lectures if that's allowed, etc.

* new literary agencies being set up, or news about an agent moving to a different agency, which is the time when they are likely to be most receptive to taking on additional clients

* publishing opportunities

* publishers to avoid because they don't pay or are in danger of going bust

Members could decide to specialize in any of these, therefore dividing up work that would be difficult for any one writer to to. For instance, one might be the "Agent Information Officer," and do daily or weekly searches for news regarding agents and agencies. Another member might monitor the writing contest scene. The updates can be posted to a private joint blog or website.

Aren't writers competitors, though? In a way, yes, so perhaps I wouldn't have the whole group made up of writers who all work in the same genre. But if one of you writes sci-fi, another writes mysteries, another writes non-fiction, for instance, the overlap in the jobs or even the agencies you would be going for would be minimal. 

The connections can come when one member signs with an agent and after a time asks whether that agent would consider the work of another member. Or when one member finds a publisher for his science fiction novel and mentions to his editor that he knows of a terrific mystery writer and asks whether the editor would pass it along to the colleague in charge of mysteries.

Connections and opportunities--if nobody hands them to you, create them!

(For ideas on how to market yourself and your work without spending a fortune, take inspiration from my book, "Do Somethign Different," published by Virgin Books with a foreword by Sir Richard Branson. Also see the chapters on book marketing in "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey. Both are available from Amazon and other book sellers.)

Where do you get your best ideas?

I enjoyed doing some cartoons for the new website I'm creating to go with my book, Creativity Now! and I thought just for fun I'd give you a little sneak peek. By the way, nature and the bath or shower actually are two of the top locations in which people say they get their best ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Creativity Now! makes a great present for a loved one or even just a liked one. You can get it from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)

7 Keys to Writing Without Stress

You want to write but you also have so much else to do...When you're doing other things you feel guilty about not writing, when you are writing, you feel guilty about not doing the other things.

Congratulations, like our friend Leroy, below, you've discovered the perfect method of maximizing your stress! 

It doesn't have to be that way. Below Leroy you'll find the seven keys to writing without stress.

 1.Be realistic but don't default to sacrificing your writing.

There are certain times of year and certain circumstances that will demand more of your time than usual. Rather than letting this throw you totally off track, be realistic about what you can do. Of course if there are other things you can sacrifice rather than writing time, so much the better. Do an inventory rather than automatically assuming it's the writing that has to go.

2: Treat your writing sessions the way you treat doctor's appointments.

You don't miss those, do you? That's because you and the people around you take them seriously. You need to train the people in your life to respect your writing periods. The way to start is to respect these yourself.

3. Be prepared.

Spend the last five minutes of each session getting ready for the next one.

This prevents you from starting a session with having to look for files or trying to remember where you left off. Write yourself a note about what's next, if necessary.

You can do the same thing if you are leaving something else unfinished in order to write. Jot down what still needs to be done and put it where you'll see it when you finish your writing session. That frees you from having to think about it.

4. Take a two-minute break before you start your writing session.

Sit, breathe deeply, fill your mind with a pleasant image (for instance, your favorite vacation spot). Determine which part of your body is most relaxed and imagine that feeling of relaxation flowing from that spot through your entire body. This will clear you mind of any worries 

5. Allow no interruptions.

You know the drill: phone on silent answer, door locked if possible, ear plugs and noise-reducing headphones if necessary. You can go to a coffee shop or somewhere away from the family drama, but why not train your kids to respect your time? (I say that with the confidence of a person who has not had children, we have excellent theories about how it should be done.)

6. Keep moving forward.

If you need to do a quick scan of what you wrote in the previous session, fine, but don't spend half your new session going over what you've already written. It's easy to bog down in making minor corrections rather than forging ahead. You can and will fix things in the next draft or the ones after that.

7. Write on faith.

Your Inner Critic loves to take advantage of stressful times to undermine your confidence. Make a deal with yourself that you will not question what you're writing, or the fact that you are writing, until after the period of stress is over. Pick a date. If and when your Inner Critic rears its ugly head before then, remind it to come back on that date if it must. By then you will feel calmer, your life will be back to a more normal routine and you'll be less susceptible to attacks of doubt.

These tips were written with the holiday season in mind but they're useful all throughout the year. 

(You'll find additonal tips on how to make best of your time in my book, "Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done." You can get it from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)

Is it worth a writer's time to write for Yahoo Voices?

I had an email from a reader asking whether I think it’s worth writing articles for Yahoo Voices.

Frankly I didn’t know anything about it, but it turns out that’s the new name for Yahoo’s community created content, which includes articles, photos, and videos. They recently got rid of 75,000 outdated articles and relaunched under this new name.

I checked out the articles written by some featured contributors they call “rising stars.” The topics were “Receding Hairlines: Actors Who Have Gone Bald,” “Three Homemade Edible Gifts,” and “Teach Your Dog to Wave Hello and Good-bye.” Well, they certainly cover a broad spectrum.

Does it pay? Yahoo’s site says you can “earn money through up-front payments, exclusive assignments, and performance bonuses based on the traffic your work receives." That applies to US residents only “due to US tax regulations.” What that means is they can’t be bothered with the paperwork they’d have to do to satisfy the US tax authorities.

However, they have a Featured Contributor Program. They say if your articles are inspiring, informative and entertaining, and you have expertise, enthusiasm and eloquence, you can apply for this program. Hey, if I had all that I’d be writing New York Times best-sellers…

Seriously, you apply for a particular niche—for instance, within the category of entertainment you could choose news, movies, music or television. If you are approved, Yahoo gives you at least one assignment per month.

Whew! I had to dig through all that before I got to how much they’re paying for that one monthly assignment: $15.

Outside that part of the program, you an browse the Assignment Desk and see which ones offer up-front payments, typically between $2 and $25 (although they say sometimes with partner opportunities—partners being advertisers, I think) that can go up to $100.

You can also get performance payment based on the amount of traffic your article gets. For instance, for every 1000 page views of your article on the Yahoo! Movies site, you’d get $1.15.

What about rights? You can specify one of three levels: Exclusive, Non-exclusive (it can’t have been published elsewhere before, but you can republish it), and Display Only (can have appeared elsewhere, can be republished elsewhere). As you might expect, the payments will be in line with the rights you grant.

I’m not going to rail against their pay rates. It’s a free country (a saying that doesn’t carry quite as much conviction as it used to), and Yahoo is not forcing anyone to write for them.

Sometimes there are  benefits other than money. For instance, today I spent 3 hours giving 20 three-minute long talks on different aspects of writing. They were videotaped and will appear on the website Videojug in a few weeks. No pay, but every video will show the covers of my two writing books, and I can put the videos on my own sites as well. 

Back to the question: is it worthwhile writing for Yahoo Voices? If my correspondent meant financially, I'd say no. The money you’re going to make is very small (especially if you hold on to your rights). Probably there are exceptions. I’m sure I’ll hear from somebody who has figured out how to generate enough content in the right niche to make a decent return but I’m willing to bet between $2 and $25 that this is rare.

If you have not been published anywhere and would like to have a credit, or if you want to find out what it’s like writing to order (or from a list of topics someone else has made up), or if you want to get into a writing habit and don’t want to create your own blog, then it could be worth your while, at least until you've gained that experience.

Otherwise, if there is a topic about which you are passionate, I suggest creating a website around it and selling relevant, useful things on it on an affiliate basis (meaning you promote these products and take a commission).

Or perhaps you can figure out a unique slant on your topic and write an ebook and market that. 

Neither of those is easy, of course. You have to find ways to attract people to your site or to make them aware of your ebook. However, at least these two options offer the possibility of a good payment; it’s a long shot vs. no shot.

(For help deciding what to write and how to go from idea to publication, get my book, “Your Writing Coach,” published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or, ordered via your local independent book store.)

 

Could your flaws be your strengths?

The following is an item in the December issue of my Brainstorm & Focus ebulletin, a free monthly that offers tips on creativity, writing, and productivity. I'm also posting it here because I'd be interested to hear your views and your experiences. My friend Scott Keyworth and I are considering creating a longer report on this idea and how people might benefit from it, so some early feedhack will be helpful.

So much of personal development is about imitating “the seven habits of highly successful people,” or “what you can learn from Steve Jobs.” The intention is positive but sometimes it seems they’re saying stop being yourself, start being more like somebody else!

Is it possible that a happier and more successful path lies with being more of what you are? Even if that means increasing what society might interpret as a flaw?

Case in point: Lady Gaga. She is a great example of how eccentricity taken to an extreme (when merged with a great understanding of how to manipulate the media) can lead to influence and income. If Lady Gaga had tried to curb her excessive tendencies, we never would have heard of her. In an interview in The Independent, she said, “"I had to suppress it for so many years in high school because I was made fun of but now I'm completely insulated in my box of insanity and I can do whatever I like."

Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali also come to mind. Even Georgia O’Keefe fits—although she was considered somewhat eccentric herself, it was the unusual size of her close-up flower paintings that captured attention.

Even Einstein's appeal to the general public was based in part on the fact that he didn't curb his wizardy hair, and how he subverted the traditional image of the serious scientist by sticking his tongue out at the photographer in one of the most famous pictures of him. 

The other week while walking down Goodge Street I spotted the artist who paints miniature pictures on spots of chewing gum on the sidewalk (I’m not making that up). He’s not famous, but with the right press agent he probably could be, and his chewing gum paintings could become collectors' items. If you doubt it, look at what happened to Banksy.

I’m not suggesting that it was novelty alone that made Lady Gaga or Georgia O’Keefe or Salvador Dali so successful; each has or had talent as well. But that talent alone probably would not have elevated them to the heights of recognition and success they attained.

We could debate to what extent some of these individuals were actually being themselves or magnified versions of themselves (I'd vote for GaGa, Einstein, and O'Keefe in this category, as well as the chewing gum man) vs. putting on a persona they thought would appeal to the public (Warhol and Dali might be good candidates). What I'm talking about is the former.

The point isn't necessarily to become famous. A more down-to-earth example comes from the pitching workshops I sometimes offer for writers. I've had participants who were very shy. They assumed that they would have to learn how to become extroverts so they put on a show for the people to whom they were presenting . Instead, we focused on how they could present with quiet intensity. Producers see so many people who pitch in a manic Robin Williams style that the quiet pitch was a welcome change. 

Think for a moment about what you consider your flaws, or how you have tried to curb or change things about yourself that are somehow different (and let’s face it, generally society thinks “different” and “flawed” are the same). Are there constructive ways you could emphasize them instead of trying to squash them? Are there ways diving deeper into them could turn them into a strength?

What do you think? What's been your experience? Please comment below or, if you feel it's too personal for here, email me at [email protected]. Any emails sent to me will be held in confidence.

ps: if you're not receiving the Brainstorm e-bulletin, use the signup to the right, below the blue arrow.

 

Not everyone will like your writing. That's a good thing.

In a previous posts I’ve shared and commented on one of Robert Ringer’s three rules of writing. Here is another:

Don’t try to be all things to all people. Go after a specific market, and don’t make apologies to those who aren’t part of that market.

Ringer points out that it’s natural to want to be loved and therefore to try to appeal to everyone and offend no one. Unfortunately that results in bland writing that may not appeal to anyone.

If you have a strong viewpoint about anything you will annoy or anger some people. They will express it, especially on the internet.

I wrote this blog not too long ago about how shocked I was at the vehement reaction from one reader to what I thought was a neutral statement. Obviously it pushed some buttons for her, and maybe she felt better after venting her anger.

Her statements were mild compared to a lot of what I’ve read in the comments sections of other blogs. But maybe the old saying is true: If you’re not offending anybody, you’re not saying anything.

This is a good thing to keep in mind if you find yourself worrying, as you write, about how readers or reviewers or members of your family will react when they read it. You have to put that out of your mind and keep writing. When you’re done you can check to make sure you’ve not included anything libellous.

I have some experience with this. Not too long ago I finished writing a novel I call Vegas Bible Porn. It’s a satire and its based, very loosely, on my time in Hollywood. It’s about a producer who tries to cash in on two money-making genres of film, soft porn and Bible pictures, by combining them. 

The novel is not pornographic and it doesn’t make fun of the Bible; it’s descriptive of the anything-for-money attitude that drives some people—the Vegas comes in because that’s where the producer raises the money to make his film. However, so far the title has scared off publishers.

I will hang in there with it because I think it will attract people who have an irreverent attitude, and they’re the ones who will enjoy it.

Is it a risky strategy? Probably. But, as Ringer says, when you have a strong concept you will (eventually) attract an enthusiastic, loyal group of customers. We’ll see it if works!

 (You can sign up for Robert Ringer’s e-letter, A Voice of Sanity in an Insane World, at www.robertringer.com.I don't agree with his views on a lot of things, but find some of his tips useful.)

 If you would like some support in writing what only you can write, join my online Writing Breakthrough Strategy program. It starts in mid-January but now is the time to join and get some great Early Bird bonuses. Find out more at http://www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com. )

 

A unique way for writers to collaborate

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would you like to collaborate on a creative project but you're not sure how and with whom? One interesting option is to participate in hitRECord, the collaboration website and project run by actor and artist Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I wrote a post about it quite a while ago and thought it was time to see what they've been up to.

Here's how Gordon-Levitt describes it:

“In a nutshell: we create and develop art and media collaboratively here on our site; we use my position in the traditional entertainment industry to turn that creativity into money-making productions; and then we share any profits with the contributing artists. In a nutter shell, we just have fun making things together. Videos, writing, photography, music, anything…”

One such collaboration is a book called The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories. There were 8000 submissions, and eventually 65 were used--text combined with artwork. They are putting together another one next year as part of a three book deal with an imprint of Harper Collins. The stories really are tiny--about 25 words each and the book really is tiny--88 pages, about 6 inches by 4 inches. 

They've also produced another book, RECollections, with contributions from almost 500 people and a DVD comprised of short films, animation, music videos and more--some of them starring Gordon-Levitt. 

Anything you submit to the site is available for others to remix and is available for his company to use to create products for sale. 

Whether or not you decide to take part, have a look at www.hitrecord.org. It might also inspire you to take part in, or even organise, a smaller collaboration locally or online, where you know that your contribution will be used.

PS: I think Gordon-Levitt is also an excellent actor--I saw his most recent film, 50/50, recently and thought it was excellent. Don't let the topic--a young man dealing with cancer--scare you away. 

 

How do writers know when their book or script is done?

A question that I hear a lot from writers is, “How do I know when my story or my novel or my screenplay is finished?” That’s why I was interested to read an article called, “Is It Finished?” in the current issue of Artists and Illustrators magazine.

The article is written by painting tutor Sian Dudley, and it’s about knowing when a painting is done. She writes, “With no obvious rules to follow, it’s no wonder that students find it so difficult to know when to stop.”

And I bet you thought this is only a writer’s affliction.

I think what Dudley recommends for artists applies equally to writers. Here are her methods, along with some ideas from me :

Step back!

Just as you get a better impression of a painting as whole by stepping back, it helps to step back from your manuscript. Give it the distance of time rather from the distance of time. Put it away for a couple of weeks, minimum.

During that time get busy working on something else so you’re not obsessing over the project. If you clear your mind and then go back to the project it’s likely you’ll notice what still needs to be done.

Be honest, be patient

Dudley writes, “It is easy to fall into the trap of seeing what we think we have painted, rather than what we have painted, simply because we are so focused on what we are trying to achieve.” Substitute the word “written” for “painted” and the statement is equally true.

She suggest looking at your painting without the temptation of paints and brushes being at hand. Similarly, print out your manuscript away  and take it away from the computer; in fact, out of your home or office to a location you don’t associate with writing at all. Physical distance also helps you be more objective.

Change your view

Maybe you identify strongly with your protagonist. Now pick one of the other major characters and read through the manuscript seeing only the things this person sees. Have you done justice to this character’s perspective? Have you made him or her behave a certain way because you needed the plot to move in that direction rather than being guided by what this person logically would do? If so, you’re not finished.

Assess your progress

Think back to the hopes you had for this story when you started. What effect did you want it to have on the reader or viewer? Did you want your protagonist to change? Did you want your reader or viewer to be surprised by some of the twists of the story, without the events being implausible?

I recommend writing these things down at the start and going back to them when you’re not sure what else needs to be done. Naturally a finished or  nearly-finished project seldom lives up to the high hopes we had for it as the beginning but perhaps we can get it one step nearer.

That’s not to say the story or the characters should necessarily be the same as you imagined at the start. One of the joys of writing is discovering things you didn’t know about this world you are creating, and following those discoveries to see where they go. That takes me to the next point:

Forget references

For artists, references are photos or sketches made out on location, to refer to when they paint that scene in their studios.

For writers I’d say forget research once you have absorbed it, at least until you’ve written a first draft.  Usually you’re not trying to tell a story accurate in every detail; you’re trying to tell a story that’s true in spirit. By all means go back over it when you’ve done a first draft and correct errors but don’t feel constrained by knowing too much about how things really were. If we want total reality, we can look out our window. When we pick up a book or go to the movies, we’re looking for enhanced reality.

Avoid overworking

By overworking, she means painting some sections over and over to try to make them better. Often it makes things worse. Sometimes it’s the opposite: one bit of the painting does gets better when seen in isolation but no longer fit into the overall image as well.

The same can happen if you keep rewriting one scene. Step back and see where the problem really is. Odds are it may be that you haven’t set up this scene properly or are having characters serve your plot rather than behaving according to their own values.

Ask opinions

Dudley says you should ask someone who is brutally honest what they think of your work. I’d go for honest, forget the brutally. Listen, evaluate, and act on what makes sense to you. A lot of people will tell you how they’d write it if it was their story not how to do a better version of your story. Don’t argue, just listen, nod and say “That’s interesting, let me think about that.”

(There’s lot more useful information on writing and rewriting in Your Writing Coach and you can get it from Amazon now, or from your other favorite book seller.)

 

 

Why writers need productive paranoia and to listen to one expert only

Some people say that writers and others should always focus on the positive. If you think about failure, you attract it. On the other hand, the book 'Great by Choice' says that one of the important characteristics of companies that thrive during tough times is "productive paranoia."

They recognise that "it's what they do before the storm comes that matters most."

Some people would consider it negative thinking to consider what might go wrong. 

Some even are disturbed by the suggestion to think about what did go wrong, what was responsible, and how to do it better next time. 

I had an item about that in my November Brainstorm & Focus ebulletin. I received an email from a subscriber saying this approach is what keeps her from taking risks and that my suggestion had dashed her hopes.

Of course anything I say on this blog or in my bulletin or in my books is just a suggestion. It will work for some people, maybe most people. But nothing I say has the power to dash anybody's hopes--or at least they shouldn't give it that power. 

My advice: expect the best, prepare for the worst.

Should you listen to me? 

THE ONLY EXPERT

When I first went to Hollywood with the intention of breaking into writing scripts, I had lots of "helpful" advice:

* "It's too competitive. You'll run out of money before you break in." 

* "It's all about who you know. If you don't have any contacts [and I didn't], you don't stand a chance."

* "If you give up your safe job now, there's no guarantee you'll be able to get it back. It's too risky, stay put."

Those came from friends and relatives wanting to help me avoid disappointment. Of course at the same time they would have helped me avoid success.

They weren't entirely wrong. It was very competitive, people with contacts did have an advantage, and there was no guarantee that my old job would still be there if I failed. 

They were all people with no experience of what I hoped to do so it was not so hard to ignore their advice. However, once I got to Los Angeles even people working in show business gave conflicting advice:

* Focus on writing TV / focus on writing movies.

* Write a spec (sample) script for a TV series that exists already / write a script for an original idea.

* Try to get an agent with a large agency that has more power / try to get an agent with a smaller agency where you'll get more attention.

I flailed around for a while but eventually I figured out which advice suited me, based on my strengths and weaknesses as well as what was most in demand.

Sometimes I encounter people who have stopped themselves from writing or pursuing some other dream because of the advice they got. Maybe it's a self-selecting process: those who want something badly enough will ignore all the potential roadblocks and go for it. Yes,some will fail but I wonder whether even they feel better knowing they gave it their best shot.

You are the only expert on yourself. 

Some of us will offer suggestions and advice based on our experience. 

Only you can decide whether to take it. 

The Phantom Tollbooth is 50 years old! (Watch Jules Feiffer & Norton Juster reminisce)

If you loved "The Phantom Tollboth" as a chld, prepare for a shock: it's 50 years old! In this charming short video, its author and its illustrator talk about how it came to be: