This Week in the Writing World...October 29

by Brooke Favero

Happy Halloween. I took my kids to a trunk-or-treat at our church earlier this week. As I watched my children divide, sort and devour their spoils, I realized they all chose different treats to eat first. I can't resist long tootsie rolls, swedish fish and almond joys. While editing this week I found I also can't resist certain words and tediously edit them out. My biggest offender: began.

What words and/or treats are hard for you to resist?

NaNoWriMo

It's starts next week whether you're ready or not. Are you in? Nathan Bransford drills an entire week of NaNoWriMo Boot Camp. My favorite: Goals and Obstacles. Pimp My Novel gives tips in his NaNoWriMohNotAgain. The Blood Red Pencil says sign up, you've got nothing to lose. So if you have an idea or a plot, Seekerville wants to help. Luna The Typewriter outlines a great character. Nicole Humphrey offers a handy NaNo checklist. If you're a NaNo Writer, you need to watch this.

Understanding the Industry

KT Literary defines submission lists. Alan Rinzler says mystery and crime fiction are on the rise. Guide to Literary Agents tells how to use twitter for networking success.

Querying

Rachelle Gardner addresses the utterly original plot. KT Literary helps format your query email. PubRants lists pitch killers for SF&F and then some more pitch killers that can apply to any pitch. The Bookshelf Muse gives tips for personalizing queries.

Crafting

BookEnds recommends learning while you read. Janice Hardy helps with outlining. The Blood Red Pencil makes friends with your internal editor. Stet offers seven habits of highly effective authors. Adventures in Children's Publishing says know your alpha and beta readers--they can really help. Writer Unboxed recommends embracing other media to improve your storytelling.

New Agent

Denise Little of the Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency.

17 reasons your film script might be rejected...in 1925. Tahereh gives a step-by-step guide to sending requested material.

Writing Retreat Recharge

Post by Kerrie Flanagan

A little over a week ago was our annual Northern Colorado Writers retreat. Me and twelve other members headed to the beautiful Sylvan Dale Ranch, just west of Loveland, Colorado. We traveled to this oasis for an undisturbed weekend of writing and camaraderie.

This is the third year I organized the retreat, and this year was the most productive for me. I went with some specific goals in mind and that really helped. Susan Jessup, one of the owners of the Ranch, talked to us at breakfast one morning about the magic of Sylvan Dale and this year I really felt it. Plus the amount of creative energy flowing around the place from 13 writers was hard to escape. So when you put all that together, it is no wonder I was able to crank out 6 queries and still make sure the retreat ran smoothly.

It is difficult to paint the magic of the weekend with words, so I will show you with photos.

Sylvan Dale always shows us some good old-fashioned western hospitality

The Wagon Wheel Bunkhouse where all 13 of us stayed

Our favorite cowboy, David Jessup; co-owner of Sylvan Dale and NCW member.
He joined us on Friday night for a glass of wine.

Some of us hanging out by the fire after an amazing dinner and a few hours of writing.

Taking a break from writing for some games of Banagrams

Amazing river art created by a ranch visitor a couple weeks earlier

Everyone spread out on Saturday for our 8 hours of uninterrupted writing time.  There were plenty of great places all over the Ranch to work.

I love pictures with paths because it reminds me that new opportunities await

The retreat totally recharged my batteries. I sent off my 6 queries and am excited about writing again. I think all writers should do a retreat at least once a year.

Some of the other retreaters blogged about their experiences. Here are the links to those posts:

April Joitel-My (Vegan) Retreat
Patricia Stoltey-What’s So Great about a Writers’ Retreat?
Mim Neal-Resurrection

Have you ever been on a writing retreat? How was it?

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Say What?

Post by Jenny

A couple of weeks ago, I was inspired by the UK project bugged , where writers were asked to eavesdrop and write something –a poem, short story, flash fiction, or a 5-minute-long script—based on what they’d heard. (Find that post here.) I wondered if eavesdropping would spark my creativity, so I made a point to listen in when I was out and about.

The first thing I discovered is that I’m not very good at it. My mind wanders or is easily hijacked—by elevator music, for example (darn you, Neil Sedaka!). But once I got in the habit, it was a fun challenge. I stood a bit closer than necessary at the deli counter, I lingered at the library, and I even briefly stalked strangers I thought might have something fascinating to say.

In general, I was disappointed. If I were to judge my fellow humans based on what I overheard these past two weeks, I’d have to say we aren’t a very interesting lot. This is no doubt due to the fact that I didn’t seek out good eavesdropping venues. The grocery store and orthodontist don’t really compare to a college bar or bus terminal. I did hear a guy order exactly eight slices of bacon from the butcher—“enough for two sandwiches”—which shows admirable restraint as far as bacon is concerned. And of course I perked up my ears when one of my neighbor’s landscapers upbraided his partner, but then the guy started laughing. Darn the luck—it was just a joke.

The conversations I enjoyed listening in on the most were those of my sons and their friends. As pre-teens, they don’t quite have their “parent filters” firmly in place. They talked loudly and freely about a wide variety of topics, including a scenario that involved me fighting Elmo the muppet. (I’m pretty sure I could take him.)

I didn’t happen across former CIA agents or Elvis’s second cousin twice removed. But that was okay, because the exercise sharpened my powers of observation in other ways. I looked at people more closely than I have in a while. I paid attention to their expressions and mannerisms and clothing—the stuff from which real people, and believable characters, are made.

As far as memorable quotes go, the best I can offer today is something I heard a while back from a man on his cell phone in the grocery store: “I told you, they don’t have any (bleeping) artichokes! Oh, wait. There they are.”

What did you hear? And where did you hear it?

Meeting Your Heroes

Post by Trai Cartwright

One of the fab things about living in LA was the constant exposure to your heroes. They were everywhere, giving away the secrets to success, providing insight into their choices as filmmakers, revealing spoilers for upcoming films – and letting us know that once upon a time, they were couch-surfing desk jockeys chasing their dreams, too.

Our filmmaking heroes spoke at writers groups and conferences, populated panels at the Directors Guild or Writers Guild, and attended Q&A's for special showings of their films. Every week an aspiring filmmaker could be exposed to and get inspiration from someone they looked up to –someone who was doing what they themselves hoped to achieve.

Here’s some of the Q&A’s I attended at the famous ArcLight Cinema: Kevin Smith interviewing Stan Lee for “Spiderman 3;” Bryan Singer and the entire production design team for “X-Men II;” Guillermo del Toro for “HellBoy” and “Pan’s Labyrinth;” Kevin Williamson for “Scream III,” Doug Atchison for “Akeelah and the Bee,” and many, many others.

What’s the value in these events?

Anyone who’s been to a great presentation by a creative person knows the value: they are living, breathing representatives of the successful achievement of the dream. You know what dream I’m talking about – you’ve been harboring it for years, too. These people did it – they broke through, they found their champions, they reached their audience, and they were received with glee and accolades and the promise of the chance to do it again.

I’m a fangirl, I admit it – more than the average forty-year-old woman but not quite in-costume at-ComicCon – I follow my heroes’ every move. To meet in person those whose work I admire revs me up like a top, and I can’t wait to get home to get to writing so I can be just like them one day. I’ve learned invaluable tricks of the trade from their casual conversation, and sincere, practical advice of the kind your grandmother gives you.

Why does Hollywood come out on a Tuesday night to talk to their fans and sit through a movie they’ve seen nine hundred times? Because someone did the same thing for them. They were inspired by their heroes, and no doubt access to them helped them see just how to find the footholds, climb the ladder and launch themselves.

If we only see our heroes from afar, their impact is tangible but considerably less than the impact of a hero up close.

So go find those events where your heroes are speaking; ask your questions and listen to their wisdom. Make the connection and you’ll see that they’re people, too – people just like you, who managed to do what you have set out for yourself to achieve.

And moreover, think of yourself as someone’s future hero. Live the dream, even if, for now, it’s just in your mind. One day it’ll be you up on that podium. Better be prepared to pass on the torch.

What’s your favorite experience meeting one of your heroes?

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This Week in the Writing World...October 22

by Brooke Favero
This week it is all about e-books. They're taking over in just 5 years you know. We'll see. I guess that gives my a five year deadline for getting published so I can hold my baby and sniff in its freshly published pages. Is there a better smell than a bookstore? I don't think so.

What do you think? Will the hardcover be dead in five?

Understanding the Industry
Rachelle Gardner recommends knowing the business of writing. BookEnds demystifies an agent's reading day. Nathan Bransford reminds us to keep perspective. Guide to Literary Agents recaps an agent panel about trends, platforms, ebooks and more. Kidlit also highlights another publishing panel on trends and ebooks.

Building Your Platform
Pimp My Novel lists a strategy for improving your network.

Querying
BookEnds points out honest communication with your agent is essential. Chip MacGregor answers questions about proposals. KT Literary says your query should be obvious. Slush Pile Hell reminds us: Thou shalt not.

Crafting
Rachelle Gardner says writing is not about the rules. Tahereh encourages to love your mistakes and persevere. Adventures in Children's Publishing talks voice and show-not-tell. I agree with The Blood Red Pencil, sexual tension is sexier than sex. Wordplay shows how to keep unlikable characters from alienating readers.

New Agents
Elena Mechlin of Pippin Properties. Rachel Stout of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

Poetic Inspiration

Post by Kerrie Flanagan

Last night I had the privilege of attending the Meet the Poets night at the Northern Colorado Writers studio featuring poets Antoinette Voûte Roeder, Lisa Zimmerman and singer/songwriter, Jeff Finlin.

Over the years I have dabbled with poetry, but would never consider myself well-versed in the genre. After hearing the panelist, I was inspired to give it a try again. But more importantly they inspired me to want to write. They encouraged me to relish the joys of writing and push through the blank page.

Over the course of the evening, they each made other comments that really stuck with me. Here is what they had to say about the process:

Jeff Finlin said, "I trust the muse and wherever it takes me. I surrender and go with it. The challenge is getting out of the way."

Antoinette Voûte Roeder said, "The process is such a gift; being able to sink into that place and spend time there in that well-water bubbling up."

Lisa Zimmerman, advised, " Be vigilant to take care of that place of silence."

Antoinette shared that she loves poetry because it is concise, "It says the essence without going overboard and allows the reader to bring his/her background to it." She compared poetry to playing in the meadow and blowing the dandelion seeds.

Lisa said, " I write because the world is beautiful and terrible."

The evening concluded with Antoinette and Lisa each reading two poems and Jeff performing his song Alchemy from his Alive and Retrospective album. It was an incredible way to end an awesome night. I am looking forward to Antoinette's Getting Down and Dirty With Poetry Workshop tonight.

You can listen to Jeff's song here: Alchemy
Here are the lyrics:

I've seen the faces of the linemen
The little black boxes of the shinemen
Your train's delayed again, it seems
Broken down in Alchemy
I've seen in the order in confusion
The empty hand behind illusion
Our years of sad, sad company
As just the place I was meant to be
But you're still a model in a dream
Broken down in Alchemy

Say what you must my dear
A plain man beyond repair
His only goal just to be
If but for one embrace
Could salt your wounds with grace
I'd give it all to see your face
Just a-shining next to me

I've seen the best minds lost in movement
Fearful if only just to choose it
Dissecting love to a degree
Broken down in Alchemy

We're just a moment and not to prove it
To face the love, to move on through it.
A simple choice for you and me
Broken down in Alchemy
-----------------------------------
Threshold
By Lisa Zimmerman
from The Light at the Edge of Everything

Between the sun and the spool
This unraveling
Between the God and the wine
This white absence
Between the moment and the miracle
A prolonged panic
Between the wish and the weeping
------------------------------------
Beauty
By Antoinette Voûte Roeder
from Still Breathing

I learned long ago
that beauty grasped
is beauty no longer.

To meet with beauty,
relax your grip,
bid farewell to desire,
let go of the tension

between the eyes and soften,
soften till she turns
to you.

What happens next
can only be breathed.
----------------------------------

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Two Vamps

Post by Jenny

Up until a few weeks ago, the only vampire novels I’d ever read were Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot. No Anne Rice. No Charlaine Harris. But I have nothing against vampires. If they didn’t make for complicated, compelling characters, no one would write about them. I just haven’t jumped on that particular bandwagon. (Or maybe hearse is more appropriate.)

But in honor of Banned Books Week, I decided to finally, finally, find out what the Twilight fuss is about. I’d not read any of the books, nor had I seen the movies. Because I don’t live in a cave in the Gobi Desert, however, I had heard and read opinions and reviews, some praising the book, some trashing it. My own take on it was somewhere in between. I’m not sure I would have pegged it as the cultural phenom it has become, but it was, for the most part, a fun read.

Then, finding myself in the mood for a spooky Halloween book, I came across another vampire bestseller: Let Me In by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist. Like Twilight, it is a debut novel and has been made into a movie. Twice, actually—first in Sweden (Let the Right One In), and then here in the US (Let Me In). Though the main character, at age 12, is younger than the Twilight teenagers, this is anything but middle grade fiction. Lindqvist is frequently compared to Stephen King, so draw your own conclusions. I’ve not yet finished the book, and I can almost guarantee it’s not going to be a happy ending.

In comparing these books, I was struck by how the same basic premise—a young human who is attracted to a vampire of the opposite sex—could result in stories that are worlds apart. Two different authors, two different audiences, two very different reading experiences.

Sometimes when I’m in a bookstore, I look around at all the books and wonder how there can possibly be room for any more. Perhaps it’s true that there is nothing new under the sun. Voltaire wrote that “Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.” Likewise, Ezra Pound: “Utter originality is out of the question.”In the strictest sense, maybe they’re right. But writers are all different, and each of us brings something unique to the keyboard—even if the subject matter (vampires, in this instance) is hundreds of years old.

And isn’t that why we write…to tell the stories only we can tell?

Mystery Movie Jobs

Post by Trai Cartwright

I sat with Kerrie Flanagan for the TriMedia Film Festival’s opening night film, we tipped back the margaritas, enjoying the good tale on screen. The credits began rolling, and she leaned over and asked, “What’s a gaffer?”

Ding! Another blog to write for The Writing Bug.

The three most consistently baffling credits on a film are the Gaffer, the Grip and the Best Boy. So here’s what these strange creatures do:

Gaffer: the gaffer is the head electrician, and generally focuses on the lighting equipment. They work in conjunction with the Director of Photography (cameraman) regarding placement of lights, and more importantly make sure the electric circuits aren’t blown by overuse. The general joke is that when an actress has been photographed beautifully, she’s sleeping with the DP, but when an actress is lit so beautifully, she looks fifteen years younger, she’s bringing donuts to the gaffers every morning. Gaffers don’t require much in the way of attention or rewards.

Here’s a rumor of how the gaffer got his name: gaffer predates the sound era in a time when electricity was used to a lesser degree than today. The early stages had canvas roofs that were opened and closed to emit varying degrees of light. This canvas was moved with large gaffing hooks which had been traditionally used to land large fish. (http://www.twyman-whitney.com/film)

The Best Boy is the gaffer’s assistant.

Grips are just what their name states: they grab hold of things and move them. Specific grips are assigned to the props department, the DP, the gaffer, the sound technician and they are not interchangeable – each has a specialty, and is generally working in that department because that’s the job they want in the future.

Key Grip: The key grip is the person in charge of all the people in their department who move anything. So there can be multiple Key Grips.

Mystery solved!

Are there any credits you’ve seen that mystify you?

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Best of the Blogs: Twitter

By Brooke Favero

After listing many links on the value of Twitter, I finally did it. I signed up. Now I tweet (about writing industry tweople [really is that a word?] and add them to my lists), but mostly I follow others in the industry. I've been on a week and I'm overwhelmed by the sea of words.

Veteran Tweeters...tweople...oh, you know who you are:

How do you sort through it all? Who do you love following in the writing industry?

If you're thinking about signing up, here are some links that helped me:

Who to Follow

GalleyCat. Best Library People to follow on Twitter.

GalleyCat. Best Book Reviewers on Twitter.

GalleyCat. Best Book Editors on Twitter.

GalleyCat. Best Book Publicity & Marketing Twitter Feeds.

GalleyCat. Women in Publishing Twitter Directory.

GalleyCat. Best Book Club Resources on Twitter.

[Or just follow GalleyCat and sift through their more current lists. Handy.]

Follow the Reader. Which Book Publishers Tweet Best?

Huffington Post. 50 Best Book People to Follow.

Building Your Platform

Nathan Bransford. Key to Marketing your Book: Time Well Spent.

Social Media Today. 9 Ways to Build a Twitter Community with Substance.

BookEnds. Working Social Media.

Guide to Literary Agents. How Social Media Can Help Writers Get Their Mojo Back.

Managing Twitter

Rachelle Gardner. Social Networking in 15 Minutes a Day.

Stet. Twitter for Writers: How to Navigate the Twittersphere.

Blood Red Pencil. Tight Writing for Good Tweets.

Success Stories

The Writing Bug. Twitter Take Back.

Nathan Bransford. The Science of Buzz.

PubRants. The Power of Twitter.

Robin Becker. Twitter and Me.

Janet Reid. Thinking about Writing.

Friday Confession: You know you're having a crazy week when you've had to reset your Twitter password 3 times because you keep forgetting it. I miss the days when passwords could be short, sweet, and redundant.

Going Down With the Query Writing Ship

post by Kerrie
Recently I presented two workshops at the Douglas County Writers Conference. One was on 10 Things You Need to Know to Write for Magazines and the other was on How to Write and Effective Query Letter. Both of these are topics I have talked about before, so went in pretty confident.

The magazine workshop went well, audience seemed to be engaged, life was good. After lunch it was time for second workshop on query writing. About ten minutes into the query writing presentation I hit an iceberg. I don't know what happened, but I started sinking. Words were getting jumbled, my thoughts were scattered and I was confusing myself. As the captain of this ship, I was going down and taking everyone in the room with me.

When the time was up, the twenty or so participants gathered their things and quietly left. I felt awful. This was the worst presentation I had ever given. At least for me, I have the chance to redeem myself the next time I teach it, but the conference attendees who were victims in this disaster, will never get to retake that workshop.

As part of my self-induced community service, I am going to share with you some tips and links on how to write an effective query letter.

Here is the basic format for a one-page query letter for fiction or nonfiction

1.    Good hook: Engaging opening sentence or essence of your book

2.    What is the article/book about: Highlight key points of the article or include a short synopsis of your book

3.    What you are proposing: Is there a specific department this would fit in? What kind of article (feature, roundup...)? For a novel, what is the genre and word count?

4.    What reader will get from it (this is more for nonfiction): will the reader be informed, inspired, educated, enlightened...

5.    Why you: what are your qualifications. Why are you the perfect person to write this. This is not a time to be modest. Also include any writing credentials and awards.

Tips:

• Find the correct person to send it to and be sure to spell his/her name correctly
• Be concise with your writing
• Check for spelling and grammatical errors
• Be respectful
• Be patient

Great links about query writing:

• Literary agent Kristin Nelson's blog, Pub Rants
• How to Write a Query, Agent Query
• Query Letters That Worked, Margo Finke
• How to Write a Query, Literary Agent Nathan Bransford
  

What do you find most challenging about writing a query letter?

Happy Querying!
~Kerrie

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The Writing Bug-ged

Post by Jenny

It’s been great walking weather for weeks here--not too hot (but almost), not too cold, not too windy, a gorgeous blue sky, and more golden leaves every day. When I walk for exercise, I must have music or someone to chat with. But when I walk the dog in the morning, I like to hear what’s going on around me...cars in the street, high-schoolers on bikes, leaves skittering in the breeze, the wing beats of a bird flying overhead (are those ravens we have or giant crows?). We know good writers have a sharp eye for detail, but attentive listening is just as important for evoking vivid descriptions. And listening in on conversations helps in crafting realistic dialogue.

Listening in…isn’t that eavesdropping? Yes. And…not so much. Thanks to cell phones, we talk more in public than ever before, and what was once a clandestine activity is now part of our culture. (If you doubt this, Google “overheard in” and see what comes up.) Granted, cell phone conversations are one-sided, but that sometimes makes them more fun, as we have to imagine/infer what the unseen person might be saying.

A recent project in the UK explored the creative potential of listening in. Writers were asked to collectively eavesdrop on July 1 and then to write something –a poem, short story, flash fiction, or a 5-minute-long script—based on what they’d heard. The organizers’ goal was to "bring writers out of their sweaty garrets and into the streets and coffee houses" and "raise issues of privacy and creativity.” The result is the book bugged – Writings from Overhearings, which launches in the UK this week.

I thought it would be fun to try something similar on The Writing Bug. For the next two weeks, keep your ears open when you venture out of (whatever serves as) your sweaty writer’s garret. Instead of tuning out the annoying person yakking in the grocery line, pay attention. Write it down. (Be discreet, though. No need to get anyone riled up.) We’ll meet back here on October 25, hopefully to report the humorous, poignant, embarrassing , cryptic, or flat-out outrageous things we were lucky enough to overhear, and whether or not they provided any creative inspiration.

I hope you’ll join in. Happy listening!

The Manitou Springs AuthorFest & Douglas County Writers Conference

Post by Trai Cartwright

There are millions of blogs out there about the value of writer’s conferences, and they are all correct: they are inspiring, educational, a boon to both professional and personal networking, and can supercharge your relationship with your writing.

I pulled double-duty this weekend, and with pleasure. I was invited to teach by both the Manitou Springs AuthorFest and the Douglas County Public Libraries Writers Conference last weekend. I said yes to both and had three great days of roadtripping, workshopping and communing with my excellent Colorado writing community.

The boon of teaching at these conferences works much the same way it does for the attendees: presenters get to attend the conference, too, and while I love getting my craft refreshed and new bits of publishing world info, I think it’s the keynotes that were my favorite this time.

At Manitou Springs, we heard Mark Obmascik, who climbed all 54 14’ers and wrote a best-selling humor book about it. Someone asked if Kilimanjaro was next, and his very rational response: he’d prefer to be with my family. Climbing is very selfish, as is writing, and if either wanted to take him away from my family for three months, he’d say no.

So often the message writers get is that if they aren’t completely dedicated to, perhaps even obsessed with this path, we’re undercutting our potential for success. He reminded us that there are bigger things in life than writing.

At lunch in the same room, Carleen Brice compared her writer’s journey to the esteemed Hollywood “hero’s journey”. She regaled us with the “we hate it / we love it” fight for her first publication, her struggle to write (and rewrite. And rewrite) her second book, followed by her first book’s adaptation into a TV movie starring Jill Scott and shortly thereafter getting dropped by her publisher because of her under-performing second book. She stood before us, facing the exact same challenge we all were: would anyone ever want to publish her book?

She reminded us that the magical times this business can deliver arrive in big and small packages, and our job was to recognize and appreciate those wonderful moments – they would help during the lean times on our long journey.

And finally, the legendary, most-awarded-scifi-writer-alive Connie Willis spoke to the crowd gathered at the Douglas County event. She related to us of the conceit that successful writers are writers who toil at it every single day. Then she related a day in her last week: her garbage disposal broke, she was in the middle of planning a book tour and writing three speeches, she went to change out laundry to find the basement flooded, her mother-in-law was arriving the next week – and she’d just learned her mentor of many years had just passed away. Did she write that day? She did. Because, in her words, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

If you wait for the perfect time to start writing, you’ll never do it. If you wait for the big sale to validate you as a writer, you’ll never realize the importance of your work. So do it for love, and do it now.

I’m signing off to go write. I hope you all do the same.

Who was your favorite writer’s conference keynote speaker?

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This Week in the Writing World...October 8

by Brooke Favero

News that got the blogs buzzing this week: Snooki from the Jersey Shore phenom just landed a book deal. This blows my determined-to-publish mind. Why, world, why? Janet Reid gives an interesting view on the matter.

Would you buy Snooki's book?

(Secretly, I loved the excuse to upload a Snooki photo. No one puts Snooki in a corner. And you can see why. That hair should have its own book. Girl, please.)

Understanding the Industry

Rachelle Gardner gives the lowdown on Amazon rankings. Pimp My Novel says it's all about who you know and explains how your title and cover affect your sales.

Building Your Platform

Robin Becker talks about the need for Twitter.

Querying

Chip MacGregor gives an opinion about switching agents. Rachelle Gardner goes behind the scenes of The Call. Once you get the call, Steve Laube shares six questions to ask the agent and gives the ten commandments for working with your agent. BookEnds talks about queries from published authors.

Crafting

Blood Red Pencil offers tips for putting rhythm in your prose. Guide to Literary Agents helps improve your MC. Kidlit says you don't need a clear antagonist in contemporary fiction. Stet offers tips when writing about cops. Miss Snark's First Victim helps craft a log line. Adventures in Children's Publishing creates suspense with a ticking clock. Seekerville teases your chapter endings.

New Agent

Caryn Karmatz Rudy of DeFiore and Company.

Stephen Cannell Lives On

Post by Kerrie Flanagan

Last Thursday was a sad day for many with the announcement that writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell died at the age of 69 after battling melanoma. If you watched television in the ’80s and ’90s, then chances are you saw one or more of Cannell’s 42 shows like the The Rockford Files, The A-Team, 21 Jump Street and The Greatest American Hero.

He eventually went on to start his own studio and within five years it was the third-largest supplier of television shows and employed 2,100 people. After selling his company, he changed his focus to writing novels. Most of his 16 novels went on to become best-sellers.

Usually when I hear the news that a well-known author or celebrity has died,  I take a moment and think, how sad, and then continue on my day. This was different. Just six months ago Stephen Cannell was the opening keynote for my Northern Colorado Writers Conference.

I had the privilege of interviewing him a couple weeks before the event and then had a chance to meet him in person before he delivered his keynote. The more I learned about Stephen, the more impressed I became.

His success did not come easy.  He had severe dyslexia and yet, he made an incredible career from his writing. When I asked him how he did it, he said, "I’ve never been afraid of failure. I flunked the 1st grade, I flunked the 4th grade, I flunked the 10th grade. I have no illusions of being brilliant. So for me it is all about how good can I make it and how much fun can I have doing it."

I think this is where so many of us writers fall short. We are so worried about the final product that we prevent ourselves from writing through the bad stuff in order to find those hidden gems. We want and expect our writing to be perfect from the start.

Considering all the hurdles he had to go over, Stephen didn't let that stop him. Before he got his first break, he wrote every day for five hours a day in addition to his full-time job of delivering furniture. He did this for five years without selling a single thing!

"Those were the hours," he said, "that at the time they didn’t appear to be very productive, but that qualified me so when I did finally find a hole in the wall and get through people read my stuff and said, ‘Wow, how do I get you to work for us?’"

Stephen was and still is a perfect example of how perseverance pays off and that in order to be a successful writer, you have to sit down and write.

One of my NCW members Darlene Mueller Morse sent me her thoughts after she heard the news about Stephen.


"Thanks for bringing him here (NCW conference). I know that there were many people there who already knew and loved him and his work. I'm sure that they will remember having this chance to meet him and to have him sign his book. Sometimes we forget that the writer is mortal but the written word is immortal."

Well said Darlene. I know that even though Stephen J. Cannell is gone, his work will live on...

~

ARC Giveaway

I have some ARC's left over from BEA that I want to give away to one lucky Writing Bug reader:

Nightshade by Andrea Cremera
Calla Tor has always known her destiny After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everythingincluding her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron|
Eli Monpress is talented. He's charming. And he's a thief. But not just any thief. He's the greatest thief of the age - and he's also a wizard. And with the help of his partners - a swordsman with the most powerful magic sword in the world but no magical ability of his own, and a demonseed who can step through shadows and punch through walls - he's going to put his plan into effect. The first step is to increase the size of the bounty on his head, so he'll need to steal some big things. But he'll start small for now. He'll just steal something that no one will miss - at least for a while.  Like a king.

By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham
Like his legendary, Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Hours, Michael Cunningham s masterly new novel is a heartbreaking look at the way we live now. Full of shocks and aftershocks, it makes us think and feel deeply about the uses and meaning of beauty and the place of love in our lives.

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Underdogs

Post by Jenny

I know the college football season has been going on for weeks now, but I’m never quite ready for it until October rolls around. On Saturday, a beautiful fall day in northern Colorado, my family and I went to watch my alma mater, Colorado State University, take on Texas Christian University.

CSU brought a 1-3 record and a true freshman quarterback to the table. TCU rolled into town 4-0, with a #5 national ranking. They were favored by 33 ½ points. We Ram fans had a real underdog situation on our hands. As I watched the pre-game warm-ups, I thought about how the Rams might have prepared to face the Horned Frogs. Physical conditioning? Check. Watching films? Check. Pep talks? Check. Good nutrition and plenty of sleep? I hope so.

Writers often find ourselves in underdog situations, too. Even before the economic downturn, breaking into the publishing biz was daunting. Now, it sometimes seems downright impossible. Not only might a writer be competing against the number one seeds (the Jodi Picoults and the John Grishams), but there are thousands of other writers doing the same. Maybe we should take some advice from a coach’s handbook:

Practice, practice—but be sure to take an occasional day off for some R & R.
Study the opposition, especially if they’re good at what they do.
Be realistic and optimistic. Yes, it’s a tough business, and yes, there’s still room to be hopeful.
Take good care. Healthy, rested bodies and brains perform better—on a field or at a desk.

And how about the luck factor? Anyone who watches football has seen a game decided by a pass that ricochets off a helmet or a fumble that bounces straight into the arms of a defender. But only the close games are decided by luck. To compete, a team has to know the fundamentals inside and out and work hard. The same applies to writers. I might be lucky enough to run into uber-agent Janet Reid at a ceviche-eating contest in Del Rio, Texas (hey, it could happen), but if so, I sure better have my game plan in place. As Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

Sadly, CSU did not pull off the upset. They lost 27-0. But the players will learn what they can from it and move on, which is good advice for all of us who occasionally crash and burn.

Which do you think is a better teacher—failure or success?

Tales from the Script Documentary

Post by Trai Cartwright

One of my Advanced Screenwriting students pointed me in the direction of a documentary called “Tales of the Script.” It really inspired her, she said, and made facing the third act of her screenplay easier. Excited to hear of a new wellspring of inspiration, I Netflixed and watched. And proceeded to be horrified and traumatized, left dazed and damaged on the couch.

The twenty or so screenwriters interviewed related exactly my own experience while in Tinseltown – the frustration of getting to a marketable draft, the weekend reads, the hurry-up-and-wait, the thrill of big news, the grinding terror of deadlines, incomprehensible notes, wrong casting -- all of it. Worse, those experiences were compounded by the advanced level at which they played. I had only been optioned a number of times; these were screenwriters who were bought, produced and in some cases even awarded.

They spoke at length about the astonishing amount of work it takes to get a script into producible shape, and it’s often done by writers who are up against executives who aren’t expert storytellers and directors determined to get an action sequence on the Eiffel Tower shoe-horned in and movie stars who demand more tortured-hero scenes so they can show off their chops for that Oscar-bait role they want to land.

And that’s when you’ve actually gotten to the pre-production stage. How about all the work that went into first learning your craft? One screenwriter broke down the screenplays he’d written into three columns: made (3), bought (7) and written and not bought (12). He shrugged and said, not too good. Me, I thought, Wow, this guy’s got a 50% success rate! That’s terrific! (Success for a screenwriter isn’t always a made film – it’s also those that have been optioned or purchased, because those deals help us get the next deal).

Another screenwriter gave his stats: 2 films made; 35 written. Thirty-five, people!! Can you imagine writing 35 books before you made a sale??

This lead me to think of Kevin Williamson (“Scream;” “Vampire Diaries”), who spoke to a writer’s group I belonged to. Someone asked how many drafts he usually writes before he sends it to his agent. He said about fifteen to twenty. There was an audible gasp in the room – that many?? That’s crazy! But me and a few others were nodding our heads; that sounded about right.

But somehow, for some reason, the work gets done. We tuck ourselves into our small little offices where no one can hear us scream and pound away at the keys.

The question any sane person would ask is, why? Why would anyone work this hard to get so little payback. (Trust me, the $85,000 WGA minimum they pay you for that first script breaks down to about $12,500 for each year it took you to get to that point; the $250,000 paydays are few and far between. Even Shane Black doesn’t make $1 million anymore.)

So why do we do it?

One writer on the documentary had this to say: “It’s like sending only young people off to war – they simply don’t believe they’ll be hurt. If any of us had any idea what was involved in attempting this for a living, we wouldn’t do it. The secret, I guess, is to never doubt for a second that you won’t succeed.”

And that’s just the attitude required to be any kind of writer. Never doubt for a minute that you won’t succeed. And never watch documentaries that are too true to life about your chosen field.

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This Week in the Writing World...October 1

by Brooke Favero

It is officially Banned Books Week. Check out the most challenged classics or The 2009 hot list or ten ways to celebrate. Did any of your favorites make the list?

The challenged classics is just silly--most are on my must-read shelf. But I want to give a shout out to The Great Gatsby for being #1 (if you aren't first, you're last).

Understanding the Industry

Guide to Literary Agents explains chic lit. Pimp My Novel dishes on the shareholder vote for Barnes & Noble. BookEnds talks small press vs. agent. Dystel & Goderich reveals the curse of trade paperback.

Building Your Platform

Social Media Today lists nine ways to build a twitter community. Janet Reid says you might want to hop on the twitter. BookEnds tells how to work social media. Blood Red Pencil gives ten ways to get the most from a writer's conference. Kidlit offers some tips for talking to agents and editors at conferences.

Querying

PubRants explains why the agent needs passion for your project. Tahereh gives insight on the ten phases of rejection. (I'm at the seventh rejection right now.) The Blood Red Pencil lists 25 reasons your submission is rejected.

Crafting

Adventures in Children's Publishing shows how to write with GMCT (goal/motivation/ conflict/tension). Kidlit helps define setting. Stet explains the three C's to writing your first page. Writer Unboxed fights obsessive compulsive editing disorder. Worldplay says don't overuse names in dialogue. WIP It helps create compelling characters.

New Agent

John Rudolph of Dystel & Goderich.