Posts filed under 'Writing'
A Pound of Flesh: Joining Communities & Investing in The Writer’s Market
…a sentence! Come prepare!
The Merchant of Venice
We all can’t do what David Wroblewski did when he set out to write The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: a novel and go back to graduate school to study under Richard Russo when we decide to get creative. Most of us have many pressing day-to-day demands which paint our writing and creative ventures into a corner.
Maybe we get a half-hour before bed or a few minutes during a break at work to focus on our writing and the eventual distribution of our words. That’s why I wanted to speak with you about the writing community and The Writer’s Market. An annual directory of all things publishing, The Writer’s Market does exactly what it sets out to do – it tells you where and how to sell what you write.
Familiarizing yourself with the community of writers and opportunities available for those who have sought this form of expression can only ultimately be to your advantage. The Writer’s Market lists off contact information for most major contests and publications that accept submissions. Using the resources available, you can start to network with others in the industry. Making contacts who share your passion can save you time and money in the long run.
Along the same lines, there are hundreds, if not thousands of growing communities of writers online. Community members share new projects with one another and receive priceless feedback regarding everything from story structure to character development. Members can just as easily host a release party or participate in a book signing as well.
As artists, writers sometimes feel inclined to re-invent the wheel, learning everything the hard-way in a grass-roots marketing campaign. Getting in contact with the community that can help you appropriately focus your resources will not only help you develop as a writer, but as your own publicist as well.
The words expressly are “a pound of flesh.”
|The Merchant of Venice
4 comments July 24, 2008
Chasing That Figure Down the Dark Alley: What To Do With Writer’s Block
Um… Yeah, I got nothing.
I can’t think of a single interesting topic for this week’s post. So, what does that lead me to, naturally? That’s right! Writer’s block.
What’s with writer’s block, anyway? What weird mechanism in the human brain allows for the stoppage in the flow of ideas and inspiration? And why does writing about writer’s block seem to be one of the sure-fire ways around it?
I think it’s because you’re writing something even if it’s only to complain about not being able to write. Eventually all the trite metaphors about writer’s block make way for an actual idea.
That reminds me of reading Reader’s Digest at my grandparents’ house, when I was much younger, and stumbling upon a short article about laughter being the best medicine. Something we’ve all heard before, I’m sure. And something about – because it’s all very vague now – mimicking laughter even if you’re feeling sad. That the physical cues of laughing would cause the real laughter to follow. It worked for me.
But then, so does saying, “Wookie Cookies” – don’t ask.
This must be why it’s okay to write, for pages on end, “I don’t know what to write.” Eventually it should lead to something resembling real writing – right? Gosh, I hope so, because all I keep seeing in my head is a trench-coated figure disappearing ‘round the corner of a red brick building, and I’m really tired of chasing him down the alley.
So, instead of having a Shining-like moment, maybe I should just fake laughing? What do y’all do when you get stuck? I know I wrote about inspiration last time, but there’s got to be other (more interesting?) ways of getting past writer’s block. Help!
-Jenn
12 comments July 10, 2008
Being Your Own Worst Critic: Listening to the Writing Devil on Your Shoulder
As a writer, you know that the writing process is filled with as much enjoyment as it’s loaded with doubt. As you type out your prose or draft your poetry, second guessing your word choices is hard to avoid.
Of course, every process is different. Some writers don’t think about revision until they’ve batted out a complete draft. Others reread paragraphs immediately after they’ve typed their last paragraph. Simply put, there’s no objectively correct method of writing. But there are some helpful rules of thumb you can follow when revising your work that should help you turn your writing into quality, publishable material that can eventually earn you acclaim and higher royalties.
Traditional Revision Guidelines
Only Time Will Tell
Give your manuscript time to cool off. As soon as you finish a writing piece, you might be too close to your sentences and characters. As a result, you may overlook typos and opportunities to enrich the dramatic action of your story. Giving yourself a few weeks to forget about what you wrote may give you the objectivity to return with a clean, unbiased eye.
Honesty Is the Best Policy
Don’t lie to yourself about a chapter, a section or even a single line. Anyone can convince themselves that a piece of writing reads beautifully, but only an honest writer can weed out their weakness and strengthen them with careful, honest revision.
Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself
But if a critic should smell blood or find the smallest underdeveloped detail in your new publication, heaven knows they’ll be vicious and cutthroat. Remember, the harder you are on your writing during revision, the deeper your characters will become and the more your prose will blossom into an undeniably profound story or poem. Don’t give your potential book reviewers fuel for the book burning party. Instead, when revising, listen to the writing devil on your shoulder before your real critics catch wind.
Note: Many writers actually keep annoying stuffed animals or little gnome figurines on their desks as dummy critics. This way you can project your doubtful voice and discuss your choices with your worst critic in real time.
Listening to Yourself
Sharing your work with others is a great way to begin the revision process. Their objective eye and constructive comments may give you insight into your own writing. That said, never discount your own instincts. In fact, your instincts are what give you a unique voice as a writer after all. Of course, constructive criticism is helpful and should be evaluated, but don’t make changes with which you’re not comfortable. Essentially, don’t compromise your whole project trying to please everyone. It’s impossible to please every reader and critic. Remember, write for yourself, not others.
Done and Doner…
Approaching contest deadlines combined with your publishing enthusiasm, you may want to publish your manuscript as soon as possible. But you should also be careful of jumping the gun. Don’t rush your creative process. By rushing to finish your piece, typos and writing flaws may slip past your editorial eye, and your may end up inadvertently hurting your future book as a result. Of course, nothing is ever 100 percent finished, but keep in mind that a false start could injure your entire writing career before you really get started.
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Following these basic revision guidelines should give you the added editorial edge over other competing authors, whose writing may have suffered due to an inadequate revision process.
This is Justin, blogcasting from Wordclay, signing off.
Add comment July 3, 2008
Music, Movies or a Hair-flip? Where’s Your Writing Inspiration Come From?
Where do you get your inspiration for writing? Do you find it in everyday things? The way a bird in flight broke sharply to the left, chasing a summer bug. The way your co-worker flips her hair when talking about an ex-boyfriend. A picture posted on a fan’s blog about Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.
Or do you seek out specific types of inspiration? Movies? Paintings? Photos? Books? Trash? Music? Do you start with an idea and find the thing(s) that flesh out the idea, inspire the direction of the story or poem or novel?
With music, for example, do you put on the music first, writing what comes to mind when listening to Morphine, The Shins, Bach or Schubert? Or does the story come first with the music simply an inconsequential background sound? What if the music creeps through, into the writing, without you have noticed?
Doesn’t the fluidity of writing mean that anything can creep through? Whether music or your co-worker’s hair-flip, don’t a thousand things subconsciously infiltrate the stories and poems we write, making them totally different than what we initially conceived?
So how do we stop ourselves from going overboard? How do prevent ourselves from incorporating all of our everyday stimuli into our writing? Where’s the filter? Is this one of the marks of a great writer that they have that filter, that the means of their inspiration isn’t immediately obvious to the reader? Is this how they’re books or poems or essays become the means of our inspiration?
-Jenn
3 comments June 26, 2008
Protect Yourself! Learn to Identify Legal Issues in Your Work When Self-Publishing
You might enjoy slinging a little dirt when you write privately at home in your personal notebook. Maybe you like making up stories involving Parris Hilton. And perhaps you’re also a Photoshop wiz who creates pictures that include of you beside Donald Trump. It’s all fun and games, right? Well, not when you cross the magical threshold of the public sphere, especially a major one called publishing.
As a writer, you deserve to experience the thrill and satisfaction of publishing. And, one thing that will truly spoil your fun is a lawsuit. To ensure that your self-publishing experience remains a positive one, it’s critical to understand a few legal basics before publishing your work, including how to recognize and avoid content that constitutes invasion of privacy, libel and copyright infringement.
Did You Hear? Secrets about Invasion of Privacy
An invasion of privacy lawsuit can occur when a person (specifically, a living individual … ghosts do not apply, and if they did, they’d just haunt you instead) feels their right to control personal information has been violated, causing emotional distress for this person. There are various categories of invasion of privacy, but for publishing purposes, those that apply include: the disclosure of private facts that a “reasonable” person would find objectionable; publication of (more…)
6 comments June 5, 2008
Wordclay Short Story Contests Now Closed!
Greetings, Earthlings,
Unfortunately, you heard correctly. The Wordclay Single Short Story and Story Collection Contests officially closed their e-mail doors to submissions on Friday, May 31, 11:59 p.m. EST.
Stay tuned for an announcement of the winners and finalists in the coming month, as well as information about our next nonfiction contest.
As I’m sure you’re aware, 15 finalist will be chosen based on their unique content and emerging style for appearence in the Wordclay Anthology Series, Best Modern Voices. You can check out Volume 1: A Poetry Anthology at Wordclay’s bookstore if you’re jonesing for a preview.
Questions and concerns about the contest can all be submitted here, and one of the bloggers will response as promptly as possible. It’s only our second writing contest, so bear with us. Of course we’re still ironing out all the kinks, but we should have winners announced by either the end of June or the beginning of July.
Thanks everyone for the wonderful submissions. Stories came from accomplished authors to emerging writers, and entries in total numbered in the thousands. Rest assured, however, that each submission will be given the time it deserves and seriously considered for our listed prizes.
Wordbot upload complete. Transmission ended.
Add comment June 2, 2008
Learn to Market Yourself: How to Write an “About the Author” for Your Book
It’s a widespread area of uncertainty for up and coming authors: the blurb about the author. “Should I include it? What do I write?!” Often times, authors don’t even consider including one until it’s time to publish their book.
While there is no rule that all books must have text about the author, it’s actually common and a good marketing idea for a couple of reasons:
1. Seize the opportunity to connect with your readers before they read the book, while they’re still deciding ift hey should read your words.
2. Solidify the bond with your reader after they’ve spent time reading your book.
For most people, the about the author might not have a huge influence on whether or not someone buys a book (unless the author is famous or well-known). But the second point is extremely valuable to building a loyal fan base, piquing curiosity and helping to further define the picture readers have of you in their mind.
Here are some helpful hints about how to write an about the author for your book:
Use the third person
You’ve probably heard this one before, but it’s an important point. Instead of saying “I, me, my,” say “[Your name], she/he, her/his.” Even though it might feel weird and perhaps a little psychotic, that’s just how it’s done. It’s an industry standard, so play along.
If you can’t tell everyone, don’t tell anyone
This text will be available to the public. Would you be comfortable with your boss reading it? How about your father, grandmother or child? What about a complete stranger? Or that neighbor you are sure stomped your tulips? Personal information (more…)
6 comments May 8, 2008
SEO Writing: Getting Your Unique Voice, Your Literary Authority and Your Authorship Noticed on the Internet
What is SEO?
Short for Search Engine Optimization, SEO writing utilizes the keywords of your Internet articles and posts to locate your content when an individual searches on your subjects. For instance, when a person searches on “free self-publishing,” the Wordclay blog will be listed among the pages that may interest you. Similarly, when a person types “free author Web sites” into the Google field, AuthorTree will be listed as one of the sites you would want to visit.
The Next Step
Say you’ve published your book and perhaps you’ve even set up a free author Web site with AuthorTree. Now what?
In order to get as much Internet exposure as possible, you need relevant and insightful content that will not only reveal the virtues of your recent publication, but also optimize the odds that readers will stumble upon your title as they search on specific keywords and loyally read certain periodicals.
For example, your book may concern a particularly heated political issue, so your target audience may visit blogs and news feeds that examine these issues at length. Even if you’re not writing for CNN, you can still draft and submit relevant articles to other Internet corners that are related to your field of expertise. The more people read your insightful prose and hear the authority in your voice, the more they’ll trust your book is a good investment.
It doesn’t stop with articles either. There are plenty of Internet journals that allow writers to post or submit reviews. Topics of these articles are numerous, with subjects such as TV shows, movies, books, magazines, comics, art exhibits, music albums, cultural and sub-cultural events, as well as other forms of emerging multimedia platforms.
You may also want to submit more personal articles to various e-zines. If you’ve had a recent dating experience others might enjoy, check out Nerve, where you may consider submitting a piece of creative nonfiction. Or if you’re particularly interested in pop culture, maybe visit PopMatters and search out a place for your voice.
As you post these reviews and feature stories, your recognition should grow as your writing infiltrates the digital world. (more…)
4 comments May 6, 2008
Top 15 Web Sites Engaging Writers: Writing Contests, Blogs & Forums
Have you heard of the crunch motivation, when writers of all walks brew pot after pot of coffee, peck furiously at the keyboards, awake and writing for maybe 12 hours straight, desperately trying to meet their preordained deadline? It doesn’t matter if you’re writing an article or submitting to a literary contest like Wordclay’s Short Story Contest, the fact is writers like to procrastinate. Writing is damn difficult – that’s why. It’s exhausting both physically and emotionally. In just a few sentences, writing can challenge people, realities and ideas. It’s not only easy to burn out, but likely as well.
The trick is to keep writing fun and interesting. Still, that’s quite a daunting task in times of existential crisis. Trust me – years of literary and philosophical criticism as well as a master’s degree in writing under my belt – when I say that quiet despair and frustration is all that awaits the lone writer, always struggling against a current of deadlines.
So how do you become enthusiastic and then sustain that enthusiasm about writing? If you’ve read our previous blogs, you know that communities and other engaging forums are a great way to talk the industry talk, but that’s still a discussion of sorts. What you want are places to visit where you can actively write alongside your fellow artists, egging each other on to the next great sentence.
That said, here’s Justin’s list of the Internet corners that not only encourage writers to write, but also seek to return writing to its invigorating (non-exhausting) roots.
Unveiling 15 Writing Communities & Web Sites that Engage Writers
About: (Note: All “About” sections are lifted directly from the source Web sites.)
Protagonize is an online community originally dedicated to the (nearly) lost art of the addventure (yes, that’s spelled right), a very specific type of collaborative fiction. Recently, the site has been expanded to support the creation of linear stories, as well. We hope this will allow the site to attract a broader community of authors looking to create collaborative, interactive fiction.
Continue for all 15 listings. (more…)
4 comments April 22, 2008
Written on the Body: The Art of Tattoo Storytelling
“Skin” isn’t in the book. Rather, it’s a “mortal work of art: a story tattooed on readers’ bodies, one word at a time.” Only the participants of the story will receive a complete copy of the whole story, and I want to be one of those participants.
It’s been almost two years since I e-mailed Shelley about my desire and willingness to be part of the project and, with only 315 words left to distribute, my chances don’t look too good.
I’ve long been fascinated with words – not just words that roll off the tongue well, or have cool meanings – but how words look. The combination of the font, the letters in the word, coupled with the meaning of the word, has an affect on me that I can’t, well, put into words.
When I was a kid, maybe nine- or ten-years-old, I used to beg my sister to write words on me with those colored markers that smelled like fruit. It’s funny, though, she had terrible writing, and I was always disappointed with the outcome. Then, I discovered tattooing and Peter Greenaway’s film, The Pillow Book. Check out the review on Rottentomatoes.com. Together, it was a realization of what I tried to get my sister to do as a child – indelible words on my skin.
Like Justin, though he has me beat by the sheer amount of ink on him, I love my tattoos. And I love the words I have tattooed on me – but I’m not part of a collective story. Not collectively written, but a written upon collective.
And it makes me wonder about the convergence of flesh and words and meaning, and if the same word tattooed on two different people means the same thing. Or if the same word in two different books (or even the same book) means the same thing. And if they don’t, then how can we come to a consensus over any written text, whether on paper or skin?
I guess that’s why there are so many books out there – we haven’t come up with all the ways stories can be told – or written.
4 comments April 17, 2008
