From Kenneth Atchity’s A WRITER’S TIME: Fiction isn’t identical with reality. Instead, dramatic fiction gives the impression of reality. Aristotle described it as an “imitation” of action. In many ways we prefer the imitation to reality. Fiction has a definable shape, a satisfying closure. When you read a good book or see a good play, you walk away with a feeling of having experienced something definite, something conclusive. Unfortunately, life itself doesn’t often provide such a well-rounded feeling. We go to the theater or the bookstore to find fictions that are philosophically, morally, or dramatically more meaningful than those we …
Sarah’s & Cynde’s Blog
QUOTE OF THE DAY: DRAMATIC FOCUS
Today’s quote comes from David Harris Ebenbach musing on plot in the book from Gotham Writers’ Workshop WRITING FICTION: “Works of fiction are not, and cannot be, about a million things–they are usually about just one thing. And that thing, the force that draws everything together in a successful piece of fiction, is a single, pressing question.”
Dead on the Web–Hope Kiah’s 911 for Author Marketing
These days with so many publishing options available to authors, we should all know about award-winning web marketing author and web designer Hope Kiah’s free marketing tutorials, specifically, Dead on the Web? Resurrect Your Book Site! Whether your book is published by a traditional house or a regional or academic publisher, or you are going exclusively digital, or via print-on-demand, readers need a direct line to you and your book. Hope Kiah offers her tutorials for free. I think of her as my “911” person for author book marketing. Give yourself a 15-minute holiday gift and listen to her tutorials …
The Thrills of Real Life
Last night I had the chance to hear director Doug Liman speak at the Santa Fe premiere of FAIR GAME, a riveting feature film based on two books: FAIR GAME by former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson and THE POLITICS OF TRUTH by Ambassador Joe Wilson. During a Q&A session, Liman (who also directed the film The Bourne Identity) spoke on the evolution of the original film script to the final story, focusing on the relationship between Valerie Plame Wilson–outed as a CIA NOC during the Bush administration’s countdown to the invasion of Iraq in 2003–and her husband Ambassador Joe …
BORN WITH A RUSTY SPOON
Colorado watercolor artist Bertie Stroup Marah contacted me awhile back, in search of coaching and editorial support. She had a story to tell, a book she needed to write, and she was in a hurry. Some of her family members were in failing health and this book would tell the rollicking, heartfelt and heart-wrenching story of a family growing up dirt poor and hard-scrabble in southern New Mexico. Bertie finished her book and it is now beautifully illustrated with her paintings and drawings and published by Plain View Press. Her signings at chain stores and independents are attracting crowds and …
ALL PLAY, NO PRESSURE
This November, National Novel Writing Month, offers the perfect opportunity to test out a new idea for a novel. After all, you can benefit from the energy of thousands of other writers. Just knowing so many people are sitting down to write every day can give you juice. If you decide to jump in, I suggest you make it fun. If you’ve been laboring on a novel for months or years (and it’s not flowing to completion), try setting it aside and working with a fresh idea, character, concept. You’ve got nothing to lose and you might discover new things …
National Novel Writing Month, November 2011
Ready to join tens of thousands of writers around the world and write a draft of your novel in 30 days? November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, and whether you register officially on the website and follow the rules (175-pages/50,000 words) or not, it is a great time to take advantage of collective creative steam. And in order to try, you must truly give yourself permission to work quickly, and messily, through the first draft. Is it a good idea? Yes, if you get the basics of your novel clear first. According to NaNoWriMo rules, you can begin …
Deep Problems, Big Story
When it comes to creating a great protagonist, the character with the biggest, deepest problem wins. In my last blog entry–Does Your Story’s “Equation” Add Up?– I touched on the terms “story catalyst” and “deep-story problem”. I want to discuss them both in a bit more depth because they are crucial to the creation of a marketable story. A truly effective story catalyst (also referred to as inciting incident) kicks off the narrative, hooks the reader, and sets the protagonist on a journey (dealing with the deep-story problem) that will end in a life-changing crisis and climax. Because they are …
Does Your Story’s “Equation” Add Up?
As an author, 2010 is my year of collaboration. I’ve been working with former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson on a female-driven espionage action thriller. At times the process has included input from our two literary agents, select editors, a film agent, and various sub-rights agents on other continents. Needless to say, I’ve had story mechanics for highly commercial books on my mind. In my work as a coach and consultant, I read manuscripts on a regular basis. Often, I can identify what’s working–or not–within the first 20 pages. Assuming you are aiming to sell to a publishing house, your …
Fiction, the Mind, and Ghosts
“So far we’ve looked at two places where you can put the character emotion you’ve stripped out of your dialogue mechanics–into the dialogue itself and into the language of your descriptions written from an intimate point of view. A third place is interior monologue. Movies and television may be influencing writers to write more visually, using immediate scenes with specific points of view to put their stories across. But fiction can always accomplish something that visual media will never be able to touch.” From Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King In other words: The fiction writer …