Writing Craft - Newsletter

Hi, Mary, just wanted to let you know my book, Time to Live Again will be released March 11th with Red Rose Publishing. I also signed a contract for a second one but don't have a release date yet. -- roseanne - roe  Oh, good for you, Roe!  Send us a link when the book is available and keep writing!

 

I just want to let you know that one of my short stories, TWO CALIFORNIA SURFERS IN SWITZERLAND, was published on XtremeTravelStories.com   --  Nan Fagan  Nan, that is great!  Send me a link for next week’s Newsletter if we can go read it!

 

Nice news this week!  Keep that work circulating –when you get a rejection have the next market ready.  And tell us when you send it out!  You deserve applause for that more than you deserve applause for selling.  Sending it out is HARD!    Send the news  to me at:  MaryRosenblum@forums.longridgewritersgroup.com

 

NEWBIES, GRADUATES, AND FIRST STEPS; Claudette Miller

I have been with Long Ridge for a year.  I am preparing lesson 9 now.  In the meantime, I have submitted 2 stories to Glimmer Train and Storyteller, for which I received rejections. I will be resubmitting these stories.  I have submitted a story to Chicken Soup for the Soul, which I am waiting for a response.  I have already had 2 stories published  in a Nostalgia Magazine, Oxford SO & SO, with possibility of more stories published in that magazine.  I am currently working on a devotional book that includes poems
and stories that will be published by the end of the year - "A Moment In Time with God".  I am currently 62.  The course has helped me to gain confidence and a purpose that I never expected. Claudette, you are doing all the right things!   Way to go, girl, and send us links to your work if it’s available to read online!   Keep up with the writing!   You’re on a roll.   

Are you a graduate?  Want to share your ‘first steps’ into writing with us?  New student, want to say ‘hi’?  Just want to let us know what you’re doing?  Please drop me a line!  Yikes, I don’t have any news for next week, so send me YOURS!!!    Send it to me at:  MaryRosenblum@forums.longridgewritersgroup.com

 

SPOTLIGHT:  Beats:  Adding Richness  

PROFESSIONAL CONNECTION POST A NOTE CONVERSATION – Judith Glad, ePublisher  

 Judith B. Glad writes romance because she believes every story should have a happy ending, even if it requires two or three hankies to get there. After swimming upstream in the paper publishing world for too long, she looked to the future and switched to e-publishers, where her books have found happy homes. Since her first sale she's been an enthusiastic advocate of e-books, and wishes she could afford one each of every single one of the cool e-book readers. Her personal e-book library occupies close to a gigabyte on her hard drive, and is distributed among four readers.

Judith has judged in regional and national writing contests, has given workshops on self-editing, character development, and the use of historical facts in fiction writing, and has written articles on fiction writing, grammar, and word usage. She is currently senior editor at Uncial Press, a publisher of e-books (http://www.uncialpress.com ). She also designs e-book covers on a freelance basis, and has given workshops on self-editing and the use of historical detail in fiction. View her award-winning book covers at http://www.judithbglad.com/heyjude/CoverArt.html .

To date Judith has sixteen full-length novels and half a dozen short pieces in e-print, all of which can be sampled at http://www.judithbglad.com . Her alter egos, Annice Dare and Jaye Watson, write erotica and mysteries. They can be found at http://www.annicedare.com/ and http://sites.google.com/site/jayewatson/home

ePublishing is clearly the wave of now, never mind the future.  Let’s talk with Judith about this brand new market, the effect of the Kindle and Nook, and where she thinks epublishing is going in the near future. 

 

If you missed  our visit with Judith this week, you can still check out the conversation on the Long Ridge Post a Note board. 

 

Note:  Because of a nasty spam attack, all new members must be checked out and approved before they can gain ‘member’ status, and guests can no longer post.  I apologize in advance for the inconvenience.  When you register, you  should receive your approval within 24 hours.   If you see strange or illegible posts, do please report them or email me at:  MaryRosenblum@forums.longridgewritersgroup.com

OPEN FORUM REPORT:

Every Monday,  look for the Forum topic near the top of the page on the Post a Note board.  Now you have all week to ask questions and get answers, no matter what your work schedule is like or what time zone you live in!  Drop in and pick up the conversation. Don’t be shy, ask a question. No question is too basic!  We have everybody from raw beginners to breaking-in folk on this website and everything is good.    

THIS WEEK’S  FORUM:   Writers Conferences!     A lot of writers conferences get held in the summer and fall months.  Why not combine a family vacation with a couple of days of ‘learning time’ for you?  And just what does a conference offer?  How should you prepare for one?  What specifically is going to help you?   Let’s talk!   

Al Forums take place on the Post a Note Board 

Because of some nasty spam attacks, all new Post a Note registrations must be approved by me, so expect a brief delay after you create your user name before you can actually use the board. 

Check the Calendar Page and this newsletter for current topics.

FROM THE INSTRUCTOR'S DESK

Writing tips from Donna Ippolito, Long Ridge instructor.

Donna Ippolito has been writing, editing, and teaching others to write for more than 20 years. From 1985 to 2001, she was editor-in-chief at FASA Corporation, a Chicago publisher that packaged best-selling science fiction and fantasy novel lines for Penguin Books and Time-Warner. These included the popular BattleTech, Shadowrun, Earthdawn, and Vor series. So check out her websites at www.expert-editor.com and http://dreamscoop.blogspot.com/.

Prior to that, Ms. Ippolito was an editor at the Swallow Press, a prestigious publisher of both literary and commercial titles. Writers published by Swallow include celebrated novelist Anaïs Nin; Jungian analyst Linda Leonard; futurist Robert Theobald; Zen poet Lucien Stryk; and distinguished anthropologist W. Y. Evans-Wentz. She also worked as a senior editor for Consumer Digest Magazine and was a founding editor of Black Maria, a quarterly journal of women’s writing.

Frances Dunn asks: What is the career path to becoming an editor?

Donna writes: Most editors usually have a degree in either journalism or English, but the career path isn’t straight and narrow the way it is for a doctor, lawyer, teacher, accountant, or other profession. There’s no degree or exam that “qualifies” or “certifies” you as an editor. Instead, you need both pluck and luck to land a job at a magazine or book publisher.

The competition for entry-level editing jobs fierce, especially in the current economy. Some aspiring editors break in via student internships. Networking may open the door for others. You can still find an editor job by answering an ad, but you’ll likely need experience working on a college newspaper or other publication to stand out from the crowd.

In my own case, I left college with a degree in English and a love of books and writing, but the only work I could find was secretarial. This went on for a year or so until the day I saw an ad for a typist at a small local publishing house. Though the salary was even less than my secretary job, I jumped at the chance to work for a book publisher. Whether it was packing up orders in the warehouse, typing invoices, or obtaining ISBN numbers or copyrights, I was in my glory learning everything I could about publishing.

A few months in, I volunteered to update the catalog copy on my own time because everyone else was too busy. After that, the editor asked me to write a profile of the company that was published in a respected journal. Then he began to give me other editing and rewriting tasks (in between my typing invoices), and soon I was proofreading, copyediting, writing press releases, sending out review copies, and helping with the slush pile. Because the firm was so small, I eventually worked my way up from typist to editor. Some of it was luck, some of it was a degree in English, some of it was hard work, and some of it was the willingness to take a risk on a low-level job just to get my foot in the door.

P.S. I received both your questions, Frances. Stay tuned for my response to the second one.

 

   Do you have a question that you’d like an answer to?  Here's your chance to ask Donna something. Email your question about all things writing to me and I'll pass it on so that she can answer it in the next Newsletter issue. You can mail your question to me at: MaryRosenblum@forums.longridgewritersgroup.com

 

 

 THE VALENTINE STORY PROMPT:   

 

I hear so many novice writers worry about their ideas…someone will steal them!  Or maybe someone has used this idea before. Well of course someone has used this idea before!  Every idea has been turned into a story at last five times – we’ve been telling stories forever.   But your story is your story, it is unique, and no, it really does not matter that someone else once had the same idea. 

 

Let’s test this!  I’m going to give you all the same story plot.    You do the story, up to 500 words.   Let’s see how much variation we get here.    Send the story to me at:   MaryRosenblum@forums.longridgewritersgroup.com   NO ATTACHMENTS.  It must be pasted into the body of your email. The deadline is March 31, and remember, 500 words!   If you’re over, I’ll just send you a nice email telling you why your story won’t be in the Newsletter. 

____________________________________ 

The Story Idea:

 

 Our Hero lives in a small town/village.  The Big Game is this weekend and he wants to do well to impress The Perfect Girl he is in love with.  But of course, she is pursued by the Macho Young Rival who is rich or a sports star or has magic, or whatever your story gives him to make him privileged.  During the Big Game, Our Hero shows up the Macho Young Rival and wins The Perfect Girl.    Okay, this is SOOOO basic, right?  But hey, you have characters to play with, a cool setting to create, and that Big Game? What is that anyway?    

 

Are you ready?   Kick that creative muse in her backside and get going!  One, two, three….VROOOOOOM!  

THE WEBEDITOR’S PICK –  The Cross and Quill

Christian Writers Fellowship International, the organization behind Cross and Quill, s a multi-service ministry to Christians in publishing. For 30 years they have encouraged and equipped writers to minister to readers with writing of the highest biblical and professional standards.  If you’re seriously interested in writing for the Christian marketplace, you need to visit this website. 

 

Not only to they offer a list of publishers who purchase Christian fiction and nonfiction, but they do publish submitted work.  They do not pay cash, but a solid publishing clip like this will be a great asset for your next query or cover letter.  For a list of their current needs, both fiction and nonfiction, visit their submission page. 

 

JANET HARTMAN’S POTPOURRI --

Janet Hartman writes both nonfiction and flash fiction, and currently serves as president of Carteret Writers. Her articles about boating, life on the East Coast, and writing have appeared in national magazines, anthologies, and online. For more about Janet, see http://www.JanetHartman.net. Her weekly Potpourri is eclectic – it may include information about a contest, interesting web site, publisher or market.

 

This week, it's all Chicken Soup. Have you been dealing with rejections lately? If so, don't give up - the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book was rejected by about 140 publishers. Their criticism included the assertion that "It's a stupid title."

 

See if any of these recipes whet your creative appetite.

 

CHICKEN SOUP SERIES

http://www.chickensoup.com/form.asp?cid=possible_books

http://www.chickensoup.com/cs.asp?cid=guidelines

This series has four anthologies with submission deadlines in May. You may submit only via their web site. Stories and poems should be nonfiction, 300 to 1200 words, and not previously published. The one exception to this is if your work has only been published in a small local publication with limited circulation. Pays $200 on publication plus ten copies of the book.

My Cat's Life and My Dog's Life

Deadline: May 31, 2010 for both

Choose your species or submit to both! You may focus on any stage of their lives, from kittenhood/puppyhood to the end, including the grieving process after they're gone.

Grandmothers

Deadline: May 31, 2010

This collection will include stories celebrating grandmothers and grandchildren, written by either a grandmother or grandchild. Stories about stepgrandmothers and honorary grandmothers are also accepted.

Grieving and Recovery

Deadline: May 31, 2010

These stories will be like a support group that offers comfort and understanding and shows you that, no matter how devastating your loss is, you are not alone. You can get through the process and, with time, you will regain your strength and move forward with your life.

 

 

THE WANT ADS:

 

Joy writes:  If anyone who gets the LRW newsletter who writes young adult novels or chick lit novels wants to be critique partners, I'm looking to create a small on-line group.  They can e-mail me at jnhgeorge@gmail.com  (She was my student, she’s a good writer, and she’ll give you good feedback!)

 

Celebrating the show's 100th episode, show host and editor Tony C. Smith unveiled StarShipSofa Stories Volume 1, an anthology of some of the finest stories featured on the show. The book was released simultaneously in print-on-demand paperback (deluxe and standard versions) and a free downloadable ebook. This is absolutely the first anthology to present writers of this calibre without big publisher backing - from Science Fiction Grand Master Michael Moorcock to Hugo winners Elizabeth Bear and Jeffrey Ford to the SF writer who's just bagged the £1,000,000 ten book deal Alastair Reynolds (that's almost $2,000,000 in the USA).

Speaking of seeing, that's something you've got to do with this book. Don't take my word for it -- download the free ebook or flip through the pages for yourself with the super-cool online widget. This volume is an homage to the tatty old paperbacks of science fiction past, recapturing the visual wonder of the 1950's pulp paperbacks that we all love so well. Original artwork sets off each story, rendered by top artists published by the likes of 2000AD and Neil Gaiman. Sprinkled liberally throughout are original vintage images and magazine adverts from the 1950's. A true homage to classic science fiction and a daring experiment in the publishing revolution, this is nostalgia nouveau and tomorrow today all in one package.

This audio magazine project is great, and I have a story in the second anthology, due out soon.  Download the free ebook and give it a try.  Tony has excellent taste in SF.  Better yet….buy the print version!

_______________________

Don't forget, if you need expert help, if you want a critique partner, if you're a publisher and you need submissions for your new contest, this is the place for your free ad! Send your want ad to me at: MaryRosenblum@forums.longridgewritersgroup.com and I'll post it here. Don't forget to include contact information so that people can reach you with their responses.   

 

REVIEWS AND TIPS:  

 

Reviews by William Polm: 

 

Building Better Plot  by Robert Kernen  

This book is written by a writer of screenplays., but throughout the author applies his points to novel plotting too. For me, I think it is a good idea to read some writers on drama, along with all the possible books on novels and the elements of fiction. They have a slightly different approach, perhaps, and certainly plays have to be written tightly-not a lot of room for superfluous setting-description and so on.
So what makes this book a useful read? Well, for one thing, it is a very through look at the ingredients of an effective plot, you might say from the inside out. One of the best explanations I've found. The first section covers these and is entitled "The Building Materials of Plot," and I found that section title to be quite accurate. He thoroughly covers: Narrative, Plot Structure (he likes the three-act structure), Inciting Incident, Rising Action, and Climax and Resolution.
The rest of the book covers topics like Using Plot Archetypes, Creating Characters and Back story, Constructing an Outline, Subplots, and Deepening the Story's Resonance.
Through the book, also, there are exercises, quizzes and "story starters." There are repeated at the end of the book in a section the author calls a "Tutorial." So if you are working on a major plot, you can use this section as a checklist to make sure you don't forget something key.
I found this book fascinating reading. It helped me deepen my understanding of plot structure and its elements.
Highly recommended.

 

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank Recently, when I was doing research, for a novel, on the methods of suppression and harassment the Nazis used when they took over countries, I came across Anne Frank's diary and realized I had never read it. So I got it and I am reading it
My goodness, what a brilliant and precocious young lady she was. And what a momentous time in world history to write, what a place to write from, and what impact her personal account has had worldwide, touching so many lives. And such honesty. So she could have kept her entries all "sugar and spice." But no, what we get is the real girl. The flaws along with the sharp mind and genuine emotions.
And published it was. The first edition was published in 1947. The 3000 copies soon sold out. Other editions followed. It was translated into English starting at the end of 1950, and in 1952 it was translated also into German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, and Greek. A play based on her book won the Pulitzer Prize for 1955; and with the movie version that followed, Shelly Winters won an Oscar, which she donated to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Not bad for a thirteen-year-old. And isn't that what we all want? I mean beyond fame and fortune and publishing success, to write words that have impact and make a difference?
Of course, I wonder along with one of her biographers, and no doubt many others, what she would have accomplished with her writing had she been granted a longer life.
So why is this work good for us writers? Well, I think, for many reasons. One would be that her diary is such a fine example of excellent and honest writing. Another would be that it is an in-depth study of people, Anne the writer and her companions in the Secret Annex. I hope that my fictional characters will have a depth approaching hers. Still another thought is this . . .
Sometimes, I'm tempted to think (since I'm getting up there in years): why work so hard since I really don't know how long I have left? I might not have enough time to get a novel published or to do much that is noteworthy with my writing. But I think of Anne and what she accomplished, even though she actually didn't have much time left. But make her mark she did! She of course had no way of knowing her diary would achieve the golden publishing success it did. For all she knew it might have been lost, never to have been read by a single additional soul. But Anne wrote bravely and openly, like seeds scattered in a frozen field.
You and I have to face the unknown when we write. Will we be published? Will we be successful? Will we make a difference? Hanging in there requires courage, not the courage of a soldier in a battle facing a very real possibility of death, but bravery just the same. So Anne is a symbol for me, an encouragement to put my heart into my writing and keep going, no matter what!
And, for me, a lot of the joy in writing is in the act of writing; success is merely frosting. I do like frosting.
Highly recommended

Very nice reviews, William.  Thank you very much!   Yes, Anne  Frank’s diary is, besides a powerful connection to a terrible history, an excellent example of strong narrative voice.  You can hear her voice, she is not lecturing.  She becomes a person that brings the horror of the situation to life because we think of her as a real person.   If you have not read it, do so, and realize the power of a real life narrative. 

 

Send those reviews to me at: MaryRosenblum@forums.longridgewritersgroup.com  And are you self published?  Review your own book here.  Why not?  Make us want to buy it, it’s hard to get PR when you self publish!  Include a link, too.

 

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