Writer Unboxed

Tips for Writing and Working Full-Time

March 26, 2013 By Carleen Brice

Tomorrow, I go back to full-time employment. I got a new job I’m very psyched about. I’m also teaching a writing workshop on Saturdays for eight weeks. So I’ll be busy, and I need to write. I’m a little concerned about getting back in the habit of using my time wisely (no more Real Housewives for me!), but because I wrote my first novel while working full-time I know something important: it’s not really how much time we have, it’s what we do with it. I wasted a lot of time these last few years. Happily. Good on me. It’s my time and I got to spend it napping, reading, daydreaming, watching basketball and goofing around on the Internet. But I won’t have the luxury of goofing off anymore (Jezebel and Gawker be gone!), which is okay.

I’ve been thinking about how to plan my time better and got some good advice from a few writer pals, which I decided to share here. There seem to be at least two schools of thought about how to motivate yourself (with regards to doing anything, including exercise). One relies on getting yourself in the mood and the other says, mood schmood–just do it.

Rise and Write

Lisa Brackmann, author of Rock Paper Tiger, says: “Having done this for a number of years — setting a schedule was the most helpful thing for me. A schedule and a rough goal per session.”

Eisa Ulen Richardson, author of Crystelle Mourning says: “My advice is to get up early and write before you do anything else. No email, no online bill pay, no CNN or NPR. Just rise and write – every morning.”

[pullquote]”I’m a bit anal when it comes to scheduling. My life is color coded.” – Michele Grant, contemporary women’s fiction author [/pullquote]

Michele Grant, blogger and author of Pretty Boy Problems, recommends getting organized with your work and your writing:

“I’m fortunate in that I work from home so I can divide my time fairly easily and still stay on top of work, personal and author email. (Assuming of course I give up sleep and social life… I’m joking. Sort of.) The creative process of writing means that sometimes I get a brilliant idea to finish a chapter at two p.m., right when a conference call for work is scheduled. It’s difficult to switch my brain from free-flowing fictional worlds to how I’m going to hire twelve software developers in New Jersey. I keep two separate old school spiral notebooks at the ready. One for my work ideas and one for my writing breakthroughs. I’m a bit anal when it comes to scheduling. My life is color coded. Everything pertaining to writing is in purple and filed on one side of the room, everything pertaining to [my job] is in green and on the other side. And ne’er the twain shall meet…”

Drink the Kool-Aid

On the other side is the school of thought which says psych yourself up to keep motivated. Not necessarily that you need the muse to write, but it’s sure easier to get going when you feel enthusiastic about your work.

Kiini Ibura Salaam, author of Ancient, Ancient and winner of the 2012 James Tiptree Jr. Award for sci-fi and fantasy that explores or expands gender roles, wrote something on her Facebook page about “the Kool-Aid effect” that really struck me and I asked her for permission to quote it here.
[Read more…]

How to Write a Screenplay: 7 Starting Tips for Adapting Your Own Novel

March 25, 2013 By Chuck Sambuchino

GIVEAWAY: I am very excited to again give away a copy of my newest book, CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM. It’s a book all about how to build your visibility, brand, network and discoverability so you can better market yourself and your books. I’m giving away 1 copy to a random commenter based in the U.S. or Canada; comment within one week to win. Good luck! (Update: Louis won.)

Plenty of times, writers come up with an idea for a novel that could translate visually to film. The good news is that if you want to see your manuscript converted into a screenplay, there are two different routes that would make an adaptation possible.

Most books that get released by a major publisher or are repped by an established agency get passed to an agent who tries to drum up interest in film/TV rights for a project. This makes total sense. A writer creates a good story, so the obvious goal is to sell it through every means possible — be that print books, e-books, foreign rights translations, serial excerpts, audio books, and, yes, movies/TV. If your new book-to-film agent (usually brought onboard by your book agent) can generate adaptation interest from producers, your work gets bought/optioned by Hollywood, and you’re off and running. This exact thing happened to my humor book, How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack. Sony optioned the book and hired a screenwriter to adapt the work.

But what if you want to see your work adapted into a screenplay, but are either indie-publishing it or the work hasn’t sold yet? The obvious option is to —

ADAPT IT YOURSELF: 7 IMPORTANT TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

You can always just take matters into your own hands and compose the script yourself on spec. But the truth is that writing a screenplay is a completely different monster than tackling a novel or memoir. If your finished product doesn’t fit the usual mold of what a screenplay should look like, then a producer or agent won’t even consider it, and your time was wasted. So with that in mind, I wanted to lay out several simple-yet-important tips on how to write a script for any persons considering adapting their own book into a screenplay. Keeping in mind there is still much more to learn beyond this post, here are 7 basic pieces of advice to get you started if the concept of scriptwriting is new to you.

1. Watch your length.

Just as books have typical word count ranges, screenplays have length requirements, too — and the recommended length for a beginner’s screenplay is 90-109 pages. Since each page represents one minute of screentime, that sets up your movie to be 90-109 minutes. Most writers go wrong in this arena by trending long.

2. Screenplays thrive on minimalism.

Always be thinking about how to cut, cut, cut. Screenplays rely on brevity. When characters have to say something, the best value you can provide is getting your point across in as few words of dialogue as possible. When you have to describe a scene or explain that a helicopter explodes, the quicker you can properly convey such information, the better you are. Give us information and dialogue in short, quick bursts. A lot of your novel will end up on the cutting room floor throughout the adaptation — and that’s OK. Plenty of a novel/memoir content does not translate well visually to the screen, so cutting out sections or characters or subplots actually will improve your final script. (If you’re not good at killing your darlings, perhaps screenwriting is not the best arena for you.)

[Read more…]

Give and Get

March 24, 2013 By Guest

Today’s guest is Kimberly Brock. We asked Kim to guest with us today to share information about She Reads, a national online book club that advocates women’s literacy. When not at work on her next novel, Kimberly volunteers her time as the Blog Network Coordinator for She Reads.
Kim says,

After publishing my first novel I found myself compelled to find ways to give back and specifically became involved with She Reads national online book club. I have worked with our network of book bloggers and publishers to begin a literacy program that provides books each month for a homeless women’s book club out of Denver, CO. I’m very honored to be a part of this effort and others that bring hope to women who may feel they are without a voice. I hope to inspire others to seek out opportunities (or create them) to promote literacy within their own communities.”

Kim is a former actor and special needs educator, and is a Georgia Author of the Year 2013 nominee. Her debut novel, The River Witch, is a southern mystical work which has been featured on numerous reading lists and chosen by two national book clubs. More information about She Reads is available at the end of this post. Follow Kim on Twitter and at her Facebook page.

When I was a kid I gave everything away. Jackets, socks, watches, they all disappeared within weeks of my grandmother or mother bringing them in new, popping the tags off and lecturing me about responsibility. Once, I came home like a clown with a pair of shoes three sizes too large on my feet. My shoes were on the feet of a girl who must have gone through her day with her toes folded under, blissful to be in name-brand sneakers. In middle school, it was jewelry. In high school, it was friendship offered to those on the fringes.

I have a clear memory of a pale girl, the kind who existed in such a state of poverty that she was invisible to us, stumbling and dropping an armload of books on the sidewalk beside the buses. The kids on the bus laughed as she lay sprawled. I was appalled and embarrassed because some of them were my friends. I helped her gather her books. I don’t think we ever spoke. I didn’t know what happened to her after that day or if she graduated with my class. But I remembered her cornflower blue eyes. They really were cornflower blue. I’ve never seen eyes like that since. I wondered about her. I wished I’d had some sense of the life she was leading and the courage to do more than lift her off the ground and go on with my day, slightly uncomfortable in my skin.

So here’s the thing I’m getting at, and I’m not preaching, I promise. It’s just, I’ve published a book. It’s been almost a year since it was released and believe me it’s been dreamy. Anyone who tells you they don’t find satisfaction in having their hard work recognized and earning a place at the author table, is a liar. The support and pride of friends and family is really overwhelming. The readers letting me know their thoughts, blows my mind. Even the occasional negative review is something I’m grateful for. What it all boils down to is that my voice has been heard and honestly, that’s pretty incredible in any day and age. So I’m thankful. And slightly (if I’m honest) guilty.

Because (and maybe this is just who I am) I’m haunted by so many voices that will likely never be heard or recognized or celebrated or respected or even criticized. And I find myself looking at what’s been accomplished this year on my behalf and feeling compelled to do something more than tell a story. I want to give something back. I want to give what I have to someone else, some invisible someone. When I look at the characters in my work I realize it’s what drives me from my core. I want to give the greatest most profound gift of story – a voice. And that seemed such an intangible thing until recently.

[Read more…]

How to Work Smoothly with a Graphic Artist

March 23, 2013 By Jeanne Kisacky

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons
(This graphic shows the lyrics to a classic Disney Song. Can you read it?)

Whether on a book cover, a website design, an ad, or even a whole marketing barrage, graphic design can either materially increase your book’s chances of getting attention or can leave it unrecognized in the mountain of competitors. This goes for the self-published as well as for the commercially published.

While it is certainly possible for you to do your own graphics, or rely on your publisher, there are also very good reasons for writers to hire a professional graphic artist. Without elaborating on those reasons, in this post I’ll give you some brief insight into the working process of a graphic designer, and give you some pointers on how you as a client can increase the chances that your designer will give you exactly the fabulously stunning image that you wanted on time, under budget, and with a minimum of frustration and drama. There are a number of other websites that discuss graphic design, but I approach this topic from the viewpoint of a writer.

This will be the first of a two-part post. Today’s post will cover Knowing What you Want, Finding the Right Graphic Artist, and The Basic Graphic Design Process. The next post will discuss Money Matters, Tips to Getting the Right ‘Look’ and Avoiding Graphic Design Landmines.

First, Know What You Want.

Knowing what you want doesn’t mean that you can ‘see’ the exact image in your head down to the Art Nouveau font and the impressionist landscape detail background. (If you can ‘see’ the exact image you want in that much detail in your head, then DIY graphic design might be for you.)

Knowing what you want means you know what kind of graphic product you want to produce and what format that product will take. This involves far more than ‘style,’ it involves knowing the nitty gritty of the final product, how big it needs to be, what text it will include, what images it will include. For example: [Read more…]

Does Your Platform Represent The Complexity Of Your Work And Your Journey?

March 22, 2013 By Dan Blank

I’ve been thinking

a lot

about

how we judge

and filter

and decide

who

what

where

is good

online.

Seth Godin recently talked about how what you share online becomes your own personal “backlist” as a person. And that, as the years go by, your backlist should help support you, instead of being something that closes doors.

But one example he used was jarring to me:

“I almost hired someone a few years ago–until I googled her and discovered that the first two matches were pictures of her drinking beer from a funnel, and her listed hobby was, “binge drinking.” Backlist!”

This terrified me.

That as we, creators.

We writers.

We artists.

We musicians.

We… human beings…

Can be judged

So quickly

So completely

For a moment

An expression

Even one that may be ill-advised (yet entirely legal.)

It seems unfair

To need to craft one simplistic narrative

Of one’s work

Of one’s life.

[Read more…]