The Blood-Red Pencil: Sharp and pointed observations about good writing

Are you interested in starting a writing workshop? If so, check out my latest commentary at The Blood-Red Pencil, “Components of a Good Writing Workshop” [link].

What are those components? Well, I discuss three: a great moderator, an appropriate size for the workshop, and rules for the workshop; however, feel free to read my commentary and post your own experiences with writing workshops.

We learn by sharing with one another.

“Components of a Good Writing Workshop” [link]

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I wanted to share my response because I think it might be beneficial to those of you out there feeling, thinking the same thing.

You know, the need to pursue writing often comes before one even KNOWS if he or she has talent. It comes from a desire, a need to express something. The fact that you’re pulled to write is BIG. For me, writing was always a NEED. Started writing when I was 10, and it was all about looking at the world and writing what interest me, then what I didn’t understand, then what I hated, then what I wanted to be made right, and on and on.

That pull to write is important because it will warm your heart when you’re rejected, it will urge you on when you receive criticism, and it will move you to want to learn so that you can better your craft.

First and foremost, I think you need to KEEP the pull. Recognize it. Communicate with it. Nurture it.

Allow the pull to keep you writing.

As you write, think about what you seem “called” to write about. This calling isn’t set in stone, but it’s a great place to begin to think about who you are as a writer and what you hope to convey in your writing.

As you write, READ. Read works you deem “good,” and be able to illustrate to yourself why they are good and what you can glean from these findings for your own writing.

As you write, READ. Read works you deem “bad,” and be able to illustrate to yourself why they might be bad and what you can glean from these findings for your own writing.

As you write, READ. Read works about writing, especially those books that delve into the issues you find you make consistently in your work. You want as many tools in your writer’s toolbox as possible.

Connect with other writers, especially those willing to read and critique your work. It’s important to know what you want to get out of a critique group and what you can bring to that group; you do not just want to jump into a group and wallow within it. And be open to constructive criticism.

And almost as important as your writing these days is your platform – who you are, what you stand for, how your writing reflects this, who you connect with, network with, how you BRAND yourself.

But ultimately, I think it is about the PULL. If you don’t feel moved to write, who will be compelled to read WHAT you write?

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There is something to be said for doing some research and planning of a story, whether it’s as a plotter at the onset of the story or as a pantser who jumps right into a story and then has to backtrack to do some developing of characters, situations, events, etc.

This quote from McKee is an excellent one because in today’s media world of gimme, gimme, gimme–gimme more, gimme now, we find a lot of the same ole, same ole:  the same stories just different character names and locales.  We can nearly predict when an event is going to occur, and we can tell exactly what that event is.  Why is that?

Well, for one, we are a part of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” world – if a particular story is hot, then everyone will scramble to write the next best one just like it.  I’m already waiting for the 50-11 Slumdog Millionaires to clog my theatre screen.  In this “if it ain’t broke” world, some writers don’t try to be different; to be different might keep you from riding a trend wave, something I wrote about recently.

Another reason we find ourselves in Clichéville is some new writers (and some not-so-new) don’t take the time to study the craft of writing.  They get an idea for a story and think it’s easy to do and commence to writing; when the writing slows, they find themselves reaching into their mind for any snippet to toss into the story; those snippets often come from other stories.

We all need to realize that every story that can be written has been written.  We need to realize and accept this.  THEN, we need to realize that what makes our story different is our personal spin (due to personality, morals, convictions, likes, dislikes, beliefs, etc.) on that story and how close the story is to us.  We are the creator of the universe we place upon the page.  If we are not intrinsically connected to the world we write about, how do we expect a reader to want to visit the world?

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I finished ScriptFrenzy tonight!  Saying No to the Big O was completed at 101 pages.  I’m geeked.  Feel like I’ve accomplished something – now comes revision!

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In my time around, within the industry, I have seen so many writers opting to “write what sells.”  They have stories they are passionate about to write, but they see everybody selling in a particular genre and aim themselves to write that book and sell it.  Some sell it…some don’t.

Thing is trends, fads come and go.  A book that’s part of a trend now, in 2009, was probably bought a year, maybe two years ago.  It was hot in 2007, and the trend could be cooling down two years later…  Once everybody and his/her mama starts writing that same type of book, the industry becomes flooded with that genre and may start to back off from buying more…  If a writer is lucky enough (because sometimes publishing isn’t about talent but luck) to get published, his/her work might be likened to SO AND SO (add the top author of a genre) and the many other writers who have not created a unique voice but have simply added yet another book that reads like all the other books in that genre…  Most readers are quite intelligent; they can sense the passion it takes to write a good book, and if your book is just another like others, they will sense it, and it might hinder you from gaining a solid readership for future works.

Being true to your “true” writer self is important.  Yes, for many of us, publication is the platinum ring (I want better than the brass ring.)  However, we should not sell ourselves for it.  When we are true to developing our craft, to researching the industry (not mimicking it but being well-informed), to writing what is truly in our writer spirit to write; the right people will take notice, and literary dreams will come true.

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Update on Saying No to the Big O — I wrote 12 pages today, so I’m up to 87 pages!  4 days – 13 pages to go to make my 100 pages for Script Frenzy.  It’s all gravy now, LOL

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If you want to know all about classical form and Archplot and the other terminology McKee uses, then you need to buy STORY today.

Essentially, McKee brings up an important point; writers who are serious about their craft need to study it and not take the act of writing nilly willy.

Many people say writing is subjective; for the most part, this is true.  People can love or hate a piece of art based on their personal preferences.  However, I’m one that also believes writing is objective.  There are rules, structure – from the grammar to the mechanics to the style to the…on and on – that instruct writers on the WHAT and the HOW of writing.

There are many writers out there, by the droves, who want to break the mold, to be different than everyone else.

My question is how can you do that if you don’t fully understand what’s out there and how it’s done.

You can watch a million movies, but that doesn’t mean you can write a great screenplay.

You can read a million books, but that doesn’t mean you can write a great book.

Yes, we can debate the successful ones who have gone on and have never had training or never studied the craft or never took writing too seriously, but they are the exception…not the rule.

If you want to be different, then you need to know what the “same” is and understand it so that you can develop your “different” way.

If you want to, for example, write a stream-of-consciousness novel, then you should know how a traditional novel works, understand the nuances of a stream-of-consciousness work, and figure out how you can fit in to that mold.

In the end, serious writers take writing seriously, and if that’s you, it’s time to get to studying so that each work you write is better than the last.

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OH, and my update on Saying No to the Big O:  From last night to today, I’ve written 15 pages; I’m not up to 75 pages.  For ScriptFrenzy, have to write 100 pages by the end of April 30th.  Twenty-five pages in five days.  Can I do it?

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I began my pursuit of an MFA in creative writing in the fall of 2001.

In the summer of 2003, I received an e-mail from my fiction professor asking me if he ever really knew who Shon Bacon was.

“Why?” I asked.

Well, he was bored and had started the game of putting students’ names into Yahoo and seeing what came up.  When he typed in ‘Shonell Bacon’ and ‘Shon Bacon,’ he realized I was a published author, an editor, an online magazine publisher, an interviewer of successful novelists, etc.

“Why didn’t I know about this?” he asked.  “Why didn’t you tell me you were published?”

I brought him back to my first semester in the program, during a Form and Theory of Fiction class in which during a discussion on genre vs. literature, he likened genre to Hallmark…and of course, literature was more substantial than that.

I was in the process of having my second “genre” novel be released and an erotic short story be published in a highly successful anthology.  Being in a program that was solely dedicated to literary fiction and having my “field” be delegated to an aisle in an Hallmark store kept me from revealing all the wonderful things I had done.

Why am I sharing this?

Well, another thing we talked about in class was plot, and in differentiating genre from literary fiction came the notion that genre is more plot-based; whereas, literary fiction focuses more on character.

At its purest, simplest way, this is true.

In a more complex way, this is totally untrue, and McKee’s quote above illustrates that.

ANY story, genre or literature, worth its merit must have some form of plot in the story.  In a recent romance novel I read and loved – Sweet Deception by Patricia Sargeant – the main characters are placed in a series of events (designed by the writer) and for the story to complete itself successfully, these characters must make decisions to propel themselves into new events that eventually lead them to their story’s conclusion (again, all of this designed by the writer).

I can pull any work of literature off my shelf right now, and it doesn’t matter if it’s written in classical form, or if it bucks form altogether, or if it minimizes the classical form; it still will have a plot.  Even a stream-of-consciousness novel like Ulysses by James Joyce has plot because plot is not a formula in which a story is written; plot is the writer’s creation of events and design to move the events to some conclusion.

Any story can become a complete and utter mess by branching off into any and every possible scenario an event can take, but because of the writer and his or her care for that story, he/she will find the best routes to take to make the story he or she wishes to tell complete.

No matter the genre…

UPDATE ON SCREENPLAY—today, I wrote 15.5 pages of Saying No to the Big O, so I’m now up to 60.5 pages.  Have EIGHT DAYS to write 40 pages.  Can I do it?  Me thinks YES.

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Something I read last night made me think about the Writers Boot Camp course I offer online.

McKee states, “Of the total creative effort represented in a finished work, 75 percent or more of a writer’s labor goes into designing a story.  Who are these characters?  What do they want?  Why do they want it?  How do they go about getting it?  What stops them?  What are the consequences?  Finding the answers to these grand questions and shaping them into story is our overwhelming creative task.

“Designing story tests the maturity and insight of the writer, his knowledge of society, nature, and the human heart.  Story demands both vivid imagination and powerful analytic thought.”

Those questions that McKee states are paramount to my WBC class.  They are important to the development of a strong story, of a story with a developed character, a solid situation, and a plot that moves toward a satisfying, “real” ending.

I, like McKee, care about the STORY, and if you’re a real writer, someone who’s doing this for the love of writing and with the desire to better your craft, then you will care about the STORY, too.

And speaking of story, I wrote ten pages to my screenplay, Saying No to the Big O.  Current page count:  44.

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I began reading chapter one of Robert McKee’s STORY, and every five seconds, I was AMENing and nodding and shouting YES like he was the pastor of words.

In the pages I read, McKee discussed the decline of story and the loss of craft.

These are just some of the awesome tidbits:

The Decline of Story

…critic Kenneth Burke tells us, stories are equipment for living.

:::

…all fine films, novels, and plays, through all shades of the comic and tragic, entertain when they give the audience a fresh model of life empowered with an affective meaning.  To retreat behind the notion that the audience simply wants to dump its troubles at the door and escape reality is a cowardly abandonment of the artist’s responsibility.  Story isn’t a flight from reality but a vehicle that carries us on our search for reality, our best effort to make sense out of the anarchy of existence.

:::

A culture cannot evolve without honest, powerful storytelling.  When society repeatedly experiences glossy, hollowed-out, pseudo-stories, it degenerates.  We need true satires and tragedies, dramas and comedies that shine a clean light into the dingy corners of the human psyche and society.  If not, as Yeats warned, “…the centre can not hold.”

The Loss of Craft

The novice [writer] plunges ahead, counting solely on experience, thinking that the life he’s lived and the films he’s seen [or books he's read] give him something to say and the way to say it.  Experience, however, is overrated.  Of course we want writers who don’t hide from life, who live deeply, observe closely.  This is vital but never enough.  For most writers, the knowledge they gain from reading and study equals or outweighs experience, especially if that experience goes unexamined.  Self-knowledge is the key – life plus deep reflection on our reactions to life.

:::

As for technique, what the novice mistakes for craft is simply his unconscious absorption of story elements from every novel, film, or play he’s ever encountered.  As he writes, he matches his work by trial and error against a model build up from accumulated reading and watching.  The unschooled writer calls this “instinct,” but it’s merely habit and it’s rigidly limiting.  He either imitates his mental prototype or imagines himself in the avant-garde and rebels against it.  But the haphazard groping toward or revolt against the sum of unconsciously ingrained repetitions is not, in any sense, technique, and leads to screenplays clogged with cliches of either the commercial or the art house variety.

Got two things to say:  A…and MEN.

If you’d like to pick ANY of these quotes to discuss, definitely jump in and do so…would love to talk writing with you guys!

Oh, and BTW, I wrote 13 pages today on my script, Saying No to the Big O.  Up to 34 pages now.  Excited.

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No matter what side of the fence you fell on in regards to the election, it would be hard to deny the magnitude of what took place that day as we ushered in our first African American President of the United States.  It would be hard to deny where this country has been and where we are today.  It would be hard to deny the truth of slavery.  It would be hard to deny the truth of blacks seeking rights in American once slavery was so-called done away with.  It would be hard to deny the oppression of an entire race in America after so-called rights were established for them. It would be hard to deny – in a world where a black man can still be beaten, shackled to a truck, and dragged down the street like a piece of meat to his death and we treat it like Tuesday, like it’s nothing – that blacks still have a long, hard road to go in this “free” America.

Despite the sour-grapers who will cry that Obama is not all black (though we know that if looks like a black man and does the bump like a black man, then many behind closed doors still see him as a black man…and, unfortunately, derogatory terms, too) or that all blacks voted for Obama because he was black (and forget the many whites that voted for him and the many blacks who did NOT vote for him), Americans have put America on notice; we want CHANGE, and we want it now.

Now, what does any of this have to with writing…OR you?

January 20, 2009, marked for me a new chapter (pun FULLY intended).  It resonated, and still resonates within me the chance to wipe my slate clean, see my dreams, and develop a plan to forge ahead and accomplish them.

If a black man can be MY president, then I can sure as hell move forward and accomplish my goals.  He runs my entire COUNTRY; surely, surely, I can write a few books and screenplays and have them see the light of day, right?

Yes, nod your head, for the answer is RIGHT.  Yes, I can.  And yes, YOU CAN, TOO.

On Tale It Like It Is (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/samaraking) today, I talk about the CHANGE that is coming in our country and the change that should be coming in YOU to make this the year you begin or restart or continue moving in your literary endeavors.  The whole show (which first features an interview with author Michelle McGriff before moving into my The Write Time segment) is featured on my LISTEN page.

Below, I want to showcase an arsenal of books, magazines, websites, and the like that serious writers should check out if it is their goal to make a real go out of their literary dreams.

If there are other resources that YOU love and YOU want to share, please leave comments, thanks!

Books

• Writer’s Market 2009
• Novel and Short Story  Writer’s Market 2009
• The 2009 Screenwriter’s and Playwright’s Market
• 2009 Poet’s Market
• 2009 Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market
• The Elements of Style by Strunk and White
• On Writing Well:  The Classic Guide to Writing Non-Fiction by William Zinsser
• How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling by James N. Frey
• The Screenwriter’s Bible:  A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, Selling Your Script by Dave Trottier
• Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript by Cynthia Laufenberg

Magazines

• Creative Screenwriting
• Script
• Writer’s Digest
• The Writer
• Poets & Writers

Websites

• Publishers Marketplace* – Welcome to biggest and best dedicated marketplace for publishing professionals to find critical information and unique databases, find each other, and to do business better electronically.
• The Write Life for You – A monthly column dedicated to the craft of writing.
• InkTip* – The mission of InkTip.com is threefold: help the producer easily find a good script, save time for the agent and manager in locating the right people for their clients’ scripts, or new clients, and greatly increase exposure for the screenwriter.
• Done Deal* – Done Deal Pro tracks the various script, book, treatment, and pitch sales and options made in Hollywood each day. Subscribers are able to search a sales database of over 9,300 deals and over 600 TV deals by title, writer, representation, company, genre, date, and more. This is an invaluable tool not only for industry professionals but for aspiring screenwriters who want to know each week what material is being sold and to whom, and to track the latest trends.
• Backspace* – The Backspace Online Community is dedicated to helping writers navigate the often confusing world of Big Publishing. Regularly updated articles and columns from industry insiders make the Backspace homepages your first stop to a career in publishing.
• Blood-Red Pencil – great resource for writers to see what what EDITORS think about writing.
• Agent Query – need an agent?  You can start here!
• Fundsforwriters – Grants are FFW’s specialty. Contests and markets that only pay in cold hard cash, too.  To FFW, success means  earning a living doing what you love. Our newsletters are our world.  Free or paid subscription.
• Writer-Reminders -Organize your writing with FREE Writer-Reminders (daily, weekly and monthly checklists, tips and resources). The weekly ezine gives sidetracked writers a road map to more writing time.
• Writing Tips – The Write Way is a FREE, weekly ezine that has advice on how to improve your writing, so that you can write well – whatever the occasion.

*Paid-membership required for many of site’s services

Networking

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter
• Linked In
• Plurk
• YouTube
• Technorati
• StumbleUpon
• Squidoo

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