Friday, November 18, 2016
On Cons...
A few of my writer friends will be representing the Garden State Speculative Writers group at Philcon this weekend. I felt it might be appropriate to talk briefly about conventions (or Cons) and how to maximize the experience.
First, and perhaps most obvious, is to ask yourself, "why am I attending?"
It may be a simple question, but it is something you should know before you walk through the door and spend your money for admission. Having goals and reasonable expectations in mind early will help.
The first thing I would suggest doing is checking out the programming schedule, and highlight the topics that may be of interest to you. When sitting in as an audience member at a panel discussion, don't feel obligated to stay the entire time. While some panel discussions are fluid, organic and could go on for hours, others become stagnant and forced, and frankly, a waste of your time. Some panelists take over the conversation and talk about themselves and whatever they want to promote. And if you do not have a good moderator to keep the discussion going, it can get out of hand.
As you meet people and learn about the panelists, you'll get a better understanding about which speakers are worth your time, and at your next convention, you can look for them. Don't think that an admirable author is necessarily a good speaker, and don't assume that a lesser-known speaker will hamper a discussion.
If you have time, feel free to step outside your comfort zone. Maybe you're not a gamer. Or, maybe you don't know that you'd like to be a gamer. Stroll into the gaming suite and watch a game for a few minutes. Ask questions. Most gamers are passionate about their gaming and would be happy to answer questions and show you what they're doing. You may be surprised at the experience.
Filking? What the heck is that? If you're new to cons, you may not have ever heard the term filking before, and would instinctively stay away from it. But again, you may be very surprised at the talent of the musicans at the filking sessions.
If you are going in as a published author, have work to sell and a table to sell it on, keep your expectations low, and you'll be less likely to be disappointed. Although I would guess that majority of writers are inherently introverts, this is not the time to sit in the corner silently. Your book isn't going to sell itself. Address every person who walks by, make eye contact, smile, find a non-awkward way to start a conversation. Lure people to your table with a professional appearance, and maybe even candy. Your table's appearance is the book cover before your book cover. If a customer sees you as a person and not a salesperson, it will help your chances of a sale. Most people perusing the dealer room do not know what they want. Prove to them why they want your book.
If you are sharing a table, be as polite, professional and accommodating as possible. We're all in this together, and working and bonding with your fellow writers will make the experience more pleasant for all parties involved.
Speaking of parties...
Part of the convention experience is networking. Strike up a conversation you are sitting beside before a panel starts. If you are staying for the weekend, meander over to the bar and find some night owls after the official programming has ended. Late night conversations over a couple drinks may well become enlightening discussion you have all weekend. Look for programming at the end of each night for an EYE OF ARGON reading or a CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY game.
Make the most of your time. Meet people, learn something, buy books, maybe even sell some books. But above all else, have fun.
Friday, February 6, 2015
On Humor in Speculative Fiction
"From here to there and there to here, funny things are everywhere."
- Dr. Seuss
Please join the Garden State Speculative Fiction Writers tomorrow and
Alex Shvartsman as he discusses HUMOR IN SPECULATIVE FICTION.
~~~~
Most editors will tell you that they aren't seeing enough humor in their slush pile, yet relatively few humorous stories grace the pages of professional markets. How does one write speculative humor successfully? And, most importantly, how does one go about selling that humorous story afterward?
Alex Shvartsman is the editor of Unidentified Funny Objects, the only annual anthology series of humorous SF/F. As a writer, he has sold humorous short stories to venues like Nature, Galaxy's Edge, InterGalactic Medicine Show, Daily SF and a plethora of other magazines and anthologies. His humorous story "Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma" is the recipient of the 2014 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction.
On
February 7 he will discuss his favorite techniques for injecting humor
into speculative fiction, best places to submit such a story, and other
related subjects.
You can join the meetup here or just show up (it's free!):
http://www.meetup.com/Garden-State-Speculative-Fiction-Writers/events/220031949/
http://www.meetup.com/Garden-State-Speculative-Fiction-Writers/events/220031949/
The event will take place at the Old Bridge Public Library at noon tomorrow, Saturday February 7th at Noon.
Hope to see you there!
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Exciting News!
My short story, "Throw a Gem" will be appearing in Every Day Fiction (everydayfiction.com) later today free for you to enjoy. Here's the link: "Throw a Gem"
In addition, my novelette My Friend Jack will be released today on Amazon for the Kindle, Barnes & Noble for the Nook and as an E-Pub or PDF for just $2.99.
Here's the Amazon link: My Friend Jack
My short story, "Throw a Gem" will be appearing in Every Day Fiction (everydayfiction.com) later today free for you to enjoy. Here's the link: "Throw a Gem"
In addition, my novelette My Friend Jack will be released today on Amazon for the Kindle, Barnes & Noble for the Nook and as an E-Pub or PDF for just $2.99.
Here's the Amazon link: My Friend Jack
Monday, March 24, 2014
On Giants' Shoulders..
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
- Sir Isaac Newton
Writing, by nature, is a solitary action. It's just the writer and a
keyboard and screen (or pen and notepad). But as you'll see, for a vast
majority of writers out there, you will be a better writer if you do not
take the entire journey alone. Thankfully, my journey did not begin
alone.
At Glen Rock High School (over two decades ago, *gasp*!), I was inspired
by two English Teachers: Mrs. Linda Rossi and Mrs. Linda Tomas. I know
I was a class clown and probably gave Mrs. Rossi migraines daily. I'd
like to think I matured when I reached Mrs. Tomas, but the jury's still
out on that one (and they've been deliberating for two decades.)
Regardless, I know I wasn't dedicated to writing, but they planted the
seed in my head. I learned to read often, and appreciated what I was
reading. I'm sorry if I was a nuisance.
I figured those things you gave me were just pills to calm me down or
shut me up, but they were seeds; thank you for planting them.
Fast forward a few years and I found myself at William Paterson
University sitting in as a timid underclassman in Dr. Corri Wells's
Creative Writing class (she always wanted us to call her Corri.) It was
during her courses that I learned how to write, and that I could write,
and even write well on occasion (as I often say, even the blind squirrel
finds a nut once in a while.)
And to this day, a few hundred thousand words later, I can proudly say
my favorite (and probably best) short story was written in Corri's
class. Although the story, "There She Goes" now renamed "Slip Slidin'
Away" is still collecting rejection letters, many are personalized
rejections from prestigious literary journals. I'm confident the story
will find a home some day soon (and until then, I'm blaming the risque
plot as the reason they "loved the story, but it's not a good fit for
us.")
Thank you, Corri for watering the seeds. They sprouted.
Then I took about 8 years off, until I found myself unemployed, broke
and bored. I still read frequently (a free hobby), and found myself with
time and a few stories that had been simmering in my mind since
college. So I joined meetup.com and found a writers group (writing is
free! Don't blame me, I was broke, and I'm Dutch). ::ENTER John Adamus::
John ran the North Jersey Writers Group, based out of the Barnes &
Noble in Paramus. Every week or so he would host small critique groups
or give us lectures on various elements of writing (you'll see me
referencing his work often in the future.) Anyways, John must have seen
something in me, as he immediately "took me under his wing" (I haven't
posted my topic on Avoiding Cliches like the Plague yet, so this
one's allowed) and mentored me. And mentored me hard. I'd text him with a
question, and he'd devote hours of his time with a detailed phone
discussion or email response.
"John, why is internal dialogue sometimes italicized but not always..." -
silly stuff like that. If he didn't know the answer, he'd research it,
ask colleagues, anything, everything. John would go out of his way to
give me the best possible answer he could, and provide me with detailed
comments and analysis on every story submission I'd make (and these
questions and stories were frequent.) John is one of the truest, most
generous men I know. And I would not be anywhere close to where I am
today, with out his mentoring and friendship.Thank you John. It took longer than both of us expected, but doot's a bloomin'!
The most important advice I can offer to my readers and fellow writers
is this: don't do it alone. Find fellow writers, companions, future
friends, people in the same boat as you to share your highs and woes.
Follow this blog. Ask questions. Make comments. Let others help you
along the way.
If I can inspire or teach any one future or current writer out there the
way my Rushmore of Mentors (Mrs. Rossi, Mrs. Tomas, Corri, and John)
have taught me, this blog will be worth the time and effort.
You four are giants to me; and the view is grand.
Thank you. Sincerely. Thank You.
"At the end of every road lies a path."
- from a fortune cookie read to us in class by Corri circa 2001?
On Making Time to Write..
“They can’t yank a novelist like they can a pitcher. A
novelist has to go the full nine, even if it kills him.”
-Ernest
Hemingway
If I was standing in line somewhere and someone told me Scarlett
Johanssen wants to go out on a date with me, I’d first pick myself off the
floor, make sure my buckled knees weren’t permanently damaged, get an okay from
my girlfriend, then say, “Just give me a time and a place.”
These are two essentials for writing your masterpiece. But it’s not easy. Afterall, most of you have
a life (I hope). You probably have a job, maybe a hubby or a wife (or maybe
both..if so, have a sandwich..writing can wait), maybe kids, friends who enjoy
your presence, maybe a bowling club or a knitting league, and of course TV
shows to watch. How could you possibly find the time?!?!? Short answer:
anywhere you can. One of my clients wrote his novel on a train en route to and
from NYC for work. Some write during their morning coffee and oatmeal. Some
write before they go to bed. Heck, if you work a 9-5, you probably get a half
hour for lunch. If you’re lucky, you get an hour. Does it really take 30
minutes to eat a sandwich and apple? Can’t you eat it while scribbling in your
notebook?
My writing mentor John Adamus proposed to me the 30/60/90
method. Basically, you commit yourself
to writing blocks each week based on that time-table (if that time table
doesn’t work for you, adjust it to fit your available time. 30 minutes 3 days a
week, and an hour on Sunday mornings. Anything. Whatever you like. Whatever
suits your needs. But the essentials are to Find the time (it’s there, no
matter how busy your life is. If you want to be a serious writer, or even an
infrequent writer, you MUST make the time.) Do you really need to watch The
Biggest Loser every week? If Jared or some dude or lady can lose 100 lbs.
during a 6 month season, you can write 300 pages within that time. One pound at
a time. One page at a time.
For me, my mind starts churning as I’m about to fall asleep
(you can tell if you’ve ever seen my face - my beauty sleep has been
severely compromised.) This leads to some scribbling on the notepad or a voice
recorder on my night table, or a 5 hour writing session 'til the sun comes up and I realize, crap, I've gotta get up and work in a few minutes.) By the way, keeping them on your night table is
awesome for dreams too. More on dreams in a future post.
Now that you’ve found the time, let me ask, where you gonna
write? That’ll be addressed in next week’s blog post.
I’ve got Friday night open for writing, with one exception…if
Scarlett calls.
Thanks for reading, Now Get Writing!!!
On Saaaaave, and a Beauty..
So Jesus and Satan are sitting in
the café sipping coffee bragging to one another. Satan says, “Dude, I’m a much
better writer than you.”
Jesus laughs and says, “Hell no! I’m a better writer.”
This goes on for a few minutes until Satan proposes a challenge.
“It’s 1pm. I bet I can write a
better story than you by the end of the day.”
“You’re on! Be back here at
midnight with your work.” Jesus answers, and they both leave.
Both diligently begin tapping away
at their keyboards and both make great progress through the course of the day.
But a well-timed thunderstorm (blame Zeus) rolls in at 11pm and knocks out
power for a few minutes. Jesus is back at the 24-hour café at 11:30 patiently
waiting and enjoying a divine slice of I don’t know, let’s say….angel cake. The
devil bursts in the door at 11:59pm grumbling to himself and sits down at the
table across from Jesus.
“All done?” Jesus asks and leans back
with a smile.
“Yeah, had to rewrite it though,
god-damn *badumbump*storm knocked out power. Only got 900 or so words, and it’s
crap.”
“Wow, what a shame. A travesty I’d
say,” Jesus says, and plops down a 5,000 word masterpiece.
“How the hell *badumbump* were you
able to write so much since the storm?!?!?” Satan yells, steam bursting out of
his nose and ears.
A patron sitting behind Satan
leans in and answers.
“Jesus saves.”
The point of the story is simple.
Save your work. Save early. Save often. Save the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Then back it up and save it again. USB Flash drives (aka thumbdrives) are available
practically anywhere for under $10. Buy one and when you’re done writing for
the day, save your work on the thumb drive. Save it on your computer’s hard
drive. Then log into your email and send the file to yourself. Dropbox it to
yourself. This way, you’ll have it on your computer, your thumb drive, and “off
site” on your email account or dropbox.
If you’re working on different
drafts of a story or doing revisions, I also highly recommend naming the file
with the date of your last and revision number. And if you’re part of a writers
critique community, also include your name in the filename. Here’s an example:
“doot_myfriendjack_081113rev3.doc”
Doing this makes life a whole lot easier
for yourself and your writing peers trying to figure out who submitted what.
When editing other writers’ work, I also include my name and the date and
revision of the last edit when returning work to the author. This is especially
important when working with a client or editor; you do not want to be applying
suggested changes from your editor while your editor is working on a different
version of the file at the same time. Mass confusion and a lot of copy/pasting
between different files wastes valuable time and can lead to oversights.
Trees may disagree, but it also
cannot hurt to print out a hard copy of your work after finishing a draft. If
you’re cheap like me, you can even cut costs by lowering your font size down a
couple (standard is 12pt font, print out drafts in 10pt font, squeeze those margins
a bit, condense the work to single space, and if you’re REALLY cheap like me –
change your font to Century Gothic or Times New Roman, as they use the least
amount of ink…true story!)
Inexpensive software is out now that can scan
printed documents and incorporate them into text with few to no errors if you
somehow happen to lose all your digital files. When it comes to writing, the
five minutes it takes to back up your work during each session may save you
hundreds of hours down the line.
Lastly, save everything you write.
The good, the bad and the godawful. Just a few months ago I was working with a
fellow writer who submitted a feature length script (about 120 pages – one page
per minute of screen time.) I said that due to the complexity of the story, it
might be better suited for television. He then told us the original draft ran about
250 pages (waaaay too long for a feature length spec script.) He then confessed
that when he cropped the script down to 120 pages, he didn’t save the work he
cut. Doh!!! Major Doh!
Save your work. Save it all. It
may not work for the story you’re doing now, but you never know when and where
it might fit.
Okay I’m done with this blog
entry. And yes it has been uploaded, and saved to my hard drive and thumb
drive. Time for a slice of…angel cake?
Now Get Writing!!!
On doot's On Writing..
"Good things come to those who wait."
- Hannibal Lecter
Hello there, and welcome to doot's On Writing. Glad you decided to visit. Please, pull up a seat, we're gonna be here a while.
Actually, this entry's gonna be brief, as I've got a lot more to go over.
I will be updating this blog weekly with a topic on writing. Probably on Tuesdays. Perhaps Monday if I'm ambitious. Possibly Wednesdays if the week's kicking my arse.
The first few weeks will probably be devoted to beginner topics, including the Rushmore of Rules (Show don't Tell, Excessive Adverbs = B.A.D., stuff like that) but as we move along, I'll delve into intermediate and advanced topics like: Narration Types; Using Mindmaps to Outline; Cumulative Syntax; and other big words...
And I won't just be talking about writing itself, but I'll tackle topics such as the Self-Publishing Market, Manuscript Formatting, Query Letters, etc.
I've got 78 topics right now in various stages of development (kinda like my fiction In Progress list!), so this blog'll be running for at least a year and a half. Hope you're still following us in a year.
Now, one thing to remember -- what I'll be talking about is simply advice on writing. It's my opinion, based on hundred, no, thousands of hours of attending lectures and panels, participating and running writers groups, reading books on writing (two shelves worth), reading literature, and the trial by fire of writing (often poorly) and learning from the mistakes. My advice will work for some of you; it may not work for all of you. And that's okay.
One week I'll talk about Writing What You Know, and the next week I'll contradict myself with advice on Writing What You Don't Know. Take what you can from these posts, apply what you think it'll work, and post here your thoughts, opinions, and your own advice.
One week I'll talk about Writing What You Know, and the next week I'll contradict myself with advice on Writing What You Don't Know. Take what you can from these posts, apply what you think it'll work, and post here your thoughts, opinions, and your own advice.
I'd like this blog to be interactive. Comments are welcome and encouraged. And if you have a topic you want me to talk about, shoot me an email and I'll get it out ASAP. We've got a ways to go, but we'll get there.
Please stick with me; I promise I'll do my best to make it worth your time. Thanks for reading.
Now Get Writing!!!
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