Creating and Expanding Ideas For Your New Book

 

We are all aware that sometimes you get stuck on ideas for your intended book. It’s normal. Sure enough, your creativity is not in doubt, but more often than you appreciate, it drips from the tap rather than flow at full speed. Other times, you create new ideas but then find yourself unable to take them on from there. Those few lines are hardly going to magically magnify themselves on their own, are they? They need you, but you’re just not sure how to expand them.

There are many different ideas that people have put forward. A few of them are:

• Write about your special interests
• Allow yourself to make random, free sketches
• Adopt mythology or history into your story
• Get inspiration by reading other works
• Keep a note with you, and put down ideas as they come

 

These are all great tips, and they have been presented by amazing people – among them, high-grade writers. But as you try these, remember to pay attention to yourself.

It’s your book, isn’t it? That means it’s a reflection of you. What people find in a book, all the good parts (and of course the bad), generally come from within the writer.

Pay attention to yourself, and the results might surprise you.

But what does this mean exactly, and how can you do it?

 

Turn your experiences into ideas

While getting back to my house one early morning, between 5 and 6am, I saw a mentally ill person in manky clothes moving at a brisk pace ahead of me (a very normal sight in this part of the world). Naturally, I put some distance between us and treaded very cautiously. Long story short, somewhere in the distance she gave a young man a huge slap in the face – literally. He jumped across a gutter, and still she confronted him. It quickly turned into a face-off, which ended only when the man broke off whippy branches from a guava tree and managed to scare her off.

I didn’t forget that scene in a hurry. Not long afterwards I wrote a story about it. Different times while writing the story, I played around with the plot. I wasn’t always so sure how to present it, but I knew I was always heading to one end – a scene where an insane woman gives a young man a slap in the face on a road. Somehow, that kept me really confident about the story. It made me feel like I was simply writing about an actual, real-life event and all I needed to do was put it down in words. I felt really good doing that.

Do you have an experience of being pursued by a troublesome dog? Did your sister get a new pug that puts out an innocent face but is really very mischievous behind everyone’s backs? That’s material.

I know it was a terrifying experience for you when you had that nightmare, but I know of writers who have turned their bad moments into great stories! Granted, some little ideas might not make a full story, but you could always incorporate them into something you’re working on. Or the idea might help you think of another idea that you would certainly love to write about.

 

Turn your ideas into experiences

Turning your ideas into experiences is just as great. What do I mean by this?

Let the ideas play out in your head, but more than that, let yourself assume that they’re real. This point is connected particularly to fiction. Do not think of your characters as just that – fictional characters. Imagine them to be real-life people whom you know about, and whose story you’re simply going over in your mind. Do this and watch them come alive before your eyes.

What I do is that I pick a long, lonely (obviously safe) street, preferably with tall trees lined up by the sides, and I walk slowly down it while going over my characters’ stories in my mind. What happened to Jane there? Why did she do that? It was so silly of her, wasn’t it; she should probably have done this instead. Somewhere along those lines there’s usually the odd laugh from me. What you’re doing at this point is you’re giving the characters a real-life edge. The story flows – good for you!

Be careful with this technique though, because oftentimes other people might find you talking to yourself, laughing and smiling alone. They’ll probably think you’re an ass.

You’re a writer. By nature, you are a creative person. I’m certain you could think of other ways to turn your ideas into experiences (you could even dramatize them!). Your reward will be waiting for you.

So, let’s say our goodbyes. Whenever you’re thinking of creating or expanding ideas for your new book, you could try out a lot of the great advice that really nice people have made out time to post on the internet. However, don’t forget to pay attention to yourself. It’s very important.

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When you’re done with your book, SOI Publishing can give you really great options to make it go far and wide. Just reach out through this page.

Why You Should Write By Hand

 

I know: it’s messy, and it takes longer. A whole page of handwriting only comes to about half a page of typing once you transcribe it. Handwriting can look sloppy and unclear. And an hour’s worth of scribbling on a page in blue ink doesn’t hold nearly the same crispness and efficacy of a double-spaced page of sentences set in Times New Roman.

And yet.

Here are my three reasons for writing by hand. They’re all important, but honestly, the last one is the kicker.

1. It’s too easy to edit yourself brutally when you’re typing on a screen.

When you press delete on the computer, you erase your tender ideas before they even have a chance to take root.  When the deleted sentence disappears from the page it disappears from your consciousness.

Writing by hand creates a map of your explorations. Even if you scratch out a sentence, the remains of that sentence are still there on the page; their presence affects the next sentence you write, and the sentences after that. When you are writing a first draft, divining your story as you go, you need these markers to guide your subconscious. They are your material! Taking them away is cruel, and makes creative work harder than it has to be.

When you’re writing a first draft, you don’t know if what you’re writing is any good or not – you simply don’t have access to that judgment at this stage. You’re exploring – and that means turning off critical analysis. Handwriting allows this to happen more readily.

2. To your brain, writing by hand feels more like making art.

Drawing the letter B is making a mark with your hand. As you write, your letters turn into words and sentences, but the act of putting ink to paper activates the right hemisphere of your brain. This is the part of the brain that sees in pictures.

Try this: on a blank piece of paper, write a list of words that start with the letter “B.” Write the words very slowly, as they come to you. Print them in all capital letters, or make your cursive ribbon-like, as though you were a calligraphist. Line them up one under the other to make a word tower. Continue to play with the shapes of your letters as you write the words. Experience the peaceful, exciting bloom of creativity as it floods your right hemisphere. You’re working with language, yes, but you’re also playing, you’re drawing.

Then turn the page over, and continue to write by hand, this time using characters and voice. You’re warmed-up, now. You’re limber, your brain feels elastic.

Do that for 10 minutes every morning. It feels so much nicer than powering up your computer, feeling distracted by your inbox, and trying hard to crunch out a brilliant page of sentences on your first brittle go in the Microsoft Word Print Layout View.

But here’s my main reason:

3. Handwriting is more real.

It feels more important, in the way that counts. More special. If you want to develop a healthy relationship with your writing, if you want your writing to know that you think it’s real, important and special, then you write by hand. It doesn’t matter that it takes more time, or that it’s inconvenient — when you love something, you write it by hand.

Think about the last time you received a handwritten thank you card in the mail. Wasn’t it lovely? Wasn’t there more emotion and feeling in those few loopy sentences than in all of the emails you’ve received in your inbox for the past month, combined?

That person wrote that note at least a few days before you received it. She cleared some space on a table and selected paper and a pen, and then she thought about you. She thought about an experience she wanted to share with you, and then she put it into words. Magically, when you opened the envelope, you felt that focus. It’s a time capsule, a transmission. There’s energy in handwriting, and your body recognizes it.

We so rarely get to feel this anymore, because email has metastasized our correspondence. Even birthday cards are emailed now (although I disapprove of this). At least handwritten thank you cards are still de rigueur for wedding gifts and sympathy cards. And why?  Because we want the emotion behind those events to stand out in our lives as real, important, and special!

Sentimental? Maybe. Inefficient? Almost definitely. But I’ll say it again: when you love something, you write it by hand.

Culled from Sarah Selecky

• COMPUTER
• HANDWRITING
• TIMES NEW ROMAN
• WRITING BY HAND

Writing the First Chapter of Your Manuscript

 

Although we often have our story already fully crafted in our head, it is always still difficult writing the first chapter. Writers, emerging and veteran writers inclusive experience troubleshooting when it comes to creating a compelling first page capable of hooking the readers. Though hook sentences play a major role, they are however not enough to grip the reader throughout the first chapter. Readers need to be engaged with stakes that would make them commit and get equally immersed with the book. If you’re finding it difficult to write the first chapter of your manuscript, here are some tips to get you started.

Open your first chapter in media res:

Readers do not want to get bored when they pick your book for reading. You also don’t want this after all. In Media Res is loosely translated as …in the middle of events. So, rather than start your chapter with a “Once upon a time…”. Starting your book’s first chapter with an unexpected action will stimulate immediate interest in your book.

Start your first chapter with a hook sentence:

When writing the first chapter of your manuscript, you should ensure the first sentence grabs the attention of the readers. Hook sentences generally serve the purpose of arousing the interest of readers, so you should take due advantage of it. Additionally, a hook sentence works even better when you start your chapter in media res.  Doing this will spur your reader to keep on reading.

Don’t lump back story in your first chapter:

The backstory is your character’s past. They do not necessarily form part of a story. But they add to the plot and create a better understanding of certain events in a literary work. To achieve a great effect with the backstory in your manuscript, you should try not to lump them in the first chapter. Rather, spread them across several chapters of your manuscript as the story builds.

You can introduce each backstory when a character wants to take action, reflects, or wants to make a decision.

Don’t introduce many characters in your first chapter:

When writing the first chapter of your manuscript, avoid introducing too many characters. Doing this may prevent you from creating a good reading effect for your readers, who tend to struggle with remembering the characters. Limiting the number of characters you introduce in your first chapter will avail you of the opportunity to create compelling and easy-to-remember moments and actions. The trick to this is introducing the main characters of your book in the first chapter. That is, the protagonist and the antagonist will surely suffice for the effect you wanted to create.

Introduce a new challenge:

Towards the end of your first chapter, introduce a new challenge. This is to enable your readers keep turning the pages in search of answers or remedies to illusions your book already projected in their heads.

For instance, you might have a protagonist suffer from a deadly disease with an unknown cure and has been prescribed to have very few days left to live. He may then get some information about a certain herbalist in a dangerous faraway land who has the cure. The character engages in the deadly journey and spends days fighting numerous carnivores on the way. However, getting to the herbalist’s abode, he discovers the herbalist had gone on a journey that would take him many days to return.

Ending the first chapter on this note will make your readers eager to find out if the protagonist survives or not. The desire to find out how he or she sorts things out will force your readers to keep reading.

Religiously adopting the above tips on writing the first chapter of your manuscript will give you a great head start when writing.

First-person Narrative: 7 Tips for Writing Great Narrators

 

Telling a story using mainly first person narrative has both pros and cons. Here are 7 steps to creating a great ‘I’ narrator, but first:

The pros and cons of writing a novel in first person

The benefit of telling a story in first person is that readers discover the voice and psychology of a character as expressed directly by the character. This gives immediacy, the sense of ‘being there’. The pronouns ‘he’ and ‘she’ in the third person make the reader more conscious of the narrating voice. It stands a little more apart from the characters whose stories are told.

On the minus side, first person narration can restrict your readers’ access to the inner worlds of your other characters. The story is narrated from a single person’s perspective, with all the limitations that fixed perspective involves. There are ways to get around this however (you can use multiple first person narrators to tell your story, for example). If your narrating ‘I’ character is an anti-hero, keep in mind that some readers may also balk at being asked to see through the eyes of an unpleasant or unethical person. This is why it’s often wise to give anti-hero’s some likeable qualities (just as it is wise to give likeable protagonists flaws).

Regardless of the strengths and drawbacks of first person narrators, it’s crucial to write compelling, effective ones. Here are 7 ways to do this:

1. Evoke the senses, not only the narrator’s inner world

Writing a novel or story in the first person makes it tempting to let your narrator dwell on their thoughts and feelings extensively. Often characters can feel lacking if all the focus is on their mental and emotional processes, though. Have your character describe not only thoughts but also sights, sounds, smells and tastes where appropriate. When you use a first person narrator, ask:

• What senses are strongest in this particular character and what does that say about them?
• How can I give the reader a greater sense of an embodied narrator and not just a disembodied, storytelling ‘I’?

Remember to ground your narrator’s observations in the material world. Because this will add colour and depth to your story.

Focusing on all aspects of your narrating ‘I’ character’s experience, physical and otherwise, is one way to write a great narrator. It is also important to let readers see through your narrator’s eyes actively:

2. Avoid overusing words that place distance between the narrator and your reader

Because the narrator uses the first person ‘I’ (and sometimes the plural ‘we’) to tell the bulk of the story in first person narration, you may be tempted to begin sentences with ‘I’ a lot. Take this sentence for example:

‘I saw that the door was closed and I heard a faint scratching noise coming from within the house. I thought it sounded like someone trying to dig a tunnel out.’

The words ‘I saw’, ‘I heard’ and ‘I thought’ all place the reader at one remove to the unfolding events. The reader isn’t seeing, hearing or thinking these things through the narrator. The reader is being told about the narrator’s experiences. The scene could be more vivid if the narrator didn’t ‘report’ her or his experience. The snippet could be rewritten as follows:

‘The door was closed and a faint scratching noise came from within the house. It sounded like someone trying to dig a tunnel out, I thought.’

The reader is placed at the scene, seeing the door and hearing the scratching. The intrusive ‘I’ can come later in the sentence or only in a subsequent paragraph. Ruthanne Reid, writing for The Write Practice, discusses these ‘filter words’ that can place distance between readers and the experiences of the first person narrator. It should be said that in some cases you might want this distance for creative reasons. You might want the reader to not see the scene so vividly in their mind’s eye. Yet become conscious, at least, of how you use filter words (such as ‘I saw that x was so’) and remember to be sparing with them, particularly if you want readers to experience a scene through your narrator’s eyes.

One way to make your narrator great and to let the reader see what they see:

3. Avoid merely reporting in first person narrative

A first person narrator gets to share her lived experience and take the reader along with her through every surprise, challenge or victory. Describing things that happen to your narrator in passive voice is a common mistake. You may want to emphasize your character’s passive response to a specific situation, so there are exceptions. However, compare:

‘As I was trying the door to the house, a sudden voice behind me told me it was locked.’

As a reader, you’re not placed in the scene, trying the handle and hearing the voice.

A stronger alternative:

‘The handle turned but the door would not budge.

‘It’s locked.’

I spun round, surprised by this sudden voice.’

This is stronger because speaking voices appearing in the text give readers a sense of immediacy, of the present moment in which the action unfolds.

The Editor’s Blog describes the difference between the first kind of first person narration and the second as the difference between ‘exposition’ (setting the story up and telling the reader the sequence of events) and ‘scene’ (the actual unfolding action as experienced by characters).

Now that we have some clarity about the things to avoid when writing first person narrative, here are four ways to ensure you use first person narrative well:

4. Use either expository or scene narration for the right reasons

The truth is that sometimes you will need to put the reader in a scene with your ‘I’ narrator, and at other times you will need your narrator to simply retell events as a report back. Use the impersonal, ‘I did this and then that happened’ narration for:

• Narrating transitions between scenes (e.g. ‘After I found the mysterious house I was a little spooked. I returned home and…’)
• Catching the reader up on important backstory that doesn’t require its own scenes (e.g. ‘I was born on a smallholding just south of the border. We moved around a lot ’til I was 14.’)

Remember that your narrator should express herself with all the variety of language that real people use:

5. Vary the way your narrator expresses feelings, thoughts and experiences

This might seem obvious, but many beginning writers in particular make this mistake. If your character is a sensitive or emotional type, they might describe feelings often throughout your story. But avoid repetitive descriptions:

‘I felt perturbed by the scratching sound that came from within the house. I felt more anxious still when I tried the door and it was locked’.

Instead of repeating ‘I felt’, vary descriptions with words such as ‘my’, articles (‘a’ or ‘the’) and other alternatives. The previous example could be rewritten as:

‘My sense of foreboding grew as I noticed a scratching sound coming from within the house. Fear surged when I tried the door and found it locked.’

Maintaining variety in your first person narrator’s self-expression is important because it increases the sense that the character is real. It also helps to prevent repetitive word choice from distracting the reader and rather lets the reader stay immersed in your unfolding story.

To write a great first person narrator, also make sure that the narrator’s voice is consistent with what the reader knows or learns about the narrator:

6. Make the narrating voice consistent with the narrator’s backstory

One common trap with writing first person stories is that the narrator sounds a lot like the voice of the author, pegged onto a series of events. To give your narrator real personality, make sure that their voice is consistent with what you tell the reader about their backstory and ongoing development.

Pay attention to:

• Background: Where is your character from? Think about things like accent, regional slang or idioms that they would likely use
• Class: What is your narrator’s level of education and economic privilege? How might this impact on elements such as vocabulary and whether they use formal vs. informal speech predominantly?
• Personality: Is your narrating ‘I’ a character who is brash and coarse? Or elegant and refined?

Make sure that your ‘I’ narrator uses language in way that is fitting with her background, class and personality. If you’re writing about a poor 14-year-old girl who runs away from home, these details of her life story should feel compatible with the words she uses to tell her story.

To really hone your skill at writing first person narration:

7. Learn from how the greats use first person narrative:

As with any aspect of craft you want to develop, it’s always a good idea to take notes from the writing of your favourite authors. Many novels widely taught as classics use the intimacy of first person narration. From Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (‘Call me Ishmael’, says the narrator at the start) to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, examples of the above suggestions can be found.

Harper Lee’s first person narrator doesn’t open Mockingbird with ‘I thought’, ‘I felt’ or ‘I saw’. The novel begins:

‘When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football again were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury.’

Some thoughts on this opening and why it is an example of effective first person narration:

• The opening fits the character of the narrator, Scout (her compassion towards and focus on others emerges as well as the importance of family in her life)
• The narrator asserts a strong voice but does so without over-relying on ‘I’
• The narrator’s process of remembering is set up from the start, continuing throughout the novel as she recalls social inclusions and exclusions in her hometown

Similarly, when reading a new novel written in first person make notes on how the narrator expresses herself and why this is (or isn’t) fitting for her characterization and story. Conscious observation will continuously improve your own narration skills.

Culled from Now Novel

• FRIST PERSON
• NARRATIVE
• NOVEL WRITING
• PROS AND CONS
• TELLING A STORY

How Content Marketing Brings the Best Out of Your Business

 

Building a strong connection with your audience has become crucial for all businesses to get ahead.

Doing this successfully requires the proper use of content marketing.

This post, for instance, serves the purpose of informing and educating you on how to use content to get ahead in your business. And that’s one of the purposes of content marketing.

Content marketing includes information that is shared through writing, audio, or video via various platforms to communicate with an audience, thereby building trust, increasing traction, establishing authority, and generating leads for businesses.

It is not done for the purpose of making sales alone. It serves the purpose of gradually building a good relationship with a potential audience – or target audience.

It is also a means of educating the public on certain topics, depending on the niche you’re in. While this helps to make people learn, it also helps your brand build authority in that field, which in turn builds trust. And trust helps improve sales. 

Benefits of good Content Marketing

Content marketing is important for many reasons, some of which are:

• It helps to build authority with consumers: Creating content that shows that you understand the niche helps to position your brand as one that knows its role in the market.
• It builds trust: Content captures the audience’s attention and helps them get a feeling that they are understood by a brand, making them have a feeling of ‘we know them’ and ‘can trust their service’. This makes them want to look out for the brand when they need that service. This will also increase your brand’s reputation.
• It helps the business generate traction: Lead generation is important for business. While it’s important to create informative content, it also needs to help the audience take action: whether recommending the brand, sharing the content, or even making a purchase. This is why a Call to Action (CTA) included in the content pieces are helpful.
• Helps build visibility/Awareness: The more you create content that is consistent and useful to your audience, the more your brand gets appropriate visibility and awareness. The consumers will help speak for the brand due to the benefits they’ve enjoyed.

Forms of Content Marketing

Content marketing is carried out using various mediums which are mainly categorized under one of these three: writing, audio, and visual format. Specifically, it can be done using the following mediums:

• Blog posts
• Podcasts
• E-mail
• Infographics
• Seminars
• Webinars
• Social media applications, and many others.

When choosing a marketing form, it is important to look out for one that will be ideal for your business, and then place a lot of focus on that platform. This decision should be based on which platforms your target audience use the most.

However, this does not mean that you can’t use more than one platform. For example, ideally, a baker would use a platform that allows for picture display like Instagram to market the business, but can also use websites to publish blog posts that will be beneficial to the audience in the form of information that will help build authority, and help customers make easy purchase decisions.

 

Creating a Good Strategy

Here are the necessary steps for creating a good content marketing strategy:

• Understand your target audience
• Establish brand style.
• Have a content marketing goal
• Choose the appropriate means of reaching your audience
• Create a content calendar for the platforms
• Create content
• Publish the content
• Promote content
• Measure results
• Tweak content according to results derived
• Rinse and repeat

Conclusion 

Content marketing is the use of appropriate channels to create content that would promote a business, build trust with customers, and establish authority in that field. Mediums used in content marketing include social media and websites. A proper marketing strategy is needed to push the best content for businesses.

Rodiat Ajuwon

 

Post Tags:#brand#brand communication#Content Marketing#reputation

Five Reasons Why Writing Plays Can Make You a Better Screenwriter

 

What do such movies as The Hours, Shakespeare in Love, Empire of the Sun, Wag the Dog and The Untouchables have in common?

Here’s a hint: their authors are David Hare (The Hours), Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love and Empire of the Sun) and David Mamet (Wag the Dog and The Untouchables).

Still stumped? Each of these movies – and we’re talking about some very good films – was written by a playwright. OK. So a few good playwrights needed to make some extra cash, and they turned to the much more lucrative film industry to finance house payments and upscale vacations. That may be true, but what if I told you that they’re all better screenwriters because they write plays?

At first glance, plays and screenplays seem very different. Plays are, at least to the untrained eye, mostly composed of people sitting (or standing) around and talking. In many cases, everything happens in one place. People may go in or out, but the general perception of plays is that it’s all about the words. What a difference from screenplays, in which you can call for car chases, vast battles, settings that change with the click of a button – and the general perception is that it’s all (or at least mostly) about the visuals.

But despite the obvious differences in the final product, playwriting and screenwriting are closely related forms of dramatic writing. Want to improve your screenwriting? Here are five reasons why writing plays will help you.

 

How Writing Plays Makes You a Better Screenwriter

1. You’ll write better dialogue

Writing is like lifting weights: the more you exercise your muscles, the stronger you get. Plays, for the most part, depend much more heavily on dialogue than screenplays do. So it stands to reason that writing plays will exercise your dialogue muscles more. In particular, writing plays forces you to create variety – too many sentences of the same length and rhythm will put an audience to sleep – and at the same time, it’s great practice in capturing the rhythm of how characters speak. And equally important, writing plays means valuable practice in creating subtext through dialogue. Then, when you go back to your screenplay and have only a few lines with which to work, each one will have that crispness, sparkle and meaning.

2. Character, character, character

The Zoo Story by Edward Albee may very well be the best one-act play ever written. Its structure is as close to perfect as I know, with Jerry explaining to Peter about his trip to the zoo that “it’s one of those things a person has to do; sometimes a person has to go a long distance out of his way to come back a short distance correctly” – and the structure of the play exactly mirroring that statement. Peter and Jerry. That’s it.

Rather than having a whole host of characters, many of whom appear only for a scene, writing plays forces a writer to focus on a relatively few characters.

Moreover, unlike in screenplays, where a character may be on for only a few moments before he’s relieved by a shot of a burning building, the characters on stage need to be developed carefully, because we’re going to have to live with them nonstop for the entire play.

3. Get more out of those confined spaces – and times

In screenwriting, the story jumps from place to place – literally – in the space of a single frame. While this can be a wonderful storytelling asset, it can also be a crutch. Have an unsolvable problem? Just move somewhere else and maybe that will work. Playwrights, on the other hand, don’t have the luxury of being able to change sets at the drop of a hat. Yes, one can use suggested settings, and the influence of film has certainly made for more “cinematic” plays, but playwrights are forced to get more out of their settings.

Considering that many independent films want a limited number of locations, learning how to milk what you’ve got is a valuable skill. And remember that setting isn’t just a location: it’s a place in time, too. Once again, it’s the playwright who is forced to select that place in time carefully, and to maximize the action that can take place there.

4. Understand structure beyond the three-act cookie cutter

James Bonnet, in an earlier e-zine article, “What’s Wrong With the Three Act Structure,” offers compelling evidence why the three-act structure is, at the very least, open to question. Yes, it’s still the prevailing model for screenplays and for plays too, but theatre has long had additional structural models. The landscape play, for instance, is one in which we start with a blank picture (i.e. an empty landscape), and the structure of the play is the filling out of that picture, as if we’re painting a picture of the landscape. Once we complete that landscape, the play ends. Or the process play, in which some particular action – for example, building a house – gives the play its structure, and when that action ends, so does the play. Because not every story you may want to tell on the screen can be told best using the three-act structure, playwriting is a way to explore other possibilities.

5. It’s not all about plot

Plot is important. Someone wants something, and during the course of the story, a series of plot events mark that character’s trying to get it. But plot is not “action,” which is defined as “a purposeful change.” And sometimes screenplays get too caught up in plot. For example, when I was writing my play Shining Sea, I was having trouble with the last twenty or so pages. I had the good fortune to work with legendary dramaturg Leon Katz, who identified the problem: I had too much plot. As usual, he was right, and once I cut down on all of the characters running in and out and the multitude of tiny plot twists that didn’t really add anything, I was left with a much clearer story, one that focused on–rather than distracted us from–the true action of the play. That kind of discipline is much more easily learned in playwriting, where there are fewer bells and whistles.

Tennis players improve their games by playing basketball. Actors improve their acting by studying psychology. Football stars take ballet. So if you’re writing screenplays, why not cross-train by writing for the stage? And who knows – you might find you enjoy writing plays just as much as you do writing screenplays.

 

Culled from Writer’s Store

Five Tips to Increase Your Bookselling Efforts

 

The reward of holding a copy of your published work is indescribable. But it’s just one of the many exciting milestones in your journey to self publishing success. One key objective in your publishing journey is selling your book successfully. Here are five tips we think may help improve your efforts to increase book sales.

Build up your image as an author and a brand

Book buyers and readers gravitate to books—and authors—that appeal to them. The more you project yourself in a way that holds their attention, the more you gain their trust. Highlight the fact that you are now a published author. Add that to your email and forum signature lines. Don’t forget to add your website or social media profiles to here, as well as to your press release boilerplates. These may be small things, but they’re the building blocks to a positive image.

A quality 3rd-party review is important to successful bookselling

An honest and well-written 3rd-party review is invaluable. A positive review from a respected book reviewer will make your book stand out, improve its marketability and enhance your title’s, as well as your, reputation. Don’t be afraid to invite readers and indie reviewers to evaluate your book. Published reviews on sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the iUniverse bookstore bolsters the credibility of your book encouraging new readers to part with their money knowing that they will get a good read in return.

Librarians are your best customers—and allies

Librarians are savvy, well-informed book buyers. They are the favorites of the traditional publishing houses, small presses, and self publishers. If librarians like your book and trust your brand, they will likely become some of your most effective bookselling allies. Their participation and support are valuable aids to your bookselling activities—sponsoring book signings, readings, meet-and-greet affairs, and Q&A activities at their libraries. So be sure to visit your local libraries and befriend your librarians.

Use your social media networks to connect and sell your book

While iUniverse carries all the titles of its authors in its online bookstore and through its partnerships with Amazon and Barnes and Noble, one of the most effective ways to sell you book is through social media networking. Generate news, book-related updates, and positive reviews through Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, and to the other online communities you belong to. Social networks are also great places to meet fellow authors and find new opportunities for selling your book.

Give e-book publishing a try

Electronic publishing is the new generation of book publishing. While the Internet has expanded your marketing reach beyond physical and geographical borders, e-books are allowing you to put your story into the palm of your readers. No matter where they are around the world, readers and consumers can now purchase and enjoy downloaded copies of your book using mobile devices. If you want to take your book selling to the next level, consider giving e-book publishing a try to expand your reach.

Writing and creating your story is a rewarding dream. When done correctly, your bookselling strategy will allow you to reach, and surpass, your that publishing dream. There are no shortcuts in bookselling—no magic spell or recipe to improve your sales. It comes down to careful planning to put yourself and your book in front of the entire reading world.

Did you know?

According to some sources, many early self published books found widespread success through direct book selling campaigns. Walt Whitman, James Joyce, E. E. Cummings, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, Ezra Pound, Carl Sandburg, George Bernard Shaw, and Mark Twain, are just some of the famous authors who rolled up their sleeves to sell their own books!

Culled from IUniverse