Writetopia

Books for Writers: "The First Five Pages" by Noah Lukeman

2011-09-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

A great number of books have been written on the art of writing. Most of these books are written by authors, poets - that is, writers in the main. Very few are written by agents.

This is where 'The First Five Page' by Noak Lukeman comes into its own - it tells you what you should not do as well as what you should. Sometimes knowing what you should not do is actually far more useful.

What Mr. Lukeman does is to clarify that agents, in general, are looking to reject a manuscript and he provides the landmarks you need to follow to ensure your book is not thrown into the rejection pile.

I highly recommend this book. There is a proviso though: this book is certainly not for all writers. It is very much geared towards genre fiction, also known as commercial fiction. We can argue about these terms, but certainly The First Five Pages is not tailored for literary fiction.

ZHZ.

Writing Exercise: Still Life

2010-10-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

It is rare to encounter a writer who has mastered every aspect of the craft. Some wordsmith are great at telling a story, but fall down when it comes to plot. Others are great with character, but weak at dialogue. And some trip over description.

That's what this exercise is all about...

For those familiar with the visual arts, you may be familiar with the concept of Still Life. Well, this exercise does something similar, but instead of using paint you use words.

What do you need?

Pen/Pencil, Laptop...
Any object

What do you do?

Place the object in front of you and answer the following:

What is the object? Can you think of alternative names?
What colour(s) is it? Can you think of alternative ways of describing its colour?
What is its shape?
What kind of texture does it have?
Is there anything special about the object?
What does it remind you of?
Does the object call on any memory?
How does light act on the object?
How does the object make you feel?
Does the object have a story? How did it get there? Where is going?
Does the sound make a sound? What kind of sound?
Does the object have a taste? Describe it?
How is it placed?
How does the object relate to other objects around it...

It is amazing how powerful this simple exercise is in getting your creative juices flowing.

Be sure to keep a notebook with you when you are out and about, or use your mobile phone, laptop to house your descriptions! These bits of descriptions will come to populate your prose and poetry and of course it'll get you to use your eyes, your nose, your ears...

ZHZ.

Writing Exercise: Story Game

2010-08-11T04:13:00.000-07:00

Image of 'Children' from Wikipedia

If you wish to test the enduring power of story-telling just say the magical words 'once upon a time...' and see the effect it has on any child. Whether this truism is a social or genetic inheritance, I have no idea, but it is there.

For would-be writers the ability to spin a tale is essential. Some writers are natural born story-tellers and let's be honest, some of us aren't. Whether you think you are - or aren't - you can
play simple games to practise and learn the rudiments of story-telling:

Basic Formation

In a group of 3 or more (somehow 2 is too few) make a circle
Choose a Time-keeper from amongst the group. This person will remain outside the circle
One person is chosen as the spark for the story. They begin with the words 'once upon a time...' and start to tell a story in any fashion they choose
The Time-keeper will say 'NEXT!' after 60 seconds and the the current story-teller must stop and let the next person continue...
You keep going till you reach the end of the Tale

Tips

Relax
Listen closely to the current story-teller very, very closely
Let your mind conjure up images and sensations
Be expressive/use body language
Pause at critical moments
Use eye-contact
Use logic (in your story-telling)
Insert 'telling' details into your story
Practise, practise, practise

Variations

You can opt to not use a Time-Keeper - the current story-teller can decide to stop whenever they wish, after a second or an hour...
You can use a story bag (prepared by a Facilitator) which is a bag with random objects. The first story-teller picks out an object and begins telling their tale. After 60 seconds the Facilitator asks the next person to pick out another (random) object and to continue telling the tale
A person can be chosen to 'act out' the story being told. This is great fun!

This is an incredibly powerful game and I have seen hesitant and stilted story-tellers magically transformed into magical story-tellers after two tries! Try it and see where your 'once upon a time...' takes you!

ZHZ.

Great Books: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

2010-07-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

The Dark is Rising Sequence is one of the best children's fantasy series in the English language. Few people nowadays are familiar with the mystical prose of Susan Cooper, but I recommend a visit to her finely crafted fantasy which is composed of five different books.

In many ways, Susan Cooper's series is superior to many contemporary children's novels and there is something truly timeless and yet vulnerable about her character Will Stanton, the last of the Old Ones.

The five books in the series are namely:

Over Sea, Under Stone
The Dark is Rising
Greenwitch
The Grey King
Silver on the Tree

Few children's series have lasted the test of time, but this is one of them.

ZHZ.

Great Books: Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

2010-07-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

Lyra Belacqua shines brightly in this the diamond in Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" Trilogy. Lyra is one of the most amazing and feisty female characters in children's fiction. "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass" are dimmed by its brilliance.

The trilogy is based on "Paradise Lost", Milton's epic English poem written in blank verse and Lyra's quest, her universe, and the eternal themes of love, loyalty and ambition all swirl together in a heady mix.

It was a real shame the Americans changed the title to "The Golden Compass".

If you read "Northern Lights" you'll ultimately have to read the rest of the trilogy. The other two books aren't bad by any means, but if there was one laser beam to outshine them all then it was this one.

Happy reading.

ZHZ.

Great Writers: Guy de Maupassant

2010-07-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

A short-story occasionally appears on the horizon that redefines the world and jars it into focus. "Boule de Suif" is one of them. For any writer seeking to master the short story there is no better beginning to the instruction of this most difficult of forms than this collection.

Guy de Maupassant's classic opening story (also entitled 'Boule de Suif') takes a knife to French society and then ruthlessly peels away its thin veneer. Set during the Franco-Prussian War, Maupassant descends into the mores of the rich and educated and reveals them for what they are.

What is fascinating about Maupassant's tale is how in the confines of the short story form he is able to show how delicate the fabric of human illusions is and how easily it is torn asunder.

Whether you read it in the original French or otherwise, c'est formidable.

ZHZ.

Great Books: Dune by Frank Herbert

2010-07-11T01:08:00.001-07:00

I read Dune when I was twelve and I revisit it continually as its lessons remain as potent today.

Dune has a brooding quality that erodes limits and barriers and emphasises certain realities and hints at greater depths and mysteries. There is a sense of timelessness to this classic eco-religio-political piece of science fiction that defies interpretation and continues to tantalise.

Yet Dune was turned down by twenty or so publishers before it was finally accepted and even then, grudgingly so. There lies hope for writers who achieve only rejection instead of recognition. Publishers are businessmen: don't expect them to fund art for art's sake.

In today's world of eco-nightmare and addiction to petroleum, in the nature, shape and influence of "spice melange" there is a vital message for all us and there lies one secret of this classic: it answers questions of the day in perpetuity - whoever controls the ultimate source of power controls the universe and whoever is willing to destroy it, like Paul Atreides, will rule. What will follow, however, may be unspeakable.

Dune, remains the greatest single science-fiction novel ever written, not simply due to the quality, depth and cadence of the writing, but because of the universe Frank Herbert wrought.

If ever there was a contender for a science-fiction novel worthy of the Nobel Award then this is it.

ZHZ.

Interviews with Screenwriters: Paul Haggis

2009-11-24T04:44:00.000-08:00

here are a series of brilliant interviews with writers slotted all over the internet.

Here is a short interview that I recommend viewing for would be screenwriters. Paul Haggis wrote the screenplay for Million Dollar Baby. He has also written commercial screenplays such as Quantum of Solace.

Watch, listen, learn and take the best you can from his nuggets of wisdom...

ZHZ.

On Rejection

2009-09-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

Many writers believe they're that perfect writer, the genius, the one who just penned the Great Novel.

But they just haven't got round to sending it.

So you're waiting for the right moment to send your manuscript? Yes, I know it's literary gold and it will sell for a million and mummies will name their kids after you, but...you haven't sent it, have you?

Perhaps I should let you into some open secrets:

Lord of the Flies by William Golding was originally turned down by twenty publishers
A Time to Kill by John Grisham was rejected by sixteen agents
Watership Down by Richard Adams was rejected by thirteen publishers
G P Taylor, author of Shadowmancer, self-published before clinching a deal with Faber
And last but not least J K 'Billionaire' Rowling was rejected by a dozen publishers

How's the coffee?

You've smelled it, haven't you?

If you want to be published expect rejection.

That's how you know you're onto a winner. Agents get it wrong. Publishers get it wrong.

Please, give them a chance not to live it it down.

So dust off your manuscript. Yes, I know it's brilliant. Just send it. And while you're waiting, keep writing.

Another coffee?

ZHZ.

Metaphor: The Heart of Poetry

2009-07-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

Long before the typewriter, philosophers had charted the realm of poetry.

Over two thousand years ago Aristotle wrote:

"The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learned from others; it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an eye for resemblance."

Aristotle, De Poetica, 322 B.C.

It is true that a poem can come to life without a single metaphor, but with it...from the tiny serifs of letters, wings can sprout.

It's so simple to create metaphors, that it is a tragedy that so many can't. Yet, it is so difficult that it takes veritable genius to do it. But children see them everywhere.

How confusing, how contradictory.

A few weeks ago, I spent hours rifling through the pages of poetry manuals. I discovered that few chapters, nay few paragraphs, explained how to master metaphor. Was Aristotle right, that you can't learn how to give life to a new metaphor? That you either have it or you don't?

I think Aristotle was wrong.

You eyes are narrowing. You're asking me: "Oh yeah? How do you create metaphors then?"

You want to know how to crack open your the Pandora's Box that nestles in your head?
You want to fill the world with new creations?
Then come with me.
All you have to do is-

-Look.

Look and keep looking until the object reminds you of...something else. And keep looking until you see...something else. And don't stop...keep looking until the world blurs and the object becomes a Stereogram. Not everyone has the knack of seeming them pesky things, but they're there alright, there at the edge of the world.

I tell you that those untouched, unknown, magnificent metaphors exist.

Dive, I say dive...go deep and keep going until you reach the solid and infinite home of imagination and grab hard- and come up fast, real fast before the blighters escape you and yank them out and let them breathe and when they do your metaphors will wail and they will keep wailing until they become cliches...

I promise.

ZHZ.

The Origin of Poetry

2009-05-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

Poetry is potent.

The rhythmic gush of a poet's mellifluous syllables stir the embers of our frail hearts. In human history, poetry's invisible beat has spurred us into action and we have discovered the far and distant shores of enduring self-revelation.

But why? Why does poetry have this grip we cannot see, but holds us helplessly in its narrative? Whether with iambic pentameter or free verse, words, sometimes arcane, sometimes modern, fall into the depths of us and each time they hit they crack against something hard.

Why? Why does poetry shake us in this way?

The reason lies in the beginning, before we were born.

It was when we were nestled in the black of our mother's womb and the slow systole diastole of her heart comforted us in warmth. And that was all we had before we could speak: that muffled rhythmic thud of sound.

And sound. And sound. And sound.

That's why we can't help, but be ensnared in loops of sounds made words and each time we hear the beat of poetry our soul swells as it remembers the first thud that comforted us in the dark and we know, we just know, that we're finally coming home.

ZHZ.

(c) Zahid Hussain

That Which Separates

2009-05-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

I have often found that two things separate would-be writers from taking wing into the sky of words that they dream of.

They read little.
They write little.

Yet they expect an instant masterpiece to appear out of the nib of their favourite fountain pen.

I encounter such writers so often that I have fallen into the habit of asking them "who" they read and then I ask them "what" they are writing.

And the usual answer?

Hmmm.
Well.
Cough.
Ahem.

And then the million dollar phrase: "but X said that my writing was really good".

Enough.

This is all you have to do - and yes, you have to keep doing it.

1. Read.
2. Write.

Who said life wasn't simple? :-)

ZHZ

Descriptive Writing

2009-05-11T11:53:00.000-07:00

How do you describe an object, an animal or person and using the alchemy of word transform it into something utterly real in the mind of another?

Use the precise word.
Use the apt word.
Use the senses: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory...
Use verbs of motion - even for something static...

And take your time. Look, really look. Wait, really wait. Observe and catch your observations on cool white paper cut with clean black lines of Indian ink...

And your words will rise form the page, organic and pulsating with the clenching tension of life. And then you'll sit back in your chair and gasp at your creation and wonder how you did it, how you spun letters onto a flat sheet of A4 and made the words...live.

ZHZ.

A Writer's Life: 9th March 2009

2009-03-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

I've completed the final draft of my current novel.

I shall rejoice for a heartbeat and then I will plunge back into its dark deep depths. To polish it.

Over the last few months I've read an enormous amount about the craft of forging fiction. I've learned some hard lessons along the way and I pause for a moment to tell you where I'm at so that it might help you too.

I hit a wall in December. The novel, T.S., is technically a difficult one and I was unhappy with the draft. I withdrew for a period and read as much as I could about fiction. I scrutinised the different opinions and then I removed the scum from the top.

And then I rewrote huge swathes of the novel to ensure the conflict was constantly rising and that the stakes grew from chapter to chapter. I wrote every day. I took my laptop everywhere, I plugged in my headphones and kept tapping away on the keyboard.

In the final draft I deleted almost 35,000 words. I currently have 75,000.

The scenes are lined up, the prose is good - but not perfect - and now comes the scalpel and the magnifying glass and the reading the text aloud. This is when I will polish it, shine it so bright they'll be able to see it from the moon.

And of course, what I hope to do is to create the 'uninterupted fictional dream'. Will it be easy to do? The question doesn't even matter to me.

ZHZ.

The Aim of a Story

2009-03-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

ALL writers must create what John Gardner termed the 'uninterrupted fictional dream'.

What does this mean?

When you pen a story you must aim to ensnare the reader in a waking dream so evocative that the reader cannot even break their gaze for a single second. The toast will burn, the kettle will boil and all the water evaporate, the final minute goal by Manchester United will be missed, the tile will fall from the roof and smash the window and they won't hear it...and all because what you wrought with words was so mesmeric that the reader couldn't look away.

Once you have this as your aim then you can ask the right question:

how do I do it?

Good question :)

ZHZ.

Love & Hate

2009-01-24T10:41:00.000-08:00

To make any story come alive you need characters that breathe, make you smile, irritate you, who throw their fists in the air and rant and rave.

So how do you do it, how do you make a character come alive?

There are so many methods, but one of the techniques I teach is called "Love and Hate".

Take any character...I don't need to know their d.o.b. or their height, in fact, I don't want any of the usual biography stuff. I simply want two things:

1. What does the character hate most in the world?
2. What does the character love most in the world?

Then go deeper:

1. What would your character most love to happen?
2. What would your character most hate to happen?

And then go deeper still:

1. What does your character want more than anything in the world - in fact they would die for it?
2. What does your character not want - and would die rather than have happen?

It is such a simple exercise, but it suddenly makes you realise the inner motives, the powerful compass that direct your character.

But what do you do once you've got this information?

Ah, that's the easy bit, believe it or not.

You start to take away the things the character loves and you start to make the things the character hates to happen...and depending on how you want your story to end, you will either make their deepest want come true at the end of the story - or the opposite.

So go back to the story you were writing, or look to your next.

Look at the character's Loves and Hates. Then make the bad stuff happen. Make the character struggle for the things they love and if you do this right you'll create the most important thing needed for any story to come alive.

Conflict.

ZHZ.

What's Your Thinking Style? AUDITORY!

2008-12-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

For those of you who think in sounds or words the problems you will face are vastly different from writers who are visual.

Now there are pros and cons to being an auditory thinker. Classically, most writers ARE auditory, but there are many successful writers who are also visual. Why is this so? Well, it goes something like this:

Auditory thinkers often have a "voice" talking in the back of their heads. By simply "tuning" in to this voice, writers who are auditory thinkers can splurge copious amounts of text. When they're in the groove there's no stopping them.

And therein lies the problem for most splurgers. They hate going back. They don't like editing or rewriting. They get bored and don't see - or hear - anything wrong with what they've written.

So these are some tips for those writers who are auditory:

1. Leave anything you've written to go fallow
2. When you go back read your work ALOUD - this somehow objectifies what you have written. You can often HEAR errors that you cannot with the eye alone.

Another issue that auditory writers have is one of structure. Auditory writers can produce great quantities of text and once "out" they often believe, incorrectly, that it's perfect. How can you overcome this?

1. Understand structure - think of it as the rising tempo of beats as you reach the climax/cliffhanger. The tension should be rising and the peak should be just before the end.
2. If you start with a bang then more bangs should follow!
3. Wait a few days or weeks and then go back and re-read what you've written and do it ALOUD! You'll be amazed by what you hear.
4. Find a good reader who gives great feedback - these people are the rarest people on earth! And listen to what they say, although whether you make changes must always be your choice!
5. Read about the art of writing fiction.
6. Keep writing
7. Keep rewriting

ZHZ.

What's Your Thinking Style? VISUAL!

2008-12-02T09:48:00.000-08:00

Writers who are visual often claim they have "writer's block". The reason is quite simple:

Visual people have hot and intense visual narratives running through their mind's eye: the moment they put a pen in their hand and touch nib to paper or fingers to keyboard keys their imagination flags.

How is it possible to take a picture made up of a thousand words and start it with one word?

Actually, it's quite easy. You storyboard. That doesn't necessarily mean you draw something!

Take a story that you're writing, don't tell me what it is, I want you to go and play the story in your mind from beginning to end...

Go on, go and do it.

...

...

Have you done it yet?

...

Now go and do it again and I want you to count each "scene" that you have. If the story starts with a scene of a soldier returning home after the Iraq War call it the "Coming Home" Scene and that's No 1.

Go on...do it...

...
...

How many scenes do you have in total? One? A hundred?

The next step is simple.

For each scene, get a separate piece of paper (recycled of course!) and put the name of the scene and its number at the top.

Go on - do it!

...
...

Now that you have a series of scenes in order I want you take the next big step...ask questions...

Say we jump back to the first scene in "Coming Home" which is No 1.

What is the character wearing?
What colour are his eyes?
What is he/she wearing?
What expression is on his face?
How is he/she walking?
What colour is the door?

Get the drift?

You see, visual people arleady SEE the story. Once you start to ask questions, the scene becomes CLEARER and CLEARER.

Now go and ask all the questions for the first scene...
...
...

Done it?

Then do the next...

And the next...

What you are compiling is all the TEXT that you will need to tell your story.

...

Once you have done this, I can guarantee you that if I were to ask you to tell me the story it would simply ripple off your tongue. Now, isn't that magic!

ZHZ.

What's Your Thinking Style?

2008-11-13T09:07:00.000-08:00

Often, when teaching creative writing, this is the first question I ask.

Why is it so important?

I think that your thinking style sets out how you will write, the difficulties you will face, and knowing what style you think in will enhance your writing.

But what do I mean, by thinking style? Well, let me ask you another question!

Do you think in pictures?
Do you have a voice in the back of your head?
Do you see pictures AND hear sounds?
Do you simply feel things?

People who are pure visual thinkers will often freeze the moment the nib of the pen touches the paper.
Auditory thinkers will often write too much.
People who think in many styles will, depending on what mood they're in, write better or worse...
Kinaesthetic thinkers won't write unless they "feel" like it!

So what difference does this possibly make? Why it makes all the difference in the world.

It will dictate whether or not you're geared for:

Poetry
Plays
Short-stories
Comic Books
Screenplays
Novels

Which do you think favours visual thinking?
Which favours auditory thinking?

You don't need to be a genius to work this out.

And if you were a little confused, why are screenplays so different from theatre plays? Why, it's because they're more visual.

OK, you say, I know what style I have, but how can I improve my writing?

Good question! Now you're thinking!

ZHZ.

What Do All Writers Have in Common?

2008-08-15T10:14:00.001-07:00

There's one thing, one thing alone all writers have in common.

It comes before a writer becomes...a writer. And it follows ever after.

It is a sort of being.

And in this being and fulfillment and song and motion the parameters are set for all the things that a writer will become later on.

Before a writer becomes a writer, they are first a

reader.

So read and read and read

And then perhaps you can write and write and write.

ZHZ.

Editing: Super Tips

2008-08-03T06:52:00.001-07:00

Dear Writer,

here are some golden tips for shaping your writing, whether you're polishing a short story or a fifty book series:

1. Remove dialogue tags such as "said" - most of these are redundant or to put it another way, dialogue should speak for itself.

2. Delete weasle words such as:

very
little
pretty
really
almost
seem
even
that
up/down
in/out
tried to...
reached...

3. Use positive terms, not negatives e.g. instead of "he didn't come" write "he was absent".

4. Use concrete nouns. Stay away from the abstract.

5. Remove as many words ending in -ly.

6. Remove as many -ing words as you can.

7. Construct "active" sentences - not passive. If you notice yourself writing something like, "he was thrown by the horse", switch the sentence round to, "the horse threw him".

8. Reduce the number of adjectives.

9. Avoid prepositional phrases.

10. Show don't tell, that is, paint a picture, show me what you see, hear, feel and I'll become you. If you don't you'll just bore me.

Print this small list off and I guarantee you this, by following these guidelines you'll add zing to your writing.

ZHZ.

A Writer's Life: 16th July 2008

2008-07-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

So where am I today in my wordsmithery? Well, I'd say that I'm in the middle of lots of projects:

1. I'm rewriting the next book in The Curry Mile sequence...
2. I'm working on drafting my first screen play...big budget
3. I'm brainstorming/thought-showering another screenplay...small budget
4. I'm planning the next edit of a children's book

I've been in the process of moving house for the last couple of months which has meant that everything's been a little up in the ether.

I write regularly, but changing the space I write in has affected my work and I'm only, today, in a position to say that, "Zahid, I'm back on track, welcome back!"

Oh, it's good to be yourself ;)

ZHZ.

Seeking The Voice

2008-06-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

VOICE AND POINT OF VIEW

One of the biggest challenges any writer faces is determining which "voice" is most apt to tell their tale.

Now, when I talk about "voice" I'm not referring to "Point of View", that is, whether a story is told through a first person narrative, a third person omniscient perspective and so on. I'm referring to the character behind the voice. The "voice" itself could be told from different Points of View.

ROBIN HOOD STORY

Let me clarify: if I said to you that we're going to write a story together, you and me, out here in the lonely landscape of the imagination where dreams are formed into tales by writers, young and old, fledgling and experienced...

and then if we spun away allowing characters and plot and locations to coalesce...

and if, to speed things up, I were to suggest using the Robin Hood tale, but I wanted you to rewrite it set in today's world, in your neighbourhood, on your street where there's a fella called Robin and a lady called Marion and 's there's a vile person called Mr. Sheriff who rules the town...I'm sure, I wouldn't need to tell you anything more in order for you to spin your contemporary tale.

USING OTHER VOICES...FOR THE SAME TALE

And once you'd written you tale, if I asked you to retell the story using the "voice" of Tony Blair or Mother Teresa or Bob Geldoff or Angelina Jolie or Nelson Mandela, each time, the "voice" would be potent and the tale would change.

And if instead of using famous people you were to use people who are friends and family, aquainances or enemies, you would imbue your fictional characters with real flesh. Sans doute.

IF YOU HIT A WALL...

If one of your creations is lacking in spirit think of someone who is spirited - they can be fictional characters from novels and movies or TV. If you need someone who is witty think of someone who embodies those characters and incorporate those qualities into your creation.

Finding characters is actually quite easy: just open your eyes and look and feel and listen. After all what are writers other than conduits of the imagination?

ZHZ.

The Spoken Synopsis

2008-04-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

Novelists invariably have to write a synopsis. It is true that many great writers probably never wrote one, but I can assure that agents and publishers always want to see one.

Many who have chosen the world of the pen as their journey, sometimes find it difficult to understand what a synopsis is, why it is the way it is, why it's even needed. Other writers wouldn't write home without it.

You could say that it's the literary equivalent of a business plan. And it is true that the map is not the territory, the synopsis is not the book.

Here are some questions:

How do you write a synopsis?
How long should it be?
When do you write it?
What makes a good synopsis?
What makes a bad one?

I say forget these questions.

Think of it like this: have you seen or read the Robin Hood story. Well, tell me the story. Go on, say it out loud, write it down. Guess what, the telling is very quick. Now when you were narrating the story, did you describe the colour of Robin Hood's tights or the look in Maid Marion's eyes when she was flustered by him? No, of course not, because those are the details that aren't really the big pulsing themes of the story. And that's what a synopsis is: it's a gist. The easiest way for me to do a synopsis therefore is to tell someone else the story. That's it. Tell it to yourself, your cat, your dog, your spouse, your best friend, your mum. Anyone who'll listen and not quarrel too much with you.

And guess what: we do this sort of storytelling all the time when we're relaying information about movies, television series, soaps. We don't tell everything - we stick to the main points and that's it.

So if you think you've got a story, get a stopwatch and time yourself and describe it in 60 seconds. Your tale might go something like this:

The story's about a guy called Noah Jenkins and he wants to be an astronaut, but he's claustrophobic - it's a comedy. Anyway, he works in a dead end job in London that's slowly been sapping his life juice away - then one day the wife he's neglected leaves him for his boss. In a fit of helplessness and rage he signs up for a...

Is that so hard to do?

And once you've laid down the foundation that make up your synopsis you can edit and rewrite to your heart's content until it sings true. Of course, it still means you have to write the book...

ZHZ.

What Published Writers MUST do

2008-03-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

If you are a published writer then there is something I strongly recommend you do that could absolutely alter - for the better - your experience of the writing life.

I believe it's a sad world we live in when those who create entire worlds for others are paid a pittance, but such is our reality. For those of us who are writers we must do what we can to get by comfortably so that we can continue creating new worlds of words.

Firstly, join The Society of Authors. I cannot recommend that enough. They help provide legal guidance, access to databases of agents and so many other things, too many to mention here, but they are all listed on their web site.

Secondly, join the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society. If you join the Society of Authors then your membership of ALCS is free. ALCS collects the royalties from your published work.

Each time your book, essay or photo is reprinted, photocopied, borrowed from a library it generates income. That tally of income is what the ALCS calculates and collects and repatriates to the writer...as long as they are registered.

The creative impulse which produced the work now in print accrues value. Writers rarely have a good business sense, although some do, and the advice they receive is lacking.

I know poets and authors who despite having been published many time have never registered with any society such as the two above. If you are amongst those who believe that you don't need to register with anyone, you're right: you don't have to.

But why not?

What do you lose?

For a few pounds each year you easily recoup the cost of membership and you can access excellent professional advice. Don't waste any more time: go and visit those web sites and decide for yourself whether you should join. I simply believe that you should continue to be rewarded for what you created which has now become become part of the world's inheritance.

ZHZ.