Editing Circle

A Guest Post on Pitching

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:04:00 +0000

Folks:

Here you'll find a Guest Post I did on the origin of Genre and how to use that knowledge to pitch your project to an editor or agent:

http://madisonwoods.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/genre-tuesday-guest-post-from-jaqueline-lichtenberg-part-1/

A lesson on SHOW DON'T TELL

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:45:00 +0000

I picked up this "share" from +Jack Tar who should get some credit for a good choice of "sharing." It's a very professional video made from a really top notch professional script by someone who nailed "show don't tell" like an Olympic Gymnast nails a landing. If you are a writer, you must analyze this video to it's very foundation. I score it a 4.0 (all writers need that pair of glasses!)

STEP ONE: write down your own personal reaction to this video, what it says, what you think might be learned from it, and what it implies. What exactly is it showing? How might it have been scripted differently? Why was it scripted this way.

STEP TWO: Check it out on YouTube and note the commentary especially from people who react negatively to the content or even the philosophy behind the message. That is the most important part of this SHOW DON'T TELL lesson -- study those comments, they are worth gold.

STEP THREE: Write a video script as "cheap to make" and as illustrative of a non-verbal message, a bit of philosophy. This could take you a few years. Don't hurry.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

The Education of a Romance Hero

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:37:00 +0000

Officially, the 2005 film titled SAHARA is described thusly:
---
Master explorer Dirk Pitt goes on the adventure of a lifetime of seeking out a lost Civil War battleship known as the "Ship of Death" in the deserts of West Africa while helping a UN doctor being hounded by a ruthless dictator. (124 mins.)
Director: Breck Eisner
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Penélope Cruz, Steve Zahn, William H. Macy
---
There are a lot of DVD's on Amazon titled SAHARA - this is the 2005 movie about treasure hunters looking for a battleship in the desert -- As I was watching ( logging the SAVE THE CAT! "beats" with part of my mind), I was imagining the story I would have written: LIKE THIS: “ Indiana Jones on Tatooine with McGiver for a sidekick and Captain Kirk in orbit ”

The film SAHARA also reminds me of ROMANCING THE STONE -- the two-guys-and-a-tough-gal in a chase/battle for life and limb (with larger stakes beyond themselves) format is now an entrenched classic, though there was a time when the gal was only there to be rescued and do stupid things to get caught again.

Looking at the dates - early 1980's to just before 2008, I think these films hit big because they were hammering away at a stereotype the people of theater-going-age desperately wanted to break (all females are helpless, or if not, are "Evil.") Power in the hands of a woman turns Dark, or destroys the woman.

Today, (2012) we have NEW STEREOTYPES that the teens of this time will hammer away at. These are recently born stereotypes, almost too new to be called cliche. Yet the rate of change in our society has exploded to the point where the brand new stereotype is an old cliche before the movies to challenge it have been shown in theaters.

We're seeing those challenges I think in the "Indie" market - the films made on low budget by the brilliant producers honing their craft on YouTube and Vimeo.

The question the beginning writer must answer is, "What are today's stereotypes?"

I suspect you'll find a lot of answers by examining the condition of "the family" in today's world.

Statistics recently posted indicate that a man and a woman who marry and raise their kids in a structured, family environment, have a much MUCH lower chance of unemployment, poverty, -- and I haven't yet seen the statistic but I suspect someone is crunching numbers on the juvenile delquincy rate. We do have a "bullying" problem erupting in the early grades of schools, a precursor to real trouble in life (both for the bully and the victim).

One development we have seen between 1980 and 2010 is the advent in the Romance Genre of the novel centering on the divorced or single-parent woman finding true romance the second (or third) time around, despite having attained a sense of total independence -- or perhaps because of it.

The broken family mends, might be the theme of that sub-genre.

The stereotype that may be forming (to be broken soon) would be that seen by the children of these "broken" marriages -- the next generation looking back and seeing "family" and the distaste, strife, and even real hatred between their parents and their grandparents.

"The Family" broke during those decades along two axes -- horizontally via divorce rate, and vertically as children found the "generation gap" (that has always existed) widening beyond comprehension.

It's probably not irrelevant to include the advent of the internet as a household utility between 1980 and 2010. The cell phone revolution of the 1990's just added fuel to the fire. Social networking, Web 2.0 and up, ebooks, and a whole new curriculum in the schools widen that verticle gap.

I do hope by now you've all read Alvin Toffler's non-fiction book, FUTURE SHOCK -- he predicted all this and more. If you are looking for the next stereotype to break and sell a blockbuster movie, read that book.

Toffler notes that the public school system in the U.S.A. (an innovation that changed the world, PUBLIC schooling) has always been the tool of industry, politically dominated in such a way as to turn out workers suitable for the jobs that industry needs to fill.

The nature of the jobs needing filling has shifted markedly in this 30 year period -- to the point where those educated in the 1980's public schools don't qualify for modern jobs unless they've acquired more certificates or skills, degrees, and resume items in between.

The "covert curriculum" that Toffler points out prevailed in the 1970's actually cripples folks for the workforce today -- it shifted and then shifted again. But then in the 1990's or so, the covert curriculum in the schools was turned much more "overt" -- saying "on the nose" that the purpose of schooling is to prepare you to work a job.

Some of this peaked as the Unions became powerful enough to challenge industry's control of the job market, setting the idea that the monetary compensation for a "job" should be determined by what the worker thinks it should be - not what the employer thinks the job actually produces.

And another notion ebbed and flowed all the way into the university level -- that the purpose of education was to learn certain things are true, and others are not true. That the world "should" be this way, but never "that" way.

I've had some long, deep conversations with teachers retiring from the workforce who have taught at the High School and college levels (and I know some Middle School teachers too) who have felt this shifting wind of philosophy altering the textbooks.

Two rules I've seen imposed that exemplify this shift creating a new stereotype that new films will attack:

A) If one student in a class misbehaves, punish the entire class. There are no individuals, just the group, and the whole group is responsible for the behavior of individuals.

C) Never allow students to read ahead in the textbook, or ask questions from the "next chapter." The full weight of Teacher Authority must squash any notion that a student should teach themselves without supervision.

The covert curriculum thus becomes control of the group by authority.

Now this is not yet entirely visible across the nation, not at all. It turns up here and there, gets dismissed, turns up again, and is tossed out. Parents get outside tutoring for their children, take them to dance and music classes and all those things that break the grip of the public school authority.

But just anecdotal evidence from teachers I've spoken to indicates it's a rising tide not a receding one. The children who grew up trained by authority not to teach themselves are almost at the level of being in charge of things. The main result of having gone through school being punished for the misbehavior of others (over whom we have no control) is to hammer at government to CONTROL the misbehavior of others lest it hurt us.

Safety from the misbehavior of others and a deep seated conviction (irrational as it may be) that we can't solve problems that haven't been solved before, may be creating an even wider generation gap, or a very wide gap between spouses.

In the 1970's, the biggest business and the biggest category of self-help books was the DO-IT-YOURSELF industry (father of Home Depot). Today, you don't do-it-yourself, you go to Home Depot and ask a clerk how to do it and what to buy.

The oldest joke since the popularization of the automobile is the difference between the husband and wife as they try to find an unfamiliar location. Ask or read the map? That's gone now by the GPS!

So, the writer should be asking, "Will the imposition of Authority over Thinking For Yourself bring us together and heal the Family?"

At one time, "Father Knows Best" -- a man was King of his Castle and the wife had to shut up and take orders. That let at least half the people in the world vent their frustrations at being bossed around at work.

Did we have healthy family dynamics then? Do we need to go "back" to that? Or forward into something new that's never been tried before in human history?

In the film SAHARA the characters are on a treasure hunt -- and they find more than they were looking for, but only after harrowing, near-death experiences that only miracles could rescue them from (yes like INDIANA JONES).

Take the beat structure from SAHARA, strip out the subject matter, and replace it with THE FAMILY. That's the treasure the treasure hunter searches for - the HEA.

Remember in the HEA ending, the Happily Ever After of the Romance story, the result of happiness is children (one way or another). That means HEA is the equivalent of FOUNDING A FAMILY though "Romance Genre" doesn't usually deal with after the wedding.

Ancestry.com is a very big and growing web-based enterprise now. People are curious about their distant heritage (even if they hate their parents).

Yes, I know, you don't hate your parents -- nor do I. But if you watch a few TV series, you'll see the modern "cliche" stereotype when the parents come to visit. There's always anticipation of strife, and then really serious strife -- sometimes it's resolved in the show, or at least partially, but the RIFT between generations is routinely portrayed as so common it doesn't need explaining to the audience.

The other thing you see mentioned offhandedly with the implication that the audience understands the nature of the strife implied -- that's the phrase "my Ex" -- everyone has an Ex and knows what meetings with him/her mean. Strife. Gallore.

The reason Romance Genre doesn't deal with "after the wedding" is that we, as a culture, now expect Family Life to be fraught with strife. There's me vs. my parents. There's spouse vs. spouse's parents. There's me vs. my spouse's parents. There's my spouse vs. my parents. Children only make it worse. Then there's his children from a prior marriage vs. my children from a prior marriage.

Remember THE BRADY BUNCH? Could you put that on TV today and make it a hit? Why was it a hit then? (1969 and a film in 1995)

It was a hit because divorce had become common, but "The Family" was still strong. An amalgamated family was plausible because despite the inherent strife between generations, Family was plausible in a way it is not today.

Remember The Waltons TV Series?

Name Your Link

Remember Little House on the Prairie?

If you don't remember them, you can probably get them streaming on Netflix etc.

As a writer, you have to learn to discern the intended audience's characteristics and interests by looking at the piece of fiction with a writer's eye. But just because you're studying one thing, don't think you are allowed to forget everything else you've studied.

One of the things with WRITING as a craft, discipline, business, and artform is that you must teach yourself. Nobody can teach you. Honestly. There are a lot of expensive courses in writing all over the web now, but the truth is none of them will do you any good at all unless you are completely free of the ideas in A) and B) above -- that you get punished if someone else misbehaves and that you must not look ahead in the textbook.

In fact, that trick of looking ahead in the textbook is the one thing that got me through college. The very first day when I got the syllabus that said what the textbook would be, I'd run to the bookstore and get the books, then while in waiting rooms, around anywhere I was, I'd be reading the textbooks from back to front -- that's right, BACKWARDS, starting with the index and ending with the table of contents, until I understood what the course was about, what the underlying covert-curriculum thrust underneath the material actually was (whether the professor knew it or not, and it was usually NOT).

When I went to college, professors and TA's didn't take role, didn't know or care whether you were in class (unless there was a pop quiz you needed to score on). If you knew your stuff, you got the grade commensurate with what you knew. They did not grade "on the curve" -- everyone in the class could get an A or an F and the administration wouldn't blink. Everyone had an equal shot at an A because no rule forced the teacher to sort the class by statistics.

All you had to do was take the mid-terms and final. Sometimes you didn't need to bother with the mid-terms if you aced the Final. Some courses you could get credit for by just taking the Final before the course was given (History was one of those). It was called "placing out" of the course to satisfy a pre-requisite for some other course. Some courses didn't have mid-terms or quizzes. A term paper and a final was your only chance. Nobody cared whether you lived or died, and the other students didn't even know your name. In that environment, you grow up fast or you flunk out.

The maturity gained from being treated like that is what I see lacking in today's college age people, and I strongly suspect that the cohesiveness of FAMILY illustrated in those TV Series comes from having been educated in grammar school the way I was educated in college. I suspect that because I know that is how my parents were educated in grammar school and that's where they learned how to teach me to go to college and succeed. And that lesson is one of the reasons I love my parents. They turned me loose in the world with a fully mature sense of self.

That environment where you must achieve certain goals without anyone supervising you to force you to do the work creates a sense of individuality -- a sense of Identity. You don't have to do the 1960's thing of "finding yourself" because your Self emerges strong very early in life, and can never be threatened by anyone else's behavior.

The key, I think, is that covert curriculum item of "nobody cares whether you live or die" -- what you do doesn't affect whether they succeed so they have no stake in you failing (thus no bullying). No grading on a curve means how well you do doesn't depend on how poorly someone else does. Thus there's no reason to hate, resent, or undermine other students.

It is that strong sense of individual self that is the absolute bedrock requirement for the ability to Pair-Bond, i.e. to experience ROMANCE that leads to the HEA not to just another fling.

Now, go back to the film SAHARA. Like ROMANCING THE STONE this film has a back-and-forth, rescuing and rescued, between a guy and gal who eventually do get to have their dream-date-on-a-beach.

These films depict the forging of a Pair-Bonded Relationship based on two people having that strong sense of Self. That kind of educational experience I outlined produces Heroes (no wonder women were excluded from college, from becoming doctors and Lawyers -- they might then become Heroes.)

Remember the film LEGALLY BLONDE?

Remember we're talking about hammering at stereotypes? The "dumb blonde" is a big one, and the dumb blonde beauty who's a lawyer? Think about that in terms of the "nobody cares if you live or die" educational method producing Heroes instead of herds of cattle or nice tractable, obedient soldiers or employees all in a row.

That "nobody cares if you live or die" is the feeling that the street urchin gets, the tough street kid who grows up to be a boss (Mob or otherwise).

Now there's a difference in the effect of receiving that attitude at the age of say, 8, and at the age of 18.

FIRST must come the warmth, coddling, and protection of a strong family environment. THEN comes being thrown out into the cold, cruel world to fend for yourself. If you're never thrown out, or are thrown out too late in life, you never develop the ability to fend for yourself. You remain dependent and in need of protection (read some Regency Romances written prior to say 1980, then some from today which overlay today's woman on the Regency heroine.)

So, given cell phones and social networking peer support groups that parents know nothing about, what kind of pair-bonding potential will this new generation have built into them?

If the family bonds vertical and horizontal are now shattered beyond repair, what next set of bonds are under attack? And by what tools?

We've seen the advent of the "flash mob" -- but we've seen it used to attack social order (rob stores) and we've seen it used to build a strong community (actually coming together to clean garbage off a street or spend time gardening or building houses for the poor.)

The flash-mob by itself is a neutral development, but the purpose a group chooses will be the result of the values of the individuals in the group.

Is the flash-mob itself our next stereotype or cliche to be hammered by a great film?

Is school bullying the stereotype to attack?

Look carefully at this selection of films and TV series and ponder what the current set of 10 year olds (born in 2002) will be 10 years from now. If you start on a film script today, that's about when it will hit the theaters.

Crafting The Query Letter

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:10:00 +0000

On Google+ I've been in a discussion of how to cold-query an Agent when you have no sales record behind you -- and of course you can't sell fiction these days unless you have an agent, but you can't get an agent if you have no sales.

That's the same catch-22 you are in with the screenwriting biz when you start out. In fact, it's true of "getting your first job" no matter the industry.

You need to show-don't-tell what you have to offer that the person hiring you can make a PROFIT from.

The skepticism of those hiring anyone to do anything is growing because our educational system awards degrees and honors without actually equipping people to do the tasks necessary in commercial development of a product.

That's not really new, just exceptionally emphasized today. So we now have more "internships" where you work without pay, and social networking and blogging where you can gain a reputation and a following to prove you have commercial grade ideas and skills. Think of performing artists who've made a splash on YouTube.

So a while back, I did a series of 7 posts on WHAT IS AN EDITOR ending with how to tell if you're a writer or an editor. In the Screenwriting business, producers are usually your second or third tier editor.

Here's a link to the Part 7 post that has links to the previous 6 in the series:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2010/09/what-exactly-is-editing-part-vii-how-do.html

My series on EDITING puts your mind in the editor's place so you will KNOW what to include and what to exclude when writing a query.

Having considered what the agent and editor are up against these days, you then come upon the problem of how to query an agent who does not know "who" you are (if you are anybody at all.)

Here's what I wrote on this Google+ conversation about query writing:

Appropos of the business of agenting, I found this link on a Yahoo Group of professional writers, many best selling, big name pros who are self-publishing because the mainstream publishers (for whom they may still work) are offering really bad contract terms for the e-book and audiobook. Now the business of agenting is shifting hard and fast, with more cracks showing and chunks of the monolith breaking off. Here is a PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY post that is just a vague hint of what's under the surface. Read this looking for the emotional desperation those who've invested their career building years in AGENTING must be feeling.

Naggar Agency to Offer Reprint Rights Representation

Here's a quote from that article:
---------
While a number of literary agencies have announced plans to self-publish books by clients, others have taken the tack of offering ancillary publishing (and agenting) services. The Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency is taking the latter approach, and has launched a program to represent other agencies looking to republish their clients' backlist titles.

The new venture will be overseen by agent Jennifer Weltz, working with royalties manager Tara Hart. Speaking to this new side of the business, Weltz said it came about "organically" after she began talking to others in the industry about striking deals, with emerging e-book and POD publishers, for JVNLA's clients. Noting that there is a growing number of publishers eager to buy backlist works, Weltz said there is now a "middle world" between self-publishing and traditional publishing that remains unfamiliar to some in the business.
----------------

The agenting business is changing and shifting fast, along with publishing and writing. Reprints have become a goal in a way they haven't been for decades. If you're just starting out, keep this kind of shifting in mind as you sign contracts.

You also want to study this post which tells you what to write back once your query has been answered, "Send me ..."

http://editingcircle.blogspot.com/2010/03/ok-send-me-2-page-synopsis.html -- always remember you are opening a conversation, not ENDING one. Leave something for them to ask about.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Unto Zeor, Forever mentioned - LoveCats DownUnder: Rachel Needs Book Advice!

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:45:00 +0000

LoveCats DownUnder: Rachel Needs Book Advice!

I'm putting the link to this blog here because I keep losing track of it and it's a phenomenon and a half in a writer's life to see a book remembered exactly this way.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Dangerous Books For Girls Video Found Via Google+

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:01:00 +0000

Melissa Walsh pointed me to this video on Google+ and I need to save it and talk about it a lot on aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com

Pilot for TV Series "House"

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:45:00 +0000

I found this via a screenwriting Group on Facebook Rockett Writer Group a "closed" Group you must request to join. It was posted by

Jessica-Trinity Fisher

House_1x01_- _Pilot.pdf (application/pdf Object)

I'm putting the link here because I've been watching House recently with that dissecting eye which produces my long, boring essays on writing craft.

Now if I had a parallel source of the ratings for each episode, and a spreadsheet of the changes made after ratings variances, maybe I could learn something about the decision making process that the decision makers themselves don't know.

Here's the parent website with links to a number of scripts posted online for free reading.

http://sites.google.com/site/tvwriting/home

It has series "bibles" and as of Dec 2011, here's a list of recent additions:

Latest Scripts

Hell on Wheels 1x01 - Pilot
Breaking Bad 3x01 - No Mas
American Horror Story 1x01 - Pilot
Happy Endings 1x02 - The Quicksand Girlfriend
Happy Endings 1x04 - Mein Coming Out
Hidden Episode 1
Merlin 4x03 - The Wicked Day
The Office 2x19 - Michaels Birthday
Outnumbered 4x05
Torchwood 4x01 - Miracle Day episode 1
Last Man Standing 1x01 - Pilot
Man Up! 1x01 - Pilot
Grimm 1x01 - Pilot
Once Upon A Time 1x01 - Pilot
Beauty and the Beast 1x19 - Everything is Everything

Pendant Productions - Star Trek: Defiant MP3 and Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:29:00 +0000

Pendant Productions - Star Trek: Defiant MP3 and Podcast

As writers working toward a career in writing, you should seriously consider the market potential of RADIO DRAMA delivered via the internet.

There is an ever-growing number of such outlets.

Audio-only writing instills a story-discipline that will serve you well in a film career. If you combine that with a day-job in journalism, you train for the fast-paced, demanding, tailored-to-order world of Film Production (Hollywood or not, time is money is the prevailing adage.)

Journalism makes you fast and accurate with your words, and Radio Drama writing gives you drill in organizing a story.

In addition to this, I'd suggest you read the following e-book:

Those are short-stories from magazines published during the RADIO DRAMA ERA. Besides being interesting stories, and by the creator of the character ZORRO (one of my favorites), who also wrote for film, the underlying story-structure and thematic material are precisely relevant to today's web-based radio-drama world.

Put all that together, you will have a long and lucrative career.

But don't think it's easy money. This stuff is very hard work unless you're born with enormous talent.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Comment On Review Of Twilight Breaking Dawn

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Take a good look at the following blog:

Twilight: Breaking Dawn. Why Do People Hate it So Much?

The author nails BREAKING DAWN and the whole Twilight thing both correctly and incorrectly.

a) correctly:
-----------quote-------------

From the very opening monologue it’s about some of the deepest things we have: what it takes to become an adult, and what falling in love can involve.

And it hits these concerns full centre, full power.

First of all it’s a neat dramatization of a Love dialectic. We get both versions. Classic romantic, an eternal truth (the vampires), and a more cynically deconstructed scientific notion of a gene-spreading imperative that deceives about its true nature (the imprinting of the werewolves).
---------end quote-----------

b) incorrectly:
----------quote-------------
Twilight asks How important is Love? How far would you go? Would you leave everything you value? Would you step into a dark unknown? Would you surrender to a far greater power? Would you dare to swap your soul for love of another? Would you? Would you really? And if you would, how incredible must the experience of that love be?

---and---

If you were a teenage girl wouldn’t you thrill to that idea?

Come on. Don’t be curmudgeonly. What’s wrong with making films for teenage girls? Don’t they deserve a bit of the magic too? Especially when it goes so deep into what makes us human.

Genuinely loved it. Can’t wait to see what happens next time.

Oh, and if you want to get into another animated debate here’s another post about Lord of the Rings wiping the floor with Harry Potter. There’s a pretty lively comments section…
---------end quote----------

The error here is the "teenage girl" limitation. Yes, the publishers and film-makers probably narrowed the focus to make it blatantly "teenage girlish" -- but no, that's missing an important point.

Like my Sime~Gen series, both Potter and Twilight are accessible to readers/viewers first in the pre-adolescent and adolescent stages of development. But human nature, the nature of the adult, is not to erase all trace of childhood and adolescence and become something utterly new and irrelevant in adulthood. "Adult" means the product of all experiences back to birth -- and maybe earlier! Maybe including prior incarnations, who knows?

So works such as Potter, Twilight, or Warhorse, "speak" to every human being at every age or stage of life because they have something to say about "who" you could have become had you made other choices, and they address the entire issue of whether you made an optimal choice and what you choose to do next.

The rejection of your "teenage girl within" (even if you're male) is a major issue, and may have something to do with the rejection of the Happily Ever After ending we've been discussing at length and depth on aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com in my Tuesday posts.

This labeling of TWILIGHT as "teenage girl" material smacks of the labeling of certain science fiction works as "fantasy" simply because they included themes arising from an exploration of human psychology -- examples are Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern (science fiction about a lost Earth colony) and Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover novels (science fiction about a lost Earth colony), Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novels, (science fiction about an alternate Earth).

Today C. J. Cherryh is still writing very successful novels in her Foreigner Series, but now that science fiction background is allowed to include that human dimension once forbidden.

So I expect that "teenage girl" dimension will be accepted as adult fare by general audiences just as the "fantasy" dimensions are becoming accepted today (even or especially on TV Series).

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Why Not Send A PDF Of Your Script First?

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:51:00 +0000

You know that this blog focuses on writing craftsmanship-- but keep in mind that this isn't the "old fashioned" or "trad publisher" type of writing.

The world is changing as much as it did with the deployment of the moveable type printing press. The writer's business model has collapsed, and is being rebuilt along new lines.

The search for a new publishing model is thrashing through new territory. Everyone who's ever considering going into "business" is searching for "talent" to "exploit".

You hear it on blogs everywhere -- "content" we need "content" -- what is that? WRITING TO BE EXPLOITED.

Writers need to "search" for material as frantically as business folk are searching for a biz model.

BREAKING DAWN and HARRY POTTER films -- the new Spielberg WARHORSE -- they're hitting huge markets with common-denominator material, "Primal" material such as Blake Snyder teaches you to exploit in SAVE THE CAT! Each of those films is a "Save The Cat!" example.

I found an interesting post on a new Facebook Group I joined (which I found via another blog which I found on the right margin of a LinkedIn page which I was on because of a comment that a LinkedIn writer had made on an update to my LinkedIn status ... whew! The comment was from a screenwriter, and the blog on LinkedIn was about screenwriting, which cited this facebook screenwriting group on LinkedIn .... that's why it's called social networking!)

http://thebitterscriptreader.blogspot.com/2011/11/should-you-include-pdf-of-your-script.html

This is by a script "reader" (who makes a first judgement about projects) who is objecting to the amateurish over-eagerness of some writers attaching pdf files of an entire script to a mere first-query letter.

As you know, I watch the "Indie" markets -- film and publishing -- for what is being done with the new tools of this new world. I'm aware of how much overflowing eagerness is driving young writers with a vision of what they could accomplish -- especially when these blockbuster films dangle vast sums of money before their eyes.

"I can do that, but I can do it "better"" they feel in every cell of their body. Many, maybe most, are correct about that. Nothing is being done to the fullest extent of the tools available (yet).

But when you have written the final scene of a story, you always feel it's the best thing that has been written ever -- (or sometimes the worst -- emotional "blow-off" is the state after finishing a draft).

The focus then shifts to either burying the thing in the backyard with a headstone, or trotting it out before the eyes of those who could get the film made, or the book published.

The "thebitterscriptreader" entry is about those writers who KNOW they've done something colossal, bigger than WARHORSE or POTTER, but either don't know what to do next, or don't know how to do it, or don't have the maturity to reign in their certainty and work through the next step.

What is that next step?

Well, this is depressing for some, but the next step is actually the FIRST step that should have been made on the project. That's to articulate the CONCEPT in one line, develop it to a pitch, a paragraph, a page, 5 pages, synopsis.

If you develope a project from concept via those baby steps instead of leaping directly into writing the wondrous script, you can then tweak the statements in concept and pitch and construct your query letter/email. And that query will indeed embody the essence of what you've written.

The reason people SEND that whole script when they should send only a query is that they don't know how to explain the driving essence, the true payload, the elegance, beauty and emotional PUNCH they have created in their script. They can't "explain" it because it isn't clear. It isn't clear because they wrote the project backwards, procedure wise.

How do I know this? Been there, done that, got my head handed to me good and proper. If you want the story, pick up a copy of UNTO ZEOR, FOREVER, or just peek "inside" on Amazon and read the introduction where I talk about how I learned. ( find Unto on Amazon here
http://astore.amazon.com/simegen-20 )

Years and dozens of projects after you've learned to think "concept" first, then "market" then developing the pitch to take to market, then writing the story -- then you will be able to have an "idea" and just write it. When you come to an "unclear" section or a wrong-step in your procedure, you'll go write up the "outline" or pitch or back cover copy, re-focus and know the next scene.

Here's one important secret. The reason you want "thebitterscriptreader" to read your script is the reason you want to write that script -- which is the OPENING SCENE and FINAL SCENE connected by theme and illustrated by action and symbol. In other words, it's the theme explicated into concrete images.

Everything else in your script has to be pared away -- don't weep, use it in another project, but get it out of the way of this project and focus this project on that one thing that will make this "bitter" reader grab it out of the avalanche of half-baked projects sluicing down at him seeing $$$$ all over it.

Just remember, if you have to attach the script, you've made a major error in writing it.

Here is the blog post on this blog about how to create that cover letter, the concept, and all the way up to the pitch that can sell the project, script unseen!
http://editingcircle.blogspot.com/2010/03/ok-send-me-2-page-synopsis.html

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Night Shade Books’ probation has been lifted

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:50:00 +0000

Night Shade Books’ probation has been lifted

That link goes to an article on the Science Fiction Writers of America website where it says the committee which placed Night Shade Books "on probation" for violating contracts with authors has now lifted the probation because all the issues have been properly dealt with.

This is a great example of why authors need to belong to an organization of authors that works diligently to protect rights. All authors, even those who do not belong to this or that organization, benefit from this behind the scenes work.

The SFWA workers are unpaid volunteers for the most part, though outside accountants and lawyers are often hired in these cases.

This kind of work never makes the headlines, but it is responsible for bringing good product to readers. If a writer doesn't get paid, she can't write the next book. It's a business, and publishers have to treat us as business runners.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Slice of SciFi TV – The Slice of SciFi Live Video Show!

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:33:00 +0000

Slice of SciFi TV – The Slice of SciFi Live Video Show!

That link leads to an adventure in web-TV focused on science fiction. This is a NEWS SHOW format show, pretty much like a video of a radio show broadcast, but featuring guests, and news clips.

See how to subscribe free to Farpoint Media podcasts on iTunes
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/farpoint-media/id155949012
You have to consider this venture in conjunction with Glenn Beck's web-Tv venture GBTV http://web.gbtv.com/index.jsp?gclid=CK6Ks8yjjqsCFewaQgodSykvxA

Whatever you think of Beck's attitude and opinions, you have to hand it to his business sense. Books he backs consistently hit #1 best seller on the NYTimes list and on amazon.com

There's a business reason he's trying this web-TV basis, and he is not a ground breaker by nature. See this slice of SciFi TV venture and note what the Star Trek folks have been doing with webisodes.

If you're launching a screenwriting career, you need credentials in this kind of venue before it gets beyond your reach.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com
http://astore.amazon.com/simegen-20 -- for list of currently available novels

Gender Gap Vanishes in Female-Empowered Cultures | Wired Science | Wired.com

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:18:00 +0000

Gender Gap Vanishes in Female-Empowered Cultures | Wired Science | Wired.com

Is an item on gender differences as a function of culture. This is just the kind of news item writers of fantasy must absorb and retool into worldbuilding.

Top Dating Sites » 10 Unrealistic but Common Romance Novel Storylines

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:12:00 +0000

Folks:

Here's a blog entry on 10 "unrealistic" Romance Novel Plots.

Top Dating Sites » 10 Unrealistic but Common Romance Novel Storylines

My entries on aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com on Tuesdays are focused on the puzzle of why most people don't believe the HEA or Love Conquers All thesis of the Romance Genre.

There's much to discuss in this post, but it will reference many of the posts I've already done.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Zondervan Launches 'Story' Campaign with Lucado

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:40:00 +0000

Zondervan Launches 'Story' Campaign with Lucado

That headline leads to a blog post on Publisher's Weekly
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/47129-zondervan-launches-story-campaign-with-lucado.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly%27s+PW+Daily&utm_campaign=2b9449fdee-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email
about a 2005 publication called THE STORY which is a chronological retelling of The Bible.

Pastors and Churches picked this up and now it's generating more stories that are being published.

The popular writer teamed with church Pastors is stirring up the world.

I haven't read their THE STORY or dug deeply into this movement, but writers could learn something from it about how the new business model of publishing connects to existing communities or philosophical alliances.

There's a new social dynamic driving the entire "communications" component of life, all related to Social Networking.

A new writer just launching a career will not succeed at all without a thorough understanding of how all these new tools of communication link and inter-link.

Note Barak Obama won office by launching his campaign online, collecting money online. It probably worked because he was one of the first with the right skilled people to do that, and he had a message that resonated with the demographic that was involved in social networking.

The world has changed again, and yet again since then. Wednesday May 11, Newt Gingrich is to announce his online campaign for President via Facebook etc.

Tuesday May 10, 2011, my blog entry on http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com is about Mass Market writers providing their own (often best selling) titles for you via eBook publication - all formats.

What has all this to do with a group of Pastors supporting a chronological retelling of The Bible?

These are connecting trends that are re-enforcing themselves. The Internet shattered society as we know it. Now something new is forming, trying very much not to look too new.

THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT.

That's the Hollywood mantra for a reason. Think about that.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com
http://astore.amazon.com/simegen-20

‘Game of Thrones’ Begins Sunday on HBO - Review - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:17:00 +0000

‘Game of Thrones’ Begins Sunday on HBO - Review - NYTimes.com

Is the kind of condescending review we would ordinarily expect for an SF Romance, and it's the attitude I've been dissecting and analyzing in http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com

I don't get HBO so it'll be a while until I see the TV version of George R. R. Martin's GAME OF THRONES, but I like Martin's writing (he's fun to do panels with, too).

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Kindle Author: Kindle Author Interview: Jacqueline Lichtenberg

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:28:00 +0000

Here is an interview where I detail the origin of my award winning Dushau Trilogy, and why it's now on Kindle.

Kindle Author: Kindle Author Interview: Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Kaye Manro Romance Author: Aliens ~ Soul Mates ~ and Sex

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:58:00 +0000

Kaye Manro Romance Author: Aliens ~ Soul Mates ~ and Sex This is a Guest post I did for this blog based on a previous Guest post (with a link to it). On #bookmarket chat on Twitter yesterday someone asked how to find really good blogs about BOOKS. Well, Kaye's is one, and you can find many more listed on the side of her blog page.

Writing Student Here Makes Good

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 17:41:00 +0000

Folks:

I have mentioned Kimber An's first novel being published because she's one of the most dedicated writing students reading my Tuesday posts on Aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com -- here's the item.

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2010/10/teens-trekkies-and-heroic-ideal_22.html

Now her second publication is coming out, and it's publication date is my birthday, March 25th!

Here's the message I just got from Kimber An
------------
Crushed Sugar, a prequel novella, by Kimber An will be released on March 25th. It is a short tale of a faint heart, a fair maiden, and a blood-sucking dead guy. Pop over to
http://www.facebook.com/l/a68cbJznbIxDOdZiWgMjHVl0R4Q/www.kimberan.com/aboutcrushedsugar to learn more!
.
Thanks again, Ladies! Couldn't have done it without you, especially Jacqueline, who taught me so much. If you haven't already, the rest of yous should pop over to her page.

-------------

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

On Genre - A Lucrative Topic

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 22:13:00 +0000

Folks:

I've been writing long series of long posts on aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com about how we, as Science Fiction Romance writers, can bring Romance and its cross-sub-genres Paranormal and SF, into the high level of respect among the general public that we think it deserves.

This is a topic Science Fiction fans and writers spend a lot of time on.

Here is an article for you to ponder as you decide how to launch your own career.
One Genre to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them --

Remember bylines become associated with genre, so you may need several bylines in genres to make a living, and another one to gain prestige, if that's what you want. But if you do that, there will come a day when you have to pretend to disparage your genre books, or pretend they aren't yours.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Using Twitter and Klout

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:46:00 +0000

To get a grip on "why" the @twittername mention is important in a RT, go sign up (free) for klout.com --

Or just look at my name there http://klout.com/JLichtenberg (I made 57 once)

Klout.com is a "service" that rates "reach" (i.e. how important you are on the internet) via twitter responses and it accesses some other social network activity metrics too.

The number klout.com comes up with is used by search engines to suggest you as the answer to various questions, (or at least it was last I looked). There's a whole lot of reasons why your klout number is the key to selling books.

There are probably other such services out there -- but your Klout number comes up on hootsuite.com window when you click on the @person name on a tweet.

It's all about "who" you are to "the world" -- as writers, we gather followings. I think most of us have READERS following us, and "readers" as a group tend to be more "influential" in the world -- so if we team up and RT each other, expanding the "klout" "reach" we each have, we can become the answer to search engine questions, and sell books.

Roundabout, but it's not much effort to put an @person in a tweet if you use hootsuite -- it auto-completes the @ if you remember the first couple letters.

Twitter itself is not much use for anything. To "work it" you need "tools" -- Tweetdeck and Hootsuite seem to be emerging as top favorites of those serious about mastering social networking. (try free versions)

Jacqueline Lichtenberg (freebie enthusiast)
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Folks:

I belong to a group of mass market writers who have posted their own backlist as e-books. I've posted my award winning Dushau trilogy to Kindle, but Wildside's Borgo imprint is doing my Sime~Gen novels, and already has Molt Brother and City of a Million legends on Kindle and other e-book formats.

Over 70 authors belong to this Group - called Backlist Ebooks. Here are a few who have blogs you can learn from.

Gerald M Weinberg - http://secretsofconsulting.blogspot.com/ (http://www.geraldmweinberg.com )

Doranna Durgin, http://doranna.net/wordplay

Marsha Canham, http://marshacanham.wordpress.com

Jacqueline Lichtenberg, http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com
(where I post on Tuesdays)

Jeffrey A. Carver, http://starrigger.blogspot.com/

Jill Metcalf, http://jillmetcalf.wordpress.com

Terry Odell, http://terryodell.blogspot.com

Maryann Miller, http://its-not-all-gravy.blogspot.com/

Patricia Rice, http://patriciarice.blogspot.com

Pati Nagle, http://patinagle.livejournal.com/

Lorraine Bartlett or Lorna Barrett, http://www.LornaBarrett.blogspot.com

Karen Ranney, http://karenranney.wordpress.com

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com (slowly being updated with NEW Sime~Gen releases)

Script page from White Collar (a real one)

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:45:00 +0000

I found this posted on Twitter by Jeff Eastin via twitpix

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Thrills, Chills and Romance

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:16:00 +0000

Thrills, Chills and Romance

This blog entry by Nancy Holzner, I found on a twitter post Retweet by Nancy Holzner.

On a #scifichat on twitter I got into convo about "what is genre" (which I think is changing) so this is relevant to a blog I have to write on genre definitions (thought I was done with that, but there's more to say).

So on http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com I'll probably discuss this post. Meanwhile read it, read Holzner's novels (good reads all) and really think about what's actually happening here.

I suspect those discussing "genre" are not exactly phrasing the questions in a way that can produce answers that writers (inside the writer's own mind) can use to sort their creative material into forms that fit marketing channels.

So at some time soon, I'll have to revisit the "what is science fiction" topic which we all thought was totally finished decades ago.

Science Fiction is "what I like to read" -- and that is the only definition SF fans ever agreed on!

But that's not a definition writers, editors, publishers or producers can use to generate what you like.

If you're trying to write a commercially existing genre, or trying to invent a totally new one -- and be a "market maker" -- some original thinking is in order for 2011.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Save the Cat!®

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Lichtenberg) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:11:00 +0000

http://www.blakesnyder.com/2010/11/19/kristan-higgins-on-the-spark-of-the-divine/

Save the Cat!® Kristan Higgins is a USA Today bestselling author and two-time winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award… the Oscar® of the romance industry. She is the author of six romantic comedies, is under contract for three more, and has been called “one of the most honest and creative voices in contemporary romance.”

This is a blog to follow, but this Guest Blogger is someone to pay attention to.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com