http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/Everyday writing tips and inspiration from <strong><a href="http://workshopwriter.com">The Writer's Workshop</a></strong>ennoreply@blogger.com (Ron Seybold)Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:58:12 PSTBlogger http://www.blogger.com181125Published under the Creative Commons Licensewriting, workshops, instruction, writing groups, AWA, Amherst, writerArts & Entertainment/Booksron@workshopwriter.comRon SeyboldRon Seyboldnowriting, workshops, instruction, writing groups, AWA, Amherst, writerEveryday writing tips, advice and inspiration from The Writer's Workshop, an Amherst Writers & Artists affiliate in Austin, TexasEveryday writing tips, advice and inspiration from The Writer's Workshop, an Amherst Writers & Artists affiliate in Austin, Texashttp://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2010/01/know-what-youre-aiming-at-in-your-war.htmlstructurescenenovelron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:58:12 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-8101579385078053828In his new book The Art of War for Writers, James Scott Bell teaches us that a story's premise must be supported by fresh, solid scenes. Bell, who's also written suspense novels and the great Plot and Structure, reminds us of fundamentals: make your dialogue flow; cut or hide exposition (delay it if you can, eliminate what's not working); flip the cliched situation (so a big-rig truck driver 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2010/01/value-of-using-agents.htmlagentsplatformeditingron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:24:03 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-2713187069790426229An agent recently posted a blog entry about how much value can be earned by being represented during a book sale. There's no doubt that a professional negotiator can keep dollars in your checkbook while you arrange a contract with a book company. As good examples, Rachelle Gardner lists e-book payments, frequency of royalty checks, sales threshold for royalties to begin, and size of advance. All,0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2010/01/about-split-sentences.htmlgrammarcraftron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:02:08 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-2303866526224027994    Nobody wants a writer to lose their voice in the edit, but there are several things to consider in a sentence with a comma in its middle. The sentence that I just wrote is a loose sentence in Strunk and White's view in The Elements of Style (page 25), because it's connected with a conjunction (but) and a comma. Get enough of these in a short stretch and you run the risk of letting the 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/12/story-rules-it-certainly-does-as-much.htmlcraftron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:02:53 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-4096684708974884606The path into a writing practice can be littered with a gauntlet of rules. In journalism school they told us never to write a headline that ended with a preposition, a rule that persists in every part of English that I know of. (Ha-Ha!) Except for poetry, of course. I'm reminded of the poets at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. They read their work in an open mike night, and each was commanded to0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/12/bounding-back-from-revisions.htmlinspirerevisionron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Sat, 26 Dec 2009 17:25:15 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-3517307685543943197Writing is re-writing, but once you've done your rewrites it's time to move on into the next book, story or article. A fresh start on a new project can seem tempting while you're digging out of the problems of revising drafts. Once you're clear of that book, though, starting can be difficult. Over at the blog Be The Story, author J. Timothy King offers several layers of advice on how to beat the0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/12/from-oxford-holiday-gift-or-two.htmlreferenceron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:58:42 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-4690020959493862118 The Oxford University Press has unveiled another big-ticket present for the word-lover in your life (even if that's you.) The new Historical Thesaurus is the largest thesaurus in the world, covering 92,000 words in two thick, printed volumes. Price? Just $316 at Amazon, plus shipping. Look at what you get: The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary is a unique resource for 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/11/tweeting-on-twitter-leads-to-writing.htmlcommunityron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:55:50 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-7907703878573674461 I got lucky in being led to Twitter. A client already had a Facebook habit, so I joined his social network. Twitter took off while I was getting agile with Facebook, and before I knew it I was hooked on both. Lucky for me, there's a way to feed both of these networks at the same time. When I post to my Twitter feed -- you can follow me at @ronseybold -- it will update my Facebook news feed at 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/11/newspapering-can-lead-to-fiction.htmlJournalismshort storyron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:35:11 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-5237167886125583986Some people come to the joy of writing fiction from a lifetime of non-fiction. Journalists write what's sometimes called Literature in a Hurry. Most of us turn toward fiction as some point in our careers, and some stay in the land of invented story for good. Hemingway is the classic example of a journalist turned novelist.There are good connections between the two types of writing craft, but even0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/10/prescription-for-writers.htmlpracticesshort storyron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:56:12 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-4544664589433239155From a morning seminar I took with Lee Smith, a writer of short stories and novels:Most people who come in here don't have the possibility of entering into any story other than their own. You do. To do this, write fiction every day. Just sit in the chair and put one word in front of the the other. This putting one word in front of another is to put the world in order. It's theraputic.Good 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/10/simple-language-leads-to-perfect.htmlgrammarstructuresentenceshort storyron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:56:27 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-5426274017750343502It's easy to find praise for simple things in life. But writing seems to evoke the opposite effect in building sentences, paragraphs, sections and stories. We want to be noticed with our writing. However, if you look underneath that wish you should find the desire to be heard and remembered. Simple language delivers those two results. Simple lets the story rule the reader's attention.Last night 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/10/could-be-good-time-to-be-not-yet-in.htmlpublisherssmall-pressgoogleron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:07:10 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-674700215436871934Google and the Authors Guild announced today that they're revising an agreement to pay authors for printed books that get read online. Along with the American Association of Publishers, the parties wanted to give Google the clear path to scanning millions of printed works, then offering them to read over the Web.There might be no better time to stay out of print than now, while your 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/09/limelight-burns-more-than-twilight.htmlbestsellerpublishersmoviessequelron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:22:52 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-7365282446193253054There's a great interview with Stephanie Meyer in Entertainment Weekly's Web site. The best-selling author of the Twilight series of teen vampire love said that being this successful -- first three books becoming movies, fans clamoring for more writing -- has blocked her on the project.Everyone now is in the driver's seat, where they can make judgment calls. ''Well, I think this should happen, I 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/08/storytelling-journalism-live-on-wire.htmlJournalismresearchhboron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:52:42 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-2254026721844927008Abby and I are reveling in the sweep and depth of HBO's The Wire. It's a piece of genius, 60 hours of entertainment that feels like reading a masterful series of crime novels. Or a week's worth of old-school newspaper reports, what was once called "a series" and now is a rare breed indeed.The creator of these connected, 1-hour dramas started as a journalist at the Baltimore Sun, but after 13 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/08/popular-and-good-writing-can-be.htmlpublishersmarketnovelron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:03:07 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-5272383973018125175A USA Today story reports that Stephanie Meyer of the Twilight series is now "dominating" the paper's bestseller list. These books of the undead, and the movie franchise they've spawned, are lively enough to have earned her publisher Little, Brown $40 million already. So the author has her own $4 million in royalties to bank.By most accounts, though, the writing is weak. Especially compared to 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/08/know-what-your-story-desires-to-tell.htmlstructurestorynovelron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:19:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-5860756399606866163NPR has a great interview with Richard Russo you can listen to on its site. The author of the divine Empire Falls (a Pulitzer winner) has a new book, That Old Cape Magic. The book is about a writer, a device that lets Russo explain a common author's problem, for those still learning the craft. It's not easy understanding what a story needs to say.In his novel, [his character] Griffin decides to 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/08/when-book-is-finished.htmltoolsagentsnovelron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:43:22 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-1363285157316441855I've taken a couple of months away from this blog and the manuscript workshops to complete Viral Times. It's been a process of learning craft and considering workshop responses over more than six years to finish this first novel. (Thanks to all who read this in progress; you'll be in the foreward.) Although it took longer to finish than I expected, it feels delicious to have transformed my 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/05/slow-and-careful-writing-about-love.htmlcharacterdescriptionnovelron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Sun, 31 May 2009 11:32:00 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-2305661213087566587I finished reading The Handmaid's Tale this month. Margaret Atwood's story about a future America dominated by religion and males, with women subjugated and forced to bear children, does contain love and passion, too.I was struck by the passage below, so beautiful that I made a note of it in my Kindle copy of the book. The writing shows off how loving Atwood is with words of love. Here, the 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/05/short-roth-stories-long-on-quality.htmlPulitzershort storyron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Fri, 29 May 2009 11:43:35 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-8253475213116344894I just finished reading a short story from Goodbye, Columbus, the collection that launched Phillip Roth's career 50 years ago this month. The gem included in the Norton North American Literature Anthology was Defender of the Faith, a tight, plainspoken tale about three Jewish Army trainees and the Jewish sergeant who both learns and teaches a lesson about the boundaries of faith.Roth has plenty 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/05/another-workshop-finalist.htmlconferencecontestron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Fri, 29 May 2009 11:31:26 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-4950409822511307493We received word this week that Gordon Rives Carmichael has landed in the finalist pool in the Writer's League of Texas Manuscript Contest. Gordon's work has come past our manuscript table here for more than a year, with lots of evidence of polishing and extending his skills.Gordon, we congratulate you. Best of luck in the finals selection; the conference is June 26. Even being nominated, as the 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/05/fast-finds-for-definitions.htmltoolsreferencedictionaryron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Thu, 07 May 2009 14:13:14 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-1394355749914833128This morning I stumbled across Memidex, the free online "dictionary, thesaurus and more." If you ever need to know the difference between rhinoviruses and arborviruses, or what contiguous means, or a synonym for incipient, Memidex (memidex.com) finds it fast.What I liked about this online tool was its relentless linking. The definition for arborvirus is teeming with medical words all linked to 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/04/are-we-reading-differently.htmlliteraryrevisionnovelron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:09:33 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-8096319431643748220The evidence in today's audience suggests the answer is yes. A fun article on Tim Bray's Ongoing blog suggests that our language skills are hard-wired to grasp conversational writing, because 90 percent of human language history used only talk to communicate.There’s nothing much on the Net that’s without precedent in spoken language. What’s new is that written discourse is becoming less like 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/04/hooray-for-pulitzers-worth-of-stories.htmlPulitzerconteststorynovelron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:20:47 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-795879472971017206Short stories get short shrift. These gems of tales, usually less than 3,000 words, usually can't find a publisher or a publication, but everybody professes to enjoy reading them. Count among the satisfied the jury of the Pulitzer Prize, which awarded the 2009 fiction prize to a collection of stories by Elizabeth Stout, Olive Kitteridge.To be precise, this lovely book is a "novel in stories," a 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/04/google-gets-all-books-to-search.htmlonlinerightsinternetgoogleron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:45:31 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-539959832303752970Over at the Boing Boing blog, the writers complain about the new online book search rights that Google just won in a class action suit settlement. It's a little tricky to parse out what this means, but it looks like if you have a book in print now, or ever did, Google can include its contents in a search result. This sentence kind of sums it up: "Google is the only company in the world that will 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/04/time-changes-stories.htmlmemoirdraftsnon-fictionron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:42:30 PDTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-3543304498093887364There may be times when stepping back for awhile from a story or novel can provide a deeper understanding of what is vital to the tale. Up on the Web site for the literary journal Glimmer Train, the writer Erica Johnson Debeljak talks about writing her memoir twice, 10 years apart, first as journalism and much later as a novelization.An honest writer of either fiction or nonfiction has to admit 0http://workshopwriter.com/writestuff/2009/01/celebrate-our-finalist.htmlcontestshort storyron@workshopwriter.com (Ron Seybold)Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:25:42 PSTtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22965177.post-8444925889982791345Lisa Carroll-Lee, who's been in one of my writing groups for more than two years, has landed another short story as a Finalist in the Austin Chronicle 2009 Short Story Contest. The Chronicle has a really lean word limit, but Lisa has made it to the Top 10 with her story, Monsters of Nature.We saw Monsters in October at our manuscript group meeting and gave her our responses to her flight of fancy0Published under the Creative Commons LicenseRon Seyboldnonadult