Authoring & Playwriting

William Joseph Hill love it, William. What are you working in at the moment?

It's funny, I read this quote and in one breath I think of how tight and well realized some of King's books are and, in another, I think of how some meander. This makes me like William Joseph Hill's comment about reining 'em in all the more.

Richard "RB" Botto yes, RB. Some of my characters have great ideas, but they can lead to dead ends or seem to be meandering into an entirely different story. I’ll keep the idea, waste not want not, but it won’t be for the story I’m currently writing.

Always save the scraps for a different soup, Geoff Hall.

Richard "RB" Botto it makes for the best Mulligatawny soup!

Rosemary Zibart: I had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Edith Eiger, a Holocaust survivor/psychiatrist who went on a speaking tour with a fellow named Heck who was in the Hitler Youth. Subsequently, I also spoke with many survivors who attended. When I was teaching on military bases, I spoke with service people who reported that it was common knowledge that most people, in all kinds of detention camps (Ike maintained one himself for German POWs), died of disease and lack of medical attention. Should we put Ike on trial for war crimes because he could not adequately feed and care for the thousands who died? There are those who say yes. In short, you have no idea of the research I've done over 65 years. I, too, write historical fiction.

A researcher MUST be objective, ask tough questions, and be ready for inconvenient answers. For example, I, like millions, have read The Diary of Anne Frank. When it was exposed that her father was her "ghost writer" and the text was true in spirit but not in fact, many started questioning the veracity, and the memory capability, of people who related experiences of bygone eras. Yes, there have been people who have capitalized on their stories. Her father, who survived a "death" camp, is one of them.

Other examples: many Americans were aghast to learn of Henry Ford's involvement and profits working for the Nazis. Lucky Lindbergh was a Nazi sympathizer, Daschiel Hammett and Lillian Hellman were not only lovers but communists. He recanted, she never did. Do the facts diminish the enterprise, courage, or talent of any of these people? No.

Neither will the facts of the Holocaust diminish the magnitude of the horrors of the entire war. We can understand the plights, dilemmas, suffering, and decisions of the dead even more when we use our brains as well as our emotions to contemplate the reality they faced. You can call me ignorant, but it won't change the fact that, although your belief system is admirable, when it comes to objective research on the Holocaust, the methodology has simply been wrong. No one can write the "truth" unless the Truth is known.

I have an extremely complex psychological thriller that I pitched (written) in the past couple weeks so far only once. The pitch took me a LONG time to write into only two pages due to the subtlety and complexity of the script (which runs 115 pages). It involves subverting the audience's perceptions in order to reach a massive twist at the end of the 2nd act. It scored threes and fours (out of possible fives), The reader said it was a "captivating pitch with some really strong twists and turns," but added, "Perhaps in the actual writing it is easy to follow but I did have some difficulty following every surprise." He passed on it. So I decided to look at the pitch with those comments in mind, and was able to find several places where I could appreciate his thoughts. I worked it over several times more, taking extra care to make things clear. Somehow, I managed to keep it to two pages. I think it's as clear as is possible in the space allowed. So I want to try it out on a few people who' are new to the piece and see how it fares. Based on that I'll hope to try pitching again.

The thing about bad reviews is that it's all in how you take it. I try to put myself in the reviewer's shoes, become them, and then look for what triggered the criticisms. If I can find things, they are valid points. If not, I chalk it up to incompatibility and move on. You're never gonna win 'em all. And remember all the famous stories of huge hits being rejected again and again before they found a champion. Find your champion.

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." Andy Warhol. I live by this brilliant observation by Andy. Not everyone will like your work, that's part of the human condition. Accept it and keep moving forward.

HI - less than glowing reviews = we have all had them. Remember they are "opinion" of another person. I try to take them for what they are - reread them several times - of course the good washes over me but he negative I ty to dissect, understand and use as a tool to improve - some ideas will work others may not. In the end it is your work and your decision. Not everyone will like everything. Keep creating

It definitely hurts to get a bad review, even if you have "thick skin". I just try to refocus and remember that more people enjoy my work than not. If the negative review has a good point, I'll try to use that for the future. I know that not everyone is going to like my work.

@Terrence I agree with most answers above. If the point of view of a character “serves” the story best it works. There can be no fashion police in writing, all stories are infinite in variety with no right or wrong way.

Robin Gregory''s comment is a master-class-in-brief. I can only add "Amen.'"

I concur with the comments here. Robin Gregory gives a nice detailed answer. In my own experience, it depends on how best to tell the story. Sometimes a first person perspective can be a nice change, especially if it's more of a character study. Second Person narratives are great for "choose your own adventure" style. With my own novel CYBER FIGHTER, as it's based on a feature screenplay, third person omniscient was the best narrative voice for that story.

One thing that I've been wrestling with is changing POV when writing scenes -- that's a challenge too.

Robin Gregory Thank you for your response. It was very uplifting.

My pleasure, Terrence Sellers !

I wouldn't go AI, Frank Geier. You're likely to garner a reputation out of the gate for this release and there's a stigma about AI right now even if there is no harm concerning certain aspects of it. My first release was a graphic novel and although I have no regrets about it, getting an artist was tough. You're likely to hear about DeviantArt in your research and while you could meet someone there, I've heard horror stories about people taking a writer's money and not delivering. Your best bet would be someone you already know. Your existing connections may know of someone. Also, see if there's a local animation company or one somewhat close to you and develop a relationship with them. That's what I did and it worked well.

Thanks Leonardo, I really appreciate the feedback , that's really helpful!!!

Yes, Frank Geier , I agree with Leonardo -- anyone in your network who is an artist can be helpful. Free alternatives would be doing it yourself, but there's a large learning curve. If you can't draw, there are Free 3D programs like DAZ Studio where you can pose characters and find settings, and can render out cartoonish style. Other creators I know use Blender which is also free, but again, there's a big learning curve there. It's often quicker if you have an artist working for you. Leonardo's advice is spot on too -- if you can reach out to the animation community you might find someone you want to work with.

Thank you both so much for the insight!

You are very welcome, Frank Geier. All the best in all you do.

That's what I did, and I've published three books so far. However, I still need to focus on advertising and other promotional efforts. My next step is to open a distribution service for independent publishers.

Hi Terrence. I agree with Nick and Sebastian. In this era of publishing where the "Big 5'" own many, many imprints and the small independent publishers are very specialised, your entrepreneurial persona needs to kick in. I started my own publishing business, Red Giant Publishing, and I control everything from start to finish. I use Draft2Digital for ebook and print distribution worldwide and Findaway Voices for my audiobooks. I've secured a shopping agreement through Stage 32 to turn one of my novels into a TV/film project and won two Global Ebook Awards for other novels. Making money was not my motivation for this exercise. I write near future sci-fi as a hobby because I have to, I'm passionate about storytelling. I like to tell stories that no one else has told. Think outside the box. Good luck with your stories.

The idea of self publishing terrifies me, because I'm already too busy to write as much as I'd like to. From everything I've read about self publishing, unless you have a lot of money for advertising or a huge social media following, it's essentially akin to publishing on Wattpad with extra steps.

Terrence Sellers don't believe all you read about independent publishing. We retain and control copyright of our work instead of third parties. That's not the case when you sign the rights away to a trad publisher. I agree, money and time are required, not so much social media. I don't use social media whatsoever and my last book sold extremely well. IMHO social media is a waste of time. For example, research tells us the shelf life of a FB post is about an hour and half. Publishers are basically PR companies that outsource everything else. They don't write the book, they don't edit it, illustrate the cover, print or distribute the book. They sub it all out to third parties to fulfil. Publishing is not difficult if you understand how it works. Good project and time management skills are essential, along with an original story that people want to read. Good luck.

Agreed with Matt Watters on self-publishing. I've self published 2 books of my own & my wife's book on Amazon. We retain control over 100% of the rights, the big challenge is in publicity and promotion. But a lot of publishers also require their authors to self-promote and very few will give you an advance you can live off of, so you might as well keep control of your work. I have a friend who traditionally published and now their book is out of print and they can't publish it elsewhere.

Thanks for sharing, very exciting month ahead we have!

Great share, Ashley Renee Smith! I do a "brain dump" when I outline a story idea.

Great video/info, Ashley Renee Smith. Thank you for sharing.

Great video, Ashley Renee Smith. I started out as a pantser but moved towards being a plotter over time. I think that's the case for most authors though. We learn over time that things go smoother if you outline it.

I completely agree, Leonardo Ramirez! I'm the exact same. I was always a pantser and now I'm committed to being a plotter to avoid problems that I've run into previously.

I thought early on in my writing career that I could just sit down and write. As years have passed, I've learned the hard way that doesn't work for me. I am definitely an outliner. One reason is at my present age I forget stuff. I I don't use and outline, I repeat myself. During the process of writing a 400 page novel, I found I kept writing the same lines and scenes over and over. When I sat down to begin my present novel, Break My Heart of Glass, I was excited about an idea for a beginning. I threw my rules out of the window and started writing. After about 120 or so pages, I bogged down. I printed out what I'd written and decided to review. The whole thing was a mess. The only way I could salvage what I'd written was to outline what I needed to write and rewrite the pages. I worked far longer than I would have if I'd prepared a Chapter outline. Now I'm back on track. I've learned my lesson.

Sent a letter to CAA once asking if they had any agents who were accepting screenplay submissions. I didn't send a synopsis of my work, no pages, no nothing besides "are you accepting submissions?" They sent my letter back to me with a notice telling me of their "no solicitations" policy and "for this reason we are returning your materials to you". Whoever opened my letter at CAA lacked the shred of intelligence necessary to realize that I didn't include any materials. I was asking if they were accepting submissions and got the aforementioned condescending response in lieu of more professional behavior.

This is a good questions. I really appreciate the great feedback.

Make comic books, build your audience, and let the agents find you.

They don't need to open your query. They just send a "No Solicitations" response automatically. They don't know you.

I can't speak to getting an agent as a screenwriter. I sort of gave up on that dream years ago. They way I got my screenwriting career to start moving was to seek out avenues that were unconventional. I went into corporate marketing, which allowed me to write and produce commercials and advertisements. I used this opportunity to write and produce some shorts. This led me to get scouted to write an animated series for a company that wanted to do unconventional marketing. I still don't have an agent, but I do have several commercials, multiple produced animated episodes, and a lot of other paid writing on my resume by taking this route.

A couple years back, I published a blog post about my journey on this topic on the Stage 32 blog, but the search function isn't working properly, so I can't find the link right now. But if you are able to search my name, it should come up.

Gonna have to disagree with you on Query Mangler. Most submitees request that a writing sample be pasted into a QM field, which strips away almost all formatting, necessitating lengthy fixes before hitting SUBMIT. Thankfully, some agents accept samples as .docx or .pdf uploads. Pasting into a gmail email below the query at least retains the formatting.

A. S. Templeton I get where you're coming from, but I think the form gives you the benefit of the doubt for formatting to the publisher. Also, I write in blocks. Unless specifically requested in different format, my manuscripts are in block, because it's way easier to manage them when submitting in various methods. So formatting for the form isn't a huge problem for me.

Wishing you huge luck with your novel querying, Terrence Sellers!

Thanks Sam Sokolow .