A MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF WRITING
LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS ABOUT . . .
FINALLY . . . A Sample of Excellence
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Volume 3
Issue 4
February 14, 2005
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R e a d i n g W r i t e r
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Welcome to The VERB! The other night, we went to a cozy little theater downtown to listen to a band pay tribute to Steely Dan. I thought they were almost as perfect as the original, but I wondered, as I glided along with the guitar solo in "Peg," what the real Dan would've thought. How would they feel? Proud? Choked up? Itching to get onstage? I'm sure when Donald Fagen and Walter Becker sat down in the seventies to write those songs, the thought never occurred to them that one day bands would devote an entire show to their work. Yet after all this time, thirty years plus, musicians still point to them as the standard. Can there be a more gratifying aspect of the creative process? Ponder that the next time you don't feel like writing. For all you know, the words you write today will inspire millions. For all you know, the words you write today may be the ones to come back to you tomorrow--from a podium or a stage or a radio or a screen. And then ponder how you will feel. Proud ... choked up .... FOR YOUR RESEARCH Finally, your temporary Freedom from Toil is here. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC is bringing together 22 of Rembrandt's portraits in one place. This online interactive exhibit allows visitors to view them in exquisite detail. Now, without further ado ... let the action begin!
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LINDA FORMICHELLI
My Rolodex card file. People laughed when I bought this ancient spinning file at an office sale for a buck, but it's come in really handy for quickly finding editor contact info. My "everything binder." People wonder how I keep my office so neat ... it's because I keep all my important information in a giant binder that's divided into sections like "article ideas," "finances," "articles in progress," "queries in progress," and even "medical," where I keep my prescription numbers and other health info. Hey, are you guys spies? You'll never get my binder, bwa ha ha ha ha! A Samurai desk calendar from the Japanese restaurant chain Benihana. I'm working on an article on healthy ethnic eating for Family Circle and asked Benihana if they had any nutritional info for their menu items. They didn't, but they DID offer me this cool calendar. I'm a martial arts freak, so I was thrilled to get it. A beaker full of quarters. A PR rep sent me a giant beaker full of chocolate kisses for Christmas one year. My husband and I finished off the goodies and now use the beaker to save up money for a month-long trip to Okinawa we plan to take this summer. I already sold an article about the trip! A tape recorder. I rarely record interviews anymore--I can now type fast enough to type in interviews as I do them--but I do hook up the recorder for complex interviews. Headphones. These keep my hands free so I can type during interviews. A lifesaver! One or two cats, depending on whether I have any food on my desk.
Linda
is the co-author of The Renegade Writer; A Totally
Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success (Marion
Street Press, 2003), which Publishers Weekly called "upbeat
and exceptionally informative." The book tells aspiring and
professional magazine writers how to break in--and make more
money--by breaking the rules. |
MAKING A SCENE
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SAY WHAT? Commonly Misused Words
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Adieu (French) means
farewell. Ado means fuss;
trouble; bother. |
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But the faraway soldier, sometimes a faraway husband, had to be told. The only means was through letter, which was always written in a formal tone. Any man who received one that started so stiffly knew at once bad news was to follow. Why Dear John? No one knows for sure, but a few speculations have surfaced: 1) John was a fairly common name during the time. 2) The 1917 song "Over There" by George Cohen contained the line, "Johnnie get your gun," the name referring to a soldier. 3) A pre-World War II radio show called "Dear John," starring Irene Rich, was about a gossipy female character who wrote letters to her unidentified romantic interest. |
It is believed the "Dear John" letter became known as such during World War II, when thousands of soldiers were overseas.
Try as he might to stay in contact with his woman, a soldier's distant words sometimes couldn't compete with
another's nearby arms.
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The
hero and heroine must feel sparks LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS ABOUT . . .
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LORD BYRON Born:
January 22, 1788
"But
words are things, and a small drop of ink,
~ George Gordon Byron was born in London, England. ~ His father Captain John Byron was heavily in debt, and abandoned his mother Catherine Gordon while she was pregnant. ~ George was born with a club-foot, which he later attributed to his mother's tight corsets. He became extremely ashamed of it. ~ His early childhood years was spent in poor surroundings in Aberdeen, where he was educated until the age of ten. ~ In 1798 George succeeded to the title Baron Byron of Rochdale at the death of his great-uncle. Money was now available to provide Lord Byron with an education at Harrow School and Trinty College, Cambridge. ~ Lord Byron's first collection of poems Hours of Idleness appeared in 1807. The poems were savagely attacked by critics. Byron answered with the publication of his satire English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. ~ The following year he took his seat in the House of Lords, and set out on a grand tour of Spain, Malta, Albania, Greece and the Aegean. These sites inspired him. ~ At the end of the summer Byron continued his travels, spending two years in Italy. During his years there, he began Don Juan, his satiric masterpiece. ~ Real poetic success came in 1812 when Byron published the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. He became an adored character of London society; he spoke in the House of Lords and had a love-affair with Lady Caroline Lamb. ~ In 1814 Byron's The Corsair sold 10,000 copies on the first day of publication. ~ In 1815 he married Anne Isabella Milbanke and had a daughter Ada. The marriage was unhappy, and they obtained a legal separation the following year. ~ After a long creative period, Byron yearned for action. When he heard of the revolt of the Greeks against the Turks, the idea of participating in a war on the battlegrounds of classical myth and legend thrilled him. He joined the Greek insurgents at Missolonghi. ~ He donated much of his money, despite the fact that he owed creditors, and the Greeks made him commander-in-chief. Before he saw any serious military action, however, Byron contracted a fever and died at the age of 36 (the same age his daughter Ada died) in Missolonghi. ~ Memorial services were held all over the land for the world's most romantic poet. Byron's body was returned to England but refused by the deans of both Westminster and St Paul's. Finally his coffin was placed in the family vault at Hucknall Torkard, near Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire.
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Romantic characters should stand out. They should be attractive, seductive and forceful. Their words and behavior should be so tantalizing, readers can't wait to turn the page. But they shouldn't be perfect. Don't hesitate to reveal a flaw or two. This not only endears them to your readers, it transforms them into believable human beings.
Example: Cleaned up:
Example: Cleaned up:
Uncertain about a piece of your writing? |
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What's your biggest writing fear? |
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PREVIOUS SURVEY
Research. - 6%
"I have to strike while the iron's hot. When I reach the point where I don't know what I'm talking about, then I stop to research." - Nan Allgood "Jump in and see where inspiration takes me. I don't know how to write any other way." - Dusty Hatfield "I do a bit of research first, just to place myself in the mindset of the era." - Ritchie Jones "I always do an outline first. It helps me see where I'm going." - Julie Brewster |
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Subject:
CHALKBOARD submission TAKE THE D.O.A.-TRAIN a radio drama by William Spear
SFX: SOUNDS OF DANA AND SHERRY STRUGGLING TO GET TEDDY OUT OF THE CAR. TEDDY: (DRUNKENLY) Too bad about your Corvette Sherry; leave it in the parking lot and we'll get your engine started later. SHERRY: My engine's fine. TEDDY: You must be cold out here in that tiny little skirt. Let's have a Bloody Mary like old times. SHERRY: Sure Teddy. Like old times. TEDDY: Vodka's in the trunk and I picked up cocktail mix at the Crow's Nest. Where's the bottle of mix? SHERRY: I'll get it. TEDDY: Where's the bottle? DANA: Grab his cocktail mix and let's get him on the tracks. TEDDY: What're you doing here Dana? Where are you taking me? I want to get back in my car. SFX: TEDDY DRUNKENLY STRUGGLES WITH DANA AND SHERRY. DANA: (STRUGGLING WITH TEDDY) Sherry hand me the bottle. SHERRY: Here. DANA: I didn't plan it this way Teddy but you're not getting away with it this time. TEDDY: Sherry and I are having ... SFX: BITE CUE: DANA RAPS TEDDY'S SKULL WITH COCKTAIL BOTTLE. TEDDY: I'll kill you for ... this ... SFX: SOUND OF TEDDY'S BODY DROPPING ONTO PAVEMENT. SHERRY: Not bad. Let me carry the bottle and when he comes to I'll give him another. DANA: Take it. But only if he wakes up. SHERRY: Thanks. ... (VICIOUSLY) Take that ... SFX: SHERRY POUNDS TEDDY'S SKULL WITH COCKTAIL BOTTLE. DANA: (OVER SFX) What're you doing? SHERRY: What should've been done years ago. SFX: SHERRY POUNDS TEDDY'S SKULL WITH COCKTAIL BOTTLE. SHERRY: (OVER SFX) And that. DANA: Stop. SFX: SHERRY POUNDS TEDDY'S SKULL WITH COCKTAIL BOTTLE. SHERRY: (OVER SFX) And that. DANA: Stop it right now. SFX: SLAPPING SOUND. BEAT. COUNTRY BED. SHERRY: (TIMIDLY) Dana do you think he's ... dead? DANA: After what you did he's probably better off. SHERRY: I didn't mean to hit him so hard. DANA: This was supposed to look like an accident. Teddy gets drunk, passes out on the tracks, and gets run over by the train. Nowhere is his ex-girlfriend supposed to pound on his skull. SHERRY: He deserved worse. DANA: Plus you splashed Bloody Mary mix all over my suit and I just had it dry cleaned. SHERRY: You're not much of a grieving widow are you? DANA: You wanted to throw yourself in front of a train when he dropped you. And for what? A few more nights on his nine-year hit parade? Welcome to his "skirt of the moment" club. SHERRY: Maybe if he had more to come home to he wouldn't have been looking for a "skirt of the moment". DANA: Maybe if any of you had more to offer than long legs and open apartments he would've stayed for more than a couple nights. All of you got what you wanted. Get rid of the bottle and help me put his body on the tracks. SFX: SHERRY AND DANA DRAG TEDDY'S BODY ONTO RAILROAD TRACKS. SHERRY: (GASPING) Done. Let's get out of here. SFX: WAY OFF MIKE: LONG WHISTLE OF 12:25 TRAIN. DANA: And there's the twelve twenty-five. (TO TEDDY) Pleasant trip Teddy. SFX: WAY OFF MIKE: TRAIN WHISTLE. ON: TWO SETS OF FOOTSTEPS START OFF. TEDDY: (OFF MIKE) O-o-o-w-w have I got a headache. I need an aspirin.
© 2005 William Spear
William
is Founder and President of Hunterdon
Radio Theatre
in Clinton, NJ, a five-year old 501C3 tax exempt, nonprofit NJ corporation. He's
written over a dozen plays varying in length from 10-60 minutes.
He's also directed a dozen plays and produced as many more. This
past summer, TAKE THE D.O.A.-TRAIN was performed in New York as
part of the 8-Minute Madness Playwright Festival. TAKE
THE D.O.A.-TRAIN and two other works: DEAD MEN DON'T PARTY and
WHICH BOYFRIEND TODAY? are web published at Doorway
To the Mind. |
Here's a chance to show off your
writing!
Living with a writer, there’s at least one observation I’ve made: writers love to read (and have their work read by thoughtful, appreciative folk, too). In this column let’s take a look at ways computers help people read. First, there is digital content that can be downloaded to the PC and read from the screen. I suppose one has to get past the idea of reading from a screen vs. reading from a tangible item that can be held. That is something that may always be with us like people who dislike carrots. You can’t ask why, it’s just that way. More and more copyright content is available in digital form. Digital content cost money to acquire. As writers, this fact should be particularly intriguing. Yes, you can be published digitally, and contribute to your preferred lifestyle in the process. So far the software required to protect your work is a bit pricey to my knowledge. We’ll dig into that in the next issue. There is free software that lets you read copy-protected content. Just download the software, and purchase your content. If you’d like a primer on the subject go to Amazon, click on the tab labeled Books, then find the sub tab called e-books and docs. Adobe has an e-book reader as does Microsoft. No surprises there. Amazon indicates that a book can be downloaded by printing the words Available for download now. Ah! Good old instant gratification! And you get to save a tree! There is a magazine reader named Zinio that I use to subscribe to magazines. Those digital magazine subscriptions are considerably cheaper. You say you prefer holding a book? Here in the state of Missouri we’re quite spoiled by our public library system’s web interface. Maybe your municipalities also provide an inter-agency collaborative and integrated book search and reservation web system. It’s spectacular that we can use our PC over the Internet to find books by authors, or by title (and more). We can reserve the object of our search whether the book is found across the state or at the University. They claim to email you when your book arrives at your chosen library, but for some reason that never has happened for me. I’m always left to guess when the book should be in, and a visit proves me right or wrong. Yes, technology is only as good as the people who use it.
Submit your question to COMPUTER GUY! |
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ARE YOU A ROMANTIC? We love to read about love. According to RWA, romance novels grab a whopping 55% of popular paperback fiction sales, generating more than one billion dollars each year. If you regularly read these books, you've probably considered writing one as well. All you need is a great heart-fluttering, chest-heaving idea, right? Not so fast. Romances require the same amount of work any other story requires: sturdy structure, believable characters and, most importantly, enthusiasm for the subject. Take the quiz below to test your passion for writing romance.
1. High school sweethearts bump into each other at a baseball game. He's a widower. She's a divorcee with one child. The child, which she never revealed, is actually his. How does she greet him?
a) "You bum, how about coughing up six years' worth of
child support?" 2. A smitten filmmaker looks up the beautiful writer he met at a swanky party the night before. Her home turns out to be a two-room shack in a bad part of town. What does he say when she opens the door?
a) "You live here? You're kidding, right?" 3. Internet lovers finally meet in person. His face is terribly disfigured from a car accident. How does she react?
a) "Nooooooooo! God, nooooooooo!" 4. A security specialist is hired to outfit the country home of a newly divorced woman. He falls in love, but he has to move on to his next job. How does he tell her goodbye?
a) "Who we kidding? If I stayed around here, you'd eventually
turn into every other woman in the world, nagging me until I wished one of
us was dead." 5. A dental hygienist is stranded in the elevator with the handsome doctor she's been eyeing for months. How does she react?
a) "I hope you don't think I had anything to do with this.
"
If you chose the A answers, well, you seem to have some serious issues with romance. Perhaps a long bubble bath and a big box of chocolates will soften your mood? If you chose the B answers, you seem to be just a tad clingy. The desperate love-me-or-I'll-die-right-here-before-your-eyes approach may have seemed romantic ages ago, but these days, they call it stalking. If you chose the C answers, you are a luscious romantic fool. You have the ability to make hearts sigh and smile and swoon! Go get 'em, tigers and tigresses!
© 2005 Elizabeth Guy |
FINALLY . . . A Sample of Excellence
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"You teach me now how cruel you've been--cruel and false. Why did you despise me? Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort. You deserve this. You have killed yourself. Yes, you may kiss me, and cry; and wring out my kisses and tears: they'll blight you, they'll damn you. You loved me--then what right had you to leave me? What right, answer me, for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us. You, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart. You have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine. So much the worse for me that I am strong. Do I want to live? What kind of living will it be when you--oh, God! Would you like to live with your soul in the grave?" "Let me alone. Let me alone," sobbed Catherine. "If I've done wrong, I'm dying for it ...."
--
Emily Bronte
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© 2005 ReadingWriters. All rights reserved. This ezine is a labor of love, and may not be reproduced without permission. All correspondence should be sent to Elizabeth Guy. |