A MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF WRITING
LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS ABOUT . . .
FINALLY . . . A Sample of Excellence
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Volume
4,
Issue 2
March
2006
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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 First Chapter contest ended on February 28, but the Opinions kept going out for weeks afterward. As usual, we were privileged to read some poignant, gut-wrenching, hilarious, gripping, ingenious and downright weird beginnings, and we loved every minute of it. As judge Steve put it: I’m inspired by the efforts of these good authors, who bravely took three giant steps. One, to overcome trepidation and (figuratively, in the computer age) put pencil to paper for the first time. Two, to continue to pursue their dream even after the first, heady rush of creativity is supplanted by the dreary toil of writing, rewriting, and writing again until the product is just right. And, three, to release that product to its fate before a difficult and unpredictable readership. Writers, I salute you, and encourage you to continue to pursue your dream. You are all winners! Then came the end. That part where everything—the winner, the honorable mentions, the Opinions—is ready to go yet unable to move. In case you aren’t familiar with our most popular contest, I’ll let you in on a secret—it’s cursed. Yep, call it karma, hoodoo, bad luck or any other unseen phenomenon that evokes a ghostly fear, it’s taken hold of the contest with a vengeance, determined to disrupt our smooth intentions at all costs. Death, accident, illness, natural disaster, server/PC problems—you name it, we’ve experienced it. Every year. On the eve of announcing the winner. A regularity that is fast becoming laughable. This time around, my old Hewlett-Packard, the one that still contains FrontPage, went on strike and refused to work for three days. Thus, the results could not be posted on the website in a timely manner. At the same time judge Mandy deplaned from Orlando and discovered, after reaching baggage claim, that her laptop had been broken. Thus, she had to re-type ALL her Opinions, and that of course forced her far beyond the promised deadline. Coincidence? I think not. Still, in the midst of all this, we didn't receive a single complaint from our outstanding entrants. Instead, we encountered warmth, patience and understanding. For that, we are grateful and humbled and moved to give each and every one of you a standing ovation. << Applause, Applause >> Thank you! If you haven’t entered our First Chapter contest before, you might want to try it next year. You could win cash and a book. You will definitely win three Opinions. And who knows what will befall us at the end when you’re waiting to see those results on the website and those Opinions in your email box? 'Tis a mystery. But something will befall us, I assure you. Something will. NEWSFLASH! We now pay for Chalkboard submissions! If you’ve got a piece of writing you’d like to share with our readers, send it in. Full details are below at the Chalkboard. ~~~ FOR
YOUR RESEARCH - Beginnings Here’s a fun test. Visit USA Today's Book section and choose five to seven first chapters. Read them from beginning to end. Even if, midway, you find you dislike the topic, the approach and/or the characters, force yourself to read until you’ve reached the last word. Then ask yourself, Which ones make me want to leap to Chapter Two? Based on this one chapter alone, would I plop down my hard-earned money for it? Why? What grabbed me? The prose? The structure? The characters? The premise? The ones that receive your positive review, the ones that attract and excite your senses, are killer first chapters. They won you over by gaining your undivided attention. Now go back to your manuscript, find a scene that makes you feel the same way, even if it’s tucked deep into Chapter Thirty-One, and try bringing it up to the front. Ah! That’s a beginning! Now, without further ado ... let the action begin! |
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| BILL JELEN
I didn't realize I was such a sports fan, but my desk currently has 4 bobbleheads, two autographed baseballs and a replica of the Cleveland baseball stadium. I have a globe. A video iPod. Two staplers (I have no idea why there are two - usually with kids in the house there would be none). There is a ship in a bottle, a picture of a mail pouch barn, an old hard drive, and a Frank Lloyd Wright designed glass coaster. I have a picture of my kids in a Brighton frame and a replica of a Drive-In Theatre featuring an oversized Lisa Simpson. Also a plastic replica of the Eiffel Tower that I picked up in Paris and a hand-carved red cypress box from the Atchafalaya swamp near New Orleans. The requisite pile of receipts from my last publicity trip are cluttering the middle of the desk along with some Canadian 2-dollar coins that I will have to try to spend on my next trip to Toronto. I write books about Microsoft Excel. As such, it is fairly embarrassing to say that when I write, I write the books longhand in a spiral notebook using a cheap Bic Roundstic pen. If I try to write on the computer, there are too many distractions - e-mails, web browsing, and nothing gets done. I have to turn off the main computer and write in a spiral notebook. The spiral notebook is great on airplanes as well. I am free to write gate-to-gate even after the airplane descends below 10,000 feet! When the airplane arrives at the gate and everyone jumps up, I can keep writing until the queue actually starts moving towards the door. So - I have a yellow spiral notebook with three chapters of the new book on my desk. When a book project stalls, I really need to get on a long airplane trip to get the book started again. Still, my desk is not devoid of technology. I have a second computer that I utilize for shooting screenshots about the new Excel. I also have a 3rd computer which is usually tuned to the Pandora.com radio service, streaming a customized radio station just suited to my writing mood. That computer also has Microsoft OneNote installed - a great notetaking tool where the table of contents for the book gets designed. It also is usually logged into the BaseCamp collaboration service - a place where I can swap ideas and to-do's with my co-authors.
Bill
Jelen is the host of MrExcel.com, the author of ten books
about Microsoft Excel and a regular guest on TV's Call for Help
with Leo Laporte. He has seen the amazing new version of
Microsoft Office 12 and will be writing 1600 pages this year to
help those who choose to upgrade to find their way around this
ubiquitous software. His last book, Learn Excel from MrExcel,
is available for purchase in print, and e-book editions, but
also for free as a daily video Podcast or as a free chapter
a week delivered by e-mail. To date, over 2.2 million chapters
have been downloaded. To hone your Excel skills for free, sign
up to receive a chapter a week. |
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© 2006 Elizabeth Guy |
SAY WHAT? Commonly Misused Words
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Dawned means to
begin to be perceived or understood. Donned means to
put on an article of clothing. |
A MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF WRITING
 In October 1796, a twenty-year-old lady sat
down to write a novel. She spent almost a year on the project, tweaking
the characters, the dialogue and the theme while thoughts of publication danced in her head. When she finished First Impressions,
her proud father, who had some pretty impressive connections, set out to
find a publisher. He knocked on many doors, approached many friends and acquaintances,
but no one showed the least bit interest in his daughter's book. Some didn't
even bother to read more than the first page before they rejected it. This young lady, resilient and
strong, simply set it aside and began work on another story. And another. Fourteen years passed before she finally picked up the
old manuscript again. And when she did, she had a clearer idea of what to
do. She revised and revised. She changed the title. When the newer version
went out into the world, it instantly found a publishing house. Unfortunately no copies of the original
manuscript exist, so we have no way of knowing what she kept and what she
threw away. Odds are, however, if Jane Austen had opened First
Impressions with the same line
she used in Pride and Prejudice, a lot
more publishers would've read it.
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When writing in First Person, avoid the overused "I" as much as possible.LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS ABOUT . . .
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DAPHNE du MAURIER Born: May
13, 1907
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
~ Daphne du Maurier was born in London, England. ~ She came from an artistic family. Her father was the actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier, her grandfather was the caricaturist George du Maurier. ~ Along with her two sisters, Du Maurier attended schools in London, Meudon, France and Paris. At an early age, she developed a love for reading and devoured books. ~ Her uncle, a magazine editor, published one of her stories when she was a teenager. ~ Her first book, The Loving Spirit, appeared in 1931. It was followed by Jamaica Inn, a historical tale of smugglers. ~ Alfred Hitchcock turned two of her novels, Jamaica Inn and Rebecca, into films. Later on, he also brought her short story The Birds to the screen. ~ In 1932 du Maurier married Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Arthur Montague Browning II. They had one son and two daughters. ~ Like Rebecca, many of her novels and short stories were set in Cornwall, England's westernmost county, whose weather and past inspired her. "Here was the freedom I desired, long sought-for, not yet known," she wrote. "Freedom to write, to walk, to wander, freedom to climb hills, to pull a boat, to be alone." ~ Rebecca's opening line is among the most memorable in twentieth-century literature: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." ~ Besides popular novels, du Maurier also published short stories, plays and biographies, including Branwell Brontë's--the brother of sisters Anne, Charlotte and Emily. ~ In 1969 du Maurier, one of the twentieth-century's most accomplished exponents of Gothic fiction, was made Dame of the British Empire. ~ When she died at the age of 82, Dame Daphne's body was cremated and her ashes were scattered near her home. ~ In 1997, folks in Fowey created a festival of arts and literature named after Du Maurier. Thousands visit each year.
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Now and then, we like to analyze the hundreds of manuscripts we've read and pick out certain trends that, if left unchecked, could bog down a perfectly buoyant project. Here are a few overused phrases we've come across lately. They aren't particularly wrong, but they are pervasive. And that which is pervasive cannot possibly be unique. So if any of these seem familiar to you, start over. Search your creative mind and find a fresh way to say ...
EXAMPLES: cavernous room red, glowing/flaming/beaming eyes canopy of trees running a hand through his/her hair he/she/it was beautiful fit, slender figure he/she rolled his/her eyes hair/curls framing a face walking in a fog thinking outside the box in and of itself two cents' worth little did he/she know ...
CLEANED UP:
Uncertain
of a piece of your writing? |
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Time
it! Research shows visitors will wait about eight seconds for a page to load before they start clicking to something else.|
What's the longest you've spent on a project before submitting it? |
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PREVIOUS SURVEY
definitely art! - 31%
"Oh, it has to be
craft for me. If it were art, I think it'd be a lot easier. Wouldn't
it?" - Edward Caldwell "I
think you need another category. For me, writing is a necessity that
periodically harasses me with no mercy until I type away. After I
have blurted out what I must, then I can go on with the daily things I
must do to pay my mortgage ... until the next attack!" - Nancy
Myer "My writing is
art when it springs out of the gate and craft from the home stretch to
the finish line. I write the story in white heat, then carve away the
florid, the weak, and the ridiculous, hoping to leave only the
sublime. So far, so good!" - Jan Weeks "Definitely a craft. Just as with a tapestry, I often have to unpick parts and do them again. I'll change the color of things when they don't seem to match and I try to keep to the outline of the picture I
began. That way, when I reach the end, everyone can understand what I have been making.
Oh, and they both take hours of work and dedication!" - Elizabeth Thompson |
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Subject:
CHALKBOARD submission
A
PATIENT AFFAIR He bought a diamond ring he could not afford and dropped to his knee one moonlit night to invite Emma Hayward to join him on the lifetime ride of matrimony.
Looking at her, Ethan could not quite comprehend the good fortune that had come his way. He did not deserve to be there, to hold the position he held. A handsome man, he was not. A wealthy man, he was not. A genuine worshipper of Emma, he was. And, in the end, he truly believed that was the very thing that lifted him above all other suitors. She saw his heart, and became positively wedded to it. For it was he who sat beside her, he who escorted her to social gatherings, he who held her lovely hands. As if those things weren't enough to fill any man's heart with pride, Dr. Hayward let it be known that when Ethan succeeded in passing the bar, he would approve the honorable intentions toward his daughter. So Ethan fiercely studied the exam, when he wasn't doting on his beloved Emma, and passed it on the first attempt. He bought a diamond ring he could not afford and dropped to his knee one moonlit night to invite Emma Hayward to join him on the lifetime ride of matrimony. Her immediate answer had been a positive one. Her belated answer had been a negative one. Two months after that, her answer became a teary "I do not know." The poor child had such a time deciding, and Ethan understood her hesitancy stemmed from the possible loss of her current privileged and indulgent life. Could he provide her with what she had grown accustomed? He vowed, over and over, to do his best. His patience rewarded him. Thursday past, as he entered the house on the hill, she bestowed a kiss and a firmly committed yes.
© 2006 Emily Stansell |
Here's a chance to show off your
writing! |
ARE YOU READY FOR FEEDBACK?
Criticism is almost as appealing as a bowl of sand. Yet, there are times when we writers must take it, even need it, in order to become better at what we do. Take the quiz below to find out if you are indeed ready for constructive criticism.
1. A reader doesn't like your lead character at all. What do you do? a)
Punch a wall.
2. A reader suggests you delete a piece of your narrative, the very narrative you've loved since the day you first wrote it. What do you do? a)
Kick a cat.
3. A reader is confused by an action your character takes, calling it "uncharacteristic." What do you do? a)
Hurl dishes.
4. A reader confesses he found your Chapter Seven terribly slow. What do you do? a)
Spit on the floor.
5. A reader is unmoved by your emotional ending. What do you do? a)
Whack a tree.
If you answered C to all five questions, you are ready for feedback. If you didn't, you aren't. Yet. Of course breathing and pondering aren't the easiest things to do when your work is under scrutiny, but they are definitely worthwhile. An important lesson sits on the other side of that silence. A lesson that should be framed on the wall of every writer in the world: You can't blame the reader! The responsibility falls upon you, the writer, to communicate in a way that those who read your words hear what you want them to hear, feel what you want them to feel, see what you want them to see. So don't get mad, get busy! Before you know it, you'll be begging for feedback. And when you do, when you reach that point where you can separate yourself from your work and listen to constructive criticism without taking offense, you'll know you are on the road to becoming a mature, professional writer. And isn't that what we all want to be?
© 2006 Elizabeth Guy |
FINALLY . . . A Sample of Excellence
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If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
-
J. D. Salinger
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© 2006 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. |