Writing Advice from a Successful First Time Author and a Songwriting Couple Who Just Won an Oscar

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

                             

CBS Sunday Morning highlighted writers today: a first-time author as well as a husband and wife songwriting team. They gave some great advice to other writers.

Ready Player One was written by Ernest Cline. It’s his first novel and his first published work—and he won the author jackpot! In just 24 hours he accepted a lucrative offer from a publisher. He was also told that the movie rights were being auctioned. Steven Spielberg bought them. Cline then wrote the screenplay and was the technical expert for the movie on all things about the ‘80s.

As described on CBS Sunday Morning, Ready Player One envisions a dark future in which people spend most of their time plugged into a virtual online world. The plot is a high stakes scavenger hunt with clues from 1980’s pop culture.

Cline notes, “I am a testament to what happens if you be free about what you love, and why you love it, and not afraid or worried about what other people think about what you love or your passions. Just be bold and celebrate the things you are passionate about and amazing things can happen.”

He’s still amazed every time he speaks with Steven Spielberg, a hero from his childhood.

In the segment titled “In Harmony,” Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez are highlighted for writing eleven songs for the animated movie Frozen. (They credit their two daughters for the inspiration.) The couple is working hard on the Broadway version now after winning an Oscar for their song “Remember Me” from the animated movie Coco.

They met at a songwriting workshop in 1999 where Bobby was working on his puppet musical “Avenue Q” which Kristen loved. It was a big success. At the beginning, their romance had ups and downs, but their career together has produced many hits.

Bobby’s advice, “You need to create from joy, from the part of you that loves what you are doing.”

I just wanted to share this advice from writers living their dream lives.

(There were several other stories worth watching in the episode—a profile of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was killed 50 years ago on April 4, an American tragedy; a heartwarming story about Jamarion Styles, a 14-year-old basketball player who lost both hands and most of his arms to an infection when he was a baby; and actor/director John Krasinski, a self-described scaredy cat, working with his wife, Emily Blunt, on the horror movie A Quiet Place. Also a segment on innovations in stained glass and a look at Google and Facebook and how they can affect people.)

Reads for Writers: Award-winning and Bestselling Author Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache Series

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

         

          I discovered Louise Penny and her mystery books on the CBS Sunday Morning TV program a few weeks ago. If you like Agatha Christie, you will enjoy Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series that begins with Still Life. To date, there are twelve books in the series.

New York Time's bestselling author Louise Penny has won five Agatha Awards. She certainly has Christie’s ability to see into the hearts and minds of murderers. I have lost count of the universally true Insightful Asides I have underlined while reading about the murders in Three Pines, a small Canadian village near the US border.

“It [Three Pines] had croissants and café au lait. It had steak frites and The New York Times. It had a bakery, a bistro, a B. & B., a general store. It had great joy and great sadness and the ability to accept both and be content. It had companionship and kindness. (page 12 in A Fatal Grace, book 2).

Sounds like an idyllic place to live—except for the murders.

Here are a few of my favorite Insightful Asides from the series:

“His [Brother Albert] theory is that life is loss,” said Myrna [bookstore owner] after a moment. “Loss of parents, loss of loves, loss of jobs. So we have to find a higher meaning in our lives than these things and people. Otherwise we’ll lose ourselves.” (page 138 in Still Life, book 1)

“…Murder was deeply human, the murdered and the murderer. To describe the murderer as a monstrosity, a grotesque, was to give him an unfair advantage. No. Murderers were human, and at the root of each murder was an emotion. Warped, no doubt. Twisted and ugly. But an emotion. And one so powerful it had driven a man to make a ghost.” (Chief Inspector Gamache on page 154 of A Fatal Affair, book 2)

“Accepting murder meant accepting there was a murderer. Among them. Close. Someone in that room, almost certainly. One of those smiling, laughing, familiar faces hid thoughts so vile they had to kill.” (Clara Morrow on page 66 of The Cruelest Month, book 3)

“There are four statements that lead to wisdom…You need to learn to say: I don’t know. I’m sorry. I need help and I was wrong.” (Chief Inspector Gamache on page 130 in The Cruelest Month.)

“Hazel Smyth had been off to the funeral home…It was like being kidnapped and taken into a world of hushed words and sympathy for something she couldn’t yet believe had happened.” (page 144 of The Cruelest Month)

“…He saw all the Morrows, trudging along, chained together, weighed down by expectation, disapproval, secrets. Need. Greed. And hate. After years of investigating murders Chief Inspector Gamache knew one thing about hate. It bound you forever to the person you hated. Murder wasn’t committed out of hate, it was done as a terrible act of freedom. To finally rid yourself of the burden.” (page 205 in A Rule Against Murder, book 4)

“Grief was dagger-shaped and sharp and pointed inward. It was made of fresh loss and old sorrow.” (Inspector Gamache on page 262 in A Rule Against Murder)

          Poetry plays a big role in Louise Penny’s books and in her writing. Chief Inspector Gamache reads and quotes poems in these books and there is a poet who lives in Three Pines.

          Louise Penny thinks reading poetry is essential for writers. As she states in her Acknowledgments on page ix of The Brutal Telling (book 5):

…I actually need to thank the wonderful poets who’ve allowed me to use their works and words. I adore poetry, as you can tell. Indeed it inspires me—with words and emotions. I tell aspiring writers to read poetry, which I think for them is often the literary equivalent of being told to eat Brussels sprouts. They’re none too enthusiastic. But what a shame if a writer doesn’t at least try to find poems that speak to him or her. Poets manage to get into a couplet what I struggle to achieve in an entire book.

          I, too, think poetry is essential as does author Ray Bradbury. See posts dated March 9, 2015; March 21, 2016; and April 4, 2016.

                   

Staying Inspired

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

Everything we see, hear, smell, taste or touch is grist for our writing mills. We can grind it all in our minds and come up with kernels of ideas. Some people also call it filling the well. It’s an essential part of writing so we have material to work with when we need an idea for an essay, blog post, article, etc.

Whatever you want to call it, make sure you are collecting material that you can fall back on by living full lives, reading, watching TV, eavesdropping on public conversations, and observing humans and nature.

What did I put in my well lately?

The lilacs are in bloom so I gathered a vase-full every other day to fill the house with their lovely scent and color.

The chickens are cackling proudly when they lay their eggs. Luckily, they do not cackle all together or the neighbors might complain.

The nearest neighbors just put in a basketball hoop. The dogs do not like the sound of a bouncing ball so they bark at it, but they will get used to it in time, we hope.

Employees at the deli counter, two female and one male, were discussing whether they would ever get Lasik surgery. Two were wearing glasses. One of them couldn’t get contacts. Their consensus was no. I agreed silently while waiting for a pound-and-a-half of American cheese and four chicken breasts.

As I waited, a man came by looking for packaged sandwich wraps made with cheese seats. After he left, I looked at what he bought—wraps made with chia seeds. Hard to hear him over the Lasik conversation.

On the recommendation of a friend, I read Carly Simon’s biography, Boys in the Trees: A Memoir. Her life was often sad and occasionally tragic. There are also some intimate details I wish I didn’t know, but I guess that’s show business.

On the CBS Sunday Morning show, Mother’s Day was celebrated, but unacceptable stats were given for maternity and paternity leave. Only 49% of women received paid leave while 70% of men who have access to paternity leave were paid.

          On the Science channel I learned that three billion years ago the moon had more than one active volcano. Imagine looking up in the sky and seeing lava flowing.

Keep adding material to your writing mill or well. You never know when you’ll need an idea, fact, or memory for a project.

Word count for the week May 7-13 was 8,649.

Editorial Advice from an Editor to an Intern: What it Takes to Become an Editor

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

This is the second part of my post started on October 3, 2016 where I gave writing advice to an intern who also wants to be an editor.

   

            

Recap:

I didn’t set out to become an editor. I wanted to be a successful writer working from home. I became both by writing for years then taking a writing class where I met the woman who just bought one of the magazines I now write for and edit.

I started out as an unpaid intern for the magazines. I wrote articles as well as learned about copyediting (turning press releases and items sent in by the public about meetings and events into style copy for the magazine issue), layouts (placing texts, ads, pull quotes, photos, and captions on each page), proofreading (using the correct proofreaders’ marks), and the myriad of little things to check in an effort to publish an almost perfect issue (something always goes wrong).

A few years later, I became the editor of two magazines—a job I love. Now I’m working with an intern who wants to be a writer and an editor. I’m happy to share my knowledge and experience with her; however, writing skills are more straightforward to discuss than editing skills.

Here is my editing advice:

Reading is the most important editing skill. The more you read, the more you build up your sense of words—their rhythm, flow, and tone—and expand your vocabulary. You absorb grammar and punctuation rules. Even reading poorly written books teaches you what doesn’t work.

Reading widely gives you a feel for grammar, but also read grammar books like Words Fail Me and Woe is I by Patricia T. O’Conner and/or the Grammar Girl series by Mignon Fogarty then keep them for reference. Do the same for punctuation. I like the Merriam Webster’s Guide to Punctuation and Style. Refer to these books often.

All knowledge makes you a better writer and editor. I read all genres as good writers make any genre interesting. I also read books about science and art as well as classic novels and bestsellers.

For writers and editors, words are our medium. Spend as much time as possible reading and writing.

Poetry is essential. Ray Bradbury makes this recommendation to writers on page 36 of Zen in the Art of Writing:

Read poetry every day of your life…it flexes muscles you don’t use often enough…it expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition.

Editors use these muscles more often than writers. Read any poet who appeals to you then branch out.

Read every book by Diane Ackerman, Bill Bryson, Joseph Campbell, and their ilk, like The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt, for broad-ranging knowledge.

Read memoirs. Read philosophy. Read the classics.

“…a good editor reads omnivorously and is interested in everything.” –from page 128 of Editing Fact and Fiction.

This is true so it’s also essential to stay on top of the news, pop culture, and have a wide array of interests. Articles and essays you edit (or write on assignment) can include references to anything.

The more information you take in through books, magazines, news outlets, TV, the internet, movies, and conversations, the more you have in your arsenal to help you catch errors when editing as well as to connect with readers when writing your articles, essays, and posts.

While the internet offers access to almost every piece of information, I also like to dip into reference books like The New York Public Library Desk Reference; The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy by E D Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil; and An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned But Probably Didn’t by Judy Jones & William Wilson to learn something new every day.

TV shows I recommend include CBS Sunday Morning at 9am as it covers a multitude of topics that are timely, interesting, useful, and fun. Writers and authors are often profiled. Also watch Charlie Rose and Tavis Smiley on PBS as they interview many writers as well as cover a variety of topics. Book TV on C-SPAN2 offers weekends full of author discussions. Super Soul Sundays includes many authors talking to Oprah on OWN. Authors are interviewed on Well Read on PBS. BBC America has many shows about writers and the arts as does the Ovation channel. I also watch NOVA, Nature, and Masterpiece Theatre on PBS. I occasionally watch shows on the Discovery channel, Smithsonian channel, and History channel. Also, don’t overlook the knowledge shared on Jeopardy.

Yes, to be a good editor you need to read and watch TV as well as view movies and listen to all kinds of music—dream job!

As a freelance editor and writer, I never know what topics might come up. For example, I was the editor of a Boating & Fishing magazine for years. I don’t boat or fish so editing took more work to assign articles. Then I had to double check facts and spellings. You don’t have to know a topic to edit, but you need to put in the extra work to make sure errors don’t get into print.

A magazine issue does not exist without an editor tracking down article ideas, contacting people to be interviewed, assigning articles to writers with word counts and deadlines. Appropriate topics depend on the magazine. Columnists decide on their topics independently.

As these are monthly magazines, I decide and assign articles by, for example, October 25th that are due by November 15th for the December issues. There is no room for procrastination!

In the same time frame, I copyedit all press releases and information sent in by the public for each issue. I also write captions for photos with people's names left to right.

          Editors have to be prepared for articles to fall through at the last minute. Be prepared to write the articles yourself or have non-timely articles ready to go like profiles of artists. If you have a specific interest, like reading, be prepared with book reviews. 

Deadline is the 15th of every month. I have to edit everything by the end of day on the 18th and send it to the Production Department. Three days is not enough time for perfection. Hopefully, I catch most of the errors I missed earlier during proofing on the 21st and final proof on the 22nd. However, I do not get to see that changes were made correctly on the 22nd. If I didn't write clearly or the Production person missed a correction or made the change incorrectly, then there will be errors in the issue. We are all human so I just hope none of the mistakes are embarrassing misspellings.

For actual editing skills, train yourself by editing what you read, especially newspapers and magazines, using proofreaders’ marks. No publication is perfect. Also, editing is in part subjective. Cut articles you read by 50-100 words or more without losing any content. Look for repetition, wordiness, and filler as “every word should tell” (Strunk & White, page 23). Be concise and precise. Most importantly, let the writer’s voice stay true; however, clarity is essential. Please note, clarity does not mean only simple sentences.

An internship with an editor is the easiest way to see what editors do as well as ask why they make specific corrections and changes to pieces. Different editors make different changes sometimes due to the style of the publication, sometimes due to editing style.

Editors are required to check every fact. Check spelling. Look up definitions. When in doubt, double check.

Editors must:

change misused words;

correct misspellings, grammar, and punctuation;

double-check all names, titles, and facts;

find buried leads / reorganize paragraphs when needed;

include smooth transitions;

keep to publication’s Style Sheet;

stay consistent, i.e., U.S. or US; ten or 10;

check everything they are not absolutely sure about,

make writers’ work shine,

ensure clarity,

and meet every deadline without fail.

There is a lot to learn to become an editor and no easy way to teach editing skills. As I mentioned you need a sense of words, but also a discerning eye, an ear for language, and intuition when something is wrong even if you can’t point it out right away plus the tenacity to find and correct these errors.

Editing for magazines doesn’t require discussing changes with writers usually; book editing does.

Editing takes a lot of time, but deadlines are tight generally.

You need to work well under pressure.  

Fresh eyes are essential so take breaks as needed.

Read pieces aloud to catch mistakes.

As the saying goes: “Editors are like goalies. No one remembers all the ones you caught—only the ones that get by you.”

          

          Some mistakes will always get by you so you must have a thick skin.

          Learn from your mistakes.

          Feedback is sometimes negative.

          Tact and good people skills are important.

          Do your best on every issue or project. 

Reference Books:

Good dictionaries—one everywhere you work and read or use refdesk.com, look up every word you don’t know.

The Copyediting Handbook by Amy Einsohn

Editing Fact and Fiction by Leslie T. Sharpe and Irene Gunther

Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus (reviewed on 6/9/14)

The Synonym Finder by J I Rodale (reviewed on 6/9/14)

The Elements of Style by Strunk & White (reviewed on 12/8/14)

Words Fail Me and Woe is I by Patricia T. O’Conner

Grammar Girl series by Mignon Fogarty

Merriam Webster’s Guide to Punctuation and Style

Style Book (AP or Chicago Manual of Style)

Vending Machines for Literature

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          On yesterday's (7/10/16) CBS Sunday Morning show during “The Man in Paris” segment, reporter David Turecamo discussed vending machines for literature spread around Grenoble, France. Patrons can choose free stories that take one, three, or five minutes to read while they are waiting in line. The machines choose the stories randomly based only on the chosen time frame then print them out on long, narrow rolls of paper.

When the inventors of the Short Edition vending machines showed the mayor a prototype, he had the first one placed in Grenoble’s Town Hall. Now there are eight machines in municipal buildings around the city including the Tourist Information Office.

Since word has spread about these machines, the inventors are receiving requests to place them all over the world. Short Edition has ordered 45 machines to start meeting the demand. Hopefully, there will be one near each of us eventually.

In the five years since Short Edition began, there are now 10,000 contributing authors and about 150,000 regular readers. The best of the stories are published in a book each year.

This is great news for writers who want to contribute their work and for anyone stuck in a line without something to read.

For more information, visit the CBS Sunday Morning web site or, if you can read French, short-edition.com.

Reads for Writers: Janet Evanovich Provides a Masterclass

From Kate's Writing Crate…

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide masterclasses within their books.

        Masterclasses take place when performance artists and musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don't generally have this option, but I have found some books to be masterclasses for characters, backstories, plots, settings, voice and/or creativity.

        In this post, I'm writing about a series that I loved then stopped reading because, in my opinion, the author made some big mistakes that should have been avoided. I prefer to celebrate only books I love, but there are writing lesson to be learned from books not so well written, too.

        As I have previously mentioned, I watch CBS Sunday Morning every week as it is an excellent program that quite often highlights authors. About 14 years ago, author Janet Evanovich was interviewed about her Stephanie Plum series just before the sixth book was released. Evanovich was wearing a hockey jersey as she took the interviewer on a tour of the neighborhood that she used as the basis for Stephanie's hometown. She then explained how she decided to make Stephanie a hockey-jersey-wearing bounty hunter.

        Intrigued, I checked out the first book in the series, One for the Money, and loved it! (Do not judge the book by its movie!) Evanovich won a Dilys Award for the book.

       

         Evanovich's characters are flawed and funny. Desperate for a paycheck after she loses her job as a lingerie buyer at a third-rate department store, Stephanie Plum stumbles into a new career when her mother reminds her of a filing job at a cousin's business. Instead, she ends up working as a bounty hunter for the same cousin (a bail bondsman who has odd proclivities) along with a high school classmate office manager as well as a wise-cracking sidekick Stephanie meets on her first case.

        Living in an apartment only a few miles from the house she grew up in, she is often home for dinner cooked by her mother for her semi-retired father and a grandmother who moved in when her husband died. Grandma is almost everyone's favorite character as she has trouble staying out of trouble—much of it inspired by Stephanie's new career.

        Besides the criminals she chases down in each book, there are two other vital and, I must add, hot characters: Vice cop Joe Morelli and bounty hunter Ranger. Stephanie and Morelli have a complicated relationship having known each other since grade school. Ranger becomes her bounty hunter tutor when Stephanie realizes she is ill-equipped for her new job through a comedy of errors. Sexual tension in this romantic triangle is off the charts!

I was so happy I could buy and quickly read the next four books and only had a two-week wait for book six instead of a whole year as book five ended with a cliff hanger.

        I highly recommend the first six books with a warning NOT to read book four in public. Everyone I know screamed with laughter in several places. And despite my warning, one friend had to scramble off a public bus and another had to run out of doctor's waiting room because they did in fact scream with laughter.

        Now for the bad news.

After a buildup through six books, the author did not live up to a promise she made that spending the night with one character would ruin Stephanie for all other men. No author should let readers down after a statement like that, but Evanovich did. Combine that with weaker plots in books 7-12 and the series didn't keep my interest any longer although book 20 has been published.

        I learned important writing lessons from this author.

In the two weeks I was waiting for book six to be released, I bought copies of the romance novels Evanovich wrote before she hit it big with her series. I like to read things in order and it really paid off as you could see her evolve as a writer.

The books were pretty bad frankly, but each one improved a bit until the last one (I've forgotten the title—it was 14 years ago) which had the seeds for both Stephanie's and her grandma's characters in it. I saw bad writing become better writing become prize-winning writing right before my eyes. Please note: these romance novels have been updated/improved by a co-writer so you have to look for the originals if you want to see the same progress.

LESSONS LEARNED:

In the end, the more you write, the better you will write.

Finish a book—only 1% of all writers do.

Send it out. It may be published.

In the meantime, start your next book.

Persistence will pay off.

It did for Janet Evanovich. Why not for you, too?

Becoming a Writer Takes Practice and Perseverance

From Kate's Writing Crate...

          People look at established writers and authors as though they woke up one day fully-formed and sat down with pens and paper or in front of computers and churned out flawless prose. Au contraire as working authors and writers will tell you.

         On CBS News Sunday Mornings 9-10:30AM, many authors are interviewed about their latest books usually in their sanctuaries so you can see how they really live and work. No two have the same writing routines--and ideas come to them differently.

          Even after writing 200 books, Nora Roberts said on the show recently, "It's still hard work." She writes 6-8 hours a day.

          Those who write the books we love are human just like us. The biggest difference is they didn't give up. They wrote. They put in the hours, improved, and succeeded.

          We can, too!

          Writing is not a zero sum game. There is no writing limit, no global word count. Everyone in the world could write and the world would be a better place. People would feel validated. Communication skills would improve. Imagine if everyone wrote--all those unique voices and points of view shaped by countless cultures would reveal the human condition in all its facets.

          However, not everyone has the desire or, sadly, the education needed to write.

          Also, most writers I now know were discouraged from becoming writers. It seems like other people cannot believe anyone they know is smart/talented/interesting/unusual/(pick-your-own-reason) enough to be a writer.

          Who are they to judge or jeer?

          Writers who write are happy--willing to grow, finding opportunities and taking chances. 

          Since each beginning writer has a fragile belief in him- or herself, the writing dream can be crushed easily. Plus we do not know how to become writers. There are no apprentice programs--so just keep writing.

          Write. Write in secret. Write at night. Get up early and write. Keep writing however you can. Fill a spiral notebook each month.
                            

          I always wanted to be a writer, but was told no money/future in that so I ended up being an accountant despite no happiness in that for me. I kept reading about writing. I wrote on my lunch hour. I also scribbled down lines that came to me as I worked on spreadsheets.

          I confided my dream to an equally unhappy co-worker. Turns out she wanted to be a doctor. Since we were stuck, we decided to help each other. I picked up a pre-med application for her and she found a writing class for me.

          In the class, I met a magazine publisher and a newspaper columnist. The first hired me to write; the other recommended me to intern at a small book publisher where I was later hired.

          The former co-worker is now a doctor back in her home state and I am a writer and editor--both as happy as can be.

         All it took was one brave step in the right direction--so be bold and then be happier!


What bold steps have you taken to become a writer?

TV Shows Highlighting Writers 1

From Kate's Writer's Crate...

          As a writer, I spend as much time as possible reading and writing to improve my skills. However, sometimes I need a break.

          Here are a few favorite and inspirational TV programs that often showcase writers, authors, and books:

CBS News Sunday Morning from 9-10:30 AM hosted by Charles Osgood. This is a high quality series that covers news, the arts, heartwarming profiles, history, and pop culture. I love the author profiles. Reporters go to the authors' homes and into their offices or writing spaces to discuss their beginnings, successes, routines, and thoughts. I have found many new favorite authors through this show.

Charlie Rose almost daily on PBS, check local listings. More writers are interviewed on this show than any other that I watch. Mr. Rose invites them to sit at his round oak table in studio for in-depth discussions of their work and lives. I watch all of them, even if the book topics aren't of interest, because these are professional authors sharing their knowledge, writing routines, and advice. Another great way I discover new books.

Book TV weekends on C-SPAN2. I enjoy the author discussion panels from book fairs around the country. This series covers non-fiction authors speaking about their books in various venues. Check the listings on booktv.org.

American Masters on PBS, check local listings. This series profiles authors, artists, actors, musicians--performers of all kinds.

Masterpiece on PBS, Sunday nights and various replays. These are high quality programs and mini-series often based on classic and beloved books. They inspire me to read them.

Once Upon a Time on ABC and Grimm on NBC are both based on fairy tales, but the writers for each show went in divergent, but engaging tangents.

The Next List on CNN hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. People on the cutting edges of various industries, programs, and professions are profiled. Some have written books and articles, but mostly this show opens your mind up to possibilities while highlighting how far passion, hard work, and dedication can take you.

NOVA on PBS, check local listings. Covers many topics and opens the mind to possibilities, too.

Doctor Who on BBC America. A charming and sometimes ruthless Time Lord travels throughout history with human companions meeting famous and infamous people. Author characters like Agatha Christie and Shakespeare make occasional appearances. The plots are well-written. The characters unique. Just fun to watch!

Sherlock Holmes. A writer, famous for his Doctor Who episodes, has modernized the detective in amazing and clever ways on PBS. The CBS version, Elementary, reveals how paying attention to details is essential for good plotting.

Prophets of Science Fiction on the Syfy Channel. While not a genre I often read, the highlighted authors changed the world. Real-life scientists, who invented many modern marvels, discuss how they were inspired by these Sci-Fi books. These authors were truly ahead of their times.

          Writers and authors can and do have big impacts on the lives of others!

What TV shows inspire you and your writing?