Mallory

Yep, that's the title to one of my plays.

I'd forgotten about it during all of last years rush to other things. Then I was looking for something else and rediscovered it. I then had to hunt down my Dramatists Sourcebook and decide on a theater to send it to. After all, it will never be produced if I don't send it out.

See, back then I actually went through the book page by page and marked specific theaters as especially good prospects for various plays.

Even with all that previous work it still took me all day to get the submission actually sent off.

But, it was a good feeling none the less.

For those of you who consider yourself a new writer - there is ONE trick to becoming published etc. - that secret is simply that publishing is a numbers game. You send off X number of pieces and you get X number of sales. That's it folks. SEND OUT YOUR WRITING. Even when you suck someone will buy it.

The only difference between you and those other authors is that what they are offered is currently MORE, not because their work is better than yours - a lot of the time it isn't better - they are offered more because they are slightly ahead of you as a BRAND or you are BRANDABLE (cute, special) - brands sell more and faster. That's it. Don't be sold on the idea that your writing sucks, unless you know it sucks. Mostly writing is decent to okay to maybe good to slightly better to good to even better to really fucking good.

Mallory

It has become popular, almost essential, to demonstrate your alignment with conformity by loudly and persistently pointing out some new form of cultural privilege being criminally perpetrated upon others.

The collective result of all of this whining is fatigue.

Everyone is tired of hearing about it. You aren't a wheel. I won't grease you. Whining and fatigue create a rush to bypass your newest 'same old' meme. By the time some messages reaches mainstream media they have exceeded their active shelf life. Eventually those around you cease listening, cease hearing and your whine effectively silences your message.

Some cultures create stuff.

Some cultures steal stuff.

America is the second one. Got stuff, expect us to steal it.

If your culture is about appropriating, don't be surprised by appropriation.

Oh, while Americans are busy stealing the cultural goodies of other peoples, other peoples are eagerly stealing the appropriation culture of Americans. Goodies. Everyone wants them.

Embrace your greed and stop pretending to moral horror on your way home from shopping.

Most people know I've been a working writer for a long time. Working essentially means writing for hire or being paid for writing. This work comes in many forms. At the best of times I work on my personal writing and produce books, screenplays and other similar works. At other points I work on writing for others. Some of this writing is really fun. Some is rather boring but ALL of it is paid work.

When I started writing and for a few years thereafter my goal was for someone to accept my writing. I was very insecure about it. I jumped through a bunch of hoops and frequently had materials published without being paid.

It's part of the professional writer process. You may be early in your career at this moment. You may feel driven to be accepted by editors, to be published in some minor magazine (maybe even major magazine) for very little money. I get it. I went that route for a few years.

Back in the day I used to believe in the 'old' publishing model where I, the writer, had to sell myself to someone in power. I gave them my power and in return they received most of the money for the work I was doing. In addition, they usually wanted to change what I wrote. So, not only was I giving my power and my work's value to them, I was also giving up my original content, allowing it to say something else or be fitted to their agenda.

Taking back your power as a writer means you have to let go of your belief in the current writing/publishing model and system. You have to let go of believing that the people you see advertised and spoken about in the magazines are the best writers out there. They aren't. They are merely more successful at working inside the old model. Most of those writers are good writers. Some of those writers are brands, names familiar enough to maintain their product line. When you read most 'branded' writers you are likely to think that the writing is not particularly good or interesting. These people make the magazines from long-term consistent advertising and marketing and a few good books, usually written a long time ago, before they became brands. You see these well-known writers at conventions, book signings, award ceremonies and heading organizations centered on their genre.

I'm not telling you to buck the system. I am telling you that the system won't work for 95% of you. I am also telling you that the radical transformations in the current publishing world will change the old system forever. The truth is that the old publishing system has only existed for a very short time. It looks longer and more important than it really was. Every publishing system is a scheme for middle-men to take advantage of product creators. The new system is also a scheme but, it is only temporary. Under the old publishing scheme the writer typically made 6% of the wholesale price of the book AFTER the publishing costs were deducted. Today, the writer makes around 60% of the retail price of the book. Do you see the divide of tension? It exists. Today a writer can and should have ALL of their books in continuous print. It's YOUR backlist. Yes, this flood of available content makes it harder to rise into the awareness of the public. But, as a writer you should take 6% of your 60% and pay a publicity company to market you. Trust me. That measly amount is MORE than the remaining publishers will spend on you. So, you earn 50% or more. It's called basic MATH.

What you hear about the SHAME of SELF PUBLISHING is simply those in power trying to stay in power. Don't give your power away. Give up on the awards showering inside the incestuous circle. Give up on the membership requiring you to suck on the old publishing model. Use your sword instead of falling on it.

I'm a big advocate for story prep. You may not think you are doing research by reading articles and checking facts but your work does a lot for a story by immersing the reader in things they don't know, details that make a story rich.

A few years back I was writing a piece on my own life. I had been a writer for a long time at that point. You might think that I could just reel off the details off the top of my head. After all, the subject was my own life. However, I ended up doing nearly as much research and fact-checking as I do on any story. Our memory is flawed and in constant evolution as how we think informs how we remember. At first I was only checking dates, times and things like that but relatively quickly I realized I needed more information. I delved into family records and compared images and family stories to what I was trying to write about.

My point is simply that the reader relies on the writer to convey as complete an experience as possible. At this point in my career I can identify an 'off-the-cuff' story as easily as I can spot a story heavily researched. One gets the details right or right enough for me to invest in what the writer is saying. That investment is critical. If you only capture your audience in a hesitant way, your reader will fall away when they encounter the first bit of detail or information that doesn't jive. Then it won't matter what the rest was about, with the reader gone the writing is silenced.

Recently I've read a lot of 'screen-writerly' advice that centers on the idea that all you need for a good screenplay is a memorable character. I get it. Viewers, just like readers, hook onto the protagonist for the ride. But, one of the problems I experience with so many recent films is the lack of story. Yes, the screenplay writer creates a memorable character and then leads the character through a predictable series of trite scenes. I learn nothing. I experience nothing. I spend the entire film noticing the plot holes, the set problems, the utterly predictable everything. Is this writing?

No.

It's formula.

Predictable characters and predictable stories produce predictably boring films.

Character is the vehicle that carries the viewer or reader into the story, it isn't the whole of the story. Character acts upon story and story acts upon character. If you don't have this action or if the action is so overdone that it has lapsed into circular thinking then you end up with a vehicle driving in circles passing the same terrain over and over again.

I don't go to watch a film merely to vegetate because I feel too lazy to get up and walk out.

The best films, for me, are those whose premise is small enough to occur in the life of the viewer or whose premise is so gobsmackingly excessive that the mundane is ripped away. That's it, one polarity or the other. Everything in between is filled with the 'deadly middle' ground of nothing special. The ones I find the most interesting are those whose premise takes me where I haven't been, with a character who shouldn't be the heroine in the first place. This is because I, as a viewer or reader, am an ESSENTIAL collaborator with the writer or producer of a film. Without me, your creation remains silent, unwatched and unread. If I am co-inhabiting the protagonist, it better be a damn good story because I don't want to feel like vanilla, mundane, mediocrity. You have to elevate me, torment me, shock me, captivate me and respect me. Without me, you don't exist as a whole piece. This means you have to include me as the co-creator, not drivel down to me from on high.

As the writer I have to create that space for all the collaborators necessary to bring my work to life.

I'm one of those people who does plotting while driving. Typically I work out entire sections of one or more storylines or if I'm thinking about nonfiction I do brainstorming. This means when I return home I usually have too much to immediately imput into the machine. Lately I've started carrying index cards to jot more stuff down because I used to write all over my lunch napkins and they aren't the best for notes.

Today I can tell my brain will be doing this 'stuff' so I'm not even bothering to bring reading material for my wait periods. Mostly I people watch, think and brainstorm. The best part about today is that I will be in downtown San Francisco which is superb people watching territory, I get to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge (twice) and visit Emeryville for the train station. Lots of opportunities in all of that for neato brain work.

Yup, I'm an hour away from uhmmm an adventure with a young male of my acquaintance. I'm always a mentally focusing mess in advance of such activities. So, what I do is goof off. I may actually have him sort out my cabinet of naughty things, that sounds like a fun way to muck with his head. LOL

He already messaged me with eager anticipation.

And, I already bathed and quasi cleaned the room. So, with all of this going on you really expect me to do any productive writing work? Heck no. My personal lie is that if I start something I will have to pause once I'm in the middle and then I will be distracted by ...both...

However, I did figure out that photo thing yesterday so this means I can post my book covers here and SPAM everyone I know. Isn't that thrilling, for you?

Truthfully, I totally came up with a major screenplay in my head this week. Nothing much on paper but the way my brain works it will roar out in a few days and then I'll crash, and then revise. Maybe it will start next week. I have a quicky still to finish tomorrow first.

This should be a cool book thing :)

I like book things and I also like posting images in blogs - this is my test of both.

http://pinterest.com/pin/523050944192599144

If you can see this, isn't it cool?



Okay, time to post and see how it did. :)