The Writer's Perspective by Maria Schneider - writing technique

5 Nifty Google Writing Tools

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:32:39 GMT

Hi, writers,

Maria is likely sipping exotic neon cocktails and hanging out with top writers as the Maui Writers Conference wraps up in Hawaii, so this week I’m taking over The Writer’s Perspective and the WD fort in Cincinnati, wearing an old lei from a luau-themed office party.

I originally planned to blog about nationwide newspaper cuts (our local Cincinnati Enquirer mentioned today that 15 newsroom staffers have accepted buyouts), but I’m working on some great material for the January/February issue, so let’s go with a less grim topic—let’s go with some of my overly abused Google writing tools.

Here are five free, simple, nifty writing tricks I picked up as a reporter that can be surprisingly handy when editing or writing.

•   Google Phonebook: Looking to hunt down the phone number of that mysterious source before deadline? Go to Google.com and type “phonebook: John Smith Nevada.” Now you have all the John Smiths in Nevada, and you didn’t need to root through any hulking yellow tomes.

•   iGoogle: My over-checked guilty pleasure. At iGoogle.com, you can set up a custom web page, and you can even tailor it to your own writing and reading ends with a database of free widgets. For instance, mine has both of my e-mail addresses plugged into it, seven news feeds, a word of the day, an artist of the day, a dictionary form, a thesaurus form, a daily literary quote and a strange “Writer’s Idea Bank” tool. Overkill? Probably. Perfect for compulsive e-mail-checking writers? Definitely. (Requires free Google account.)

•   Google Docs: This is a relatively new one in my lineup, but one that I’m increasingly using. At docs.google.com you can find the tech behemoth’s free online word processor, which allows you to write, edit, save and even format your material as you would in a normal program. Upside: You can access your writing anywhere without a flash drive. Downside: No internet connection? Ut-oh. (Requires free Google account.)

•   Google Calculator: I didn’t get into writing because I was good at math, so it’s a good thing search engines are. Simply type “456*993” into the browser and you’re a whiz. If you still remember what square roots are, you can do those, too.

•   Define: The crown jewel, crucial for helping your writing (or settling arguments) when you don’t have a dictionary or Internet connection handy. Text message Google with your cell phone (466453) and write “Define: Athabascan.” Soon enough, your mobile phone is telling you all about Alaska and Western Canada. Texting Google also works for movie times, weather and directions.

For more, visit google.com/help/features.html. What are your favorite writing gadgets and widgets?

Read on and write on,

Zac

--

Zachary Petit
WD Managing Editor

Writer's Digest TV: Lee Child

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:49:31 GMT

Hi Writers,
Another video today--I know, I spoil you.

Today's video is an interview with Lee Child, author of the spectacular Jack Reacher series. Here Lee talks about why he switches between first and third person point-of-view in his novels.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Writer's Digest TV: Interview with David Baldacci

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:55:24 GMT

Hi Writers,
If there's one thing I've learned from spending time with all the thriller writers at ThrillerFest 08, it's that the adage, "write what you know" holds little merit.

Here's another short Q&A I did with David Baldacci, in which he discusses the merits of writing what you don't know.

Keep Writing,

Maria

Writer's Digest TV: Sandra Brown

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:22:17 GMT

Hi Writers,
Remember back last month when I was at ThrillerFest, the great writing conference/party thrown by the International Thriller Writers? Well, I got the chance to do some video interviews with a few thriller luminaries, including the amazing Sandra Brown.

So here's a a short (around 4 minutes) Q&A I did with Sandra, in which I ask the brilliant question: So how do you get to be Thriller Master anyway, do you have to kill someone!
(I don't think Diane Sawyer has anything to worry about).

Keep Writing,
Maria

Random stuff overheard from New York literary agents

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:51:38 GMT

Hi Writers,
Sorry for the lame headline. I’m putting the October issue of Writer’s Digest to bed and my clever headline writing capacity is shot.

But I wanted to share some of the notes I kept during my recent trip to New York to accompany our annual competitions winners to meet agents (see posts below).

Many thanks to the agents who guided us including:
• Annelise Robey
• Mollie Glick
• Peter Rubie
• Stephany Evans
• Jennie Dunham
• Michelle Brower
• Donald Maass

So here, in no particular order of importance is random stuff overheard from New York agents:

• The term “book club novel” is hot; consider using in lieu of “literary” fiction; “crossover appeal” is another good catchphrase.

• Make sure your synopsis is concise; stick to the main plotline and characters.

• Know what the core conflict/ turning point of your story is.

• Practice your “elevator pitch.” Be able to verbally sum up your novel in less than two minutes.

• It takes a long time and a lot of effort to find the right agent because you want to find an agent who shares your vision for your writing career. This is one of the most important relationships of your life.

• Many newer/ younger agents are coming into the field with strong editing background and expect to do a lot of editing.

• Never mass e-mail agents; take the time to get to know the other authors they represent and if you’re a good fit.

• Get some publishing credits however you can before you pitch a novel, this sends a signal to everyone that you are a publishable writer.

For everything else you always wanted to know about literary agents but were afraid to ask, go seek the keeper of literary agent wisdom Chuck Sambuchino, editor of Guide to Literary Agents.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Let me know if you have any questions, comments or clarifications and I will attempt to once again decipher my own handwriting.

I'm in New York!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:06:17 GMT

Hi Writers,
I’m reporting live from New York City, where I’m accompanying our annual competitions winners Alegra Clarke and Mary Feuer.

So Alegra and Mary and me are making the rounds to meet literary agents. This is part of their prize for winning our annual competition for the past two years. I was so happy to meet these two great ladies, really I couldn’t imagine this happening to two nicer, more deserving, talented writers.

Even though she won the contest in 2006, Mary has been tied up as a screenwriter on location in Hawaii for the TV series “Dante’s Cove.” Mary’s working on a novel length work stemming from the great “House on Fire” she won our competition with two years ago.

Alegra, who won our competition in the memoir category for her “Salamander Prayer” has completed a novel since she found out she won our competition less than a year ago, and she’s already working with a L.A. based screenplay agent Joel Gotler on the screen rights.

We have two days of meetings with literary agents lined up. Yesterday we met with Annelise Robey of the Jane Rotrosen Agency and Mollie Glick of the Jean V. Naggar Agency.

Both Annelise and Mollie were so enthusiastic and positive about the prospect of finding new talent, the meetings were really delightful; I got quite a charge from it.

A lot came out of these meetings and I learned quite a lot about the current state of the market. I don’t have time for a full report but here’s a bit of what each had to say.

Annelise Robey says literary fiction is selling, especially if it’s accessible, not overly intellectual and has crossover appeal.

Mollie Glick had each writer give her “elevator pitch.” She told Mary if you have a choice between writing the book as a series of linked short stories and a novel, definitely go with the novel as short story collections, even linked short stories, are incredibly difficult to sell.

We have four more meetings lined up today so I have to run, but I’ll report back tomorrow, with visual aids!

Keep Writing,
Maria

Ian Frazier on Humor Writing

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:17:57 GMT

Hi Writers,
I read this great piece in The New Yorker May 26, “Tales from a Chelsea Soup Kitchen” by Ian Frazier. It's a feature about how he started a writing workshop that operates in tandem with a NYC church-based soup kitchen.

I thought it had a lot of interesting things to say about how to operate a writing workshop and gave some good idea-generating topics. Unfortunately, the article isn't available online, but I did find this podcast with Frazier, in which he talks about writing humor. Whenever a New Yorker writer has something to say about writing, I listen.

Here's a bit of the transcript from the podcast interview, which runs about 15 minutes (and I promise, well worth your time):
Sometimes people write funny things and I say, you know if you just made it a little longer and added a little plot, you’d have a humor piece here. It isn’t just people in this workshop. It’s people in general. They’ll get something funny, but it’ll just be a line or two lines. Even now I think because of TV I think that’s become a problem—that people write really, really short. So all of the suggestions of where this could go, you know there’s all this potential here.

[Humor] is something that you really can’t hit by aiming at it. It’s not like you can go out and get the facts and report them and now here’s a humor piece with the facts. With reporting, if you work hard you can usually pull something out. But writing humor doesn’t respond to working hard, necessarily. I mean, you could just sit there and look at the page all day and maybe something will come. But writing humor for me is more like a watchful-ness. You have to watch. When you say something funny, or someone else does, it’s more like you wait for the piece. I think maybe it’s more like writing a poem. I’ve never really been into that at all, but I assume a poet would get to a certain point and say, gee, I know I need a fifth stanza here, but I don’t know what it should be. And then maybe the poet doesn’t think of anything for five years. I don’t know I can imagine that; I’ve had it happen with humor pieces. I’ll get to a certain point and say, you know, up to here it works but I don’t know what to do next. It’s a sense—you have a sense of humor.

Any thoughts about what Frazier has to say about humor writing? Post them here.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Kill Your Darlings (and other terrifying advice)

Tue, 27 May 2008 13:26:51 GMT

Hi Writers,
Following up on my previous post, the Ira Glass storytelling video, there were some interesting comments on the forum. I mentioned that I really took to what Glass had to say about killing much of your work so that the best can live. And this brought up the anxiety-inducing advice that all writers get early in their careers, "Murder your Darlings" aka "Kill your Darlings."

I've heard this quote attitributed to everyone from Mark Twain to James Patrick Kelly—if anyone knows the correct source/attribution for this idiom, please share.

I still remember the shudder that went up my spine the first time I heard "Murder your Darlings" from an English professor (English professors love this quote).

And I've been pondering the meaning of it ever since. As a writer, of course, it seems cruel and harsh to cut out your loveliest well-turned phrases—your most eloquent lines. But I have to say, as an editor, I have no problem at all at seeing and cutting out other writers darlings.

So how do you feel about murdering your darlings? Do you subscribe to this timeless writing advice?

Keep Writing,
Maria

Ira Glass on Storytelling

Thu, 22 May 2008 13:10:21 GMT

Hi Writers,
I want to share this wonderful, instructional video I came across: Ira Glass on the art of storytelling. I'm a huge NPR "This American Life" fan and I also recommend "This American Life" on Showtime, which I suppose you might call short video stories of real people.

The following video was produced to educate aspiring video producers (via Current TV). Glass gives such a great description of the storytelling process, demystifying it and breaking it down into understandable pieces. Good to know whether you're communicating through writing, video, radio or podcasts—good storytelling is good storytelling.

The series is broken down into four parts and I'm posting #1 here. You can watch all four parts in less than 15 minutes. Parts 2-4 will show up in the Related Videos on the You Tube page.

Let me know what you think...

Keep Writing,
Maria

In honor of National Poetry Month

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:17:56 GMT

Hi Writers,
It's National Poetry Month, so I thought I'd offer up an excerpt courtesy of our wonderful new Poetry columnist Dorianne Laux. This is from the June 08 issue of Writer's Digest (on newwstands 4/15), from a column on word choice:

There’s something in the name Romeo—those three sweet, open syllables—that our English-speaking ears have come to love. No one-syllable Fred, no matter how beautiful of mind, body and spirit, will do. Even if we substituted another three-syllable name more fitting to the times, Christopher, for instance, we hear right away what it lacks. Partly it’s the erotic quality of the Italian language and its lilting syllabics and luscious Latinate endings. Benvolio and Mercutio, Romeo’s friends, also have poly-syllabic names that end in that lovely, open “o.” But only Romeo possesses the particular combination of the warm romantic “R,” mellifluous “m” and rolling “o’s,” so sensual to say and hear.

To get your full April poetry fix, check out our write-a-poem-a-day challenge on Poetic Asides.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Laurell K. Hamilton on her fantasy series

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:55:10 GMT

Hi Writers,
There seems to be some blogosphere chatter surrounding a quote from the Laurell K. Hamilton interview in our April issue. So I'm posting that particular Q&A here. The full interview will be available on our website next week.

Do you work on only one series at a time?
Yes, especially when the Merry series was new. I'd written five Anita books in a row so Anita's voice was very strong. Merry's voice was hard to stay in and the Anita voice kept intruding. So I had to be very careful at the beginning. When I was working on Merry I had to not be thinking about Anita and vice versa.
A Lick of Frost is number six. Sometime around book four, the world begins to solidify and it's not as much work to do the voice of the characters. Book four seems to be the magic number for me. And somewhere between books six and eight, it just gets to work.
One of the things I did before I started Merry was research mystery series, because at that time there were no fantasy series that had gone past five books. A lot of writers seem to get bored with their own series between books five and eight. One of the reasons I didn't do a straight mystery series is because I thought I'd get bored. That's why I have fantastic elements; I thought it would keep me interested, and it has.

Stay tuned for more.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Blogs: Handling sensitive subjects

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:41:18 GMT

Hi Writers,
Anyone who blogs and is interested in learning how to write about a very serious topic should check out Patry Francis' blog Simply Wait.

I wrote about Patry in my previous post. She's an author who's battling cancer. She's been chronicling that battle on her blog recently.

Here's a brief excerpt from a recent post, but please go to her blog and read it in full. It's a lovely piece of writing:

I promise to stop writing about "my trip to the hospital" soon. Very soon! But apparently, I'm a classic case of a writer who doesn't get out much. It's not that I don't see lots of people every day. Family, friends, and friends of the kids flow in and out in a wonderful stream. They bless my life--all of them--even when I bellow, (most often internally) "Hey, I'm trying to get some work done here!"

But what I've missed from my waitressing days, and what the hospital provided was interaction with the wider world. People I didn't know. Stories I hadn't heard. Catalysts to insights and thoughts that stretched far beyond myself and my beloved few. The stream that becomes a vast, transformative river. In the hospital, I walked into that river again.

For my second surgery, I only had one request: I wanted to go back to the same floor, White 7, where I already knew the nurses and the aides, the dietary and housekeeping staff. I loved them all. But it was probably the intimacy of sharing a room with various strangers, all enduring their own crises, that affected me most.

It's challenging, but it is possible to handle serious topics in a delicate, even uplifting way. I'd like to assemble a list of blogs that are covering sensitive topics well, as Patry's does. Please leave your recommendations in the comments section.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Blogs: Cutting words in your posts Part 3

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:03:08 GMT

Hi Writers,
Since there seems to be a great deal of angst surrounding my advice to try to keep your blog posts short, I'm going to do one final post on the subject and then move on to more creative, less-irritating topics.

My advice to try and keep the majority of your blog posts down to 300 words or fewer was only meant to be a general guideline—not an arbitrary rule—for day-to-day blogging. As I wrote in my original post "20 Tips for Good Blogging" if you've got good stuff—go long. But let it be a conscious decision.

If you're a blogger who's writing long posts on a regular basis and getting the readership and feedback you want, of course you should keep it up. Then get on here and tell us all how you're doing it, because we all want to know!

The fact is, if you're accustomed to writing for magazines or books, blogging is an entirely different form of writing.

Here are a few facts about writing for the web, provided by the good folks in my IT department:
• Most visitors do not scroll to see what's beyond the fold; if they do it will not be beyond 2 1/2 screens.
• People read 25% slower from screens than paper.
• Resolution of a computer screen is 30X lower than resolution of a printed page.

Just something for you to think about. Of course, if you're blogging purely as a means of self-expression and don't care about developing a big readership, don't worry about any of this.

I welcome your comments, both positive and not-so positive.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Cutting words in your posts: Part 2

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:11:58 GMT

Hi Writers,
I've noticed, in my web wanderings, wordiness is a rampant problem in the blogosphere. So to continue the theme of my previous post on cutting down wordiness, I've taken a recent post by one of my favorite writers, fellow WD blogger Kevin Alexander (with his permission), and cut out the excessive adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and redundancies to get the word count down. It's the kind of editing you can do if you want to make your writing cleaner and tighter. And it only takes an extra couple of minutes.

Here's Kevin's post:
I hope you--like me-- found time over the holiday to reflect on the year that was and consume ~~nearly~~ twice your daily recommended calories~~c intake~~ in Lindt chocolate truffles and ~~kind-of-gross, kind-of-really-good alcoholic~~ Egg Nog. But now that I've New Years Resolutioned Up and thrown away anything ~~and everything even vaguely~~ brown in my apartment in favor of leafy greens and Guava Goddess Kombucha tea, and I'm ~~finally~~ ready to be back in my ~~normal~~ writing routine, I realized ~~something:~~ I'm ~~kind of~~ rusty.

Due to the holiday and some ~~unforeseen~~ family stuff, I didn't ~~get a chance to~~ write for two weeks. And so today, when I sat ~~back~~ down in the familiar confines of Espresso Royale, after attempting to nod ~~tentatively~~ at the regulars (~~you know:~~ the hippies, the college age dude in a bowler cap who is always reading ~~one of~~ the free alternative weeklies and tracing something on a pad, and the loud, ~~unpredictable~~ counter-culture girl with multiple piercings, a~~n eerily~~ normal looking boyfriend, and either a drug problem or an unusually small bladder), I tried to pick up where I left off on my novel re-writes and discovered~~, to my horror,~~ that I couldn't~~, well,~~ do anything. Ideas were vague, plot connections muddled. I couldn't remember the name of one of my central characters. I spent ~~a terrifyingly long~~ 45 minutes re-reading ~~back~~ chapters ~~just~~ to get a sense of what I was writing about only to find that when I finally remembered, I didn't have anything creative in the tank. So I went and ordered a Turkey Avocado Club ~~on a sesame bagel~~.

And while I was sitting down to slay said lunch treat ~~(I know, I know, bagels are terribly caloric)~~, I started to think about why I was rusty. Unlike writer's block, (which~~-- I should point out--~~ is usually just my excuse to watch "The View"), it wasn't that I couldn't get anything on the page, it was ~~morejust~~ like speaking a language. If you stop working, you lose your fluency, your momentum, and your ability to remember the names of secondary characters that play vital roles ~~nearly all the wayOf course,~~ sometimes breaks are good, and necessary even, to clear your head or give a draft ~~another look with~~ a fresh set of eyes. But not while you're in the thick of things, and not when you have to turn in a certain draft ~~of said piece of work~~ to a certain thesis adviser in a certain amount of days, and you only have ~~another~~ 44 minutes of battery on your laptop, and the hippies are hogging the tables by the power outlet.

So, ~~in conclusion,~~ my break, while important were I to ~~ever~~ need ~~this~~ excess weight during hibernation, was not what experts might call "smart" or ~~even~~ "logical under the circumstances". Let me know if you suffered the same fate of holiday-induced indolence or feel free to heap on the guilt by telling me about the thousands ~~and thousands~~ of words you produced while your relatives were talking. Either way, drop it in the comments.

See how easy it is to cut out excess without losing voice or meaning in a piece of writing?
Thanks to Kevin for giving me permission to publicly edit his post. (BTW isn't he funny?)

I hope this helps, if not by all means ignore my advice. It's just advice, after all. Do what works for you.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Blogs: How to Keep your Word Count Down

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:11:14 GMT

Hi Writers,
Several people commented specifically on tip #10: Keep it Short from my "20 Tips for Good Blogging" article. They remarked that it's difficult to keep posts to 300 words, and that word limit is perhaps too strict.

But I stick with my original advice to keep it short. Most successful blogs stick to a tight word count.
It may seem a difficult target, at first. But as most good editors and journalists know, you have to train yourself to be economical with your word choices.

I'm a fan of The Elements of Style by Strunk & White and I recommend this classic language and style guide to anyone who wants to be a better blogger, because it really gets to the core of how to write tight. Every time I'm tempted to insert an adverb or adjective in my own writing, I look down at my Strunk & White tattoo and reconsider.

Here's an excerpt from The Elements of Style (4th edition) by Strunk & White:

Do not overwrite

Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating. If the sickly-sweet word, the overblown phrase are your natural form of expression, as is sometimes the case, you will have to compensate for it by a show of vigor, and by writing something as meritorious as the Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.

When writing with a computer, you must guard against wordiness. The click and flow of a word processor can be seductive, and you may find yourself adding a few unnecessary words or even a whole passage just to experience the pleasure of running your fingers over the keyboard and watching your words appear on the screen. It is always a good idea to reread your writing later and ruthlessly delete the excess.

Don't you love it when language style gurus get all smart-alecky? But this passage makes the point well.

Take a hard look at your last post and examine it for wordiness:
• Are there unnecessary adjectives and adverbs?
• Are there redundancies?
• Are there words that you wouldn't naturally use in conversation?

Be ruthless. Cut down your wordiness. It will make your post more concise and readable and that's essential to good blogging. Good writing = Good blogging.

Today's question: Are you a wordy blogger? Please share here. It's good to share.

And join me tomorrow when I attempt to edit a wordy post from a fellow WD blogger (guess who) down to 300 words.

Keep Writing,
Maria
P.S. Wordpress and Blogger are running a tight race in the Best Blog Software for Writers Poll (below). I'm going to leave the poll open and I hope to announce a winner soon.

20 Tips for Good Blogging

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:55:45 GMT

Hi Writers,

If you’ve been a regular reader here, you know that I spent much of 2007 perusing writer’s blogs for my Project 20/20: Build my Blogroll Project. I spotlighted 20 writer’s blogs (one a week for 20 weeks) and added them to my Blogroll, where you can still find the links.

Even though I didn’t start blogging officially until April 2007 with this, “The Writer’s Perspective,” I’ve been following the blog world for years. In 2001, I wrote, I believe, one of the earliest articles about blogging for Personal Journaling, The Art of the Blog. It was difficult back then to even find people who could speak knowledgeably on the subject. It’s amazing how blogging has changed in seven years. Now many professional writers, journalists, industry leaders and politicians have gotten into blogging. And the reason is obvious: Blogging is one of the quickest, most effective, and certainly least-expensive ways to get a message across. (For more, check out Brian A. Klems' "What is a Blog?")

But it’s not easy—at least it’s not easy to do well. I’ve decided to download the full contents of my brain where blogging is concerned, into this online-exclusive article. And because I’m the editor of Writer’s Digest, writers were first in my mind when composing this article. But I think there’s beneficial information here for anyone who wants to start blogging or improve their blogging expertise.

20 Tips for Good Blogging

1. Starting a blog is easy. There are many free blog services. Blogger.com is very user-friendly and will lead you through a pain-free set-up process. If you want to keep a specific domain (without “blogger” in the URL), you’ll need to set up your own domain and import it into another blog service, such as wordpress.com.

2. Decide what you want your blog to be. Who are your target readers? It’s important to decide from the beginning whether you’re blogging for professional or personal reasons. If you want to blog strictly as a diary or a way to get the creative juices flowing, password protect it. Think hard about who your potential readers are and what sort of image you want to portray. Announce your full vision for your blog in your first post.

3. Post one time a week at the absolute minimum. This is important, because once you develop a regular readership, you don’t want to lose it. Every day is ideal, although there’s a high burnout rate for bloggers who post this frequently. Aiming for three to five posts per week is a good goal.

4. If you write on your blog that you’re going to do something—do it. A lot of this has to do with building a solid level of trust with your readers. If you write that you’re going to post every day, or that you’re going to post something specific, be sure you can and will deliver.

5. You don’t have to be perfect, but still try. Yes, grammar and spelling expectations are somewhat more relaxed with a blog, but don’t get lazy with your posts. Respect your reader: at least run a quick grammar/spelling check before your post.

6. Remember that blogs are forever. I also like to call this tip “friends don’t let friends post drunk.” Like a tattoo, a piercing, or those expensive shoes you bought that kill your feet, a blog post may be around for a long, long time, so use due consideration before posting something inflammatory, overly critical or anything that could get you fired/expelled/sued/grounded.

7. If you know you’re the sort of person who will ignore tip #6, make sure your blog is password-protected, so only your friends will know you posted drunk.

8. Be a good neighbor. One of the very best ways to establish a readership is to reach out to other bloggers, by visiting their blogs and leaving comments. Link to specific posts you find on their blogs and comment in a positive way. Also include blogs you like and recommend on your blogroll.

9. Try to be positive. Don’t use your blog to lash out at your boss/spouse/probation officer/the world in general. You probably won’t develop much of a readership that way as it gets tiresome very quickly, not to mention, it could land you in trouble (see tip #6). There’s a kind of karma to blogging. If what you’re putting out is negative, what you get back is negative.

10. Keep your posts short. No one wants to read a Master’s thesis on your blog. Keep your posts concise. 300 words a post is a good target. You can occasionally go longer if you’ve got really good stuff—run it by an honest friend first to find out if it really is good stuff. The art of blogging is more about clarity and brevity. Note: Yes, I violated my 300- words tip with this very post. My managing editors, Brian and Kara told me it was good stuff.

11. Realize that blogging is an endurance sport. Anyone can start a blog, but very few people can keep a good blog up, week after week, month after month, year after year. Yes, it gets exhausting, but like training for a marathon, it can also be exhilarating. If you know you’re more a sprinter than a marathoner, maybe a blog isn’t the right format for you.

12. Can you land a book deal with your blog? Maybe. It happens, but don’t let that be your primary motivation, because it’s unlikely. You might think of blogging as a sort-of farm league for publishing. But it’s all about establishing a readership. If you have a devoted audience base, you can bet it won’t be difficult to score a publisher.

13. Encourage your readers to comment. Create clear, well thought out opinion pieces. Don’t be afraid to pose provocative questions to capture your reader’s attention. Get them emotionally/mentally involved in your blog. If you want to develop a rapport with your readers (if you don’t, then you shouldn’t be blogging), encourage their comments, and don’t deride them when their point of view is different from yours.

14. Remember that readers want information. It’s certainly not difficult to find information on the Web. But it is difficult to find it from a trusted, reliable source. Try to provide them with information they want, whether it’s from your own work, or linking to the work of others.

15. Develop your own style. What keeps readers coming back is you—your voice, your style, your point of view and your clear, polished writing. Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through.

16. Have occasional guests. Yes, if you develop a readership, you’re the primary draw back to your blog. But it’s good and healthy to mix it up every now and then with fresh perspectives from trusted guest bloggers. In fact, it may give you a much-needed mental break away from the relentless demands of keeping up a good blog.

17. Visual aids can be good. But don’t overdo it. Blogging is primarily a written medium. If you’re a writer and trying to develop an audience for your writing, then write. Don’t over-rely on cheesy photos and other digital eye candy.

18. Let your blog evolve. A blog is a lot like a magazine, in that it’s a constant evolution. Be generous and flexible about letting your blog develop over time, as you do.

19. Don’t be overly promotional. Yes, a blog can be a good promotional tool, but if you’re only trying to sell something, it becomes obvious very quickly. If you’re promoting something, be a soft sell. And only do it occasionally, as it will turn readers away.

20. Keep it fun. Don’t take it too seriously. If you’re having a good time with your blog—and if you’re not then ask yourself why you’re doing it—people are going to have fun reading it and will keep coming back for more.

Feel free to comment: add to, agree or disagree with anything I wrote here. It is a blog after all, comments are always welcome. That’s part of the fun.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Is it time to ditch Word?

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:00:42 GMT

Hi Writers,
I enjoyed this essay from Sunday’s New York Time’s magazine, about options beyond Microsoft Word for writers. It’s definitely worth reading this short, amusing essay: An Interface of One’s Own
by Virginia Heffernan.

Here's an excerpt:
Our redeemer is Scrivener, the independently produced word-processing program of the aspiring novelist Keith Blount, a Londoner who taught himself code and graphic design and marketing, just to create a software that jibes with the way writers think. As its name makes plain, Scrivener takes our side; it roots for the writer and not for the final product — the stubborn Word. The happy, broad-minded, process-friendly Scrivener software encourages note-taking and outlining and restructuring and promises all the exhilaration of a productive desk: “a ring-binder, a scrapbook, a corkboard, an outliner and text editor all rolled into one.”

Ring, scrap and cork sound like fun, a Montessori playroom. But read on — and download the free trial — and being a Scrivener-empowered scrivener comes to seem like life’s greatest role. Scriveners, unlike Word-slaves, have florid psychologies, esoteric requirements and arcane desires. They’re artists. They’re historians. With needs. Scrivener is “aimed at writers of all kinds — novelists, journalists, academics, screenwriters, playwrights — who need to refer to various research documents and have access to different organizational tools whilst aiming to create a finished piece of text.”

That “whilst”! It alone makes me feel like writing.

Scrivener, then, is one of us, at home in the writer’s jumpy emotional and procedural universe. Consider its desktop icon. It greets you without Word’s back-slanted, subliterate “W” — speeding nervously to the finish line — but with an open-minded yin-yang adorned with quotation marks. Unlike so many twerpy little applications, the Scrivener icon eschews that ubiquitous Curaçao blue. Neither is it slightly rounded like some squishy teething toy. Instead, it shines and stands upright like a domino, which makes you think of a brisk “click” instead of a software “blurp.” It’s also black and white, like words on a page.

To create art, you need peace and quiet. Not only does Scrivener save like a maniac so you needn’t bother, you also get to drop the curtain on life’s prosaic demands with a feature that makes its users swoon: full screen. When you’re working on a Scrivener opus, you’re not surrounded by teetering stacks of Firefox windows showing old Google searches or Citibank reports of suspicious activity. Life’s daily cares slip into the shadows. What emerges instead is one pristine and welcoming scroll: Your clean and focused mind.

Microsoft Word is so ingrained in my work/ writing habits, it's difficult to even consider switching. But reading this article really got me thinking about checking out Scrivener. Do any of you use Scrivener or are there alternative word processing programs you'd recommend trying? I'd love to hear from you.

Keep Writing,
Maria

The Best of WD Interviews CD

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:58:10 GMT

Hi Writers,

I've never made a secret of the fact that the WD Interviews are my favorite feature in Writer's Digest. It's a rare privilege to get first-hand advice on the craft and business of writing from some of the finest writers of our times.

We've done some amazing interviews over the years, if I must say so myself. When I went back through our archives recently, I compiled a list, and it was like a who's who of the bestseller lists, including:

•Jane Smiley •Jennifer Weiner •Alice Hoffman •Ted Kooser •Po Bronson •Gay Talese •Jay McInerney •Anna Quindlen •Sebastian Junger •Alexander McCall Smith •John Searles •Augusten Burroughs •Mark Winegardner •Fannie Flagg •James Rollins •Melissa Bank •Michael Connelly •Bill Bryson •Jack Kerley •Caroline Alexander •Margaret Atwood •Marian Keyes •Dave Eggers •Jeffrey Eugenides •Michael Chabon •John Updike •Tom Clancy •Joyce Carol Oates •Janet Evanovich •Ann Brashares

The friendly, fearless editors here at Writer's Digest are pleased to offer our newest venture into the digital divide: The Best of WD Interviews CD

A few of my favorite quotes from past WD interviews:

John Updike: "We're past the age of heroes and hero kings. If we can't make up stories about ordinary people, who can we make them up about?"

Jeffrey Eugenides: "Stay in touch with the first impulses that made you start writing—the pleasure of it and the interest of the story, and not so much the professional side of things. Remain close to that—when you began writing and were intoxicated with it. If you do, the rest will come."

Joyce Carol Oates: "I suggest to my students that they write under a pseudonym for a week. That allows young men to write as women, and women as men. It allows them a lot of freedom they don't have ordinarily."

This is an online-exclusive offer. The Best of WD Interviews is just $14.95 and it's the perfect holiday gift for your favorite writer—even if it's you!

Keep Writing,
Maria

10 Great Mistakes with Story by John Truby

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:09:25 GMT

Hi Writers,
As promised, in follow up to yesterday's online-exclusive interview with Hollywood script doctor John Truby, here are 10 Great Mistakes writers make with story:

Great Mistake 1: The story idea isn't original.
Great Mistake 2: Writers often use the wrong genre to develop the idea, or they impose the pre-determined genre beats onto the idea instead of finding events that are original to the idea.
Great Mistake 3: They think a hit movie script is all about
finding the high concept premise. But they don't know how to extend the premise, from the two or three scenes suggested by the high concept to a 110-page script.
Great Mistake 4: They don't know how to hang the story on the seven major story structure steps, so the plot fails to come out of character and the main character does not change.
Great Mistake 5: They think of the hero as a separate individual with a
list of superficial character traits instead of as part of a web of characters, each character structurally different from the others.
Great Mistake 6: They try to create their plot using the three-act structure, which doesn't work and causes a weak middle, instead of using the 22 building blocks of every great story that builds the plot steadily from beginning to end.
Great Mistake 7: They fail to give their hero a moral as well as an emotional weakness at the beginning of the story.
Great Mistake 8: They don't know how to create the story world or how to connect it to the hero.
Great Mistake 9: They think the story is carried in the dialogue, or they force the dialogue to do the work that structure should do.
Great Mistake 10: They don't know that rewriting is a set of skills, just like plot and character. So they rewrite in the wrong order, and their second draft is worse than their first.

Please see my previous post for the full interview. John's book is The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller in bookstores now.

Keep Writing,
Maria
P.S. Here's sending good vibes to all our screenwriter friends on the picket lines. We appreciate the work you're doing to protect writer's rights!