When you’re on a roll with your writing, don’t let questions slow you down. Not sure of a fact? Can’t think of the right word? Insert a placeholder and come back to the question later.

Here’s what I do. If I can’t come up with a word I like, I’ll put something similar in parentheses so I know what I had in mind. If I’m unsure of a fact, I’ll write what I think is true, then follow that with a note to myself, set off with xxx on both sides. If I'm missing a fact, I'll just put xxx.

Here’s what my placeholders look like. I’ve bolded the relevant text (note that I “verbed” the word “bold"):

• "Like almost everyone else in the industry, distributors don’t like to deal with (small fry)."


• "You can do business with multiple wholesalers simultaneously. (This is not true for distributors. Xxx is this true? Check this. xxx)"


• "Distributors can be national (Publishers Group West, xxx, xxx) or regional."

If you use an odd-looking placeholder like xxx, you can recognize it easily (just do a "find") and go right to your questions. Once you've resolved them, remove the placeholders. When you’ve finished your story or article, do one final search for xxx to make sure you haven't missed anything.

Back when I was doing research for screenwriters and producers, a favorite client of mine was writing a script about Jonas Salk. He had asked for some very specific information about the mass polio vaccinations of the 1950s. He knew that what he wanted might be hard to find, so he said, “If you can’t find it, just get me pictures of kids standing in line to get polio shots. I can write from them.”

Knock me down with a feather! It never occurred to me that a writer could use pictures as research as effectively as articles and books. Not only did I find him the pictures he wanted, but his request inspired me to write my 1996 book, Finding Images Online.

Moral of the story? If you get stuck for ideas, try looking at pictures. Who are the people in the pictures, and what are they doing and thinking? What happened just before and after the picture was taken? Who is taking the picture and why? What moods do the images evoke? Where were they set, and what can you discern (or make up) about the place? Do the pictures make you want to laugh, cry, get mad, or throw up? Why?

Especially recommended: the photographs with the fiction pieces in The New Yorker magazine.

According to the Writers Guild of America West, the median earnings for employed TV writers in 2004 were $85,000; for film writers, $80,000.

However, women represented only 27% of television writers, while minorities accounted for just under 10%. In film, women writers comprised only 18% of the total; minorities 6%.

In television, median income peaks for writers aged 31-50, with declining percentages reported for writers over 50. By contrast, older writers enjoy the highest median incomes in the film sector.

Note that these statistics apply to Writers Guild employment only and exclude writing for network reality television, independent films, cable animation, nonfiction, and comedy-variety programming.

The next time you're looking for ways to make your writing more vibrant, try this: test your idea by expressing it in different ways. Encapsulate your thought in a verb, an adjective, a noun, some dialog, a bit of description, a flashback, a dream, an inner monolog, etc.

For example, say you want to convey that your character feels anxious. Instead of saying, "Paula was anxious," you could say:

• Fidgeting with her papers, Paula listened to her mother drone on. (Gerund "fidgeting." Also, the verb “drone on” implies a response in the listener.)
• Paula pulled at her hair while her mother compared lettuce prices around town. (Verb "pulled (at hair).")
• "She's always judging me," Paula said. (Dialog implying anxiety.)
• "Not again," she thought as the phone rang. (Inner monolog.)
• Her mother was a harpy who made the mythical ones look like song birds. (Noun "harpy." Note that you don't have to describe Paula herself to get across her anxiety. Here it's implied, although you would need to augment this sentence with other indications, since mere "harpiness" doesn't necessarily engender anxiety in others.)

Varying your technique this way will help you show, not tell, and keep your readers enthralled.

(Do you think I have issues with my mother?)

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