Happy Birthday to The Writing Show!
Thursday, July 02, 2009
The Writing Show celebrates its 4th anniversary on July 6th!
Thank you for listening and for helping to make The Writing Show a success!
Mentoring for Writers
Agent Nathan Bransford says that there are fewer editors at fewer publishing houses acquiring fewer projects, so you've got to shine even more brightly than before to get a deal. Writing show host Paula B. can help you polish that manuscript, query letter, and proposal to a brilliant sheen. Details here.
Paula's new Self-Mentoring Checklist for Novelists now available at the Amazon Kindle store and Lulu.com for 99 cents!
Announcing our 2009 Halloween Short Story contest!
The Writing Show Halloween short story contest is open to all writers.
We will select two short stories to be read by the author (or a reader of the author's choice) the week before Halloween.
Prizes: $75 each.
All entries must be received by August 31, 2009.
Rules:
- Stories must be no longer than 5000 words.
- Stories must deal with a theme suitable for Halloween. We prefer stories of the supernatural, which means ghosts, witches, monsters, zombies, vampires, mummies, etc. We prefer not to receive stories about serial killers.
- We are looking for one thing and one thing only in our winning stories: great storytelling! That means your story hooks us from the get-go; has a beginning, middle, and end; demonstrates high stakes for the protagonist(s); and offers dialogue that advances the story.
- You must be the creator(s) of the story. Only original work will be considered. The story may have been published elsewhere, but it must be your work.
- You must own all rights to the work, including the audio rights. If you have not assigned the audio rights, you own them.
- You may submit up to two stories.
- The Writing Show will select the winners. All decisions are final.
- There is no entry fee.
- Please do not send stories that have been featured on The Writing Show before. You may, however, send stories that have been submitted in the past but haven't been selected.
- To enter, send your story in a Word or PDF document to contest@writingshow.com along with your name and contact details in the body of your email. Please also include this wording in the body of your email:
I am the author of this work and hold all rights to it. I agree to abide by all rules and guidelines of The Writing Show 2009 Halloween Short Story Contest. If I win, I grant The Writing Show permission to display the work on its Web site or sites.
I will announce the winners as early in September as I can. If everyone waits until the last minute to submit (as it seems you're doing), it will take me longer. :)
--Paula B.
Paula B.'s Ebooks for Writers Now Available. Price of Unlock Your Creativity: 52 Exercises for Writers lowered to $2.60!
Get Paula's ebooks and articles at the Amazon Kindle Store and Lulu.com. Check out "Point of View in Fiction," my series of 99-cent articles on writing dialogue, my book of creativity exercises for writers, and more. Low prices, high value!
Blake Snyder Screenwriting Commentary on The Writing Show
Listen to Blake's insightful screenwriting tips:
October 8, 2008: "Working with Theme in Your Screenplay"
November 12, 2008: "How to Bury Exposition in Your Screenplay"
December 10, 2008: "How to End Your Screenplay"
February 1, 2009: "Screenwriting Is Fun!"
March 1, 2009: "The Two Types of Heroes"
Blake Snyder is the author of Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need and Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter’s Guide to Every Story Ever Told. Visit his Web site at BlakeSnyder.com.
Jurgen Wolff's Tips, Ideas, and Inspirations for Writers
Thursday, July 02, 2009
What to do when you're stuck (my advice to a young writer)
Recently a young writer wrote to me, freaking out because he had just started the second draft of his novel and was, for the first time, experiencing being stuck--in fact, terrified of continuing, for reasons he didn't understand. In case it might be useful to someone else as well, I thought I'd post my advice to him here:
First, don't panic. Every writer encounters some blocks and some points
at which things aren't flowing as well as you would like. The trick is
to realize that these are temporary states that you can overcome.
There are a few things you can do. Which one works best for you is something you'll have to find out by experimenting.
First, it would be good if you could take a day or two away from the
project without guilt. Just give yourself permission to have a day or
two off, doing something you enjoy and that will keep your mind
occupied. I don't know what you like to do, but examples could be a
weekend of hiking, or indulging in a movie marathon, or watching a box
set of some tv series, or visiting out of town friends, etc.
Sometimes that alone is enough. When you go back to the project, you're refreshed and able to resume.
Second, I suspect you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself because while a
first draft usually means a rough draft, some writers think they have
to get everything right in the second draft.
You don't.
Most writers do
a third, fourth, and even fifth draft. So try to relax: the second
draft only has to be a bit better than the first one. And the third
draft only has to be a bit better than the second one. You keep going
until at some point you realize that you've done it as well as you can
and it's time to send the thing out into the world--but only when you
feel ready.
I hope that makes sense, let me know how you get on.
(For more tips and techniques on how to be more creative, overcome blocks, and be more productive, you can subscribe to my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin by sending an email request to BstormUK@aol.com)
Download my free writing success mini-course as a PDF file here. And visit my blog here.
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Upcoming Shows
Monday, June 29, 2009
July 5, 2009: "Writing Fiction, with Thrity Umrigar" featuring guest host Alanna Klapp
July 19, 2009: "Ebooks: the State of the Art," with TeleRead's David Rothman
