Thursday, September 04, 2008 Twilight-mania: Playing catch up! POST A COMMENT 'late-to-lunch on that Vamp-Twilight-saga (by Stephenie Meyer)...'but, my hunger for pop culture, cool Vamps, and a writing-success story got me reading. Both on the Meyers back-story and the 1st Twilight book: 'bout the sappy-relations between a abercrombie-looking-vamp and an semi-average teenage girl -- (I'm on the final few pages of the book, and I'll post a review later in the week)... 'Lets get into how-Meyers-did-it-story. Those big sales -- 'isn't due simply to her vivid imagination for vampire romance,' as Business Week points out. They called it -- 'the first social networking best seller.' 'Meyer, a 34-year-old mother of three from Phoenix, went well beyond standard marketing. She engaged with online readers to answer their most detailed questions about the star-crossed lovers, Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. She put up her own Web site, in addition to the one by her publisher, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, posting her personal e-mail address and family photos...' In turn, 'Meyer's readers have responded by creating an entire world of Twilight on the Web.' While the web -- (and the rabid-fans-need-to-know) is the best way to connect with other fans...it's not without pitfalls. 'Just yesterday: Meyers punished fans after a partial (rough) draft of the next book was leaked on the web. As Meyer wrote on her website, "I'd rather my fans not read this version of Midnight Sun...'My first feeling was that there was no way to continue. Writing isn't like math; in math, two plus two always equals four no matter what your mood is like. With writing, the way you feel changes everything. If I tried to write Midnight Sun now, in my current frame of mind, James would probably win and all the Cullens would die..." Source: Business Week Labels: Books, Can Writing be Taught, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight Saga, Vampires, web trends, what I'm reading posted by Henry Cruz at 4:33 PM Sunday, August 17, 2008 Can anyone be a Best-selling Author? POST A COMMENT Having hit page 165 of Meg Gardiners "The Dirty Secrets Club" -- (that book Stephen King hailed as "The next suspense superstar") -- 'meant it was high time I took a few minutes to Google-her-ass; If only to investigate how a person gets to be this talented. I mean, do good writers just wake up with a silver-pen in their mouth, or what? I'll offer my full review here when I'm done reading it, but if you haven't heard about it, the book has been billed as a -- "thriller with a psychological bent." If y'all are feeling a bit crazy today, go join my very-own cyber-Oprahish-like-book-club, and pick up a copy, and we'll read along together...I'll hopefully be done reading it by next week -- (but I'm always curious what others think). On Gardiners personal blog she humbly answered such a reader-submitted question: "can writing be taught?" -- I'll post a few excerpts below, but I really think that reader was fishing for -- 'a few tricks of the trade... or "Hey, can a average slob like me actually become a best selling author?" Here's some of what she said: "The essentials of good writing can be learned. You can teach people how to edit, how to structure an argument, how to use evidence to prove a point." "You can train the eye and the ear to recognize cliche. You can push students to clarify sloppy thinking. You can show them how to write with strong, vivid nouns and verbs. In teaching nonfiction, you can explain how to build an argument so that it persuades the reader. You can show students how to illustrate an article or a legal brief with a single, telling detail." "Raw talent can be cultivated. And it should be." "You can open people’s eyes to the essentials of great writing. But you can’t give people a gift. You can’t teach genius." Gardiners big writing advice for newbies is to "Create sympathetic characters and put them in jeopardy. That's advice crimewriter Leonard Tourney gave me, and it's stuck. Also, grow a thick skin. Learn how to take criticism and grow from it." But, she's quick to add that you also need to have a good story to tell as well: "If my books aren't entertaining, I'm not doing my job," Gardiner adds. Because this is the world wide web -- (where every average Joe is now a critic) -- I of course felt compelled to leave my own stream of rambles in her comments section of her blog that went like this: Henry Cruz comment - "As someone with a share of fiction workshops sticking out of my side pocket; I can say that I learned more about writing when it was my turn to offer critique of other writers in my group. Maybe it was something about being “on” — or accessing dusty brain cells and allowing a part of me to “live that moment” — listen better? jump better? and dare I say, sound halfway smarter than my usual fumbling." "I just finished a scriptwriting workshop and the big advice from the teacher was to say “steal often” — (or borrow a lot), until something original clicks inside…so, what I’m saying — (or asking)…or both, being able to access my brain in various ways I find helps…or maybe I’m just dreaming it all….whaddya think?" -- Hmm, pure caffeine brilliance?...or another crazy-man's babble that you might amuse with a stiff smile. What I really meant to say I think was actually better said by one of the masters: "I think self knowledge is one of the beautiful and marvelous creative aids that we have -- know thy self," offers creator / writer of the Twilight Zone, Mr. Rod Serling. "Because you can look at yourself in the mirror and get a whole list of all the human attributes and human frailties that are extent. Whatever is wrong with you is conceivably wrong with most of your peers." "Whatever is decent and good and fine and caring that is a part of your nature is also the meritorious aspects of your peers..." Serling goes onto add that you should test out how things sound: "Just a piece of dialogue -- would I say it? -- and if I heard it would I believe it." I'd sum up the basic rules to becoming the next best-selling author like this: 1. You do need all those technical tools to be able to throw it down correctly on a page. The basic "nuts and bolts mechanics" of writing. Your basic -- "how to structure a story." How to go about -- "revising and editing," -- are all key. 'And some of that you can grasp by reading, and studying the works of other great writers. 2. But like Gardiner suggests -- doesn't it really start with creating believable, interesting characters that connect with readers; A really compelling voice on the page -- that doesn't give away all the goodies ('sorta to keep 'em guessing and turning the page). For my money, the best book out there on the craft is Stephen Kings' On Writing. Kings book is full of advice, some of it common sense, and like Gardiner he talks about the need for a... writer's toolbox: "Common tools on the top shelf (vocabulary and grammar), elements of grammar and style on the second level, along with an understanding of the paragraph as the basic element in fiction..." "If you want to be a writer," King says, "you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." King calls reading the creative center of a writer's life. He says you gotta -- "read in small sips as well as long drinks - in waiting rooms, in line at the theater, in the checkout line at the grocery store, on the treadmill at the gym and in the john." So, before we all collectively run out to the john, let's listen as Serling drops other pearls-of-wisdom: Source: Meg Gardiner's Blog Labels: Can Writing be Taught, Meg Gardiner, Rod Serling, screenwriting, screenwriting group, stephen king, The Dirty Secrets Club, Twilight Zone, what I'm reading posted by Henry Cruz at 1:14 PM     ARCHIVES October 2005 . November 2005 . December 2005 . August 2007 . September 2007 . October 2007 . November 2007 . December 2007 . March 2008 . April 2008 . May 2008 . June 2008 . July 2008 . August 2008 . September 2008 .