tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50429068971529639132024-02-18T22:45:15.458-08:00Dawn's RiseEvery day starts anew.Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.comBlogger352125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-74552267674450236752012-07-23T07:12:00.001-07:002012-07-23T07:12:42.635-07:00The WriteRunner: Dead Air Pitch<a href="http://blog.writerunner.com/2012/07/dead-air-pitch.html?spref=bl">The WriteRunner: Dead Air Pitch</a>: Here’s the link to the pitch I used for Dead Air at the 2012 PNWA Conference .Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-86527943357447577102012-07-22T07:30:00.001-07:002012-07-22T07:32:12.502-07:00The WriteRunner: Girl|Alien Pitch<a href="http://blog.writerunner.com/2012/07/girlalien-pitch.html?spref=bl">The WriteRunner: Girl|Alien Pitch</a>: Here’s the link to the pitch I used for Girl|Alien at the 2012 PNWA Conference on my other blog.Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-30162902874148508682011-09-14T07:50:00.001-07:002011-09-14T07:50:41.577-07:00Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s Off to Work I Go<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-GhoO5OWxeyY/TnC_PGAjLjI/AAAAAAAAB_4/CYExs-zG3ek/s1600-h/Disney%252520Bldg%252520007%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Disney Bldg 007" border="0" alt="Disney Bldg 007" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-JXT4l5vE0Qo/TnC_QG0MPTI/AAAAAAAAB_8/RL1jfEDM_jU/Disney%252520Bldg%252520007_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="284" height="335" /></a>Are you ready for some news?</p> <p>This is probably the hardest post I’ve ever had to write, but as of Monday, I’ve gone back to “work.” Like Jack Sparrow, I’ve searched the oceans for treasure and found a job. Yes, most people would be super-excited about started a new job. I mean I am, but at the same time, I’m really disappointed that my writing career is screeching to halt. (BTW I’ve sprinkled clues at to my new employer throughout this post).</p> <p>This doesn’t mean my dream of being a published writer is over. I have not LOST.</p> <p>This is my plan.</p> <p>Write on the bus. Read on the bus. Give up a couple iPhone games I love. Give up at least 1 of the 3 writing groups I’m in. Give up watching a bunch of TV shows I like. Give up going to the gym (kinda was forced to give this up anyways due to ankle issues).</p> <p>What I’m not giving up:</p> <ul> <li>My dream of being a published writer with multiple published novels. </li> <li>The wonderful world of <a href="http://nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo</a> (won twice while working full-time) </li> <li><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace" target="_blank"><em>Steam Palace</em></a>. I will publish this one way or another. </li> </ul> <p>Give up yet on my new employer? Well it’s a small world after all, so keep your mouse ears on.</p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-8981883607595081722011-03-21T10:12:00.001-07:002011-03-21T10:12:59.615-07:00Couple New Posts over on The Writerunner!<p><a href="http://blog.writerunner.com/2011/03/writing-script.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Writing a Script</strong></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong> – I write a script for a scene from </strong></font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong><em>Steam Palace</em></strong></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>. Scripting requires a different viewpoint on what makes a good scene.</strong></font></p> <h5><a href="http://blog.writerunner.com/2011/03/interjections-excitement-emotion.html"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Interjections! Excitement! Emotion!</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> – I have an epiphany about using emotion to drive a scene.</font></h5> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Don’t forget to add </strong></font><a href="http://blog.writerunner.com" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>The Writerunner</strong></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong> to your subscriptions and/or Google Friend Connect!</strong></font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-12179774792159543932011-03-14T10:31:00.001-07:002011-03-14T10:31:17.565-07:00WRITING CONTENT MOVED!<h1 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">WRITING CONTENT MOVED!</font></h1> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TX5Q4n5geuI/AAAAAAAAB5k/R_3C-WuPBGk/s1600-h/301_redirect%5B4%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="301_redirect" border="0" alt="301_redirect" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TX5Q5OlaBvI/AAAAAAAAB5o/UvvvfNNOlbs/301_redirect_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="432" height="212" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">As of today, all <strong>new</strong> writing content on </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com"><font face="Trebuchet MS">http://blog.dawnsrise.com</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> has moved to </font><a href="http://blog.writerunner.com" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">The WriteRunner</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> (</font><a href="http://blog.writerunner.com"><font face="Trebuchet MS">http://blog.writerunner.com</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">).</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Please update your links and subscriptions accordingly! </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I’ll still post links to new content here for a while.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Not sure what I’m going to do with this blog, but I’ll probably post things dealing with workouts, the Mariners, skiing (or the lack thereof), family, political opinion (if I’m brave enough), and life in general.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Thank you so much for your patronage of this site, your feedback and involvement has been invaluable!</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Over the next couple weeks I’m going to re-do the layout of this site into a new format.</font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-55901052288821059232011-03-11T11:40:00.001-08:002011-03-11T11:42:12.362-08:00Movie Sign!<p><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Just want to start out by saying that our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan today as they deal with the earthquake and tsunami that hit them. Japanese popular culture seems riveted with the concept of disaster but no one actually wants it to happen. Please consider a donation to the </font><a href="http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_FrontPagePanel" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Red Cross</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">.</font></em></p> <h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Movie Sign!</font></h2> <p><a href="http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_FrontPagePanel"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="gamera11" border="0" alt="gamera11" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TXp6tG2__zI/AAAAAAAAB5I/SxNRRFedHQk/gamera11%5B56%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="452" height="347" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">I’ve been going ahead with the idea of writing a movie script for the </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2011/01/more-history.html"><font face="Trebuchet MS">History Story</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> I’m working on. I have a couple reasons for this:</font></p> <ol> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">I feel that this is really a visual story with movement and action. It’s something that falls well into the movie format. </font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Writing a novel may take more time than I’m willing to spend on the project.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">A lot of people have commented that my style is a bit “cinematic” so why not put it to the test? Probably not the greatest reason but it’s given my something to think about.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">The potential upside is greater. </font></li> </ol> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">One of the things I’ve done is read the scripting book “</font><a href="http://www.blakesnyder.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Save the Cat</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">” by Blake Snyder. One of the exercises he suggests (among others) is to plot movies on a sheet of paper (a “beat sheet”) which contains all the major plot points. So for the last few mornings, I’ve sat with a form and watched </font><a href="http://netflix.com" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Netflix</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> movies and paused the movie every couple of minutes to make notes (which drives wife crazy). And amazingly enough, movies actually do follow the “beat” that Snyder has laid out. Almost down to the minute.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Note that many movies have a “beat” every ten minutes…when the reel changes (you can see a dot in the upper right corner of the film when this happens…but only in theaters). So the first reel is “setup”(</font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2009/09/story-structure-part-1-of-12.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Ordinary World</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">), 2nd reel is “</font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2009/10/story-structure-part-2-call-to.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">inciting incident</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">,” and third is “break into Act II” (</font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2009/10/story-structure-part-v-crossing.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Crossing the First Threshold</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">). There are 12 beats in all. Note that when the reel changes, the scene generally changes as well. Also note that the beats don’t correspond to the 12 steps of the </font><a href="http://sites.google.com/a/dawnsrise.com/heros-journey/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Hero’s Journey</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So far I’ve screened </font><a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Defiance/70101696?trkid=2361637" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Defiance</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, </font><a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Gamer/70111118?trkid=2429428#height2503" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Gamer</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, and </font><a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Vertical_Limit/60001132?trkid=2430625" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Vertical Limit</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. I’m trying to stick to adventure-type movies as sort of a blueprint for my own movies. So far I’ve learned a lot. I think I’m going to develop a beat sheet for novels as well, and fill them out when I read them. Have any suggestions? (that I can see on Netflix steaming)</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">The next step will be more complicated. I may take a couple movies and do a scene-by-scene breakdown and build a movie chart that maps the movie by emotion and conflict. It will be tough but I think I can learn this. I’ll have to say that I’m probably never going to view movies the same again.</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TXp6t2Az-VI/AAAAAAAAB5M/BfbCKHeHSAA/s1600-h/pirates%20knocked%20up%20shrek%5B4%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="pirates knocked up shrek" border="0" alt="pirates knocked up shrek" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TXp6uTFLIyI/AAAAAAAAB5Q/Y7VeP-XmCzA/pirates%20knocked%20up%20shrek_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="234" /></font></a></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"></font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-64135991665956828572011-02-25T11:25:00.001-08:002011-02-25T11:25:08.500-08:00Building a New Blog!<p><a href="http://blog.writerunner.com"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TWgCEzjm3KI/AAAAAAAAB5A/__lTZHqxfXA/image%5B12%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="489" height="261" /></a>As some of you have seen already, I’m transferring the “writing” portion of this blog to <a href="http://blog.writerunner.com" target="_blank">The WriteRunner</a>. I’m looking for ideas about widgets and other things to do for it. I’ve already installed a comment system called <a href="http://disqus.com" target="_blank">Disqus</a> and I’m using a new-fangled template.</p> <p>My tentative launch date is March 14. I’m hoping to host a contest or blogfest or something. It also will celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the beginning of my writing career. Stay tuned for details.</p> <p>Another thing I’ve done is to start echoing this blog onto <a href="http://open.salon.com/blog/andrew_rosenberg" target="_blank">Open Salon</a>. Open Salon is an amalgam of many people’s blogs, where people can vote and promote their favorite content. Check it out and let me know what you think!</p> <p>As far as this blog goes, once The WriteRunner is launch, I’m going to give this blog a makeover. I’m not sure what direction it will take but I can imagine that it might become more opinionated. The original purpose of this blog was to talk about my efforts to publish <a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Dawn's%20Rise" target="_blank"><em>Dawn’s Rise</em></a> but I never finished that project.</p> <p>So feel free to point out what blog features you like using. Even if it’s not a “Blogger” feature I can probably find a way to use it.</p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-13565569446119626372011-02-21T09:55:00.001-08:002011-02-21T09:55:49.692-08:00Punctuation Schmunctuation<p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TWKnIpv9qgI/AAAAAAAAB4o/OeA7n8paPcA/s1600-h/image%5B9%5D.png"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TWKnJOYhF6I/AAAAAAAAB4s/YQu53VY3bgg/image_thumb%5B12%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="341" height="297" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">Okay, maybe I’m starting to reach for blog topics. It’s hard coming up with two of these every week. I’ve written something like 350 of these over the last few years, so after a while it’s hard to not keep running over the same old ground. But I think I’ve hit on one of those hidden gems that begs for a write-up: punctuation. Probably because it’s the most boring aspect of writing, yet it’s the one thing that seems to invoke the most passion.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">This weekend, I almost got into a (another) punctuation argument with my critique group. About what? Single or double- space between sentences. A simple </font><a href="http://www.google.com/search?aq=0&q=space+between+sentences" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Google search</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> reveals the answer: One space. Period. One space. Next sentence. However, about half the documents I review have two. I simply meant to remind them of the convention, because Word 2010 puts little green marks whenever I have a double-space. (Yes, I know I can turn it off but why?)</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">You would have thought I asked them to wear uniforms and salute. Use acid-free paper and dolphin-safe toner. Change the gender of their characters and call them Charley. I almost got my head chewed off. I just wanted to mention it and move on. “Uh, could you just use one space—” “NO! HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST THAT! NEVER! NEVER NEVER NEVER! We’ll settle this in the parking lot!”</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Yowza. Like, who cares? I just want my green marks to go away. I’ve had other people yell at me, “IT’S DOT-SPACE-DOT-SPACE-DOT, NOT …! DON’T USE CURLY ‘ USE ' ! USE -- NOT —!”</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Sheesh! Does anyone know what editors truly want in electronic submissions? This kind of reminds me of the old days of programming, before there were any standards and when you wrote code in the simplest of text editors. The huge religious argument consisted of “tabs vs spaces vs 2 vs 4 space etc.” When to indent, how to format comments, even down to something called “</font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_notation" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Hungarian</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">” which is precise rules to name code variables. I’ve endured argument over argument over the name of variables that are used maybe a couple of times. Nowadays, all those arguments are moot, because “smart editors” use company-wide templates and force your code to comply to a certain format. These are called “code beautifiers.” Nowadays, if you want to know what a variable does, hover your mouse over it. Who cares what it’s called?</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Does something like this exist for manuscripts, that fixes all the crap authors put in there? Or does any of it really matter? Should we just be cool with writers using spaces to indent paragraphs, using l instead of 1, (that’s little L if you didn’t notice) and hitting line breaks at the end of each line? When are we going to enter the 2lst century?</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Guess I should be glad that I’m actually getting electronic copies instead of typed or—gasp—handwritten entries. (Well, I still get handwritten <em>feedback</em>, but there’s only one space after <em>those</em> sentences).</font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-62288556567485231012011-02-18T10:23:00.001-08:002011-02-18T10:29:06.488-08:00Don’t Be A Watson<p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TV65OIKnmMI/AAAAAAAAB4I/0Ho5Khrukeg/watson%5B17%5D.jpg?imgmax=800"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TV65OIKnmMI/AAAAAAAAB4Y/NFlh0Atpt00/watson%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="watson" border="0" alt="watson" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TV65PbhBuII/AAAAAAAAB4c/XAQfLiq8T4c/watson_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="303" height="367" /></a></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">I’m going to talk about how the example of </font><a href="http://www-943.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">IBM’s Watson</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> is a good object lesson on what not to do in your writing. Bear with me for a minute.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I was very impressed at how IBM’s creation Watson fared at </font><a href="http://www.jeopardy.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Jeopardy</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. As a former computer scientist at places such as </font><a href="http://google.com" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Google</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> and </font><a href="http://www.microsoft.com" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Microsoft</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, I was actually more fascinated by Watson’s failures than its successes. Frankly, I was surprised that Watson didn’t answer <em>every</em> question correctly and faster than the humans. Watson missed obvious questions. To me, it seemed that the machine was great at trivia, the “fill in the blank” kind of questions. Things that any </font><a href="http://google.com" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Google</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> search can answer. But it failed at more complex problems, questions that involved things like metaphor and analogy, standard fare on </font><a href="http://sat.collegeboard.com/home" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">SAT</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> tests. It all led me to one conclusion:</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><em>We are still nowhere near achieving “artificial intelligence.”</em> </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Watson is just a machine, without emotion, drive, or ambition. I thought of a few questions I could easily ask it that it could never solve. “Who is standing to your left?” “How’s the lighting in here?” “Who does </font><a href="http://ken-jennings.com/blog/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Ken Jennings</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> remind you of?” “Fire! Please proceed to the nearest exit in an orderly manner.”</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Yes, computer scientists have created something I call “programmed intelligence.” Intelligence in very specific domains, but as soon as you step outside the domain, the intelligence fails. Because “intelligence” isn’t just about recollection, computation, or pattern analysis. It’s much more about metaphor, symbolism, and relationships. </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Think about a book for a moment. A book is really just a machine. It’s a Kindle with only one book available. The words are just dots of ink on the page that create letters. The letters form words, the words form sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. Computers can be made to understand how to display and edit those letters and words, even spot incorrect ones. But a computer can never read a book and understand what’s in it. It can look up every word and phrase, but never truly comprehend the meaning, the <em>story</em>. And even a book can never judge your emotion reaction to the story and respond accordingly. There’s as much intelligence in Watson as in any book on your bookshelf.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">There were other subtle things that Watson failed to do on Jeopardy. He couldn’t learn from his mistakes (yes, computers can be programmed to learn, but that’s the equivalent of fixing a typo). It seemed that the other contestants learned and began to challenge the machine on the third day. More importantly, Watson has no idea why he made mistakes to begin with. Watson has no insight, no self-awareness. Imagine if </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Trebek" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Alex Trebeck</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> had said “incorrect” to Watson on even correct, obvious answers: </font></p> <blockquote> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">“Answer is: The color of the White House. Watson.” <br />“What is white?” <br />“Incorrect. Ken?” <br />“What is white?” <br />“Correct.”</font></p> </blockquote> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Watson would just hum along, completely oblivious. If Trebeck pulled that on Ken Jennings, he would storm off the stage or go after Trebeck’s throat. </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So until we create a computer with emotion and true reasoning, we’ll never have intelligence, only super-fast trivia answerers.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So you’re wondering, “what does this have to do with my writing?”</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">The questions you should be asking yourself is, “How are my characters like Watson?” Do your characters react to their environment? Do they have their own agendas? Are they there just to provide other characters with information? Or are they living, reasoning creatures? </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Another way to look at it is to ask, “What was at stake for Watson?” Yes, hundreds of computer scientists spent years on this project, but did Watson care? If there was indeed a fire alarm during taping, would Watson react? Do you think Watson really cared about how much money it earned? But every single character in your work cares about every interaction. There are stakes involved. They want something, and your other characters are either assistants or obstacles to those goals. Otherwise they are no better than the old books on your shelves.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So when you write your stories, keep one thing in mind: <em>Don’t be a Watson.</em></font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><font color="#ff0000">NOTE</font>: The writing content of this blog is moving soon! Check out the preview at </font><a href="http://blog.writerunner.com" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">The WriteRunner</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">.</font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-92029098261355881902011-02-14T14:05:00.001-08:002011-02-14T14:05:16.557-08:00Romance Blogfest: Steam Palace<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Romance Blogfest: <em>Steam Palace</em></font></h2> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcnbIeysqbPE9ZQiiEBs4nG_N8Ygw52nmJFmZ47KwlZicnc4_DVXot5ki9rcIPeGrmumV_R5BkLPNx66e_6bFuU6TBeX4QhXtBzb8Pucj7Rr7bSiT1oijg0CuHAVLPA3AQ61IrunoLi1M/s1600-h/rifleman%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="rifleman" border="0" alt="rifleman" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TVmnGqPBWyI/AAAAAAAAB38/d0GJkuriAG4/rifleman_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="268" height="338" /></a>Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">This is my entry for <a href="http://jordanmccollum.com" target="_blank">Jordan McCollum’s</a> <a href="http://jordanmccollum.com/2011/02/romance-blogfest" target="_blank">Romance Blogfest</a>. Her instructions are: “Post a first meeting between two characters who will fall for each other (even if it doesn’t look like they will at the time!).” Please check out the other entries!</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">This scene is from the first chapter of <em><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace" target="_blank">Steam Palace</a></em> where our Heroine Sophia is rescued by a mysterious stranger. Hank had been pursuing her, trying to force her to marry him.</font></p> <blockquote> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">Sophia’s world was crashing, burning around her. <i>A man dead? </i>she thought in disbelief. She looked at the four faces that surrounded her, all seeking her mortal harm. Two lifted Jim’s body onto his saddle. She had done that man a grievous wrong, and she ached to think of Jim’s family.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">Despite the horror, Sophia would not be forced into a marriage with someone she did not love, no matter what the circumstances. That left only one path. Sophia ducked under Al’s arm in an escape move, breaking his hold, and ran through the woods with all the effort she could muster. She would fight them all the way to the gallows if necessary.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">“You can’t run from this!” cried Hank behind her, no doubt mounting his horse in pursuit. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">If she could just reach the mechohorse, the shotgun lay in its belly. Just as she reached the trail and spotted the machine, horses surrounded her once again, circling her. Sophia turned every which way but could not find an opening. Hank pulled out his pistol and shot at her feet, the reports echoing throughout the forest.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">“Dance, Duchess, dance!”</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">A different boom rattled the trees. A lone horseman stood on the trail. A black hooded coat draped his head and shoulders. He rode on a magnificent chestnut mare worthy of the King’s Guard, holding a long, smoking rifle at the ready. “I shall not miss again,” he called.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">“Hey, get the hell out of here!” cried Hank. “This ain’t your business. This woman killed one of my men, and we aim to have our revenge.”</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">The dark rider leveled the rifle and peered down the sight. “Say the word, milady, and I shall dispatch these men to their graves. This is a repeating Spencer, boys, fully loaded.” His voice spoke cool and calm.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">[a lot of fighting and shooting ensues including an airship attack]</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">Sophia crept out from under the belly of her broken mechohorse. The dark rider rode his mare out from under a tree where he had hidden from the airship. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">“Are you hurt, milady?”</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">Sophia examined herself for a second, and then looked up at the man who had saved her endless grief. “I am quite well, thank you. To whom do I owe gratitude?”</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">The man removed his hood. “Thomas Putnam, formerly Captain in the Third Aivy. This is Lucy.” He patted the mare.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">“Thomas?” Sophia had not heard that name for years. Thomas was the son of the town’s only physician, a foreign woman from Charlottiana. He had been in the Aivy, the Air Navy as it were, for many years. “Thank you so much. I am forever in your debt.”</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">Sophia studied him. He looked terrible, with sunken eyes and many days’ growth of beard, quite unlike the tall, strong boy she remembered. His dark wavy hair lay plastered to his scalp. But she saw something else in his eyes, a strength of character missing in most men she had encountered in her life. She instinctively knew she could trust him.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">“Do you require any further assistance?”</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">Sophia glanced at the mechohorse. “I believe she is done for. Might I request a ride to my home?”</font></p> <p align="justify"><font face="Garamond">“It would be my honor.” A hint of a smile crossed his lips.</font></p></blockquote> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-7553844273813510842011-02-14T10:28:00.001-08:002011-02-14T10:29:00.367-08:00Research<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Research</font></h2> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TVl0aMvYSAI/AAAAAAAAB3g/x7eRpTzoiBw/s1600-h/research-cat-lolcat-706798%5B3%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="research-cat-lolcat-706798" border="0" alt="research-cat-lolcat-706798" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TVl0alM4a-I/AAAAAAAAB3k/VbkbDn2wzQg/research-cat-lolcat-706798_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="317" height="244" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">I don’t think I’ve ever talked about the subject of research in novel writing. Research is a critical part of any story project. Research can be divided into 4 broad categories:</font></p> <ol> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Genre </strong>– This means reading a lot of works in your genre. You need to find out what’s been done, and what are the standard tropes of your genre. It can also involve in-person conversations. For </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steam Palace</font></em></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, for example, I attended a few </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steampunk</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> conventions where I asked a lot of questions of steampunk enthusiasts as to “what makes a story Steampunk.” Other sources can include blogs about your genre, magazines, and reviews.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>World Building</strong> – If there is any kind of historical context or setting to your story, it behooves you to research the area in question. If you are writing SF/F in a “second world” setting (not a real Earth setting), your research may involve mythology, scientific studies, and other speculative works. Visit the settings in your book, talk to the locals. If it’s a made-up place, find a real-life place that is close. Make the bridge of your starship something like the bridge of a decommissioned aircraft carrier that you can visit.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Character</strong> – Whether or not you base your characters on real people, it’s always good to have an idea of who your characters are. Biographies, memoirs, and genealogy are all sources of characters. Learn what made them do what they did, and see how it can apply to your story. Some characters are mixtures of many people, some are just certain aspects. If your character is in a specific profession, talk to people in that profession. Make sure you do this research for <em>all</em> your characters, not just the main ones.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Story</strong> – This one is a little harder to define. This is more about learning about </font><a href="http://sites.google.com/a/dawnsrise.com/heros-journey/"><font face="Trebuchet MS">story structure</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> beyond the standard of your genre. But it also involves interacting with your writing peers, whether at conferences or in critique groups. Find out what are the characteristics of good writing, and explore various styles of writing. Learn what the best way to tell your story should be.</font></li> </ol> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>How much research is enough? <br /></strong>I feel there is probably 2 main periods of research. The first comes before anything is written, when the story is still a concept. The second would be during the writing process, especially revision when you are trying to flesh out details. In terms of how much, I feel that if you are continually interrupted during the writing process to look something up, then you might want to dedicate a period of time to really understand your subject. But of course the actual amount of research will vary by subject and scope.</font></p> <p><em><font face="Trebuchet MS"><font color="#ff0000">Please Note</font>: The writing portion of this blog will soon be moving soon to </font></em><a href="http://blog.writerunner.com" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Writerunner.com</font></em></a><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">. That site is currently under construction but go ahead and subscribe so you don’t miss anything! This blog will remain active with non-writing topics. Writerunner.com will include a helpful index of all my writing posts. Watch for the official launch!</font></em></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-35876694669190468262011-02-11T11:19:00.001-08:002011-02-11T11:19:08.905-08:00One Person CAN Change the World<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">One Person CAN Change the World</font></h2> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TVWLqZIcjyI/AAAAAAAAB2s/Z2ZdrXq2HIk/s1600-h/Wael-Ghonim%5B3%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Wael-Ghonim" border="0" alt="Wael-Ghonim" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TVWLq2oY_HI/AAAAAAAAB2w/dhD6CdqgIzM/Wael-Ghonim_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="325" height="227" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">Many novels, possibly the majority, revolve around a single character’s actions. And in many cases, the character is thrust into a position where he must challenge the status quo and fight “The Powers That Be.” It is a powerful message, especially in Western culture. We value the power of the individual to conquer the forces of evil, especially those who are well-established such as dictators.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">We have plenty of great individuals in American history: </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">George Washington</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Abraham Lincoln</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr." target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Martin Luther King Jr.</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Jackie Robinson</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthony" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Susan B. Anthony</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Rosa Parks</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, and thousands more who fought the powers. I have many in my own family, from </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2011/01/more-history.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">my cousin Barney</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> who I’ve been posting about, to my Uncle Oliver who earned medals in WWII flying dangerous missions into the Far East.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">The events of the last few weeks highlight to world what the power of individual is all about, and how one man can take down an empire, especially a corrupt empire. It all start when </font><a href="http://google.com" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Google</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> employee </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wael_Ghonim" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Wael Ghonim</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> created a </font><a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9973986703" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Facebook page</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> that led to a rally to honor the memory of Khaled Said, a man who was beaten to death by police last June. Fittingly, that protest on January 25 led to more beatings, detentions, and deaths of the protestors. Ghonim was arrested. For a while it seemed like once again, the forces of evil would prevail, and the budding revolution would be quashed.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">But here’s the thing, novel writers. The thing to remember is that events <em>always move forward</em>, and once the genie is out of the bottle, it cannot be replaced. Doors are opened that cannot be shut. The protesters refused to leave Tahrir Square. The government tried everything. They “released the hounds” and sent gangs of thugs, some armed with guns, against the protesters. But the protesters were <em>willing to die</em> rather than surrender. The government tried arresting the people.  They sent in the army, they arrested and beat up journalists, they closed off the internet, phones, and shut down transportation.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">But the protesters still came. They grew. What started with one man putting up one Facebook page grew into a Revolution. The government tried pleading, bargaining with the protesters, giving them small concessions and freeing the detainees. Too little, way too late. </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">This morning, the Mubarak administration fell, literally without a shot being fired by the protesters. Ghonin called into </font><a href="http://cnn.com" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">CNN</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> and said, (I’m paraphrasing), “my work here is done. I just want to go back to my job.” A classic Reluctant Hero. One can only hope he stays involved and help shape the future of Egypt. </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"></font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">When you are writing you own novels, think about what those protesters faced, how hard the opposition was (not to mention the freezing nights, lack of food, water, sleep, and sanitation), and how through sheer perseverance and sticking to their principals, they were ultimately able to overcome the great odds stacked in their favor. If you can capture even a portion of the emotion the Egyptians felt in this process, from utter despair to sheer joy, you’re probably in good shape.</font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-14605513188903728992011-02-07T10:08:00.001-08:002011-02-07T10:08:47.687-08:00The Big “Nooo!” Moment<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">The Big “Nooo!” Moment</font></h2> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TVA1K0Fop5I/AAAAAAAAB2U/5DC2K_Q9wuo/s1600-h/khan%5B1%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="khan" border="0" alt="khan" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TVA1LZNt7OI/AAAAAAAAB2Y/Zc52UfZjomo/khan_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="365" height="269" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">First, a quick word about my </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2011/02/conflict-tension-and-stakes-on-every.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">last post</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. After carefully reading the responses, I realized I may have made some generalities about readers’ expectations about why they read fiction. I think their point is well-taken: be careful when blogging to not make assumptions. However, I also feel that you should be unafraid to make strong points, because it leads to interesting discussion.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Now on to today’s topic. We’ve all seen it. It’s been parodied to death, yet many books and movies still use this tried-and-true method. Something happens that the character cannot control, eliciting the proverbial “Nooo!” or some variation. </font><a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ANewHope" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Darth Vader kills Obi-wan</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, and Luke says “Nooo!” and is dragged away. </font><a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheLordOfTheRings" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Frodo sees Gandalf die</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. “Nooo!” Sarah Connor first sees the Terminator (in </font><a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Terminator" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Terminator 2</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">). “Nooo!” </font><a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ptitlej4gwd5cb?from=Main.StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Captain James Kirk’s “Khaaan!”</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> counts, by the way.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Called the </font><a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BigNo" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">“Big No”</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> trope,  it clearly signals an important turning point in the story. It’s a moment when the Bad Guy has his victory, when everything falls apart for the Hero. There’s only one thing left for the Hero to do: scream. But this “Nooo!” is more than just an outcry. It’s the Hero’s sudden recognition that not only is he facing physical harm and mental distress, it is that he is also facing the greatest enemy of all—Death. The stakes have been raised to their utmost.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Now when writing an adventure story like I have, I always had a couple “Nooo!” moments in mind. Especially writing </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steampunk</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, there is one aspect that lends itself nicely to this: Airships. Airships are disasters waiting to happen. The </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Hindenburg</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> proved that. But there are other dangers, one of which speaks to one of our basic fears: falling. And what happens when you combine an airship with falling? A “Nooo!” moment.</font></p> <blockquote> <p><font face="Courier New">His hand slammed across Sophia’s face, a blast of pain that threw her to the deck. Viola shrieked and charged at him with clawed hands. He stepped aside and slammed the back of her head with the pistol. Viola stumbled, hit the railing, and flipped over with a scream, disappearing into the night.</font></p> <p><font face="Courier New">“VIOLA!” Sophia jumped to the rail. “VIOLA! VIOLA!” No answer. She turned back.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><font face="Courier New">Dunstan stood stricken. “No, no, nononononono.” He dropped to his knees, mouth agape. <br /></font>– excerpt from <a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace" target="_blank"><em>Steam Palace</em></a> </font></p> </blockquote> <p><strong><font face="Trebuchet MS">What’s your favorite “Nooo!” Moment, from either your own work or popular movies/ fiction?</font></strong></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-10277541300574166952011-02-04T11:10:00.001-08:002011-02-04T11:10:04.089-08:00Conflict, Tension, and Stakes on Every Page<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Conflict, Tension, and Stakes on Every Page</font></h2> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TUxPCNt6LMI/AAAAAAAAB2M/tAPr045CyAI/s1600-h/funny-pictures-cat-does-not-want-to-get-neutered%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="funny-pictures-cat-does-not-want-to-get-neutered" border="0" alt="funny-pictures-cat-does-not-want-to-get-neutered" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TUxPChSlNuI/AAAAAAAAB2Q/471gpDobliU/funny-pictures-cat-does-not-want-to-get-neutered_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="329" height="248" /></a>This post was inspired by these blog posts: <br /></font><a href="http://literarylab.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">The Literary Lab</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> – </font><a href="http://literarylab.blogspot.com/2011/02/lies-you-believe.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Lies You Believe</font></a> <br /><a href="http://victoriamixon.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Victoria Mixon</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> – </font><a href="http://victoriamixon.com/2011/02/02/5-writing-rules-you-should-break/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">5 Writing Rules You Should Break</font></a></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">There has been some question about what the statement “You must have [conflict, tension] on every page [of your fiction manuscript]” means. I want to present my view on this, and hopefully demonstrate my argument as to the truthiness of this statement. </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">First of all, let’s be clear about one thing: There doesn’t “have to” be <em>anything</em> on <em>any</em> page. If you want a recipe on one page, a description of a setting sun on another, or an author’s treatise on the basics of fly fishing on another, go for it. I’m just going to demonstrate why generally you should have more.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">First, some definitions for this argument:</font></p> <ul> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Conflict</strong> – A character has wants or needs and faces obstacles to fulfillment of these. These could be internal, such as the sometimes opposing need for love and autonomy.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Stakes</strong> – The possible outcomes, good or bad, of a situation. Note that these also can be internal, like self-worth vs self-loathing.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Tension</strong> – The doubt as to the outcome of a given situation, coupled with the reader’s desire to learn the outcome of a given situation.</font></li> </ul> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">My first posit is that<em> all scenes contain conflict, stakes, and tension, on every page</em>. The question really is, <em>is the level of conflict, the depth of the stakes, and the degree of tension sufficient to keep a reader’s interest?</em></font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Let’s use a quick example of two teenagers, Mary and Sue, who have met to go to a movie:</font></p> <blockquote> <p><font face="Courier New">Mary: Hey, let’s see Swords of Flame! <br />Sue: Cool! I’ve been dying to see it! <br />Mary: Let’s go! <br />Sue: Awesome!</font></p> </blockquote> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">It’s a simple scene. The conflict is almost non-existent: they agree. The stakes are low: the movie might suck. The tension is low: they are excited. The major question I have for you right now is: do you care what happens next? Did we even need to show that they agreed to the movie, or should we just fast-forward to the movie, or even later?</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Now let’s take that simple scene and ask ourselves: what can I do to increase conflict, stakes, and tension? For conflict, we’ll get them to disagree (which is one of myriad ways to introduce conflict. Conflict is not always argument). </font></p> <blockquote> <p><font face="Courier New">Mary: Hey, let’s see Swords of Flame! <br />Sue: No, you promised that we’d see Runes of Ruin! <br />Mary: But Jesse tweeted that he was going to Swords, and I replied. We have to go. <br />Sue: But I told you that my cousin Ralph is in the credits. We have to see Runes!</font></p> </blockquote> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">The conflict is obvious. But now, there are stakes. Sue has a familial connection with Runes, and feels an obligation. She also feels that Mary betrayed her, and wants Mary to keep her word. But Mary’s friend Jesse is going to Swords, and she wants to make a connection with him. For tension, hopefully there’s a interest in the reader in what happens next. Does Mary apologize for changing her mind? Do they go separately? Does this lead to more conflict between the two?</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">What I want to state is that there is <em>not</em> a binary there-is-or-there-isn’t conflict/tension on every page. There probably <em>is</em> some. The question is really <em>how much</em>? Can you increase it? Do your lower-tension scenes truly contrast with your higher-tension scenes?</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I’ve heard it said, “well the reader needs a break. Not every page needs to be high-tension.” Yes. Not every scene is “defuse the bomb in thirty seconds or we all die.” But if you go on and on with low-tension scenes without conflict, then you really must ask yourself, “who is going to find this interesting?” The next question to ask yourself is “why should a reader care about any of this? Why should they keep reading? What’s going on that’s entertaining? Is there sufficient doubt as to the outcome, and are some of the outcomes pretty bad?”</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">It kind of goes to the heart of why you are writing this in the first place.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">The reason readers <em>read</em> fiction is to find out, “what happens next? Is all the crap the character is going through going to be worth it?” The way to achieve this (among other ways), is to always consider the conflict, stakes, and tension level of every page, and increase it as much as you can. </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">For an exercise, take a look at any random page of any published novel (except for the last few pages where everything has been defused and random backstory prologues) and see if you can identify the conflict, stakes, and tension. Let me know what you find in the comments.</font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-53842481875093575912011-01-28T10:59:00.001-08:002011-01-28T10:59:48.051-08:00The “Whoa” Factor<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">The “Whoa” Factor</font></h2> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TUMSH9_q0eI/AAAAAAAAB18/gbWvdRNO1ZM/s1600-h/whoa%20stop%5B3%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="whoa stop" border="0" alt="whoa stop" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TUMSIpR5t2I/AAAAAAAAB2A/-cb9i0x2KuY/whoa%20stop_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="242" height="244" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">I was all set to post something about dissection agents’ reaction during the </font><a href="http://www.writersdigestconference.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Writers Digest Conference</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> last weekend. It seems that overall, writers had a great response from agents, with tons of requests for partials. Why? Well, after spending the week thinking about it, I think it comes down to the idea that WDC simply attracted some of the best new writers (and I hope I’m in that group) and blew the agents away. Their pitches were refined and honed, and agents recognized the effort it takes to come to such an event. It was a writing love fest.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So that being said, I want to discuss what I think made my pitch work. (for full disclosure, I did receive a rejection so it’s not sure-fire). This is what I’m now calling, The “Whoa” Factor. It all comes down to evoking an emotional response in the target of your pitch, whether it’s a live pitch, a query letter, or even a synopsis. I could actually see the response in the form of widened eyes and a change in posture. (See my last </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2011/01/writers-digest-11-conference-report.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">post</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">).</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Here are some examples of “Whoa” moments.</font></p> <ul> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Jill walks down the street and witnesses a little girl run out in front of a car and get hit. <br />Note that you might want to immediately know what happened…is the kid okay or does she get hurt? What does Jill do?</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Joe’s arrives at work to find federal agents rifling through all the company paperwork. He’s told he no longer has a job, and he can’t leave town. <br />Why? What happened? How does Joe react? What is Joe going to do?</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Fred has just taken off from La Guardia when the captain comes on the speaker and says, “we’re being re-routed….to Canada. I have no further information.” <br />Oh no, is it another 9/11 or just terrible weather? Is the plane itself being threatened? </font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Maria walks into work one day and meets her new boss, neither knowing her boss had given Maria up for adoption 20 years ago. <br />How do they find out? What is their reactions? Are they able to bond? Do they want to?</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Barney receives a letter from the old country begging him to rescue his family before they are murdered in a campaign of “ethnic cleansing.” (a true story) <br />What does he do? Can he rescue them in time? </font></li> </ul> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Note one common thing about all these examples: I don’t reveal what happens. But they all suggest grand conflicts, life-changing moments, and potential hardship for the characters. They are intriguing, but don’t describe the entire story arc (which is usually the <em>reaction</em> to these events). They are usually found at major turning-points of the story.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So my question for you is this: <br /><strong>Does your story have The “Whoa” Factor? Are there a couple incidents in your story that could be summarized in just one sentence that effectively creates a visceral reaction, something unexpected that would catch a reader/listener off-guard?</strong></font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">If you can find them, consider adding them to a query letter or a pitch and see if it’s an improvement.</font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-26592103670755076192011-01-24T09:54:00.001-08:002011-01-24T09:54:21.004-08:00Writers Digest ’11 Conference Report<h2 align="center"><a href="http://www.writersdigestconference.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Writers Digest Conference</font></a> <font face="Trebuchet MS">’11 Report</font></h2> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TT28w1oqp-I/AAAAAAAAB1o/3UjA7H4_b04/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TT28xfG46FI/AAAAAAAAB1s/gg1Uh2EFfhc/image_thumb%5B6%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="242" height="72" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">Wow. What a weekend. So much has happened. I’ll have a few more posts about it in the coming days.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">To summarize, last weekend I attended my first </font><a href="http://www.writersdigestconference.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">writers conference</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. The main event was “Pitch Slam” where I had about 60 seconds to describe </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steam Palace</font></em></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> to literary agents. The event took place in the </font><a href="http://deals.sheraton.com/Sheraton-New-York-Hotel-421/so.htm?PS=PS_aa_NorthNY-Google-BD_sheraton_nyc_times_square_Exact_110810_NAD_FM" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Sheraton NY Hotel and Towers</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> in </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Manhattan</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, a snowball’s throw from </font><a href="http://www.timessquarenyc.org/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Times Square</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Throughout the first day, there was only one thing on people’s mind: <em>refine the pitch. Test it out on others</em>. So every chance we got, we practiced our pitches with each other. Earlier in the week, </font><a href="http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Janet Reid</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> had claimed on her blog that a pitch is a one-line description of your main character and an inciting incident. That set the </font><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/search/wdc11" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Twitterverse</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> abuzz as this was contrary to the advice on </font><a href="http://writersdigest.com/GeneralMenu/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Writer Digest’s own web site</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. Then </font><a href="http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Chuck Sambuchino</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> added fire to the mix when he suggested yet another structure: “long line” and then hit the </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2009/10/story-structure-part-2-call-to.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Inciting Incident</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">BUT</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">To confuse matters even furtherer (and spell check <em>is</em> accepting </font><a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Furtherer" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">furtherer</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> as a word), earlier in the week, I had run across the new office of the </font><a href="http://www.pnwa.org/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">PNWA</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> in Issaquah, WA, and I had run my pitch by them. Frankly, they provided me with the best advice of all: describe the main protagonist and the most dangerous antagonist’s most tense moment, but don’t reveal the outcome. Kind of like, describe the Gunfight at the O. K. Corral just before the shots are fired. (Just read Mike Resnick’s </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steampunk</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> version of that event called “</font><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Buntline-Special-Weird-West-Tale/dp/1616142499" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Buntline Special</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">”…kewl).</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So, with all that advice in hand, I spent the evening at a lounge with fellow writers honing and perfecting, trying variations, and getting the tempo down. That’s when I first saw it. In that lounge (</font><a href="http://www.facesandnames.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Faces and Names</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">), I saw <em>reactions</em> <em>in the faces</em> of my fellow writers. More about that to come.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">The next day started with </font><a href="http://www.maassagency.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Don Maass</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">’ presentation. Okay, no beating around it. The man is a god. He did a mini-workshop where I worked on one of my weaker scenes, and dammit, by the time he was done, I had a much better idea of how to rev up the tension. But once the morning sessions ended, I went back to my room with my box lunch, and did a little soul-searching.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">It’s been almost 2 years since I was </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2009/03/this-is-day-one.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">let go from my job</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. Two years of trying to learn a new profession, to turn a lifetime of writing dreams into reality. I knew when I sat across from an agent, I was putting my very existence on the line. This was like job interviews, except <em>this</em> was a job that I wanted more than anything I’ve ever wanted since I asked my wife to move in with me way back when. Yeah, I was nervous. Dead nervous. Cold hands, sweaty brow, churning stomach. And with two hours of sessions left before Pitch Slam, I knew I had to get my nerves under control.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">The last session was </font><a href="http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Janet Reid’s</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. And she <em>is</em> the </font><a href="http://queryshark.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Query Shark</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. Every person that volunteered was ripped, stripped, and left the stage with a much better pitch. She, too, is a goddess. But I kept going back to the advice I had received in town before I left. I saw how my fellow writers reacted to it. So, I pretty much ignored Janet’s advice (I will go back and look at her advice for query letters though. May send her one just to see…) and headed to the Slam.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">By the time I got in, it was packed. SRO. Every table was ten people deep, and with three minutes for each pitch, that meant that I was at least thirty minutes behind the first people in line. Shit. Then that damn bell kept ringing, hammering my heart like the Liberty Bell falling on me. Each bell meant I was that much closer. The man in front of me got to go early because the last person left before the bell. They talked. They talked. I could see it was a ‘No’ but they kept talking. I heard it! My bell, my beautiful bell that meant I could go and make my very first pitch, just like the first pitch of the World Series, and they kept talking. Hello? Hello??? HE-LLOOO???</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">He left. I sat down. “HiImAndrewMynovelscomplete120thousandwordsSteampunk” O M G. I don’t think I’ve ever talked that fast in my life. I think I forgot to breath, because at one point in the middle I said, “hold on". I took a breath. Then, “sotheEmperorgivesSophiaanimpossiblechoice: betrayyourcountryorIllkillyoursister.”</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">There. Done! I took a breath. I looked at her face.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">She spoke. “So…what’s so Steampunk about it?”</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I don’t know if you just heard the sound of the </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Bell" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Liberty Bell</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> falling on me again, but that was not a question I had prepared for. “Uhh…um…uh Victorian stuff? Giant machines? Uhh…” Crap, I was losing it. Then her next question, “would you say it’s more plot or character driven?” The Liberty Bell has now left the building….by crashing though the floor and taking me with it. “Sorta in the middle?” Holy shit, I sounded like a loser! “No,” I said with conviction. <em>Never sound wishy-washy. Ever. Even if the answer’s wrong</em>. “It’s more plot driven. But I do a lot of character work too.” Would that work?</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Turns out she’s interested, but a little hesitant. I got my first “send me something.” <br />TADA!!! HALLELUJAH! Hey, now, hey now! <img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-note" alt="Note" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TT28x7PWdyI/AAAAAAAAB1w/ujNxejSMKv4/wlEmoticon-note%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" /> (you know that song…)</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">On to the next one. Maybe I was overconfident, but I got a “not interested” pretty quickly. Good. PLEASE, agents, do not waste time at these events! Yeah, I was disappointed, but I was 1-for-2, and next up was probably the agent that I really, really wanted the most. I was running with the pitch I had worked on. I really had to nail it this time. </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">This is how I know I might be a writer. This is how I know that this has all been worth it. Like I mentioned earlier, I could see a reaction when I recited my pitch. Right in the middle, there is this widening of eyes. A slight pulling back of the chin. An “I didn’t see that coming.”</font></p> <blockquote> <p><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Sophia travels to Hartford where she meets this mean, angry, evil woman who tries to lure her into prostitution, but then finds out that this woman is her separated-at-birth identical twin.</font></em></p> </blockquote> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I got the “whoa”. I had learned this from practicing, that I could elicit that “whoa” moment from my colleagues. I figured agents would be jaded, but I started to get the same reaction from them. I knew I touched some emotion in them, the “holy shit, Sophia must be conflicted” emotion. I even learned to put a “beat” at that moment, to allow the reaction to occur. (And it’s not even my Inciting Incident, Janet, it’s the Turning Point that leads into Act II, because once Sophia accepts that Viola is her sister, everything she’s every known about her life has changed, and she irrevocably in a Special World…but I didn’t mention any of that in my pitch).</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Then I drove to the thrilling punch-line:</font></p> <blockquote> <p><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">The Emperor captures the twins and says to Sophia, “give me the secret to the Sea Key” (which would lead to her country’s destruction), “or I will kill your sister.”</font></em></p> </blockquote> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Then I stopped. Another “whoa.” I could see that I reached them. Nods. An intake of breath. Some mentioned, “now <em>that’s </em>a dilemma.” I sold this agent and the next three, a total of 5 out of 6 requests for query/partial. (And yes, I used a parenthetical expression in my pitch).</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Mark this moment down. I entertained 5 literary agents for 180 seconds each. I showed them that I have the <em>potential</em> to be their client. Time will tell if any of these agents are interested in representing me. My gut tells me that it’s a long shot, but it’s a far shorter throw than I had just four days ago. My attendance at this event has catapulted me in front of the hundreds, if not thousands, of the queries these agents receive every month.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">The other thing this conference has done is re-energized me as a writer, to keep working hard. I see a light, it might not be the right tunnel or even the right direction, but I can see it. I’m going to keep driving for it, because not only did I talk to my fellow writers about <em>Steam Palace</em>, I also mentioned the </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2011/01/more-history.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Family History</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> project, and after seeing them react to it, I know that it will gain huge interest as well. I can do this. I just need an agent! Or a contract!</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TT28yd3KPHI/AAAAAAAAB10/olK39Km1ZdA/s1600-h/liberty_bell_2%5B2%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="liberty_bell_2" border="0" alt="liberty_bell_2" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjobJ8kh1cJ7QgpxB-s003guQS-vVxTPvpN6oajpczU0TCF3ANxRdTVvNIby6eCKTHZ-1PE8RT2jSDGqwEhB4pO6IprfGGkmQfzcS7PDn6t8k8TgpndHetAq4e-Ftvtvu0h8FtYA_Un3jU/?imgmax=800" width="197" height="244" /></font></a></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"></font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-91883021873879759352011-01-17T09:34:00.001-08:002011-01-17T09:34:23.336-08:00What Makes a Hero<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">What Makes a Hero</font></h2> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TTR9m9p9FII/AAAAAAAAB1Y/GipqccbPOJk/s1600-h/HF_Logo%5B4%5D.png"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="HF_Logo" border="0" alt="HF_Logo" align="right" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAt_tnPjDr0KzDV1qNCwWg3mcFlrDaPt2fdgR17AZ5-8NABCdRBpc5MS9cUFqLmourzPCj7aq0UGvJCU4_oTo9NqhxHVsBEfEY_FGUQv_wsZlRBHnms_VzkFVe70k8ammW0tdGQNnuuxw/?imgmax=800" width="307" height="228" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">In the last two weeks, against the backdrop of me frantically preparing for this week’s </font><a href="http://www.writersdigestconference.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Writer’s Digest Conference</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, I’ve had two massive projects dropped in my lap.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">The first, which I’ve chronicled in my last two </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2011/01/more-history.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">posts</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, is the story of my cousin Barney and his heroic rescue of his family from persecution in the 1920’s.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">The second, which I won’t detail due to privacy issues, is the memoir of a new member of one of my writing groups where he chronicles his dealings with mental illness. Let’s call him Joe. I’ve been helping him figure out how to structure his account.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Both are true stories, and both share something amazing: a true Hero in both the real and the literary sense of the word. As I learn about both stories, I realize that these are stories that absolutely <em>must</em> be told. Not only that, they both revolve around probably the greatest motivator in the world: the need for love and connection with our fellow man.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Here are some of the things that makes them Heroes.</font></p> <ul> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>They are broken in some way</strong>. In Barney’s case, in 1920 he is living with his sister at 25. He seems to be stuck in some kind of rut. We’re still researching, but it seems to me he led a quiet, sheltered life without much interaction outside of his house. But he left his family to come to America at an early age—why? <br />In Joe’s case, let’s just say at age 40 he’s an incomplete man but he want to be complete. He wants relationships and family.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>They are presented with a challenge/invited to go on a Journey</strong>. Barney is faced with a letter from the old country pleading for help. Joe falls in love with a woman, probably for the first time in his life.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>The Journey is dangerous</strong>. Mortally dangerous (is there any other kind?). This is not a journey to take lightly. Barney literally faces armed forces. Joe literally faces Demons. (not supernatural. I can’t be more specific than that but I assure you that they are violent and malevolent).</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>The Journey promises a great Reward</strong>. In Barney’s case, it is the reunification of his family. In Joe’s case, it is even simpler. He’s looking for love.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>There is a parallel, inner Journey occurring</strong>. On the outside, both men are fighting for their families, taking on the demons that block their progress at every turn. But the greatest demons are the ones in our own heads. What the Journey teaches them, by defeating the outer demons, is how to take on their inner demons and win. </font></li> </ul> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So now, the question for me as I head to New York, is what about little Miss Sophia Stratton, the main character of </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steam Palace</font></em></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">? Does she in any way compare to these real-life heroes?</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I see her story a little like Barney’s. She leads a somewhat sheltered life. She’s avoided relationships, lived with her mother and older sister’s family (whoa---way parallel). She’s kept her nose to the grindstone, perhaps like Barney, and never looked at the “bigger picture.”</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">She’s had Calls to Adventure in the form of letters from her Aunt, begging her to visit, but it’s not until her own life becomes so untenable that she accepts it. In Sophia’s case, the Journey isn’t quite as well-defined, which may be something I need to look at. It’s actually a series of journeys, all revolving around her twin sister Viola. At the core, Sophia is trying to honor her father’s memory, to right a wrong that occurred long ago.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">The Reward for Sophia is fairly clear: her family survives. But she is presented with an even greater reward: if she completes the journey, she will gain what her father lost: their ancestral lands and peerage. But there’s a reward greater than all of those out there: her twin sister <em>Viola</em>. This goes to the heart of the Evil Twin metaphor: by confronting your twin, you are really confronting yourself. Sophia not only sees what she could have become, but she learns to appreciate what she has. So if she can come to terms with Viola and who Viola is, Sophia is really coming to terms with who Sophia is, and that’s the Inner Demon she must ultimately conquer. Like Joe, Sophia realizes that her love for her sister can heal Viola, and by doing so, can heal the hole in her own heart left when her father died.</font></p> <p><strong><font face="Trebuchet MS">Have you looked at your own work to see what your character gains from the Journey? How do they change, and what do learn from the experience? How do they start broken in some way and then wind up more complete?</font></strong></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-14428682682529283922011-01-10T11:27:00.001-08:002011-01-10T11:27:17.594-08:00More History<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">More History</font></h2> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TStdkImUdBI/AAAAAAAAB1M/oubCRRgUxxU/s1600-h/SS%20Philadelphia%5B3%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfwGm4Qk29skPWP1FlbiOSZXHDfAq0bD_JGhfTHB6FMYvmBRypju_az3frX9t_OMnfJFE8NE87L9uqTYlfLLLX0ql0eQKN873atbOOouOiwRk5AQKzGvvsq4SY_ZobW1fbPRmL8X-DYdE/s1600-h/SS-Mount-Clay%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="SS-Mount-Clay" border="0" alt="SS-Mount-Clay" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TStdlA6AesI/AAAAAAAAB1U/mm6038e3aFo/SS-Mount-Clay_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="344" height="243" /></a></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">So, as a writer, I see stories. And I uncovered a doozy in my family’s </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2011/01/history.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">history</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. I see scenarios worthy of Academy Awards, Pulitzer prizes, and </font><a href="http://www.oprah.com/index.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Oprah</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">’s book club. All that is required is the proper delivery. Now these aren’t my direct ancestors, but rather the story of my grandfather’s uncle and first cousin. But they still resound with me.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">[<font face="Garamond">The SS Mount Clay, the ship that brought this whole family to America in 1921</font>]</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Let’s take a look at a few of these characters.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Barney</strong>. Youngest of six…with five older sisters. I can picture his parents, finally receiving a boy (it’s not clear if there were any boys that died in childbirth/infancy) after 16 years of girls. A blessing beyond anything they had known. But when he turns 18, Barney decides to join his eldest sister Frieda in New York. His parents must be heartbroken.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Pauline</strong>. Youngest of the five girls. She’s the free-spirit, the crazy one. But when she speaks out against the injustices brought upon her people, her parents force Frieda to take Pauline with her to New York for Pauline’s own safety.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Frieda</strong>. Oldest of the six, she marries a relatively well-off man who emigrates to New York. Already with children, he pays their way two years later, but she must also take her youngest sister, the troublemaker. Frieda’s is the classic success story.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Nechamie</strong>. The father of six, five being girls. He has worked hard all his life to provide for his family. But his son’s departure is a crushing blow. Full of pride, he carries on, never asking anything from anyone, but he has no one to continue the family business, something he never gets over.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Bassie</strong>. In the middle of the six, she just wants a quiet life with her new husband. Her daughter Blossom is the pride of her life. But everything  is thrown into chaos when violence claims her husband’s life and Blossom’s cries of hunger wrench her soul.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Those are the main players in this drama. Nechamie had held everything together for years, despite the worsening conditions in his homeland. He has closed his eyes to the violence, even sending Pauline away to avoid it. But when Bassie’s husband is murdered, he knows he cannot close his eyes any longer. He has only one place to turn—his son who abandoned him years earlier and never wrote or sent a thing. </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Barney’s life is comfortable. He just served his new country in WWI, still lives with his sister Frieda and her four children, and is beginning a promising career. The old country is now just a distant memory. He has heard of the unrest, of the violence, but it never occurs to him to do anything, despite Pauline’s strident activism. One day he receives a letter from his father. He has never known his father to ask for anything, but his father’s desperate tone chills him. Despite his misgivings and days of soul-searching, consulting with Frieda and Pauline, he knows there is only one thing he can do. He must travel the dangerous road back to his homeland and rescue his family before it is too late. </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So I have all the elements of a classic story. A reluctant hero. A damsel (or two) in distress. A perilous journey into the heart of enemy territory (both social and emotional). A prideful father and an angst-filled son. A backdrop of social revolution. Characters filled with inner conflict. And, of course, the incredible fact that <em>it really happened</em>.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">All that is missing are some villains, some faces to put on the forces opposing this effort. There are the usual suspects, such as unfeeling bureaucrats, corrupt officials, and ambitious military officers, but I feel like this story needs a more personal villain, the personification of everything they are struggling against. I think this is an area to use a touch of creative license. Note that this the same pool to draw unexpected allies from, although I do have a few names of people who helped along the way.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So this is a story that just begs to be written. And it is the kind of story I feel that I was made to write, a desperate adventure with a race against time. But it will require actual research to a degree I’ve never attempted before. But if I can pull this off, I think the possibilities are limitless.</font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-13663405888727510522011-01-07T10:36:00.001-08:002011-01-07T10:41:41.998-08:00History<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">History</font></h2> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TSddIuEOopI/AAAAAAAAB0s/4C6Wdq8-hxg/s1600-h/Andrew%20-%20001%5B12%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Andrew - 001" border="0" alt="Andrew - 001" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TSddJNalQCI/AAAAAAAAB0w/RVa68m5BomE/Andrew%20-%20001_thumb%5B9%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="221" height="244" /></font></a><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TSddJoGyl9I/AAAAAAAAB00/T-x2nfEfLFg/s1600-h/Samuel%20Stumacher%5B5%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Samuel Stumacher" border="0" alt="Samuel Stumacher" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TSddKT5jXYI/AAAAAAAAB04/-SSBjo0HraU/Samuel%20Stumacher_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="169" height="241" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">How many of us know our family’s history? This week, a cousin of mine sent me a huge, 400+ page full-color tome illustrating my family’s history going back 8 generations. I cannot stop reading it. It is a truly humbling piece of work. It also shows what a giant clusterfuck history is. </font></p> <blockquote> <p><font face="Garamond">My great-grandfather Samuel Stumacher on the left, me on the right. Apparently goggles were not the rage back then.</font></p> </blockquote> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I’m sitting here in a café, writing on my netbook computer. 110 years ago, my ancestors fled persecution using falsified documents with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. I know almost every American has a similar story in their background. But to see it come alive in one book was shocking to me.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Some of my ancestors are only known by their names, where they lived, and their approximate birth year. Many of the women have no maiden names known. These people are no more than lines in a census registry sitting in a government archive in Kiev, listed alongside their family members. So as a writer (and a human being) I start wondering about them. What did they do for a living? Did they love their spouses? What did they achieve that they are proud of? What are some of the challenges they faced? Did they have pets? How did they die?</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">A few of the lines in the census end with the word “conscripted.” These men were put in the army, and never heard from again. This was one of the “solutions” to the “Jewish Problem.” Cannon fodder. Back then, armies weren’t all comfy-cosy like they are today. It was virtual slavery which lasted 25 years before they were let go.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Women were all but ignored in the records. Daughters were married off and never heard from again. Wives seemingly came from nowhere. My thought was, “well <em>someone</em> must have a record of these people.” Yes. The synagogues did. Until they were burned. With their congregations inside. (I am <em>not</em> exaggerating this).</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">One of the most heart-wrenching mementos in the book is a letter written from a father to a son, begging for the son (a US WWI Vet who emigrated much earlier) to return from American and take them away. Why? Because </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Jewish_pogroms_in_the_Russian_Empire" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">pogroms</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> were decimating the Jewish population. The father Nechamie literally did not know “hour-to-hour” whether he was going to stay alive.</font></p> <blockquote> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><em>Many people were killed, and our daughter Bassie had married, but her husband was murdered. Now she is left with a child, and has no means with which to keep it. <br /></em>–Nechame Stumacher, 1920, translated</font></p> </blockquote> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"> His son Barney did come and rescue them in an ordeal worthy of any Hollywood movie.</font></p> <blockquote> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><em>…56 extended family members set out in wagons for the Romanian border, They were robbed and harassed by soldiers but managed to get to the border…they were stopped by the police who noticed the [fake] passports sticking out of the neckline of Bassie’s dress (where she had hidden them)… <br /></em>–Based on Barney Stumacher’s audiotape recollection</font></p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TSddK_nHipI/AAAAAAAAB08/4tnGXCshwKA/s1600-h/IMG_1158%5B3%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="IMG_1158" border="0" alt="IMG_1158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCvvcmg1QEBJi0zjMZYR9bqEFV8mlr8wqrFPRym_YLjK1vFKSF5DSaFJMXfwv8UUhnXJxNdIH4b8NLt4L1UrVUN0oaFyScGXvJGdAzKvWzR2pzxAW4ah5Yii5zlEL5A4Q6ZX19eLP9Ikk/?imgmax=800" width="163" height="244" /></font></a></p> <blockquote> <p><font face="Garamond">Pictured: Barney Stumacher, Bassie Stumacher, and the baby Blossom Batt, who incidentally lived to the age of 89 and died in 2009, survived by 4 children.</font></p> </blockquote> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">One thing that gets me is all the blank entries in the book…those people who stayed behind, those that didn’t “make it.” Their records continue up until 1939, then end. That is when the Nazis invaded the Ukraine. In the town where my ancestors are from, the Nazi’s executed 7,000 Jews. Seven Thousand. That was about a quarter of the town’s entire population. Two 9/11’s in one small town. I don’t know how many of my relatives died, but it’s probably dozens, if not hundreds. There were only a handful of survivors. The cousin who compiled this history did not consult the Holocaust records, and frankly I don’t blame him. It’s mortifyingly depressing.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">There is one thing that gets me more than anything, one thing that I cannot shake, and maybe this is the part I can take into my writing. I think about the people that left, that came to America to start new lives. They left everything behind to sail into an unknown future, to travel to a land where they did not speak the language. You may think that they didn’t have much to lose given their circumstances, but I look at all my ancestors and see dozens that were born, lived, married, raised children, and died in that same town. Let me tell you something right now.</font></p> <p><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">They did not want to leave.</font></em></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I had a conversation with a friend of mine after 9/11 that I’ll never forget. The majority of people are simple folk. All they want is to have a chance for a happy life. To have a decent job, to marry someone they like, to raise a few kids. Nothing special. They want to build a home they live in the rest of their lives. Most of the people who died on 9/11 were just plain old office workers, janitors, moms and dads. And most of the people in Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan are exactly the same. People just want to live their lives.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I look at the records of my ancestors, and I see the same kind of people. Married, families, strong religious beliefs, and working simple jobs that kept food on the table. Shopkeepers, tailors, carriage drivers, carpenters. They did not want to leave. This was their home for generations. But then everything changed. Their homes were invaded. Their businesses were burned. Their husbands and wives were murdered, all tacitly approved by the government. They had no choice but to leave. Not all of them did.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I realized that these people were Heroes, in the truest sense of the word. They did the unthinkable. They moved their entire families to a strange country and faced countless dangers along the way. They faced death and survived (followers of my blog should see where this is going).</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I’m not suggesting every story you write should be about people facing genocide, living in a dystopic hell. But if I could channel even a tiny portion of the emotion that I’m feeling right now about my ancestors, I think I will be a successful writer.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">In your novel writing, consider whether your main character is truly facing an impossible choice, but in some ways, there should not be a choice at all. Your main character must do what they must do, face the enemy straight on, and risk everything. Only then can they be a Hero. </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I can’t really think of many things more courageous or more difficult than what my ancestors achieved. If they had not found the means to leave, if they decided to “wait it out” or hope for better times, then I would not be here today living in relative comfort, and their lives would have ended in a horrific way.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So I salute the man pictured above, Samuel Stumacher, for bringing his family of 8 (including my paternal grandmother at age 7) to New York in 1901. He did not live long enough to see my father’s birth (his grandson), but I know he’s up there somewhere looking down on his dozens of descendants. Thank you, Samuel.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">PS Apparently </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholem_Aleichem" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Sholom Aleichem</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, famous Yiddish writer, lived for a few years in this very same town. He is the author of the story that </font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddler_on_the_Roof" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Fiddler on the Roof</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> is based on, which depicts life in a town that neighbors my ancestors’ town at that same time period.</font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-28281534513242379782010-12-31T10:55:00.001-08:002010-12-31T10:55:34.535-08:002011 Goals and Resolutions<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">2011 Goals and Resolutions</font></h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEz22mgyxKqlizlVIvVPFT116IUcjt3wKZIPd6mX8ThieMjJLHy_qhBHmZj7pWL8JJyXGi9ZPkwYcxnhcYeT_I0AHfh9S8JONVeypb0SjHUGVNp3_vPt0LnVk2l5rP4ZfggCiRjueqBzg/s1600-h/2011_goals%5B33%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TR4nIdzdUGI/AAAAAAAAB0g/6tsy4httzJE/s1600-h/2011_goals%5B34%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="2011_goals" border="0" alt="2011_goals" align="right" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCWJxiJ_EKLBUQ8lME8yYkhoNaJMGt31tmTnQqTjWq-0oMQfbXCx1GG7DDvEOVaTbb-3wyjEwugGmpb_e-lFazjCY9dbldNJTNuU0bfC0g6uMrEDnvmxZFKTnLuxbkRYWEEvxmILl2GgE/?imgmax=800" width="290" height="277" /></a></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">Yep, it’s that time again to give myself ample opportunity to look back in one year’s time and beat myself up for completely missing my goals. So, in the spirit of knowing that I’ll most likely fail, I present my 2011 Goals and Resolutions.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">To clarify a couple things: Goals are what I’m committing to. Resolutions is what I’m going to strive for. And note, by the time I publish this post, these may have gone out the window. I reserve the right to change them at any time.</font></p> <h3><font face="Trebuchet MS"></font></h3> <h3><font face="Trebuchet MS">Resolutions</font><font face="Trebuchet MS"> <hr /></font></h3> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Writing-related</strong></font></p> <ul> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Read 25 novels</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Read 6 writing books</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Publish 52 blog posts (I’ve written 100+ the last couple years so…)</font></li> <li><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/p/upcoming-blogfests.html"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Blogfests</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">: Host one, participate in 12</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Plan a 2nd draft of <em>Dead Air</em>.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Plan a revision of </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Dawn's%20Rise" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Dawn’s Rise</font></em></a> <br /><font face="Trebuchet MS">The last two aren’t goals because I’m seriously questioning the marketability of these vs the amount of effort needed to fix them. But if I need a couple week “break” I might consider working on them</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Keep participating in critique groups</font></li> </ul> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Personal</strong></font></p> <ul> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Lose 20 lbs & stick with exercise plan, tendonitis willing</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Watch way less TV</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Take a family vacation</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Keep on top of bills</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Get the truck serviced</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Avoid time-wasting distractions (like iPhone apps)</font></li> </ul> <h3><font face="Trebuchet MS"></font></h3> <h3><font face="Trebuchet MS">Goals</font></h3> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"> <hr /></font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Writing Goals</strong> (To be completed by EOY)</font></p> <ol> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Publish </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steam Palace</font></em></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> (or exhaust all means). <br />By “publish” I mean at least have someone express interest (have an offer).</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Acquire a literary agent. <br />#1 is not necessarily contingent on this one.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Complete the first draft of at least one of these:</font></li> <ul> <li><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/The%20Immortals" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">The Immortals</font></em></a> <br /><font face="Trebuchet MS">(I have 80K words already but I got stuck…need to outline whole novel and restart)</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><em>Girl World <br /></em>(I might write this as a script instead of a novel)</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><em>Steam Palace 2 <br /></em>(I have the basic concept, need an outline)</font></li> </ul> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Completely new </font><a href="http://nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">NaNoWriMo</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> novel (unless contracted for paying work) <br />This is <em>in addition</em> to goal #3 so my overall goal is 2 first drafts in 2011, one before and one during NaNo.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Participate in 3 writing conferences and/or <br />Participate in 3 writing workshops</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Create an “author web site” for myself</font></li> </ol> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Writing Skill Goals</strong></font></p> <ul> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Deeper characters and POV</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Faster revisions</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Better villains (higher stakes, increased conflict)</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">More emotional content, more connection with the characters</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Improve my critique skills (make people anticipate instead of dread my feedback)</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">“Stay Away From Toxic Relationships.” Oh wait…those make the best character conflicts. Nevermind.</font></li> </ul> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">There, is that enough? Pretty much all I really want to accomplish is Goal #1. Everything else would be nice but if I don’t publish Steam Palace (or have a lit agent I feel confident with) then I’m really going to have to reevaluate. And that’s not going to wait ‘til next December.</font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-19014097450883330362010-12-27T10:34:00.001-08:002010-12-27T10:34:50.256-08:002010: My Year In Review<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">2010: My Year In Review</font></h2> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TRjcQkwM0NI/AAAAAAAAB0M/uqlefc8m7qw/s1600-h/goodbye-2010-hello-2011%5B5%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TRjcQkwM0NI/AAAAAAAAB0Q/h4g4A2sWwMY/s1600-h/goodbye-2010-hello-2011%5B6%5D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="goodbye-2010-hello-2011" border="0" alt="goodbye-2010-hello-2011" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TRjcSJsOktI/AAAAAAAAB0U/mewtz5mnVQw/goodbye-2010-hello-2011_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="313" height="219" /></a></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">There is one aspect of every job I’ve ever had that I hate the most: reviews. Whether once a year, twice a year, quarterly, weekly, heck—some places had daily “stand-up” meetings—they all had one thing in common: they were opportunities for me to see how poorly I was doing; a chance for me to browbeat myself into submission; and ultimately, of course, to be the avenue for my exit from those companies. Let me explain:</font></p> <table border="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="100"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="96"> <p align="center"><strong><font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS">I</font></strong></p> <p align="center"><strong><font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS">Hate</font></strong></p> <p align="center"><strong><font size="3" face="Trebuchet MS">Reviews.</font></strong></p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So why am I giving myself an annual review and posting it for the world to see? Why give myself an honest assessment of my successes and failures? I have no fucking clue. But here it goes.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Last years </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2010/01/2010-goals-and-resolutions.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">goals</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">:</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>MAIN GOAL</strong></font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>I want to know that this whole “writing career” thing is progressing…What I <em>really</em> want is to feel some measure of success by the End of the Year. <br /></strong>Before I answer this, let’s look at how I did vs. my other stated goals.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Resolutions<em> </em></strong><em>(for reference, not for evaluation)</em></font></p> <ol> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Be a better father and husband. Spend more “quality time” with the family.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Eat healthy and exercise. Get back to the gym and the pool.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Stay focused on my writing and not get too distracted by blogging.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Increase the amount of critiques I do.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Clear all the clutter out of the house.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Try to avoid disasters.</font></li> </ol> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Goals </strong><em>(to be graded)</em></font></p> <ol> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Lose weight. <br />RESULT: <font color="#ff0000">FAIL</font> Actually gained ~5lbs this year</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Complete the current </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steam Palace</font></em></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> revision by April 1 <br />RESULT: <font color="#ffff00">MISS</font> Completed Revision 2 on 6/22.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Attract an agent and/or publisher for </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steam Palace</font></em></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"><em>.</em> <br />RESULT: <font color="#ff0000">FAIL</font> Made some contacts but have not actually queried.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Get back into running (tendonitis permitting). <br />RESULT: N/A, tendonitis as bad as ever :(</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Write a new book for </font><a href="http://nanowrimo.org/"><font face="Trebuchet MS">NaNoWriMo</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. <br />RESULT: <font color="#00ff00">SUCCESS</font> Wrote <em>Dead Air</em> for NaNo. 55K words.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Complete a draft of </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/The%20Immortals"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">The Immortals</font></em></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. <br />RESULT: <font color="#ff0000">FAIL</font> Did nothing more than polish an excerpt for a blogfest.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Go to at least one writer’s conference. <br />RESULT: <font color="#ffff00">MISS</font> Planned for Jan 20, 2011.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Go to at least one convention where I can push my novel. <br />RESULT: <font color="#ff0000">FAIL</font> I kinda talked it up at </font><a href="http://www.steam-con.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steamcon</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> though.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Take a vacation at some point. <br />RESULT: <font color="#ff0000">FAIL</font> Took a day off here and there.</font></li> </ol> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Wow, that was humbling. I got almost nothing “done” except NaNoWriMo. Of course back then I had no idea that <em>Steam Palace</em> revisions would take all year. However, I do have a few achievements to note that were not on my official “goal” sheet:</font></p> <ul> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">107 blog posts in 2010 with 2 more planned (including this one)</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Stuck with exercise plan</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Completed 3rd revision and am on 4th revision of <em>Steam Palace</em></font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Created new story concept called “Girl World”</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Created concept for <em>Steam Palace 2</em></font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Did clean out a lot of the clutter mentioned in Resolutions</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Participated in ~35 </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/p/upcoming-blogfests.html"><font face="Trebuchet MS">blogfests</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> and hosted one</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Wrote ~7 Flash Fiction pieces</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Hosted </font><a href="http://www.meetup.com/Eastside-Writers-Meetup-Group/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Eastside Writers Meetup Group</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> for most of the year</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Actively participated in 4 in-person critique groups overall</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Avoided disasters (so far knock knock)</font></li> </ul> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">And now to address the “Main Goal” mentioned above.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">To be honest, I think I’ve progressed in a huge way. I am so much more in touch with </font><a href="http://sites.google.com/a/dawnsrise.com/heros-journey/"><font face="Trebuchet MS">story structure</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, characters, conflict, goals, emotions, </font><a href="http://sites.google.com/a/dawnsrise.com/scene-structure/"><font face="Trebuchet MS">scene structure</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, style, POV, critique, everything. It’s become much easier to recognize good writing and knowing where the writing is weak. That’s what drove me crazy about NaNoWriMo this year…the knowledge that I was writing crap. But as far as <em>Steam Palace</em>, I do feel like I’m on the verge of publication…or at least a lot of polite rejections. So while I don’t feel like I have “succeeded”, I do feel like I’ve done everything I’m supposed to be doing. I have a solid, well-written manuscript that will be <u>done</u> by Jan. 20, 2011 come hell or high water (or any number of disasters).</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So if I was my own boss (which I am), I’d give myself an overall passing grade. I think this coming year will be the real test, when I put myself on the line and submit my story. More details about 2011 in my next post.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So aside from missing most of my goals (which I expect anyways since I know that my plan is flexible to take advantage of opportunities/adjust to setbacks) I think I‘m doing well.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Happy New Year!</strong></font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-75827812045482027492010-12-13T10:51:00.001-08:002010-12-13T10:51:01.522-08:00Revision: Sharpening Characters<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Revision: Sharpening Characters</font></h2> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TQZrELNiu8I/AAAAAAAAB0A/70Bi4lphiFM/s1600-h/sharpen%20char%5B5%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="sharpen char" border="0" alt="sharpen char" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TQZrE7my6KI/AAAAAAAAB0E/qI48mmKi8X4/sharpen%20char_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="284" height="386" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">On my never-ending quest to revise </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steam Palace</font></em></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">, I’ve come across a particular set of feedback across most reviewers: </font></p> <ol> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">I don’t care (enough) about your character(s)</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">I don’t understand your character(s)</font></li> </ol> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So lately I’ve been researching the issue. It seems like it comes down to two separate problems:</font></p> <ol> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Overall, I’m not showing my characters’ goals and motivations clearly, and/or readers don’t relate.</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">In specific scenes, not providing insight into my characters’ mindset.</font></li> </ol> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So how do I address these issues? The first thing is to make my character’s motivations and goals not only clearer, but much stronger. As I write, I always have a sense of what each character is after. A lot of us want to start with “ordinary” characters who are facing somewhat “ordinary” problems. The problem come when we send these characters on an adventure. Why? What stops them from just going back home? Why do they continue to press through even when things get tough or even impossible? Why don’t they fold like a house of cards?</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">The fact is that they are anything but ordinary. Characters are driven. They are the people we see in real life and say, “man, I wish I could be that guy.” “Isn’t she awesome?” Or, alternately, “I wish someone would run over that dude.” Characters are <em>Heroes</em>, they are larger-than-life. They are <em>extraordinary</em> people in <em>extraordinary</em> circumstances.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So how does this apply to character revision? Should I give my character laser eyes and shoot him into space? No. But there are a couple things to consider.</font></p> <ol> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">What are the Stakes? Are they big enough? What happens if your character loses? </font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Can you increase the stakes? Make them more personal? What would your character die for? Is this the most important thing the character has ever wanted ever?</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Are your characters’ goals well-defined? Do they know what they want? Do you? Is what they want worth dying over? </font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Can the reader relate to the character’s needs? Are they good, solid goals?</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Does the character have a life outside of the story that the reader can relate to?</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Do other characters care about your character? Does your character care about the other characters? Let’s feel the love.</font></li> </ol> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Note that this applies both to Heroes and Villains, except for #6 where you should replace ‘care about’ with ‘hate’. </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Now this doesn’t address of connecting with characters on a page-by-page basis. Here are some things I’m going to work through:</font></p> <ol> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Keep the characters’ goals and opposition up-front on every page. Think of a kid trying to get to a bowl of candy. They have eyes for nothing else. You character wants something in every situation, and struggles to achieve that goal. It’s either the candy or a diaper-wetting tantrum (or however your character handles setbacks). And remember, the goal is never, “learn the backstory.”</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Filter the scene through the POV character. If there’s nothing evocative about something in the scene, don’t mention it. React. Emote. Why does ever single word on each page matter?</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Dialogue is better than monologue. Especially if two or more characters are speaking at cross-purposes. Express inner dialogue when you can, but don’t overdo it.</font></li> </ol> <p><strong><font face="Trebuchet MS">How do you get your readers to connect with your characters?</font></strong></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">PS. On the image above, let me suggest an edit. The balloon should read, “A <em>conflicted</em> Disney Princess on every page.” Then they won’t just teach reading comprehension, but maybe writing skills as well.</font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-600486266961836552010-12-10T10:52:00.001-08:002010-12-10T10:52:23.170-08:00The Father Figure<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">The Father Figure</font></h2> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TQJ24WJHuBI/AAAAAAAABz4/4g2NDLx_P2w/s1600-h/father%20figure%5B6%5D.jpg"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="father figure" border="0" alt="father figure" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TQJ25EAUEZI/AAAAAAAABz8/lamRKsUYrnc/father%20figure_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="343" height="273" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">I’ve noticed a thematic element in most of the fiction I write—the absence of a “Father Figure.” Now this doesn’t reflect my life…my mom and dad stayed together and he lived to a ripe old age of 75. So why write stories with a missing father figure? In fact, even in my stories where there <em>is</em> a father, there is no mother. So I’m left with 2 cases: single-parent or orphaned characters. Is there something of literary value in writing characters with fractured families? </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I think maybe there’s an inherent conflict. There’s a sense of loss, of deep pain, of something missing in their lives. These characters are incomplete. There’s a need to reconnect, to rebuild their broken families by bringing new people into their lives. Another thing is that without exception, every single one of these characters is single (only two are even dating someone at the start of the story) and have no children (that they know about). </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So this brings up a couple issues. Is this good literary fodder to explore or am I just stuck in a rut? Is there something about the Father Figure that I struggle with or avoid? Is this a character type I should explore more? Just for fun I dumped out most of my Main Characters with their parent and home status. While I’m at it I dumped out the number of siblings. Not many bros in there…I can relate to that (2 sisters). Hmm…also just noticed that when they have siblings, the Main Character is the youngest. I was a middle child. (Technically Viola is a few minutes younger than Sophia but that doesn’t count).</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So that leaves me a few interesting possibilities to explore in future works:</font></p> <ul> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Main Characters who are married and/or parents</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Main Characters with younger siblings</font></li> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS">Main Characters with both parents alive and well</font></li> </ul> <h3><font face="Trebuchet MS">Main Characters without fathers</font></h3> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Dawn Anami, </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Dawn's%20Rise" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Dawn’s Rise</font></em></a> <br /><font face="Trebuchet MS">Father died one week after her birth, identity hidden from her. <br />No father figure growing up <br />Mother died ~10 years ago, now an orphan living with aunt. <br />0 siblings</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Sophia Stratton, </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steam Palace</font></em></a> <br /><font face="Trebuchet MS">Father died 7 years ago <br />Mother is dying. <br />Lives with sister. <br />2 sisters, brother died in childhood before her birth</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Jake, </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/The%20Immortals" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">The Immortals</font></em></a> <br /><font face="Trebuchet MS">Father died before birth, identity unknown. <br />No father figure growing up <br />Story starts with mother’s death, now an orphan. <br />Potentially 1 brother he’s never met</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Archie Magnuson,</font><font face="Trebuchet MS"><em> Dead Air <br /></em>Father died  6 years ago <br />Mother ill, he is her live-in caretaker. <br />Casually dating a girl. <br />1 sister</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Grett Hawk, </font><font face="Trebuchet MS"><em>Girl World <br /></em>Biological parents unknown <br />No father figure growing up <br />Childhood foster mother died ~10 years ago, now has another. <br />Lives in a fraternal group home <br />15 “foster” sisters, no known blood siblings</font></p> <h4><font face="Trebuchet MS">Main Characters with Fathers</font></h4> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Alex Ross, </font><font face="Trebuchet MS"><em>30 Days <br /></em>Father still alive and kicking. <br />Mother not mentioned, out of picture. <br />Lives with girlfriend. <br />1 brother</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Mary of Archa, </font><font face="Trebuchet MS"><em>Wild Mary’s Way <br /></em>Father alive and kicking <br />Mother died ~12 years earlier <br />Leaves home at start of story. <br />0 siblings</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So you can see I’ve left a trail of death and mayhem in constructing these characters. Note that tons of my supporting characters have fathers, brothers, sisters, children, etc, so this is really just about the main character.</font></p> <p><strong><font face="Trebuchet MS">What kind of family structures do you find yourself writing? </font></strong></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-12077436130109406422010-12-06T10:12:00.001-08:002010-12-06T10:12:48.977-08:00Writing Query Letters<h2 align="center"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Writing Query Letters</font></h2> <p><a href="http://www.inkygirl.com/comics/2010/6/25/comic-unprofessional-query.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Bar-complaint_001" border="0" alt="Bar-complaint_001" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TP0nnPQSgXI/AAAAAAAABz0/ulLvPKREI6k/Bar-complaint_001%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="264" height="263" /></font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">Apparently there’s some kind of “tradition” floating about the publishing industry called the “Query Letter”. The Query Letter is a concise one-page description of your work and about you. It can include elements such as a teaser, a short paragraph about the book, and an author’s credits. I’m not going to pretend I know diddly squat about writing them here. All I know is that they’re a stepping stone, the first step to publication. It must entice a potential agent just enough to get them to read a synopsis or even the whole book.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">But like lipstick on a pig, not every agent will love your query, no matter how well-written the query (or the book) is. It’s just something to get you into the door, to distinguish you from the 100 other queries that agent has received <em>that day</em>. (It’s not a job I’d envy). The ironic thing is that the best authors may not write the best queries, and vice-versa. Yes, I keep telling myself that. Actually a bad query just sucks.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Here’s the only real piece of advice I have. I think queries should represent the book. Put the most heartfelt part of your story into the query and go with it. Let your self show. Oh, and try to avoid grammatical and spelling errors.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So what do you do when you think you’re ready to query? Here are 3 sites I recommend posting your query on for feedback:</font></p> <p><a href="http://agentqueryconnect.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Agent Query Connect</font></a> <br /><a href="http://querytracker.net/forum/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Query Tracker Forums</font></a> <br /><a href="http://openquery.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">The Public Query Slushpile</font></a></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">With that said, here’s the latest query for </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steam Palace</font></em></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. Comments encouraged.</font></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3" face="Garamond">December 6, 2010</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Garamond">Agent Name <br />Agency <br />Address <br />City, State, Zip</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Garamond">Dear Ms. Super-Duper Agent,</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Garamond">After meeting your Evil Twin, you might just wonder which one <i>you</i> are.</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Garamond">In a world swimming in mechohorses and dirigible aivies, where the former New England colonies created a British-style monarchy, a newborn twin is stolen. Sophia is raised in a noble house and provided every advantage, while her unknown twin Viola suffers crippling poverty. A score and three years later when they first meet, Sophia is destitute; her family name and lands a victim of an unfortunate dispute with the King. Meanwhile, to Sophia’s horror, her doppelgänger Viola lives a rich, vile life off the profits of sin.</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Garamond">To restore her family name and ‘save’ her newfound sister from an ignominious fate, Sophia enters Viola’s dark world of the Steam Palace, a floating den of iniquity built upon a derelict barge. When Sophia’s rebuff of the Duke—Viola’s secret lover—leads to an imminent invasion the monarchy, Sophia wonders which is truly the ‘Evil’ twin. She must unite with wretched Viola to protect their families before their steam-powered enemy exterminates their hated race…Americans.</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Garamond">STEAM PALACE, a Steampunk Adventure, is complete at 120,000 words. I have completed a Creative Writing certificate course at the University of Washington, completed Holly Lisle’s “How To Revise Your Novel” online course, and I co-host a local critique group.</font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Garamond">Thank you for your consideration.</font></p></blockquote> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5042906897152963913.post-29736534956540990282010-12-03T11:03:00.001-08:002010-12-03T11:03:09.322-08:00Every New Beginning…<h3><font face="Trebuchet MS">…Comes From Some Other Beginning’s End</font></h3> <blockquote> <p><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">–</font></em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Seneca the Younger</font></em></a> <br /><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">–</font></em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closing_Time_(Semisonic_song)" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Semisonic</font></em></a><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">, “Closing Time”</font></em></p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="GWT_logo_final_clr_hires" border="0" alt="GWT_logo_final_clr_hires" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_M3sVh6CiMfU/TPk-6i7uTAI/AAAAAAAABzw/vQZEDafSiSI/GWT_logo_final_clr_hires%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="240" height="137" />NaNoWriMo</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> is over. Let me say a couple more things to add to </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/2010/11/nanowrimo-post-mortem.html" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Monday’s analysis</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">. I really don’t think I’m good at writing Mystery. Furthermore, I don’t think I’ll be writing mystery again. And this is why: <br />In my last post, I wrote this observation:</font></p> <ul> <li><font face="Trebuchet MS"><strong>Falling in love with my characters</strong>. I have a tendency to fall in love with certain types of characters (mostly female) and then they start to take over the story because I just want to write about them and give them larger roles than they probably deserve.</font></li> </ul> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Then this thought struck me. <em>Why not just write a story with all female characters? </em>Then I could not worry about it.</font></p> <p><strong><font face="Trebuchet MS">BOOOM!</font></strong></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Within an hour, I have an entire world, characters, settings, conflicts, everything. It just avalanched out of control. Imagine an isolated planet far in the backwater of the galaxy. The original settlers had a small problem…a faulty Y chromosome cause most infants to be born girls. For countless generations, they’ve formed a highly structured matriarchal society with wars and walled cities. Now zoom in on one city, a high school, a girl, someone immersed in their world’s struggle for survival as males grow scarcer every generation. (Okay, yeah, it would be kewl to be a dude in this scenario, but I’m not trying to write a mantasy here). </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">One day, our heroine meets a boy her age…practically the only boy her age in her entire city of ~100K…and things explode from there.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I wanted a short story. But my ideas are never small. I don’t know where this idea is going. Right now I’m working on a “journal” concept, that my Heroine is writing assignments for a school writing project, therefore she’s “required” to include backstory in her journal (see I how squeeze that in?).  I’m hoping a few of those could be stand-alone stories. I’m feeling about ten times more energy about this story than I ever felt about the mystery. While it was a nice break to write a contemporary story, I need to stop kidding myself. I’m a science fiction writer, I always have been, and I always will be.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I am going to try to write this with YA in mind. She’s 16 in earth years, and has serious concerns about her life. She’s been slotted to be a warrior, but has never tasted combat. She’s not into the dating scene, but new emotions will surface once she meets the boy. So it’s a coming-of-age in an insane world full of cutthroat bitches and man-hungry hostiles who will stop at nothing to steal your city’s man supply. (It’s really not a mantasy, I swear! The men are treated like prized pigs.).</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">Oh, and one last thing. My heroine has a cloudy past. The beginning of this mystery (hey, Mystery!) will be revealed one day in science class when she discovers that she’s neither XX nor a feminized XY with a faulty <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRY" target="_blank">SRY</a> gene. She’s OO. WTF?</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">I call this concept, “Girl World.”</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">But I have this small teensy tiny problem. Remember good old </font><a href="http://blog.dawnsrise.com/search/label/Steam%20Palace" target="_blank"><em><font face="Trebuchet MS">Steam Palace</font></em></a><font face="Trebuchet MS">? That 120K word tome set in an alternate New England where Sophia Stratton has to defend her country from the mad Reichland Emperor? Well, in a fit of insanity, I signed up for the </font><a href="http://www.writersdigestconference.com/" target="_blank"><font face="Trebuchet MS">Writer’s Digest Conference</font></a><font face="Trebuchet MS"> in NYC January 20-22. That includes an agent session where I can pitch my book to tons of agents. Do you know what that means? </font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS"><em>Steam Palace</em> and my query letter must be completely finished and in manuscript format by January 20. Holy shit. What about <em>Girl World</em>? What about <em>Christmas</em>? I am really in the deep doo-doo now.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So from NaNoWriMo’s end comes a new beginning, but I haven’t even finished my last new beginning. I better get paid for all this. Fortunately airfare is dirt-cheap ($220 round-trip SEA-NYC) and I found a coupon code for the convention so I paid even less than the early-bird rate.</font></p> <p><font face="Trebuchet MS">So wish me luck, I’m going to need it.</font></p> Andrew Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09215333688753781447noreply@blogger.com5