Archive for the 'Writing/Publishing' Category

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Speaking of dialogue

Published on August 19, 2011 in Fiction Writing and Screenwriting. 14 Comments Tags: , , .

First, I’d like thank Cheryl for letting me blog with her today.

 

We all know novels and movies have dialogue. How often do you remember the dialogue from a novel? Now, what about a movie? I bet you could quote lines of dialogue from your favourite movie but probably not from your favourite book. I know I couldn’t. Of course I’ve only read my favourite book twice.

 

Dialogue is so important to both novels and movies but it’s one of the hardest things to get right. It has a big job. Not only must dialogue give the reader or viewer information they wouldn’t get in any other way, it also has to reveal character, foreshadow events, provide conflict. Help with resolution. Contrary to what some might believe it should not be responsible for telling your story. The action of your movie or book should do that. Dialogue should enhance what’s already there.

 

For me, one of the reasons I want to write awesome dialogue is to attract an A-list actor to my script. If you have lame dialogue you’re not going to have actors clamouring to say your lines.

 

So what can you do to improve your dialogue?

 

There are a lot of books out there on writing dialogue. There are even some workshops. And I’m sure you’ve all heard the advice about listening to how people talk. All of those are good ways to improve your dialogue but please don’t write dialogue the way people actually talk. People tend to add a lot of unnecessary pauses, ums, no, yes etc., when they talk. We also don’t constantly repeat the name of the person we’re talking to. Example:

 

“What do you mean by that, Cindy?”

 

“Well, um, Fred, I mean you shouldn’t do, you know, what I’m doing now.”

 

“Cindy, I still don’t get it.”

 

“Fred, seriously? You don’t get it?”

 

“No, Cindy I really don’t.”

 

The best advice I ever heard about improving my dialogue was to keep the character in the dialogue. So know your character and make each piece of dialogue that character says reflect one of their characteristics. Another awesome piece of advice that I don’t use just for dialogue was to read it aloud. I read my dialogue aloud to make sure it sounds right, doesn’t feel forced or stiff.

 

Now search your memory and let me know what your favourite line of dialogue is. Is it from a book or a movie and give us the title, please. Bonus points if it’s from a book and you didn’t have to look it up.

 

I talk more in depth about dialogue in my workshop Is That Hollywood Calling? – How Thinking Like a Screenwriter Can Improve Your Novel. Comment here to be entered to win a lecture packet. If you don’t win, don’t worry! There’s still time to register for the class at:   http://www.writersonlineclasses.com/?page_id=592

 

Plagiarism – This Could Happen to You”

Published on July 2, 2011 in Writing/Publishing. Closed Tags: , , , .

Yes, seriously. You could be plagiarized.

Some years ago I had several articles and a webpage plagiarized. By the same person.

Yep, really. And what’s worse, it was a published writer.

Someone I knew personally, and trusted.

It took awhile, but finally she removed my work that she unlawfully claimed as her own.

This sort of thing goes on all the time, mostly by people unknown to us, but it happens. And it’s happening right now.

Take a look at this post and be aware in case it happens to you.

Cheryl

How a Critique Partner can impact your writing.

Published on June 28, 2011 in Writing/Publishing. Closed Tags: , , .

Over ten years ago I started out on my journey to becoming published. I didn’t belong to any writing groups, didn’t realize more than local ones existed, and family and friends read my work.

I learned about RWA(Romance Writers of America) and began attending meetings and conferences and entering contests. The second contest I entered, two judges rewrote my story and didn’t tell me why. The third judge explained what I was doing wrong and complemented me adding her e-mail on the score sheet. I e-mailed and thanked her for explaining what I was doing wrong. We began e-mailing back and forth and she became my first critique partner. Under her tutelage, my writing blossomed and my knowledge of western life and horses as well as overall picture helped make her writing better as well.

I’ve had several CP’s over the years and currently have two who can keep up with my fast output and who I can help with their writing. One is a line edit critiquer and the other is a big picture critiquer. Between the two of them my story is at its best when it hits an editor’s desk.

And that’s what you want in a CP, someone who can help your writing whether it’s big picture, line edits, or brainstorming.

I’ve set up a blog where you can learn how to be a good CP and can fill out a form to be matched with two other writers of your genre and who can help you with the areas you need help with.

If you’re looking for a CP head on over to http://cpmatchmaker.blogspot.com and fill out the form and send it in.

The best thing you can do for your writing to take it to the next level is have other writers critique and make your writing the best it can be.

Paty Jager

http://www.patyjager.net

http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com

Self Published Writer Becomes Million Dollar Seller

Published on June 23, 2011 in Marketing for Writers. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Yes, it’s true. A self published writer really has sold more than one million copies.

Amazon have said they have had million dollar sellers before, but never with a writer who has self published, always traditionally published.

The writer in question, John Locke, has self-published nine fiction titles (all in ebook format), and has now published the story of how he did it.

How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! is the story of how this amazing writer sold sold 1.1 million copies of his ebooks in a nine-month period.

I’ve heard loads of reports about writers who have gone the self-publishing route, especially with Smashwords or Amazon Kindle, and outsold many traditionally published authors. Self-publishing also gives the author full control over their book, and allows updating when necessary instead of when a publisher deems it necessary.

For the full story, go to: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/8589963/Self-publishing-writer-becomes-million-seller.html” target=”blank”

Remarkably, Locke writes for fun. This is not his day job.

As someone who is seriously considering self-publishing fiction, I was particularly interested in the above information. I’ve self-published a lot of non-fiction, but have never self-published fiction before. Over the past several months I’ve been checking out places to do this, and Smashwords stood out for me. Mainly because they send your ebook off to several sites for selling. To me this is a very viable option if:

1) you are traditionally published and hate the lack of control;
2) fed up with low sales via small press publishers;
3) want to get the full benefits (read as royalties) for your hard work.

Having gone down both the traditional publisher route, and also the self-publishing route myself, there are definite positives to self-publishing.

Now it’s over to you. Let me know your thoughts on this, and if you’ve purchased John Locke’s book, How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!, I’d really love to hear your opinion of it.

Cheryl