My rhyming story "Desert Treasure", in which two children find a tube of sand in the desert and fantasize about what it could be, is appearing in the July/August 2010 issue of KNOW: the Science Magazine for Curious Kids!
So, go out to your local bookstore or library and buy or borrow a copy. KNOW is a great magazine, and I'm proud that one of my stories has been chosen to be a part of it.
And thanks for stopping by.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Tony Awards! Tony Awards!
Did you actors out there watch the Tony Awards?
I'm embarrassed to admit that this is actually the first time that I have ever watched the Tonys. Every actor should watch them; theatre is an important element of our field, and we should watch them because it's important to know what's being done out there, and also because it's important to recognize and honor excellence in our craft. On the other hand, I don't live anywhere near New York and I never have, so I've never actually seen any of the individual performances/musicals/plays being nominated in any given year. (Unlike the Oscars, which I've often seen because they're movies and are therefore available pretty much in any given place at any given time as long as you can get to a Blockbuster.) I had no idea that the Tonys were even televised before this year. So, I feel that my lapse, while shameful, is excusable. But no more!
Watching the Tonys was, for me, by turns entertaining (Matthew Morrison singing and dancing live? Yes, please.), awe-inspiring, and demoralizing. Awe-inspiring because I was truly shocked by the percentage of huge Broadway stars who are also huge film stars, and also because I got to see clips from musicals and plays being performed right now on Broadway and I LOVE LIVE THEATRE. I wish I could go to the theatre every day. Just watching it had me itching to get back out there and DO some live theatre.
And then came the demoralizing part, as I realized that all of those people can sing. And I mean, really sing. They can bring the house down. And I can't. And by that I mean, even my kids and my own mother beg me to stop when I try to sing, and we're just talking about lullabies and things like that. I mouth "Happy Birthday" as I carry my kids' cakes to them at their birthday parties. I sound that bad. I can dance a groove in the floor, and I think I've probably got some acting chops hidden away somewhere (although sometimes I doubt myself - I think we all do), but I sure can't sing. And I wonder: does this mean that live theatre is out for me? Will I ever be able to "make it" on acting and dancing alone?
I sure hope so, because that's all I've got.
Thanks for stopping by.
I'm embarrassed to admit that this is actually the first time that I have ever watched the Tonys. Every actor should watch them; theatre is an important element of our field, and we should watch them because it's important to know what's being done out there, and also because it's important to recognize and honor excellence in our craft. On the other hand, I don't live anywhere near New York and I never have, so I've never actually seen any of the individual performances/musicals/plays being nominated in any given year. (Unlike the Oscars, which I've often seen because they're movies and are therefore available pretty much in any given place at any given time as long as you can get to a Blockbuster.) I had no idea that the Tonys were even televised before this year. So, I feel that my lapse, while shameful, is excusable. But no more!
Watching the Tonys was, for me, by turns entertaining (Matthew Morrison singing and dancing live? Yes, please.), awe-inspiring, and demoralizing. Awe-inspiring because I was truly shocked by the percentage of huge Broadway stars who are also huge film stars, and also because I got to see clips from musicals and plays being performed right now on Broadway and I LOVE LIVE THEATRE. I wish I could go to the theatre every day. Just watching it had me itching to get back out there and DO some live theatre.
And then came the demoralizing part, as I realized that all of those people can sing. And I mean, really sing. They can bring the house down. And I can't. And by that I mean, even my kids and my own mother beg me to stop when I try to sing, and we're just talking about lullabies and things like that. I mouth "Happy Birthday" as I carry my kids' cakes to them at their birthday parties. I sound that bad. I can dance a groove in the floor, and I think I've probably got some acting chops hidden away somewhere (although sometimes I doubt myself - I think we all do), but I sure can't sing. And I wonder: does this mean that live theatre is out for me? Will I ever be able to "make it" on acting and dancing alone?
I sure hope so, because that's all I've got.
Thanks for stopping by.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Knowing your Market: Part II
The last time I posted on the topic of knowing your market, I focused my post on what this means for me as an actor. This time around, I want to focus on what this means for me as a writer.
The first part of knowing your market is knowing what books are out there, what books are selling, and what a book in your genre typically looks like. Do I mean that you should find out what the biggest-selling genre is and research the biggest-selling books in that genre and then go and try to duplicate them? No, of course not. You have to write your own story, in your own way. Manufactured writing is never as good, in my opinion, as writing that comes from within you. But you need to know enough about what is out there to be able to identify the genre in which you are writing, and you should probably have a sense of how much of a market there will be for your story. I believe that this type of research will help me when it comes to querying time.
You also need to know what people out there are buying. Again, don't try to identify the latest trend and come up with something to fit. But if you have a story kicking around about vampires, and it seems like vampires are big, then polish up that baby and send it on its way. Equally for romance, and cookbooks, and everything else.
AND, you should know the general shape of the type of story you're trying to tell, too, but that's more of a craft issue and so I'll save it for a later post.
Also, it's important (and really, REALLY takes the pressure off, at least for me) to know, if you're writing YA urban fantasy, roughly how long books in that category typically are, or if you're writing picture books how long those manuscripts typically are, and where things like page turns and chapter breaks fall, and whether ending on an ambiguous this-might-turn-into-a-series-but-for-now-I'm-not-really-sure note is a good idea or a done thing. If you write suspense, learn how to weave the suspense in without leaving the reader feeling like you've dropped the ball.
In other words, READ. Read widely, in many genres, across many age groups, a lot. Consider it part of your job as a writer, and make time for it every day. I read most things for pleasure, but I consider a lot of my reading to be "market research". Read.
The other part of your market is the potential publisher or agent, and thinking about this part of the market is still a mystery to me, primarily because I have not yet sold a book manuscript. I look at the books I have enjoyed reading, and I think, "There's a 'rule' about not overusing adverbs, but this book does it all over the place, and it's by a debut author," or, "They say to avoid info dumps, but there's this huge three-page one right here." And I wonder: what did this manuscript look like when it first arrived on the editor's desk? Did it have even more unnecessary adverbs and info dumps than it does now? Or did it have less, and did the author have to add them for clarity?
I realize that I really have no idea of what this part of the "market" really wants, because while I see the same books that the general public buys (and can therefore study them and learn about what people like about books and why they buy these books and not those books), I don't see the manuscripts that agents and editors snap up. I don't have the first idea of what catches their eye, because the "rules" as handed down from them don't always line up with what leaves their houses and ends up on bookstore shelves.
So I'm left with this: read a lot; write a lot; improve a lot; and tell the best story that you can.
Thanks for stopping by.
The first part of knowing your market is knowing what books are out there, what books are selling, and what a book in your genre typically looks like. Do I mean that you should find out what the biggest-selling genre is and research the biggest-selling books in that genre and then go and try to duplicate them? No, of course not. You have to write your own story, in your own way. Manufactured writing is never as good, in my opinion, as writing that comes from within you. But you need to know enough about what is out there to be able to identify the genre in which you are writing, and you should probably have a sense of how much of a market there will be for your story. I believe that this type of research will help me when it comes to querying time.
You also need to know what people out there are buying. Again, don't try to identify the latest trend and come up with something to fit. But if you have a story kicking around about vampires, and it seems like vampires are big, then polish up that baby and send it on its way. Equally for romance, and cookbooks, and everything else.
AND, you should know the general shape of the type of story you're trying to tell, too, but that's more of a craft issue and so I'll save it for a later post.
Also, it's important (and really, REALLY takes the pressure off, at least for me) to know, if you're writing YA urban fantasy, roughly how long books in that category typically are, or if you're writing picture books how long those manuscripts typically are, and where things like page turns and chapter breaks fall, and whether ending on an ambiguous this-might-turn-into-a-series-but-for-now-I'm-not-really-sure note is a good idea or a done thing. If you write suspense, learn how to weave the suspense in without leaving the reader feeling like you've dropped the ball.
In other words, READ. Read widely, in many genres, across many age groups, a lot. Consider it part of your job as a writer, and make time for it every day. I read most things for pleasure, but I consider a lot of my reading to be "market research". Read.
The other part of your market is the potential publisher or agent, and thinking about this part of the market is still a mystery to me, primarily because I have not yet sold a book manuscript. I look at the books I have enjoyed reading, and I think, "There's a 'rule' about not overusing adverbs, but this book does it all over the place, and it's by a debut author," or, "They say to avoid info dumps, but there's this huge three-page one right here." And I wonder: what did this manuscript look like when it first arrived on the editor's desk? Did it have even more unnecessary adverbs and info dumps than it does now? Or did it have less, and did the author have to add them for clarity?
I realize that I really have no idea of what this part of the "market" really wants, because while I see the same books that the general public buys (and can therefore study them and learn about what people like about books and why they buy these books and not those books), I don't see the manuscripts that agents and editors snap up. I don't have the first idea of what catches their eye, because the "rules" as handed down from them don't always line up with what leaves their houses and ends up on bookstore shelves.
So I'm left with this: read a lot; write a lot; improve a lot; and tell the best story that you can.
Thanks for stopping by.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Mea Culpa, and CONTEST!
Did I say "this weekend" in my last post? I meant "next weekend", and I apologise to any blog readers who might have tuned in only to find the same old tired post sitting there. "This weekend" (meaning this past weekend) got a little busy, what with shoveling coal raking gravel and laying sod and moving mulch, and until I figure out how to write posts ahead of time and have them appear later, I guess I just shouldn't promise things like that. I'm sorry. I will absolutely have a post on Knowing the Market for Writers up next.
In the meantime, though: literary agent Nathan Bransford is having a contest! And if you're not daunted by the 300-plus entries he's already received, you should go and enter it right now.
Thanks for stopping by.
In the meantime, though: literary agent Nathan Bransford is having a contest! And if you're not daunted by the 300-plus entries he's already received, you should go and enter it right now.
Thanks for stopping by.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Knowing the Market: Part 1
I've been thinking a lot about what I read and why, and what I watch and why, and while a lot of it is for pleasure, it also comes down to this: it is important to know your market. I want to dedicate my next two posts to exploring this topic, first from the perspective of an actor, and second from the perspective of a writer.
So here we go: Knowing the Market for Actors.
First, of all, what do I mean by that, anyway? When I think about knowing the market, I'm thinking about two things. The first thing I'm thinking about is the broader market in terms of what is generally on TV and showing in the movie theatres. Soaps, evening dramas, sit-coms, commercials, cartoons, romantic comedies, family comedies, historical fims, etc., etc. All of these things, to me, comprise "the market". This is the stuff being made, and so this is the stuff that you're likely to get cast in if you're going to get cast at all. (Granted, there are new pilots and new types of films being made all of the time, but for the most part, what comes in the near-future is probably going to mirror or borrow heavily from some existing show/movie/commercial that is already out there.) You should know what these shows are like! You don't need to watch every soap religiously every day, but you should try to watch each soap at least once, so you have a sense of the style of that soap. Likewise for evening dramas, comedies, procedurals, etc. If you've got a spare hour and a TV handy, flick through a few channels and see if you can catch a bit of something you've never seen before. I recently watched an episode of "Supernatural" and an episode of "Vampire Diaries" and neither of them were really my thing in terms of something I'd reserve a regular weekly time slot for, but if I ever get called for an audition I'll have a sense of the tone of those shows, the style in which they're shot, the pacing, and the like.
The same goes for movies. Watch a variety! Go to the video rental store or see what your cable or satellite provider has on offer, and broaden your horizons a bit. I used to only watch movies that were nominated for major awards like the Golden Globes and the Oscars, and films that had done well at major festivals like Cannes. But I recently decided to try to watch a broader variety because, realistically, most actors don't start at the top, and I'm sure I won't either. Also, a lot of genres - like horror, for example - tend to be underrepresented at the big awards ceremonies, but these movies still need actors. Different genres require a slightly different application of your skill set. Know your market.
And then there's your other "market": the people you audition for. I'm honestly in two minds about this one. The writer in me wants to say that your real audience is the people who are going to watch your show or movie, and that a great director will see in you what the audience will see in you. But the actor in me knows that not all directors are "great directors", and it is also about being someone the director and producers feel they can work with, who has versatility, who is likeable, etc., etc. I'd like to know what you actors think. Do we audition to please the people we audition for, or do we just focus on the truth of the moment and tell the story as we see it? What do you think?
Tune in this weekend for Part Two: Knowing your Market for Writers.
Thanks for stopping by.
So here we go: Knowing the Market for Actors.
First, of all, what do I mean by that, anyway? When I think about knowing the market, I'm thinking about two things. The first thing I'm thinking about is the broader market in terms of what is generally on TV and showing in the movie theatres. Soaps, evening dramas, sit-coms, commercials, cartoons, romantic comedies, family comedies, historical fims, etc., etc. All of these things, to me, comprise "the market". This is the stuff being made, and so this is the stuff that you're likely to get cast in if you're going to get cast at all. (Granted, there are new pilots and new types of films being made all of the time, but for the most part, what comes in the near-future is probably going to mirror or borrow heavily from some existing show/movie/commercial that is already out there.) You should know what these shows are like! You don't need to watch every soap religiously every day, but you should try to watch each soap at least once, so you have a sense of the style of that soap. Likewise for evening dramas, comedies, procedurals, etc. If you've got a spare hour and a TV handy, flick through a few channels and see if you can catch a bit of something you've never seen before. I recently watched an episode of "Supernatural" and an episode of "Vampire Diaries" and neither of them were really my thing in terms of something I'd reserve a regular weekly time slot for, but if I ever get called for an audition I'll have a sense of the tone of those shows, the style in which they're shot, the pacing, and the like.
The same goes for movies. Watch a variety! Go to the video rental store or see what your cable or satellite provider has on offer, and broaden your horizons a bit. I used to only watch movies that were nominated for major awards like the Golden Globes and the Oscars, and films that had done well at major festivals like Cannes. But I recently decided to try to watch a broader variety because, realistically, most actors don't start at the top, and I'm sure I won't either. Also, a lot of genres - like horror, for example - tend to be underrepresented at the big awards ceremonies, but these movies still need actors. Different genres require a slightly different application of your skill set. Know your market.
And then there's your other "market": the people you audition for. I'm honestly in two minds about this one. The writer in me wants to say that your real audience is the people who are going to watch your show or movie, and that a great director will see in you what the audience will see in you. But the actor in me knows that not all directors are "great directors", and it is also about being someone the director and producers feel they can work with, who has versatility, who is likeable, etc., etc. I'd like to know what you actors think. Do we audition to please the people we audition for, or do we just focus on the truth of the moment and tell the story as we see it? What do you think?
Tune in this weekend for Part Two: Knowing your Market for Writers.
Thanks for stopping by.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
I Heart Mondays
If you still haven't had a chance to check out the auction to raise money for flood relief for the city of Nashville, please do so - this is your last day to bid.
Aaannnnnnnd, literary agent and Uber-Blogger Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown Literary Agency has added a new Page Critique feature to his blog - EVERY MONDAY! I know! If I were a "squee"-er, this would definitely be a "squee" moment. It's truly fantastic, and I really appreciate the opportunity to see his point of view on other people's (and maybe one day, my) first pages. So, fellow writers, don't miss this. Every Monday. Be there.
Thanks for stopping by.
Aaannnnnnnd, literary agent and Uber-Blogger Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown Literary Agency has added a new Page Critique feature to his blog - EVERY MONDAY! I know! If I were a "squee"-er, this would definitely be a "squee" moment. It's truly fantastic, and I really appreciate the opportunity to see his point of view on other people's (and maybe one day, my) first pages. So, fellow writers, don't miss this. Every Monday. Be there.
Thanks for stopping by.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Do the Write Thing for Nashville
Hello, blog-lovers. I've been gone for a few weeks now, entertaining visiting family members, eliminating weeds, grooming lilacs, and shoveling coal raking gravel, but I'm back, and I'm back with a mission. (Or maybe that should be, back on a mission? No, that's not right either... Whatever. You get my point.)
My mission is to direct you to a wonderful place where three talented authors (Victoria Schwab, Amanda Morgan, and Myra McEntire) have teamed up to host an auction to raise money for the people of Nashville, who are really suffering right now after severe flooding has killed dozens, left many homeless and put the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame - among other city landmarks - underwater. The mayor estimates that damage from the flooding will top $1 billion, so they could really use some help. All sorts of great stuff has been donated by hundreds of agents, editors, and authors, from movie scripts to query and manuscript critiques to signed books, and whether you're an author or just a book or movie lover there's bound to be something for you.
So, get on down there and get bidding!
My mission is to direct you to a wonderful place where three talented authors (Victoria Schwab, Amanda Morgan, and Myra McEntire) have teamed up to host an auction to raise money for the people of Nashville, who are really suffering right now after severe flooding has killed dozens, left many homeless and put the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame - among other city landmarks - underwater. The mayor estimates that damage from the flooding will top $1 billion, so they could really use some help. All sorts of great stuff has been donated by hundreds of agents, editors, and authors, from movie scripts to query and manuscript critiques to signed books, and whether you're an author or just a book or movie lover there's bound to be something for you.
So, get on down there and get bidding!
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