Being a Writer

A Shortcut to Improved Writing Skills

 

Image by FOTOCROMO 

 

Are you someone who feels that becoming a great writer takes years of training and experience? Do you think that there is no shortcut to greatness--or even to written competency? Well, think again.

Copywriter and journalist Simon Townley believes that there is, indeed, a shortcut to developing your writing skills and/or assuming a particular writing style--it’s called imitation.

Imitating Great Writing--Word for Word

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it is also (according to Townley) the way to strengthen your writing skills.

Townley suggests that you take a piece of text that you admire--this can come from some text by your favorite author, from a piece of prose that has struck your fancy, or from a piece of advertising copy--and write it out by hand, word for word, on a piece of paper. Then write it out by hand again. And again. Keep writing the text until, says Townley, “it seems like it’s part of you.”

Though this seems absurdly robotic and much too easy, Townley says that this is a shortcut to improved writing skills that really works. But why and how can imitating--copying, actually-- another’s written text make you a better writer?

Well, Townley says,

“It’s great way…to learn the rhetorical tricks and techniques used by master writers, or to get a feel for how they express their ideas using a unique voice. This technique won’t necessarily give you full conscious awareness of the writing techniques being used in the original. But you will learn the lessons on a deeper level."

Makes sense to me. I’m so intrigued by Townley’s suggestion that I plan to try it myself and see if it really works. Have you ever tried this or a similar shortcut to improved writing skills and what were the results?

 

Killing off the Protagonist

You’ve (probably) done it. I have done it. Sooner or later, every fiction writer does it--kills off their protagonist, that is.

But experts consider this to be a big fiction writing sin. The reason that these nameless, faceless experts condemn protagonist-cide (my term) is that such a plot twist is too easy. You must make your protagonist struggle through to the bitter end, they say, and that bitter end must not include the protagonists own death.

But why?  In real life, people die all the time. Some are murdered. Some die in accidents. Some commit suicide. Why can’t I allow my protagonist to suffer a similar fate?  

How I Leaned the Rule about Killing a Protagonist

I leaned this rule against protagonist-cide the hard way. (Actually, I already knew the rule, but I think that I was just testing the waters--and my classmate’s patience.)

In response to a flash fiction assignment in my college creative writing class, I wrote a story about a woman who suffered from bipolar disorder. Due to her mental illness, her formerly upscale suburban life had begun to unravel. One night, she went to a motel room for a one night stand with a sleazy salesman. Disgusted at herself and her life, she shot herself with the gun that she had begun carrying in her purse for that purpose.

My professor and classmates read this story and viciously (I felt) attacked me for writing such an ending. I was hurt because I felt that I had made a perfectly reasonable, artistic decision in bringing my story to such a climax.

But this is what really bothers me…

If I had been a famous author, killing off my protagonist would have probably brought me critical acclaim. They would have praised me for my creative genius. My story would have been required reading in all creative writing classes--okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit with this one.

Anyway…

Have you ever killed off your protagonist? How do you feel about authors who kill off their protagonists? Do you believe that only famous authors should be given the creative license to commit protagonist-cide?

 

 

 

 

 

Four Constant-Content.com Strategies that Work

 

By Celeste Stewart

Part 3

(Celeste Stewart is one of the top selling freelance writers at Constant-Content. Here she shares some of the secrets of her astounding success in writing for them. Follow these techniques and watch your sales increase at Constant-Content.) 

The "Sell it Over and Over" Strategy

That said, the "Sell it Over and Over" Strategy does work for some. With this strategy, articles are often offered only for usage. Unique and full rights licenses may not even be possible. For example, let’s say you wrote a blog post for your personal blog or an article for your personal newsletter and realized that it would make a great article to sell on Constant-Content.com. You can submit the article for usage rights only. Since you have already written the article, it doesn’t take but a few minutes to upload it to Constant-Content.com. Even if the article sells for a low price, that’s extra money for work that you already did and already benefitted from. Now, what if this same article sells again? Nice! And again? Really nice!

This strategy can get even sweeter. What if you also take that original article and post it on other sites such as Associated Content or Bukisa using a non-exclusive or display only license? Now you can earn a few additional dollars based on page views.

While I’m not a fan of writing original content and selling it on Constant-Content.com for usage rights, I do see the value of selling articles that you’ve already created and used for usage rights and then spreading the article around on other sites for additional income.

Another part of the "Sell it Over and Over" strategy kicks in when an article that you have posted for sale for usage, unique, or full rights ends up selling for usage rights only. When this happens, the article can never be sold for unique or full rights as it is no longer "unique." When one of your articles sells for usage, go ahead and post it on one, or more, of the revenue share sites. If you have other uses for the article, such as in your personal ezine or newsletter, by all means, use it.

The "Best of Both Worlds" Strategy

Take another look at the Contant-Content.com screenshots. Do you see any writers who are selling a mix of usage and full rights articles? Sure you do. These writers are taking advantage of the "Best of Both Worlds" strategy. This strategy may or may not be a conscious strategy. My guess is that the usage sales just happened rather than being targeted. Or perhaps the writers with a nice mix of sales also put up a mix of license types. For example, I can imagine submitting

several original articles each week as well as one or two recycled articles for usage. With this strategy, you’re getting the best of both worlds. You’re getting your money right away when your original content sells for full price as well as earning residual income on usage articles that you have repurposed for Constant-Content.

These four strategies do work. Of course, other nuances come into play including pricing, word count, topic, and even whether a full or partial sample of the article is displayed. Take some time to explore the profiles of each of the writers listed in the Freelancers Hall of Fame to get a better idea of what they are doing. However, don’t limit your exploration to these writers only. Pay attention to fresh submissions and current sales. Other writers are regularly submitting and selling articles. Watch and learn and join us as we all find success on Constant-Content.com!

Did you find this report useful? Want to spend more time with Celeste Stewart and learn more about how to succeed on Constant-Content.com? Check out her 39-page eBook,

Celeste Stewart’s Secrets to Success on Constant-Content.com. Reasonably priced and loaded with advice from a successful writer on the site, you can’t go wrong.  

Click here to view more details

Coming soon! A writer’s workshop for beginning online writers. Check Celeste’s Web site for details and availability.

Would you like more freelance writing tips? Click here to visit Celeste Stewart.

Want to buy Celeste’s eBook for your Kindle? By it at Amazon:

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Constant-Content.com

Four Constant-Content.com Strategies that Work

By Celeste Stewart

Part 2

(Celeste Stewart is one of the top selling writers on Constant-Content. She has generously agreed to share four of the strategies that she has used to get to the top. Follow these strategies and watch your sales increase on Constant-Content!) 

The "Write it and Customers will Buy it" Strategy

Remember the movie

A Field of Dreams and its famous line of "Build it and they will come"? Constant-Content.com is a marketplace of dreams and the strategy of "write it and customers will buy it" is the one universal strategy used by every writer listed in those screenshots as well as many other writers doing well on the site.

We all know that there are no guarantees that any article will sell at all. Just as you can’t expect baseball fans to flock to your cornfield, you can’t count on every word you write being a winner. However, articles DO sell all the time.

In 2009, Constant-Content.com did a detailed analysis of sales. David Kool, manager of Constant-Content.com, announced the findings in the Constant-Content.com forum saying, "Perhaps the most important stat that we discovered in our analysis was that accepted articles on the site have a statistical average of selling 70% of the time. If you submit five or more articles you have a 97% chance of making at least one sale! Now obviously this isn't as earth shattering as say the invention of cooked food, but it certainly is a buoy to those who work hard on articles and worry about all that work being for naught. If you write it, they will buy it. And if you write lots they will almost CERTAINLY buy it."

I keep a spreadsheet tracking all of my submissions and sales and my own experiences are similar to Mr. Kool’s 70 percent figure. In fact, here are my sales percentages from the past four years:

Private Requests – 100%

Public Requests – 74%

Non-Requested Articles – 58%

Using my past sales experiences, I know that if I write it, customers will buy it. If I write 100 articles, I’ll sell at least 58 of them. Granted, these articles aren’t necessarily going to sell overnight, but if I keep writing articles and adding to my inventory, I’ll keep selling. I also know that public request articles have a higher likelihood of selling in general as well as a greater chance of selling quickly (because there’s a customer interested in this topic right now). Even articles that the public requester declines eventually sell to other customers. Regularly writing articles for public requests is a strategy that works. It works for me 74 percent of the time and it works for the general pool of Constant-Content.com writers at a similar level. Write it and they will buy it

The "Get the Money Upfront" Strategy

In addition to being prolific, I also use the "Get the Money Upfront" strategy. As you can see from my sales numbers, my focus is on full rights sales. I rarely sell articles for usage rights. Why? Part of this has to do with my opinion that it’s rare to sell a single article on Constant-Content multiple times and that it’s just as hard to sell an article for usage as it is to sell it for full rights. In both cases, you need a customer wanting that particular article. This takes time. In the case of a usage article, not only do you need one customer, you need many of them. I’d rather find one customer than five.

For example, usage articles are generally priced dramatically lower than full rights articles. Let’s say you are offering an article for sale for $20 usage and $60 full rights. If you sell it for usage, you’ll need to sell it two more times to get your $60 price. Since the majority of customers buying content on Constant-Content.com are looking for full rights licenses, you have a much smaller pool of potential customers looking for a usage license. I find it’s easier to sell a $60 full rights license once than it is to sell a single $20 usage article (much less two additional sales to break even).

Sure, it’s possible that the article could sell several times beyond my full rights price. In fact, this has happened to me a few times, but not often. The "Get the Money Upfront" strategy means that you sell your article for its face value and be done with it. You won’t earn "residual income" but you won’t have to wait for the article to sell several times over just to break even and "possibly" sell a few more times.

Because I prefer to sell my articles for full rights, I price my usage rates high. I often price them at the same rate as my full rights license. This ensures that my articles aren’t sold for usage once, never to be sold again.

To be continued

The Right Way to Handle Criticism of your Writing

 

I bet you decided to read this post because you have trouble handling criticism of your writing and you thought that I could help you. Well, sorry to disappoint you. The truth is, I really don’t know how to handle such criticism myself.  

Like most writers, I am a very sensitive soul. As such, I tend to feel that any criticism of me--in my writing or in any other aspect on my life--is a direct attack on my worth as a person. I really don’t understand the concept of how criticism isn’t personal. If you’re talking to me or about me, it’s personal.

Especially if you are discussing any of my fiction.

Since I was a little girl, I have wanted to write short stories and novels. But fiction writing doesn’t come as easily to me as does my nonfiction writing projects. I struggle with the setting, dialogue, character development--just about every aspect of every piece of fiction that I write. Perhaps because of this struggle, I particularly do not handle criticism of my fictional creations very well.

Case in point…

Creative Writing Class

When I was in college, I took a creative writing class. During the semester, we had to write two short stories. After writing them, we had to email our stories to our classmates for their critiques. As if that wasn’t hard enough on my fragile writer’s ego, we had round table discussions where our stories were read out loud and each student--one by one--would verbally critique our work.

I had panic attacks every week. It was awful. Up to that point, I had never read anything about the right way to handle criticism of your writing--nor did I care to learn. I’m ashamed to admit this, but though I had a few more opportunities to take creative writing classes from that professor, I refused to sign up. I regret my cowardice now, because I missed an opportunity to really develop my fiction writing skills.

…or maybe not.

After making several changes to my short story--changes suggested by the group critique and by the professor--I entered it in the Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition…and won nothing. But a couple of years earlier, long before I took this or any other fiction writing class, I entered one of my short stories into this same contest and won an Honorable Mention.

Go figure.

Any Suggestions for me?

Since I have no words of wisdom on the right way to handle criticism of your writing, I was hoping that you might like to contribute some of your own tips to this post. Maybe you can teach me a thing or two.

 

One Word Writing Prompts

 

 

All Souls College, Oxford, England

Image by Ross Parker

 

Could you write a story based on a one word writing prompt?  Don’t be too hasty--and, perhaps, overconfident--in your answer. After all, some of the brightest students seeking admission to All Souls College (a division of renowned Oxford University) had trouble with this writing prompt.

Since 1932, All Souls College has included a one-word writing prompt essay (which was always a noun) as part of an entrance exam that has become known as the hardest exam in the world. This part of the exam was intended to showcase one’s mental agility. After all, if the potential student could write an exceptional essay from a one-word writing prompt, thought school officials, then his or her mental acumen must likewise be exceptional.

This one-word writing prompt, which the applicant had three-hours to build an essay around, was an exciting tradition at Oxford. In fact, according to New York Times reporter Sarah Lyall, “[t]he unveiling of the word was once an event of such excitement that even non-applicants reportedly gathered outside the college each year, waiting for news to waft out. Applicants themselves discovered the word by flipping over a single sheet of paper and seeing it printed there, all alone, like a tiny incendiary device.”

While some students considered this writing prompt a fun challenge, others (many others) developed major writer’s block (or stage fright) when confronted by this single word--whatever the word might be for that year.

And these were not your average students taking an admittance exam, either. Rather, they were the crème de la crème of near genius-level intellectuals from all over the world. Still…they choked on this one-word writing prompt.

Perhaps not surprisingly, then, All Souls College has recently discontinued the part of the exam that they call “Essay” because they feel that this one-word writing prompt exercise is not a true test of a potential student’s mental agility.

As writers, we might be tempted to scoff at the failure--and right down terror--of the many applicants who froze at writing an essay based on a one-word writing prompt. But would we have fared any better? Here are some of the words that past applicants had to struggle with in the Essay section of this exam:

· Charity

· Chaos

· Style

· Mercy

· Censorship

· Reproduction

· Novelty

How easily could you have written an essay, or a story, based on one of these one-word writing prompts? Think about it.

Five Reasons Why YOU Should Attend a Writing Conference

 

Image by  Penny Gumulja

Have you been thinking about attending a writer’s conference but don’t think that you can afford the expense? Think again. A growing number of writers, editors, and publishers say that you can’t afford not to attend one of these professional literary gatherings. In fact, there are at least five reasons why you should attend a writer’s conference, say experts.

1. Networking.  A writer’s conference is the one place that a writer can rub shoulders freely with other professionals in the writing field--professionals that can help your career. Editors, publishers, and agents regularly attend such writing conference hoping to find the next top author for their publishing houses. Many writing conferences, in fact, offer their author attendees a chance to pitch their story ideas directly to editors and agents. How great is that? Being able to network with representative of Random House, Doubleday, Bantam and other top publishers is probably the main reason why you should attend a writing conference.

 

2. Meeting other Writers. Similar to networking with top industry representative, is meeting fellow writers just like you. Not only does it feel oh so good to be surrounded by other writers, but many of these writers can offer you specific suggestions on, for instance, how to prop up the sagging middle of your novel or how to handle repeated rejections from your most queries magazine editor. They’ve been there too…remember?

 

3. Becoming a Better Writer.  Most writing conferences offer a series of genre-specific and general workshops to help you to hone your writer’s craft. Moreover, a number of esteemed authors are regular lecturers at such workshops, allowing you to see the craft from their perspectives and even ask to them questions! If nothing else, you should attend a writing conference specifically to attend these skill building, career enhancing workshops.

 

4. Giving you Motivation. Let’s face it…writing is a lonely profession. It is easy to lose motivation when you’re just staring at the blinking cursor on your computer screen and talking to yourself. But when you attend a writing conference and are surrounded by others in the field where you want to one day make a big mark--well, it’s hard not to get excited. Getting bit by the writing bug is a major reason why you should attend a writer’s conference.

 

5. Tax Deductible. Last, but certainly not least, is the fact that you can deduct the expenses that you incurred in attending a writing conference from your taxes. (This includes air fare or other transportation, lodging, and registration fee for the conference). Check with your tax advisor on the details of what you can deduct regarding your attendance at a writer’s conference.

That being said, I must say that I have never attended a writing conference. Have you ever attended a writing conference and was your experience a positive or a negative one? What does your experience say about the benefits (or lack thereof) of attending a writing conference? Would you go again? Why or why not?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writing for the Internet versus Writing for Print

 

Image by Gregory Szarkiewicz 

 

Just because you’re a writer does not mean that you can easily jump from one literary medium to the other. There is, in fact, a vast difference between writing for the Internet and writing for print. If you want to succeed in one or both worlds, you need to learn the rules for each and follow them as closely as possible. Take a look at these rules.

Print

Titles of articles in print publications are usually creative and intriguing. They rarely state--straight out--what the article is about. Rather, clever (even vague) titles are valued as long as they cause a reader to pick up the publication to learn the real story behind the somewhat vague and very clever title.

Internet

You can forget that clever play-on-words title when you write an article for the Internet. Rather, the titles of Internet articles need to be search engine friendly. What does that mean? It means that that these titles need to include keywords that your prospective readers will plug into the search engines hoping to find that or similar information. Thus, the titles of Internet articles tend to bluntly state what the article is about.

Print

Although Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style instructs all writers to get to the point quickly, there is a lot of leeway in this rule when writing for print. There is room, for instance, for an imagery-laden first paragraph and for character building. The reader expects to be gently seduced (so to speak) into reading the rest of the article and will tend to stay with it to the end unless, of course, you start to be boring.

Internet

There is no such room for flowery passages in an Internet article, especially within the first paragraph. Like the title, the text of an online article needs to be search engine friendly. That means that your chosen keywords should be judiciously sprinkled throughout the text so that the search engines can find your article. The first paragraph, in particular, should include your major keyword or phrase which will tend to dampen any impulse for a vague and overly creative first paragraph.

But there’s another reason that the text of an online article needs to get straight to the point and stay there--Internet readers are skimmers. Most do not read the entire article. Rather, they skim the subheading, stopping only when they come to a part that is relevant to their needs. Moreover, if the reader gets bored, relief is just a mouse-click away. It behooves you as a writer, therefore, to get to the point quickly, say what you need to say, and then exit the piece.

Print

Articles for print are written in third person or--very rarely--first person But almost never will you find an article in a print publication written in second person (You). Directly speaking to the reader, as is the case with second person, is a big no no with print publication.

Internet

Online articles can be written in either first, second, or third person, but second person is the preferred style of writing for the Internet. The Internet is a much more intimate medium than are print publications. As such, talking directly to the reader encourages trust in and engagement of your message to the reader.

That being said, there is no absolute right way to write for print publications or the Internet. Yes, you can break the rules. But make sure that you do so with the full knowledge of the unique characteristics of the medium for which you write. As with any type of writing, you can follow the rules or you can break them for your own (and your readers) benefit--or at your own peril. .

     

Writing the First Paragraph--the the Hardest Part of Writing

The hardest part of writing, for me, is writing the first paragraph of a prose piece. (This holds true whether or not I am writing fiction or nonfiction.)

I will struggle for hours over the beginning of an article or a short story--and I’m not exaggerating. If I can get that first paragraph right, everything else will flow from there. The trouble, of course, lies in getting that first paragraph right.

How do I do it? I can’t really say. I usually write the beginning of an article or a piece of fiction in my head first. Then I type it into a word document. Then the real fun begins.

I usually read and reread that opening paragraph a dozen or more times, think about it a bit (running alternate possibilities through my mind) then delete, write, edit, write, delete…

…you get the idea.

Sometimes I never get that first paragraph right. I have written short stories and articles with openings that still make me cringe. But I have never been able to come up with anything better to suit my tastes.

So I continue to struggle.

Do you have similar problem with writing openings and how do you surmount this problem?

Should you Outline your Novel?

 

Image by graur razvan ionut

 

To outline or not to outline…that is the question for most writers and (especially) for novelists.

Some writers swear by the outline process and some writers totally disregard such a left-brained process.  I fall into the latter group.

I feel that, although outlines are a good organizational tool, they inhibit the free flow of inspiration. It’s not that I just free-write my short stories, articles, and novels--well, one novel so far--with no sense of direction. I usually know where I’m going with my writing and I almost always know the ending before I start writing a piece. But just the thought of outlining each part, or development, of my prose freaks me out.

I have heard that some novelists write 200-page outlines of their novels before they even start writing the real thing. Pleeese. If I wrote a 200-page outline I would consider my novel practically finished and would feel no further need to actually write the real thing…you know what I mean?

I know, I know. Perhaps this is why I’m not a published novelist yet. On the other hand…horror king Stephen King has done very well for himself (and his writing craft) without using outlines.

So how about you? Do you outline your novels, short stories, and articles before you start writing them? Why or why not?