Kenneth Atchity's Blog, page 76
July 6, 2020
June 29, 2020
Dealing with your Type-C Creative Mind – Chapter 5 Perseverance
For all storytellers—novelists, screenwriters, journalists, nonfiction writers, and children’s book writers.Learn more about One-on-one coaching to help understand a Type-C personality and equip you with practical tools to make yourself more productive and less frustrated with storytelling.Learn more: http://www.thewriterslifeline.com/
June 25, 2020
New From Story Merchant Books
Down on Ponce (Kindle) by Fred Willard
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
SAM FULLER, a man who lives on the edge of the law, is offered $50,000 to murder a man’s wife. Instead of committing the crime, he warns the wife and runs with the money. The next day Sam’s trailer is set afire and his friend JIMMY is killed; Sam knows he was the intended victim.Sam goes underground, hiding out in the Ponce de Leon section of downtown Atlanta. He befriends CHARLIE SHELNUT, a late 20s rockabilly undertaker, and several misfit street cons who trace Jimmy’s death to a Dixie Mob money-laundering scheme. Sam devises an elaborate plan to make the murderers pay, literally -- he’ll rip off their drug profits.Sam’s crew soon find themselves in the middle of a turf war between the Dixie mob and a disgraced ex-district attorney whose own drug abuse has pulled him into the money laundering trade. The climax of this riveting, often hilarious tale comes in an explosive confrontation as Sam and his crew exact final retribution for the killing of Sam’s friend.
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
SAM FULLER, a man who lives on the edge of the law, is offered $50,000 to murder a man’s wife. Instead of committing the crime, he warns the wife and runs with the money. The next day Sam’s trailer is set afire and his friend JIMMY is killed; Sam knows he was the intended victim.Sam goes underground, hiding out in the Ponce de Leon section of downtown Atlanta. He befriends CHARLIE SHELNUT, a late 20s rockabilly undertaker, and several misfit street cons who trace Jimmy’s death to a Dixie Mob money-laundering scheme. Sam devises an elaborate plan to make the murderers pay, literally -- he’ll rip off their drug profits.Sam’s crew soon find themselves in the middle of a turf war between the Dixie mob and a disgraced ex-district attorney whose own drug abuse has pulled him into the money laundering trade. The climax of this riveting, often hilarious tale comes in an explosive confrontation as Sam and his crew exact final retribution for the killing of Sam’s friend.
June 23, 2020
Getting Your Story Straight: Plot
Professional coaching tips to help you figure out point of view, structure, and master all the elements of story. Learn more: http://www.thewriterslifeline.com
Ken's Weekly Book Recommendation!
Available on Amazon
June 18, 2020
Voyage LA Interviews Ken Atchity
Meet Ken Atchity
Thanks for sharing your story with us Ken. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.All my life I’ve been focused on stories–writing and editing them,; publishing them; analyzing them as a professor of comparative literature and Fulbright professor at the University of Bologna; reviewing them for The Los Angeles Times Book Review; developing them; representing them; and producing them.
Long ago an ambassador from a middle eastern country told me: “You’re like your Phoenician ancestors–you’re a story merchant,” and the more I thought about that the more I liked it. Especially because the Phoenicians, the great merchants of antiquity, invented the alphabet to make story exchange–from Indian to Greece, Egypt to Rome, China to Italy–easier.
I’ve written and published more than 20 books of my own, both fictions, like The Messiah Matrix, and nonfiction, like A Writer’s Time–which the New York Times called “the best book on writing.”
As a literary manager producer, I’ve made hundreds of deals for my clients for film and television, and produced over 30 films. We were nominated for an Emmy for The Kennedy Detail and saw The Meg, a book/film we developed, sell nearly $600 million in the global market. I’ve always believed that the world we humans inhabit “is made not of atoms but of stories.”
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
You begin to see it as a smooth road, the longer you endure the journey. What seemed like bumps at the time, looking back are merely the natural patterns, the ups and downs of the most exciting and least secure career in the story marketplace. The struggles were about clarifying and securing rights, dealing with people whose egos have suddenly blossomed, herding cats to get a project into production or a book into press, and, always, finding a way to stay “at the baccarat table” until the payoff comes. But if you have lots of ideas, there’s no downtime that isn’t filled with making them happen one way or the other.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We set up movies and television series on one coast, books on the other and through our own imprint, but my favorite activity is the one we’re known best at: developing intellectual properties for the widest possible markets. What sets us apart is that we’ve done it all, for over thirty years–we’re even dealing with theater and opera. We specialize in recognizing great stories.
What were you like growing up?
Born in Louisiana Cajun country and growing up in Kansas City, I was a serious student, especially of languages–Latin, Greek, French, Spanish and by the time I got my PhD from Yale Italian, German and recently just published a book on “domestic Japanese.” I love language because they unlock stories, so learned Greek to read Homer, Spanish to read Don Quixote, Italian to read Dante, etc.
Raised in a family that loved jokes, I soon learned to recognize that jokes, too, were stories and observed who knew how to tell them, who didn’t. I also noticed that EVERYTHING we do seems to be about storytelling, whether it’s serving on a jury and judging which of the opposing attorneys I believe; buying a car from a salesman; listening for a political candidate’s message; or deciding, on a first meeting, whether I “like her story” or not. I was, from early days, intent. One day in graduate school, I was walking across Harvard Square when a woman crossed my path and said, “Smile, sir!”
Read more
June 16, 2020
Dealing with your Type-C Creative Mind Chapter 4
4 Ways to Succeed as a Writer
For all storytellers—novelists, screenwriters, journalists, nonfiction writers, and children’s book writers.
Learn more about One-on-one coaching to help understand a Type-C personality and equip you with practical tools to make yourself more productive and less frustrated with storytelling.
Learn more: http://www.thewriterslifeline.com/
June 15, 2020
Ken Atchity and the Path to Success with Dr. Marcia Sirota
Marcia is all about long-term results. She works with individuals and organizations that want to take charge and empower themselves and their people to improve positivity, personal responsibility, performance and leadership.
Listen here
More at Ruthless Compassion Podcast
Listen here
More at Ruthless Compassion Podcast
June 8, 2020
Getting Your Story Straight: Setting
Chapter 4 – Setting
Professional coaching tips to help you figure out point of view, structure, and master all the elements of story.
Learn more: http://www.thewriterslifeline.com/
Professional coaching tips to help you figure out point of view, structure, and master all the elements of story.
Learn more: http://www.thewriterslifeline.com/
Getting Your Story Straight Series by Ken Atchity
Chapter 4 – Setting
Professional coaching tips to help you figure out point of view, structure, and master all the elements of story.
Learn more: http://www.thewriterslifeline.com/
Professional coaching tips to help you figure out point of view, structure, and master all the elements of story.
Learn more: http://www.thewriterslifeline.com/
