Larry Brooks's Blog, page 55

Should You Self Publish? One Writer's Take

By Guest Blogger Mary Andonian

It's been quite the journey.  My teen book, Bitsy's Labyrinth, has just come out in both paperback and e-book after it spent nearly three years with a reputable agent, endured two revisions, garnered one movie deal, and now has finally seen the light of day at your favorite .com outlet.  That's because I decided to self-publish.  

Here's my story in case you're considering this option.

Twenty five hundred dollars bought me: ten Bowker ISBN numbers, a state filing for personal incorporation, domains and web hosting for three unique names, book cover and interior design (the book, not my house), press logo, Print-on-Demand set-up fees, a post office box, and an announcement in Publishers Weekly.

Notice I didn't mention books. That's another few hundred. 

These I can sell from my website, book signings, Amazon marketplace and eBay, but I also need to give them away to reviewers, the Library of Congress and any other entity that can help spread the word. I did receive from my designers all of the files to my book, including cover art, .ePub, .pdf and .mobi files (the latter file mandatory for Amazon's Kindle). These are invaluable and I'll tell you why a little later.

Also not listed in the figures are the opportunity costs of my time. I spent a good two months working with the designers, Lightning Source, and Godaddy.com to create a product and an on-line presence. This was time siphoned from my next writing project.  I consider time spent on promotion a wash since you'd have to spend that time regardless of who publishes your book.

I chose to pay my own way because my agent and I noticed some alarming trends in the Publishing industry. To name a few:  

Even if you do get a book deal, the advance is paltry to none.
You lose the rights to the look and feel of your book, including the title and sometimes even the way your name is displayed.  
Publication of your book can run anywhere from 12-24 months from time of acceptance. This is after rewrites and negotiations are finalized, which can run many months more.
Houses are playing it safe. In my case, Young Adult books are only getting nods if they're of the vampire, paranormal, romance, or dragon variety.
You lose e-rights. My agent negotiated many book deals and not once could she secure e-book rights for the author.  Why? Because Publishers know this is a lucrative market. According to Forrester Research, 10.3 million people owned e-book readers in 2010, up from 3.7 million in 2009. E-book downloads topped 100 million last year, over triple the amount from 2009.

So those e-book files I received? That was money well spent. I can post my book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble in perpetuity and the revenue will always be mine.

Larry recently posted a question about whether you should put a story in a drawer or keep working at it. That's the same question I faced when I decided to self-publish.  Items to consider when self-publishing:

Have you had any outside indicators that your book should be published? In my case, a movie producer read the manuscript and liked it well enough to ask for the screenplay, and then pursued money to get it filmed.  My book was good enough to attract an agent, and my critique group encouraged me to publish.  Do you have people telling you to go for it?
Do you get nauseous at the thought of public failure and/or humiliation?  I must admit this was the biggest reason why I held back for so long. You have to ask yourself, "Does playing it safe help me or hurt me?" For me, a chronic perfectionist, getting it out there was a liberating experience. I could finally say it was finished and I wouldn't have to revise it ever again. But guess what? The beauty of self-publishing is that I can revise it again in the future. I own it. All of it.
Do you need to spend this money elsewhere? I am fortunate. Investing $2500 into a dream was costly but didn't break me financially. I could've easily spent the money on a vacation to Vegas.

At least here I might get a little something back on my investment.

Speaking of investments, do you need to quantify your success with money? Initially I thought I would need to see $dollar signs$ in order for me to feel like Bitsy's Labyrinth was a success, but I learned that wasn't the case. (Although it still might happen!) The simple act of completing something –creating something out of nothing –was a good enough reward for me.
Do you need validation from outside sources? This is a play off number two: Do you care what other people think of you? Yeah, me too. But over and over again I'm reminded of one of my favorite passages, and it goes like this:

  It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

-Theodore Roosevelt

April 23rd, 1910

I love that speech. It gives me the freedom to know that even if I receive bad book reviews, I have already succeeded. I am in the arena.  What about you? Do you believe you're a gladiator?

More about financial success:  Unless you're the author of The Christmas Box or The Celestine Prophecy, you might not make a lot of money self-publishing fiction. The non-fiction market is different. A gazillion people have made serious money self-publishing non-fiction, but they usually have the credentials to back them up. The books In Search of Excellence or The One Minute Manager come to mind.  The lesson here is your book should fill a niche if you're going to make any money at self-publishing. Otherwise, it's tough to compete against the traditional books that are already deeply discounted at Costco and Borders.  For me, I'm betting that the Christian/Spiritual market needs a teen book that isn't dripping with Jesus or G-rated issues.  (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) A huge THANK YOU to The Shack author William P. Young for paving the way!

I'll wrap this up with some of the benefits, both tangible and intangible, of self-publishing:

Your "break-even" point isn't astronomical, especially if you have a lot of Facebook friends. After that, it's a constant revenue stream.
Your book is never remaindered so your revenue stream could possibly outlive you.
You basically paid for a course in Publishing, Business, and Web Design, because you have to learn all of these skills during the course of self-publication.
All of your future writing projects will be better because you'll evaluate them through the critical lens of a Publisher.
You'll no longer feel like you're in limbo-land, waiting for a Publisher to bless you with her magic wand. Instead, you'll be a nicer person to live with because YOU made it happen, and you're moving forward in life.  It's good to be the King.

And so to summarize: I hope you secure a seven-figure contract with a respectable publishing house. But if you don't, you just might want to consider self-publishing.

Mary Andonian's book, Bitsy's Labyrinth, is available in paperback and e-book at www.BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com, and the author's website: MaryAndonian.com

Larry's comment: I've ready "Bitsy" and I have to say, the one word that comes to mind is "beautiful."  It's a coming of age story of an early teen girl, recalling the voice John Grisham used in "A Painted House" (my favorite Grisham), and, as Mary mentions, the courage of "The Shack."  It's a terrific read, and if you have a young woman in your life on the cusp of puberty, it makes a terrific gift.  It isn't "Twilight" by any means, it's far more weighty and worthwhile as literature, yet just as entertaining.  Let's support Mary and give this book it's well deserved shot, and show the world how a great book published by its author really does stand a chance in this emerging, evolving and uncharted market.

Should You Self Publish? One Writer's Take is a post from: Larry Brooks at storyfix.com

A Self-Publishing Reality Check

I'll try to keep this short.  I have only one very simple point to make here today.  And it's not pretty.

But it is important.  Every movement of mass hysteria has a voice of reason and moderation, and this is it.

This is about getting real with your dream of being published.  Because – newsflash – it isn't the same dream that you started with.  And the new one doesn't come with the same perks.

Earlier this week we ran a terrific guest post (from Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn) about the brave new world of self-publishing and why even the dreariest of cynics should give it a close look.  I absolutely agree that the emerging digital venues for fiction are changing everything in a way that opens doors formerly bolted shut, in addition to rapidly shutting down the chain bookstores (a debatable disaster) and putting many independents at risk (a true disaster).

 But let's all file in with our eyes open and our dreams still in our pants.

It wasn't that long ago that self-publishing was a haven of last resort.  Traditional publishing rejected you (I know they sure did reject me), so you spent your money and got the thing printed yourself.  Or – for even more money – you signed on with a third party to help make that happen, hoping they might get you into the bookstores that you can't.

They didn't.  Nor did they give you your money back.  There was no market for independently published fiction, the only market was for the folks offering to get you into one.

But now there's a new self-publishing sheriff in town (that's Sheriff Kindle, to you), and he's swinging open the publishing doors to anyone and everyone who knows how to download a digital file.  And because the bookstore of today is just a few keystrokes away, everyone has access to the marketplace.

Or so the theory goes.

What used to be a concert by John Denver is now allowing anybody with a ticket up onto the stage.

Advocates love to herald the success stories of how a handful of self-published books are being "discovered," how they are landing seven-figure contracts or, more recently, selling hundreds of thousands of digital copies via Kindle and iBook and other technologies.

I have to be careful not to rain on this parade.  I may be marching in it myself before long.  Come to think of it, I already am, as my ebooks are selling well on Kindle and my new trade paperback (not self-published, it's from Writers Digest Books) has a digital version available, too.

I could rain a torrent of caveats on that issue, but none of that is my point.  But, to help me make what is my point…

This Just Happened

Part of my writing journey involves reading and critiquing unpublished books and screenplays, with a view toward coaching them toward salability.  The idea, of course, is to see if there are issues that can be fixed and opportunities to be seized before sending them out to the big bad world of traditional publishing. 

Which, in case you've been writing under a rock, is about as stable and viable as the Egyptian stock market lately.

One recent project didn't go as the author planned. 

Many writers send me their work in the hope of affirmation, and sometimes we have to do a little reality dance before they open their hearts and minds to the feedback they've paid for. 

In this case… well, let's just say the author needed to start over.  Nothing about the novel worked.  There was a seed of a story there, somewhere, but it needed replanting in a more fertile dramatic landscape, and watering from more capable hands.  So I wrote a 17-page, single-space opus of constructive criticism, ending with ideas for a resurrection leading to a rebuild.

In the game of manuscript feedback, I'm way more Paula than Simon.

The response was something like this: okay then, thanks for the trying, but I love my book as it is.  So do all my friends.  So I'm going to publish it myself, as I'm hearing all the time that great books are selling well even though New York publishers rejected them. 

And off he went to throw three or four thousand dollars at this wonderful new strategy.  And yes, he'll probably "be published" at the end of the day.

But is that really the goal?  Simply to hold a copy of your book in your hands, one with your name on the cover?  It's legitimately intoxicating, to be sure (even though you could arrange for the same thing at Kinkos… but that's a little cynical, so never mind), but it's a little like sending your money to diploma mill or buying air time on the local after-hours cable channel. 

 Do that make you executive material?  Does that make you a television star?  Does anyone ever really know it's happening?

It's interesting to note that the only people sending me manuscripts with checks attached are still trying to crack the traditional publishing code.  Nobody planning on publishing their book themselves, ditial or otherwise, seems to think professional editorial help is necessary.

Interesting.  And scary.  Because it defines this new marketplace, as well as makes my point.

Is this really the dream you're chasing?

Now, I know stranger things have happened, and I'm certainly not the standard-bearer for what is publishable or not publishable.  But I do know a turkey when I see one, and this thing was gobbling from page one.

I also know a turkey will sell a few dozen copies out there, maybe a few hundred.  And, that among the flock, there may be a golden goose waddling about waiting to be discovered before Thanksgiving.  It could happen.

My hope is that writers go this route with their eyes open and their expectations in check.  Because publishers are not employing scouts to find the next passed-over gem floating around in digital space thanks to Kindle, and when it does happen – which it does – it' s more an accident of serendipity than it is a coalescing strategy.

The sad and ironic truth is that your shot at writing a breakout self-published book, one that makes you real money and/or scores you a New York deal and launches a career, is significantly less than simply submitting your book to an agent who can sell it to a major publisher. 

The former happens two or three times a year.  The latter?  Two or three hundred times a month.

The game hasn't really changed at all, it's just harder than ever to get in.  So maybe a minor league is the answer afterall.

Writers are forgetting how to do the math.  Because the allure of holding a book that you've written in your excitied, clammy little hands, even if its on a Kindle screen – something self-publishing is certainly making feasible – is that powerful.

The publishing dream is a drug.  And the internet is making it legal and easy to come by.  It's just that the high isn't as high, and it won't last long enough to even get you hooked.

The moral of the story is this:

Set out to write a great story.  One good enough to get published.  When you are told that it isn't, find out why and fix it.

With the frenzy of opportunity and enthusiasm that the new world of digital self-publishing is dawning in a glorious burst of spontaneous manuscripts showing up all over the internet, one might be easily find themselves seduced.  Sucked into a dream-swap that displaces worthiness and opportunity with accessibility.

The minor leagues are like that.  At least you get to play.  Even if it's in Walla Walla.

We're hearing this a lot lately: it's easier than ever to get published these days.

But is that really the goal?  If you buy your own seat on stage are you really part of the show?

Hear me clearly, there's nothing wrong with publishing your own book, even after New York as told you to take a hike.  Hell, I'm reading one now ("Bitsy's Labyrinth" by Mary Andonian, a youth novel that's nothing short of beautiful in its execution), and my hope is that this becomes a stepping stone to what has already been her publishing dream for some time.

Thing is, writers are starting to confuse the stepping stone with the real dream.  Because the internet is dressing them in the same uniform.

That's the point here.  Use this is a strategy.  Don't confuse it with the end game. 

The Old School Is Still In Session

What is getting lost lately is the fact that the standards of traditional publishing really haven't changed at all.  It's the machine that's broken, due in part to the unprecedented number of incoming submissions and competition from the very technology that is changing the marketplace into uncharted territory.

But if you look closely, even within the chaos, you'll notice that a shift has taken place.  It used to be that a book had to be good enough to impress an agent and then a publisher.  Now, with the digital venue available to absolutely anybody, and with agents pushed out through a side door, a successful book has to be good enough to impress a reader willing to pay for it.

And readers, as a collective whole, have always had a higher bar than publishers.  That's why not everything that is published ends up selling.

Make no mistake, self-publishing your book is a proposition measured in the hundreds of books, not the thousands or tens of thousands you hear about in those exception fairy tales.

Which means the dream has shrunk to the size of a trade paperback from Lulu.com, one that you can hold in your hands and show your friends.

It feels good.  But is it The Dream?  Don't kid yourself, it isn't a career.  It may become a stepping stone — now that's a viable strategy — it may not.  But until it becomes one, it's an illusion.

Hear me clearly, digital publishing is a good thing for writers.  

But it doesn't change a thing in terms of what we, as writers of books, need to know and need to shoot for in our work.

The bar isn't lower than it was. 

Don't confuse that with the fact that the walls to getting "published" have come down, and indeed, that the very definition of "getting published" has evolved into something with very little relationship to what it was.

Not long ago a major writing conference of, say, 500 folks would find three to eight published writers in the audience.  These days, you'll find thirty to fifty, maybe more, all because of the availability of the distinction of being published.

Bottom line: if you want to sell a book that will find readers, that will stick around and actually appear on a bookstore shelf in addition to its Amazon page, that stands a chance of being discovered among the exploding pool of digital product out there, then you better not settle.

You better understand what makes a story work, and deliver something that adheres to the principles of the six core competencies in context to what the market has shown that they want.

Because if you don't make that distinction – if you think you can publish a manuscript that is otherwise sub-par, or so original New York won't buy it because it's never been done before, but somehow the digital reader will forgive you and spread the word – the marketplace will make that distinction for you.  And you won't like it.

Cream still rises to the top.  It's physics.  Even among traditionally published books this remains true.  It's easier than ever to get into the dairy these days, but whipping up the cream is as hard as it ever was.

You thought the slush pile was huge and intimidating before?  Today it's bigger than ever.  Because now it's on the web, available for download for only $6.99.

Don't bite. 

Write like you are still trying to impress someone at Random House. 

And while some masterpieces will certainly slip through into self-published digital nirvana due to the inevitable chaos of traditional publishing, there's no indication whatsoever that the standards of readers are lowering.

Getting published is less than it was.  But selling your work to a mass audience is very bit as hard, and as rewarding, as ever.  And if you think you can do it without a Warner Books promotional budget…

… well, perhaps you should consider the fantasy genre.  Reality may not be your thing.

Dreaming is good.  But every dream that ever came true did so because the dreamer woke up and got to work.

And no, I didn't keep this short at all.

Let the debate begin.  I can already hear the rocks hitting my window.

A Self-Publishing Reality Check is a post from: Larry Brooks at storyfix.com

A Laugh and a Lil' Favor For a Friend

("Use your blog for good, grasshopper, not evil.")

I don't often do this, but here goes. A friend of mine — who is, by the way, a writer, and one who does stand up comedy — is in a comedy competition in L.A. He's a USC student (like my son), and he's hilarious and talented. We can help him win this thing by voting online… here's how.

Go to the link below. You will see a video window. Beneath the video window are six smaller images, each labeled with the name of one of the contestants. Click on JOSH FRIEDMAN (middle left; this is important, if you don't click on him your vote will go somewhere else, to whoever is appearing in the video window… just select Josh and his video will pop up), and wait until his video opens in the bigger window above. Then, watch and laugh. You can VOTE for him at any time by hitting the button to the right (selecting his video among the six ISN'T the vote, hitting the button to the right after the video starts IS the vote).

This kid is amazing and really wants this. When you see the routine, you'll see that he deserves it, too. Thanks for helping. Storyfix readers are the best. Here's that link:

http://laughfactory.com/contests/LaughBowl2/voting

A Laugh and a Lil' Favor For a Friend is a post from: Larry Brooks at storyfix.com

"Top Ten Tuesdays" — A guest post from Joanna Penn

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesdays, a series of guest blogs by winners of the "Top Ten Blogs for Writers" contest hosted at Writetodone.com. 

Why You Should Consider Independent Publishing

A guest post from Joanna Penn from TheCreativePenn.com : Adventures in Writing, Publishing and Book Marketing

Let's get this straight up front. I would love a book deal with a big name publisher.

I'd love to see my books in bookstores all over the world. That's still a dream of mine, as it is probably yours. It's also the dream of many mid-list authors who have a publishing contract but the reality hasn't quite led them to bestseller success. Despite this dream, I have just independently published my first thriller novel, Pentecost on Amazon.com as a print and Kindle book.

Why would I do that?

Publishing is changing fast and there are more choices than there used to be. You need to know all the paths to possible success for your book but first you need to understand what you actually want to achieve. There are various reasons we all want to have our books published. Here are some of them.

1)   My book is being read by people all over the world and they love it.

2)  I'm making an income from my books.

3)  An agent/publisher/editor thinks my book is worth publishing.

4)  My name is on a printed book in a bookstore.

With independent (indie) publishing, you can achieve the top two and that can lead to the last two. Going indie means you publish yourself. You may use freelancers for editing, cover design etc but you own the rights to the book and are the publisher of record.

One way to indie publish is with ebooks.

Amazon has recently announced that ebook sales have overtaken paperback sales on the Kindle. There is also exponential growth in the ebook market. The Booker Prize judges will now be reading ebook versions of the entries and that indicates a new acceptance within literary circles. Even if you haven't changed your reading habits, a lot of other people have embraced the change.

So, one of your publishing choices these days is to release your book on the Kindle and other ebook platforms like the Nook and iPad. Amazon.com is the biggest bookstore in the world and you can have the same page space as any other author. As long as your book is professionally done, customers won't even know it's independently published and they won't care. Here's what converted me to this method of sales. You can load your book onto dtp.amazon.com and it will be selling on the Kindle within 24 hours. It takes months, if not years, to get an agent and at least 18 months for a book to be traditionally published and available for sale. Within 24 hours of Kindle publishing, I can be watching my sales tick over and at the end of the month, I have money in my bank account. So, ebook publishing will achieve (1) and (2) on the list. Some independent authors are making huge amounts of money this route and they aren't worried about (3) and (4).

But what if you still want to hold your print book in your hands?

I understand that feeling which is why I use LightningSource.com (LS) to distribute my print book using print-on-demand technology. You'll see that Pentecost is available as a print book on Amazon.com but I don't hold stock or post it myself. The order goes to LS who print a copy and send it to the customer direct. I just receive a percentage of the sale at the end of the month. I paid a book designer to design a professional cover and also format the inside of the book so I'm proud of the final result and people can buy in either format.

But what if you still want a book deal?

You need to decide for yourself whether you're patient enough to wait for the traditional publishing cycle. I'm impatient and a DIY type of person. I love to take action and see a result. I like being in control. I've tried the submission-rejection process and the negative energy made me crazy. There are other roads to a publishing deal, including making huge sales on the Kindle and being noticed for sales success. Check out Karen McQuestion or Boyd Morrison. There are other authors who achieve this level of success and then turn down publishing deals as they make more money on their own. Check out Amanda Hocking or the recent Amazon #1 The Machine of Death.

There are some aspects you need to consider if you choose these independent publishing paths as it definitely suits a certain type of personality. You need to treat it as a business where you invest some money for professional editing, book cover design and formatting in order to create a quality product. You then receive income from sales like any other business. It's a different model to advances and royalties but it's definitely easier to understand! You also need to do your own marketing so you need an author platform (although there are stories of people who are making money just by loading books on the Kindle with no marketing). Mainstream publishers expect an author platform these days as well so that is needed whatever the route you take.

So yes, I'd like a book deal, but in the meantime I'll be writing and publishing independently.

People will be buying and reading my books, leaving me reviews, telling their friends and I'll be building a backlist of kick-ass thrillers. For me, this positive action makes me happier and more fulfilled than waiting potentially years for someone in the industry to notice me. Whatever your dreams for your book, consider all the options available to you. It's a new publishing world out there!

Joanna Penn is the author of Pentecost, a thriller, out now on Amazon.com.

Joanna is also a blogger at TheCreativePenn.com : Adventures in Writing, Publishing and Book Marketing.  Connect on Twitter @thecreativepenn.

"Top Ten Tuesdays" — A guest post from Joanna Penn is a post from: Larry Brooks at storyfix.com

Click and Read About My Three Favorite Writing Tips

This morning I have a guest post over at Routines for Writers called "My Three Favorite Writing Tips of All Time."  Click HERE to go there.

The site belongs to Stephanie Shackelford, who in addition to offering killer posts on the writing life, has a monthly "author crush" feature (blush).  Check out her archives for posts from the likes of Randy Ingermanson (he of "Fiction Writers for Dummies" fame, currently #2 on Amazon's top fiction writing books; by the way, my own soon-to-be-published book is currently at #38 in the top 100), Julie Garwood, and Jennifer Lyon, among other cool writers and writing teachers.

Tomorrow I'll continue my own author series, "Top Ten Tuesdays," with a wonderful piece from K.M Weiland (click here for her blog, and here for her author site).

On Wednesday I'll have a guest post running at Carol Tice's site (she of last week's "Top Ten Tuesdays").  She's launched a cool new webinar tomorrow, so if you're a freelancer looking to get started and/or get better, cick here to go to Make a Living Writing to check it out.

Click and Read About My Three Favorite Writing Tips is a post from: Larry Brooks at storyfix.com

The 102nd Killer Writing Tip

Wherein we address the question: "Why, when I have a hot idea and a killer concept, an astoundingly compelling hero, a powerful theme and I just happen to write like the love child of Hemingway and Margaret Mitchell… why, with all those wonderful things in place, can't I sell my story?"

This might be why.

Your scenes suck.

Shortly after I launched this site I wrote an ebook called, "101 Slightly Unpredictable Tips for Novelists and Screenwriters."   

Maybe you have it.  Maybe you should have it. 

But that's not my point today (honestly), other than to add: well over half of these tips are ideas and strategies you may not have ever heard before (or heard defined quite this way), but are dead-on empowering.

Now back to my point, which sets up the 102nd killer writing tip promised in the title.

That number – 101 – wasn't entirely derived from entry-level online marketing lingo.  The term "101" as street slang means an entry level dish, the basic stuff, the first line information you need to know.  And okay, it sounded onlineseque, too.

Guess it worked – this thing has sold many hundreds of copies.  It ended up being a grander effort and a more robust, relevant writing resource than I envisioned when I conceived the idea. 

Love it when that happens.

Of course, when you launch a successful project, the next challenge is how to follow that act, and do it in a way that leverages the equity of the original, including the name itself.  And when there is a number – like, 101 – in the title, the concept for the sequel sort of writes itself. 

In this case, "101 More Tips for Novelists and Screenwriters."  Or, "The Next 101 Slightly Advanced Tips for Novelists and Screenwriters."   It would, of course, offer "202" level tips (more advanced and subtle stuff) for writers who want to wrestle with the nuances.

Good 101 tells you what.  Good 2o2 tells you how.

One of those new 202-level tips is haunting me daily.

It's a natural evolution, an enhancement, of what I believe to be the most empowering, liberating and exciting writing tip… ever.  One that's not something I'm ripping off from another body of work, but rather, a distillation of the essence of what we know about dramatic effectiveness getting boiled down to a principle that can be expressed and understood at a glance.

Something that works.  Something that will make you better.  And, because nobody's defined in quite this specific way, maybe something you aren't proactively doing now.

Proactive effectiveness beats serendipitous effectiveness every time.

So here it is, the most powerful writing tip I know (you've read it here before… it's also Tip #96 in the aforementioned ebook).  I reprise it here, not only because you can't encounter this morsel of narrative gold too often, but because it forms the pre-requisite foundation for rolling out The 102 Killer Writing Tip itself.  Here 'tis:

Every scene should have a succinct mission.

Sounds simple.  But it's one of the primary reasons unpublished manuscripts remain unpublished – they ramble.  Mess this one up and you compromise everything about the story, from pacing to reader clarity, vicarious empathy (a required reader outcome) and expositional effectiveness.

Have you ever read a novel that is starting to either bore you, or confuse you, or both?  Chances are this is the reason: the mission for each scene is either missing, muddy or muddled.

When I talk about story planning, this is what you plan: the mission of each scene.  Only when you completely understand a scene's mission can you write a scene that optimizes drama, characterization and expositional effectiveness.  In other words, the reader's experience.

Characterization is not the mission of a scene – any scene — at least in this context.  The only viable exception here happens in Part 1 of a story, and even then, character is best served by something happening (show, don't tell), and whatever is happening needs to be story-driven, not random and isolated merely for the sake of characterization.

New writers make that mistake all the time.  Published writers, not so much.

Characterization is a part of every scene in a story, just like staying upright and awake is a given expectation of someone playing a sport.  It's essential.  But the real mission of a scene, in this context, is expositional: what information is the scene imparting to the reader?  What changes?  What is being exposed here?  What is the wrinkle, the twist, the unveiling?  

What is taking the story forward, and/or building the basis of the story, in any given scene?  That's the mission.  To answer that question.

Who answers it?  You, of course.  But as you'll see in a moment, the real deal-breaker here is whether your reader can answer it, or has to guess.

If it's not there, then the scene violates this principle.  And it can kill your story.

You can find all the exceptions you want, but that doesn't negate the validity of the principle.  But exceptions are rare because those books rarely get published. 

Because they don't work.

If you'd like to read more about this tip and the storytelling physics that make it so powerful, click here.  But come back, because I'm about to show you how to make sure you're doing it.

The 102nd Killer Writing Tip

This is subtle.  Forgive me if I've already oversold it and rendered it obvious, but this is the acid test:

If, after reading a scene, the reader cannot immediately define what new information has just been revealed, what the mission of the scene was, then the scene has failed to accomplish this mission-driven goal.

And the reader will have no clue why they were forced to read it.

At best, the reader will ignore or tolerate the mission-void scene and press forward in search of more and better story exposition.  At worst, especially after too many of these clunker scenes, they'll put the book down and do something else.

A clear and powerfully rendered mission is the key to writing a great scene.  Which, by the way, is one of the six core competencies of successful storytelling.

This isn't just for major milestone scenes (the plot point, the pinch points, the hook, lull, open, climax, whatever…), it applies to every scene in the book. 

Pick and choose your characterization-only scenes (those without expositional content otherwise), because you're asking the reader to tolerate, rather than appreciate.

Once you wrap your head around this principle, with a full and functional understanding of this mission-driven concept (both for your scenes, and for your four contextual story parts), you can then apply the acid test to every scene you write.

Is the mission clear and easily comprehended?

Is it valid and necessary to the forward motion of the story?

Is there only one mission, one point, happening in this scene, other than the assorted minutea of characterization?

Is the mission of the scene itself overtly, proactively characterization, or is it just showing more of the same character stuff you've already established?

This is the writer's equivalent of the touch that makes an athlete successful… the ear that makes a musician stand out… the instinct that makes a professional (insert any  field here) consistently competent… and the craft that elevates something to the level of art.

Need an example? 

Click HERE to read a chapter from my 2004 novel, "Bait and Switch" (named to Publisher's Weekly "Best Books of 2004" list). 

Any trouble discerning the mission here?  And yet – I hope you agree – the scene still has it's own arc, is loaded with characterization and, in no small part because this stuff is spicy hot (as in, rated-R), plenty of entertainment value and (c'mon, admit it) a vicarious ride.

The purpose of writing mission-driven scenes isn't to cut back on character and entertainment, it's to enhance both.

This is your mission, should you decide to accept it.  Use this principle in your scene writing, and apply this evaluative tool, to make sure you take full advantage of the opportunity it presents.

Oh yeah… if you'd like to read more about and perhaps even order a copy of "101 Slightly Unpredictable Tips for Novelists and Screenwriters"… click HERE. 

The 102nd Killer Writing Tip is a post from: Larry Brooks at storyfix.com

"Top Ten Tuesdays" — Please Welcome Guest Blogger Carol Tice

Welcome to our new feature, Top Ten Tuesdays, a series of guest blogs by winners of the "Top Ten Blogs for Writers" contest hosted at Writetodone.com. 

The Upside of Selling Out

By Carol Tice, of Make a Living Writing

Back before I was a freelance writer, I was a songwriter, when I lived in L.A. I worked a day job as a legal secretary to support my dream of being a rock'n'roll star.

I knew some other songwriters and musicians who didn't have a day job — to support their careers, they played Top 40 tunes in casinos 40 hours a week.

In other words, they were sellouts.

I wasn't about to sully my creativity by playing old Foghat tunes while people ate free shrimp and played blackjack at 10 a.m.! That was like a living death, my bandmates and I sneered. I was better than that.

Bet you can guess the end of this story. I eventually got tired of starving and hanging around smoky clubs at 2 a.m. I discovered the world of freelance writing, where I could get paid a bit per article, instead of having to pay to four-wall a hall to play a gig. I'm not a songwriter anymore.

But some of those Top-40 players I knew ended up playing in great bands, or being killer professional studio musicians. They knew something I didn't: Anything that lets you practice what you want to be in a professional setting helps you become it.

The advantages of selling out

I flash back on my rock'n'roll days when I meet would-be novelists who can't seem to get their book written. Many are also too good to sully their hands with writing an article or Web content for a business.

"I'm a creative writer!" they tell me. "I couldn't work on — gasp — an assignment someone else gives me!"

From personal experience, I'm telling you that's the wrong attitude to take toward your writing aspirations.

Here are some of the many advantages of "selling out" — taking some paid writing work while you work on that novel:

You learn discipline. If I had a dime for every novelist that can't quite get around to actually writing, I could retire right now. This happens partly because there's no accountability in writing that first novel — no editor standing over you expecting pages by the end of the week. When you write freelance, you get introduced to the wonderful world of meeting deadlines. You can take this skill back and apply it to your novel, setting deadlines with yourself for when chapters are "due."

You get feedback. Working with editors can be a revelation. They know things about how to make articles compelling, and they share those tips with you, free! You start learning how to make your work better, and better, and better. Then, you can go home and apply what you've learned to your novel.

You get to play with words more. If you spend some of your time writing for pay, you'll simply spend more time writing. More writing is better than less writing when you're looking to hone your craft.

It builds your writer cred. Ever notice how much easier it seems to be for longtime journalists to make the leap to being a novelist? The fact that they've been working with words professional for years seems to impress many publishers.

You meet people. Circulating in the writing world as a freelancer, you have the chance to meet people who could help you get published. Obviously, I didn't meet many record producers at my secretary job. But my writer friend Candace Dempsey kept plugging away at the freelance articles over the years…until one day, at a networking event for writers, she told another writer about why she was the perfect person to write a true-crime book about the Amanda Knox murder case in Italy. She knew Italy well — she'd been writing and blogging about it for years. That writer handed her his agent's phone number. Her book, Murder in Italy, came out last year.

You avoid the soul-killing "day job." Many writers have the equivalent of my secretary job — a thing they do to pay the bills while they write nights and weekends. If you can avoid needing a day job because you can earn from writing, that puts more flexibility into your schedule and hopefully cuts you more time for writing your own projects.

You build your fan base. I'm constantly blown away by how many people call me up to pitch me a story idea — because they know me from a writing gig I had five or more years ago. People do read and follow bylines. So freelance writing can grow you a built-in audience of people who might take an interest if you put out a novel, a trait publishers seem to hold in high esteem these days.

It builds your self-confidence. There's no ego boost like seeing your name in print. Published work is a fear-slayer that kills the little voice in your head that says, "Maybe I'm just not a good writer." But the wait to see your name on the cover of that novel can be long. Feeding your ego along the way with the occasional magazine article can keep your courage up.

There's a myth that novelists are pure-art types who never sully their hands with workaday writing. Let me just puncture that balloon now. Longtime newspaperman Mark Twain wasn't above it, nor was Salman Rushdie, who wrote copy for Ogilvy & Mather. The road to novel success is often paved with freelance articles.

Carol Tice helps freelance writers grow their income at the Make a Living Writing blog, which was recently named one of the Top 10 Blogs for Writers. Her upcoming Webinar is How to Break In and Earn Big as a Freelance Writer .

Note from Larry: Amen to that.  This blog led to my new book, and freelance writing led to my novels and screenplays.  And then back again.  Now they co-exist, and I actually get paid, and well, for the articles and projects I sell and write on assignment.  I encourage you to discover Carol's site, it's a gold mine.

"Top Ten Tuesdays" — Please Welcome Guest Blogger Carol Tice is a post from: Larry Brooks at storyfix.com

Writers: Give The Gift of "Getting Off The Dime"

Also known as getting one's ass in gear.

With my son in college I spend an inordinate amount of time pondering career choices.   Not mine (too late there)… his.  About how to launch one's naïve and hopeful self in the general vicinity of making a worthy and enduring dream come true.

First you find such a dream.  Some never do. 

Then you need a gameplan.  Some never do that, either.

Some just talk about intentions, or the dream that got away.

And then there's writing. 

Where none of the principles of career management and dream-mongering apply. And yet, if you take things at face value, it is a dream held my many.

It isn't remotely hard to grasp why so few people plan on becoming a writer.  It's more like the universe leads you there after kicking around the want ads for a while.

It seems, from the writer's point of view, that more people want to be writers than don't.  Even if they can't write a grocery list.  This article is about calling them out, and perhaps helping them get started.

Imagine a cocktail party in which you confess to a group of strangers that you build stadiums and bridges for a living (something I hope catches my son's fancy, by the way).  And very quickly, almost as a knee-jerk reaction, somebody says, "oh yeah, I've always wanted to do that, I've got this cool idea for a ballpark stuck in my head… I dunno, maybe I'll get around to starting on that someday."

Impressive.  The guy wants to build a baseball stadium.  When he gets around to it.

You, the stadium builder, may be inclined to club the guy with your diploma and stuff the documents from your student loan down his throat.  Or you might just smile, take a calming sip and try to somehow avoid shaking your head at the insensitive, minimalizing cluelessness of that comment, which was offered in all seriousness, if not with that very intention.

But you're a writer and the comment was about writing a book someday, which means you probably took it as a compliment.

And maybe it was. 

Who knows… unless you dig a little deeper.

Yes, this writing thing we do is a strange and mysterious avocation indeed.  It is a dream held by many, a pursuit dabbled in by some, a dream seriously pursued by a courageous few, and a destination that demands a strong constitution and a clear and strategic head.

It's so damn easy to say that you intend to write a book.  And yet – because you, the real writer, know – the orator has no idea what they are saying, and how self-serving it can come off.  As if they are choosing between this and running for the Senate in their spare time.

It's inane and confounding… unless you dig for the gold in this moment.

What you know, and what this cocktail bantering neophyte doesn't, is that writing a book is something you can dabble at, or it is something you can go after with a ferocious passion.  There is little middle ground between those two adopted mindsets, and only one of them has a shot at working out.

If you've been a writer for long, you've discovered that this is what people will tell you – that they'd like to write a book.  Become an author.  That they're sitting on a literary gold.  You'll hear it all the time, in fact: yeah, I've got this story in my head… maybe I'll get around to it one day.

Just like that stadium.

You may take it as a compliment, and they may mean it as one, but this conversation is a snake pit disguised as a can of worms.  You get to decide if you call them out on it.  Or not.

Unless it isn't a lie.  Which defines the opportunity at hand.

If you haven't heard this before, then nobody in your little universe knows you are a writer.  Because it is inevitable, it comes with the territory.

I offer you a genuine, thoughtful response for when it happens to you. 

It will either shut them up through some combination of embarrassment, the sudden realization of their own naïveté, the exposure of their complete and utter self-puffing lie … or it might very well point them where they need to go.

Either way, it's good (and good fun) to call them out and see what happens.

In which case, if it isn't a lie, the calling out becomes a magnificent gift.  Maybe somebody told you how to move from intention to action, maybe not, but this is your chance to bestow it.

What you say might get them off the dime and allow them to truly, seriously, determine if writing a book is something they should, or would want to, pursue.

First question: why?

Ask them to explain why they are considering writing a book someday.  Listen closely for the right answer, which doesn't come near the words "rich" and "famous" or "fun."

Rewarding, very possibly.  But "fun" is relative, as is building stadiums.

What you're looking for in this moment is a story worth telling, in some combination with an experience (the writing itself) that they believe might benefit or reward them in some meaningful way.  To get something off their chest.  To explore that which they do not understand.  To grow.  To make people happy.

To live the dream.  There's always the chance that they're simply trying to get some skin with you.  Roll with it, see what happens.

It is not your place to judge their story in this moment.  Just listen.  Judge only the intentions behind it.  If you deem them worthy – because you know how freaking hard it is to sit down and turn the intention to write a book into the outcome of having written one – press forward with this conversation.  And lead them to salvation.

Trust me, if they weren't serious they'll ditch you quicker than an empty glass.  But if they are, there's no separating them from you in this moment.

And in that moment, you are living into your destiny as a writer.  Because you have the opportunity to change a life.

Now ask, why not?                 

Once they've aired the backstory of their intentions, then ask why they haven't started this journey in earnest.

You can write the script for the forthcoming response.  Don't have time.  Don't know how.  Don't think I'd be up for it, not smart enough.  I don't read that many books so I don't think I could write one.

Fear.

Insecurity.

Uncertainty.

Fear.

Welcome to being human.  Welcome to writing.

There is only one thing you can say in that moment that will help. 

If you tell them they are stepping off a ledge with no parachute, that writing a book is an intoxicating hot mess of confusion and contradiction and that, at the end of the day, you have to figure it out for yourself and good luck with that because nobody in my writing group can do it – even though that may be true – that's like telling a kid with a bat and a dream that the odds of getting drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers are greater than dying in an air disaster.  Both of which are miniscule and dark.

Don't go there.  Writing is a journey, not a destination.  Writing is a promise of experience, not of outcome.  Be clear on that.  And convey it as you respond.

Life is nothing if not experience.  Outcome is rarely within our total control.

Instead, tell them there is an accessible literary methodology available, a model to be seized and harnessed.  Not less reliable than the physics of flying.  Physics that can be learned.  That there are examples everywhere that prove the model viable, and that if they are serious about this writing thing, it is something they can discover and embrace, and then through practice and a dash of inspiration and a shit-load of hard work… they can get there.

They can write a story. 

Or not.  There are never guarantees when it comes to our writing.

And that if they do this, and do it with passion and courage, it will be the sweetest, most rewarding and hopeful personal journey of their entire life.  That they will be alive in a way that people who don't write are not, and that they might never be otherwise.

Because they are listening to the lyrics.  Looking for meaning and poetry and God in everything, every moment and every frame, in every drop of rain, every tear and every silent thought.

Tell them that.

Tell them that writing will bring them back to life.

If they turn away in search of more vodka, you never stood a chance anyhow.  The dream was a lie designed for one of two things: to impress you, or to minimize you.

But if this response elicits more questions, delivered with eyes the size of martini olives… well, that warm glow you're feeling is the rush of lighting a fuse in someone who just might listen.  Of giving wings to a dream that you already understand.

Writers like to say – and I've said this here myself – that at the end of the day we're very much alone with our stories, that this is a lonely pursuit that requires one's enjoyment of one's own company.

Alone with our stories, maybe.  Alone with the experience of writing… we share that with everyone who tries to engage with it. 

Maybe writing is a passion that, when shared, breaks down the walls between us.  Certainly that is the goal of all that we write, of every solitary moment we spend writing it.  And if we get to share it, along with our pursuit of the craft, with humble enthusiasm and hope, you may just find someone who will listen.

Published or unpublished, we can all speak for the experience of being a writer, and for the rewards it offers.

Even when it hurts.  Nobody said life was easy.

Share the love.  There will never be enough good stories out there, and you may be a part of one simply by opening a door.

My new book, "Story Engineering: Mastering the Six Core Competencies of Successful Writing" (coming out from Writers Digest Books at the end of February), is my love letter to the craft of writing, and a fresh new model for anyone looking for a way to access what it means and what it takes to bring a story to viable life. 

As is this website, which I hope has opened a few doors for you, as well. 

Writers: Give The Gift of "Getting Off The Dime" is a post from: Larry Brooks at storyfix.com

Attack of the Killer Story Ideas

As a writer you get this question all the time: where do your story ideas come from? 

Sometimes we have an answer – like, it's based on my divorce experience when I wanted to kill my wife's lawyer – sometimes we fake it because we don't really have a clue.

And upon occasion, the universe gets all the credit.  Serendipity can be very literate.

In other words, reality sucks sometimes, but, sucky or not, it can inspire some pretty cool story ideas.   

Thing is, reality is virtually shouting other things at us all the while, masking the softly uttered literary gold running through tirades of being late, taxes due, spouse not getting you, kids acting out, and tires blowing up on the freeway.

You have to look for the gold in those moments.  Sometimes there are manuscripts hidden in that pile of lemons.

The latter – a blown tire on the freeway – happened to me earlier this week. 

An example from the sucky end of the spectrum.

And the result, in addition to an unbudgeted set of tires, was a file of stories I probably won't live long enough to write.  I'm talking Stephen King kind of ideas, where reality turns dark and whisks you away to someplace unexpected and frighteningly compelling.

Allow me to explain.

My wife kicked me out of the house last weekend.  Not for reasons of domestic unrest, but because her daughters and two friends were flying in for four days of drinking, debauchery and the solving of all the world's problems between shopping trips.

I'm lucky to have a wife that still craves occasional debauchery, but that's another story idea altogether.

Anyhow, I drove from my home in Scottsdale over to Los Angeles to see my son, who attends a ridiculously expensive college there (props to him, he made the dean's list last semester, but that's another story, too).

See, even setting this up prompts concepts and premises to bubble to the surface.

On the drive home the car started pulling to the right. 

I figured it was an alignment thing.  Then it began to sound as if I was plowing down a railroad track on baby coaster wheels.

So I pulled over.  And sure enough, the right front was completely flat, just short of shredded.

This moment challenges anyone with a penis to step up and live into our assigned mission of accomplishing all things restorative in nature.  But I wasn't up to it – the spare was un-inflated (this is like desperately needing water and being given powdered milk instead), the car came with a little electric air-pump gizmo with instructions written in a foreign tongue, and there were no tools for the removal of the lug nuts.  The jack looked like a prop from Hostel II.

So I called AAA and waited.

The setting is important here.  It was in the middle of nowhere, unseasonably warm and bright, on I-10 halfway between Palm Springs and Phoenix.  If you've ever been there, you know this looks like a movie set from The Book of Eli, just short of a poster from Resident Evil III.   Only with convoys of traffic  barreling past you at eighty miles an hour.

It quickly occurred to me that this very stretch of road inspired one of my favorite blog posts from last year, about a truck full of caskets that passed me like I was standing still.

That, too, was a treasure trove of spooky story ideas still awaiting my attention.  That's how it works: the ideas arrive, they filter, and the ones that remain become worthy of consideration.

Maybe it was that connection to the casket truck that started it. 

As I looked around me, waiting there on the shoulder of the freeway next to an unending desert, eyes alert for approaching rattlesnakes, kicking through the litter of discarded truck fenders and lights, shredded tire rubber and shards of junk food wrappers, my imagination began to take over.

Being alone with my imagination is a horror story in its own right.

I started counting the story ideas this sorry state of affairs summoned forth. 

I stopped counting at 22, but the idea-train kept on truckin'. 

Not because I hadn't found one that captivated me – there were about six of those – but because I was no longer in control.  The Muse had taken over, and she was driving an 18-wheeler with a bottle of Jack in her hand.

That was the first of the ideas.  What if an 18-wheeler suddenly veered off the road and came straight at me?  What if it really was full of empty caskets?

What if a car full of young men (I'm thinking snakes tattoos on their throats) wearing dusters and Oakland Raiders hats stopped and wanted to discuss my personal financial situation?

What if a limousine pulled over to help, the open door beckoning me, and there in backseat sat a leather-clad Kate Beckensale lookalike asking if I needed a ride?

I rather liked than one, to be honest.

What if the police arrived, siren's blaring, guns pulled, seeking to arrest my clueless ass?  And when I asked why, they showed me an FBI Most Wanted poster with my mug on it.  Or better, when I looked in the rearview from the backseat of the squad car, my mug had morphed into Suspect #4 from that list.

What if – and I really liked this one – all of a sudden the traffic just stopped, as if that old episode of The Twilight Zone kicked in and somebody had clicked a diabolical stopwatch from hell that stopped all time and motion?

What if nobody came to help me?  What if it gets dark and my heart suddenly decided to shut down?

What if the apocalypse happened while waiting for my two truck savior, and when I got back to town all the church people had vanished, leaving behind a bunch of I-told-you-so notes of farewell?

What if a seemingly friendly old fellow stopped to take me to the next service provider (60 miles in either direction, by the way), and suddenly began talking about my life, asking me the secret questions about my guilt and regrets and dying dreams along the way, as if he already knew the answers?  What if he pulled off at an exit and we were suddenly back in my old hometown, on the street where I grew up, all Ebinezer-Scrooge-on-Christmas-Eve-like?

What if the person who pulled over to help me was… a future version of me?  A long forgotten version of me?  Or my dead father?

What if that person was God himself – or herself, whatever – and wanted to discuss my moral balance sheet, because that 18-wheeler had connected?

What if a hungry band of coyotes happened to wander by in search of the nearest buffet, and decided that I looked pretty tasty?

What if, in my impatience, I tried to change the tire myself and the front end collapsed on my ankle?  What if it was dark by now, and things in the night came to visit (hints of King's Gerald's game at work here)?

What if, at dusk, a massive mushroom cloud appeared in the west, right over Los Angeles?

What if my wife and her daughters and two friends appeared out of nowhere, on motorcycles… and they had fangs?  (Will speak to my shrink about that one.)

The Genre of Sudden Inspiration

The situation seemed to lean toward dark science fiction and fantasy – not my favorite reading or my chosen writing niche, by the way, so go figure – with elements of thriller and existential personal reflection tossed in all Jonathan Franzen-like.

Where was this coming from?  And what was I to make of it all?

Everyone has an imagination to some degree.  Everyone goes off to dark places now and then.  Writers, however, should pay attention to it.  Because it might just be a gift waiting to be unwrapped.

Were these stories?  No, not yet, not even close. 

But they were ideas, notions and seeds that could easily evolve into concepts. Which from there could inspire a character and a theme and the beginning of a story worth telling.

Which means, there might be a compelling reason to tell this story.  Which is the very essence of theme, the most challenging of the six core competencies of successful storytelling.

When theme arrives unannounced, the aware writer listens.  Because it is a rare gift indeed.  That awareness – the necessity to marry a compelling concept with a powerful theme – is a milestone in a writer's development.  

Remember that the next time a clever idea knocks on your brain.

Reality throws idea-inspiring situations at us all the time. 

Some of them frustrating, some of them terrifying, many of them mundane yet riddled with thematic gold.

We writers are in a constant search for our next story.  Sometimes we settle on the wrong one – the concept is a little thin on thematic resonance… yet it seemed so cool at the time – sometimes we allow the Big One to get away.

But the question today is this: are you listening?  Paying attention?  Are you asking what if? when reality smacks you upside the head with an opportunity?

The art of storytelling is all about turning the mundane into the profound.  And, imbuing the spectacular with humanity.

That voice you hear nagging at you from the background?  Next time give a listen.  It just might be a worthy story begging for your attention.

What real-life situations from your life have inspired story ideas that won't leave you alone?

Attack of the Killer Story Ideas is a post from: Larry Brooks at storyfix.com

The Lyric-Inspired Log-Line Contest Winner Is…

The highest goal of storytelling is to write something that changes lives.  

For us this takes 400 pages and a whole lot of talent and luck.  For songwriters, they get three minutes to come up with an iconic line or two that makes them and their music immortal.  More people on the planet remember Imagine by John Lennon than generations of readers of "Moby Dick" combined.

Such is the power of words.  Even when propelled into our minds on the back of a melody.

Last week I wrote a piece about how to find inspiration for our storytelling themes in song lyrics that haunt and amaze us.  The response was amazing, both in quantity and quality.  Everyone who responded offered up a compelling log-line, and the take-away was, for me (and I hope for you), very powerful.

You can read that thread here.

And… feel free to add more lyrics and log-lines going forward.  We can never get too much inspiration.

Sometimes you'll hear a pitch or log-line that seems void of theme. 

The author may know it's there, but the pitch seems exclusively plot-focused. 

Like this: A replacement worker arrives on the moon for his three-year hitch at a mining operation and discovers the gig, and his own life, isn't remotely what it seems.  (This is from the recent film, Moon, which was totally awesome and worth renting on DVD.)

All concept, no theme.  Anyone hearing that pitch would have to make the leap without much inspiration for the log-line itself.

None – and I mean none – of the entries offered here suffered from that problem.  Each one had theme bubbling up from the words like steam from a volcanic hemorrhage. 

Which is why it can be valuable to begin the story development process with theme.  By definition, your story becomes a vehicle for it from square one, rather than an empty vessel in search of meaning.

But here was the pleasant surprise and the revelation: there was no lack of conceptual and dramatic appeal in these entries, either.  These story ideas immediately resonated as something worth pursing, and as a reader, worth waiting for.

As born from a song lyric, these story ideas have two of the four elemental core competencies already in place.

So congrats to all who participated.  Theme is the most challenging of the Six Core Competencies, and this exercise obviously hit home.

It was tough to pick a winner.  But I did.   Two in fact. 

If you happen to work in the movie or publishing industry, read these entries.  Really.  This is a gold mine of killer material.

First, congrats to winner Elise Stephens, who submitted a lyric from one of my favorite songs, Mad World (the one Adam Lambert knocked out of the park on American Idol), originally by the group Tears for Fears.  Here's the lyric, followed by her log:

"All around me are familiar faces

Worn out places, worn out faces…

Going nowhere, going nowhere

…their tears are filling up their glasses

No expression, no expression

Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow

No tomorrow, no tomorrow."

Log-line: A fifteen year old boy whose life is built around running from the past discovers a magic door that gives him sight into the future and, he hopes, the ability to face the abusive father whose return he has long dreaded.

Can't you just imagine that story and its rich themes from this one line? 

The point is that Elise could, and it may just well lead her to a career-defining story.   Which will in no small part owe its success to the fact that the germ of it was one born of passion, from a heart-felt theme that led this writer to the place where stories are born.

Notice, too, that the story idea isn't a literal translation of the lyric.  It's not a music video of the song, it's something that lives on its own yet owes its thematic inspiration to these words.

Magic.  The stuff storytelling is made of.  The best stuff.

The other winner is…

Patrick Sullivan, who wins on a combination of quality and quantity.  Patrick sent me about a dozen entries (all but one offered off-line, because he didn't want to change the contest game… his enthusiasm was all about simply being excited by the proposition that theme is everywhere around us), all of them great story ideas.  This guy is a bestselling author in waiting, if nothing else on his talent for coming up with original and compelling ideas.

If you missed this one, click the link above (or click this one) to read not only the post, but the entries that it inspired.  They'll inspire you, too, as they did me.

Coming soon – "Top Ten Tuesdays," a series of guest blogs from the winners of the "Top Ten Blogs For Writers" contest, hosted at Write to Done last month.  I'm excited to share these talented writers with you, and hope you'll visit their sites as they appear.  To see who they are, click here for a list of the Top 10 winners and their sites.

The Lyric-Inspired Log-Line Contest Winner Is… is a post from: Larry Brooks at storyfix.com