APPEALING TO A WIDER AUDIENCE
The other day, I was out in the gerridge (garage in my “British” accent) doing some particularly tedious cuts on a thermometer project I’ve been working on for quite a while. Though I love my woodworking, I have to admit that quadruple stacking these pieces and the slow cutting involved with the intricate design can get to be a bit much. With that going on, my mind tends to wander while still keeping that fine blade on the line from drifting.
I’d just read a post from my buddy Garry Bordinaro, the bass player from the metal band The Rods. He put up a video of Grand Funk Railroad, or Fand Grunk (before they sucked), as I call them, playing one of their old songs when they were a power trio. The song was Inside Looking Out and it was live. He posted it to show one of his influences, especially since The Rods are a power trio and have inaccurately been called America’s answer to Motörhead by some rock journalist. Not by a longshot!
Anyway, that got me thinking, as the blade chewed away at the aspen wood, what happened to Grand Funk?
The band started as a great power trio that played raw and loud hard rock. Then one day, they decided to go commercial, hired a keyboard player, came out with a cover of Locomotion then went further off the rails with We’re An American Band. All of a sudden, they went from being an “underground” hard rock power trio with a huge fan base, to a much bigger “pop” band. Sure, their fan base grew exponentially, but they also alienated a lot of their original fan base, me included. Hence, I gave them the description, “Fand Grunk, before and after they sucked.”
To be fair, I do know some of the history, after the fact, for why they did what they did. That doesn’t mean I have to like it, as a fan, even if I sort of understand.
There were lots of rock bands that did that. They’d come out with a few great albums. Then midway into their career, they’d shift gears. Sometimes, it was because they’d get bored, burned out, or lost key members. Other times it was because they were starving or not making enough money and wanted to appeal to a wider audience. In most cases, they lost their original fan base, gained a different audience, or both because “they went commercial,” or more succinctly, “sold out,” the favorite catch phrase of all rock journalists.
WHAT ABOUT WRITERS?
In our case, we’re presented with a dilemma, though it’s not all that much different from young bands. I’ve preached for appealing to a wider audience. At the same time, I’ve also said to know your target audience and make sure not to alienate them. However, what if you’re a genre bender? Will you be able to appeal to multiple markets?
I just did a bunch of reviews of books in my “wyberry” that I never got around to doing when I actually read them. Many, I thought I did but when I went to Amazon, nada, zip. So, as I was filling in the blanks, I noticed how some authors shifted gears and changed styles. R. Karl Largent started as an icky bug writer, which I loved, then when he didn’t make much money at it, he switched to a military thriller series, then finally individual thriller/adventures. He never rose above a mid-list writer, but he was one of my favorites that never got his due before he passed on. He was one author that switched genres yet kept me interested despite all. However, I imagine he lost some audience because by all indications, he never made it above midlist.
SWITCHING CAN BE DANGEROUS OR GOOD
As with bands, switching can be dangerous or good, depending on how you come out the gate. I write in multiple genres and will publish however I can, simultaneously if possible, but all under my own name. Most are series except the icky bugs, which are one-offs, so far. I make no secret about that.
Once an author becomes known for a specific genre, then switches gears, like what Grand Funk did, is that going to hurt or help their career? My wife just read that novel by J.K. Rowling, The Casual Vacancy and hated it. She said she wasn’t expecting Harry Potter, but at least expected something interesting! However, just because of her name, it got a lot of sales and from the reviews on Amazon, a whole range of ratings. Who knows if she can make the transition?
Changing genres is one thing, pandering is another. Following your muse is one thing, writing just to make money shows in the writing and that’s exactly why Grand Funk sucked. That’s why some writers suck. This is all personal opinion, but I’m not alone with that feeling about either Grand Funk, nor when writer’s pander.
THE MERCENARY APPROACH
If you’re out with the mindset to make money at this passion (which then it might not be anymore), that’s fine. However, if you’re really going to do that, forget about following your muse, just write what you think will sell and keep at it until something hits. Even if you hate the genre, keep guessing until you find what works and go for it. Or, hopefully, if your interests are wide, you’ll like multiple genres and one of the ones you like will happen to catch on. Once it does, milk it for all its worth and make your ton of dough. Once you become the next Dean Koontz or J.K. Rowling, then you can shift gears and write what you “really want” and leak it out and see what happens. Realistically, most of us will never fit in that category, but you never know.
This process in itself might do exactly what I saying you shouldn’t do, alienate once audience for another. If you’re writing for what sells, you’re bound to start with a few sputters before you hit the right note. Some may love one or another of those “sputters” and then hate you when you “sell out” once you find the hot button style that makes you the big money. Oh well… that’s what you get for going mercenary. You may win in one way and lose in another.
CAN’T GET AROUND FOLLOWING YOUR MUSE
What you going to do? You have to write what you feel if this is a passion and not just a job. Then again, you have an audience to think about. If you start out the gate appealing to a wide audience, you’re probably safer. However, if you write in a specific genre, get well-known for that, then shift to something else, it’s bound to create conflict. That’s why a lot of authors try pen names.
I’ll never do that. I write multiple genres out of the gate and use my real name on all of them. That’s just the way I roll. I can’t say that’s the way it will work for anyone, including myself yet! If any of my genres take off, who knows what will happen? The fact is that I love writing these genres and if one takes off, that’s not going to stop me from writing or trying to publish any of the others.
What I’d hate to do is for everyone to know me as “just a…” and then suddenly come out with something else. Therefore I’ll never be a “just a…”
However…
Within each genre, I try to make then as universally appealing as I can, given the confines of the world I’m in. That’s as big of a world as I have.
I never want to be the Fand Grunk of my genres and be the author that was good before he sucked.
I hope the same for you.
Happy writing!
WHEN IS TOO MUCH TOO MUCH?
I just finished a military thriller. After living and breathing the Air Force for 24 years on active duty and nine years as a contractor, I’ve pretty much had my fill of all that macho flyboy, call sign crap, acronyms and guv’mint jargon. Okay, to say I lived and breathed it is kind of a stretch. It started as a way to avoid a foxhole in Viet Nam. Best living conditions and I didn’t have to sit on a boat for six months at a time. Also, I’d rather look up than down.
After my initial enlistment and a two year break, when I grew up and decided to get a real job, the Air Force called again and I made it a career. I still never really lived and breathed it. I did what I had to do, but though it was my career, it was still just a job. It was my way of life, so to speak, yet was just eight hours a day, most days, and when I went out that shop gate, I was a civilian with a short haircut, who happened to be in a uniform. That attitude, for certain, hurt my career, but I still did okay.
Back to the military thriller. I usually avoid them like the plague (cliché intended). The last thing I want to do is re-live all that macho call sign, flyboy ego crap I lived with, especially being a very low-on-the-totem-pole maintenance puke. It’s not that we didn’t have plenty of personnel that ate this stuff up within our lowly non-flying ranks. Oh yeah, there were plenty that could recite every acronym, state all the regulations as well as every slang term imaginable. They could probably go to the local salvage yard and build a B-52 from scrap. I wasn’t one of them. So, when I see a military thriller, I usually run for the hills (another cliché, sue me) because I know I’m going to get acronymed and call-signed to death.
Sho’ nuff. This military thriller even had a glossary at the beginning of the book that listed acronyms and hardware. I should’ve known, but just out of curiosity, I bought it anyway.
I wasn’t disappointed or surprised at the outcome. It lived up to my expectation and I almost couldn’t finish it. However, I paid good money, grit my teeth and made it to the end. I think I gave it a two-star rating.
WHEN IS TOO MUCH TOO MUCH?
Even though you’re up front about your genre, when is too much too much? If there’s the slightest idea of drawing a wider audience, are you going to chase them away by bogging them down in whatever jargon and details apply to your world, real or imagined?
Now, this is all hypothetical.
After all, when you shop for a book, you check it out ahead of time so you’re supposed to be able to figure out what you’re getting. However, on the side chance it might have a bit wider appeal, some books are able to do that, while others polarize readers with too much immersion – too much jargon and detail.
As I read this military thriller, I sometimes had the feeling I was reading an Air Force technical manual. There was a thriller buried in all that jargon, but geez. Yet, this author has a huge fan base and I know the fighter jocks lap this stuff right up as well as the military buffs. In fact, some of them probably ran for their manuals and checked facts as they read books like this, looking for errors. However, those that have no military experience, or those like me that are sick of it, may get turned off when it’s pounded into every page. What about the story that’s supposed to be buried somewhere in there? After all, isn’t that the original intent?
Are you guilty of maybe going a bit too far? Maybe not.
THE OTHER EXTREME
Maybe if we all backed off just a tad, would we garner a wider audience? We could also pick at straws and think of those extremists who would hate the book for mentioning one thing, or for not mentioning enough of them. Sometimes, you just can’t win. We can’t please the extreme crowd, but 99% of the readers fall in-between that.
WHAT TO DO?
The purpose of this article isn’t to necessarily provoke any of you to change your writing, just to ponder the question and to think about your approach. It may give you a healthier outlook. It may prompt you to see it in your own reading of others and compare.
Story is the key. Moderation prevents losing that.
Happy writing!
OFFENDING GROUPS WHEN CREATING CHARACTERS
I just read an outstanding little story about ghosts in which the author uses several Yiddishisms. Knowing the author isn’t Jewish, I asked him if he vetted those terms with someone who’s Jewish to make sure he didn’t create a feaux paux. We had a discussion about such things and he suggested I do an article about it. Since this is my 198th article, uh yeah, I’ve probably touched on the subject a couple of times. However, it wouldn’t hurt to talk about it again, especially since many of you haven’t been here from the beginning, might no want to slog through my old posts, and I should attack it with a fresh perspective.
So… thanks Paul, it’s time to look at creating characters that are not of your background.
HOW DO YOU ASK THE QUESTIONS?
The plain fact is, if you want a Jewish character, for instance, and you aren’t Jewish, or say, you are and are sadly lacking in your cultural background, you just figure out how you want the character to act, what you want them to do and just ask someone who’s Jewish. Of course, you might want to be wary of who you ask, especially if you’re totally ignorant of cultural sensitivities. If you want to have the character do or say something that’s totally offensive, without ever knowing, that asking could get tricky. All I can say is, it’s a lot better to have someone pissed at you BEFORE it goes into print! You could also learn a lesson or two!
The thing is that as adults, or even young adults, we all should be at least somewhat aware of cultural sensitivities before we dive into a character. If the inspiration for a character is a racial stereotype and we aren’t even aware it is one, checking it out ahead of time is a great way to keep from causing a whole lot of grief and embarrassment. Therefore, I’d bet that whatever you have the character do, it’s not likely to be deliberately offensive, it’s accidental. The most likely things would be like phrases, the way they pronounce words, or maybe certain stereotypical habits. These are what you might consider minor things, or even if not, things you think “they typically” do but really don’t. Or, they might be terms or phrases you get wrong or in the wrong context. The knowledgeable person would be able to correct you or tell you to do it a different way to make it right.
How about a Hispanic character? I know a lot of people with Hispanic backgrounds that don’t know a thing about their culture. They want to use a Mexican character in their story say… and they want the character to talk like an illegal working as a gardener. They use terms they hear off TV or from the wrong people. However, that may not be how a real undocumented Mexican worker might actually talk. They think because they’re Hispanic they know, yet they haven’t actually vetted it with someone who does know. They need to ask the right people.
A direct question shouldn’t be offensive if asked with the right intentions. If it turns out the result of what you wanted that character to say would be offensive, find out what the character might actually say (according to the expert) and use that instead. Or, if it doesn’t fit with what you want to do, dump it and try something else. Simple.
MY EXPERIENCE
I’m neither Jewish, Hispanic, Romani (Gypsy), African American, a giant, a little person or Polish, among others, yet I’ve used all of these characters in my various stories. Where I’ve needed to, I’ve asked people questions to make sure I got terms and actions correct to make sure I didn’t go off the deep end. What was most important to me was that I portrayed all of these characters as people, more the same than different. That’s the most important thing. They’re just like everyone else, you and I. We all break stereotypes and none of us fit a mold. While we all may conform a little to certain cultural norms, which is the main point of this article, nobody fits exactly into anything. That’s what makes us all unique.
Those cultural norm details are great to individualize and add life to characters, but what can get us in trouble if we don’t get them right. Make sure you do your research before you put them to print!
Happy writing!
GHOST WRITING
How many of you have ever asked, been asked, or contemplated ghost writing. How many of you even know what it is?
The definition of a ghost writer is when someone writes something in the name of someone else. In other words, you, the writer, may take on a novel for another writer that’s overwhelmed with work and he or she asks you to write a novel for them in their style. They’ll then edit it a bit, tweak it and publish it under their name. You ghost wrote it for them. Then there are say… celebrities who can’t write their own name, let alone a book. They want to write a memoir, so they hire you to write their story based on their ramblings, which you have to turn into something resembling coherence.
Then there’s the pseudonym created by a publishing syndicate. A good example is the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Franklyn W. Dixon did the Hardy boys and Carolyn Keene did Nancy Drew. Neither person actually existed. The publisher used a stable of writers to create the stories, ghost writers, though each series was created at the core by two people, Dixon was Leslie McFarlane while Keene was Mildred Wirt (Benson).
MORE LOOSELY DEFINED TODAY
The term is more loosely thrown around today, though an apple is still an apple. A lot of times book doctors offer their services to “fix” your manuscript. What they really are is ghost writers. They basically take your story and completely rewrite it, so that the only thing left is your basic idea, but it’s hardly recognizable as your writing style. Of course, if you’re a really bad writer, this may be a big plus!
It can also mean a co-author, where you get a prominent credit as writer. Authors like Clive Cussler and James Patterson use co-authors to do this. Sometimes it’s hard to tell who wrote what, especially when they create a new series. When use a co-author with one of their original series, if the co-author did most of the work and the voice is altered, that can stand out and a dedicated fan will smell it and cry foul. That can hurt sales and sink an author’s reputation.
MY EXPERIENCE
I’ve only done one screenplay in my life. In fact I had to bum the Final Act software just to format it properly. However, what I ended up with was a pretty decent result (I think) that though still needs tweaking, is a great story.
It started as a ghost writing effort for a friend of whom I was a huge musical fan. We became friends, which turned into a partnership. He had the seed of the idea and told me what he wanted to do. Since I had absolutely no idea how to do a screenplay, I stumbled around for a bit, not only developing the first few scenes from scratch, but learning how to use the software and how to structure the scene. From there, the story blossomed.
Before long, my imagination went wild and I found the polka-dot sewer. As I progressed, I sent each part to my friend for his approval and guidance. After the first few scenes, he just said go for it. From there, he and his lady friend simply critiqued and told me yea or nay if I went too far off the rails.
By the time I was done with the initial story, I went on and did a sequel. By that time I was no longer a ghost writer but a partner. However, my name will never be at the top because this was HIS idea. I just provided the details. It was always he that approved every step of the way, even though I filled in the blanks. He made suggestions and I made adjustments and through cooperative effort, we came up with what I think is a pretty cool young-adult screenplay.
RESULTS
We had a lot of hope for that story and even had a Hollywood connection (a celebrity actor) read it. He liked it and had some good feedback on what needed fixing. However, when I tried to pitch it at the next few writers conferences, I came across a huge roadblock I hadn’t anticipated. Unlike book manuscripts, every script agent I ran across wanted money to read it! Say what??? Neither my partner nor I could afford to shop a script around Hollywood and have to pay for it. So, it’s been languishing all these years because neither of us can afford to pay to have it read.
That’s my experience with ghost writing, which actually turned into a partnership. On the other hand, I’ve been asked several times over the years to take on other projects and turned them all down, for various reasons.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
Step very carefully!
Be wary of who you take on. I don’t say no out of the blue. Some I turned down simply because of workload. However, there were a few cases where I looked at the person, felt that vibe. I knew I was looking at trouble and very politely said no to a basket of rattlesnakes.
You should do the same. Before you take on the task of ghost writing, be sure to have your eyes open all the way!
If you don’t think you’re a good enough writer and want someone else to write your story for you, well… why are you even here? The whole point of becoming a writer is to learn the craft, not have someone else do it for you. Also, if you think you’re going to learn to write by having someone else do it for you, and then learn by example, forget it. There are bookstores and libraries full of examples. Not going to happen. YOU have to go through the trials and tribblations yourself. YOU have to do the work, not a ghostwriter. A “someone else” isn’t going to do the work for you and “you” aren’t going to magically learn the ropes. It doesn’t work like that. All you’re going to do is earn someone else money.
Happy (you doing the) writing!
MY SOLUTION TO THE MEMOIR
Sometimes it seems like half the writers I meet, when I ask what they write, tell me memoir. Autobiographies, tell-alls, life-stories, they’re all the same. You want to write about your life and you’re betting that others will be interested enough to pay good money to read about it.
MOTIVATIONS
This can be a sticky subject but it boils down to several things. One of them is ego (or vanity). We want to satisfy our ego by writing about ourselves and wait for the praise to roll in when others wow over what a great life we’ve had. Sure, it’s nice when others recognize that you’ve done something interesting that they haven’t. However, what if it isn’t all that interesting? What if nobody can relate? What if a lot of other people have done the same thing? So much for the ego.
We do it for altruistic reasons, because we think we have something interesting or compelling to tell. We’ve done something that’s truly unique. There’s a life-lesson in what we’ve done that can help others. We may have survived some life struggle and that struggle may help others through theirs. Our story is something worthwhile to society.
We do it for the humor, just because we have some goofy stories that might be interesting to others, but we don’t know unless we throw them out there. Plain and simple.
We do it for a family legacy. Family history is important to a lot of people. Generations may want to know what grandma or grandpa did back in the day. A memoir is a great way to leave them a legacy. If a few bucks can be made from it, why not?
REALITIES
To generalize, everyone is doing a memoir. As many times as I hear that in conversation, something like fifty percent of the time, I can comfortably say that without being too far off the mark.
What does this mean?
Ninety percent of them will never make it to the shelf at the bookstore. Don’t take my word for it. Go to your local one and take a look. See who’s represented. Recognize those names? Most of them are recognizable celebrities, good and bad. You want to get a memoir out there? Try being famous first. Then, maybe someone will read it. Does that mean you shouldn’t try and go for it? Of course not, but unless you have a very intriguing premise, to fill in that other ten percent of the names on the shelf nobody has ever heard of, you’re going to end up with a garage full of books (or a Kindle version that sits there with little sales).
Maybe that’s all you want, just something with an ISBN number in the Library of Congress with your legacy. That’s fine.
MY SOLUTION
I’m no celebrity. Nobody outside of my very few web site readers here and my friends and family have ever heard of me. Who cares what kind of life I’ve had? Sure, I’ve had some interesting things happen to me, at least in my mind, but would anyone care?
The only way I can get my story out is to do it my own way without going through the hassle of publishing a book. I do it without the burden of a garage full of those books or worrying about sales figures on Amazon. Plus, I have no deadline and no editorial pressure to write any particular format or subject, or sequence. I write what I want, when I want and whatever I want to write about.
It all started last March, 2014, when our Henderson Writer’s Group publicity chairman, Tina asked me to write an article to publicize the upcoming Las Vegas Writer’s Conference. She asked me to post in a local political discussion web site called Let’s Talk Nevada, if they’d accept it. I did, they did, and after it went live, Let’s Talk Nevada asked me if I had any other non-political articles I’d like to post for their Sunday edition. They were looking for some light reading, short stories, a break from the usual political drudge.
Had an opportunity just been dropped in my lap, or what?
The pay wasn’t much, zero, in fact. Yet, how could I refuse?
How many times have I told you all I write because I love to write?
I’d already been writing these goofy autobiographical stories to my friends about life in Turkey and Spain. I thought, why not clean them up a bit and send them in to LTN and start there? I wouldn’t get paid a thing, had the freedom to say what I wanted, when I wanted and in my own sequence.
I started with living in Turkey and went from there. Almost a year later, I’m still full of stories. My regular Sunday column satisfies my memoir desire while giving my select audience a chance to see what it was like to live in these furrin’ places. I’m no celebrity, and I haven’t done anything extraordinary. However, I tell the stories in a way that’s (hopefully) entertaining, based on the feedback I get every week.
I’m probably getting more exposure with less effort than from any memoir I ever could’ve written.
So, that’s my ongoing story.
Happy writing!
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Some things I hate about the holidays. Let’s not necessarily call it a bah humbug attitude… well, go ahead. I could care less. I pretty much despise Christmas music, and so much green and red, even though green is my favorite color. I hate those green and red thingies in the fruit cake, though there are certain fruit cakes I just love, like the Texas Manor fruit cake my Palmdale High School band used to sell every year to make money for our band trips. Then there’s the Christmas movies. Gag!
Worst of all is the crass commercialism that starts in what seems like July at the unmentionable big stores. I also mustn’t forget having to get into the storage shed, chock full of a season’s worth of arid Mojave Desert dust and climb over garden tools, golf clubs, my other monster telescope and spare wood to rifle through dry-rotted boxes looking for the correct ones that aren’t for Halloween. I usually have to wear coveralls. Once that dire task is over, I hide out somewhere while the rest of the family sets everything up.
Where do I go to hide? The computer, of course! What do I do? I write my goofy stories, like this one, though this article is well after the fact. So, call it bah humbug if you like.
A LIST OF PEEVES
As I read more and more books, I keep finding the same things in most of them, trends that disturb me yet I can do nothing about.
Head hopping: It seems just about everyone has gone the lazy route and jumped on the head-hopping bandwagon. Very few authors have stuck to their guns and kept clean POVs. While I can see an occasional hop during an intense scene, as soon as “they” deemed it okay at a romance writer’s conference a few years ago, the floodgates opened. Now, even writers I thought were solid threw away their quality and went for broke.
Started to and began to: This is another peeve that’s been driving me crazy for years. You either did it or you didn’t. Those two phrases are more passive to me than the old standby’s was and has been. If you started to speak but was interrupted, fine. If you started to speak and kept going, no. You spoke! Aaagh!
Foretelling: Why do some authors insist on spoiling the fun??? Don’t tell me what’s going to happen. For crying out loud (yeah, I know it’s a cliché, sue me), let me discover it when the characters do!
THE STATE OF PRINT PUBLISHING
I have nothing against e-readers, even though I can’t personally stand them. E-books seem to be the way the business is going for a lot of people. However, I’m in fear every time we go to Barnes & Noble, because I worry there’ll either be a sign on the door saying “going out of business, or the door will be locked.
Then again, I celebrate that when we go to Barnes & Noble, the door isn’t locked and there are books on the shelves.
On the other hand, many of the authors I like don’t have books on the shelves, even though their latest have been out for some time. Yet I go to Amazon, and guess what? There they are. Sure, I can special order the book, but I’d like to see it represented on a shelf where I can touch and feel it before I buy it. I’ve been burned by favorite authors that have decided to change POV on me. I never want that to happen again by blindly purchasing one of their books on line.
I FINALLY HAVE MOVEMENT WITH PUBLISHING
I now have two pans in the fire. With Meleena’s Adventures – Treasure of the Umbrunna well on its way, I’m looking forward to my first published novel. Oh, but there’s more!
I’m now working with my other publisher to get Lusitania Gold going. If that happens, that will be two in the can in the same year, 2015. Wow!
STILL AT IT AFTER ALL THIS TIME
Doing an inventory, this is my 195th article since I started this web site. I’ve now been posting a weekly article to Let’s Talk Nevada since April 2014. I’ve edited and co-authored the Las Vegas Astronomical Society Observer’s Challenge every month with Roger Ivester since February, 2009. I’ve published a rant in the Las Vegas free newspaper City Life. I’ve had several astronomical articles published in The Reflector magazine for the Astronomical League.
On top of that, I’ve published multiple fiction and non-fiction short stories. I’ve completed 10 novels so far and am working on #11. To top it all off, I am now a character in a novel by my mentor and friend, Carol Davis Luce.
Little did I know any of this would come about back in the middle of 1995 when I sat down at my primitive computer, gave a go at writing my first novel, and completed The Cave.
One never knows where live will lead with persistence.
Happy holidays and happy writing!
HUMOR – WHAT MAKES US LAUGH?
I discussed humor as an essential element in an article a long time ago. What made me think a little deeper was a conversation at dinner the other night. The subject of the movie A Million Ways To Die In The West came up. The majority of the time, when I find something funny, I may grin or smile, but a lot of the time it’s internal. I love humor but I rarely laugh aloud. It’s just not something I do. I do chuckle during conversations when I’m cracking wise with someone.
MOVIES
During the movie A Million Ways To Die In The West, that was the first time I’ve openly laughed aloud in ages. In fact, I almost went into convulsions. There were several scenes that set me off, the first one where that block of ice drops on a guy. It set me off, and there were several more scenes that made me laugh aloud, just like that hair gel scene in Something About Mary. Very few movies have ever done that. The first one I can remember was a very obscure movie from 1961 called One Two Three about a Coke executive in Berlin trying to keep his daughter from marrying a Communist from East Berlin. It starred James Cagney (of “You dirty rat!” fame). In one scene, there’s a car chase in East Berlin and they’re in an East German car that falls apart along the way. That set me off.
BOOKS
As for books, I can remember only one printed word scene and that’s from a very obscure author named Jack Douglas who used to appear on the Mike Douglas (no relation) show. He wrote a book about his young life and in one scene they’re at camp and he had a camp counselor they called “Uncle Fart.” Being a young lad of eleven or twelve, you can guess I saw the humor in that!
MUSIC
As for music, since I never pay attention to lyrics unless they’re dirty or funny, the only lyrics that ever made me laugh aloud were by The Mothers Of Invention from Frank Zappa’s early work. I certainly won’t recite them here!
HOW WE PROCESS HUMOR
When you add humor to your story, are you expecting people to laugh aloud, grin, smile or internalize? When I go to a comedy show, of which I’ve seen plenty living here in Las Vegas, the only time I’ve ever laughed openly is when Dennis Miller said a joke about Keith Richards. He said Keith was like a old wallet that mumbles. Despite the literally thousands of jokes I’ve heard over the years, that’s the only one that set me off. Yet I love humor and love jokes and smile, grin and internally laugh. Yet I hear people around me laughing aloud and going into convulsions over jokes that to me are just grinners, or whatever. Sure, I think they’re funny, but they don’t strike that over-the-top, out-in-the-open laugh, like happens when I’m talking to someone.
What all this means is when I write humor in my stories, I don’t expect anyone else to always either necessarily get my humor, or if they do, I’m not disappointed if they don’t laugh aloud, or even grin. If they find it humorous and internalize it, fine. If they don’t, it’s just part of the emotional palette they either get or they don’t. Do I still write it that way? Of course. That’s exactly what you should do. If you have a sense of humor or want humor in your writing, put it in there!
DON’T BE AFRAID TO USE HUMOR
That’s the point of this article. Don’t be afraid to let your funny bone out, mild or overt. Don’t be afraid to salt your story with humorous moments, no matter how dour, dark, or serious the story might be. There should always be a time and place for a little humor. After all, there needs to be some ups and downs. You should also not be afraid of people like me who may very well appreciate the humor but don’t necessarily externalize it. You should also not be afraid of those that don’t have a sense of humor, or think your humor is stupid. If they don’t get you, they probably don’t get the rest of your writing either. They’ll probably find a lot of other stuff to pick on also.
Humor is an essential part of who we are. We all process it differently, we all appreciate it differently. Keep in mind the place setting and the appropriateness of your humor, but go for it if it’s warranted. If you don’t feel comfortable with it, don’t do it. If you feel compelled, I say why not?
Happy writing!
THAT GUY – THE ONE CRITIC
For everyone that’s either had experience with a writer’s group or even a published novel or two, along the way, you’re going to run into that one person (guy or gal, sorry about the sexist title, I didn’t want to make it too long) that just hates your work. Hey, it happens.
How do you deal with this?
CRITIQUE GROUP
I’ve preached over and over again (insert your cliché here) about finding the right critique group. Despite your best effort, a group is exactly that, a group of people with differing personalities, likes and dislikes. Maybe you’ll get lucky and everyone will be great. It’s really important that your group has a no blood on the floor policy. However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be one or two that just get under your skin without quite going over the edge.
How do you handle these people?
BOOK CRITICS
This could be a double whammy if you’re an accomplished author that happens to be in both a critique group and have a book or two under your belt. You may or may not be getting it from both ends. On Amazon, say, there’s that one guy or gal that can’t find a good thing to say about you. While this person may not quite go over the line with spite, he or she makes it clear they don’t like your writing. What they say in another context might be considered constructive, but in your case, their words give you nothing useful. Yet, your second book comes out and guess who shows up with another negative critique? What’s obvious is this is the only person saying those same things. Maybe one or two more might chime in but only because they have another agenda and join in just to add fuel to the fire. Then at the writers group meeting, you get the same thing. That guy or gal that doesn’t like your voice. Even though you’re a published author with a following, this person almost talks down to you like you’re an amateur and needs advice on how to do it right.
MY STORY
I have my own that one guy. I’ve known him for years and he’s an occasional member of our critique group. He’s heard me read different genres, from adventure/thriller to icky bug to fantasy and even non-fiction. His mantra never changes until the other day, he’s never given me anything I could actually use. He’s a rather harsh critic, but never quite goes over the line into blood on the floor. One thing is very obvious. He hates my writing style, my voice, no matter what I write. I’ve listened to him critique others and he can be just as harsh, but never with quite as much venom as he saves for my work. I’m sure he thinks he’s being helpful, but what he’s doing is attacking my voice.
I’ve thought of confronting him about it, more than once, but decided it isn’t worth it. I take it as a given I will never please him as long as I commit anything to words, so I do my best to dig for any clues to something useful with his harsh words. Besides, it’s not my place to argue but to absorb and either take it or leave it. After so many years, he finally noted something useful on the most recent sample he got hold of. Yeah, even he has come up with food for thought.
I let him say his thoughts, say thank you and move on. To anyone else, his same mantra and obvious dislike for my voice would tend to get under one’s skin. To me, it’s just part of being in a group.
HOW DO YOU HANDLE YOUR ONE GUY (OR GAL)?
I expect that when my books get out there, there might be a few critics that will be haters, snipers or somewhere in-between. Will I take it to heart? No.
How many of you have that one guy or gal? How do you handle this person? Do you keep quiet and let them say their thing and move on? Do you confront them?
The way critique groups should be run is that they’re not argument sessions. A brief back and forth about a point might be okay, but to get in all those with something to say, a protracted discussion about some point, and particularly and argument between two people just wastes time. I assume a good group leader will nip this one off before it goes on.
My strong suggestion is to blow it off. Listen to what they have to say each time, even if it gets under your skin. Of course you know they hate your writing, but so what? Work on what else they’re saying. Maybe they’ll add something to their rant that you can use. That’s what I do with my that one guy. Look for that nugget. You might just find it! I finally did after many years.
Happy writing!
INSPIRATION FOR CHARACTERS
I’ve talked before about developing characters and such. I was just thinking of where I come up with some of the people (and semi-people) that populate not only Meleena’s Adventures, but all of my stories. This article is a little bit about that process.
THIN AIR
The most common place I dig up characters is out of thin air. Yeah, that’s right. Many of my characters aren’t inspired directly by anyone. They just pop into my head. What does that mean?
Through life, we all meet people, see them on TV, read about them and are subtly, subconsciously influenced by thousands. When these characters, if you’re so inclined to think of them that way, pop into your head, they’re likely an amalgam of people you’ve met, seen or heard somewhere, sometime. They’re usually a random mix.
FAMILY
How many of you created a character based on your mother, father, or another close relative? How about an uncle or aunt? Do they have any idea? Is that character simply a representation in your mind that has nothing to do with reality? Will that be something you dare not reveal to them?
FRIENDS
Probably a more heavily used source than family would be friends. You can take more liberties with them without revealing details a family member would know that could come back to haunt you. As for a friend, you could play dumb, but a family member is more likely to know when you’ve revealed something intimate, which you shouldn’t do in the first place!
FAMOUS PEOPLE
Usually, when your character is modeled after a famous person, it’s a caricature, since you don’t actually know the person. You base that character on what you think that celebrity might be like, or what your favorite persona of them is like. If you make it too flagrant, readers will catch on and call you on it.
TYPE CHARACTERS
This is where you create your characters from type characters, more or less stock characters found in every other story. The typical hard-boiled detective. The Dwarf with the Scottish accent. The spinster detective always getting herself in a pickle.
There’s nothing wrong with using these stock characters, but be aware to make then uniquely their own before everyone starts screaming “Stereotype!”
STEREOTYPES
Regardless of where you derive your inspiration, you must not only avoid embarrassing a real person, or copying someone else’s character, but you must also avoid stereotypes.
A good example is when I alluded to the Dwarf with the Scottish accent a moment ago. Just because Meleena’s Adventures is a fantasy and I have Elves and Dwarves as characters, that doesn’t mean my story is in any way inspired by Lord of the Rings! As I stated in another recent article, I never liked the books. Though I loved the movies, my story is inspired by D&D, so it’s at least twice-removed from LOR. The last thing I wanted was a Dwarf with that Scottish accent! In fact, he has no accent at all. As for the Elves, there are several races and sure, they’re Elves, just like the Dwarves are Dwarves. So what? I have many other characters in the story that have nothing to do with D&D or LOR. Get over it!
For you, the same holds true. You can use any characters you want to fit your world, whether real or fantasy. The only qualification is to make them your own, not someone real, not someone copywrited. Those inspirations should always be just a starting point, not the definition.
Happy writing!
INFLUENCES
NOTE: This is a little off-cycle. I normally post on Tuesday of each week but I got tied up and yesterday, Wednesday was as well. So… Happy Thanksgiving!
There’s a big difference between influences and inspiration. Inspiration is coming up with ideas, where influences is people that you model your writing after. I’ve talked about both but not so specifically about influences. If I have, I don’t apologize because most of you probably weren’t reading this blog the last time I did talk about it!
THEY’RE HARD TO IGNORE
Since I’m a failed musician and music lover, I’ve read a lot about certain bands and musicians, lately in the metal world, that refuse to listen to either the radio or other records (well CDs now) because they don’t want other music to “pollute” their muse. They’re afraid of someone thinking they’re copping licks or ideas from another band or musician. They want their sound to be purely their own. Bull. Total bull.
Richie Blackmore, former lead guitarist for Deep Purple once said that despite being considered one of the top guitarists of the era and a supposed trend setter, he wasn’t afraid to admit that even he copped licks off other musicians. Then there’s Jimmy Page and his whole band Led Zeppelin who’ve been sued numerous times, and continue to get sued for flagrantly copping licks from others.
It’s almost impossible for a musician to lock themselves up in a cave and come up with un-influenced music.
The same for a writer.
TIME TO ACKNOWLEDGE AND EMBRACE
It’s time to stop being silly and pretentious and accept the fact that you didn’t grow up in a vacuum. You gained your chops somewhere. To be a writer, it stands to reason you probably started as a reader, right? If that’s the case, you’ve read something, somewhere that inspired you to take up writing on your own. Maybe you loved an author or authors so much you wanted to emulate them in your own way. On the other hand, maybe you felt you could do better than any schmuck out there. That’s still an influence. You doing better than anyone else means all those “crappy” writers influenced you to do them one better.
Why not acknowledge these people?
ACKNOWLEDGE DON’T COPY
Some writers get accused of copying their influences. There can be a fine line between an influence, a clone and borderline plagiarism. The fact is that it just doesn’t happen in legitimate publishing. No publisher worth their salt is going to let an author write a clone of another author. That manuscript would never get that far. That might not be the case with self-publishing, where there are no controls like that, but it’s still not likely.
There’s nothing wrong with emulating a genre or general style of your favorite author, but the best thing, which I believe is what we all do, is make it our own. We don’t want to ghost write another author’s story… well not unless we’re asked. We want to be acknowledged as our own self. Just because we love an author doesn’t mean we want to be them.
MY INFLUENCES
I make no secrets about my influences. The following authors all inspired me in overt to subtle ways and include: Carol Davis Luce, Rhondi Vilott Salsitz, Clive Cussler, James Rollins, Lester Dent (Kenneth Robeson), Dean Koontz, Andre Norton, Ron Goulart, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Bentley Little, Franklin W. Dixon, Carolyn Keene, Jack DuBrul, F. Paul Wilson, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, R. Karl Largent plus a few others I’m probably forgetting at the moment.
Every one of these people played a part in the development of my style, yet my particular brand of wordsmithing is all my own. It’s none of those authors, all of them, and all Fred Rayworth.
How about you?
Happy writing!
The Worlds Of Fred Rayworth 