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Can You Include Song Lyrics in Your Book?

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By Jason Boog on October 30, 2013 3:42 PM

Originally on GalleyCat!

recordplayer Have you ever quoted song lyrics in your book? Music can set the mood, evoke a certain setting or channel a particular emotion.

However, writers need to be aware of copyright issues surrounding music in books. We caught up withCopyright Clearance Center‘s author and creator relations director Christopher Kenneally, discovering the key questions authors should ask before including a song. Kenneally explained:

Consider not quoting the song. Lyrics, like all creative expression, are copyrighted. Copyright gives the author or creator the exclusive right to republication of the work. Any writer who wishes to quote lyrics, or for that matter, passages from another’s book, must obtain permission first. It’s probably worth asking how necessary or vital such quotation is to any particular creative work.

Kenneally added:

If it’s used to set a mood or establish a period, it’s easy enough to refer to song titles, which, under U.S. law, are not copyrighted. However, some novelists and short story writers – Ann Beattie is perhaps the most famous example – find it essential to quote from song lyrics as a way of establishing credible characters or settings.

We posed the same question about self-published books, and received this answer:

Just because you’ve made yourself the publisher, doesn’t mean you have the right to make up your own copyright law. Self-publishing has, in many respects, freed authors to express themselves as they wish. But it has also added greatly to their responsibilities. Today, self-published authors must not only write, but also market, sell and obtain rights permissions.

Finally, Kenneally explained the steps authors need to take to get permission to use song lyrics:

For any permission request, the first step is to identify the copyright holder. This is not as easy as it sounds. Look for the copyright symbol on the CD sleeve and the name of the publisher. However, in an increasingly digital world where downloads are more common, this sort of “metadata” is not always immediately available.

If you contact the publisher, don’t expect a fast reply. He or she will usually need to contact several different rightsholders who may be on tour or (as it happens in rock) have recently climbed the stairway to heaven. Do expect that for all but the most obscure artist, the reuse fees may be significant. If you run into a roadblock, there are organizations that will provide assistance. Such “content management organizations” include ASCAP, BMI, as well asCopyright Clearance Center.

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Twitter trains writers to focus

Making the Switch from Nonfiction to Fiction Writing

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Another great post by JOANNA PENN SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

I started out writing non-fiction with no thought of even trying fiction, mainly because I thought I had to write like Umberto Eco in order to be considered a literary success.

But, I decided to give it a try for NaNoWriMo 2009, and I haven’t looked back! In this article Jodie Renner, editor, author, & speaker, talks about how to make the switch.

You’re already confident with writing nonfiction, so making the transition to fiction should be no big deal, right? Not. There’s actually a significant learning curve to recognizing and mastering the essential elements of writing fiction that captivates readers, sells well, and garners glowing reviews.

As an independent editor specializing in popular, fast-paced fiction, I often receive manuscripts from professionals and others who write a lot of nonfiction and are attaching a draft of a novel or short story. They often assume that since they’re used to writing, the transition to fiction will be easy.

Not so.

Nonfiction writers and first-time novelists often don’t realize the importance of issues they’re simply not aware of, so they ask me for “just a light copyedit.” When I start reading their manuscript, I often notice right away the story seems to lack sparkle. It doesn’t engage me and make me want to keep reading.

**The writers, although accomplished in their field, have little or no concept of the critical aspects of point of view and showing instead of telling.**

Other issues I see are writing that is just too “correct” and distant for storytelling, with stilted dialogue, too-frequent author intrusions, and bland, neutral narration. Finally, the writing often meanders along at too leisurely a pace, lacking sufficient conflict, tension, intrigue, and general zing.

The following tips, for anyone wanting to master the art of storytelling, will help you bring your characters and story world to life by loosening up your language, getting up close and personal with your characters, lettingthem tell the story, and showing their emotions and reactions. Of course, you’ll need to start with a charismatic protagonist, a critical problem, plenty of conflict, and an intriguing plot.

1. Get into your character’s head – and stay there.

Start right out in the point of view of your protagonist and show the events through his eyes, with his internal reactions. Forget omniscient point of view – it’s no longer in favor, and for very good reason. Readers want to get “up close and personal” with the main character, so they can become emotionally engaged and sucked into the story.

Show your character’s thoughts, perceptions, and inner reactions to what’s going on right away, so readers can identify with her and bond with her. Don’t head-hop to other characters’ thoughts within a scene. To get into the head of others, like the antagonist or love interest, give them their own viewpoint scenes.

2. Stay out of the story as the author.

Let the characters tell the story, in a natural way that is authentic to the story world you’re creating. This will keep the readers immersed in the fictive dream. Don’t interrupt the story by stepping in as the author to explain things to the readers. In other words, avoid info dumps and other author intrusions.

3. Make sure your story has plenty of conflict and tension.

Conflict is what drives fiction. No conflict = no story. Not enough conflict and tension = boring. Every scene should have some conflict and a change. Every page should have some tension, even if it’s just an undercurrent of unease, disagreement, or resentment.

4. Loosen up your language.

Again, “let the characters tell the story.” Forget perfect English, complete sentences, convoluted phrasing, or fancy-schmancy vocabulary. Use direct language and strong imagery, in the character’s thoughts, colored by their personality, education, background and attitudes. In other words, stay in your character’s mood and voice, using words and phrasing they would use, which also fit the overall tone of the story, rather than a more correct, neutral language.

5. Show, Don’t Tell

Don’t step in as the author to tell your readers about your characters or their background or to relate something that happened. And don’t have one character tell another about a critical event that occurred offstage. Show important scenes in real time, with action and dialogue.

Also, to bring your characters alive, be sure to show their emotions, internal and external reactions, and physical sensations.

Evoke all or most of the senses. Don’t just show what the character is seeing. What is she hearing, smelling, feeling? Even tasting?

6. Use snappy dialogue.

Dialogue needs lots of tension and attitude. Be sure your dialogue doesn’t all sound the same – like it’s the author speaking. Each character’s words and speech patterns need to match their personality and background.

Avoid complete sentences and perfect English in dialogue. Use frequent partial sentences, one- or two-word questions and answers, evasive replies, abrupt changes of topic, and silences. Read your dialogue out loud, perhaps role-playing with someone else, to make sure it sounds natural and authentic.

Also, skip the “Hi, how are you?” and other blah-blah lead-up and filler. Cut to the chase in your dialogue.

7. Even your narration should not be neutral.

Avoid bland, authorial narration.

Any backstory should be the character’s thoughts, colored by their feelings about it, and keep it to a minimum, preferably with flashbacks in real time. Even your description, exposition, and narration should not be neutral – these are really the POV character’s observations, and should reveal their personality, goals, attitude and mood.

Do you have any more tips to share for nonfiction writers or anyone else just getting into writing fiction? Please do leave a comment below.

Jodie Renner, a freelance fiction editor specializing in thrillers and other fast-paced fiction, has published two books to date in her series, An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction: WRITING A KILLER THRILLER and STYLE THAT SIZZLES & PACING FOR POWER, both available in e-book and trade paperback.

For more info, please visit Jodie’s author website or editor website, or find her on Facebook or Twitter.

Image: Flickr Creative Commons pen by Gregory Wake

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Ancient Marginalia: Yesterday’s Naysayers

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Reposted from Digital Book World

Categories: Expert Publishing Blog
July 25, 2013 | Corey Pressman (@exprima) | 0

This is an historic day. Today, the reputable news source The Onion has announced the death of print at the advanced age of 1,803. The piece reports:

“Print, which had for nearly two millennia worked tirelessly to spread knowledge around the globe in the form of books, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and numerous other textual materials, reportedly succumbed to its long battle with ill health, leaving behind legions of readers who had for years benefited from the dissemination of ideas made possible by the advent of printed materials.”

I would like to remember print by going back to its early years – to a time when, as a punky young upstart, print was lingering on street corners spooking the squares. You see, print wasn’t always the stately (if not stodgy) elder statesman it was just before its demise. Actually, it was something of a boogyman even in its infancy as mere writing.

Prior to writing, cultures relied mostly on oral transmission of stories and information. Oral cultures (the common mode for ~150,000 years) place great emphasis on mnemonics, formulaic expressions, and the social immediacy of face-to-face communication. There was an emphasis on the present and on the group and on a certain fluidity of knowledge. Words were not objects, but were acts loosely memorized and differentially performed between physically proximal people.

Writing showed up on the scene and immediately raised eyebrows. Writing allowed massive information storage in a non-neurological medium. It allowed folks to communicate with others who were not there – writing lets information and stories travel through time and space in a way that your brain simply cannot. This was great for inventories and laws but even more awesome for communicating, well, almost everything.

Plato_Silanion_Musei_Capitolini_MC1377

Plato backs the wrong horse.

But not without a price. An alphabet is very disruptive technology. The transition from orality to writing restructured consciousness in immediate and observable ways. And this made some people cranky. Like Plato, who writes (ironically!) of writing:

“If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for reminder. And it is no true wisdom that you offer your disciples, but only its semblance, for by telling them of many things without teaching them you will make them seem to know much, while for the most part they know nothing, and as men filled, not with wisdom, but with the conceit of wisdom, they will be a burden to their fellows.”

Ouch! And Plato was upset about handwritten texts. Young printwas even more of a thug – if Greek and Latin papyrus scrolls freaked out the neighbors, what of the almost infinite collection of mechanically printed compendia unleashed by moveable type? For some, the advent of readily available and widely distributed books served only to kill the word, enfeeble minds, and empower fools.

465px-Printer_in_1568-ce

Ink and elbow grease, Exhibit A

What would happen if none ever had to memorize anything?? They could just look it up in books! What if people read wrong information?? Or worse, information that you didn’t want them to read?? Power brokers like popes and bishops were quick to condemn widespread literacy and book distribution. In 1486, for example, Archbishop Berthold of Mainz forbade the printing of any book that he did not approve. A piece of satirefrom the time has a bishop complaining that though banishing ministers was easy, silencing printers was not, “…no Art yet could prevent these seditious meetings [of printers]. Two or three brawny Fellows in a Corner, with mere Ink and Elbow-grease do more harm than a hundred [wayward ministers].”

Even people in the business were spooked – Hieronimo Squarciafico, a 15th Century Venetian print editor famously stated “Abundance of books makes men less studious.”

Alas. These guys were on the wrong side of fate. Print, as we know, went on to become the basis of civilization. Until its death on July 25, 2013.

Of course, we still live in a print culture. But binary situates us at another crossroads. We can now reintroduce some of that orality that print could not deliver. We can invent ways of reading that extend and expand on print’s work. Here at the rosy-fingered dawn of digital, swift-footed binary can carry us closer to Ithaca…

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What Makes Iconic or Popular Characters Unforgettable?

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Posted by Melissa Donovan at Writing Forward!

Why are iconic characters so memorable?

Luke Skywalker is the obvious hero of Star Wars, so why do Han, Leia, and Darth Vader get all the attention? When I think about the characters from Star Wars, Luke is often the last one who comes to mind. It’s not that he’s utterly forgettable, but he doesn’t stand out from the crowd of characters who surround him, despite the fact that the story centers on him. The other characters easily overshadow him, even the characters whose roles are not as critical to the story.

All of the characters from Star Wars are iconic, but some are more memorable than others. What can we learn from iconic characters and how can we create unforgettable characters in our own stories?

Plot vs. Characters

Not all stories call for an iconic character. The Da Vinci Code has been criticized for its relatively uninteresting characters, but the story is not about the characters; it’s about an ancient conspiracy, a puzzle. The characters are supposed to take a backseat to the plot, and an iconic character might have distracted from the story.

We can compare The Da Vinci Code and its protagonist, Robert Langdon, to Indiana Jones, whose quests are fun but not nearly as deep or complex as Robert Langdon’s. We want to go on Indiana Jones’ adventure because we want to go with him. We take the Da Vinci Code adventure for the sake of the quest itself; any character could serve as a guide.

If you’re thinking about developing an iconic character, first ask whether it’s appropriate for your story. Great detectives, for example, may be interesting and likeable but they’re rarely iconic because in the mystery genre, we’re reading to solve the mystery more than we’re reading to spend time with a particular character. For example, I like Harry Boschjust fine but I didn’t read Michael Connelly’s books so I could spend time with Harry. I read to find out who did it.

That doesn’t mean big, riveting, plot-driven tales can’t include iconic characters. But it’s worth considering whether you want your character to overshadow your plot or vice versa. Sometimes, the best stories are a good balance of compelling characters and plot. They may not be what we’d consider iconic, but they’re riveting enough.

Studying Popular Characters

In film and literature, certain characters have captured people’s imaginations and won their hearts–characters like Scarlett O’Hara, Indiana Jones, and Katniss Everdeen became more famous than the authors who created them. So what is it that makes some characters unforgettable? Let’s do a brief study of a few iconic and popular characters from film and literature:

Scarlett O’Hara (Gone with the Wind): People keep telling me she’s an anti-hero, that she’s wicked and unlikeable, but I adore Scarlett O’Hara. Remember, she’s only sixteen years old when the story starts. Keeping her age in mind, her envious, arrogant nature is more understandable. She goes on to do whatever she must to survive, take care of her family, and keep her land. Surrounded by war and famine, Scarlett doesn’t have much of a chance to mature but eventually, she thrives. She becomes an aggressive, independent woman who takes charge of her own destiny in a time and place when women were generally submissive, passive, and dependent on men. What makes her iconic is that she goes against the grain, and in the film, she boasts a striking wardrobe and memorable catch-phrases (fiddle-dee-dee, I’ll think about it tomorrow).

Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird): I’m not sure Atticus Finch is iconic but he’s definitely one of the most popular characters in literature. He’s a man who stands up against racism in a time and place where racism is the acceptable and preferable norm. Yet he’s admired and respected in his community despite the fact that he opposes their outdated, bigoted ways, which is not an easy thing to pull off. Like Scarlett, he goes against the grain, which is a trait we’ll see in many iconic characters.

Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark): I already mentioned Indie so let’s look at what makes him so iconic. Like the others, he goes against the grain. By day, he’s a handsome, refined professor in a tweed suit and spectacles. The rest of the time, he’s a daring adventurer who risks life and limb for ancient archeological artifacts. His iconic status gets a lot of help from his banged-up brown fedora and trusty whip as well his trademark wisecracks.

Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games Trilogy): Everyone else depends on a corrupt government system for sustenance but Katniss jumps the fence (figuratively and literally) to hunt and gather for her family’s survival. Her iconic status is boosted by the mockingjay symbol and her bow and arrow and her status as an icon is cemented when she plays the game in a way that fits her moral standards rather than playing it to pacify the government.

Iconic Characters Share Similarities

I once heard that the best stories are either about extraordinary characters in ordinary situations or ordinary characters in extraordinary situations. I’d say that most iconic characters break the mold; they are extraordinary and so are their situations.

We can observe similarities that make these iconic characters memorable. I would say they all deviate from social norms and expectations. Most of them have distinct clothing or accessories and memorable catch-phrases.

We can learn even more about iconic characters by asking questions and further studying them:

Why is Batman more iconic than, say, Aquaman? Why is Catwoman more iconic than Poison Ivy?
Who is your favorite character (iconic or not) in film or literature? What was it that made the character so compelling to you? Was it the character’s looks? Attitude? Backstory?
There are popular characters, like Atticus Finch, and then there are truly iconic characters like Batman, Indiana Jones, and Katniss Everdeen. What’s the difference between a popular character and an iconic character? What makes one character popular while another becomes iconic?

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Are You Meeting Your Writing Goals? Try These Productivity Tips For Writers

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from JOANNA PENN at The Creative Penn

Time seems to fly by and our writing goals can sometimes fall behind in the craziness of the day to day.

Balancing writing with ‘real life’ and business tasks as well as family and other commitments can become a strain.

But we need to step back now and then, assess the situation and reset our behaviors in order to achieve our goals.

I’m not a productivity geek, but I do have processes and systems and I love to learn about new ways to optimize my workflow. I recently read ‘Manage Your Day To Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus and Sharpen Your Creative Mind‘ from 99U, one of my favorite blogs.

It gave me plenty of pages of notes, but the significant changes for me are:

Do not check email or social before I have done my first creation block of the day

e.g. 1500 words on latest WIP. In order to achieve this, I have removed my email app from my mobile phone and am using Antisocial software to block access to those while still allowing me on the internet for research (which I often need as I write). I started doing this at the beginning of the year, but I fell off the wagon. Not firmly back on it.

Look strategically at personal and business goals and decide what I can get rid of and what I can streamline.

I’m still looking at this but I will be restructuring this site somehow, and making the process flow easier so I have more creation time. But don’t worry, it won’t be going anywhere!

I asked my email list about their tips for productivity

Here are some of the responses I received back (some paraphrasing). Perhaps they will help you, or you can add yours in the comment section below.

[By the way, you can join the email list by signing up and ownloading the Author 2.0 Blueprint here]

Benjamin Tiller: I get my writing done first thing in the morning before work – with no TV, no phone, no wifi on the laptop. Word count goals have been great. I utilize the full screen feature in Scrivener to limit other distractions.

Annemarie Slee: Try www.workflowy.com. Easy for list making, but also very useful for outlining your ToC. You can set times and dates easily too.

Attention management, not time management

Grace Marshall: It might help to think of it as attention management rather than time management – gets you noticing and tracking the thing that you can actually manage – your attention, rather than time itself. And here’s how to beat writer’s procrastination.

Jon Jefferson: I use three things as a crutch to help me stay focused: The times I write, doing pre-writingto get all the extraneous out of my mind, and timed writing for set blocks of time to focus in.

My daily word count chart

Jean Reinhardt: I found that when I was stuck on my YA book, I could write if I switched genres (to a short story, now a novella). This means I am writing two books at the same time, but switching genres works for me and keeps things flowing.

Find what works for you – even if it is in the bathroom!

Stacie Whitney: I’m a mother of a young child who gets up and wants attention as soon as she hears me come out of the bathroom in the morning. So on that first morning to get my book written, I went into the bathroom with my computer, locked the door, and got to work. I wrote the entire outline and two chapters before breakfast!

After a week of early morning bathroom writing sessions, I was somehow able to sneak into the living room, and the rest of the book was written (mainly) in early morning hours before the rest of my family was awake.Basically, my tip is to find whatever space and rhythm work best for you and DO that! And be willing to alter it if circumstances change.

Jason Lewis: the only way that I can write effectively is to completely lock myself away (metaphorically) from social media. The best way I’ve found so far is to take a long train journey; get the netbook out and just write like there’s no tomorrow. Racked up six thousand words the other day (my single most productive day by a long distance) on a five hour journey. The reason being I cannot get a signal on my phone and I refuse to pay to access the internet on the train.

Karlene Cameron: When I write, I keep the computer turned off. That does it for me.

Lyle Nicholson: Set a block of time, and then use it. If it’s one hour or three hours, close your door, or your external senses and write. Even if you don’t write, and you just doodle on a pad, or write silly things for the hour or three hours, use that as your creative process time. The mind is an amazing instrument, if you give it space and time, it will take you in marvelous directions.

Write by hand – away from the computer

Carlie Van Amerongan: I’ve just started doing my writing by hand. I used to do everything on the computer, and I would easily get distracted, by all the other things I could do on the computer… and no amount of willpower would help! Since I’ve started doing it this way, I’m much more productive, even if the rate of words to page is a little slower. I’m enjoying the process more, and I think in the end I get more words out. Far from a productivity tip, this is a brand new practice for me… but so far it seems to be working.

Kathleen Heady: I carry an old-fashioned legal pad with me, or a notebook would do, and when I have time throughout the day, I work on whatever my current writing project is — longhand. I substitute teach so I often have downtime to do this, but sometimes it is easier to pick up a pad of paper than go on the computer with all the distractions it offers. Then later I can type up my work when I am in a less creative mood.

Sally Chippendale: 1000 words per day and don’t start later than 10am. If you are blocked move straight on to the next scene. If you have children put their favorite tv show on and neglect them for an hour and a half. I make one decent coffee beforehand; that is my only set up requirement/custom that I allow myself. I printed out and pinned above my desk one long excel spreadsheet detailing each scene in one sentence, headings included day, characters, action, reason. Then highlight each line when complete, for satisfaction value.

Tom Evans:

1. Breathe in through alternate nostrils five times (use a finger to close each nostril off in turn)

2. Doodle or mind map what you are about to write about

3. Then meditate or go for a walk before you start writing

4. Resist the temptation to edit while writing

5. Have a treat lined up for when you finish each session (e.g. a cup of tea and digestive biscuit)

Tom is an author, bookwright and creative catalyst. His latest book is called The Zone and is an exploration of how to get in and stay in it. More details here … http://www.tomevans.co/books/the-zone/

Find a few good writing website/blogs and stick to them.

Don’t be distracted by a hundred updates inboxing you each day. This happened to me, for a few days I spent more time reading than writing.

Betty Halsey: disable the internet on my computer and leave my phone in a different room.

Francis Wade, author of Bill’s Im-Perfect Time Management Adventure: In our age, improving your time management skills continually is a must, and it’s best done by slowly adapting new habits, practices and rituals, rather than chasing down the latest gadget, shortcut or trick. Deliberate practice anyone?

There are clearly a lot of similarities, and yes, I know the irony of blogging about this topic and distracting you from writing at the same time!

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Why Is Academic Writing So Bad? #FED_ebooks #writer #author

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The Importance of Clear Writing

Harvard political-science professor Stephen Walt posted an excellent piece over at Foreign Policy earlier this week. Its title accurately conveys the gist of it: “Why Is Academic Writing So Bad?” Such laments echo. Some of Walt’s commentary reminds me of Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan’s century-old reminiscences about his failings as a literary craftsman. Mahan was an author who sold a metric gazillion books and articles, spreading the good word of sea power. The bibliography of his works is itself a book. But then as now, readers were no fans of his rambling Victorian style.

Grammatical and stylistic shortcomings have consequences. Having studied and taught sea-power theory for two decades now, I’m convinced that half the reason naval officers prefer Sir Julian Corbett’s ideas to Mahan’s is because of Corbett’s fluid writing style. He’s an easy read, saving students precious hours of reading time. It appears style, not substance, may decide important debates. Victory may go to the contestant who conveys ideas more fluently, not the one with superior ideas. Hence the importance of clear, concise writing. The medium may not be the message, but it carries — or obstructs — the message.

Mahan was unusually candid about the criticisms flung his way. In his memoir From Sail to Steam, he confesses to a “besetting anxiety” to be “exact and lucid.” The downside to precision, he recalls, was being “nervously susceptible to being convicted of a mistake.” To escape criticism, he “strove to introduce between the same two periods every qualification” or disclaimer possible. Cumbersome sentences and paragraphs were the result. He admitted to overtaxing readers’ attention “as an author has no right to do,” and reported being “reproached … justly” for the “diffuseness” of his writing.

There’s good news — from my selfish standpoint, at any rate. (And it is all about me.) First, like Mahan, Naval War College students tend to be a self-critical lot, receptive to help with details. And second, our students face no pressure to write only for scholars. Quite the opposite. Plainspoken language is at a premium when working for senior commanders or diplomats, as our graduates will in future assignments. By contrast, civilian universities actively discourage publishing in outlets where specialists converse with laymen about arcane matters.

Op-eds, professional journal articles, and — needless to say — blog entries like this one count for next to nothing in hiring, tenure, and promotion decisions. Indeed, non-scholarly writing probably counts for less than nothing in the academy. It carries steep opportunity costs. An hour spent writing for a newspaper, practically minded journal, or commercial press is an hour not spent writing for a university press or peer-reviewed journal — an outlet where academics are the gatekeepers.

Scholarly publishers are the ones that make or break careers on campus. But if academic writing is bad, writing solely for other academics looks like a bad way to improve matters.

Source: www. thediplomat.com By: James R. Holmes

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John Grisham Writing Tips #FED_ebooks #author #writer #indieauthor #teacher

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Writing Tips From John Grisham

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The Value of Thinking On Your Feet #FED_ebooks #writer #author

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Where does your creativity come from? What’s the value of thinking on your feet? This video offers a priceless example.

Enjoy.

Have a great day!

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It’s Your Life, Write It Down Writing Workshop #FED_ebooks #writer #author

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Writing Workshop – It’s Your Life, Write It Down

Salem, Conn. – The Salem Public Library, 264 Hartford Road, Salem, CT will host a six-week writing workshop titled “It’s Your Life, Write It Down” beginning at 4 p.m. on Oct. 12, 2012.

The program, led by long-time freelance writer Nancy Rodgers, will help participants record their most poignant memories, learn how to compose an autobiographical narrative and how to create characters to use in a work of fiction.

The cost for the program is $5. Participants are expected to attend all six sessions. Registration is required.

For more information, call (860) 859-1130.

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7 Movie-Title Mistakes #FED_ebooks #writer #indieauthor #screenplay

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7 Movie-Title Mistakes

One does not rely on the entertainment industry to model proper grammar and punctuation, but is it too much to expect that movie titles make grammatical sense? Evidently, it is; filmmakers and film studio marketing staff have more important things to do than ensure that titles correctly use hyphens and apostrophes, appropriately employ punctuation marks, and form verbs properly, as these movie posters demonstrate.

An early poster for The 40-Year-Old Virgin omitted the first hyphen, resulting in a title that didn’t make sense. If it were plural, it could refer to twoscore twelve-month-old babies, but that’s rather complicated. Fortunately, later versions were corrected, and moviegoers were left with a comforting correlation between a photograph of Steve Carell’s dorky-looking title character and a that-figures movie title.

The title of the horror-comedy Eight Legged Freaks appears to refer to an octet of people who may be otherwise abnormal but are equipped with legs. However, as an epithet for unusually large and aggressive spiders (apparently based on an ad lib from the star of the film, which originally bore the title Arac Attack), it should read Eight-Legged Freaks; the wordseight and legged must — outside of Hollywood, that is — be hyphenated to signal that they combine as a single term modifying freaks.

Shrink, shrank, shrunk. Shrink, shrank, shrunk. I always have to look that kind of stuff up — a strategy the makers of this film could have easily employed to produce a grammatically correct title. Depending on where Rick Moranis’s character is in the child-miniaturizing process at the pertinent time, the title should be Honey, I Will Shrink the Kids, Honey, I Shrank the Kids, or Honey, I Have Shrunk the Kids.

This man belongs to the ladies. He is in their possession. Ladies claim ownership of this man. He is a ladies’ man. Ladies, is this your man?

A citizen who abides by the law is a law-abiding citizen; law and abiding are connected by a hyphen to show that together, they describe the particular type of citizen ostensibly featured in this film (in reality, the protagonist is a law-flouting citizen — but that’s Hollywood for you). The lack of a hyphen is excusable in display type on a movie poster or in the film’s credits, but when it is omitted on promotional materials as well, the producers are not law-abiding filmmakers.

When you plan to resign from a job, it’s customary to give notice two weeks in advance of your planned departure date. You give a notice of two weeks. The two weeks “belong” to the notice, so it’s “two weeks’ notice” (or “a two-week notice,” though the other form is much more common).

This title is a question. The source material for the film is a novel titled Who Censored Roger Rabbit? So, why does the movie title not include a question mark? Some sources claim that filmmakers have a superstition that titles so adorned do poorly at the box office. Tell that to What’s Up, Doc?, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and, more recently,O Brother, Where Art Thou?, among others. This film did very well, but I think would have been just as successful with the perilous punctuation mark. Defenders will say the title is shorthand for “Find Out Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” but that requires logical contortions not even the rubber-limbed title character can manage.

http://www.dailywritingtips.com by Mark Nichol

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Tag Archives: writing

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3. Make sure your story has plenty of conflict and tension.

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I asked my email list about their tips for productivity

Attention management, not time management

Find what works for you – even if it is in the bathroom!

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The writers, although accomplished in their field, have little or no concept of the critical aspects of point of view and showing instead of telling.

1. Get into your character’s head – and stay there.

2. Stay out of the story as the author.

3. Make sure your story has plenty of conflict and tension.

4. Loosen up your language.

5. Show, Don’t Tell

6. Use snappy dialogue.

7. Even your narration should not be neutral.

Share this:

Share this:

Plot vs. Characters

Studying Popular Characters

Iconic Characters Share Similarities

Share this:

Time seems to fly by and our writing goals can sometimes fall behind in the craziness of the day to day.

Do not check email or social before I have done my first creation block of the day

Look strategically at personal and business goals and decide what I can get rid of and what I can streamline.

I asked my email list about their tips for productivity

Attention management, not time management

Find what works for you – even if it is in the bathroom!

Write by hand – away from the computer

Find a few good writing website/blogs and stick to them.

Share this:

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**The writers, although accomplished in their field, have little or no concept of the critical aspects of point of view and showing instead of telling.**