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WRITER'S, WRITING & CYBERSPACE, Oh, MY! Vol.. 1, No. 1 5 June, 2005 A Newsletter of Writing Resources and a tiny amount of self-promotion (A very tiny amount) M. Kenyon Charboneaux, Editor (nomadagain2000@yaho..com) This ezine is distributed by subscription only - except for this 1st issue which I'm sending to all my Eros subscribers and all my friends and students If you don't want to keep recieving this every month, simple unsubscribe and you'll never hear from CC&W again! Promise! To unsubscribe, just send me an email at nomadagain2000@yahoo.com with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. If you were sent this ezine by a friend and wish to subscribe just send me an email at nomadagain2000@yahoo.com with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. I do this all by hand - no autoresponder, no mail servers, so shoot me over an email and I??™ll add you (or subtract you) from the list . IN THIS ISSUE ... * Editorial * Websites and Writers You DON'T Want to Miss!! * Book Review : Stephen King's The Dark Tower I by Shavron Scott * Calls for Submission & Market Listings * Agents & Contests * Bragging Rights * Articles & Columns Column - Can It Really Be Envy?? by Kenyon Charboneaux * Info re Articles * Prompts * Classes & Services * Advertisements * Info for Advertisers * The Legal Stuff * About Me * Subscribe/Unsubscribe information ********************************************************************* Editorial - Again I Make A Maiden Voyage Hello, hello, yes, it's me again, folks! Welcome to all of my old friends and to all of the new subscribers. An extremely warm welcome!! As most of you know, I used to be the editor-owner of a newsletter that was for new and oriiginal fiction and poetry, plus listings of interest and help to writers. In Septmeber of last year, after my heart seizure, I had to make some choices, line up those priorities and goals, make changes. So what I chose to change, to drop actually, was those activities which took so much time away from my writing and my teaching, line-editing et al services and were not money making , since money is, of course, quite necessary to life in a city and I had limited energy that had to go into either making money or my own writing. And so it was that I passed Eros & Rust on to Susan Snivley who has been doing a wonderful job -- I think a better job than I ever did, with it. If you're not a subscriber and enjoy the delight of new and original poets and storytellers, drop her a note at susansn@sympatico.ca with Subscribe in the subject line and you'll start getting your veru own issue every month like clockwork. Sue is a clockwork kind of person - I'm not. Oh, well .... not one of us is flawless, eh? But change has always been a terribly important part of my life. Until I became disabled and unable to gypsy around the country anymore, my motto was "There is no safety except in Mobility" and I would move from city to city, state to state, wherever to whever, usually changing my name along the way - just to be moving, just to be changing. Jim Morrison's song The Changeling could have been about me, except we only met for about 5 seconds, so I don't think it is. Now change has to come in other forms and one of those forms is this new newsletter. This time I have not set myself a load of work - this is a simple writer's resource newsletter with some articles and book and movie reviews. It's small, but hopefully, you'll find it rich and helpful to you. When I told some of my writer friends I was going to put out another newsletter, they all pushed me to do so in my own name - or rather the name of my site, and to use it to shamelesssly self-promote. Now shameless self-promotion is something I think we fiction writers should be ashamed of and I'm not going to do it. I'll do no more than I did in Eros, which is list my accomplishments in the About Me section and when I have something new to brag about, I'll stick it in the Bragging Rights section along with everyone else who sends in a Brag. Another thing you won't see here is a lot of advertisements. Too many of the writer's newsletters have more ads then they do content - why? I have no idea. There's usually a disclaimer saying that you should donate to keep the newslettter free to all who want it and the ads are for the same reason, but that's not a very compelling reason, if you ask me. These little writer's resource newsletters don't take that much time to put out and they don't cost anything other than payments to the authors of the articles. Poor as I am since I became disabled, I can afford to pay $5 per article or review without breaking the bamk. So any corporate sponsership, any advertisements, any reciprocal ads for other newsletters will all be near the end of the newsletter in their own little box and, like the About Me section, you can skip them if you want. They will never interfere with the meat of the newsletter, which will be all you see, if that's all you want to see. And another thing you won't see here is editorials that deal with my pivate life - who wants to read about someone's abcessed tooth, their kids who are always in trouble, their divorce problems, their dog that pees the carpet, their car that won't start .... usually these writer's newsletters have this type of editorial and it's said that they are a necessary part of the newsletter so your readers can get to know you. Hell, I'm so easy to get to know all you have to do is send me an email! It's my contention that these editorials should be about writing and about the newsletter. Nothing more. And especially nothing at all less. What you WILL see here are listings of agents, contests, markets, publishers (small press, traditional and subsidy), calls for submission to anthologies and grants/awards/fellowships. You'll also see prompts for either your journaling or your writing exercises, and sections for Brags when you publish something, have something accepted somewhere or maybe you just finally finished that novel you've been slaving over for god knows how long!, websites that you should take a gander at, websites that can offer you resources as a writer, and, of course, articles on writing, the writing life and book and movie reviews. Finally, I want to make public acknowledgement and thanks to those who were especially helpful and supportive during my heart scare in September : Neil Marr, publisher, Be Write Publishing for his unstinted support and good wishes while I was in the hospital and after I came home even though he had his own tragedy to deal with at the same time; Geoff Nelder, UK writer extraordinaire, who never stopped making me smile and always had a supportive and kind word whenever I needed it; Jeff Strand, very successful (and therefore very busy) US writer of comedic horror and his wife, Janice (also very busy both as senior editor at Hard Shell Publishing and as a writer of dozens of very successful young Adult books) for kind wishes and their willingness to be of help, since they live not far from me, help which I am happy to say I never had to burden them with actually giving me; Rob Parnell, my friend and the gentleman who platforms most of my classes at his site - www.easywaytowrite.com - who continued to believe in me and my ability to keep up with the work of teaching on his site without letting down his subscribers; Richard Spurling, Aussie writer of wonderful stories and books as well as a very helpful book for all of us writers who suffer from the writer's main disease, depression, called Black Mist, available on his website, www.richardspurling.com. for his total support through my depression after the heart seizure and everything else .... and Susan Snivley, Gretchen in South Africa, Chatterbox, Loretta Miller and a dozen more whose names escape me but whose kindnesses never will. That said, those things, rather, said, let's get to the first ever issue of Writers, Writing & Cyberspace, Oh, MY! Enjoy!! Cheers - Kenyon *********************************************************************** WEBSITES AND WRITERS YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS!! 1) Rob Parnell's Easy Way To Write site has books, classes (no, there's not all mine, either!), articles and a lot more, including newsletters to help the beginning writer and the seasoned writer to be better writers. 2) Richard Spurling's Twisted Lines site has plenty to keep you busy and enjoying yourself and includes his listing of writer's services and his books and stories, some of which you can read for free on site. 3) Nicholas Grabowsky's site - a wonderful fairyland of lights and colors and a ton of things to do and see - he's collaborating with Clive Barker but has it gone to his head? Nope. He has fan fiction pages for several new writers (including MOI) where you can read new horror fiction for free. His books and their reviews are also available here. He's one of those who has made it in the writing world and now he wants to help others to make it, too. Check him and his work out at .... *********************************************************************** Book and Movie Reviews : This month we have Shavon Scott's review of the King of Horror - The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger by Stephen KingReviewed By: Shavon Scott The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed. This is the opening line to Stephen King??™s Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger, the beginning of a thought provoking epic that has spanned over ten-plus years to the tune of seven books. In this book, we??™re introduced to Stephen King??™s hero and the saga??™s central character, Roland of Gilead, and get a glimpse into his madness ??“ the Dark Tower. On the top, The Gunslinger is a story about a man following an obsession and the trials and tribulations he encounters on his way to his prize ??“ the man in black. Roland seems more machine than man because first, he sleeps, then he wakes to continue his chase of the man in black and then he sleeps again. But, with each sub-character he encounters, beginning with Brown and his pet bird, Zoltan, Roland becomes more human and therefore, easy to relate to. By the time he meets up with Jake of New York, the young boy he encounters at the way station just as heat induced delirium sets in, our hero has become the guy we root for, the man we empathize with. Roland continues his quest with Jake and we get another peek into Roland??™s enigmatic past through his sharing with him ??“ his boyhood, his love for his parents and how his mother??™s affair shaped, in essence, his destiny. But, even as Roland grows to love Jake and does what he can to protect him, we begin to feel some ugliness by the time they reach and have to travel under the mountains. Somewhere between the settler in the desert and this point you may have forgotten about the thing that drives Roland, but as they make their way under the earth, you know that he will be forced to make a decision that could cost him his soul . . . But, under the surface and between the lines, The Gunslinger is full of symbolism. Gilead, the land of love and light, is part Camelot with its chivalry and gun toting "knights" and part our world as we see and would like to see it (land of the free, home of the brave, a safe haven of righteousness.) However, we know America and the rest of the world is stricken with hunger, violence and a slow decline of compassion in addition to all the good we have today. Gilead??™s destruction, although fiction, could be the ghost of America to come minus the touch of magic ??“ rife with war and savagery. The added touch of American "relics" (Amoco gas pumps, for example) reinforces that disturbing thought. The Gunslinger, in essence, could be a reflection of us. He is a portrait of human strengths and weaknesses, of our constant battle between doing what we want and doing what is right and how we deal with the consequences of our decisions. Stephen King, with stunning imagery and colorful description, has woven a grown-up fairytale in 256 pages that will keep you enchanted to the very end. A word of advice ??“ have the second book, The Drawing of the Three, handy because when you finish, you??™ll be ready to dive into it. Happy reading!! ********************************************************************* Agents, Contests & Markets Each month this newsletter markets or submission calls for your work and will state if the market is a paying one or not. We??™ll also have at least 2 agent listings. And it??™s here you??™ll find contests and writing competitions. I will try to keep all contest entries at least 2 months in advance of the deadline date so you'll have time to get your story ready to send off. Remember! These are obtained from various places on the Web and although I try to check (especially in the case of POD publishers) that the contest and the publishers and markets and agents are reputable, I can??™t be held responsible if any of them turn out to be bad dudes or scams. ALWAYS check with Whispers and Warnings or Writer??™s Beware! and if, after you contact them, ANYTHING about any of these people sounds off to you, don't have a thing to do with them! Even if there's nothing against them in W&W or Writer's Beware! don't pay any money to anyone who doesn't feel right to you! If you are a publisher or agent or have a market, submission call or contest, you??™d like to see listed here, just send it to me at nomadagain2000@yahoo.com.. This Month??™s Listings : 1) MARKETS, SUBMISSIONS, PUBLISHERS CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS : Paying Markets Traditional Publisher Seeking Manuscripts JoNa Book Publishing http://www.kiva.net/~jonabook/ Editorial Guidelines General Information: Submit an introductory letter, two sample chapters and synopsis for the rest of the book. Please send manuscripts on CD or floppy disk. Please allow two months for a reply. Queries/book proposals, please allow two weeks for a reply. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. We publish 12-18 months after acceptance. Nonfiction Areas of Interest: Biography Native American History Old West True Crime Military History Fiction Areas of Interest: Alternate History Science Fiction Military Science Fiction Humor We are willing to review well-written manuscripts. Payment: Negotiated on an individual basis with writer. ******************************************************************* MYSTERY WRITERS WANTED (540) 463-3830 Email: rocellyfrm@aol.com Need short/mini mysteries and feature mysteries. Mini mysteries no longer than one typewritten page. Feature mysteries no longer than 30 pages. Solutions separated from main text. Feature mysteries: $250 each. Mini mysteries: $75 each. Call or E-mail Cecily. ******************************************************************* Writer??™s Ezine Seeking Articles AbsoluteWrite.com Article Submissions Absolute Write is seeking "how-to" type articles about any branch of writing-- screenwriting, freelance writing, technical writing, greeting cards, novels, nonfiction, playwriting, comic writing, and so on. If you have never been published, please don't submit an article about how to get published. If you've never sold a screenplay, please don't submit an article about how to sell a screenplay. (You'd think this would be obvious, right?) We are ALSO looking for the following things: Interviews with working writers or those connected to the publishing or film industries-- we particularly need interviews with agents, editors, and producers.News stories or trends related to writing.Perspectives from working writers. Can cover any aspect of a writer's life-- business, craft, or "life" (balancing work and family, overcoming writer's block, increasing creativity, etc.).Departments Debate Desk: be controversial. Tackle a subject like writing on spec, writing for free, plagiarism, etc. Don't be afraid to be opinionated! See here for examples. First Person: first-person essays about writing. See here for examples. Just for Fun: humor columns and funny poetry about writing. See here for examples. Articles should be approximately 800-2000 words in length. Feel free to query first if you're considering writing an original article for us. For reprints, just send the complete manuscript with original publication name and date in the BODY of the e-mail message (please, no attachments, except for photos. We delete them unread, as we've gotten far too many viruses-- even from writers who didn't know they had them). We particularly like informational and humorous articles... the best are the ones that manage to combine those two qualities. You are welcome to write from a first-person perspective and editorialize, as long as your subject matter is relevant to other writers. Articles must be the work of the original author. We accept simultaneous submissions. Absolute Write retains non-exclusive electronic publishing rights with the right to archive the material indefinitely on the website-- thought the writer can ask me to pull it down at any time, and I'm happy to comply. All other rights remain with the author. Bios It'll save time if you include the bio that you'd like us to include along with the article. Of course, you can always send it after we accept an article, but if you have it ready, please send it along when you submit. (Just paste it below the article.) All submissions should be sent to managing editor Amy Brozio-Andrews at amy@absolutewrite.com. Payment Did you skip right to this section? (Yeah, can't blame you.) I don't want to let you down, but we probably won't make you rich. There are two payment options: - We pay $5 per article, interview, essay, or column-- originals or reprints. We do not pay for book reviews (but, of course, you keep any book we send you). We also do not pay for syndicated columns (those that are published widely on the 'net). That said, it's very unlikely for us to accept a column that's been widely published on the 'net. Payments can be made by PayPal or check. - Or you can have a free 1-year subscription to the Absolute Markets Premium Edition (a $15 value-- see www.absolutemarkets.com).We are happy to run your bio (with any links you like), your photo, ordering info if you've got ooks published. We have more than 72,000 subscribers and hope it brings you great publicity! Product and Book Submissions If you would like to submit your product or book for review by Absolute Write staff, or for use as a prize in our writing contests, please e-mail amy@absolutewrite.com to let us know. I'm sorry, but we do NOT review self-published/vanity-published/subsidy-published books anymore.
*********************************************************************** AGENTS 1) The ST Literary Agency works with new and emerging authors both here in the US and world wide. Their mission statement is : Our Literary Agency Mission is to enable our clients to reach their goals. We do this by providing guidance, straight talk, and clarity in what can be a confusing industry. We are also committed to Global Literacy and we support charities that support Reading Fundamentals. We also take on certain pro bono projects that we believe the world needs. 2) The Association of Author's Representatives This is the AAR with whom reputatable agents always signup. When looking for an agent or when you run across one who looks good to you, you should always check with AAR to make surethey are what they claim to be. They have anewsletter and links to assocaited sites. *********************************************************************** CONTESTS 1) Fan Story.com A site where you post your work and get feedback. They also hold a number of contests. Membership is free. The following contest deadlines in February :
* Write a story that starts with this sentence "I'm not even sure what day it is anymore." Your story must start with the sentence above. You have the option to put it in quotes (for dialogue) and to change the punctuation at the end. But do not add to the sentence or change it in any other way. Your goal is to impress the judges and the site reviewers. The stories that stand out will be placed in a voting booth after the deadline passes. To the winner goes a $100 visa gift card and the updated signature. In addition the story will be placed in our winners list. Second place will win ten member dollars. Third place five member dollars. To enter click here when your story is completed.The first sentence must be: "I'm not even sure what day it is anymore." By submitting you agree to the contest terms and the terms of the site. Only entries that follow this link will be accepted. One entry per person. If you are the current title holder you are not eligible. FanStory.com will select the stories to be part of the vote. Entries placed in the voting booth will be made at the sole discretion of the fanStory.com, though comments for each work will be taken into account. Members may not request votes by private message or other means as specified in the contest terms. The final winner will be decided by fanStory.com after reviewing the vote outcome. The winner may not be the same as the winner of the public voting. The decision is final. Deadline: 2/20/05. http://www.fanstory.com/index1.jsp?wc=1 2) AuthorMania.com Writing Contest *The contest must draw at least 50 paid entries in order to award the $1000 prize. In the event that the contest does not draw enough entries to award the $1000 prize, the amount it does draw will be awarded to the winner. Once enough entries are received to award the $1000 prize, this notice will be removed.* http://www.authormania.com/contests.html*********************************************************************** BRAGGING RIGHTS Won a contest? Published something - anything - from an article to a writing tiip to novel to a sort story to a screenplay to a poem? Been asked to write something by someone that could end in publication? Brag about it!! Tell the world of CC&W subscribers about it! Let it all hang out!! ****************** Well, this being the fist issue, I'm the only one around with a Brag. Nicholas Grabowsky has picked up my short story, Grasshoppers, a winner in the National Writers Association Annual Competition in the late 1990s and published a couple years ago in 8 City Tales, Darkness Visible, and created a fan fiction page pour MOI. Check it out! He calls Grasshoppers "brilliant" and me "fantasical". (I sure hope Clive Barker can take his attention away from the admittedly superior work of Grabowsky long enough to read my little story - sigh!) www.downwarden.com (then go to fan fiction, then click on my name) *********************************************************************** ARTICLES & COLUMNS Column --- The Writing Life --- Can It Really Be Envy?? by M. Kenyon Charnboneaux I thought I was the only one. An outsider, like Virginia Woolf, all my life; an outsider even among outsiders, I thought, when it first happened to me, that I was the only one to whom it had ever happened or would ever happen. It just didn't seem possible that people with families and friends could ever have it happen to them! But surfing the Net the other night I saw an article on this very thing, this very terrible thing, and now I know - I'm not alone. Even writers who have families and friends who smile in their faces and pat their backs can, at the moment of the writer's greatest triumph, suddenly show the true color of their caring - and that color is Green. Noxious, toxic, friendship destroying green. So be prepared, if it's ever possible to be prepared for betrayal. The first time it happened to me I was surprised, no shocked, and hurt. The second time I wasn't surprised, but I was still hurt. Now I just ignore it. What is this it? This betrayal? Envy. The first time it happened to me is probably the quinessential example of how it happens. I met a man in New Orleans who was also a struggling writer. Neither of us had published anything. I had just started writing with an eye to publication, although I had been writing since the 2nd grade. All those years between 7 and 38 I'd told myself I was living this very writer's life (a la Hemingway to a certain extent) so that someday I could write well enough to publish. At 38 it suddenly struck me that the time had come - maybe gone - when I should have stopped practicing and started submitting. This man became a good friend during the next five years as we struggled along, writing and submitting and being rejected. I took to decorating the bathroom walls with my rejection letters, most of which were personalized with a line or two at the bottom in the hand of some editor saying that I had talent and to please submit again. All of his were straight form rejections. I should have seen it coming at that point, but I didn't. I misjudged or misread or miss-something the look on his face when he'd look at my rejection letters. Well, in the fifth year it happened. A story I wrote won a contest and garnered $1000 prize. But when I told him about it, although he said all the right things, this time I didn't miss the look on his face or the tone of his voice. He wasn't happy for me at all. He was actually upset. He was envious, so envious, he couldn't even congratulate me without looking as if he'd rather be strangling me. That year was a great one for me. Every story I wrote either placed in a national competition or it was published. All but one. And boy, did he ever love that one. The others all brought out the green-eyed monster. By the end of the year, we weren't friends anymore. He dropped out of my life without so much as a goodbye. Then in 2000 my first book published. Not one person in my family read it. Not even my husband, but he had an excuse - he's dyslexic and reading is difficult for him and I'm the kind of writer who's strength is in descriptive prose. I tend to Proust type sentences. My husband wouldn't have made it past the first page. So he's forgiven. But the rest of my family? I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive them. They didn't even buy a copy of the book to show their support and pride. I was ready for that to be true of other writers after my experience with X. But I never thought my own family would react that way and I wasn't ready for it. Am I bitter? Yes. Less so now, but still bitter. When Adumbra recently came out with a short story of mine in it, I wasn't at all surprised that not one of my friends or family bought a copy. I'm used to it now. Maybe this has never happened to you. I hope it hasn't. If it has, you're probably wondering, as I do - WHY? Why do people who claim to be supporting our writing, when the time comes and we're starting to be successful at it, suddenly turn around and act like we've betrayed them somehow? Why this envy? From another writer it's almost understandable. Maybe they think you aren't as good as they are and yet here you are, published. Maybe they think you don't work half as hard as they do and yet here you are, publishing. But family? Why should family be envious? I don't know. I really don't. Ask them to their faces why they're jealous, why they're not happy for you and they'll deny they are jealous. They'll deny they're anything but ecstatic over your success. How do or should we handle it? Again, I don't know. I handle it by ignoring it. I don't bother to tell my family now when I publish something. I don't bother to tell them when a good review comes out about a story or novel of mine. I know they don't want to hear it. I know I'm only going to be hurt by the look on the face that gives the lie to the words of congratulation. So why have I written this depressing article? Because I thought I was the only one and now I know I'm not. So if you thought you were the only one, take heart. You're not the only one. And if you want someone to tell you congratulations and really mean it, send in your Brag to WW&C. I'll be here to tell you Congrats! with a face that matches the voice - a face that is as happy for you as the voice you can't hear, only see in my typing here, is proud of you and happy for you. And maybe I wrote it for one more reason - to ask all of you, as writers, to support each other and be happy for each other, rather than jealous, rather than envious. Remember, what goes around, comes around, as we used to say when I was a hippie on the Haight-Ashbury over 30 years ago, living life a la Hemingway and practicing writing for the day when I would finally be good enough to publish. If we don't mean those accolades we give to others when they publish or win a contest, then chances are, no one is going to mean them when we do it either. Sourness = bad karma. It's a hard enough life being a writer. Let's support each other at it. Let's at least be outsiders in solidarity with other outsiders and that way we can be insiders in that one area of our lives that is the most important to the serious writer - our writing, your writing, their writing, my writing - writing. Just writers, writing together, supporting each other amd glad for each other when something good happens to one of us. *********************************************************************** INFO RE : Articles Every month we??™ll have articles pertaining to writing, the writing life, marketing your work and dealing with the frustrations of marketing and rejections plus movie and book reviews. Some of these will be written by myself, some by guest writers, some perhaps by you! We pay $5 per article. If you have a book or movie review or articles on writing or the writing life, send them to me at nomadagain2000@yahoo.com and if they pass muster with our article's editor, you'll receive your payment for the article plus you'll have another cliip for your resume. ALL RIGHTS ON ARTICLES ARE ONE TIME USE ONLY - after they have appeared for the month in the newsletter, all rights revert to you, the author. So, remember --- Contact me at : nomadagain2000@yahoo.com if you??™ve an article you??™d like to submit for publication in the newsletter. *********************************************************************** PROMPTS Let's start the New Year right by doing a writing exercise every day - just choose one of these from Writer's Digest prompts - there's a whole year here from 2004 to work with - and write freefall for 10 minutes. It's a great way to limber up the writing muscles before beginning on your day's work and it's a good way to unlock those writer's muscles when you have a case of Writrer's Lock afflicting you. 12/31/2004: Pretend you're a cartoon character. What special powers would you have and what would you do with them? 12/30/2004: Think about your dream job. Now think about three aspects of that same job that wouldn??™t excite you. 12/29/2004: If you could go on only one more vacation in your lifetime, where would you go, and why? 12/28/2004: One day you awake to find you possess superhero powers. What kind do you have? Are you using them for good or evil? 12/27/2004: Write a letter to your future husband, wife, child, etc., and tell them about your life before they came into it. If that person is already in your life, write from your past perspective. 12/26/2004: At what moment in your life did you feel most proud? Write an essay about the experience. 12/25/2004: Describe your father: his hang-ups, strengths and mannerisms. What does he look like? What are your feelings toward him? 12/24/2004: Write a story about a character born on February 29. How does he feel when it??™s not a leap year and his birthday doesn??™t come? 12/23/2004: Drive exactly one hour in any direction. Stop, and write about the town in which you??™ve arrived. 12/22/2004: Think about the qualities you seek in a mate. Write a character description of someone who looks and acts the complete opposite. 12/21/2004: Your mother-in-law (pretend, if you don??™t have one) succeeded in lying to the rest of the family, but you know the truth. Would you snitch and expose her? Write the scenario. 12/20/2004: If you could talk to any literary character, who would it be, and what would you ask him? 12/19/2004: For one day, don??™t look in the mirror. Throughout the day, write down your feelings on being denied access to your self-reflection. Also, describe how you envision yourself to look. 12/18/2004: Pick five words at random. Using a thesaurus, find an alternative for each word. Write a story using all 10 of them. 12/17/2004: Look in the mirror, and write down what you think. Are you being too hard on yourself? 12/16/2004: Pretend you??™re an editor reading another magazine??™s article. You think the article is awful. Why? Describe what??™s wrong with it and what you would change. 12/15/2004: Select a book or movie and write up a witty, thorough review of its merits and flaws. 12/14/2004: You??™ve lost your best friend??™s wedding ring. How do you tell her? What??™s her reaction? 12/13/2004: Select a book from a random shelf in your home library. Copy down the last sentence, and use this line to begin a short story. 12/12/2004: Write an ode to a person you love. 12/11/2004: Write a story in which the main character is in an argument but is obviously in the wrong. 12/10/2004: Change your surroundings. If you usually write in the living room, curl up in bed. If you sit at a desk, take your writing outside. 12/9/2004: Tell the story of your ancestry. Begin as far back as possible. Fill in any missing details with creative thinking. 12/8/2004: Write a story to include, "Sorry, we can??™t insure you for a journey like that." 12/7/2004: Write a short story set around your favorite pastime. 12/6/2004: Visit a historic home. Sketch a layout of the floor plan. Imagine characters moving in the rooms. Use your notes and drawings to create the setting for a novel. 12/5/2004: Relax. Release all conscious thoughts from your mind, and see what spontaneous thoughts surface. Journal about the experience. 12/4/2004: Have an imaginary argument with someone who hates you for a reason you can??™t control (e.g., because you??™re male/female, black/white, tall/short, blonde/brunette, etc.). 12/3/2004: Describe your most memorable meal. Write for 15 minutes. 12/2/2004: Write a story in second person??”meaning you may use only the pronoun you. 12/1/2004: Find a job ad in the paper. Write about your life if you had that job. 11/30/2004: Pretend you??™re a palm reader. Look at your own hands. What are they telling you? What does your future hold? 11/29/2004: Write about a huge mistake you??™ve made. Why do you regret it? 11/28/2004: Write about a movie or TV program that most parallels your life. Why? 11/27/2004: Choose a famous clich?© or quote. Write a story around it that validates the saying. Repeat, but discredit the statement this time. 11/26/2004: Research masks on the Internet. Learn about their symbolism within various cultures and rituals. Now write a poem or story using masks. 11/25/2004: If you wrote the movie of your life, which actor would play you, and why? 11/24/2004: Write a story ending with, "The silver dust of moonlight settled coldly on the night." 11/23/2004: Pick a letter. Now imagine two aisles of your local supermarket. List everything found in those rows starting with that letter. Imagine the person who??™d buy the listed items. Describe his or her life. 11/22/2004: Write four different opening paragraphs based on the title "Sunlight on a Pond." 11/21/2004: Who are your co-workers? Are they also your friends? What about your boss? Write about your workplace; describe everything in minute detail. 11/20/2004: Are you procrastinating? Select a publication, and put together a query letter. Mail it today. 11/19/2004: Take a bite of your favorite fruit. Imagine where it grew and who picked it. Write an essay based on this idea. 11/18/2004: Imagine a world where humans suddenly need no sleep. How would this affect the workplace and work shifts? How would this affect your home life? Spend 15 minutes journaling on the changes that society would face. 11/17/2004: Make a list of things you should??™ve done. Write about how your life might??™ve changed if you had taken any of these actions. 11/16/2004: Jot down the next five lines uttered by friends, co-workers or relatives. Write an article using one of those lines as an opener. 11/15/2004: What are your pet peeves? Write your heart out. Then submit the piece as an Op-Ed to one or more newspapers. 11/14/2004: Pretend you??™ve moved to another country to get a sense of different cultures. Where did you move? What have you learned since you??™ve been there? Are you homesick? 11/13/2004: Most of us make time in our busy schedules to go through e-mail messages each day. So if you can??™t find the time to write, start sending daily e-mails to yourself. 11/12/2004: Are you a member of a local writing group or a professional writing association? (If not, check them out and join one today.) Write about the process of sharing your work with others. 11/11/2004: Write an obituary for a household pet. 11/10/2004: Write about someone you can??™t forgive and why you can??™t forgive that person. 11/9/2004: Think about a skeleton in your family closet. Use that shady character in a short story. 11/8/2004: Write a menu description for a dessert called "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." 11/7/2004: Imagine you wake up one morning with a key clasped tightly in your hand. How did this key come to be in your possession? More important, what does it unlock? 11/6/2004: Have you ever found an abandoned or lost animal? If that animal could tell you where it came from and what had happened to it, what would it say? 11/5/2004: Turn your own book chapters into separate articles or stories for a magazine. 11/4/2004: Write page 257 of your autobiography. 11/3/2004: You??™re rushed into emergency surgery. Describe what happens. 11/2/2004: Go to the store, and buy one food item you??™ve never tried. Write about the person who might crave that food. 11/1/2004: Find a headline in a newspaper or magazine. List five different stories ideas that title could describe. 10/31/2004: You??™re flying in an airplane and encounter severe turbulence. What??™s the one thing you need to say and to whom? 10/30/2004: Remember that odd kid who lived down the street years ago? He just returned to town and looks completely different. Write the story. 10/29/2004: Imagine the worst possible outcome for your perfect date. Write this as a separate scene. 10/28/2004: What one special trait do you possess? Write about it. 10/27/2004: Imagine the perfect date, and describe it in detail. 10/26/2004: Read the comics of your local paper. Write a dialogue between two characters from two different comic strips. 10/25/2004: Describe a living room from the perspective of a mother who just won the lottery. Don??™t mention the prize. 10/24/2004: Who??™s the best cook in your family? Describe the family chef at work using all five senses. 10/23/2004: Go to a bar or restaurant. Ask the server what the most popular appetizer is. Write a story based on someone who??™s obsessed with eating that appetizer. 10/22/2004: Go to a corner store. Find the third item on the third shelf of the third row. Use it as the focal point of a story or essay. 10/21/2004: That jerk who cut you off in the car??”you??™re aching to scream at him! But maybe that jerk has something important on his mind. Write about that moment from his point of view. 10/20/2004: Think of an odd thing that could happen as you do something mundane. Does a fight break out at your neighbor??™s house as you??™re taking out the trash? Create the story. 10/19/2004: Take a handful of jelly beans, all different flavors. Eat them one at a time, and write the first memory that comes to mind. 10/18/2004: Find 10 ways to make your current article or story better. 10/17/2004: Take your favorite article from any issue of Writer??™s Digest. Type it out to experience what it would??™ve been like to write the article. 10/16/2004: Do you remember a person who attracted you but the relationship went nowhere? Imagine what your life would??™ve been like if it had worked out. 10/15/2004: You appear on a low-rent game show and win the worst prize imaginable. What is it? What will you do with it? Find another use for it besides charity. 10/14/2004: What time of year is it? Is this your favorite season? Why or why not? 10/13/2004: Imagine that it??™s New Year??™s day 2005, and you??™re composing your annual brag letter. What would you tell your friends and family you accomplished in 2004? 10/12/2004: Create a story that unfolds at your workplace. What crises could be introduced? Who will be your hero? Who will be the villain? 10/11/2004: Try your hand at writing rhythmic riddles, then run them by others. Can they guess the answers from your clues? 10/10/2004: Open and review a credit card bill. Now write a paragraph in which a character reacts to the charges. (Who bought gas in Tampa? Who keeps calling from Des Moines?) 10/9/2004: Pretend you??™re a professor teaching a course in writing. What writing philosophy would you introduce? Write down your theories on the writing process. 10/8/2004: Write a rough draft for the chapter on the first five years of your life. What are your key memories? What moods, colors, issues do you associate with that time? 10/7/2004: Write a light-hearted letter to your Muse asking for inspiration and the creativity to write the next great American novel. 10/6/2004: Make a wish list of all the things you want to do in your lifetime. Wish big. 10/5/2004: It??™s 3 a.m. You hear a bang outside and then glass break. Write the story. 10/4/2004: Choose someone you know very well (a sibling or friend), and write what would be pages 250 to 266 of his biography. 10/3/2004: Outline an idea for a novel that takes place over three generations of one family. Write a synopsis of what happens. 10/2/2004: Take a crack at writing a script for an episode of your favorite TV sitcom or drama. 10/1/2004: Write a story where the characters are trying to find something. Their quest can be for an object, artifact or something intangible, such as self-acceptance. 9/30/2004: If you were the President of the United States and had to address the nation, what would you say? Draft a speech. 9/29/2004: Write a poem that uses an animal as a metaphor for an emotion. Example: A tiger could be anger. 9/28/2004: Write a journal entry about your most memorable birthday. Why is it so vivid to you? 9/27/2004: How would you change your life? Use words to detail what your dream life would be. Perhaps writing it down will bring you a step closer to living it. 9/26/2004: Have you ever sat through a boring acceptance speech at a banquet? Pretend you??™ve just won an award. Write a speech that??™ll bring down the house. 9/25/2004: Have you ever experienced something you couldn??™t explain? Write down your brushes with the mysterious. 9/24/2004: Try writing a short mystery story. Create a detective as your main character and relay the story from her point of view. 9/23/2004: Take this scenario: cooking dinner. Write a comical scene where everything that can go wrong does. 9/22/2004: You??™re inside an elevator and the doors won??™t open. What??™s worse, you??™re claustrophobic. Write this story. 9/21/2004: If you could have any magical power for only one hour, what would it be? 9/20/2004: Write an article that shares the writing technique tips you??™ve found beneficial. This exercise will make you think about how your writing process works. 9/19/2004: Challenge yourself to write a riveting tale that takes place within the confines of one hour. 9/18/2004: You have $50 to spend for the month. Outline your budget, explaining why you??™d spend money on certain items. 9/17/2004: Write a short story that takes place on another planet in another time. What scenario will unfold for your alien characters? 9/16/2004: Spend a day in your character??™s shoes. Speak, dress and act like him. Take notes. 9/15/2004: Take a story you??™ve already written and rewrite it from another character??™s viewpoint. 9/14/2004: Write a scary story that could be told around a campfire to children. 9/13/2004: Describe your childhood home. Write down as many details as you can remember. Compare it to the location you call home now. 9/12/2004: If you were operating at your peak creative level every moment of the day, write about how you??™d feel. 9/11/2004: Write about the family dynamics during holiday dinners or picnics. Capture the subtle and more obvious traditions your family upholds. 9/10/2004: Choose seven words. Create a poem that uses all of them. 9/9/2004: Create an idea basket. Write down plot or article ideas on strips of paper. Fill your idea basket with future projects. 9/8/2004: Start a journal in the voice of your character. What are her thoughts? Why does she keep a journal? 9/7/2004: Practice point of view by challenging yourself to tell the same tale from the good guy??™s and bad guy??™s perspectives. 9/6/2004: If you had a guardian angel, what form would your angel take (human or not)? On what dilemma in your life right now would you most like guidance? 9/5/2004: Take some time to think about the things you love, then list them. Hang this list up in your writing area. 9/4/2004: Select five words. Changing only one letter in each word, create new words and define them. 9/3/2004: Let the pen lead you??”literally. Create a story in which an author is led on a strange and comical quest by his or her trusty pen that comes to life one day. 9/2/2004: Reread your favorite book. Then try to mimic the author??™s voice, tone and style in an original plot of your own. 9/1/2004: Dabble in children??™s fiction by writing a story for a children??™s picture book. Remember to keep the language simple and short but develop an overall plot and theme. 8/31/2004: Write a personal essay on an experience that happened this time last year. Can you tie it in with the circumstances you find yourself in this year? 8/30/2004: Pretend you??™re related to an infamous historical figure. Write a journal entry describing a day in your life. 8/29/2004: Writer??™s Digest has assigned you an article on overcoming writer??™s block. What tips would you offer readers? Complete a 1,200-word how-to article. 8/28/2004: Personify two objects in nature. Then create a dialogue between them. For instance, is the ocean feuding with the sky? 8/27/2004: Do themes repeat in your written works? Research common topics or themes that lie beneath the collective surface of your work. 8/26/2004: Think of a topic about which you??™ve never written. Then try to come up with a setting you know nothing about. Combine the two into one story. 8/25/2004: When writers experience a good writing session, it??™s often called writing in flow. Write a poem that describes what it feels like when your words flow. 8/24/2004: Write a journal entry that describes nothing about your day: Pretend you??™re living another life. 8/23/2004: Describe your inner critic. Who is he? Give him a name, and detail his attributes. 8/22/2004: Describe what your Muse looks like. Is she an eccentric lady? A beatnik poet? Create a character sketch, including description of garb and personality quirks. 8/21/2004: Query a publication with holiday theme ideas (Arbor Day, Memorial Day). Be sure to choose holidays that are four to six months away (that??™s how far in advance magazines work). 8/20/2004: Work on your nonfiction query hooks or your fiction opening sentences. Craft 10 of each. 8/19/2004: Fill out a mock application to be on a reality show. Which show is it? Why should you be chosen? 8/18/2004: Choose one of your favorite books, and copy down the first sentence. Why is this line intriguing? Create a list of other alluring first sentences. 8/17/2004: Personify several objects in a child??™s room. What would happen if the objects held a presidential election? 8/16/2004: Compose a journal entry from the point of view of a bored elementary school child shut in on a rainy Saturday. 8/15/2004: Take a depressed character and place her in an exceptionally bright and cheerful setting. How does she react to the happy sounds, bright colors and positive things in her surrounding world? 8/14/2004: Take a happy character, and place him in an exceptionally dull and dismal setting. How does he react to the mournful sounds, dark colors and negative things in his surrounding world? 8/13/2004: Write the book jacket copy for one of your manuscripts that has yet to be published. 8/12/2004: Stick a romance character in a horror story, an adult character in a children??™s story or a contemporary character in a fantasy story. Write the scene. 8/11/2004: Collect 30 colorful words that you hear today. Write a short story using each one at least once. 8/10/2004: Imagine there??™s a TV screen on your forehead broadcasting your inner thougths at this moment. What would viewers see? 8/9/2004: Write two articles that assert opposite viewpoints of a controversial issue. 8/8/2004: Read an autobiography, and find an inspirational quote. Write about what it means to you. 8/7/2004: Get a massage or spa treatment. Write the life story of the masseuse. 8/6/2004: Dig up your first manuscript??”article, poem, story, etc. Reread and edit the piece with the skills you??™ve since acquired. 8/5/2004: Using the most admirable qualities of your closest friends, create your own fairy godmother. 8/4/2004: Would you like to co-author a work? Write about the pros and cons. 8/3/2004: Recall the happiest event of your childhood. Then play "What if?" and transform the formerly happy event into a complete disaster. 8/2/2004: Take a poem, and turn it into a short story. Or take a story, and turn it into a poem. 8/1/2004: Imagine you had to relive the experience of starting first grade for the first time. What advice would you give that little person about school, friends and life in general? 7/31/2004: Start networking. If you write nonfiction, consider attending a business expo for article ideas. If you write fiction, consider joining a writing group. Write an essay about your goals. 7/30/2004: Write for 10 minutes today. Tomorrow add five more minutes, the next day five more, etc., until you complete one writing goal. 7/29/2004: Write a one-paragraph description of the person you??™ve disliked the most in your lifetime. 7/28/2004: Chart the good and bad characteristics of your protagonist and antagonist. What juxtapositions are at work in your novel? 7/27/2004: Write a children??™s story in which a young teenager stumbles upon a talking animal in the woods. 7/26/2004: Describe a child on a swing set first from the child??™s viewpoint then from an adult??™s viewpoint. 7/25/2004: Write a poem about eating your favorite food. 7/24/2004: Today??™s date is important. Why? If you can??™t think of why, invent a reason. 7/23/2004: If you??™re struggling with one particular writing project, switch or start another one. Channel your energies into the new project for 30 minutes then return to the original. 7/22/2004: If you have straight hair, imagine it??™s curly, or vice versa. How does the change affect your personality? 7/21/2004: Write an essay about the day you learned a hard life lesson. 7/20/2004: Write a one-paragraph description of the one person you have most admired in your lifetime. 7/19/2004: Write about your most frightening experience. 7/18/2004: Go to an art museum, and select one piece that moves you. What feelings does the image invoke? 7/17/2004: Sign up for a word-a-day newsletter, and put today??™s word to use in your writing. 7/16/2004: Describe today??™s weather using 10 words that aren??™t typically applied to the weather. 7/15/2004: If you had to roast your best friend, what would you say? 7/14/2004: Write an article on how to lead a productive writing life. 7/13/2004: Imagine three strangers stuck in an elevator: a born-again Baptist preacher, an atheist and a satanic high priest. Write the dialogue. 7/12/2004: Write an essay about random acts of kindness and how they affect those who give and receive them. 7/11/2004: Finish this journal entry: "It was a new day because ??¦" 7/10/2004: If you were given the news that you had only six months to live, what writing project would finish first? 7/9/2004: Rewrite the lyrics to your favorite song. Make it satirical, silly??”or even autobiographical. 7/8/2004: Write a letter to a writer who inspires you. If that writer is still alive, send the letter to their publicist. 7/7/2004: List three people who made a difference in your life. Write a paragraph about each person. 7/6/2004: Think about your pet (if you have no pet, consider someone else??™s). How would you describeits personality? 7/5/2004: You??™ve been asked to write the next Super Bowl jingle for your favorite product. What??™s the product, and what??™s the jingle? 7/4/2004: Write a story about betrayal, when a lifelong friend turns his back on the protagonist. 7/3/2004: Describe your perfect vacation. Include weather, location, activities and people involved. Money is no object so dream big. 7/2/2004: Describe what heaven is to you. 7/1/2004: Write a poem about the joy of writing. 6/30/2004: You??™ve won a shopping spree to your favorite store. What would you buy? 6/29/2004: Coincidence? Describe a chance encounter that changed your life. Start with, "If I hadn??™t met ??¦ I wouldn??™t have ??¦" 6/28/2004: Create a family tree for your favorite fictional character. Was Rapunzel the great-grandmother of Cinderella? 6/27/2004: Create a new holiday, such as National Editor??™s Day. Write a greeting card for it. 6/26/2004: Interview a local librarian. Submit the article to your town or city newspaper. 6/25/2004: Throughout the day, notice people??™s hands. Then start a personal essay that describes your own. 6/24/2004: Remember someone you knew in high school. Write a character sketch focusing on how you imagine that person has changed over the years. 6/23/2004: If the moon were made of cheese, how would the rest of the universe be affected? 6/22/2004: If you were king of the forest, what would be your daily routine? 6/21/2004: You??™ve been granted three writing-related wishes. What are they, and why? 6/20/2004: Write a five-word sentence. Now use each as the beginning word in five consecutive paragraphs of a story. Repeat as many times as needed to tell the tale. 6/19/2004: List five musicians. Select your most and least favorite, and create an imaginary interview with both. What questions do you pose? What are their responses? How do their remarks differ? 6/18/2004: Take a decorative calendar, and pick an image from one of the months. Create a setting based on the image you select. Choose randomly, or do this exercise for each month. 6/17/2004: Your significant other just got a job at your office. How does this make you feel? 6/16/2004: Choose a favorite fictional character, and write a poem about her. 6/15/2004: Imagine you??™re a painter standing at your easel. What are you painting? Are you alone or with an audience? Using paints or pencil? 6/14/2004: Open the White Pages. From any column, count down to the 10th name. Create a character based on that name and address. 6/13/2004: Imagine you??™re a guest star on your favorite sitcom. Write your dialogue for the episode. 6/12/2004: Create a dialogue between yourself and your former boss. Say what you??™ve always wanted to say. Then twist the scenario. Write a conversation where you??™re now the boss and he??™s your employee. 6/11/2004: You??™re at an elaborate costume party. What are you wearing? What things are you saying and doing that you normally wouldn??™t? 6/10/2004: Research a recent, local trial. Then write a version of the story where the verdict is reversed. 6/9/2004: Write a story in the style of a tabloid (outrageous, untrue and interesting). 6/8/2004: How did you get that scar? If you don??™t have one, pretend. 6/7/2004: If you could attend your own funeral, what would you overhear? 6/6/2004: Take the words "peace," "hope" and "joy," and assign each word a persona: your lover, your neighbor, someone you??™ve secretly admired, etc. 6/5/2004: Imagine you??™re invited to brunch with Stephen King, Danielle Steel and J.K. Rowling. What writing questions would you ask them? 6/4/2004: Write a paragraph describing your favorite color as if you??™re seeing it for the first time. 6/3/2004: "If someone had wanted me dead, he missed a good chance when ??¦" 6/2/2004: You have 24 hours to come up with an idea for a new movie. Using only three lines, describe what it??™s all about. 6/1/2004: Read an article about something in which you have little interest. See if the article might make you rethink your position on the subject. Write about whether it succeeded. 5/31/2004: Think about how one action you??™ve taken in 2003 has rippled through the lives of others??”then map out those effects on paper. Now, take a look at the characters you??™re writing about or the freelance story you??™re putting together. Are there ways to interconnect people or situations to give your story structure or add more depth to the piece? 5/30/2004: Recast your favorite novel with yourself as the main character. Given your personality, how would the story change 5/29/2004: How did you get your first job? If you??™re not there now, why not? 5/28/2004: Suppose all world leaders agree to defer to your judgment for 24 hours. What orders would you give? 5/27/2004: You??™ve lost electricity at your place of residence. What are you going to do? 5/26/2004: Assume the persona of Mother Nature, and explain tomorrow??™s weather forecast. 5/25/2004: Imagine it??™s the year 1940, and you??™re hiking through the Black Forest near Stuttgart, Germany. You hear a sound alerting you that you??™re not alone. What??™s that sound, and how do you react? 5/24/2004: Peruse old photos of relatives, and create characters based on what you see in those eyes of long ago and far away. 5/23/2004: Your agent just called and said the movie rights to your novel have been bought. What movie would you most like yours to be like? How so? 5/22/2004: Find an old photograph. Write a story based on the scene. 5/21/2004: Write the opening paragraph of a short story using the first thing that comes to mind for the following items: favorite gift, something soft, bad smell. 5/20/2004: You??™ve just placed a $100 bet on the long-shot at the horse tracks. Write about the sights, sounds and anticipation you??™re experiencing. 5/19/2004: An ad in a newspaper contained only two words, "Wanted: Dad," and a phone number. Who would place such an ad? 5/18/2004: "The strangest request I ever received was ??¦" 5/17/2004: What were you just daydreaming about? Write it down. 5/16/2004: Look up any word in the dictionary. Then write one to five paragraphs using this word as many times as possible. 5/15/2004: Recall the last time you laughed out loud. Write a humorous piece about what prompted the outburst, so you can inspire your readers to laugh as hard as you did. 5/14/2004: Imagine a plot that revolves around you??”someone is trying to catch or kill you. What happens? 5/13/2004: Write the speech you would deliver to all your friends and family about how you feel toward them. 5/12/2004: Recall a nightmare you once had. Describe it. Analyze why you think you had it. 5/11/2004: Write a children??™s story based on this scenario: Your protagonist??™s favorite teacher returns from the bathroom with toilet paper stuck to her shoe, and the class is laughing. What does your character do? 5/10/2004: "If I could metamorphose like a butterfly, I??™d like to hatch as a ??¦" 5/9/2004: Write a story in which three people have the same event happen to them. Make each person respond differently. 5/8/2004: If you could spend an entire day with someone, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you do, and what wisdom would you receive? 5/7/2004: Go to your post office, and ask about the differences between mailing a package first class vs. priority. Write an article about what you learn. 5/6/2004: Find a new place to eat or drink, and introduce yourself to the server. Later, write a character sketch based on what the server told you. 5/5/2004: Imagine you could speak with a notorious figure in history. What would you say to persuade him to change his way of thinking? 5/4/2004: If you could be reborn during any time in history, which era would it be? Why? 5/3/2004: Consider the benefits of living in a house with screened windows vs. living without them. Write a paragraph describing both. 5/2/2004: Organize the books in your personal library. Write a story using characters from five of them. 5/1/2004: Imagine you??™ll be sailing around the world. Who??™s your travel partner, and why? 4/30/2004: Make a list of the works you??™ve written of which you are most proud. Collect a copy of as many as possible. Put them in a binder, and title the compilation. 4/29/2004: Take the opening line of any novel, and use it to begin a new story. 4/28/2004: Imagine you were once President of the United States. What was your most important accomplishment? 4/27/2004: Journal about your first day of school??”kindergarten, grade school, high school or college. 4/26/2004: "My favorite toy from childhood was ??¦" 4/25/2004: Eavesdrop on a conversation between two strangers. Describe what you imagine their relationship to be. 4/24/2004: Find 10 words in a foreign language that are the same or similar to English words. Use them in a creative writing session. 4/23/2004: Imagine your character??™s boat just capsized. While swimming, she sees the long snout of an alligator coming her way. How does she react? 4/22/2004: Your character has been kidnapped and is being held in a small room. Describe how he gets out using any of the following items found in the room: a black plastic comb, a stone, a rusty nail or a beer bottle cap. 4/21/2004: Your character??™s a pacifist, but he??™s attacked and must defend himself. How does he do it? 4/20/2004: Write a personal ad for your main character. Then write one for the primary antagonist. 4/19/2004: Follow a total stranger at the grocery store, and write down everything he buys (be as inconspicuous as possible). Use this person as a character in your next story. 4/18/2004: Imagine you??™re the most famous author in the world. Who would be in your Rolodex? 4/17/2004: Update your r?©sum?©. What??™s not listed that you wish you could include? 4/16/2004: Write an alternative, modern ending to your favorite fairy tale. 4/15/2004: Begin a reading journal. Note the last five books you??™ve read and what you liked or disliked about them. 4/14/2004: Write another person??™s epitaph, but make it rhyme. 4/13/2004: Buy a tabloid magazine. Find the silliest story in it. Use it as the basis for a short, serious story. 4/12/2004: Research a famous (or as close to famous as you can find) relative or ancestor. Write a short summary of why she??™s famous (or infamous). 4/11/2004: Spend five minutes to write your personal epitaph. 4/10/2004: Invent something that??™s both new and improbable. Describe it. 4/9/2004: Re-read your favorite magazine. Then write an article for it, and submit it. 4/8/2004: List all the times you??™ve been paid for your writing. If you haven??™t yet, list the dream publications where you want your byline to appear. 4/7/2004: Imagine your best friend has disappeared. Write the drama from third-person (he, she, they) point of view. 4/6/2004: Write a story in which the main character is a small, common, inanimate object, such as a pencil. 4/5/2004: Imagine you??™re meeting your birth parents for the first time, as an adult. What are your feelings and emotions? 4/4/2004: "I was so surprised when ??¦" 4/3/2004: "If I got a tattoo, it would be a ??¦ because ??¦" 4/2/2004: Imagine your name is a trademark and you have to prosecute its illegal use in court. Write the scene. 4/1/2004: Flip a quarter. Heads: Write about your experiences last night. Tails: Write about your plans for tonight. 3/31/2004: Describe a family "Kodak moment." 3/30/2004: Go to the mall and people watch. Home in on one person. What do you think he does for a living? 3/29/2004: Write a short poem about your first next-door neighbor. 3/28/2004: Try a new flavor of coffee or tea. Then describe how the flavor tastes and makes you feel. 3/27/2004: Start a memoir about what writing means to you. 3/26/2004: What??™s the one thing your character doesn??™t want anyone to know? 3/25/2004: Write as if you were a family??™s new pet. What was it like for you to come home on your first day? 3/24/2004: Think about a major decision you made in your life. What would??™ve happened if you had chosen a different path. 3/23/2004: Consider your favorite hero whose life was cut short (i.e., Martin Luther King Jr.). What would he have done with the rest of his life, and how would the world have been changed? 3/22/2004: Your character is a secret agent with many aliases. Select five names to represent the different personalities, and describe how the character dresses or changes her appearance, job and background information to become each. 3/21/2004: Describe your best day. Then switch gears, and describe your worst day. 3/20/2004: If you were a bestselling book, what would you be about? Give the book a title, theme and chapter titles. 3/19/2004: Write a scene without using the word "the." 3/18/2004: If you were a talk show host, who would be your sidekick? Your music director? The first four guests on your show? Write about it. 3/17/2004: Imagine your character awakes to discover she cannot walk. Describe what goes on in her mind as she tries to get help 3/16/2004: Pretend you find yourself in the hospital without a clue who you are and no identification on you. How did you get amnesia? What??™s the first thing you??™ll remember? Do you want to go back to your old life or start a new one? 3/15/2004: What would it have been like to grow up in your dream city or town 3/14/2004: Describe yourself as a brother if you??™re a sister in your family, or vice versa. If you??™re an only child, describe yourself as an older sibling. 3/13/2004: You??™re a hair stylist, washing your character??™s hair. What secrets does she share with you? 3/12/2004: Your character must flee his burning home. What does he take with him? 3/11/2004: One of your characters keeps something in a box, buried where no one will ever find it. What is it, and what??™s the significance of that object? 3/10/2004: Write a story about a child who gets teased for his or her unusual name. 3/9/2004: Your clock needs new batteries. What if you could rewind the batteries to travel back in time? 3/8/2004: What tattoo does your main character hide from the world? Why does she have it? When did she get it, and why? 3/7/2004: You??™re promoted to vice president of a huge toy conglomerate. What new toy would you suggest the company start making? 3/6/2004: Think of an old adage, such as "Don??™t run with scissors." Now describe a world where everyone does the opposite (i.e., a world where everyone commonly runs with scissors). 3/5/2004: Do you or did you have a great storyteller in your family? Describe her. What were some of your favorite stories? 3/4/2004: Choose a part of the world where you??™ve never lived. Create a life for yourself based on what you know of that culture: Where do you live, work and spend your free time? 3/3/2004: Describe your first car. Was it a gift? Was it used? Where do you think it is now? 3/2/2004: Buy a planner. Detail your daily writing goals for one month. Stick to the calendar. 3/1/2004: Of all the houses you??™ve lived in, which was your favorite, and why? Who lives there now? 2/29/2004: Imagine you have an identical twin. (If you??™re a twin, imagine you??™re an only child.) How would your life be different? How would it be similar? 2/28/2004: What was your first bicycle like? Was it a gift, or did you earn money to buy it? Where did you ride? 2/27/2004: Imagine you??™re the creator of a fantastic weight-loss formula ??¦ with one odd side effect. What??™s the drawback? 2/26/2004: Pretend you??™re forced to dye your hair. Why are you being forced? What color would you choose? How do you think your friends would react? 2/25/2004: Pick one day this week and submit your writing. Call in sick to work or set your alarm an hour early. Either way, send out at least one query letter or story to a publisher or agent. 2/24/2004: You??™re getting married in two weeks, and a card arrives from an old flame. Before you open the letter, how do you feel? Write what you think is inside. 2/23/2004: A new friend invites you to a water park. You can??™t swim, but you??™re too nervous to tell him. Describe your day. 2/22/2004: Change one scene of your favorite movie. Write what you want to happen. 2/21/2004: Write a fan letter to your mentor. It could be a family member, sports player or author. If you like it, mail it. 2/20/2004: Imagine you??™re a famous author. Describe your summer home. 2/19/2004: Imagine you??™re an ant, eagle or giant. Write a brief description of your writing space from this new vantage point. 2/18/2004: You were recently fired with no explanation. How do you feel? 2/17/2004: Check the day??™s forecast first thing in the morning. When you get to your desk, write a page explaining why this is the perfect weather for writing (even if it isn??™t). 2/16/2004: If you were from a different time period visiting the present-day world, how would you describe the everyday things around you? Imagine you??™re a time-traveler who must send back a report to the people of your time. Write what you see. 2/15/2004: Describe a familiar scene (your bedroom, neighborhood or regular vacation spot) from a different person??™s perspective (friend, relative or neighbor). 2/14/2004: Where are you right now? Imagine yourself in the same place but 15 years later. Are you happy? What will have changed, and what will be the same? 2/13/2004: For each character in your work of fiction, list all the predictable actions each could take to keep the plot moving. Now mix and match characters and actions. 2/12/2004: Three friends meet for dinner. What does one say that alienates the other two? 2/11/2004: Write five adjectives that describe the taste of each of the following: a lemon, an olive and mustard. Challenge yourself to select unique words. 2/10/2004: Imagine a sitcom starring the people in your life. What traits and quirks would you exaggerate to make each person more funny? 2/9/2004: Think about a story that you thought was too predictable. Write a more interesting version of the tale by giving one of the characters a dark secret. 2/8/2004: Think of someone who has an upcoming graduation, wedding or birthday. Write a letter expressing what you admire or wish for this person. Be specific. 2/7/2004: Try to remember a stranger who was unexpectedly kind to you. Turn this person??™s act of kindness into the opening scene for a story. 2/6/2004: Pick a romantic movie that never had a sequel. Imagine the children or grandchildren of the original characters, and write the first chapter of their continuing story. 2/5/2004: Write a letter to your first crush. Describe how you feel about him now. 2/4/2004: You??™ve been asked to write the biography of an ancestor. While researching your family history, you discover disturbing news. What did you find out? How will you explain it to the family? 2/3/2004: Pretend you??™re a tree: What kind? Why? Describe yourself in detail??”height, build, young, old, etc. 2/2/2004: In a dream, you??™re visited by the ghost of a deceased great-grandparent. Write down the conversation that takes place. 2/1/2004: What would your friends and family say is your true calling? Are they correct? Why or why not? 1/31/2004: With pen and paper in hand, visit a popular bookstore. Sit at a table or in a comfy chair, and write down the snippets of dialogue you hear as people walk by. Don??™t look at their faces, just keep your head down and write. 1/30/2004: Take one bite of your favorite food or candy. Pretend it??™s the last bite of your last meal. Write down what you??™re feeling and thinking. 1/29/2004: Your sibling calls and says, "Uncle George just died of leukemia. The funeral is tomorrow." You haven??™t seen or heard from your uncle in more than 10 years. Write what you might feel in this situation. 1/28/2004: Think about a popular computer or video game. Outline a family tree for the main character. 1/27/2004: Remember your favorite summertime activity, and describe it in vivid detail. How old were you? Where did it take place? 1/26/2004: Describe your first love. Remember his clothes, smile or quirky sayings. Why did he catch your eye? 1/25/2004: Describe the first person you disliked. Why did you despise her? What did she look like? How did it feel to loathe someone? 1/24/2004: Describe your mother: her smell, walk and talk. What are your feelings toward her? Did she change much from the time you were a child to when you became an adult? 1/23/2004: Write a haiku (three unrhymed lines of five, seven and five syllables) about the season of winter. 1/22/2004: Find a short article in a newspaper or magazine. Write a poem based on its subject. 1/21/2004: Imagine you see a co-worker in his car, pulling out of your work parking lot. He??™s crying. Why? 1/20/2004: Make a list of products or services that no longer exist, but you remember (i.e., 8-track players). What memories are connected to them? Write to the next generation describing them and relating your experiences. 1/19/2004: Sitting in a caf?©, your character is given a note: "It??™s in your best interest to meet me at 7 p.m. tonight, alone, at Pine and 4th." Write your character??™s thoughts as he decides what to do. 1/18/2004: Pretend that astronauts have made it to Mars and have found life there. What do the creatures look like? Are they smarter than us? What aspects of their lives are similar to ours? 1/17/2004: Think of a time when you were nasty to someone. Put yourself in that person??™s place. Write how she might think or feel. 1/16/2004: Imagine your favorite author is writing a review of your writing career. What will it say? 1/15/2004: Select a common child??™s game, such as hide and seek. Write a passage that describes people participating in the game, but don??™t actually name the game until the end of the exercise. 1/14/2004: Select a paragraph from one of your current works. Change the point of view to see what new details you might find. 1/13/2004: Your favorite author is writing the forward for your upcoming book. What will it say? Be sure to write in the author??™s voice. 1/12/2004: Turn on the radio, and wait for the start of a new song. During the tune, write continually, without worrying about spelling or punctuation. When the song is over, revise your short work. If it??™s good, keep writing. 1/11/2004: Write about why you don??™t have time to write today. Did you learn anything from this exercise? At day??™s end, rewrite it with a twist of humor. 1/10/2004: Think about the best advice you??™ve ever received. Use that advice as a theme for a short story in which a character either heeds or ignores the advice given. 1/9/2004: Write a story that revolves around a remarkable historical figure. 1/8/2004: If you were going to live Thoreau??™s solitary life at Walden Pond, what three items would you have to take, and why? 1/7/2004: Write about an ongoing project that??™s keeping you from writing. Why is it so important? 1/6/2004: Write a poem about a color that especially appeals to you this season. 1/5/2004: Go to a garage/yard/estate sale. Browse the items for sale, and have a brief chat with the seller. Write a short story using him as a main character. 1/4/2004: Observe people as they exit a store. Try to pair them with their vehicles before they get to them. Write about someone who surprised you with his car choice. 1/3/2004: Create a Law & Order script about the arrest and trial of Goldilocks for vandalizing the Bears??™ house. 1/2/2004: Ride a bus, and observe the passengers as if they were story characters. What are they wearing? How are they acting? What do their faces, mannerisms and physical characteristics tell you?
*********************************************************************** CLASSES & SERVICES The current class is The Easy Way To Write - The Mystery Novel. an 8 week, interactive course on writing novels. This is a class for serious writers only. And you??™ll need to hurry, the first lesson starts now, as soon as you enroll! Reserve your place in the class now by clicking here: http://clickbank.net/sell.cgi?navin2/07/mystery_novel_ecourse
All classes are $55.00USD. If you wish to enroll for a class, send me an email at nomadagain2000@yahoo.com and tell me the class you want. On the first day of class, you'll be sent the first lesson and an address to send me your check or money order and a PayPal address for those of you wishing to pay by PayPal. The classes, like ordering books, are on the honor system.Classes will include lecture material sent out via email each week on Monday or Tuesday. You will have complete access to me for questions, suggestions, help, critiquing, whatever you need. There will also be special handouts and various special class materials made available on request on various aspects of writing. I guarantee that you will find my courses far more in-depth and me far more accessible than any other class or instructor you have previously had on the Net. ALSO - please note (or remember) that I do not believe in "canned lessons". Unlike those other guys, each class is rewritten and updated each and every time the course is held, whether it is here or on one of the other sites where my classes are offered (with the sole exception being - and not with my OK - Fiction Factor's holding of my class on writing horror novels). Below you will find the courses listed for the dates on which they are offered. These courses DO run annually so if you miss one you wanted, you'll be able to catch it the next time around (OR on EWTW). Some new classes - Short Stories, Romance, Women's Fiction and Christian Writing; and some 1 day intensive workshops on Scene & Structure, Plotting & Characterization, Thematic Threads & Leitmotifs, Research, Background & Setting have been added. Some of these workshops are no cost to you/gratis as my way of thanking you for being such loyal students. Others are pay workshops and are $25.00 USD. THE CLASSES *** Lifewriting - Every Life is A Story Begins : February 14 6 weeks Lifewriting is the word Virginia Woolf used to describe all the different kinds of writing one can do about people??™s lives - our own, our families, our friends, or just people in the past who interest us. Each week of this class will cover a different aspect of Lifewriting : Autobiography Memoirs Biography (plain & spiritual witness of biography) Sketches or Reminiscences Personal Essays Modules will include the differences in the types of lifewriting, the history and changes in the art of lifewriting over the past 100 years, research for lifewriting, how to determine the type of life you wish to write - thematic, event-oriented, insider or outsider view, and tips and techniques to ease the tasks of interviewing and sorting through the documents of a life to determine what is important and what isn't, what is relevant and what isn't, to the theme of the life you are writing and how to use other??™s research without plagiarizing them. There will also be lessons on footnoting and endnoting, bibliographies, indexing and notes sections. Not only is this an excellent class for those wishing to learn about lifewriting, it is an excellent introduction to creative non-fiction writing in general. *** Women's Fiction - By Women About What It Means to be A Woman -- TEMPORARILY REMOVED FROM WEBSITE OFFERINGS - PLATFORMED NOW AT EWTW BY ROB PARNELL ON DATES OF HIS CHOOSING - CONTACT ROB@EASYWAYTOWRITE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT WHEN THIS CLASS WILL BE OFFERED.Begins February 14 6 weeks This is one of the fastest growing genres in the publishing field. These books were formerly classified as mainstream, sometimes even literary novels. Now they have a niche of their own and many publishers are bringing out speciality lines of Women's Fiction imprints. Women's Fiction IS NOT ROMANCE. If it's a romance call you 're looking for, this is not it. These are novels written primarily by women (some men are attempting to cash in on the new wave of this genre's popularity - but how can they ever know what it is to be a woman?) about women and their relationships - relationships with sisters, mothers, fathers, brothers, lovers, and friends although the emphasis is primarily on women and their relationships with other women. They explore what it means to be a woman in all the facets of our experience from employment to marriage. This class covers the main themes and ideas of Women's Fiction and teaches you how to know the difference between romance and Women's Fiction and how to write a novel of Women's Fiction that includes romance without being romance. It includes a list of publishers who are currently hot on buying Women's Fiction and encourages you to write a Women's Fiction novel by starting one during the course of the class. Aside from the usual basic tools of writing and looks at ways to ease the problems of living a writer's life, this course will cover those tools that are most important in the writing of Women's Fiction, like dialog and plotting. If you're interested in a new genre, one that has as yet few writer's specializing in it, then this is the course for you. *** Revision and Rewriting - After the First Draft .... Begins : April 1 6 weeks You've finished your novel. Now you just need to send it out to agents and publishers, right? Well, not yet. First you have to rewrite and revise and then you need to edit and proofread. Without these final 4 steps, the chances an agent or publisher will even look at your novel are nil. This course will cover the mechanics of rewriting and revising that first draft and how to edit and proofread it yourself or how to find someone reputable to do it for you. These are the final steps before you loose your baby into the world and you need to give it every chance of success you possibly can. Finally we'll cover how to prepare your manuscript for submission, how to write that killer query letter and how to prepare a knock-em-dead synopsis. Whether this is your first novel or your third or your fifth, this class can help you improve the likelihood that your book will be granted every chance to be read by the right people, increasing its chances for success. Don't depend on luck. Marketing yourself is as important as marketing your work and the way your manuscript looks and the way your presentation materials sound are all an important part of that marketing of self and work. +++ no cost to you/gratis WORKSHOP - Thematic Threads & Leitmotifs in Writing - 1 day INTENSIVE workshop - April 5 - Themes and leitmotifs - you may never have heard these discussed outside of creative writing and MFA programs but they are important parts of your writing even though they are for the most part unconscious in us all until we've had someone say to us, as I did one day a few years back, "You know, the theme of ________ seems to run all through your work. Why is it so important to you and did you mean it to be that way?" It may not seem like much, but when you're dead and if your work survives you, that issue of themes and leitmotifs will be a large one in the minds of those who study your work. And for now, while you're alive, this workshop will help you to recognize what your thematic threads are and what the leitmotifs of your work are. If nothing else you'll gain insight into what's most important to you and what your trying to communicate in your writing. Is it that love is the only thing we need? Is it that redemption is available to all (or available only to the few)? Whatever the personal theme of your own life is likely to be the theme of your writing. Do you know what it is? Do you know how to best use it in your fiction without sounding like a soapbox preacher? These are the kinds of things we'll be covering in this workshop, so sign on up! Its no cost, that's gratis, right? What excuse do you have for not joining in the fun and gaining a greater understanding of yourself and your motives, conscious and unconscious, as a writer? *** The Writer??™s Journal - In The Steps of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Virginia Woolf and Other Greats of Literature - TEMPORARILY REMOVED FROM WEBSITE OFFERINGS - PLATFORMED NOW AT EWTW BY ROB PARNELL ON DATES OF HIS CHOOSING - CONTACT ROB@EASYWAYTOWRITE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT WHEN THIS CLASS WILL BE OFFERED. Begins : May 146 weeks A very special course in which you'll learn how to distinguish the recurring themes of your life, the mythos that you live out in your life everyday and you'll learn how to turn it into compelling fiction. This course will cover the Writer??™s Journal, one of the nuts and bolts of the writer??™s toolbox. There are many kinds of journaling techniques and you'll be introduced to all of them so you can find what works for you from daily entries journals and reflective journals to Reading Journals (also called Book Logs) to the Metacognitive Journal. Writer??™s Journals have been used by all the great writers as idea catchers, practice grounds for their writing and as aids to break Writer??™s Block. Information will also be provided about journaling software and URLs given where either freeware or demos of the various journal ware can be found for download. An important class for anyone wishing to spend their lives as writers, whether of fiction or nonfiction. no cost to you/gratis WORKSHOP - Research, Backgrounds & Setting - INTENSIVE 1 DAY WORKSHOP - May 20 - A workshop devoted to teaching you how and where to find the research you need to make that historical novel or any genre of novel as realistic and believable as possible through research of places, clothing, flora and fauna, and the specialties that you may need - want to know how a firefighter lives and works? A cop? A sponge diver? Or just plain folk in foreign countries or areas of your own country that you're unfamiliar with? This workshop will help you to develop research files for every contingency by giving you tips and pointers and websites to make the job of researching your settings and backgrounds easy and fun. *** Writing For the Christian Market Begins May 30 6 weeks This is another of those fast growing genres that most people don't even think about writing for - yet it is a market that is expanding fast as well as opening out to more edgier stories than it previously allowed. This course will cover the general types of novels for the Christian market and the newer, edgier novels that are being sought by the market now. It will also cover, as do all my classes, the writing life and basic tools of writing. If you'd like to try your hand at something really new to you or if you've always wanted to write for the Christian market and just haven't known how to break in, this is a course that you'll enjoy as much as you need it. Included, too, is a list of Christian publishers and websites where you can see what's being done in Christian publishing, from historical novels to, yes, romances. *** Making A Novel - Basic Novel Writing -- Begins : July 1 8 weeks All the basics of novel writing including classes on the writing life. Tips, techniques and easy ways to do those things first time novelists find most difficult. Modules will include (but not be restricted to) Dialog, Plotting, Setting, Theme, Characters, Scenes, Structure, Organization, Research, Finding Your Authentic Voice and how to avoid those mistakes so many first timers make with language, as well Writer??™s Lock and Writer??™s Block, Boredom half way through the novel, Procrastination, Building Healthy Writing Habits & Discipline, Mindmapping (Clustering) and the use of Writer??™s Prompts. Modules on the writing life will include but not be restricted to the loneliness of being a writer and how to palliate it, how to find time for your writing, how to deal with family or friends who Don't understand what you're doing and many other aspects of living the life of a writer. There will also be discussions about the various writing software and URLs given where you can download either freeware or demo versions of these softwares so you can test them out and see which, if any, would be helpful to you. If you're serious about becoming a novelist and making a career of writing, this class is a must have for you. +++ Plotting & Characterization - 1 Day INTENSIVE Workshop - August 1 - An intensive look at the Siamese Twins of writing and how to use them to advance your story without lags, stutters or stumbles that will so often stop a reader dead in his tracks and cause her to throw the book aside for another. In this short workshop you'll learn how to plot arc, how to beat pacing anxiety and how to bring out the most in your characters within the context of their own personalities and the plot of your story. Ah, Mysteries - The Butler in the Kitchen with a Candlestick -- TEMPORARILY REMOVED FROM WEBSITE OFFERINGS - PLATFORMED NOW AT EWTW BY ROB PARNELL ON DATES OF HIS CHOOSING - CONTACT ROB@EASYWAYTOWRITE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT WHEN THIS CLASS WILL BE OFFERED. Begins : September 16 weeks They say Romance is the best selling of all the genres, but the average reader can name more mystery writers than they can romance writers. Mysteries are a perennial favorite, satisfying the mind??™s desire to solve puzzles. In the class you'll learn about mysteries from the "Cozy" to the "Noir", all the subgenres, and how to fashion the character and plot twists that make these books so satisfying to both mysteries buffs and the average reader. All the writing basics will be covered along with the special emphasis on each that adapts it to the writing of mysteries specifically. Constructing villains, plotting those stealthy twists and turns and other genre specific material like red herrings and false plants will also be covered. There will be a reading list and an assignment beginning the first week to write your own short mystery story. Mystery sites and URLs of markets for your novel or short stories will be given so that when the class has finished and your mystery story is written, you'll know where to send it and have a good chance of making that first sale. +++ Scene & Structure - The Scenes of Movement - INTENSIVE 1 day Workshop - Sept. 15 In this workshop you'll learn the secret of so many famous authors - how to make the scene of movement (show, don't tell) into an integral part of not only action scenes, but tension and conflict scenes, backstory scenes and characterization scenes. A intensive 3 day look at working with Show, Don't Tell methods that will help to refine your skills and better your writing. *** The Horror! The Horror! -- Begins : November 1 8 weeks Writing horror can be the most painful of all genres - to scare the living daylights out of someone else, we have to scare ourselves. To reach to the deepest primal fears of others, we have to reach to the deepest part of the wounds we bear where our fears are still as alive as they were when we were children and certain there was a moldering corpse under the bed whose undead hands would grasp our ankles and pull us under the bed and down into hell with it if we had to get up in the night for a glass of water or a trip to the bathroom. While publishers and pundits keep saying that horror is dead as a lucrative genre to write in, the sales of those good horror novels that hit the bookstores show that there is and always will be a place for the good, strong horror novel. This class is designed to introduce the student to the writing of horror novels and short stories utilizing all the Tools of Writing and hideously twisting them to make your characters, your plots, your monsters, and eventually, your sales. Included is a listing of horror short fiction markets and publishers who specialize in horror, URLs for horror sites that post your work for sale or for showcase. This class has been so successful in the past that a book of short stories by its students has been published. If you love horror, then you'll love writing horror. A serious class for those serious about breaking into this genre, that doesn't forget, too, that writing horror should be shivery, frightening fun. *** Romance, ah, Love! Begins November 30 4 weeks Romance is, at the moment, the fastest growing and BEST SELLING of the genres. And there are all kinds of subgenres these days to specialize in - erotic romance (spicy), soft porn romance (hot), general romance and BIG Romance (mild through spicy), historical romance, my favorite - paranormal romnce, plus at least a dozen more designations of subgenres within the main genre of Romance. Is it any wonder that writers want to learn how to use this genre to make themselves a household name and a successful earner? This class will cover the basics of writing novels and how the different tools - character, dialog, and the rest, are applied in the romance genre. By the time you??™ve finished this class, you??™ll have a solid grounding in writing novels of all types, as well as the "get ahead" kind of instruction that will put your novel before those other writers of romance when your manuscript lands on that editor or publisher??™s desk. *** Writing the Prize-Winning Short Story Begins : December 1 4 Weeks The short story is not just a novel attenuated. It is an art form of its own and one which, contrary to what you hear, is not now, nor ever has been, dying out. It's the markets for short stories which have dwindled since the golden days of the 30s, 40s and 50s. The short story, though, has recently begun to pick up speed with Hollywood for direct to video movies and there are more and more small presses and ezines which pay for short stories. Short stories are the easiest way to break into published writing AND there are the contests - more and more contests are popping up - so many that there is a forum and newsletter strictly for contests! In this course you'll learn the elements that make a prize-winning short story - how to make your short story stand out by its writing, its structure and its originality. It's true you can't make a living writing short stories, but you can build up an impressive resume with published and prize winning stories that will make the publisher you send your novel to sit right up and take notice and you might even hit the jackpot of Hollywood, as a close friend of mine, UK author, Geoff Nelder, did this very year (2004) when two of his stories were picked up by Hollywood talent scouts. And Geoff isn't shy about giving at least partial credit to me in a thread on BeWrite Forum - so come along and join this 4 week class on writing prize winning short stories! You won't regret it! no cost to you/gratis WORKSHOP - Dialog - Another Form of Action - INTENSIVE 1 day workshop - Dec. 5 Graham Greene was one of the first to identify dialog as more than just conversation between characters. It is, in fact, a form of action, and needs to be treated as such whenever you use it - whether it's to advance characterization or to impart information. Dialog is an excellent way to bring the backstory in without lengthy flashbacks, but there is a trick to it. In this course, you'll learn all the tricks of using dialog as action and using it to bring in backstory or other information that if simply narrated will, if not done right, cause your poor reader's eyes to glaze over and his snores to fill the room or her disgust to pass over the next novel you write. Like all my workshops, this is a 3 day intensive mini-course that I hope I have had made as much fun as it is instructive, *** The Suspense Thriller & Its SubGenres Begins : December 15 8 weeks The thriller, like the mystery, is a best selling genre these days and there are so many subgenres it??™s almost impossible to find one where a suspense thriller won't be completely in place. In this course you???ll learn how, through using the basic tools of the Writer??™s Toolbox, to construct a suspense thriller in the subgenres of Medical Suspense, Political Suspense, Religious Suspense, Techno Suspense and yes, even Romantic suspense. The Basic Tools of writing will be presented with special emphasis on how they apply to suspense thrillers in character creation, plotting, backgrounds and settings and how to research the specific needs of each subgenre. Combined with a creative and writing life module, this class is a must for the serious writer wanting to break into one of today??™s most lucrative fields of writing.
I've also added three 1-day INTENSIVE gratis workshops : * Thematic Threads & Leitmotifs in Writing (April, 5) * Reasearch : Backgrounds & Setting (May, 20) * Dialog : Another Form of Action (Dec. 5) AND two $25.00USD 1-day VERY intensive workshops : * Plotting & Characterization (August 1) * Scene & Structure : The Scenes of Movement (Sept. 15)
************************ Other services available through Kenyon's Labyrinth are : Editing of your manuscript Proofreading of your manuscript (we use the Chicago Manual) Ghost Writing Reviews of products or books A price list is available on request - just email me at nomadagain2000@yahoo.com- but I guarantee our prices are the lowest on the web - and for students and former students of mine, there is a 50% discount.
********************************************************************** INFO For Advertisers If you would like to advertise in this ezine, please email me at nomadagain2000@yahoo.com . Promo spots for Authors will be listed on the site and in the newsletter for a mere $10 per 6 months. Classified ads are also available at $5 per spot per month Again - email me at nomadagain2000@yahoo.com to order either of these paid advertising spots or if you have any questions concerning them. *********************************************************************** The Legal Stuff : You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed - it is never sent unsolicited. I WILL NEVER - UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES - give-away, sell or divulge your e-mail address to anyone for any amount of bribe money or any quantity of Hershey's Dark Kisses or for any amount on a Barnes & Noble Gift Card. You have my solumn word on this (thought the Gift Card for Barnes & Noble is a hard one to bypass, no lie there!). All portions of this newsletter are copyrighted, but should you wish to reproduce any article/s, please contact the appropriate author/s through M. Kenyon Charboneaux at nomadagain2000@yahoo.com . About Me : A very tiny bit of self-promotion Contact details: The owner/publisher of this newsletter is M. Kenyon Charboneaux, fiction writer and teacher of online classes on all aspects of fiction writing on Rob Parnell's The Easy Way To Write website - www.easywaytowrite.com, Nicole Allard's Writer's Success website, http://writerssuccess.netfirms.com or her own website (see Classes and Services above - www.kenyonslabyrinth.bravehost.com). M. Kenyon Charboneaux is a writer and teacher of writing; one time actress and torch singer, freelance reviewer and writing (fiction) coach. She has three published books, Cri Du Coeur, which, while in progress, won the CNW/HHFA Annual First Chapter competition; Blood Kiss, one of the best selling vampire novels on the Web as listed on Blackmask's Best Sellers list, staying at Number 1 for three weeks running and continuing for several other weeks intermittently throughout 2003 and 2004 at number 1; and 8 CityTales : Darkness Visible, a book of short stories which includes the Higby nominated City Terminus, originally published in the ezine, anotherealm, A Visit From Daddy, a winner of the Writer's Journal short story contest and published in that magazine, Grasshoppers, a winner in the National Writer's Association annual short story competition, and other previously published stories like The Blind Man who Saw A Ghost (Spectre Magazine) and Vampire on the Paralegal Shift (Vampire's Crypt Magazine), as well as three new stories written for this release of the collection. Her well reviewed short story Winter Mirror is now available in the horror anthology ADUMBRA, from www.Magellanbooks.com She is currently at work on a septet of stand alone novels, the first of which is The Virgin of Pontos Vallejos, short listed for the Heekin Fellowship and two time nominee for the Master's Award as a Work in Progress, due out in Spring of 2005. She is past editor of Eros & Rust, a newsletter of original fiction and writer's resources. Kenyon??™s books are for sale on her site, www.kenyonslabyrinth.bravehost.com . She can be contacted at nomadagain2000@yahoo.com PLEASE NOTE : All of Kenyon??™s current books were pirated in July of 2003 - there is no legal, non-pirate outlet for her work other than her website or www.DigitalbooksEtc.com. If you buy from anyone else, you??™re putting money in the pockets of pirates, not in the pocket of the writer. This includes purchase of the 10,000 (or 12,000 or 15,000) Books On CD that you see just about everywhere either as giveaways for joining a particular site or for sale on sites like Readerrom.com. *********************************************************************** Subscribe/Unsubscribe : If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter/ezine, just drop me a line at nomadagain2000@yahoo.com with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line and I'll add you to the list. If you wish to unsubscribe, all you have to do is drop me another line, this one with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line and you??™re unsubscribed! Easy, yes? There is no cost for this newsletter. WW&C is monthly between the 1st and 5th of each month.
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