tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77939467003851061442024-03-21T13:20:59.681-07:00Writer in a Foreign LandFiction writer with German mother tongue writes in English. How to bring these ideas into good stories, well told.Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-52882727859659212092015-07-11T11:53:00.002-07:002015-07-11T11:53:38.850-07:00Quo Vadis Writing - End Devices<div>
F<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">irst if all, sorry about the late posting of this post. I had some kind of first draft, second draft and rewrite-the-whole-thing experience with it. However, here it is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I admit, I love SiFi. I read Perry Rhodan when I was a kid, I watched Star Trek and I always wanted to be a Jedi. Well, quite possible that I had dreamt of being a wizard if I had grown up 20 years later. However, what I actually wanted to say is that I loved the fact that Tom Paris in Voyager became a Hologram novelist. How cool is that - a Hologram novelist.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">How would this work? Could the "reader" select the role he wants to play - the hero, the villain or a side-kick? Would they have to "follow" the story (like in captain proton) or can they decide differently. If yes, it would allow almost infinite possibilities in story creation. It would almost be like a guided role-play. You could even "read" the same story multiple times with different outcomes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Ok ok, this example might be a bit far out into the future. However, my point is that technological development drives development in story telling, distribution and marketing. We've seen the e-book and e-book readers changing the landscape with audio books as a kind of side story. What's next? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The first blog post in my new series about the future of writing is about new possibilities in the end device - i.E. physical book, e-book etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Question of Senses</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When it comes to end device we have to talk about senses. Books and e-books are basically written words seen by our eyes and when it comes to this I think it is probably the end of the story. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Don't get me wrong here - we are only at the beginning of the digitalization of books. In my last post we already found out that currently 23% of book sales are e-books. To be honest, I love hard cover. I love to see books in my library and the memories that come with them. I only have to glance at The Old Man and the Sea and the whole story is back. And then again I find myself reading e-books because it is simply more convenient and less expensive. We've only scratched the surface of digitalization yet and I am convinced, that e-book sales will take over. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">However, when it comes to reading I don't see a lot else. Pictures? Well, let's call it comics or movies - at least the silent movie's because modern ones include sound and ears. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD1xgi0ZPD-DjYzRbER0t9Acoi_fZqdVlUNxwkMs2XXdZztiAAKTwGpSfWiAJ88Wcx_IEAUE3VVbhWn2Gy2ObKTHO-AU75oF_aRRXUMwtbkwFWbRWoNssur1UyXQQnUOQ7zW1ieiccRzQ/s640/blogger-image--197934196.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD1xgi0ZPD-DjYzRbER0t9Acoi_fZqdVlUNxwkMs2XXdZztiAAKTwGpSfWiAJ88Wcx_IEAUE3VVbhWn2Gy2ObKTHO-AU75oF_aRRXUMwtbkwFWbRWoNssur1UyXQQnUOQ7zW1ieiccRzQ/s400/blogger-image--197934196.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">VR how we imagine it</td></tr>
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<b>VR and the Five Senses</b></div>
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When we start talking about storytelling the possibilities become almost infinite and I think we will see a development towards VR. However, VR right now is more a buzzword than it is actually a reality. We are still far away from covering sense of touch, taste and smell. We are probably closest with smell and then again wouldn't it be more like watching TV? Reading a book on the other side covers all senses thanks to the power of imagination. It is that real that we can fall in love with characters and cry when they die. Those amongst you that have this power understand me.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">VR how it will probably end up</td></tr>
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<b>Long-term</b></div>
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The next logical step is tapping directly into the brain. Crazy future talk? Of course it is. The brain is still one of the biggest mysteries and science seems to be closer to understand the Universe that understanding the human brain. Still, I am convinced that whatever is possible will explored. And yes, there will be social and legal implications, but they never stalled progress. The novel "Amped" by Daniel H. Wilson or the movie "The Surrogates" are good examples for what it could mean.<br />
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Having a story playing directly in my brain is somehow like a holodeck. Scott Adams wrote in "The Future by Dillbert" that he was afraid the holodeck would be the society's last invention and I kind-of-agree with him. Why bother with real life, when I can have my dream life directly in my head inclusive taste, feel and smell. I would be highly addictive.<br />
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What does long-term mean? Well, my guess is as good as yours, but I think we will see first steps in gaming within the next 20 - 30 years. If you think this is not possible, just remember where we were 30 years ago - 1985. <a href="http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE4NjU" target="_blank">Today, an iPad 2 is as fast as the cray 2</a> and cray 2 was the fastest supercomputer in 1985.</div>
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Long story short, if we talk about reading in a narrow sense we won't see a lot of innovation over the next decades. But this doesn't mean that an author could not try to make first steps towards a different kind of storytelling - maybe in a collaboration with others, but this would be a topic for another quo vadis blog post.</div>
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The next post will be about the future of distribution.</div>
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In that sense, happy forecasting</div>
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Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-2994103915956976512015-05-31T13:58:00.001-07:002015-05-31T13:58:20.855-07:00Quo Vadis Writing<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Back in 2009 I wrote my Master thesis about the optimal way to publish a debut novel in Switzerland using business strategy tools. I had a raw draft of my first novel in my pocket and slowly started to think about how to get it out there. The thesis was accepted and I got my MBA, but I was wrong about my conclusions - not back then, but in retrospective. Well, maybe even back then.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Synopsis of my thesis</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Amongst other results, the analysis showed an expected further concentration in the publishing industry and an erosion of margins. It also predicted an overflow of manuscripts in the market based on the possibilities of the digitalization. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Basically, I developed two strategy options:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To create a pull via social media in order to overcome the lack of publicity and find a publisher as a second step</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To go the self publishing route using digital media solutions</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Later, I abandoned the second option due to the expected erosion of margin as well as the lack of experience as a debut novelist with regards to the end-to-end publishing process. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQAG7kEA95OEngAGf04kGZEPrqxtf9hH7vZytivTepO6j6CkXyZKO9SNhFkNauaAbrq8lzgI8zseqzVMMgn4RTD9lMvLXVE6SYvvOcf3GMb-H-ZqG-GpLu4lbY6UOg1Q78Zis3qOh5t4E/s640/blogger-image-2109033495.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQAG7kEA95OEngAGf04kGZEPrqxtf9hH7vZytivTepO6j6CkXyZKO9SNhFkNauaAbrq8lzgI8zseqzVMMgn4RTD9lMvLXVE6SYvvOcf3GMb-H-ZqG-GpLu4lbY6UOg1Q78Zis3qOh5t4E/s400/blogger-image-2109033495.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>How it developed in the meantime </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">At the time I wrote my thesis, e-book readers were still in their fledgling stage. Kindle 2 and Nook had just been released and back then in Europe they still had the nerd-factor. But the real revolution was the introduction of KDP in the US, cutting out the middle men and gatekeepers. However, KDP was not released in Switzerland in 2009.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The expected concentration took place. There is this wisdom in business that every industry will consolidate until 7 +/-2 competitors control 80% of the market. Starting in the 1960 the book publishing industry saw a consolidation down to the current big five. Then the technological development disrupted the market. Recent statistics from <a href="http://authorearnings.com/report/may-2015-author-earnings-report/" target="_blank">Author Earnings</a> indicate that only a third of e-book sales are the big five and over 40% are self or indie published. Obviously this is only for e-books, however based on <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/64170-e-books-remain-third.html" target="_blank">Nielsen</a>, e-books made 30% of overall book sales in first half year 2014. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">At the same time, we've seen major bookstores like Borders disappearing and Barnes and Nobles stalling mainly due to the increasing competition through channels like Amazon. Interestingly, small independent bookstores seem to be more resistant than I originally expected. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">However, while digitalization led to concentration in channels, it also led to a higher variety in content and worked as a catalyst for small businesses. As every other entrepreneur, independent authors need suppliers during different steps while creating an e-book, from editing, design services to marketing and consulting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">You might say the gatekeepers have been watching quality and with their falling the quality is at risk. Well, I would say quality is now defined by the market - I call it voting with the wallet. About a year ago I bought a book from an independent author in Wyoming. He was a park ranger at Yellowstone and wrote a thriller about a terrorist attack with a potential natural disaster. The story was ok with a nice plot twist, but there was far too much back story in it. His knowledge about the park was his darling and he wasn't willing to kill it. Honestly, I don't remember the author and I probably won't buy another book from him. The quality was just not good enough. However, the amount spent was low enough it did not really hurt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Why should I have seen it coming</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, I was right in some aspects, like the margin erosion, but I didn't realize it would hit more the publishers than the authors. I also didn't consider the additional additional sales due to the lower prices and the increased availability of the digital content.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But I was wrong about some other major aspects.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When I wrote my thesis I was focusing too much on the impact of digitalization on the creation of content and the use of existing social media. I should have seen that the real change will be in the distribution. Other industries had similar changes, from retail via tourism to news. I also did not consider the potential of additional online tools, like goodreads or bookbub.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I have not seen all this, because... well, because I have no crystal bowl. But some of it would have been foreseeable by having a more open mind and include broader basis of interviewees, rather than focusing on publishers, bookstores and authors. They tended to be too much focused on threads and not seeing the opportunities of the digitalization.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I also should have taken a look at the US. Europe, except maybe the UK, tend to adopt change later than the US.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Quo Vadis Writing</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">That's the question. Over the next blog posts, I will try to give an outlook where the industry will go. This time I'm going to focus on one topic or aspect at a time, from content creation via distribution to marketing and sales. Probably I'll still be wrong, but once in while it's healthy to try to look ahead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In that sense, happy scrying,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Your writer in a foreign land</span></div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-18495193049070884332015-05-03T14:13:00.000-07:002015-05-08T08:29:49.730-07:00Humor Reloaded - The Pun<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Some month ago I glanced at puns in my series about <a href="http://www.writerinaforeignland.blogspot.com/2014/08/humor-in-writing-1-of-4.html" target="_blank">humor in writing</a>. But as much as I love them, it is difficult to come up with an original pun. This is not primarily a foreign language thing even though it adds to it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There are different levels of puns</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Puerile puns</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Everyday puns</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sophisticated puns</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Top class puns</span></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-4WbZ3Z_m4wUuoARaoE5_yQ7y-XPHXVbevdFU7uFVmJ5dTdajqg5oIk4c9HvUGfSjKdNCUI6pV_d6eGxUtCjA5Y_06Z36zqfoJLHU8Hh9ySyKKbqa7haClbEVhlE8tBCO7jZsA8VqM6Q/s1600/shutterstock_113340169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-4WbZ3Z_m4wUuoARaoE5_yQ7y-XPHXVbevdFU7uFVmJ5dTdajqg5oIk4c9HvUGfSjKdNCUI6pV_d6eGxUtCjA5Y_06Z36zqfoJLHU8Hh9ySyKKbqa7haClbEVhlE8tBCO7jZsA8VqM6Q/s1600/shutterstock_113340169.jpg" height="320" width="320"></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Let's dissect the topic a little by looking at some examples from the internet:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Always trust a glue salesman. They tend to stick to their word.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Where do you find giant snails? On the ends of giants’ fingers.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What do you call an alligator in a vest? An investigator!</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Those are, what I call it, <b>puerile puns</b>. Their wit is based on simple everyday facts. At a certain age, children love these puns. However, as grown-ups they seemed to be a little silly.</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was brilliant!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When a woman returns new clothing, that's post traumatic dress syndrome.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A pessimist's blood type is always B-negative.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">These puns are already a little more sophisticated. You need to understand the importance of a reception or post traumatic stress syndrome or simply what is a pessimist. These are <b>everyday puns</b>, which might still make us smile, but wouldn't surprise us anymore. Even for me, as I probably heard them for the first time, they seemed nice, but no really worth remembering.</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In a democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your count that votes.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, ‘I’ve lost my electron.’ The other says ‘Are you sure?’ The first replies, ‘Yes, I’m positive.’</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">If you don't pay your exorcist, you will get repossessed.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">These puns are even more difficult to understand as they require more knowledge about the underlying topic or simply more life experience. You need to know financial processes around repossession or physical knowledge about atoms or simply an understanding of history and global politics. Those are the ones I call <b>sophisticated puns</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And then are the <b>top class puns</b>. They are not only funny, but they also convey a truth or a greater meaning. They are the ones that make it on quotes. Below two examples from Dorothy Parker:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It served me right for putting all my eggs in one bastard (which she allegedly said on about her her abortion). A simple pun, but to understand it depth you need to understand the hardness of life as well as the concept of humor as a way to deal with it.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On another occasion she said to tell somebody that she was "</span><span style="color: #1b1b1b; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Too fucking busy, and vice versa.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Or one with unknown origin: "Guerrilla warfare is more than just throwing a banana."</span></li>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">How to Use Puns in Your Writing</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In first person you can have a character or the narrator make a pun. In all other viewpoints, I would let a character make a pun as a general rule. A pun made by a narrator in third person feels like the author wanted to be witty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">However, a character shouldn't pun out of character. Or put differently, the pun defines the character. For example for a character that is insecure or afraid of something you can let them constantly make everyday puns. If you want to give a character a sarcastic or cynical note you can let them make sarcastic or cynical puns. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Pun Testing</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">If you have a great pun, one that you invented yourself, you should test it before using it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For years I had this answer ready when somebody asked me in Spanish, "Que pasa?" (what's up?), I would answer "El condor". Well, what is funny about this? The verb pasar in que pasa means what happens but in the song el condor pasa it means the condor passes by. Although I am still convinced, none of my Spanish speaking friends actually found it funny. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Hence, not everything that is funny for you is really funny for others and especially as you put it into a book it needs to be tested. Tell it to friends, to fellow writers or test it with strangers. You will immediately see their reaction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In that sense, happy punning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Your writer in a foreign land</span></div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-66284186336144454572015-04-19T12:00:00.000-07:002015-04-19T12:00:13.151-07:00Foreshadowing<div>
Hibernation noun (uncountable): When an animal passes the winter in a torpid or resting state. The German word for - literally translated - is winter sleep and that's exactly how it felt with my blogging over the past two month. But now it's spring and here I'm back again with a new topic that repeatedly pops up in my current work. </div>
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I am still rewriting a story I wrote in German some years ago. It's exciting and there are many new ideas coming up, but I find myself quite often taking a note on the side - needs foreshadowing. Same happens with some of the existing parts of the story and I get the bad feeling that I'm giving the whole story away too early.<br />
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Foreshadowing is tricky, but well done it's half the rent. </div>
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You want some examples? Here you go:</div>
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<ul>
<li>In Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption Stephen King writes "Getting a pass out of Shawshank when you have murder stamped on your admittance-slip is slow work. As slow as a river eroding a rock." Ingenious as Andy actually uses his understanding of long-term geological processes to escape.</li>
<li>Later in the same book the Warden takes Andy's bible during the cell inspection he tells him, "salvation lies within". After Andy's escape it was revealed, that he was hiding the rock hammer in the bible proving the Wardens comment.</li>
<li>In Lord of the Rings Tolkien lets Gandalf say about Gollum, that he has the feeling Gollum still has an important part to play. At the end Gollum is the reason the ring gets actually destroyed.</li>
<li>There are also great examples in film. In Jurassic Park Dr. Grant tells a boy at the digging site of a raptor skeleton, "you stare at him and he just stares right back, and that’s when the attack comes; not from the front, but from the side.” Later in the film, that is exactly how Muldoon is hunt down by the raptors.</li>
<li>Foreshadowing has not always to be spoken, it can also be a picture or impression. In The Day After Tomorrow Sam Hall looks up to the sky observing thousands of birds flying south indicating the danger coming from north.</li>
<li>Obi Wan Kenobi tells Anakin in Episode 2 of Star Wars, "Why do I get the feeling you will be the death of me?" Ultimately Darth Vader kills Obi Wan in Episode 4, but as Episode 4 was aired decades before Episode 2 was even written I think this was more a joke from the screen writer than an true foreshadowing.</li>
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<b>Why and where we Foreshadow</b></div>
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Foreshadowing is an important catalyzer for a story; it increases or maintains tension.</div>
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Basically there are two types of foreshadowing, subtile and a less subtile ones. I know that is not really helping right now, but bear with me for a moment.<br />
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Let's first look at the less subtile ones, because they are easier. Whenever you want the reader to know, that there is something coming you place it directly in his face. The birds in The Day after Tomorrow are a good example for that. I usually include this kind of foreshadowing in the first act to show the reader, that this nice world the protagonist is living in wouldn't last any longer. Change is coming that will throw him for a loop. They are the clouds on the horizon that indicate the storm. Jurassic Park is another very good example for that. Take Dr. Grant's comment on the raptor combined with the scene where they were told that they have raptors on the island. Earlier, Dr. Grand was happy to hear that they have a T-Rex, but when they hear about the raptors you see Dr. Grand swallowing. You immediately know that the raptors will be their biggest threat.<br />
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Sometimes, I also use the less subtile foreshadowing as a cliffhanger in order to keep the reader engaged at the end of a chapter, but you should not overdo it as readers tend to have a learning curve and it will become less effective every time you use it. </div>
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Subtile foreshadowing is more difficult - not to write it, but to hide it. But let's look first at its purpose. One of the worst things that I've come across yet in books is the deus-ex-machina sin. Deus ex machina refers to a situation in a book, when a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by a newly introduced character or device. This is as if Superman would appear at the battle of Hogwarts to save Harry Potter. I call it a sin because I think it is a betrayal to the reader. However, I also think in most of the cases it is a foreshadowing issue.<br />
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Let's stay with Harry Potter for a moment (the books, not the film), the fact that he could survive the second time Voldemort killed him was foreshadowed and seemed reasonable to believe reading the book. The protection he received when his mother sacrificed herself was mentioned several times and Voldemort used his blood to gain back his physical presence. The answer comes at the very end, when it was revealed that these two items together protected Harry again. Who would have foreseen that? Outside of Dumbledore I mean - there was a moment when Dumbledore noticed the fact that Voldemort used Harry's blood at the end of the Goblet of Fire, he seemed to be satisfied. Without this foreshadowing, Harry's survival would appear unreasonable.</div>
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<b>Techniques of Foreshadowing</b></div>
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Foreshadowing of the final resolution, the climax of the story, is difficult because it is a tightrope walk between revealing and hiding. Let's look at some techniques.<br />
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The normal human brain is laid out for linear thinking: A-B-C-D. This is your opportunity as a writer to trick the reader into plot twists and ultimately an unforeseen climax that is not perceived as deus ex machina<br />
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<u>Combination of two individual facts</u></div>
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Harry Potter is a great example for this (see above). You take two or three strength, facts or circumstances that have a purpose in its own. This is important - imagine a reader will assume any open string to be important for the final count down. If you use this foreshadowing technique, the fact or strength must have a purpose that is immediately visible to the reader and ticked-off as understood and completed. Simple example - if you have a character who is capable of reading minds it is obvious that one of readings will be part of climax or lead to it. You could solve this by limiting his abilities so he doesn't know who's mind it is or he can only read people's minds that are in less than 10 feet distance. Going back to Harry - the protection he received from his has ended before the last book starts as clearly stated several times throughout the books. Its purpose seemed completed and therefore it was perfectly arranged for the plot twist. </div>
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<u>Small hints</u></div>
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Using a series of small hints can work as foreshadowing. Shawshank Redemption is a good example. Next to the big hint where Andy tells Red where he should come looking for him, indicating his escape, a series of small hints point to the solution. Red's comment at the beginning about the river eroding a rock or the Warden's "salvation lies within" are both very subtile and there are further hints about geology spread out through the book. They all point towards geology, but you see the whole picture only at the very end, like a jigsaw.</div>
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<u>Visual Foreshadowing</u></div>
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Yes you understood correctly - also in books, foreshadowing can also be done in visual form. The book cover is the easiest example for visual foreshadowing or you can have small pictures at the beginning of each chapter, like the Harry Potter books.</div>
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<u>Distraction (red herrings)</u></div>
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Red Herrings are clues placed to distract the reader. In basic it's pretty simple; you place clues that are misleading or could be taken as something else. The prophecy in Star Wars is an example for that. It says that Anakin Skywalker would bring balance to the powers and the dialogue around it leads to the conclusion that they were wrong when he falls for the dark side. There is one rule though, ultimately you have to give the reader a reason for the red herring. The reader still needs closure. Otherwise he will not be satisfied with the story.<br />
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One more thing - as much as red herrings are a great tool, use it scarcely and wisely. You want to distract the reader not loose him. Too many distractions might throw him out of the story. </div>
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<b>Foreshadowing vs Easter eggs</b></div>
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In an earlier blog post about humor I had briefly explained easter eggs as insider jokes in books. Harry Potter is full of them if you want to believe the internet. I wanted to bring them up again for his blog, as there is an important difference between foreshadowing and easter eggs - with a blurred line in between. A reader should remember the foreshadowing when he reads the climax of the story. Yes they might have been hidden, but they should reveal their true nature at the end. Easter eggs on the other side reveal themselves often only after the second or third time you read a book (or when you google them on the web). If you use small hints to foreshadow the story, the small hints might become easter eggs in case you are too successful in hiding them.</div>
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<b>When do we Foreshadow</b></div>
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The point in time when you foreshadow is probably an experience thing. While an unexperienced author will go back and place the foreshadowing after he has finished the plot or the first draft, more experienced writers will learn to do the main foreshadowing while they progress with their story. I am somewhere in the middle. I get the main parts right, but when I read through my first draft I still see many items that need more or better foreshadowing. Quite often I also have to go back and hide it better, because my original foreshadowing was too obvious.</div>
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Foreshadowing is a crucial element of storytelling. I always see it like the shopping list for a five course dinner and the reader has to guess the menu.</div>
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Happy shadow throwing,</div>
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Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-49294140145696814952015-02-22T14:52:00.001-08:002015-02-22T14:52:41.698-08:00We Have No Clue What Will Come<div>
We have arrived in 2015. A truly exciting year. This year we will see the invention of flying cars and highways in the clouds. We will see hover boards and self-drying/self-adjusting clothes. At least that's the way the 1985 released movie Back to the Future has foreseen the world. Well, they got some things right, like the flat screens, video chat systems or head-mounted displays.</div>
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<b>How Much Has Changed</b></div>
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I grew up in the 80ies in a bi-polar world. I got my first computer when I was 10 years old - a 286 processor where I had to load MS-DOS via floppy disk because it had no hard disk. Looking back now, how could anybody have predicted the Internet and much less the impact it had on our daily live.<br />
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Last week I saw an article on EarthPorm.com about <a href="http://www.earthporm.com/5-women-represent-last-living-people-born-1800s/" target="_blank">5 women that represent the last 5 people born before 1900</a>. How could anybody have foreseen what they would see in their first forty years, the first plane flying, the rise of communism and a world war. And how could they even have seen the second world war coming.<br />
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So how can we predict the future? Well, we can't. </div>
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<b>Some Were Wrong, Some Were Right</b></div>
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The web is full of examples of people who were hilariously wrong. </div>
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<li>In 1920 the New York Times wrote that a rocket would never be able to leave the earth's atmosphere.</li>
<li>"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home," said Ken Olson the founder of DEC in 1977. </li>
<li>"What can be more palpably absurd than the prospect held out of locomotives traveling twice as fast as stagecoaches?" wrote The Quarterly Review in March 1825.</li>
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On the other side there were especially writers pretty good in painting a rather accurate picture of the developments. H.G. Wells predicted the massive bombings in WWII in his novel "Things to Come" and Jules Vernes predicted the travels to the moon and large submarines.<br />
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Still, even the ones that hit the technological progress had two problems, timing and development of society. Let's look at Jules Vernes' stories. With him it almost feels like it could have happened the day or the week after he published the novels. Society, political landscape even clothes did not keep up with the technological development.</div>
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<b>But How Can We Write About the Future?</b></div>
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But if we can't predict the future, how can we write science fiction? Here is my take to it.</div>
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<u>a) Home Grown Development</u></div>
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If you assume the technological development is purely human based you have to factor in economics as well as political constraints. Let's look at space travel. The decommissioning of the space shuttle marked somehow the trough of disillusionment in the hype curve and now with handing over to private industry we might be on the slope of enlightenment. I dare to predict private service to space stations within the next 5 - 10 years. But this is basically very short range only.<br />
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The step afterwards would a permanent basis on the moon. Well to establish that certain circumstances would be needed, such as benefit, e.g. minerals or a hub for further space travel due to the lower gravity and the missing atmosphere. The rational could also be for political or geopolitical reasons. Warfare was always leading development in a way and the gigantic efforts could be used to keep millions of otherwise unemployed people occupied. Anyways, for this step we probably need 20 - 50 years.<br />
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What comes afterwards? Travel to Mars or within the solar system - I'd say 50 - 100 years, give or take a decade or two. Over-light speed would need an breaking technological invention, which could be tomorrow as well as never. However, such an invention would immediately lead to a boost in the overall development.<br />
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That was quite easy - now comes the more difficult parts. For example, if you write about travel in the solar system in the year 2100, how does the geopolitical situation look like? Would it be bipolar again with USA and China or rather the United Nations of America and Asian Union? It could also be a united earth government, however, that would need more explanation than the bipolar world, e.g. a threat that would keep it together. Another angle would be the society. How would society look in 85 years? Is it the upper class living in highly secured communities and the vast majority living in ghettos or does the world consist out of supercities and large empty and poisoned countrysides.<br />
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Don't get me wrong, you don't have to put all this in your story, but you need to have it in the back of you head. </div>
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<u>b) Technology Infusion from Outside</u></div>
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One trick to overcome the constraints of home grown development is a technology infusion from outside. Extraterrestrial species could make contact and help or force humanity to do a technology leap or technology could result out of our own future (i.E. time travel). However, in both cases you have to be willing to deal with the implications.<br />
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First you have to provide a little more information about the why, when and how in order to not let it look like deus ex machina. But also, you have to deal with the impact on society as soon as humanity realized they are not alone. Will it result in staying in a war against the aliens, like in Independence day or Enders's Game, or in peaceful development under a global government, like in Star Trek. </div>
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Additionally, as soon as you use time travel you have to decide which philosophy you are following - Back to the Future, where the past can be altered or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, where the impact of the time traveler is already baked in the events of the present. I don't want to go deeper into time travel theories, but I just want to emphasize the importance to remain consistent and believable.</div>
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c) The Lucky Punch</div>
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I wouldn't go there. Most of technological development follows a long time of foreshadowing. For airplanes it took over 100 years from the concept to the first flight and there were 25 years between the research start in nuclear fusion and the first atomic bomb and I am pretty sure it would have taken longer without the war.<br />
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Not that there might not be a lucky invention, even though it doesn't happen too often, but I think it will be very hard to make your reader believe it. You risk that your story appears unrealistic.</div>
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To bring all this to a point: I think Science Fiction and Social Fiction should go hand in hand.</div>
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In that sense, happy forecasting.</div>
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Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-8095225802769031472015-01-19T16:15:00.000-08:002015-01-19T16:15:05.886-08:00German Words in English<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My second blog post was about a German word used in English: Wanderlust. In English it has the connotation of longing for far places while in German it means desire for hiking (although rather outdated).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Doing my writing over the past months I came across several other German words who made their way into English. Some of them for the good, some of them for the bad. Following several sites that focus on this, there is one main reason for including a foreign word into a language; a word fits into a gap. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It then is a matter of time until people adopt the word so it is not seen as a foreign word anymore. My guess - it takes a generation or two to forget. In this process, the meaning of the words can diverge. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Food related</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A lot of words are related to food, actually to beer and beer garden. Starting the late 19th century, probably with the German immigrants, some words made it into the vocabulary. Lager, Stein, Dirndl and Schnitzel are only some of them. Sauerkraut and Gasthaus had a peak in the 40ies and Muesli came up in the 60ies. <a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams" target="_blank">Google's Ngram viewer</a> is an awesome tool to track the usage of a word.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>War related</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A less pleasant angle are war related words - most of them came over during world war II.</span></div>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Blitzkrieg </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reich</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ubermensch</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fuehrer</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Götterdämmerung - although it came up earlier due to Wagner's opera it peaked very much in the 1940ies.</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Special words</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are a lots of other words, of which some are already seen as English words, like Kindergarden.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, I want to pick some pearls:</span></div>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Angst</b> in German means simply fear. In English it leans more towards panic and extreme fear.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Schadenfreude</b> and gloating are very similar. So why did it make it into English at all? I think to gloat is more an action whereas schadenfreude expresses the malice behind the action.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Gemütlichkeit </b>is a very sensual world and the best translation would be coziness, but coziness is missing some aspects. Coziness is more focused on how one feels in a nice and warm environment. Gemütlichkeit has also a social angle similar to amity and it also means going with a slow pace.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Waldsterben</b> - it literally means dying forests and had its origins in the environmental discussions in Germany in the 1970ies. So why is there no corresponding word in English. I have no evidence, but I remember how fierce the discussion was in Germany and I assume the discussion was not as strong in the US.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Zeitgeist </b>- as per Merriam-Webster it refers to the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era. However, in german this word has a positive connotation.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Kitsch</b> is a funny word. In English it has has the stamp of being lowbrow or tacky. In German it has also a negative angle, almost as being too much. But there is always an underlying hope or respect for the better cause or value underneath. I remember standing at the beach on some island watching the sunset and a friend said, "It's almost kitschy". Or there is this joke about a conversation between friends on the background of the German saying "rain makes you beautiful":<br />"Why do you have an umbrella. Rain makes beautiful."<br />"Yeah I know. I just don't want to get kitschy."<br />The second speaker emphasizes the point that too much beauty makes you kitschy.</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Interestingly, I haven't found such an extreme discrepancy as with wanderlust. Still, I'm always surprised when I come across one of these kind of inherited words.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In that sense, happy writing</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gilbert de David</span></div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-21770679615256442562014-12-25T09:28:00.003-08:002014-12-25T09:28:56.634-08:00X-Mas in Writing<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's been looking a lot like X-Mas outside. I love the Holiday Season. Even though work seems to triple during this time, there is a special spirit out there. People are friendlier and more willing to give.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can use this spirit for your writing. Holidays and special are a great source to support conflict and tension.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://flic.kr/p/9gaGUb">Christmas Tree, Rockefeller Center</a> (<a href="https://www.flickr.com/30478819@N08">Marco Verc</a> from flickr)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Holidays</b></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">X-Mas: You could use the spirit and holiday feelings to create conflict in the protagonist. He might have just returned from a war zone and the spirit seemed unreal or a relative might have stage four cancer and the protagonist questions the meaning of live. </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">New Years Eve: Use the spirit of new beginning with all the new years solutions to create a turning point I the protagonist's life. He might feel the need for change, but he is neglecting it until a plot twist on New Years Eve lets him embrace the change.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pentecost: If you want to know how to use pentecost just read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pentecost-An-ARKANE-Thriller-Book-ebook/dp/B004JHYA6A" target="_blank">Pentecost</a> from Joanna Penn. It is a brilliant example using the spirit and meaning of a Holiday in a story.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4th of July: Same here - I love how the movie Independence day uses this date to create tension. On July 1st you know there are still three days to go. But there is more to it - using the 4th of July implies the bigger cause. This is not a simple fight. It is all or nothing. It is about everything we believe in. </span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Special Days</b></span></div>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Birthday or Anniversaries: Birthdays and Anniversaries are a ticking clock. Every year we are shown our own mortality and that the number of years are finite. That is why we celebrate - it is less of an accomplishment, more an achievement.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Weddings: Despite the option to divorce, weddings have a notion being final. This creates tension - in the bridal pair as well as in the bridal party. Sisters/brothers could be jealous or here could be a rival amongst them. There are tons of fils out there covering this - My Best Friend's Wedding, Made of Honor or The Wedding Planer just to name some of them. You want novels as example? Here you go: Great Expectations where the marriage of Estella increases the tension by seemingly moving them out of reach for the protagonist.</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Other Religion's holidays or special days</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Even holidays of other religions might help to create tension in a novel, be it on Diwali, during Ramadan or Hadj or on Yom Kippur. However, there are two things you need to remember when doing so. First, treat the holiday with respect the way you want to have things treated that matter to you. Second, understand the holiday, its customs and meanings and especially they way people feel and celebrate it. If you are not sure, ask for help.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Other special days/historic days</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is an almost countless number of special or historic days or times you can use, discovery of America, Russian Revolution, assassination of JFK, Tchernobyl-incident etc.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The broader known the better, but you can also use less known events. On December 22, 1974 the Comoros voted for their independency from France. This is hardly general knowledge, but we all understand the notion of independence and freedom and therefore it creates tension.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You could also use general events, like the Superbowl or the inauguration of a president. It doesn't have to have a direct connection with the event, but the event itself creates a collective feeling. We have all memories accompanied with one of these days.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But why is it that these examples work? Because all these dates and events are important in some way. They matter and whenever something matters there is a high chance/risk for conflict.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Merry X-Mas and Happy Holidays</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your writer in a foreign land</span></div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-17624400358705218062014-12-07T12:54:00.001-08:002014-12-07T12:54:50.783-08:00Diversity in Writing<div>
Last week Chuck Wendig published a <a href="http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/11/23/i-am-a-racist-and-i-am-a-sexist-and-probably-some-other-ists-too/" target="_blank">blog post</a> which is like mirror or like a punch in your face, depending how used you are to be candid with yourself. The blog post was about racism, sexism and other -isms - not the obvious ones, not the ones we recognize in others or the ones that is brought to us in the news. It was about a latent racism or sexism in ourselves and its different reasons.</div>
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The blog post stands for its own, but I only want to add another angle - racism and sexism are the other side of the coin of something that was essential in the development of human beings; the ability to create shortcuts and compartmentalize experience. This doesn't make it better, but it helps us to overcome our own -isms.</div>
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The blog post ends with the suggestion to add more diversity into the writing industry, into publishing and into our books. I don't know about the industry and not much more about publishing, but I know my bookshelf and my writing.<br />
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<b>My Bookshelf</b></div>
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I have a nice variety of books on the shelf - from European, Asian, North American and Latin American authors, male and female writers and... wait... honestly, I couldn't really tell the race of the author, simply because in most of the cases I don't know.</div>
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So what should I do about this? Look out for more books from specific authors, based on their race, gender, sexual orientation or religion? Quite the contrary - I thinks we should be agnostic about that at all. I love to read a good book; a good story told well. Coming from that angle I don't care about the author's background. I really don't and I think that is good.</div>
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<b>My Writing</b></div>
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How many different races or how many religions do I have to include in a story to be diverse? How should the distribution of gender be? I truly think this is the wrong approach. There should not be any quotas that need to be fulfilled.<br />
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<div>
The question lies in the story itself. Your characters serve a purpose and if a protagonist needs to be male or female because of the role or the century the story plays, you can't write him as female. Well, you can try it, but the story still has to work. Maybe it does, maybe the story even gets better.<br />
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Same with race - it follows the purpose of the character and his or her environment. Why would I need to introduce a latin american character other than his roots play an important role in order to explain his behavior. On the other side, why should the main protagonist be caucasian? What is the purpose of it?</div>
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<b>If In Doubt, Leave it Out</b></div>
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In the story I am currently writing I don't define neither race nor religion. Same with sexual orientation, where I don't put them into a relationship, I don't define it.<br />
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Because it doesn't serve a purpose in the story.</div>
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Ok, you could try to derive it from their origin or their name. Niklas Soderstrom from Sweden is probably caucasian and christian. Probably, but neither of it does matter. To pay his dues to the story he needs to be cynical and have a certain portion of fatalism and willingness to leave the system. I could replace him with Antonio Juarez from Argentina who had to flee the junta or Tony O'Hara from the Chicago suburbs. The only thing that matters is his purpose in the story.<br />
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Don't look for defining a race, a religion or anything else. If you are in doubt, leave it out.</div>
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<b>Avoid Stereotypes</b></div>
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Stereotypes are the little brother of racism (or the little sister). I wrote a lot how gender, race, religion etc. should serve a purpose. This is dangerous, because you might be tempted by stereotypes you don't even recognize as such. And your unconscious stereotypes might be racist or sexist to others. Chuck describes this perfectly in his blog post and I have to admit I'm not immune to it. But what's the solution to this? Well, diversify your environment.</div>
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<b>Diversify your environment</b></div>
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It all starts with ourselves. We tend to stay with our kind. It's human nature. We tend to group with similar people if not forced into a diverse environment. Don't deny it, but be aware of it. If you are not sure how a certain character which is not your gender, race, religion etc. comes across, you should seek for critics from people, which belong to it. I am sure, if you ask nicely, they will be happy to help.</div>
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In this sense, happy diversifying.</div>
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Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-53867494821536020782014-11-23T12:29:00.000-08:002014-11-25T15:25:26.709-08:00Every Word Counts<div>
"..So avoid using the word 'very' because it's lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don't use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won't do in your essays." These words spoken by Robin Williams in the movie Dead Poet Society are an eye opener.<br>
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Don't be lazy. Every word written and every word omitted counts.<br>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Blue Car</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"It has been a wonderful first date.</span></div>
<div>
<br>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While we spoke outside her door, a blue car passed"</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While we spoke outside her door, a blue Mercedes with out of state plate passed"</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While we spoke outside her door, a blue Ferrari passed"</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While we spoke outside her door, a navy Ford passed. The kid in the backseat had this glance of astonishment in its eyes only kids can have when they see something new - and myself in that particular moment."</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Do you see the difference in these sentences? In the first two examples the focus is on the car. It must pertain to the development of the plot. Maybe a blue car passed two days earlier when the protagonist witnessed a robbery. If it doesn't move the plot forward, leave it out. Imagine you have been on a first date - do you care about a car that passes while you still stand in the front of her door? Not really, right?</span><br>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Except... the sentence tells us something about the protagonist. Have you ever seen a blue Ferrari? I haven't, and personally I couldn't care less, but there are men that would get all excited about it. It tells us something about his personality. If it is not what you wanted to tell the reader about the protagonist, leave it out.</span><br>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now, the last sentence tells us something about the guy too. I bet you too have these moments in your memory where you can tell each and every detail; how the sunlight was, the smell of snow in the air before it falls of the smell of rain after it has stopped. You know the number of the house on the other side of the street and the color of the car that passed in that moment. It is burned into your soul and most of the time it has something to do with a girl (or a guy).</span><br>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If a word or sentence is not important for the plot, the story or the protagonist, LEAVE IT OUT.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Beware of Fashion</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We are all children of our generation, but the older we get, the more we realize that many things that are IN right now aren't tomorrow. I grew up in the eighties with the A-Team, Knight Rider and music tapes. If your plot on a hero that saves a tape using a pencil you might need to explain it to millennium readers. Nowadays it's all about Facebook, Twitter & co, but who remembers IRC? Explaining past technology might be obvious, but even when using nowadays favorite technology - be aware, it can be forgotten tomorrow.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Try to stay away of using things that are fashion driven - you might end up with disconnected future readers.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>The Perfect Word</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In my blue-car-example I used the word speak, which seems to be a neutral word in that context. Now try to replace this word with </span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">discuss</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">argue</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">chatted</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">flirt</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">debate</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">teasing each other</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">See how it gives the story another direction.</span><br>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You want to have another example? Look at the following sentence: </span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"When I saw her the first time, she was reading a book."</span></li>
</ul>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">vs.</span></div>
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<br>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"When I saw her the first time, she sat in the park on green bench beneath an oak tree reading a book."</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Choosing the right word is crucial in order to paint the right picture into the reader's mind.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Increase vs Reduce</b></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Every word counts" goes in both directions - it can increase the number of words or reduce it. W</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ord count decreases when you try to bring an emotion across and you can nail it with one word instead of describing it. On the other side of the spectrum you increase the word count in order draw a picture. If the car in the first example is just a car, the picture remains one-dimensional. In order to gain depth you need to say what kind of car and you might want to add some more description if it suits the purpose.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Eventually every word counts in order to nail it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Happy writing,</span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your writer in a foreign land</span></div>
<div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-75190983319131727252014-11-09T15:17:00.000-08:002014-11-11T18:35:06.393-08:00The Different Faces of Discipline<div>
It's NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo means discipline. If you don't sit down every day and write, you will end up with a huge pile of words to be written in the last days of the month. You might also be tempted to give yourself a free day. Don't do it unless you are one day ahead. It will haunt you for the rest of the month.<br>
<br></div>
<div>
But NaNoWriMo is only one month. What about discipline during the rest of the year. Don't get me wrong; I don't talk about discipline in "real" live, like paying bills, cleaning the house etc. This is about discipline in writing and there are various aspects of it. I have to know it, because I am very much driven by creativity. Discipline is something I had to learn the hard way, therefore I see myself competent enough to be able to 'lecture' about the topic.</div>
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<br></div>
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Discipline is outing itself in various aspects of writing and it is different for every writer.<br>
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<b>Daily Writing</b></div>
<div>
Everybody has his or her own daily routine, but however it is, writing should be a part of it. It doesn't matter if it is as little as 250 or more than 2,000 words. It takes a discipline to write consistently every day, especially when the day is already packed. I dare to say there is more discipline required when you have day job than as a professional writer. You need to make it a habit, otherwise it might be too tempting to say, "Tomorrow I will write double the amount of words, I promise." Currently, I do my writing on the commute, next to a 12 to 14 working hour day.<br>
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<div>
I already wrote about my writing habits in a earlier blog post, however, you need to find your own way. You might be a early morning writer or feel more comfortable doing it late at night. It is is all up to you, but you need discipline to sit down every day and write.</div>
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<br></div>
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<b>The Right Word vs Shutting the Inner Editor Away</b></div>
<div>
You encounter another angle of discipline during writing - two actually, depending which side you are coming from. How long do you look for the right word until you move on with your writing; one minute, ten minutes or half an hour? I am very quick in writing down a short note about what I wanted to say and move on with my writing. Others might be tempted to spend a lot more time at this point. If you are like me, you are probably fine. Except that your future self might curse you for that. If you are the later one of the two you should train yourself to let go for the moment. This doesn't mean you can spend some time to search for a suitable word, but you should stop at some point and keep on writing.</div>
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<b>Editing</b></div>
<div>
Here's my favorite. While you were on the bright side above during writing, when you didn't insist on finding the perfect word, you will suffer during editing. Here it is all about the right word, the right scene, the right character. It might be because of where I'm coming from, but in my opinion, discipline in editing is the most crucial one.</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
Imagine, you've done hours and hours of rewriting and editing. You almost spent more time for editing as for writing and at that point your discipline has to kick-in to go to the end of the road and have a perfect book. Even more when you are an indie and can't rely on an editor/publisher.</div>
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<br></div>
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<b>Marketing and Sales</b></div>
<div>
There is a reason why marketing is a profession on its own. It means constant work and a high level of creativity to reach the customer - especially when you don't have a budget, only your work and time.</div>
<div>
As well as you have to write every day, you have to market you and your books every day - planning as well as executing. </div>
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<br></div>
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<b>Know You Yourself</b></div>
<div>
Everybody needs discipline, but everybody needs discipline for something different. Discipline comes into play when you don't like doing something or when you have to set different priorities.</div>
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<br>
As an introvert, you need discipline to go out and market your book. When you are super creative, you might need discipline while editing. When writing aside a day job you need discipline to write every day. </div>
<div>
<br>
Last week I had a 70 hour workweek and was forced to decide between writing every day or finish this blog. I decided to write every day my 250 words, that is why this blog comes out with one week delay. And there's another angle to discipline. Discipline does not mean to kill yourself - it doesn't mean to do everything. Discipline means to overcome our weaknesses. Outside all discipline, you can only accomplish as much as is feasible in a day. It doesn't get longer than 24 hours. Knowing when to stop is also a kind of discipline.</div>
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<br></div>
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Happy writing</div>
<div>
Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-47489732600310380332014-10-28T10:57:00.001-07:002014-11-09T11:39:38.694-08:00How to Get the Tears<div>
Have you ever heard "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader". It is part of a quote from Robert Frost. The sentence is followed by "No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader."</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
The quote goes in two directions - Robert Frost later elaborated, that he also referred to the hard work a writer has to put into his work; tears, like in "blood, sweat and tears".</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
However, in this blog post I want to go into the more common interpretation, that without the feelings in the writer, there wouldn't be feelings in the reader. As a writer, you need to be able to feel what you write, love, fear, anger. But how can you write about extreme emotions? So, you are not allowed to write about them. Well, there are multiple ways to understand emotions.<br />
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<a href="http://freestock.ca/conceptual_g65-mending_a_broken_heart_p2490.html" target="_blank"><img alt=" Mending a Broken Heart by Nicolas Raymond" border="0" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBMrJvgRo30Sgq4IAPgkSNtXtWlXQLtihUpbtPULGfw7HcgZQS_KaxPu2N9jLCZpOv-A3fdzAPsfPiL4h9OZHQWIKKLxMP6QCU3o31eRj126JRSQ7oSbD_1brZ-kq9b_yr4SYSO5UwfrU/s400/blogger-image-1721013682.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://freestock.ca/conceptual_g65-mending_a_broken_heart_p2490.html" target="_blank">Mending a Broken Heart</a> by Nicolas Raymond (photo from Flickr) </div>
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<div>
<b>Experience</b></div>
<div>
Most of us experience a variety of emotions throughout childhood, adolescence and later in live, being loved and cherished, falling in love, anger etc. When writing about these emotions, it should not be too difficult to recall them. I am usually so into my story, that the emotions come automatically. If not, you can try to concentrate on certain events or moments in life where you remember these emotions to be very strong. That might help.<br />
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<div>
I know that sounds so easy now, but usually it is. However, there might be situations which are more difficult, for example when you grieve for someone, when you just had a fight with loved ones or simply when you are anyways stressed out and just got another deadline on your calendar. The only way to get through that is to sit down and write. Either you try to write the scene, knowing you might have to rewrite it (actually, you might even like the undertone of how you wrote it). Or, you write something different and come back later to this scene. It all depends on what works better for you.</div>
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Having said all that, there are emotions that are more difficult to recall, such as guilt, shame, envy, schadenfreude, angst etc. They are difficult to recall because we usually try to hide them from ourselves. Myself, I remember some of them and I don't like to recall them. On the other side I know that my writing becomes so much stronger when I do so... no tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.</div>
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If you are not sure how an emotion feels that you want to write about, it actually doesn't matter if you did not have this emotion yet in the magnitude you would like to write about it or you simply haven't been able to recall it. In that case, you can try to use surrogate techniques such as observation or empathy.</div>
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<b>Observation and Empathy</b></div>
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Watching people live, on video or in movies can be a good surrogate to see emotions. Observing their reaction and trying to feel them, can help your writing. </div>
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Examples? Here you go: </div>
<div>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Watch the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO51UQlxVyw" target="_blank">Lovabull proposal </a>on Youtube. The cheerleader is surprised at the beginning and she knows something is on, but she maintains a professional manner. She knows she is on stage. The moment when she realized what it is, she laughs and then she is overwhelmed for ten seconds until she regains control. Try to catch that moment and feel what she might feel. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>In The Patriot, watch the scene when Mel Gibson as Benjamin Marin loses his faith after his second son Gabriel died. Don't listen to what he says, just watch him. He can barely breath.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Another movie example is Falling Down with Michael Douglas. Can you follow him the moment, when it clicks? He gets out of the car and tries to escape, but he's not there yet. He tries to see his children and gets rejected, but he's still not there yet. Very slowly he pushes the limits further until there is no way back.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>There are also examples in real live. Have you ever watched a couple fight in a restaurant - this mixture of suppression of anger together with sudden small outbursts. Can you feel how the chest is always under pressure, when they talk. In private they would probably fight with a rapier or a broadsword, but in public they fight with a needle. </li>
</ul>
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Don't get me wrong here - I don't want you to copy these feelings, but to understand them in order to be able to produce characters that express them. You need to understand the underlying emotion and realize what it can cause when it gets extrapolated and the controlling mechanisms are taken away.</div>
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Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-86066303786630850662014-10-28T07:31:00.000-07:002014-10-28T07:31:15.828-07:00The Ideal Length of Books - Then, Now and Tomorrow<div>
Last week I confessed that my first drafts are too short. With 30'000 words, they are a kind of bare bones drafts or extended plots. However, is 30'000 really too short? How long should a novel be? Well, it depends...</div>
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<strong>The Traditional View</strong></div>
<div>
If you google "book word count" you get tons of links. Scrolling through them, the answer to the question for the ideal novel length isn't an easy one.</div>
<div>
<br />
Based on Wikipedia a novel is between 60 and 80'000 words, while thrillers might get up to 100'000 words. For NaNoWriMo it is more than 50'000 words and for the Nebula award over 40'000 words. A blog post from <a href="http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/word-count-for-novels-and-childrens-books-the-definitive-post" target="_blank">Writer's Digest</a> from 2012 differentiates between clients and different genres. Middle grade is around 30'000, Young Adult around 40'000 and an adult novel around 80'000 words. On the upper end, the spectrum reaches 115'000 words for Sci-Fi and Fantansy.</div>
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<br />
But why all these rules? A blog post from <a href="http://www.novel-writing-help.com/novel-length.html" target="_blank">Harvey Chapman on novel writing help</a> gives a hint: Publishing Industry standards. It seems that these numbers are a sweet spot for print books:</div>
<ul>
<li>"Thin novels might be cheaper to produce, but book buyers won't feel that they are receiving their money's worth - a 150-page book does not sell for half the price of a 300-page book.</li>
<li>Thick novels will be more expensive to print, meaning more units will have to be sold to reach the same amount of profit - 600-page novels are not twice the price of those of 300 pages."</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
I get it - it's an industry standard that has evolved out of year long experience. Still, it has changed over time adopting new technologies as well as the overall market demand. Based on a blog post from <a href="http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/03/cmap-5-why-books-are-the-lengt.html" target="_blank">Charlie Stross on his diary</a>. SF book length evolved from somewhere around 50'000 in the 1930ies due to the weekly magazine style via 70'000 words in the 1960ies to the current size of 115'000 words. The blog post suggests, that the inflation between the 1970ies and the 1980ies triggered also a demand in thicker books (i.E. customers would accept higher prices much more if they also see that they get more).</div>
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</div>
<div>
You get a similar result looking at the average word count of famous novels:</div>
<ul>
<li>The Crying of Lot 49: 46,573 words</li>
<li>Slaughterhouse-Five: 47,192 words</li>
<li>Lord of the Flies: 62,481 words</li>
<li>Brave New World: 64,531 words</li>
<li>The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: 70,570 words</li>
<li>Lolita: 112,473 words</li>
<li>Madame Bovary: 117,963 words</li>
<li>Moby-Dick: 209,117 words</li>
<li>East of Eden: 226,741 words</li>
</ul>
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The average word count on Amazon is about 64'000 words. Given a bell shape curve, Animal Farm with 29,966 words and War and Peace with 544'406 words seem to be the tail end.<br />
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<strong>The Indie View</strong></div>
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Again, technology triggers a change. E-books and new distribution channels enabled the indie revolution. A writer can publish a book with 30'000 words via KDP - no industry standards, no restrictions.</div>
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<div>
Even the main argument from the publishing industry with readers expecting a certain numbers of pages to justify a certain price is not relevant anymore. With an e-book price of maximal $2.99 and a book without visible size the number of words is secondary as selling point. And even if we translate this back into the printed world, with print-on-demand, the cost to have smaller books is affordable to a writer.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
However, there is the craft-vs-the-money trap again. Writers might tend to write shorter novels in order to be able to produce more books and hence, sell more books. Nothing wrong with that, but less words should mean less characters and subplots, not flat characters or lousy subplots. A shorter story needs to be less complex. Exceptions apply, however, I would go with this as a general rule.</div>
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<strong>The Outlook</strong></div>
<div>
So far, we looked at the impact of production and cost on the lenght of books, but we haven't factored in the demand side of the equation. What do reader want and how is the reading behaviour changing the landscape.<br />
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I don't know. I don't have a crystal ball, will say I don't have empiric data to underline an analysis. However, I do have an opinion based on observation.<br />
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</div>
I think, there will two different kind of reading behaviour, one that is time spent on reading for the purpose of reading and the other one is reading as a gap filler. I love to dive into a good strory and read for hours and I don't care if I have a physical book of 500 pages. It's the rainy-day-cozy-sofa-and-coffee reading. On the other side I have a commute of 45 minutes twice every day and I see a lot of my fellow commuters reading with their e-readers or smartphones. Now think of yourself, if you have 45 minutes time, how far do you get. Additionally, if you have only 45 minutes you will be much less patient to read through non-action scenes as if you are deep in the story on a rainy-day-cozy-sofa-and-coffee. You will scan these pages until you get to the next action scene.</div>
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You see, it's a different reading and I predict, that there will be a growing market for shorter novels, maybe even serials, and longer books will adapt in a way to be digestable in 45 minutes.</div>
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At least in the next decade - for everything beyond I would definitely need a crystal ball.</div>
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Happy writing<br />
Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-70283113016273864302014-10-14T05:12:00.003-07:002014-10-14T05:14:35.260-07:00Discovery Writer Reloaded<div>
I am still rewriting my story and simultaneously translating it from German to English. <a href="http://www.writerinaforeignland.blogspot.com/2014/08/get-german-out.html" target="_blank">Remember?</a> I am glad I decided to do this. </div>
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When I started I assumed that I would be able to improve the story, but I couldn't imagine how much I have to fix. Not plot-wise, but with regards to storytelling. I had far too much telling in it and not remotely enough showing. Additionally, some characters needed development in order to keep up with their assignment.</div>
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However, I realized there is another angle to it, that I wasn't aware before. I already knew that I am an inbetweener, something between plotter and discovery writer, and that I develop the plot during the breaks in the middle of the story. Going back through stories I wrote so far, I noticed that my first drafts always tend to be very short. I mean really short. </div>
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I write my first drafts in a kind bare bones approach. Of course, there are side tracks and various characters, but outside the main characters and the central plot they are flat and colorless. It's the bare minimum to tell the story. </div>
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You could also call it an extensive plot.</div>
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Please don't misunderstand me, there's nothing wrong with this approach. It simply means more work during the rewriting phase. It's a little like painting - first you do a sketch with a pencil and afterwards you color it. An then again it also means further backload the work. </div>
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How it works out? See for your self, how the first lines evolved: </div>
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"He had heard about the death sentence years ago on one of these old pirate radio stations. He knew this would be his last day. The night had already fallen and there was only a small sickle of purple left on the horizon. He had noticed the lights a while ago. Like fireflies they were crawling down the hill on the other side of the lake.</div>
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"Here they come. You are late guys, years late. Even for Argentinian benchmarks, you are late." </div>
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His chuckle turned into a cough."</div>
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Not yet there, but a whole better than the first draft.</div>
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Happy rewriting</div>
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Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-50721068025132686342014-10-08T05:32:00.002-07:002014-10-08T15:10:17.494-07:00The Third Hat: Marketing and Sales<div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">As a writer you need two hats. One is for writing, where you should limit your thoughts on such profane things like grammar or the perfect word. Everything you write is good the way it is. The other one is for editing. With that one on, nothing is good enough. It has a built-in adverb-adar. At least that's what I thought so far.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Well, there is a third one which is for marketing and sales. Wait a minute, I hear you say. That's my publisher's and the bookstore's job. You are right and if you feel, you are in good hands and you'd rather focus on writing, you can stop reading now and go writing. However, even if you are with a traditional publisher, marketing and sales will become an increasingly important part of a writer's life. A writer will become more and more an entrepreneur, with all upsides and downsides. So, let's get started with some basics and then climb up the tree to the fruits. </span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Marketing vs Sales</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">In a nutshell, Marketing is the planning side of how to sell your books, sales is the moves and measures to increase the number of sold books. With other words, marketing is strategic, sales is tactical. </span><br>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Marketing</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">There are several concepts in marketing, from the 4P-model, that evolved into the 7P-model, via AIDA (Attraction-Interest-Desire-Action) to the design school model that largely bases on the SWOT analysis, and you can be sure that this is not the end of the story. Technological and social change continuously impact the different models, but ultimately they still circle around the same fundamentals. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Following, I'll use the 4-P model (marketing plan) to make my point.</span><br>
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Product</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The core of the product is given, will say not depending on marketing. You hear it from all sides - write what you love. Don't write for the market. Next to all the creativity arguments there is a strong marketing argument; due to the identification and production lag your book will hit the market with thousands of others that tried the same. </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">However, there are things around product you have to decide and which have an impact on the other P's and vice-versa. Print and e-books have different needs for place and different price tags. The book cover is probably the same for the front, but the spine and the back give you an additional option for print books. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I can only scratch some dimensions here; there are a lot of decisions to be made, including font and title and I haven't even started with the audiobook angle.</span><br>
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Place</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Which are your distribution channels? Amazon/KDP, Kobo or you own webpage? You could also select print on demand and try to get into some local bookstores. Ultimately it all boils down to how easy it will be for a potential customer to buy as soon as he decided to - the link between desire and action in the AIDA-formula.</span><br>
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Price</span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I already talked about price points and price elasticity in my last blog post and in April I re-blogged a <a href="http://writerinaforeignland.blogspot.com/2014/04/midweek-teaser-great-e-book-pricing.html" target="_blank">post by David Gaughran</a> about e-book pricing. However, outside the direct impact of pricing on sales, there is a psychological component to it.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">A book is a typical experience good. Despite sneak peeks, book covers and reviews, a reader knows its value only after he read it. As a consequence he attributes value through various indicators, including price. In general, an e-book for 2.99 is perceived to provide a higher value than a book for 0.99. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Last but least, giving away an e-book for free might provide you with an increased e-mail list, but you also have to be aware that free stuff might also transmit the underlying message of no value. One way to get around this could be to label the e-book 1.99 and offer it for free if signing up for a newsletter, but we are already getting into sales here.</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Promotion </span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Promotion is all about information, i.e. how do my potential customers know about my product. For books, this is the most crucial part of the marketing mix, because it has a direct link to the number of sales. The more people notice your book (attraction), the more will request more information, the more will have the desire to buy it.<br>
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</span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">In this sense, notice does not only mean see, but also be open for it or expect it. When you are not open for a message, you perceive it as spam (products offered via Facebook, unwanted e-mail offers or buy my book-tweets). On the other side they are open when they expect a message, e.g. in a newsletter or information about the progress of your new book on facebook or twitter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">In a second step, they should have valuable information available at hand. At best, there is a seamless handover between noticing, information and the ability to purchase and receive the product as fast as possible.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Last but not least, don't forget to track the success of your promotions. Only that way you can improve the success and with the possibility of the digital media it isn't even difficult. A simple way would be to use specific links that allows the tracking of each campaign.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sales</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sales campaigns are temporary adjustments to the marketing mix in order to increase sales. Usually it includes a promotion combined with a price reduction or a value add. You could for example offer your book for a special week with a discount or offer two book at the price of one. In addition, you have to tell the world in one or the other way (newsletter, fellow blogger/podcaster). BookBub is a typical sales campaign. </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Product as well as place might change too, but not necessarily. Offering a signed copy is a change to the product and a sales campaign during a book signing is a change to place.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">You have almost limitless options and combinations - some work better, some don't. I'm following <a href="http://www.thecreativepenn.com/" target="_blank">The Creative Penn podcast</a> and the <a href="http://sellmorebooksshow.com/" target="_blank">Sell more Books podcast</a> and I'm always astonished about their tips and ideas.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Portfolio Management</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">As soon as you have a second book out, you can start thinking about portfolio management. Again, there is no right or wrong. However, different combinations have different advantages. Spreading your stories over different online channels might reduce the cluster risk, but it also dilutes sales. Offering some stories on KDP and others on Kindle unlimited gives you different type of income streams, you can even think of grandfathering stories on Kindle unlimited or writing a Kindle unlimited series. Again, sky is the limit.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">But why do you tell me all this?</span></strong><br>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Often, when I read blog posts or listen to podcasts, the terms and ideas are mixed up. Promotion is called marketing and then the article is about sales activities, or in another example the place and product are completely ignored and it is all about getting your name out. </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Marketing is much more; a strategic way of thinking in order to generate optimal revenues and sales campaigns are tactical ways to boost sales in a given timeframe. </span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The moment all i's are dotted and all t's are crosed, the details of the market introduction should be defined and the promotion should already have started. However, it should be a w</span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">ell thought-out decision rather than just the way the author always did it. And after it is published, the author has to change the hat and stay on top of it - keep the ball rolling. Then it's time for thought-out sales campaigns.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Happy selling or should I say happy marketing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Your writer in a foreign land</span></div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-26678871744567070442014-09-28T13:33:00.000-07:002014-09-28T13:33:06.970-07:00The Craft vs. The Money<div>
Recently I read and heard a lot about money in writing, business and all the discussions around it. Last week I read a blog post from Michael Hyatt about <a href="http://michaelhyatt.com/do-it-for-the-money.html" target="_blank">"Why you should do it for the Money (and Stop Feeling Guilty About It)"</a> which he had re-published on Facebook, and I remembered an earlier one from K.M Weiland about <a href="http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2008/11/validation-of-money.html" target="_blank">"3 Reasons You Shouldn't Be Writing for Money"</a> and guess what; both are right in their own way. </div>
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I don't know when this discussion started to take off, maybe with the increasing indie movement. Although I'm pretty sure it was already cooking before that. The following blog posts addresses writers that want to make money in one or the other way. If you write for fun, please go on - write and publish for free. There is nothing wrong with that, but this blog post isn't for you then.<br />
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<b>The Seeming Conflict</b></div>
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At the first glance, this strikes me as a simple conflict of targets. Either you focus on the craft (e.g. more research, longer writing cycles, more reviews and edits equals less books produced) or you focus on making money (e.g. more books produced in the same time equals more money). This conflict of target is similar to one most companies face: Quality vs. earnings.</div>
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But is this really a conflict? I can already tell you, no it's not; neither in business nor in writing. In business you can reduce you quality to a certain point in order to increase quarterly profits, but usually you damage long term profits much more. In writing it is the same, but before we get there let's look at the industry.</div>
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<b>The Industry and the Changes</b></div>
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Let me get this very clear at the beginning: Writing is a Business. The moment a writer wants to earn a single cent from his books it is a business. Even when he simply wants to get break even and have a payout for his investments. It is a business. Hence, lets look at the value chain. </div>
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<u>The Traditional Model</u></div>
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In a very simplified view, the writer is responsible for writing the story and does rewrites and edits to some degree on his own, to some degree requested by the publisher. At a certain point the product is handed over to a publisher, who improves the work together with the writer in order to make it publishable (i.E. sellable). The publisher also takes care about the physical production as a book or e-book as well as the marketing and sells the product together with a bunch of other products to the book stores who act as distributors (including Amazon). At the very end, the distributors sell the books to the consumer. </div>
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In addition to the real cost the publisher also takes some risk with regards to the unknown trends in the market. Nobody can predict, which book will be picked up by the marked generating enough profit for the whole value chain. The distributors only take limited risks as they don't really invest in a certain book. The writing also takes only a limited risk as he usually received an advance. The publisher on the other side pays an advance and invests into the product as well as marketing and sales. He copes with this risk by spreading the efforts over a high variety of books. This approach is similar to Private Equity firms investing in different start-up companies, hoping the next Twitter or Facebook is among them.</div>
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In this model the author gets about 9% of the book price (after 1% goes to the Agent). Lets assume the book is priced for $20. In order to have a monthly net pay of $2,000 for his work, physical book sales must be at 1,111 per month. With e-book prices it is worse, as e-book prices are usually lower around $6.99 to $9.99. As an example, at $7.99 book sales would have to be at 2,781 books per month. In reality this would probably be a hybrid calculation - with a 20% share of e-books, the number of monthly book sales would have to be 1,263.</div>
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<u>The Indie Model</u></div>
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In the same simplified view, the indie model cuts out the publisher and goes directly to the distributors. All cost related to the additional review, marketing and sales, but also non physical cost like networks, risk taking and know-how, have to be taken over by the writer. </div>
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In order to keep it simple, let's do the above calculation for e-books sold via Amazon KDP with a book price of $1.99. In order to have the same $2,000 per month with a royalty rate of 70%, an author has to sell 1,436 books. But with this amount none of the fixed cost is covered. Most of the additional work will stay with the author, especially the cost for the additional reviews and edits, but also the efforts for networking, marketing and last but not least the risk. </div>
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For the sake of the calculation let's assume a non specified writer needs 6 months to produce a book. For review, editing and book cover cost end up to be between $3,600 and $5,000 I've taken the lower end examples out of a blog post from Miral Sattar <a href="http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2013/05/the-real-costs-of-self-publishing-book/" target="_blank">"The Real Cost of Self Publishing a Book"</a>. With these additional monthly cost of $600 to $800, the number of books sold increases to 1,866 and 2,010 respectively.</div>
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<b>Impact on the Writer</b></div>
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Don't misunderstand me, I am not arguing in favor or against one or the other model. Additionally, there are other aspects to be considered, such as the rights to your book etc. However, every writer has to answer the question which model he selects for himself. Each of the models has advantages or disadvantages. </div>
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From a monetary view point, the traditional model means less work and risk, but also less upside potential and the indie model means more work, more risk and more upside potential. Now here's the clue. Basically, the author has four options to increase income:</div>
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<u>Increase Sales of One Book</u></div>
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The author can try to increase the sales of one particular book by increasing marketing cost and efforts. However, sell more of one book means usually sell to new customers. This is always more difficult than selling new products to existing readers, given that they enjoyed the previous books with their quality. Additionally, marketing studies show that there is a limitation in efficiency and effectiveness with marketing activities.</div>
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<u>Increase the Book Production</u></div>
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Increasing the production of books is probably the easiest way to make more money. One one side every new book has a tickle-down effect on new books and on the other side new books with new covers and new stories mean attracting different readers.</div>
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<u>Ask for a Higher Price per Book</u></div>
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Simple, isn't it? Well it's not, because there is something like price elasticity. In simple terms; the lower the price the more you sell. The degree of how much more depends on the product. Gas usually has a steep price elasticity as past price increases have shown. For e-books there is probably not enough data yet to plot a reliable curve, but looking at the feedback of various indie authors prices between $0.99 to $2.99 seem to result in reasonable books sales whereas higher price points significantly reduce number of sold books. Hence, there are limitations for higher prices as they are counterproductive and result in less revenues.</div>
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<u>Reduce Production Cost</u></div>
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You can reduce the production cost to almost zero; no editing, do your own cover designs and do the formatting and digital conversion yourself. You even don't need an ISBN. </div>
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Out of above options, there are two low-hanging fruits: </div>
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<li>Produce more books (i.e. less effort for plotting, reviewing, editing, proofreading)</li>
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There is a built-in incentive to reduce the quality of the product, if there wouldn't be...<br />
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<b>The Importance of the Craft</b><br />
And that is where the craft comes into play. The will, the poise and the integrity towards what it means to write a good book. The craft needs to be the holy grail, basic motivation to write. Because if it isn't, the money will not follow. Readers might buy one book from you, but if the craft isn't the foundation of it all, they probably won't buy another one. It's the same as in companies with the quality. You might buy it ones, but the second time you will switch to a better product if you weren't satisfied. </div>
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The craft is the soil, to grow the tree of money. But there is more to it, even a tree needs water, nourishment, some cut downs and a lot of care. More about this in next week's blog post.</div>
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Happy crafting</div>
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Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-31650845087882201812014-09-22T16:41:00.001-07:002014-09-22T16:41:29.899-07:00Humor in Writing (4 of 4) - How to Apply it in your Writing<div>
Now it's time to get some real work done. We had some theory, we looked at some excellent examples of humor in writing and now it's time to look at your writing.<br />
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In the first blog post I mentioned that everybody's humor is different and your humor should come out of yourself. Therefore, this last episode of my humor series I focus on guidance and rules as well as pointing out potential pitfalls.<br />
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<b>Use of Humor in Characters</b></div>
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The easiest character is the cynical one, because he can be cynical all the time. Did I say can? To be quite honest, he must be cynical. This is nothing he can choose, it is part of the personality and a sign of a deeper scar. You would not expect a cynical character to suddenly be hopeful or simply nice.<br />
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However, for every rule there are exceptions. They suit very well for character arks. Being cynical at the beginning, the character's scar is revealed over time and after they experienced new hope or love the wound starts to heal.<br />
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Introducing a cynical character leaves a question in the reader. He wants to know the why, the history behind the characters cynicism. If you don't provide it, the character will appear flat.</div>
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Sarcastic characters are more ambivalent. Sarcasm usually acts as a outlet for them, for example for fear or pressure. In order to need an outlet, the sarcastic character needs to be committed to something or someone, otherwise they would not need an outlet and simply walk away. As sarcasm is only a facet of this character, it is not the main focus in a character ark.<br />
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However, a sarcastic character can very well turn cynical when e looses his faith. It is even possible that a character with a sarcastic note has a cynical moment at a plot point, when he looses faith and later looses his cynicism again when he picks up his path again.</div>
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Irony fits very well with mentors. Usually they show the right kind of distance in order to make the irony work. It can also work with other character types, but they need to have a certain distance or grace. An ironic character can turn sarcastic when he looses distance, but I haven't seen an ironic character turning cynical yet as he would need to loose distance and faith at the same time. It is not impossible, but I think it is very hard to write it in a way a reader doesn't get thrown out of the story.</div>
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<b>Cynical, Sarcastic or Ironic Narrator</b></div>
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To let the narrator bring the humor into a story is another powerful option. When talking about a humorous narrator we first have to keep it apart from placing funny comments every here and there in the story. Humorous narrators are that way throughout the whole story - they should not act out of character.<br />
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For cynical, sarcastic or ironic characters, basically the same rules apply as for characters - cynical narrators need a scar, sarcastic commitment and ironic distance.<br />
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However, when using the narrator POV multiplies the options and pitfalls. Let's take the cynical character as an example. In first person, the author can has to reveal the scar as part of the story. A cynical romance with a happy end in first person doesn't work. It leaves the reader without explanation, kind of "What's wrong with this person? He got everything at the end. Why is he not happy?" </div>
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In third person, the scar is the story, but the connection of the narrator and the story has to be revealed.<br />
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Looking at the same romance with a happy end, the cynical tone of the narrator implies that the happiness of the couple is his scar. A reader would probably assume because he wanted to be with the woman. Still, I wouldn't let the opportunity pass to interlace some background story reveal the rival in love as narrator at the end.</div>
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A sarcastic narrator in first person gives an interesting tone. It implies that the narrator has to cope with something, e.g. his own fear or tension, and gives the author the opportunity for a later plot point. On the other side it requires to reveal the reason for the sarcasm to a certain extent. Why? Well, a sarcastic narrator will be already sarcastic at the beginning, when the story hasn't taken off yet. This per se creates a tension as well as a promise and this promise to the reader has to be fulfilled. A thriller with a sarcastic narrator in first person creates the promise that the author will throw something at the narrator that will be far out of his capabilities and comfort zone, but gives him also the opportunity to grow.</div>
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An ironic narrator immediately creates distance, in first person to the narrators own live and in third person to the story as a whole. I try to stay away from ironic narrators, as they take away tension from a story. For example a thriller with an ironic narrator tells us actually that whatever happens in the story isn't as bad as it sounds, at least when looking from a distance. Same with a love story - if you have an ironic narrator, the love wasn't as absolute or existential as it was felt during the story. Ironic narrators take reduce tension and that is definitively not something you want as an author.</div>
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<b>Humor used for Pacing</b></div>
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The variety of options where and how to use humor for pacing are almost infinite. In most cases, humor relieves tension, but in rarer cases it can increase tension. </div>
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Usually, after an action scene or a scene with high tension, a joke works as outlet in order to give the reader time to breath before starting to increase tension again. However, using this technique the writer has to be careful not to release all tension otherwise he is risking to lose momentum. If done incorrectly, these are the moments a reader puts the book away to go to bed. But how do it correctly? Humor after a high-tension scene should include foreshadowing. With this simple technique the tension is kept up. In the movie "Die Hard" (the original) there was this scene, where one of the terrorists was really angry and Holly Genaro McClane says to one of her colleagues "Only John can drive somebody that crazy." Funny line, but it implies that there is coming more.</div>
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On the other side, humor increases tension, when it is obvious to the reader, that the scene is not over yet. When the resolution was too easy readers usually get suspicious and a joke at this particular moment increases the tension. Even though it's actually funny, you don't dare to laugh because you expect the hammer to come down any moment. This split between expectation and relieve creates tension.</div>
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With regards to the how, the following options are most commonly used:</div>
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<u>Sidekicks</u></div>
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You should introduce them early and give the an additional role outside of being funny. Also, give them a character ark - something to grow. By doing that, you are not bound to use the sidekick solely when you need their humor for pacing.</div>
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<u>Narrator</u></div>
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When you make funny comments as the narrator, the reason for it should be visible to the reader. Also a narrator has to act within character.</div>
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<u>Main Character</u></div>
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The biggest pitfall for using the main character for pacing is the same as for the narrator - he can not act out of character. Keep this in mind. </div>
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<u>Situational</u></div>
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The easiest and probably mostly used way is situational humor. The variety has no boundaries, you can use slapstick, ironic or cynical situations. </div>
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<b>Humorous Story </b></div>
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Writing a humorous story is the showcase. It's fairly easy to use humor for pacing. It's much more difficult to write humor in a character or in the narrator, but to be funny and witty through a whole story on a consistent level is very difficult. </div>
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If you decide to engage in a humorous story there are some guidelines that make live easier. First, you need a topic or a theme. Additionally, if you have a message, it easier that just trying to be funny. Then I highly suggest to plot the story rather than discovery write it. And last but not least you need to decide the tone - is it cynical, sarcastic or ironic and when decided you have to stick to it.</div>
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Humor in writing is an art itself. Incorrectly or sloppy applied it is an axe, but correctly applied is a scalpel.<br />
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Happy writing,</div>
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Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-82935467012840141602014-09-14T16:19:00.000-07:002014-09-22T14:31:00.780-07:00Humor in Writing (3 of 4) - Learn from the Masters<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the last two blog posts we went through a bit of theory on humor in writing. Let's look at some good examples, before we talk about how to apply humor in your writing. </span><br>
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<b>1. Humorous story</b></div>
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<u>1.1. Don Camillo</u></div>
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After WWII, Giovanni Guareschi created a series of short stories combined in several books with Don Camillo, a priest sent to a small Italian town in the Po valley, as main character. The stories largely paint the rural live of the area and they mainly live on the rivalry between Don Camillo and the communist mayor of the town, Peppone. They had gained a mutual trust for each other as they had fought the fascists together during the war, but find themselves on opposite side of politics after the war. The stories are ironic, sarcastic, sometimes affectionate, sometimes biting, but the connecting facet is humor.<br>
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For example the part, where Peppone wins the lottery, but as communist mayor he can't admit that he had played. So he uses an anagram of his name to cash it, but Don Camillo finds it out and forces him to split the lottery win with him - half of it for the communist community center and half of it for the catholic play school.</div>
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Another beautiful example reveals the rivalry-friendship when Don Camillo has to leave town in order to serve in another parish. Peppone threatens everybody so nobody would appear at the train station to say goodbye to Don Camillo. However, Don Camillo's supporters would wait at the next train station and at the train station afterwards, his adversary Peppone and the communist party would wait to say goodbye.<br>
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The whole series is a declaration of love to his home country reflecting its struggles to grow together after the war.</div>
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<u>1.2. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</u></div>
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Douglas Adam's five novels already have reached cult status. Although it plays in the vast space of the universe and even in distant times, for example when they have dinner in the restaurant at the end of the universe, it holds up a mirror to ourselves nowadays.<br>
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It already starts in the introduction, when it describes that most people on earth were unhappy an they tried to solve it by moving around small green papers. The author is using a metaphor to show us, money does not make you happy. I don't want to enter the philosophical discussion, whether this is true or not, but the humor he is using gets the point across.<br>
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In an other part, he shows us three spaceships that have been sent away from a distant planet with the useless third of the population on board, consisting of tired TV producers, insurance salesmen, personnel officers, security guards, management consultants, telephone sanitisers and the like. The joke strikes, when one of these ships is landing on prehistoric earth implying that all problems we have on earth are caused by tired TV producers, insurance salesmen etc. but this one is a double dip, as the people on said planet are extinct afterwards by a decease caused by an unsanitized phone, implying that society needs a "useless" third. In this case, the technique used is a farce.<br>
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Last but not least my favorite one; the build-up of a gigantic computer to find the answer to "life, the universe and everything". 7 1/2 million years later, the computer finally got an answer "42", which might have been the perfectly correct answer, but absolutely useless. The author makes the point clear, how important it is to have the question right in order to receive a valuable answer.</div>
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<u>1.3. Animal Farm</u></div>
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The whole story is a satire, set up as a kind of a long fable, and uses a variety of methods, especially metaphors and farce. By using humor, George Orwell tried (and achieves) to reveal the route the Russian revolution took as a warning sign to beware of false promises.<br>
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Every animal reflects a different role or person, Old Major is a mix between Karl Marx an Lenin, Napoleon is Stalin, boxer is the working majority of the people and the puppies are the security police.</div>
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One of the centerpieces are the commandments for animals on the farm after the humans have been banned, including "All animals are equal". The original commandments were more and more bent by add-ons, but the most important one is the change to "All animals are equal, but some are more equal."</div>
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<u>1.4. The Innocent Abroad</u></div>
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Mark Twain's book is another wonderful example of this category. Sometimes with a pinch of irony, sometimes with a tablespoon of sarcasm, he reports the journey of a ship of American pilgrims that want to visit the Holy Land. He uses humor in order to lighten up a basically boring travel report - with success.<br>
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I especially love the moment when he realizes that the kingdoms he was always imagining himself as large were actually quite small and the distances Jesus travelled were not that far at all. Obviously if you think about it, but to be honest I found myself in the same spot, when I was at bible class as a kid.</div>
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<b>2. Humor Used for Pacing</b><br>
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<u>2.1. A Short Stay in Hell</u></div>
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A Short Stay in Hell starts with a hilarious scene at entry desk of hell, which seems more to be like a first day on he job in a large corporation. Hell continues to be a fairly nice place, except for some violent extremists that built up their little kingdom. The horror comes slowly to the reader when he starts realizing how long he will have to stay there and what eternity actually means. </div>
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In this story, humor serves as pacing instrument. With the funny start, the author keeps the reader in a light mood, so the horror hits him even harder at the end. </div>
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<u>2.2. La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful)</u></div>
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In know, this is a film, but when I thought about the how humor is used in "A Short Stay in Hell" I realized, that I've seen this before. La Vita E Bella (Life is Beautiful) is a tragic story about a family that got into a concentration camp in the Third Reich. The father tries to hide the tragic reality from his son, by telling him it was all a game and making fun out of everything. Despite the tragic story you are actually laughing a lot watching it. But there is this one scene, that pulls you down, when the protagonist turns around the corner and stands in front of this mountain of dead bodies.<br>
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After the end of the movie and mainly while discussing it with friends I realized that this scene would not have been as powerful without the funny scenes before.</div>
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<u>2.3. Funny Side-Kicks as Pacing Instrument</u></div>
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A lot of stories have funny side kicks in order to be able take tension out when necessary. They can be full of jokes and a little sarcastic like the Weasley twins or innocent like Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck. However, there are also bad examples of silly unnecessary side-kicks like Jar Jar Binks. The list of these side kicks can probably extended to infinity. Every Disney movie needs a funny sidekick, some we love some we hate.</div>
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<b>3. Humor in Characters</b><br>
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<u>3.1. The Cynical Character</u></div>
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The cynical character is maybe the most one seen in stories. It seems to be easier to write as he can be blunt and straight forward. But he is usually also the most interesting one, because behind cynicism there is a backstory - more than behind a sarcastic or ironic character. To get cynical somewhere something broke within a character, a dream, a heart, a hope.</div>
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3.1.1. Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye<br>
He hides the pain of loss behind a cheeky cynicism. The whole book is filled with sentences like the following.<br>
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"Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will."<br>
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"Who wants flowers when you'r dead."</div>
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3.1.2. Rick in Casablanca<br>
Rick hides his broken heart behind dry cynicism. </div>
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"Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she had to walk into mine..."</div>
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"I'm a drunkard." (When asked for his nationality).</div>
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3.1.3. Nick in The Great Gatsby<br>
Nick's cynicism is more difficult to catch because it doesn't come up when he speaks, but through the narrator's voice. His cynicism sources out of the disappointment of the class he dreamed or hoped to be part of. The best example for the following:<br>
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"I couldn't forgive or like him (Tom), but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They are careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..."</div>
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<u>3.2. The Sarcastic Character</u></div>
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The sarcastic character is much more difficult to draw then the cynical. You have find the fine line between biting humor and a positive view on the world. As with cynical characters, there are much more books with a sarcastic narrator than a purely sarcastic character. As a narrator you can add much more comments than a character can speak. Imagine how many sarcastic dialogs you would need in order to shape a character and how difficult it would be to let them say anything else that is not sarcastic.</div>
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A very good example for a sarcastic character is Ron Weasley in Harry Potter. He also shows a very crucial difference between the cynical and the sarcastic character; while the sarcastic character doesn't have to be sarcastic all the time, the cynical character is cynical to the bone. Ron Weasley uses sarcasm to cope with fear, for example when they were trapped in devil's snare and Hermione tells them to relax otherwise they will only get killed faster, he replies, "Kill us faster? oh, now I can relax!" Or his all famous sentence, "Why spiders? Why couldn't it be follow the butterflies?"</div>
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<u>3.3. The Ironic Character</u></div>
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The ironic character needs a certain distance from the subject in order to look at it with mildness. Usually age gives a good distance. Good examples of ironic characters are,</div>
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3.3.1. Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter<br>
He is a very good example of an ironic character. Here are some quotes:<br>
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"What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally the whole school knows."</div>
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"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"</div>
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"Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."</div>
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However, even an ironic character can turn sarcastic, when he loses the distance. Dumbledore realizes that he has to sacrifice Harry and it hurts him. He buries it inside him, but when Snape questions him, it breaks out as sarcasm. "But this is touching, Severus... have you grown to care for the boy, after all?"</div>
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3.3.2. Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars</div>
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His irony is more difficult to get, but he always talks with a scent of a smile on his lips, which let every of his quotes appear ironic. However, some examples:<br>
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"If you spent as much time practicing your saber techniques as you did your wit, you'd rival Master Yoda as a swordsman."</div>
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"Why do I get the feeling, you're going to be the death of me."</div>
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3.3.3. Andy Dufresne in Stephen Kings' short story Rite Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption</div>
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Before he escapes, Andy writes in the bible he got from Warden Norton,"Dear Warden, You were right. Salvation lies within." and leaves behind for the warden.</div>
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Andy's distance is not based on age, but on the knowledge of his innocence.</div>
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<u>3.4 Character development</u></div>
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In the same short story, Stephen King shows us an interesting character development from a cynical to a ironic character. Red turns from being a cynical character in the beginning to a be ironic in the end, infused by Andy's hope.<br>
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He went from comments like "I hope he dies of intestinal cancer in a part of the world where morphine is as of yet undiscovered." to "I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged..." at the end of the book.<br>
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The author even names the spell at the very end, "I hope."</div>
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<b>4 Other Uses of Humor</b></div>
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Besides the mentioned instances there are many other reasons or ways to use humor in a story, be it to underline foreshadowing, as a cliffhanger or as simple as an easter egg.<br>
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In The Autumn of the Patriarch, Gabriel Garcia Marquez introduces a simple sentence at the end of a chapter, "...that was, when he [the dictator] sold the sea." This obviously farce-like sentence is used a cliffhanger to keep the reader in the story.<br>
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Easter Eggs are hidden jokes or insider jokes in stories. If you look for examples, J.K. Rowlings is a master in placing easter eggs. Just enter easter eggs and Harry Potter in Google search and you will find tons of examples.</div>
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Well, so much from the masters. Next week, I'll talk about how to use humor in your story and the pitfalls to avoid. </div>
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Until then, happy writing</div>
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Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-78344721337105071722014-08-31T15:49:00.001-07:002014-09-22T14:30:31.469-07:00Humor in Writing (2 of 4) - Theory<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Message to my past self: How can you expect my to write about a such broad and complex topic, such as humor. There people out there studying this and I am just a writer.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Answer from my pas self: Told ya.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Well, let me try it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"No, do. Or do not. There is no try" (Yoda out of the background)</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. Definition</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In my past blog post I outlined the importance of humor, but what is humor? Unfortunately, there is not a recipe for humor and definitions available aren't helpful either. </span><br>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rod A. Martin came up with the following definition: “From a psychological perspective, the humor process can be divided into four essential components: (1) a social context, (2) a cognitive-perceptual process, (3) an emotional response, and (4) the vocal-behavioral expression of laughter.” (Martin, 2007, page 5) - nice, but not really helpful.</span><br>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I probably don't have an abstract definition readily available, but I think that the following three elements must be present:</span><br>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>A) Violation</u></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In order to make the joke work, there must be a violation involved. It has to be out of the norm, either slightly (for example word plays usually fall under this category) or quite far (e.g. morbid or dark humor). Just remember, the further you go, the fewer people will laugh about it. Not everybody has the same taste. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>B) Surprise</u></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It must be told in a way that people were not able to foresee it. Laughter is a spontaneous reaction.</span><br><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>C) Uncovering</u></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In order to work, a joke has to tell us something true, which is latent in nature or at least not obvious. Some years ago, jokes about blond haired women were en vogue. They did not reveal that hair color indicates intelligence of a person, but rather the preconception that blondes have in society. In general it comes down to the German saying: "The joke is the hole out of which the truth is blowing."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>2. Methods</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are different methods how to apply a joke. Below, I tried to explain the most important ones:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Farce</u></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By using farce you exaggerate a situation in a way, that it almost becomes impossible, a kind of deliberate absurdity. Good examples are probably the movies "The Hangover" or the novel "Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy". I would also count "The Many Farfetched Adventures of Baron Munchhausen" into that category.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Hyperbole</u></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Using a hyperbole means to exaggerate, for example: "This guy is a giant. He can clean the windows in the second floor without ladder." Somehow the hyperbole is the little brother of the farce. While the farce is more en exaggeration of a whole story, the hyperbole is used to make a point in one sentence.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Metaphor</u></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A Metaphor is an analogy similar to a simile, but stronger. By using a a completely different object as comparison a special, mostly hidden, aspect of the main object is pointed out. </span><br>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Need an example? "Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor." (Truman Capote). Or the opening line from William Gibson's novel Neuromancer: "The sky above the port was the color of television, turned to a dead channel." </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">An extended version of the metaphor is the parable, which extends the comparison to a small story. My favorite one is the Ring Parable out of Lessing's "Nathan the Wise".</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Compared to the farce, the metaphor is a more subtle instrument which usually leads rather to a smile than to a laughter.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><u>Pun</u></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I love puns, although I have to admit that in a conversation I still don't get most puns. For somebody with another mother tongue, they are difficult to catch. Puns are word plays by which a word with two meanings or similar sounding words are switched. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Let me show you some examples: </span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"When two egoists meet, it's an I for an I."</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Everyday is a gift, that's why they call it a present."</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"I used to be a transplant surgeon, but my heart just wasn't in it."</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"The best way to communicate with a fish is drop them a line."</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"What's up? Answer: I am up - and running" (referring to the IT SLA term "up and running" for servers or systems).</span></li>
</ul>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Some puns use the actual different meaning of a word, other use different words that sound similar. It can also use multiple words that sound similar together:</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Why can a man never starve in the great desert? Because he can eat the sand which is there." (Richard Whately). </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Infinity is not in finity"</span></li>
</ul>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We are even given puns in literature, for example by Shakespeare:</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"tomorrow ... you shall find me a grave man." - when Mercutio was stabbed.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"being heavy, I will bear the light." - sad Romeo, as he asked for a torch.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>3. Excursus: Irony, Sarcasm, Cynicism</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These terms are often used to describe certain types of humor, they are rather describing intensity than methods. What makes them so powerful is the fact that they reveal something about the mindset of the person. </span><br>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is my view on what they mean:</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Irony is used to point out things that go wrong with the hope to make it better. In its nature it is caring and benign. It let's you smile.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sarcasm is a more aggressive, using sometimes even mockery and derision. Still, the ideology and world-view is positive. It is a shout for help to make the world a better place.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cynicism is as aggressive as sarcasm, but it unmasks a negative view on the world. A cynical person sees the discrepancies in the world, but has no hope they can be resolved. More than any other way of humor, cynicism is a coping technique.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Happy writing,</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your writer in a foreign land</span></div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-77917310490236059522014-08-24T11:53:00.001-07:002014-09-22T14:29:21.749-07:00Humor in Writing (1 of 4) - Overview<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">First a message to my future self: I was aware of what I started here and I know that you will have a hard time to write the following posts about humor. So stop whining and get them to paper.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Writing humor is definitively easier as writing about how to write humor, and then again probably not. While I might laugh about my own jokes, others might not and especially in writing the direct feedback link is missing. A writer doesn't know if his jokes are appreciated. Beta readers, editors etc. might give hints for the biggest no-go's, but they are an already biased population.</span><br>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, humor is such an important instrument of a writer, that I want to give a little more insight in when and how to use it in your writing, spread over different blog posts:</span></div>
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<ol>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Overview</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Theory (components, methods)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Learn from the best (dissection of good examples)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Where and how to apply humor in your own writing</span></li>
</ol>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As you might already have notices we are in the middle of the overview, but before going further, let me define humor. Depending the source, there are different definition of humor out there, but all have the same common element: amusement and laughter.</span><br>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As a summary (and for the purpose of this blog post) I can say that humor is something that makes us laugh.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But why do we want our readers to laugh? Humor and laughter are as important for human beings as love and company. We are social beings and humor is a way to connect with people in a positive manner. People who have the ability to be funny receive positive attention and admiration and quite often can smoothen awkward situations. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, there is more to it. Laughing has a crucial psychological component. It helps people to cope with stress, misery and sometimes even with pain, acting as an outlet.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In all this definition lies the power of humor for a writer. You can </span></div>
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<br>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">write a humorous story which only purpose is to make people laugh</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">use a humorous story to transport a deeper message or to critique an existing situation.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">use a certain humor style to define a character's voice</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">use humor for pacing - similar to the humor's outlet role in psychology</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">use humor to spice up your writing in general</span></li>
</ul>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In that sense, happy laughing</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your writer in a foreign land</span></div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-68340307780875664792014-08-17T17:16:00.001-07:002014-08-17T17:16:45.647-07:00Carve Out Time For Writing<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This week I failed my own standards. I wasn't writing my 250 words every day. I know, I know... I should have. But there is a reason for that - work. "Work, that is no reason, that is an excuse. We all have to work. You have to force yourself if you want to be a professional writer." I can already hear the arguments, discussions and opinions. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Seriously? After three days in a row with 16 hours at work, I just fell asleep while writing. No kidding - by body took its toll. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is the clue - apart of taking yourself seriously as a writer, you also have to take care of yourself. You have only a certain amount of time and it is completely up to you to decide how you want to spend it. I agree that cutting off gaming, surfing and sometimes even reading is a good idea. However, I would stay away from cutting time off sleeping, eating and a decent amount of exercise. Also, try to find a sustainable balance between writing and your social life, be it time with your family or with friends. Last but not least there is work and sometimes the amount of time you have to spend for it</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is not in your hands</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Having said that, even with a demanding work like mine, there is room to carve out writing time.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Commute</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have twice a day 44 minutes of train ride which I can use for writing. Sometimes I use one of the train rides for reading or listening to writing podcasts and the other one for writing or I use both for writing. On a normal day (i.E. when I don't fall asleep) I make about 300 words during one train ride.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Lunch time</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Not every day, but at least twice a week I find the time to go to a park or a coffee shop and write some pages.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Weekends</b></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Even with family, there is always time on the weekend to write - sometimes more, sometimes less. As I am more a morning person, I try to get up early in order to have more time during the day. My blog for example is something I usually outline on the subway ride (10x 5min) and write it down on the weekend. Having said that you probably want to communicate your writing time actively if you have family. Don't leave them without knowing what are your plans so you can have your time and they know when they will have you back.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Vacation</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For vacation, basically the same rules apply as for weekends except that you might carve out more time in order to do more intensive work, such as rewriting or editing.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Tools</b></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A little side note on tools. If you have a rather scattered writing schedule like me, one of the main criteria for a writing tool is seamless synchronization. In my earlier writing days I used very brick-and-mortar approach - I e-mailed my story back an forth using the e-mail account as tool. Key to this approach is a meticulous versioning. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today, there are several tools which have built-in synchronization functionality. I use a tool called the Storyist, which allows me to have my story up-to-date on all my devices (Notebook, iPad and iPhone) on one click.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Happy carving</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your writer in a foreign land</span></div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-28099381944584843362014-08-10T14:21:00.000-07:002014-08-10T14:21:14.103-07:00How to Paint a Picture<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reading is like 5D-cinema - with the difference, that the reader does the biggest part of the work. The only thing he needs is a small impulse - a picture drawn in his head.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is, where the wheat separates from the chaff. It is part of the craft to paint a picture into the head of a reader, but it is an art to paint it in a way that it becomes alive and accompanies the reader through the book and even after he read it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am currently reading "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, where he describes this scene when they travel up the river.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish. There was no joy in the brilliance of sunshine. The long stretches of the waterway ran on, deserted, into the gloom of overshadowed distances."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Can you see it too, the dark and daunting rain forest, the turbid river? Can you also see the rotten boat, the silent crew staring with empty at the green wall of slow passing trees and the underlying despair? I can. But how did he do it? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">First, let me take a step back. What do these sentences have in common:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"He entered the room."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"She walked down the alley."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In both instances, the places are blank. We only know that it is a room and not a hall or a closet something else and maybe we know out of the story if this is in a castle or a space station. But other than that, the room is blank. The same with the alley, it is not an avenue or a trail. The rest of the picture is blank. This is too much of a white page for most of the readers to fill with his imagination, just as it is too much for many people to imagine a sculpture in a block of marble. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don't get me wrong, this might be intentional. You might not want to interrupt the action or you might want to put more emphasize on the character's thoughts or a conversation he/she is having. Similar to the first lines in Ender's Game - without being given any details about the room, the conversation receives much more weight. However, in most cases you need to fill the blank space in order to create a living picture. But don't overdo it - too much description drags the readers attention away from the plot and works against the most powerful weapon of a book: The reader's imagination. You only need to give the reader a jump start and he will fill the room with his imagination. But how?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Let's take a little example. If you enter a living room, you immediately get a sense of the room which tells you something about the person that lives there. Is it a family with or without kids, a single, do they have pets? Is it an artsy or book lover? Are they young or elderly? Sometimes it is one item or a smell and sometimes it is the pictures in its completeness of all items. In any case you only need to give the reader one or two characteristic pieces and the reader does the rest, but the piece have to nail it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Back to our examples:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"He entered the room. His eyes needed some time to adjust to the dim light. After a moment he was able to see the miserable furniture. The stuffy air made the room appear even smaller than it were."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"She walked down the alley beneath the infinite number of clotheslines hung from balcony to balcony providing a nice shade from the hot sun. The smells out of the open doors reminded her of her grandmother's pasta arrabiata and made her hungry."</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">See how the picture came to live? I just added a little something and your mind did the rest. The same is true for Joseph Conrad scene above. The key sentence for me is "There was no joy in the brilliance of sunshine", this part gives me the depressing feeling. Now, imagine this picture as a starting point for a series of scenes - as a reader you will see the every following scene in the shade of this picture.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Happy painting</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your writer in a foreign land</span></div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-31227065210693406662014-08-03T13:12:00.001-07:002014-08-03T13:35:51.317-07:00Get The German Out<div>
I'm back again! Working on a new story - at least in English. I've decided to go for option 5 - rewrite a story I've written in German. It was my first story and somehow I think, rewriting it will also improve the story - mainly based on the assumption that I should have gotten better in the meantime with all the practice.</div>
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The story is about August, a good hearted family father, who stumbles through a near future world where big data is abused by big corporate to sort out unprofitable customers. But its more than that, government is involved too, until a small incident tips the first domino stone over and August has to decide on which side he stands.</div>
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Well, so much for the elevator pitch, but before working on that one, I need to get the German out of the story.</div>
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Let me give you an example of the first lines translated word by word: </div>
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"He knew this was his last day. The night had broken and on the horizon only a small sickle of afterglow testified of the past day. He could see the lights already since a while, they came to get him, soon they would be here. From his cabin he was able to see far. Right in front he could see Lago Argentino, that is he could see it, but know there was only a big black spot. On the right, the white of the Perito Moreno glacier was glaring."</div>
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Do you see, what I mean? The comma rules are different, so I will have to rewrite the sentences. Additionally, terms like "the night had broken" or "afterglow testified of the past day" might sound perfectly right in German, but for an English version I need to find more suitable expressions. Also, there are other expressions, that just don't work.</div>
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Doing that for a whole story is a piece of work. But it's also fun and by the end I'm pretty sure the other story has rested enough.</div>
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Happy rewriting</div>
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Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-89430795509686874602014-07-27T13:02:00.001-07:002014-07-27T13:02:54.925-07:00Story Hangover<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I've done everything by the book. I put my first draft aside to let it rest and I haven't opened the file since. I brainstormed and I came up with a new story idea, that I love. But still, it doesn't work. Every time I try to concentrate on my new story I fall back into the old story that should rest. Every thought of my new protagonist sounds like the old protagonist. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don't get me wrong, it's not writers block. I have the story in my head and I am excited about it. I write, but the outcome doesn't sound like it should.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My diagnosis: I have a story hangover.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So what can I do, to get rid of it. Well, I've got several ideas, but as this is the first time for me I don't really know which of the measures does work. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>A) First a don't</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Let me start with what you should not to: Stop writing. You should continue to write every day, even if it is as little as 250 words. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>B) Experiment</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Try out techniques. Try something you haven't done before, for example try to write in a different POV or try to write a different genre. You could also try to write a screenplay, just for the fun.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>C) Focus on your weaknesses</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Other examples you could try include things you know you are weak in, for example dialog or description. If you are a discovery writer, try to plot a story, if you are a plotter, try to discovery write.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>D) Writing prompts</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Take a writing prompt and write the story. Do this every day until you are out of the story. Alternatively, take a scene out of a movie and try to write this scene until it paints exactly the picture the film does. For example the scene from Gladiator, where Russell Crowe comes home and finds his wife and kid killed. Try to provoke the same feelings people had in the cinema.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>E) Read a book</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Use the time to read a book you always wanted, but did not have time yet (without letting go the every day writing). Diving into a story will help your brain to loose the other one. It's pretty much the same as rushing into a new love after a partnership ended, just not as unfair for the book as it is for the new partner.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>F) Rewrite/Translate</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ok, this option is very writer-in-a-foreign-land-specific. I could take a story I wrote in German and rewrite it in english.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Again, I don't know which of above option does work. Maybe I will try to rewrite another story or try to experiment. I'll let you know which one did work. Did you experience story hangover too? How did you got over it?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Looking forward hearing your experience</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your writer in a foreign land</span></div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-72507538280742427722014-07-20T19:08:00.002-07:002014-07-20T19:15:56.675-07:00How To Come Up With Story Ideas<div>
First draft is done - Yeah! But now what? The story has to rest, like a beer has to ferment. Write some short stories? Probably, but most of the times they don't keep my mind enough occupied to forget about the story I just finished.<br>
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Here's what I do: I start a new story. I flip through my list of story idea and pick the one that appeals me most, and if there is none, I come up with a new idea. But how to come up with new ideas out of the blue? There are certain techniques that give creativity a jump start. </div>
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<b>Read Newspapers</b></div>
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Truman Capote found the story for "In Cold Blood" by reading the newspaper. </div>
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The trick is to read it with an eye for conflict. For example could a headline about a conflict between two foreign countries lead to a story. For two coworkers in an American company originating from these countries this conflict suddenly wouldn't be far away anymore. Even though they got along very well earlier, they even might have been friends, they now have to deal with old prejudices and taking sides.</div>
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But it's not always about big things, more often it is about the small things that can cause a large conflict for somebody. Just think of what matters to you or to somebody else.<br>
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<b>Defamiliarization</b></div>
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This technique probably doesn't give you a story idea right away, but it turns on the creativity in the brain. It is basically very simple how it works: Take a random person and list three things this person does. A pilot flights a plane, gets to see a lot of different places and his highest concern is the safety of the passengers. Now turn each one of those into the opposite and see which could be the best story. A pilot who doesn't fly a plane? Possible - he could be suspended because of drinking or he could be have developed a phobia. A pilot who doesn't see different places. Again possible, but probably not very exciting. Finally, a pilot whose highest concern is not the passengers safety. Looking at these options, the first one is probably more about inner conflict, where the last one could be good basis for a thriller.</div>
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<b>Steal a Good Idea</b></div>
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Have you ever read a book, where a certain part got you under your skin. One specific conflict, one idea, draw your attention? Take this idea, put in a different place and write about it. Don't get me wrong, this is no fanfiction. Don't take the story or a key element, but one that one moment and develop it further. </div>
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<b>Everybody Has His Own Story</b></div>
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Take a person you don't know, just anybody. It should be somebody you either like or dislike just based on a look or the way he or she behaves. A grumpy co-rider on the train or a funny guy sitting next to you in a coffee. Then, try to come up with a story for them. Who are they, why do they react the way they do? What is their pain, what is their joy. You would be surprised with the potential of this technique. </div>
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Happy story finding</div>
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Your writer in a foreign land</div>
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Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7793946700385106144.post-7628915479025179242014-07-13T16:50:00.000-07:002014-07-13T16:50:21.131-07:00The Aftermath<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm close to finishing the first draft of my current novel. Working title: Exodus. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How does it feel - great, but... at the moment I don't dare to look back. I have the feeling, that it would be the same view as a bull would have, when he looked back at the china store he just walked through.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is also the check for being a discovery writer - you actually back-load the work.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So let's have a look at the next steps.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>1. Put the story away</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">First, I have to give the story a rest. I let it go until I almost don't remember what I've written. This could be everything from a couple of weeks up to three month or even more. I work on something else in the meantime, short stories or a new novel. This first step is crucial, because otherwise I wouldn't be able to gain the necessary distance, and to approach the story with fresh eyes. But why? Well, right after I've finished my story, I'm in love with it and I'd never doubt that. Distance gives me perspective as well as a sense of realism with regards to what I've written.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>2. High level concept review</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I pick up the story again after some time, I start the review/editing top-down. Does the story work? Where are the plot points and are they at the right place? </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For that, I use the shrunken manuscript method. I change the font a very small, but still readable size (4 - 6), so the number of pages is reduced. Then I print the whole story mark the important points and lay it out on the flor. I also mark the appearance of the different characters/viewpoints with different colors. This method helps me to immediately see any disproportion.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The result of this step is a list of necessary changes to chapters or scenes and where I probably need to add or remove parts.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>3. Brainstorm Read-through(s)</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As a next step I read through my story as if I were a reader and take notes of what jumps into my eyes. Additionally I emphasize on the following points:</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">are all loose ends tied-up</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">what promises do I make and do I keep all of them</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">are the main and side characters consistent</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">do I have side characters, which just disappear</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">which parts of the plot twists do I have to foreshadow</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">etc</span></li>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All these questions are still related to the story structure and the concept. Basically, the story has to work. The result is again a list of scenes/parts to be removed, changed, or added.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>4. Rewrite</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is probably the most cumbersome part. I have to implement the changes out of step 2 and 3, chapter by chapter, scene by scene. I write new scenes, change existing scenes. Sometimes I even have to introduce complete new story strings or characters.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>5. Repeat Step 1 - 4</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After having rewritten all parts, I need to go back again to step 1 and repeat this cycle as many times as needed until the story ties. At this stage I also start including beta readers, probably right after the first iteration.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>6. Rewrite Scenes</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Until now, every step was to ensure the story ties up. Now, it is about the beauty of the craft. I will read through every scene and try to shape it. All those guidelines, like "show, don't tell" or "use all five senses" to let the scene become alive, come in handy. There is so much about the how, I probably have to dedicate an own blog posts about this topic alone. Nevertheless, this step is not anymore about the story structure, but about the techniques how to draw the reader into the story and keep him reading.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As an additional difficulty, I will have to look up all German-blended expressions and correct them. I expect a lot of them. As an example, I used the term elephant in a china store in this blog instead of a bull in a china store.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>7. Copy-editing</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The borders between rewriting scenes and editing as well as editing and proofreading are fluid. Editing in my understanding takes care about mistakes and sentences, while working directly in the document. It might include rewriting certain sentences, but most of the time it is about correction words and mistakes.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>8. Proofreading</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last but not least comes the proofreading. This like a last step of quality assurance. I print the manuscript, grab a pencil and read line by line, forth and back. Yes, I meant back. As our brain is used to read economically, it actually doesn't read a word, it recognizes it. The disadvantage of this is, that we read over errors without seeing them. By reading a text from the back, we can prevent us from falling into that trap.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>9. Alpha readers</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At this point, I have done everything possible in my hands to submit your story to a greater audience: The alpha readers. They will come back with feedback and yes, as soon as they come back, I will have to start with step 2 - for the sake of the story. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Happy reviewing and rewriting</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your writer in a foreign land</span></div>
Writer in a Foreign Landhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17912362482423584500noreply@blogger.com0