The Fabulist Flash

Issue 124

with Photography by Gregory A. Kompes

Southwest Red Rock Journal

In This Issue:

1. This Week
2. The Writer's Bookshelf
3. Writing for Readers
4. Butch Holcombe takes the 18Q
5. About The Fabulist Flash

1. This Week

While concluding an interview for an article I'm working on an interesting thing happened. My interviewee outed herself as a writer. We spent the next 30 minutes talking about writing and local writer's groups. As we got a little deeper into our conversation she revealed that she's not writing much and I asked why. Her first response was "I don't think my work's good enough." She added, "I'm afraid to show it to anyone." I recommended that she join one of our area writer's groups. I of course plugged the group I belong to, nothing wrong with a little shameless self promotion!

I know I've written frequently about the importance of joining a writer's group. Writer's groups provide opportunities, professional and social. And, it depends on the group, of course, but writers who belong to groups benefit from them. They're often safe havens for us and our work.

During last year's Las Vegas Writer's Conference, our keynote speaker, Jim Rollins, talked about the fact that he reads at his own local group. Jim's a New York Times bestselling author (and a nice guy!). Yet, he still spends time with his writer's group, getting input and feedback from other writers is important and a key to success. Plus, it's nice to have a reason to spend a little time away from the computer with people who "get it."

This week, the Writer's Bookshelf returns with a review by Lisa Silverman of Betsy Lerners The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers; Steve Gillman explains how to write articles for readers; and humorist Butch Holcombe takes the 18Q.

Hope you're writing up a storm!

Gregory

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Gregory A. Kompes (www.kompes.com) is a writer, manuscript consultant and author of the bestseller 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live, The Endorsement Quest, The Everyday Gay Activist, Turning Your Writing Hobby into a Writing Career and Should You Write an eBook?

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Preview 9 essential books for writers on The Writer's Bookshelf

2. The Writer's Bookshelf

Books for Writers: "The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers," by Betsy Lerner
by Lisa Silverman

In her lengthy career, Betsy Lerner has been an MFA student, an award-winning poet, a book editor at major publishing houses, and a literary agent. So in her wonderfully insightful book about writers and the business in which they struggle, she provides a myriad of wise and knowledgeable perspectives. Whether you are working on your first novel or your fifth, you'll read Lerner's book and think, She's writing about me.

You may not think so on every page, especially if you have an oversize ego. Lerner shares a wealth of anecdotes and opinions about the essential makeup of writers, not all of them flattering. (Words such as "neurotic" and "insecure" come up a lot.) But, because of her obvious love of writers and books, even the brutally honest stuff doesn't come across as insulting. After all, how insulting can it be to be compared to Philip Roth? Her observations are simply honest, and deeply affectionate. Lerner's stories about the enthusiasm she has felt over the years for particular writers and projects, and for the world of books in general, is infectious.

"The Forest for the Trees" is not a long book, but it covers a lot of territory. The book's first half speaks mainly to the process and the personality of the writer... This is the part that'll make you think she's writing about, or to, you. The chapters are peppered liberally with quotes from Roth, John Updike, Edith Wharton, and dozens of others about what inspired them to begin writing and what prevents them from stopping; about their process; about how they deal with criticism. All writers are different, but you'll identify with much of what you read, whether it's William Styron's comment that "I certainly don't [enjoy writing]. I get a fine warm feeling when I'm doing well, but that pleasure is pretty much negated by the pain of getting started every day"; or the story that Hemingway always needed twenty sharpened pencils on his desk before starting to write. (Gore Vidal's less romantic variation: "First coffee. Then a bowel movement. Then the muse joins me.")

In the book's second half, Lerner turns to more practical matters, pulling back the curtain on what, even if you've been published, may be a world of mystery to you: the publishing house (and, by extension, booksellers, reviewers, etc.). She provides wisdom on dealing with your agent and/or publishers ("Don't make the mistake of writing to publishers in what I call a proposal voice; this isn't a grant you're applying for"). She demystifies what goes on at sales meetings and what makes for a good author/editor relationship. ("Call before sending chunks of manuscript... It's like having out-of-town guests show up uninvited for the weekend.") She explains the importance of the book publicist.

What struck me about "The Forest for the Trees" is that it's not only helpful, not only insightful, but also an engrossing and entertaining read. Lerner is witty and big-hearted, literate without being snobbish, brutally honest without discouraging writers from pursuing a career. It's a book that belongs on the shelves of every writer and every editor (I first read it in a manuscript editing class). I always say that writers should do all the research they can into the book industry before approaching it. This book is a source of knowledge on the book industry, the people who work within it, and, perhaps most important, on the inner life of any writer who ever sat down in front of a blank screen.

About the Author
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Lisa Silverman is a freelance book editor and works in the copyediting department at one of New York's most prestigious literary publishing houses. She has also worked as a ghostwriter and a literary agent representing both book authors and screenwriters. She founded http://www.BeYourOwnEditor.com in order to provide writers with free advice on both writing and the publishing business.

3. Writing for Readers

Do You Write Articles For The Reader?
by Steve Gillman

Why do you write articles for distribution online? If it is just so you can be an "author," you can skip this article. If it is to generate traffic to your website, you need to be writing for the reader. Here are some ways to do that.

1. Write articles on topics that interest you. This may seem contrary to the idea of writing for the reader, but it isn't. It is safe to assume that you are not the only one interested in a given topic. Writing about your own interests keeps you motivated, and you'll usually do a better job. You also normally will have more knowledge to share in an area of interest than in an area you just chose because it is popular.

2. Write a title that catches the reader's attention. There are many ways to do this, and this is a topic worthy of it's own article. The short lesson? Use words like "how to," "easy ways to," ten ways to," "secrets," and "try this." Titles that are questions can be effective too.

3. Make your writing easy on the eyes. Don't have sentences that go on and on endlessly, with more words than are necessary to make the point and without enough commas to break them up into digestible parts, and with no good reason to be that long, and which easily could have been cut into two or more shorter, easier-to-read sentences that would have been more relaxing to read - in other words, avoid sentences like this one. Oh, and have concise paragraphs of two to six sentences.

4. You should, of course, try to write articles that are truly useful, interesting or entertaining. If you can do all three in one article, that's great. At the very least, though, try to include something in your article that will be new to the average reader. Second best is describing things they already know, but in new ways. You often have to cover the same points as similar articles, but do more than that as well.

5. Keep the language simple. After scrutinizing many articles, I consider the evidence to be incontrovertible that pretentiousness in the elucidation of your information makes the loss of the reader ineluctable. In other words, use too many big words and you'll scare away many readers. You can say what you like using simple words like the ones in this sentence. No reader will stop reading a good article because the language is too simple.

6. Write a resource box that make it easy for the reader to see where he can go for more information. A list of your dozen degrees and awards will not impress him or be helpful. Say one or two things about yourself, then have a clear link, and a description of what the reader will find at your web site.

This is a short lesson on how to write articles for readers. You should also use the right keywords, so readers can find the article, and write an article description that makes them want to read it. If you also want your articles used by others, you have to write articles not only for readers, but for newsletter and web site owners. That, however, is a topic for another article.

About the Author
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Copyright Steve Gillman. He lost money on his websites until he discovered the power of articles. Six months later he was making a good living online. To learn how you can do the same, and how to write for readers AND webmasters, get your free online writing course at: http://www.999articles.com.

4. Butch Holcombe takes the 18Q

Butch Holcombe

Biography
Butch Holcombe, a Southern Humor writer who breaks all stereotypes of what Southern Humor should be, much to the delight of my fans, lives in Acworth, Georgia, and has published two books. He is the publisher of American Digger magazine and also owns an antiques business

Bibliography
Never Mace A Skunk
Never Mace A Skunk II: The Legends Continue.

URLs
www.americandigger.com
www.greybirdrelics.com

1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you?
You mean I had a choice? It just happened, so I guess I chose it.

2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.)
I was born in 1955, illiterate and without a penny to call my own. Although I tempted them often, my parents decided a postnatal abortion was out of the question, and decided to let me live. My education was two years in college (architectural engineering), two years at tech school (machine tool technology), then a career in sales for 10 years, followed by being a machinist for 15. Quit my day job a year ago to devote my full efforts to a magazine I started, American Digger. Check it out at www.americandigger.com

3. When did you 'know' you were a writer?
I remember in grade school writing down stories (because if I just verbally told them, they were called "lies") but I never showed them to anyone. In Jr High I started writing satires of the teachers and the school I attended and passed them out to my friends. I usually got caught, but didn't much care as long as my friends laughed. One teacher intercepted such a story, and I could see her trying to keep a straight face as she read it at her desk. Even though she sent me to the principal's office, I knew I was on the right track.

4. How would you describe your style of writing?
If Dave Berry and Lewis Grizzard had a love child, I would be that bastard.

5. What is your writing process?
I'll do a rough outline based on a vague idea, and start filling it in from there. I do several rewrites, adding and refining each time until it begins to click. When I laugh out loud, I know I've got a part right. When I can read the whole work from start to finish and laugh until coffee shoots from my nostrils, I know the work is complete.

6. What was your path to publication?
I had been freelancing for about fifteen years, and thus already had a name of some infamy among certain groups. I had pushed the envelope early on by submitting humor to a magazine that was devoted to a serious subject (Civil War history), but they took a chance and published my submissions. It worked, I developed a fan base, and life was good to my ego if not my purse. When it came time to publish my own books, I never even considered the long and tedious path of submitting to a publishing company, but rather self published in order to get my books out as fast as possible...I figured that anyone who was a fan of mine was most certainly ill and in danger of being institutionalized, and I wanted them to buy my books before that happened.

7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea?
Speaking engagements and book signings. Without a doubt, these work wonders if for no other reason than if you look pitiful enough, folks will buy a lot of books! Also, I always include a few illustrations. Many authors miss a big segment of the market, i.e. the illiterate.

8. What are the biggest surprises you've encountered as a writer?
That more people know me on a first name basis than I know on any basis. They claim to be darn good friends, although I've never even met them. One came up to me in a discount store that shall remain nameless, and right there in Wal-Mart he started talking to me like a long lost friend. "Do I know you," I finally asked. "I hope so, because read all of your stuff." Turns out I'd never met him before.

9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity?
I pick up on the ironies of life, which I get from the news, conversations, and other sources, then run them through the blender in my mind, spice them with my own twisted view, and come up a buffet of humor that would make almost anyone nauseous with laughter. Inspiration is rarely a problem. Neither is creativity. I seem to have had it all of my life.

10. What is your proudest writer moment?
When I was asked to come to Winchester, Virginia to do a book signing and also a radio interview in a nearby town. It was cool getting to travel abroad, and sampling such exotic cuisine as unsweetened tea and grits made from wheat paste.

11. What's the best advice you were given about writing?
Write to please yourself. After all, we're all alike in different ways, so that means there should be plenty of people just as twisted as myself. Thus, if I write to please myself, others enjoy it, too.

12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment?
I was at a book signing where nobody showed up. Honest. The store had done no publicity, the weather was bad, and the town was small. I was there for an hour, sitting at the table and entertaining myself by doing something that involved a pencil and my left ear, when finally an elderly couple walked up to the table...with a Joy of Deep Frying Nude cookbook or something like that. They wanted to know if this was where they paid. It was embarrassing, but I sucked in my pride, pulled the pencil out, and used it to point them towards the cash register. It was the right thing to do, and besides the owner had installed security cameras over my signing table.

13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer?
I started publishing a magazine last year, and along with occasional free lancing this is now my "day job". Thus I've had to learn all aspects of business, although I've yet to get an agent...partially because I'm still paranoid in that respect. Believe it or not, my biggest worry is getting insurance, as the finances always seem to work out. But since starting the magazine (American Digger-"The publication for diggers and collectors of America's Heritage") I haven't had enough time to promote my writing. Thus, I need to find an agent to help me.

14. What is your writer life philosophy?
Write it, and they will read it. Some will even buy it.

15. When you're not writing what do you do for fun?
Metal detecting...although the truth be known, most of my life is now spent writing, editing, or doing layout and graphics for American Digger.

16. Who do you like to read?
Stephen King, Lewis Grizzard, Jerry Jenkins, Bill Wilson, Dave Berry

17. What's your advice for new writers?
Write what you enjoy. Forget the money at first, it will come later but only if you enjoy what you write. And never underestimate the power of a good title...If the title is intriguing, the person will pick up the book and open it up to the first page (you hope). Thus make sure that your opening paragraph is a real grabber. Get them hooked at that point, and they'll buy the book. But the overall work must be dynamic, otherwise they'll never buy your works again, and speak ill of you to their friends. You want to developed a fan base, not a literary lynch mob.

18. What are you currently working on?
I'm finishing up my first novel, about a writer in a small town who becomes trapped by his own pseudonym. He can't escape, nor can he stop without turning the world upside down once two rival "social" groups adopt him as their figure head. The ways he deals with it make for a dark comedy that the reader will find hard to put down. I'm also working on another humor book which is a collection of essays and observations strung together into a steady stream of consciousness. It should be ready in about six months.

5. About The Fabulist Flash

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