The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen

Tag: Jane Friedman

  • “The key to a good essay is conflict, and . . . Victoria Zackheim

    “The key to a good essay is conflict, and the story’s (and character’s) arc. People have to change during the story, whether fiction or non-fiction. — Victoria Zackheim, interviewed by Chris Jane in JaneFriedman.com.

    Victoria Zackheim is the author of the novel The Bone Weaver and editor of six anthologies:

    He Said What?

    Women Write About Moments When Everything Changed

    The Other Woman

    Twenty-one Wives, Lovers, and Others Talk Openly About Sex, Deception, Love, and Betrayal

    For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance

    The Face in the Mirror

    Writers Reflect on Their Dreams of Youth and the Reality of Age

    Exit Laughing: How Humor Takes the Sting Out of Death

    and the upcoming FAITH: Essays from Believers, Agnostics, and Atheists (Feb. 2015).

    Victoria’s play, The Other Woman, based on her first anthology, will be featured in OneNight/OnePlay, and her play Entangled, an adaptation of the memoir Entangled: A Chronicle of Late Love, is in development at Z Space in San Francisco.

    Victoria’s first screenplay, MAIDSTONE, is now in development. She is story developer and writer of Where Birds Never Sang: The Story of Ravensbruck and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camps, aired nationwide by PBS.

    Victoria teaches Personal Essay in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. Victoria was a 2010 San Francisco Library Laureate.

    Note from Marlene: I have taken classes by Victoria. She is an amazing teacher, well worth the price (and it wasn’t that expensive!).

    Want to challenge yourself?  Take one of your characters (fiction or non-fiction) and do what Victoria suggests . . . give him or her a conflict.  Spend thirteen minutes on a freewrite. See what happens.  Need a boost?  Take a look at Prompts 132 and 133 for ideas on character development.

  • Guest Blogger Amanda McTigue talks about marketing your book

    So, you’ve got your book written, or almost written, or you have an idea for a book, but you’re stuck dead in your tracks because you detest the marketing aspect of the book business

    Amanda McTigue says, “No doubt about it: we writers love to write, hate to sell. How could it be otherwise? We’re the odd balls who’d rather spend vast quantities of time alone in our imaginations. And yet these days, we’re told not only must we craft (and sometimes publish) our works, but also find readers to read them: a daunting challenge compounded by our own dread. What’s a writer to do?”

    Amanda shares resources on one of our least favorite challenges: marketing yourself and your book.

    “The Psychology of Writer Promotion. How to Promote Yourself,” Chuck Wendig

    “Book Marketing 101,” Jane Friedman

    “Five Mistakes You’ll Make on the Way to Publishing Success,” Carmen Amato via Jane Friedman

    71 Ways to Promote and Market Your Book,” Kimberley Grabas

    15 DIY Tools to Promote Your Book,” Writer’s Store

    Amanda McTigueAuthor, playwright, stage director and storyteller, Amanda McTigue has also worked for decades as a creative marketing consultant for such clients as Walt Disney Entertainment, Paramount Entertainment and design firms such as Thinkwell and The Hettema Group in Los Angeles. Her novel, “Going to Solace,” was cited by public radio KRCB’s “Word by Word” as a Best Read of 2012. She also makes regular appearances at Petaluma’s “West Side Stories” and “Get Lit.” She’s busy completing short stories and a second novel. Click here for Amanda’s Resource page.

    Amanda will be the March 19, 2015 Writers Forum presenter.