Finding Ideas, II

A mild reminder as I'm talking about story ideas: Not every idea is suited to be turned into a narrative. There's plenty of room in the world--and especially in a freelancer's life--for straight news, service articles, and so on.

Some writers have the interest and wherewithal to go hang with penguin scientists at the South Pole for six months. Even if you don't, narrative is still possible. Tracy Kidder chooses to do stories that are within a certain radius of his house--I think it's within a 45-minute drive.

Let's start with the newspaper. I don't work for a newspaper, so I'm not concerned with meeting a daily deadline with a piece of narrative. As I read, I'm thinking: What do I want to know more about? The question applies to news pieces, ads, classifieds. Hard news stories give us a slice of action. What we as narrative writers do is fill in what came before and what comes after.

Having had a story reported doesn't put it off-bounds for a narrative. Look, the movie Sunset Boulevard begins with a dead guy floating in a pool. You stay for the rest of the movie because you want to know why and how he died.

Another thing to be reading for are trends. If something happens/is spotted/is mentioned three times, I consider it a trend. Once you see a trend, decide how to detail it for an audience. Can you profile the person who started it? Can you write about the people it affects?

Above all else, the key is to find stuff that interests you. If you're not on a staff taking assignments, you have only a certain amount of time to write. Don't waste your time and dissapate your passion with topics you think will be marketable but don't care about. The trick is to find markets for the articles you think are cool, weird, important for the social welfare on the planet as we know it, etc. . . . but that's a post for another day.

The Idea Trove

At any given writers' conference, someone will ask, "Where do you get your ideas?"

If you're one of those people, I apologize in advance and ask that you not take the rest of this posting too personally, please.

When that question comes up, I grab hold of my notions of tolerance and tact and keep myself from yelling, "Oh, for crying out loud!"

I see ideas EVERYWHERE, every day, all the time. I've wondered at the difference between me and those people. Do they have some internal screening mechanism that blocks ideas according to algorythms like, too hard to write? too personal to ask anyone about? take too long? would get published only by a magazine you can't possibly crack (like the New Yorker)?

Sometimes our involvement in a project, hobby, etc., distracts us from seeing the story possibilities. I've smacked my forehead on more than one occasion when I've realized that I could have written the article in front of me. For example, my brother-in-law plays a strategy game called WarHammer. Forehead smack when I saw the feature on a WarHammer convention in the Washington Post. It didn't dawn on me to ask about his hobby.

Award-Winning Stories

More worthwhile reading. The Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families has posted its 2006 award-winners online, with narratives among them. Check them out here.

category: reading

Talese in August 'Writer's Digest'

I read so you don't have to.

Or at least, so you don't have to slog through magazines until you hit upon something that's related to narrative nonfiction.

In the August issue of Writer's Digest, you can read an interview with Gay Talese, some exercises to spark creativity, a good piece by Nancy Kress on revising (strong verbs! strong nouns! etc.), and a skinny rehash of why two writers opted for memoirs (Kathryn Harrison, The Kiss; Koren Zailckas, Smashed). And, oh yeah, a piece about promoting your own book--why and how.

Notable in the Talese article is that even though "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" has been called the best piece ever run in Esquire, Talese can't get pieces like that published anywhere any more--they're too long, even for The New Yorker.

Talese thinks the hulabaloo over James Frey (which his wife published) will improve the market for nonfiction: "They'll see that if you lie like he did, you're going to get caught."

As for the term "creative nonfiction," Talese says,

What a Writer's Life [his new book] really represents to writers interested in the technicality of writing is how creative it can be to organize material in a certain way. . . . What I've always had is a creative imagination in knowing how to present carefully researched material. . . . Serious writers of nonfiction should never have the option of lying to the reader, falsifying the facts to make them more interesting; taking leaps of imagination; or creating character composites.

category: resources

Markets, Jobs & Publishers

Funds for Writers has posted its June 18 issue. In it, you'll find info to submit to these two magazines (and others):

• OnEarth Magazine, an award-winning environmental magazine that pays 50 cents/word for up to 3,000 words on politics, nature, wildlife, culture, science, health, the challenges that confront our planet, and solutions.
• Conscious Choice, a magazine that offers readers a guide to alternatives in health care, nutrition, ecology, the environment, green businesses, spirituality, personal growth, social justice and renewal energy. Typical payments range from $50 to $600, with more consideration given for longer pieces, clean copy, andwriters who supply usable art and have an establishedtrack record with the publication. Kill fees are 50 percent.

Jobs listed:

• Ghostwriters and Editors. Fiction and nonfiction writers for most genres. Deadline July 23, 2006.
• Web editor, Charisma Magazine. Individual experienced in print and online journalism needed to regularly update and maintain the editorial content of Charisma magazine’sWeb site. Lake Mary, Fla.
• Writer-Editor. Full time, 5 years in health care, communications, marketing, ad agency or related experience. Must have a Bachelor of Arts degree in commercial art or design communications, marketing journalism or related communications field. Need experience in desktop publishing and design. Location: Arlington Memorial Hospital. Arlington, Texas.
  

Blurbs on the following publishers and agents in this issue:

• DLSIJ Press. Committed to being a women's press in the truest sense: publish all types of women, regardless of political leanings, belief system, genre, sexual orientation, etc. No author fees. Rigorous review process. Professional editing and book design. 45% royalty (net) on ebooks. 11% royalty on paperbacks.Ongoing marketing strategies.
• Carolina Wren Press. Books include, nonfiction, biography, autobiography, literary nonfiction by and/or about people of color, women, gay/lesbian issues, health and mental health topics in children's
  literature. Unsolicited nonfiction mss. read September 1 to December 1 yearly.
  
• Allen & Unwin. Accept unsolicited nonfiction manuscripts on health, history, politics, self-help, auto/biography, business, careers, environment, food, how-to/practical, humor, lifestyle, military history, popular science, indigenous studies and women’s and men’s studies. Extremely broad-ranging list, covering topics that are exclusively Australian through to subjects ofinterest worldwide.

category: markets

Inviting the Wolf In

I bought Inviting the Wolf In, by Loren Niemi and Elizabeth Ellis, because of the title. I recommend the book because it addresses so well its subtitle: Thinking about Difficult Stories.

A difficult story is one whose content makes it challenging to tell or uncomfortable to hear. It may be yours or someone else's. The tone of this book is so thoughtful, as in, well thought-out, and so compassionate and honest, that it's a comfort, even as it's pushing the reader to step into emotionally scary stuff. It's not flippant. It's not preachy.

It's also practical. The authors walk you through the concept of emotional arc, which is different than plot; structural elements, including comedy; self-censorship; and issues like trust, permission, and ownership.

The authors acknowledge that a story may be told in writing or another art form, but their background is in oral storytelling. In the book, you'll substitute "reader" when they say "listener"; the principles of storytelling are the same.

Even though I bought this at a going-out-of-business sale at a warehouse book kind of place ($1!), the book is still in print and well worth whatever price you pay.

category: reading

New Book Reviewer

And this just in from Publishers Lunch (see previous post): The Chicago Sun-Times has a new book reviewer, Cheryl Reed. Her introductory column is so welcoming: "I'm hoping . . . to celebrate good books whether they have a high profile or none at all. I want to highlight good storytelling, not just beautiful language, but books that enthrall and captivate, that keep you up at night poring over their pages." That's us!

She also says, "Over the years, I've become a fan of a number of writers. Some of them are household names--Tom Wolfe, Bill Bryson, Barbara Kingsolver, Margaret Atwood and Susan Orlean. Others are less well-known--Kathleen Norris, Tracy Kidder, George Howe Colt, and Jane Hamilton. Discovering a new writer is like making a new friend." I want her to be my friend!

She also says she'll increase the number of nonfiction books she reviews and books by Midwestern writers.

category: reading

Publishers Lunch

Publishers Lunch is e-newsletter focusing on the book publishing business. It's associated with Publishers Marketplace, which offers an array of interesting services for $20 a month. Occasionally there are free weeklong trials or "two months for the price of one" deals.

The service is geared to publishers and agents, but I find it useful as a writer in a few ways. On a day-to-day basis, I don't need more than the info listed in the free newsletter--but the abbreviated lists of deals made (full list in the premium version) offer clues about what publishers are buying. I learn when someone starts a new imprint that might be interested in narrative nonfiction. I've even gotten article ideas from the deal list: For example, a proposal sold about why homework being a waste of time. I definitely want to talk to that author for a piece for a parenting magazine.

On occasion I've plunked down $20 for a month (and that's one of the beauties of the service--you can subscribe month-to-month): to research agents appropriate for a book I was editing (I looked up agents for authors already published in the same genre); to see if a proposal had been sold recently on a topic I'm interested in writing about; and to browse through the offerings (just because I'm danged curious). (Do you think I overuse parenthetical comments?)

Not every agent is listed, not every deal is included, but Publisher's Marketplace definitely has made a name for itself in the book world, so there's lots of info here.

While anyone may view members' Web pages and rights postings, all other services are available only to paying members.

If you subscribe to Publishers Marketplace, you get a longer, more informative version of Publishers Lunch daily, and you can do the following:

• Access new deals daily; opt to receive a daily deal e-mail; and search the deal database containing thousands of transactions.
• Search the Who Represents database of authors and agents.
• Search the contact database of thousands of industry contacts.
• Create your own Publishers Marketplace Web page with contact information, career highlights, personnel, and proposals -- and even a checkbox if you're looking for an agent.
• Post rights news and offerings, where agents, editors, and other licensees can view your projects.
• Use the track books page to follow your titles' rankings at Amazon and BN.com, as well as cross-check automatically against 12 bestseller lists.
• Monitor and analyze bestseller movement from around the country easily through our analytical charts that identify Unique Bestsellers and Consensus Bestsellers, and research the bestseller history of any title.
• Use the book review index to view extracts from the day's book reviews from over 60 newspapers and magazines (complete with hyperlinks to the full text reviews), and search the book review database by author, title, publisher, review source, date range, and more.

category: resources

Fellowship / Historical Slant

Taryn Chase, a Goucher grad, passed along this information. Sounds like a fabulous opportunity.

Fellowships for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers

You'll find links to the application, etc., along with the following information, at the Web site.

The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), a national research library and learned society of American history and culture, is calling for applications for visiting fellowships for historical research by creative and performing artists, writers, film makers, journalists, and other persons whose goals are to produce imaginative, nonformulaic works dealing with pre-20th-century American history. Successful applicants are those whose work is for the general public rather than for academic or educational audiences. The society's goal in sponsoring this program is to multiply and improve the ways in which an understanding of history is communicated to the American people.

Fellowship projects may include (but are not limited to):

# historical novels
# performance of historical music or drama
# poetry
# documentary films
# television programs
# radio broadcasts
# plays
# libretti
# screenplays
# magazine or newspaper articles
# costume designs
# set designs
# illustrations and other graphic arts
# book designs
# sculpture
# paintings
# other works of fine and applied art
# nonfiction works of history designed for general audiences of adults or children

The fellowships will provide the recipients with the opportunity for a period of uninterrupted research, reading, and collegial discussion at the Society, located in Worcester, Massachusetts. At least three fellowships will be awarded for residence of four weeks at the Society at any time during the period January l through December 31. The stipend will be $1,200, plus an allowance for travel expenses. Applicants are encouraged to rent a room and prepare their meals in the Society's Goddard-Daniels House, an attractive and spacious historic mansion located directly across the street from the AAS library.

Funding for this program began with a grant to AAS from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. Additional funding for the awards is derived from income from endowments established by the Robert and Charlotte Baron Fellowship and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.

Feel free to pass this information along to anyone you think might be interested.

category: markets

Lovely Language

Two novels I've recently picked up that have notable language are Gilead and Waxwings.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson has as its narrator an old preacher who is writing a letter to his young son for the boy to read years after the preacher has died. The voice is simple and honest, and without being fancy-pants, it has a lyricism to it.

Waxwings by Jonathan Raban is realistic fiction set in Seattle. I've just started it so I'm vague about the storyline, but defintely taken with the images--such as a "dream-dashing" crash of a bicyle falling in the hall in the night.

category: reading