What’s the secret to writing a good story - the writer might ask himself while touching the keys of his creation; how will his story stir sufficient interest and entice the masses to buy and read his attempts at becoming a Scribe?  Some days, as he started hitting down hard on the letters, the thought of publication never crossed his mind and the tack of the tale never seemed to falter as the story line just flowed, as if it was always there - a vein waiting to be tapped.  However, on other days, the characters seemed to posses a boorish behaviour that started to stem the flow of words, causing disinterest. When this writer’s block became large enough, it caused a word-dam with the ideas eventually drying up. During those periods, he downed fingers and waited for the dry season to pass.

   His absence from the plot was like a holiday and when he returned there was renewed vigor and insight; his revived creativeness became as one with the word-flow once again. This revival revealed the whole word-picture more clearly, the mistakes, the stale characters and new windows of wit opened; steering his fingers to furiously figure the future formation of facts. He continued tapping letters tirelessly together to form meaning and his enthusiasm caused his thoughts to flow faster than his fingers could forge to the paper. Spelling errors abounded as he accidentally hit the wrong keys in his haste - less he miss the momentary muse of a particular thought.

   Then he stopped, and it suddenly dawned on him, the secret to a good tale - the scribe’s secret. It wasn’t in the telling of the tale or recording its reoccurring characters in print. The satisfying secret lay within the creation of a story from a thought, from an imaginative occurrence or dream - creating a tale from nothing, and fulfilling an urge that fires an inner flammable idea that once ignited can’t be extinguished.

    He wasn’t writing for recognition or reward; he was writing for himself. The self-contentment that caresses the soul and the lingering last word of the last sentence in a story - that moment can’t be measured, it needs to be enjoyed and experienced for a short time before it disappears. Until another time when a thought beckons the scribe to search for the elusive mystery of inspiration - to once again rediscover the scribe’s secret.      

(© Robert Bartlett)

Novels, Screenplays and Freelance Writing

Novels

When describing Novels, many people have suggested that the written work is mainly fictional prose that is composed of a plot with the actions, speech and thoughts of characters taking place within the writer’s mind. However, the term can also describe non-fiction work, with the word prose being applied in both cases as it is derived from the Latin word prosa - meaning straightforward.

In creative writing, many writers will compose stories as they go along, and are often referred to as fog writers, and while this writing technique might produce an acceptable storyline, it could end up requiring a great amount of editing. However, there are other writers, called outliners, who plan their story from beginning to end. Those writers might start with a one-sentence thought, gradually expanding it to a paragraph and then a chapter. However, before they start, many outliners will research the subject matter completely to ensure that memorable characters drive the storyline and are supported by elaborate dramatic action sequences.

 The well-known writer, Frederick Forsyth - the creator of the novels, The Day of the Jackal, The Fourth Protocol and others, has unique writing skills and uses a simple formula to create a story. His suggestions include; start with a plausible event or crises,  keep narrative parts moving throughout the story with short dialogues, scatter threats or violent action through the story, provide detailed explanations of techniques used by police or criminals and throw in a couple of red herrings with an unexpected twist in the plot.

The story length can vary from 20,000 - 40,000 words for a Novella and 95,000 - 120,000 words for a Novel. There are some publishers, who print the Novel’s text in a 12 font, giving the appearance of a larger book; however others are satisfied to print in an 11 font, with an average 354 page Novel.

 Although Screenplays are another form of storytelling with written words used to create the initial storyline, the script is composed of dialogue and descriptions; it’s a story that’s told with pictures. It can be either a linear story expressed in one continuous form with related incidents and events or a non-linear story, with the story structured in bits and pieces.

The world renowned, screenwriting teacher, Syd Field, suggests that visual story telling should be presented in a Three Act structured form using specific techniques and skills with a Beginning, Middle and End. In Act I, called the Set-Up, Mr Field sets up the story, introduces the main characters, establishing the storyline and circumstances. The dramatic or comedic action starts in Act II, called the Confrontation, and Act III, called the Resolution, provides the solution where the characters live or die and are either a success or failure. However, the Three Acts need to have a structured relationship within the visual medium so the storyline can be driven by images of dramatic actions.

When creating a Screenplay, the writer must keep in mind the length of the script, and with an average two-hour film length, where one page equals one-minute film time; it’s sometimes difficult to condense a storyline to 120 pages. In one Screenplay, based on an already published Novel of approximately 300 pages, the script was condensed to 117 pages or 117 minutes, and in some circumstances, it’s necessary to cut out certain parts of the original Novel’s story.

After the Screenplay is completed in an acceptable script format, the writer must be able to attract the necessary film producers and directors by submitting a Logline - a sentence on the story, and an Overview - a paragraph describing the story. If there is sufficient interest, the writer then submits a Treatment, approximately five pages, discussing the characters and storyline in more detail, and if the film company is still interested then they will ask the writer to submit the Screenplay. 

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) first used the word Freelance, to describe a medieval mercenary warrior who he referred to as a Free-Lance. However, over the years, the word has often been used to describe contractors in a number of occupations but it’s mainly used in journalism.

While working as a Freelance Writer, the individual enjoys greater freedom but lower rates of pay, however, the experience can help in developing a network of clients with a variety of assignments. The payment for such work can vary and may include upfront payments, fees on completion or a set contract rate that could be approximately $3.00 - 250 words, $5.00 - 500 words and upwards, as the writer is regarded as an independent contractor.  

In many cases, after Freelance Writers are hired to write specific assignments according to a publisher’s requirements, the writer has no copywrite to the works produced, but the work experience may help the writer to improve his writing techniques and skills.  

   If your motivation for writing a novel is to make money then perhaps you should try another occupation. After writing their first story, many aspiring authors discover that their work isn’t unique and that the world is full of talented people who can write an excellent tale, and there are only a very few who actually receive formal recognition for their efforts. I’m a writer of fictional stories, and through my own experiences, I’ve found, after completing the laborious task of creating the manuscript, that it is only one of the many steps in the process of being published.

   From my own point of view, I believe some of the basic attributes necessary for writers of fictional stories is to have lively imaginations, sufficient for them to become one with the characters and the plot - stirring a sense of interest and excitement within the reader, for without those elements the story will lack conviction.

  Whether you self-publish your book, through a general printer, subsidize the publication cost with a Print-On-Demand Publisher, or are accepted by a major book publisher, three important tasks need to be considered. They are Promoting, Marketing and Selling. After finishing my first book, I travelled around the State, visiting retail stores and retirement villages giving book talks, and while the book sales weren’t great, it gave me the opportunity to discuss my work. After my books were accepted into a number of Australian libraries, I’ve tried to visit or contact them to receive feedback on my books, and on occasions, I’ve been asked to give a library book talk that helps in connecting with the community.   

  One of the most frustrating hurdles writers have to overcome is finding someone in the literary world who’ll read their manuscript. If writers want to sell the manuscript to a literary agent or major book publisher they need to prepare a covering letter with a brief two or three page synopsis to get their foot (or manuscript) in the door, and they need to be enterprising in their selection of words because there are thousands out there doing the same thing. The words we use will set the process in motion; words that’ll catch the editor’s eye and words that’ll create the first step in the sales pitch - creating interest and wanting to know more.

Rejection and Acceptance

   I haven’t really decided what is worse, getting rejection letters or getting no replies at all to submitted manuscripts. The success or failure of any project largely depends on one’s state of mind and maintaining a positive attitude becomes even more difficult after receiving fifty plus standard impersonal rejection replies, with no explanation of why your manuscript masterpiece was rejected.  The publisher’s correspondence offers no clues to the reason why the carefully prepared synopsis and sample chapters were declined, and there’s no way of knowing what to amend before sending in the next submission to another potential publisher.

   I read an interesting article on the internet regarding writers handling rejection when Donald Maass (NY Literary Agent) was asked: ‘Do writers need to be hard-skinned to handle rejection and how do you find the grit to write a story that will attract attention. How can a writer give profoundly of themselves while also shielding the creative spirit against rejection?’

  Donald Maass answered: ‘He regards rejection as information, not always quality information but information nevertheless - the rejection tells you that you have more work to do and sometimes points you in the right direction.’  When asked what he looked for in a synopsis, Maass replied, ‘Just a few basics, a hint of what’s different and don’t try to convince me you are a good writer because the purpose of the synopsis is to get me to read it - to create interest.’

Most of the time I take a philosophic view in those trying circumstances and search the web for another likely literary contact while, at the same time, reviewing the text of the words used in my manuscript submission. One of the positive thoughts that I rely on in my quest is that for every rejection slip received will mean you are getting closer to an acceptance letter - Murphy’s Law of successful sales probabilities.

   Or you just accept that you aren’t a well-known celebrity and your literary work will never attract sufficient readers to justify a publishing company producing the book. It’s all about return on investment (ROT) and publishing houses are in business to make money - quick sales equates to fast money. Look how quickly a new book pops onto a retail bookshelf one week at a premium price and then three weeks later it’s on special at half the price. There must be an enormous margin for them to cut the price so drastically. Has the book’s quality changed that quickly?