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Februrary 2002 - Issue 34
Making It Real The art of creating real characters and world. ALSO... Visit EmporiumGazette.com We have our guidelines available for your convenience and have posted our planned monthly themes so you can submit your writing to us. Even our back issues are available. Sign up to receive the Emporium Gazette monthly.
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MARKETING - IT'S NOT JUST FOR CLASSIFYING YOUR CHARACTERS IN YOUR STORY FIRST-PERSON CHARACTERS: HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW FROM ANOTHER ANGLE THE PARKING DECK
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Visit Cool Well! You'll find articles on writing, short stories, 3D art, and free web pages that you can use to build your own site. Go to: http://www.CoolWell.org to take part in the fun.
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As the New Year begins, so does the final article in this marketing series. In this article, I will review some of the basic ways you can take advantage of the Internet when marketing your book. Just because your traditional, electronic, or self-publisher lists your book on their web site doesn't mean that you can relax and wait for the millions of people who "surf the web" each day find your book. Also, don't think that every person who locates your personal site will spend hours intently reading all about you and your book. Statistics show that on average, you have a whopping twenty-seconds to capture a reader's attention. This is a perfect example of the importance of an effective hook. Let's begin with a little "Internet 101." Although most of us can't comprehend life without the Internet and email, this technology has only been around for nine short years. In June 1993, there were 130 "www" sites, which exploded to a recorded 36,276,252 sites by December of 2001(*3). As of June 1, 1999, there were over 92.2 million(*2) registered Internet users over the age of sixteen in the U.S. and Canada. We all remember the dot-com industry boom around three years ago. Today, there are an incredible eleven new domains registered EVERY MINUTE(*1). As of January, 2001, there were over 32.3 million .com hosts, which represents an annualized average growth rate of 32%(*1). Do you think that's a little competition? Let's start with the basics. A URL (Uniform Resource
Locator) is how somebody finds you. For example: is a URL. In simple terms, it is an address used for locating a web site or other Internet service. Along with the .com shown here, you undoubtedly have seen other web extensions, or Generic Top Level Domains (gTLD). The four basic and most commonly seen extensions are: .com - Most commercial web sites. Today, there are over twenty new gTLD's used to identify domains. What do Internet users purchase most over the web? According to CommerceNet©, the following are the biggest selling items: Cars and Car Parts - 18.2M As writers, we'd be satisfied with only a micro-percentage of the Internet's annual book purchases. The first thing you need to do before you can get on the web is register a domain name. For purposes of this discussion, consider the terms "domain name" and "URL" are interchangeable in meaning. The best place to find and register your domain name, or URL is at Network Solutions: http://www.networksolutions.com. The average cost for registering a domain is around $35.00 per year. Discounts are available if you register for two or more years at a time. Next, you will need to purchase software that will allow you to build your web site. I created my web sites using Microsoft's FrontPage. There are a multitude of other applications on the market that you can choose from. Once your site is built, you need a place to put it so that others can access it. If you're reading this, you already have a relationship with an ISP (Internet Service Provider), which takes care of the first (basic connection) step. Your current ISP can also offer you web-hosting services. Web hosting is the process of physically housing and managing your web site on one of their servers. Prices vary from around $20.00 to $45.00 per month. Depending on your provider, you may also receive around five email addresses that you can assign to your site. Okay, your web site is built and downloaded (or "published") to your web-hosting provider. Time to sit back and wait for the user hits and orders. Not so fast. As the old song goes, "We've only just begun." Talk with ten different people and read ten different books regarding the best way to get users to your web site. Chances are that you'll get twenty different answers. The main reason for the vast array of differing opinions is the rapid changes that technology and the Internet are experiencing. What was the best trick six months ago, has now been outdated by a new technical concept. As you research web site marketing, you will learn about banners, links, chat rooms, search engines, signature files, keywords, and meta tags. When advertising on the Internet first became popular, the "big deal" was to place banner ads. Banners are small advertisements that are part of a web site, or they can be a separate pop-up banner. The jury is still out regarding (and paying for) banners. Many users don't even read them, while some are agitated by their presence. Banner advertising is based on Cost per Impressions (CPM). CPM refers to the cost per 1000 ("M" is the roman number for 1000) views of a banner. The average cost I've seen is $30.00/CPM. Insert this into an equation of 10,000 impressions per month (which is considered an average rate), and you're looking at $3,600 a year. One very popular web marketing technique is link trading (reciprocal linking), which is another web promotion strategy used to increase qualified traffic to a web site. To take part in link trading, it is your job to search the Internet for other sites that have the same type of visitors you would like. You then contact the companies that you choose, and request a link trade. If agreed to, both web site owners (you and them) will agree to trade links. This means that the both of you will place either a line of text or a graphic on your respective web sites, that when clicked on, will take the user to either site. There are companies that charge fees for playing "matchmaker" with different organizations who may benefit from reciprocal link swapping. The most effective service I've used is www.links4trade.com. Anyone who has been on the Internet for any length of time, has probably found his or her way to a chat room. This is the cyber-version of a conference room, or a coffee shop. Chat rooms are where people who have same interests gather (cyber speaking), and share information with each other. Probably one of the biggest chat rooms that offer the most subjects is on www.yahoo.com. Chat rooms are good places to tactfully plug your book. If there's one term that web-savvy individuals know today, it's the search engine. Examples of search engines are yahoo.com, google.com, and ask.com. When you are looking for something particular on the web, you navigate to one of these locations, type in the word or phrase you're looking for, and the engine will return a list of sites that contain some form of your query. If you prefer to invest your time in listing your web site with search engines, and keep up with it, this won't cost you a cent. As a society however, we sometimes like to pay money for convenience. There are companies that will charge you a flat fee of $25.00 or $60.00 per month to submit your site to search engines. The key here that you need to realize is that submitting to search engines, and subsequently being listed, does NOT happen overnight! Also, be weary of companies that advertise listing your site with "over 1000 search engines" for a hefty price. There are truly no more than twenty top engines you should be concerned with. A signature file can be considered a short tag line (or hook), in the body of emails, which is located directly after your signature. The particular email program you use will denote how signature files are generated. Normally, it is nothing more than a text file (.txt). Most marketing experts suggest that your signature file should be no longer than three lines. I took an informal survey over the past 90-days, and 19% of my email recipients responded to my signature file. The marketing rule of thumb states that if you receive a 5% response to any marketing tool, you're doing well. Let's next discuss keywords. When you use a search engine to look for something, the word or phrase you type into the search engine query box is considered a keyword. How do keywords get defined? You must define them in your web site's HTML code (or programming language). The location in your web site code that keywords are defined is in both the "meta tag" and "keyword" parameters. Search for "keywords" and "meta tags" on the Internet, and you will find almost an infinite supply of web sites, white papers, and articles about these subjects. You will also find companies that again, charge for helping you with keywords. Finally, if you're going to build and publish your own web site, take the time to do it right! If you are not very technical or web-literate, you should be able to find a web site developer that can build and publish your web site for normally less than five hundred dollars. For many, this is a good investment. If you do go this route, learn everything you can about what they're doing. They would be more than glad to continually manage your site for a monthly fee. Once you're on-line, it truly is not very difficult to manage and update. Personally, I feel that there is no one magic answer in promoting a web site. In marketing my sites, I've tried a little bit of everything. It's been my experience that the most effective way to advertise a web site, is to use a small piece of each tool available. It is very common for a person to build a site, manage it the best they can using many different tools and processes, then wait for a MINIMUM of eight to twelve months before any type of appreciable increase in hits (site visits) will be realized. The reason for this is that it takes time, a long time, for search engines, directories, spiders, bots, etc., to index (list) your site. The longer you have a web presence, the more popular (or known) your site will become. Although this is my last article in this series, that doesn't mean I'm going away for good -- you're not that lucky. I'll be writing an additional three to four marketing specific articles throughout 2002. Until next time - good marketing! Note: The author was not compensated in any form or fashion by any of the organizations listed in this article. #1 - Matrix.net, Inc March 15, 2001 * * * * * Mark Vass is the author of "The I’m Going in the Hospital Handbook," which is published in e-book format by 23 House Publishing , and in paperback by 1st Books Library. Until last year, he worked in marketing in the computer field for over twenty years. Although he began his part-time writing career fifteen years ago, he now writes non-fiction full time.
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TAX - FINANCIAL WOES? Have your income taxes given your checkbook the financial equivalent of writer's block? E-mail your tax questions to James G. Rogers, C.P.A., a 26-year veteran of the tax code and an author himself. Mr. Rogers knows the problems authors and others face dealing with this annual chore. For a $5.00 fee, all of which goes to support the Gazette, you can have your answers e-mailed back to you promptly so you can get back to writing. You can even pay by credit card at our secure server. Go to: http://www.23house.com to leave your question.
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Classifying Your Characters
in Your Story I've heard people tell story after story of how they create characters: some cut photos out of magazines for inspiration, others pen several paragraphs of character background to get to know each individual intimately, and there are even authors who can't put a word on paper without doing a full bio sketch on everyone in their story. What is the best method? Who knows - it varies with each writer. The important thing is that in the end, you have crafted a believable story that will captivate the reader and pull them into the world that you have created. To achieve a better relationship with your characters, decide their role in your story: Are they Walk-On Characters, Bit-Part Players, Supporting Characters, or the stars of the show, the Main Characters? Walk-On Characters - These people comprise the crowd shots, the bar scenes, and sports events of your story. Just like their counterparts in the movies, they have no speaking roles, never look at the camera, and are in the scene only to set the mood. Imagine a story starting with your two main characters, Beaunapart and Contessa, opening a door and walking into a crowded room. Everyone in the crowd is dressed in T-shirts and shorts, with several small groups surrounding silver kegs of beer, and random women running through the room being chased by cackling men. Most people in the room are moving to the blaring rock music. That scene paints a much different picture in the reader's mind than if the door is opened to chamber music with walk-on characters in formal attire sipping cognac and delicately munching finger-food. Use walk-on characters wisely, and they will be invaluable in setting the mood. Bit-Part Players - Ah, the characters with the coveted speaking part, even if only a line. These are basically cliché characters, who serve only to interact with your major and minor characters. The fact that they can be cliché is a very valuable tool for you as a writer, since it saves you time in their characterization. After all, they will only be in the reader's attention for a few minutes. As an example, consider the following four professions: * Army Sergeant Whether you wanted to or not, as you read each profession above, a mental image instantly appeared in your head. The way they looked, they way that they acted, and so forth. That is the advantage that we, as writers, can use when including Bit-Part Players. If two policemen walk up to question your main character, let the reader fill in the blank of what they look like, how they walk, how they talk, etc. This frees you to concentrate on the thoughts and reactions of your main character. Supporting Roles - These are characters that show up throughout the story, but are not the primary focus. For that reason, you don't have to let the reader become totally intimate with them, although some degree of familiarity is beneficial. How they dress, their dialect, even the views that they express will help mold the reader's impression. This can be important, since they will directly influence your main characters. In Rocky III, the trainer "Mickey", played by the brilliant Burgess Meredith, takes the minor role of harbinger of things to come in Rocky's career. When discussing all the fights that Rocky has been winning, he breaks the news, "They were all hand-picked! If you fight this Clubber Lang, he'll kill you to death!" Looking at that movie as a stand-alone work, you have no idea whether Mickey is married, what his political affiliation is, or anything else outside of the fact that he loves Rocky as a son. You feel bad about his death when it happens early in the movie, but that is not the turning point of the story. He is only there to move the plot along. Still, with the gruff manner of speaking, and his small stature compared to Rocky, he is a memorable part of the movie. Strive to make impressions with your minor characters, but only in the sense that they further the cause of the Main Characters. Main Characters - The Pulitzer-nominated novelist Robert Vaughn poses an interesting situation when speaking to writing groups about main characters: Take any one of them in your story, and mentally send him into a convenience store. He puts a canned cola on the counter, and gives the clerk a twenty dollar bill. The clerk, in turn, gives him change for a ten. How does the character react? Does he launch into a rage, calling the clerk names and railing on his incompetence? Or is he so shy that he slinks out of the store, embarrassed that he can't summon the courage for a confrontation? If you don't know how your character would react, then you don't know that person well enough. These few people are the ones on which to concentrate when crafting your story: to cut out photos, to do character bios, to try to delve into their inner psyche, or whatever it takes for you to know them well. The story is about them, and they will be the ones touching the hearts of the reader. While there are arguably many other character types, these four provide a good model when laying out your story. Excellent characterization is crucial for story-telling. At the end of the movie "Jerry Maguire", the accountant/ex-girlfriend Dorothy (played by Renee Zellweger) utters the single line, "You had me at ‘hello'," which brought audiences to tears because the wants, needs and desires of her Main Character had been so well-developed throughout the story. If you weigh each character's role in the story, you will be able to give them the proper amount of exposure to the reader, and will use them to spin a tale that will create a lasting impression in the reader's mind. * * * * * Mitchel Whitington is the author of the novel about life in small-town Texas, "Uncle Bubba's Chicken Wing Fling." Find out more more at www.unclebubba.com
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First-Person Characters: Genesis
of a New Voice It's one of the first decisions you have to make when you write fiction. Are you going to tell this story from the first-person point of view or the third-person? It's a critically important choice that can mean the difference between a successful story that draws and holds your readers' attention and a labored effort that makes your audience yawn. Lest you think that I'm trying to convince you that first-person is always the better approach, you need to realize that it depends on the story. A perfect case in point is author Ron Jones' story in last month's Emporium Gazette. Ron would have been hard-pressed to use first-person in that tale. Nevertheless, let's assume you've wrestled with all the relevant issues and decided to tell the tale in first-person. Now what? Fasten your humanity seat belt and get ready to learn a few things about yourself as you shine the light of your story through the lens of your "own" point of view. It's all about voice, the way you massage the language in all its richness to convey not only your characters' words and actions but, more importantly, the nuances and the thinnest layers of meaning. It's also about managing a world view. How does your narrator deal with the full range of human trials and triumphs as he or she not only tells but also lives through the unfolding of your story? How much of "you" will you put in your narrator? Successful first-person writers do their best to create a fascinating, complete, internally consistent persona. This omni-present force must act, interact and deal most credibly with the fullest possible range of humanity while he or she turns your story into a believable reality between the pages of your book. In your real life, you may never take so much as an aspirin for a headache, but to tell a hardscrabble story set in a decaying inner city your best narrator might well have to be a sleazy drug dealer with a chip the size of Massachusetts on his shoulder. Then again, you could use a Mother Teresa-type character. It all depends on what makes your book the most fascinating and engaging. First-person books have their limitations: one person, one voice. Yet, first-person also has a depth and intimacy that's tough to achieve in third-person. When you write in the first-person, you have the freedom to be soft, hard, open-minded, prejudicial, loyal, roguish and any of a thousand other ranges of human thought and behavior. Sure, third-person stories can achieve that, but it's a lot easier and more natural to accomplish that kind of depth when you write your book as you might sit down with a group of friends and spin a long tale over tall drinks. When I was starting out, I couldn't imagine writing in anything but third-person. I wanted my story to unfold on three continents with twists and turns in multiple sub-plots that would weave together to a crescendo of heart-pounding excitement. After being hounded by my editor, I tried first-person and found the intimacy to be much more exciting than being able to climb into other characters' heads to achieve some plot goal. Now, first-person seems much more real to me. After all, it's the way each of us lives our own lives. Keeping that in the forefront of my mind made the first few chapters easier to write, because I realized that I had an entire book to flesh out fully this human being I'd created to relate my tale. It was through his eyes that I'd shape and form the other people in the story. Included in the mix was a kind of mature tension and conflict between the narrator's perceptions of people and events, and the reality of those people and their comings and goings. Every book should be a lot more to the author than merely the chance to see his name on a jacket or a royalty check. It should stretch the writer to new heights and depths of understanding about herself and her place in the world. Otherwise, it's just cheap marionettes dancing stiffly across a tired stage to an outcome no one really gives a damn about. When the writer lays something of his soul bare and then holds it up for his characters' and readers' scrutiny, the willingness to take that kind of personal risk comes through as more reality than you'd ever see in a "Survivor" knock-off. So, if you're still toying with whether or not to tell your story in the first-person point of view, I urge to give it a shot. Doing so may force you to see the world and yourself in a very different way. One thing is for sure. You'll be better off for the experience. * * * * * James G. Rogers, writing as James Gardiner, is author of Capitol Chill, an exciting and face paced action thriller
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Has winter weather gotten you
down? Visit the home-page of the EmporiumGazette's
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How Well
Do You Know Your Main Character? Sounds like a silly questions, doesn't it? It may sound silly, but it is the key to making your main character believable, likeable, and interesting. Now, let's look at the question again. How well do you know your main character? When was he born? Where was she born? Does he eat broccoli? Does she like spinach? Is his mother still living? Does she keep up with her friends back home? I'll bet you're wondering what difference these questions make when it comes to building a character. Truth is, it makes a great deal of difference. Let me give you
an She'd written 400 plus pages, but the story wasn't "gelling" as she put it. "What's wrong?" she wailed. Here was her setup: A young woman from a dirt-poor hole-in-the-road wants to own and run a famous fashion house. She meets and falls in love with a fashion-clueless man who has just inherited a fashion house from his father. She goes to work for him. She thinks this is her chance for a famous fashion house. He just wants the place to look good enough on the balance sheet to sell it. Their goals immediately clash. Sound okay so far? Yes, as far as it went, but where is the spark, the human interest point? It is the "human interest" point that is so important in any story, but especially in romance. All romances are based on a story about a woman and a man who couldn't possibly fall in love-but they do. What the romance writer must do is create characters so interesting, so believable that the readers cannot put the book down until the two get together. With romance, you know the two will be together at the end. It's the "how" that drives the book. In other words: romance is character-based storytelling. If you don't build an interesting character, you don't have a story. So, what was the problem with the "fashion" romance story? I asked the author why the young woman wanted to own and run a grand fashion house? Answer: Because she'd worked in the general store at home and loved opening the shipments of new clothes. But how does this make her want to own and run a fashion house? Answer: She just likes new clothes. Got the picture here? The author did not know what motivated her main character's ambition. The author had even less of a notion about why the man from a family of fashion designers was so fashion-clueless. With no real motivation, the two main characters were simply moving from plot device to plot device without a clear path to follow. WARNING!! You are about to enter my writing lecture zone. The problem with the "fashion" romance story was a LACK OF FOCUS. The two main characters had no focus therefore the story had no focus. The conflict between the two people must come from a conflict of personal interest. If neither character is clearly focused on a goal, how can there be conflict? The way to make characters real, believable, likeable is to know who they are, what they want, and how they plan to get it. How do you do that? You build a personal story around your each of your main characters. The young woman who wanted to own and run a fashion house might have been motivated by a local rich-witch who teased her about her lack of fashionable attire. The fashion-clueless guy might have been teased about being too fashionable when his mother kept over dressing him for school, so he vowed never to care about clothes. Each character must be motivated out of a traumatic personal experience. The experience must be something that caused each one to build a fortress around his/her hurt and heart making it hard to let another person get close enough for love to blossom. The high point of the romance is the revelation of the two fortresses as they begin to crumble. This is the "two-hankie" portion of the story. If you as author don't cry at this point, how do you expect your readers to do so? How well do you know your characters? Does your main character's story move you? If not, you've got some work to do. * * * * * Lucile Davis is the author of 16 books, 2 of them to be released in 2000. A feature write, she is currently a regular contributor to the Fort Worth Texas magazine. She teaches Writing for Children through Texas Christian University's Extended Education and the Institute of Children's Literature.
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We all sit in the center and suppose Suppose this, suppose that! How many times have we tried to move a character from one setting to another, from one situation to another only to end up with a cardboard personage? While cardboard is more substantial than printer's stock used for books, it's artificial and not at all compelling. If the character isn't real to the writer, the story refuses to move along to a satisfactory ending whether it's plot driven or character driven. The most memorable fiction, however, is character driven. Is it possible to unravel the threads along the path toward building an unforgettable character and uncover the secret that sits in the center and knows? Many selling writers recommend creating a character profile to start the search. "Fill in the blanks" forms for profiles can be found on the internet by typing in "Fictional Characters," click "go," and you'll discover the forms plus a world of information on creating fictional characters. After setting up a profile, one writer I know dialogues a question and answer session with the character. You'll be amazed at the character depth and plot twists that can be added to the story by using such an exercise. In an online article, "How to Create Characters Who Leap Off the Page," Maxine E. Thompson offers this bit of superb insight: Nothing works better for memorable fiction than strong characters with flaws. Thompson reports that Sol Stein in his book, "Stein on Writing," points out that eccentricity is at the heart of all strong characterizations. Here's a final tip: Try to create bit of dialogue for the protagonist, a line or two at the end that will resound in the reader's mind long after the story is finished. Who will ever forget Rhett Butler's, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn?" Note that the line is in keeping with the character's flaw and how he has matured during the story. Rhett had been cowing to Scarlett's demands for the entire book and finally refused to let her pull him down with her ideas of "class." I have a couple of favorites. Paraphrasing the ending words of the play, "Tea and Sympathy," the heroine says, "In future years when you talk about this, and you will talk about it, be kind." Then there was the old movie titled "Now Voyager." Bette Davis' last line frequently echoes inside me, "Why reach for the moon, when we have the stars." Investigate these ideas for creating characters to remember. Chances are that you'll no longer sit in the center and suppose. You'll have found the secret that sits in the center and knows. * * * * * Susan Long Turner is co-author with Russ Turner of "Wings Born Out of Dust" which is available now from 23 House Publishing and is also available in trade paperbacks and hardback at other major online bookstores. Visit my Website
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IS YOUR WRITING ILL? Would you like a second opinion about POV, dialogue, selling non-fiction, or submitting multiple submissions? For a mere $5 diagnosis fee... You can even pay by credit card at our secure server. Go to: http://www.23house.com to leave your questions. No ache or pain is too big or too small for this veteran freelance editor and author of numerous books and magazine articles. If you have more than one question, please check out her site: http://www.coolwell.org/robyn/index.html
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The Parking Deck Lurking in the shadows, he waited, softly playing a haunting melody on a reed flute to bide his time. Having poured years of chemical research into this very moment, waiting was of no consequence. The right female would come. A car turned onto the level and the headlights blazoned the parking area near him. He crouched, pulling the darkness in on himself. The car door lurched open and she stepped out. After glancing about and satisfied, she locked and closed the doors. His beady eyes scrutinized her and his nose wrinkled, sniffing. Lemon. This was the one. She’d arrived. Slinking in the shadows, he followed her to "The Grotto", a popular and dimly lit club. Inside, he spotted his target. She sauntered onto the dance floor to mix with the writhing masses that gyrated to the thundering music. She laughed aloud, her lemon scent stirring his erotic fantasies. She returned to the table and ordered a drink: vodka with a twist of lemon. He studied his prey from one of The Grotto’s many side caverns. She squeezed the lemon into the drink and barely had a sip before being drawn back onto the dance floor with the table’s group. He wrapped his long coat about him and stalked silently toward the table. A quick movement and the powder drifted over her drink to blend in the lemon mixture. No scent. No taste. No color. It was perfect. He slipped back to his vantage point. When she left, he’d be ready. It would take only one word. Any word. Curiously, a thought occurred to him. What if she doesn’t leave alone? He waited. She looked at her watch. Motioning her departure, she headed for the front door. He opened his mouth, sprayed an elixir into it then moved quickly, leaving the club before her. Keeping his head down, he trotted toward the parking deck. He had to control his emotions. Too fast and she’d become suspicious. Too slow and she’d pass him. Her heels clicked loudly and covered the sound of his feet. One word. He had the word. The word that would vibrate his vocal chords to activate the chemical sprayed in his mouth. That scent, given off, would combine with the chemical and lemon she’d unwittingly consumed. He huddled in the darkness near her car. The doors unlocked. She was close. He moved from the shadows to cut her off. "What do you want?" she demanded. "Get away." "Love," he whispered then smiled luridly. She swooned as the chemical reaction between the drug and his scent combined. Her body was paralyzed, yet she was awake. She watched: her eyes placid, the face serene; her muscles refusing to reflect the horror and fear that engulfed her. He removed his coat then lifted and carried her into the shadows, his faun’s goat feet clicking. The satyr’s nubbin horns were now clearly visible in the curly mop of hair. Today, chemistry worked better than a reed flute. * * * * * Robert Nailor is the Poetry Editor and Production Manager for The Emporium Gazette. He is the author of the soon to be published, "Three Steps to an Irish Dream." Visit his homepage, Lore's Webs, at: Rolian.com
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Ron Jones-- Managing Editor Robert Nailor--Poetry Editor and Production Manager Elyse Salpeter--Fiction Editor Mitchel Whitington--Non-Fiction Editor James Rogers--Business Editor Terrie Murray--Travel Editor & Editorial Assistant Sue Long Turner--The Writing Answer Lady Mark Vass - Marketing Editor & Denise Vitola--Editor-in-Chief
© Copyright 2002 by the Emporium Gazette No portion of any article or other writing in this electronic publication may be copied, used or otherwise taken by any person or organization for any purpose or reason whatsoever without the express written permission of the Emporium Gazette.
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