| The Emporium Gazette Issue 17 -- September 2000 In This Issue: We discuss emotion and topics that can be emotional to you, the writer. Plus we have the second segment to our Round Robin which is developing well. We also offer a short story that gains its strength from emotional tone.
MY MANUSCRIPT ISN'T SELLING - An Article ©OPYRIGHT PRIMER - An Article FROM ANOTHER ANGLE - An Article ROUND ROBIN - Next segment BASEMENT PURGATORY - A Short Story WRITING THE FLOOD - An Article
My Manuscript Isn't Selling! Are you mailing out more queries and manuscripts, but enjoying it less? Wonder why your favorite manuscript keeps bouncing back faster than a speeding bullet? Ok, ok – enough clichés for now. Let's take a close look at what you are doing to try to get published. You have a completed manuscript and you've been sending it out, but your efforts are not being rewarded with a contract. What's up? There are several things you might consider. Check Your Manuscript Is your manuscript error free? Sounds like a silly question, but after looking at a piece of writing for a long period of time, it is easy to overlook simple mistakes. After all you wrote it, you know what "should" be there. Get someone to read it over. Ask him/her to check the manuscript for spelling and formatting errors. Also, have him/her alert you to any places in the text that are hard to read or present the reader with questions. Check Your Markets Are you targeting the right editors/publishers/magazines? Make sure you have identified the "right" market for your manuscript. If you are sending it addressed to "editor" or "to whom it may concern," you have not done your homework. Get the name of the editor -- and the correct spelling of that editor's name. If your writer's market book does not have the number of the publisher you are targeting, get it from he long-distance telephone operator. Call the number and ask the receptionist for the current editor's name and how to spell it. If you are submitting material to a magazine, here is an important checklist.
If you are submitting a book manuscript:
Check Your Rejection Notices What sort of rejection notices are you getting? Are they the standard "does not meet our needs" or are you getting some handwritten responses? Do the handwritten rejections come with notes addressing problems in your manuscript that could be fixed and inviting you to resubmit? If you are receiving personalized rejection notices, you are probably on the verge of making a sale. Revise your manuscript and resubmit it. In your letter accompanying your resubmission, thank the editor for his/her comments and specify how you have revised your manuscript according to those suggestions. If your rejections are the "form letter" variety, sorry, the bottom line is – your writing isn't good enough. Keep practicing. In other words, keep writing. Check Your Plot/Concept Is your nonfiction concept or fiction plot focused? If you are writing nonfiction, have you narrowed your subject to a manageable size enabling you to adequately cover the subject within the editor-mandated word length? Does your subject outline progress in a logical sequence from thesis sentence to conclusion? Is your point clear? Remember, a nonfiction article must have a point of view. The point of view is what helps you narrow your focus. Surprise! Fiction must be focused as well. Does your plot move in a logical path from opening scene to plot resolution? Are there any loose ends/plot questions left unanswered? If your reader closes the book and wonders "what happened to . . .," you have not given the reader a satisfying ending. The reader will be mad, and more than that – not interested in reading anything else you've written. (Remember, the first "important" reader you will have is the one who determines whether you are published or not. That reader you must satisfy at all costs.) Check With a Book Doctor If you are still having trouble selling your manuscript, check with a reputable book doctor. In today's publishing industry, editors don't spend a lot of time "fixing" manuscripts. Their function is to make sure the manuscript follows the company guidelines, meets company market expectations, and gets to the printer in time to meet the company-mandated publishing calendar. A reputable book doctor can give your manuscript a thorough read and advise you about major (and minor) problems. (Note: To find a reputable book doctor – ask for references and then contact the references. The good book doctors will have references at the ready.) Yes, it will cost you some money. However, if you spend the money and take the doctor's advice -- you could be published or have a book contract by next year. * * * * * Lucille Davis is the author of 16 children's nonfiction books, two of which will be released in 2000. She is also a feature writer for the Fort Worth, Texas Magazine and frequent conference speaker.
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©opyright Primer You worked hard to write that book. Maybe you've decided to market it yourself on the Internet or through one of the self-publishing avenues. How do you protect your intellectual property from theft or abuse? We've all seen that little, encircled "c," the symbol denoting copyright. What does it mean? What are your rights? What is intellectual property? How do you sell and benefit from it financially? Who else can use your work--and to what extent--without your permission or paying you for it? What cannot be copyrighted? What are the lines and limits of which you should be aware as you navigate your way through these waters? These are the questions this articles examines in very general form. This article is neither legal nor accounting advice. For questions specific to your situation, you should consult a licensed intellectual property attorney, or a licensed C.P.A., practicing in your state or jurisdiction. The Framers of the U.S. Constitution recognized the value of intellectual property for the individual as well as the country as a whole. The federal copyright law emanates from Article I, Section 8 of that foundational document: "The Congress shall have Power... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing the limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries..." If you're a reader of The Emporium Gazette, I'm going to assume you're a writer, someone who is--or is interested in becoming--a published author. Generally speaking, unless you're writing for hire or creating something for an employer, your original works are copyrightable under the federal law. In fact, your work is covered by the statute once you create it in a "fixed, tangible form." Although it is not necessary and its presence secures for you no additional rights, you can use the © symbol. As further protection, you might consider registering your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D.C. The easiest way to do that is to visit the Copyright Office's Web site at www.lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/forms. There you will see and be able to download, read and complete (using Acrobat Reader), and then print the necessary form and accompanying instructions to send with copies of your work and the requisite copyright fee. Why bother to register your work if it's already protected by the Copyright Law once the writing is in "fixed, tangible form?" It affords you additional protection and third-party verification that you, indeed, have the copyright. It puts the weight of federal law squarely on your side should a person or organization infringe on or attempt to infringe on your rights to your intellectual property. To substantiate their copyrights, some authors choose to place a copy of their work in a sealed envelope and then mail it to themselves. As long as the envelope remains sealed with the postmark clearly in view, the date of the work is verifiable. Before discussing the law and what can be copyrighted, it's interesting to note a few things the law does not cover or protect. Ideas, procedures, methods of doing things, concepts, and principles of discovery are among the items not protected by the Copyright Law. Also, inventions are not protected, but patent law deals with them. The Copyright Law may protect, for example, an author's work describing the workings of a new computer operating system, but the computer operating system itself--the idea or even the computer files containing the code--is not protected by the statute. The Copyright Act, as amended, is a 237-page hedge of protection for creators of intellectual property. In a nutshell, it grants you the author "limited monopoly rights" to enjoy the fruit of your labor for your entire lifetime plus 70 years. Penalties for infringement carry prison terms topping ten years. Yet, like the hedge that may border a wall of your house, it is neither impervious nor absolute. There is a complex exception to your copyright called the "fair use doctrine." It is a provision in the copyright law that allows someone or an organization to use your work or identifiable parts thereof without your advance permission in certain general areas of use. The areas include (1) criticism and comment, (2) parody and satire, (3) research and scholarship, (4) news reporting, and (5) teaching. These provisions are spelled out in Section 107 of the law, the full text of which you can find at the Copyright Office's Web site (www.loc.gov/copyright). Understandably, authors and publishers tend to view the "fair use doctrine" narrowly and restrictively, while those seeking to use copyrighted works prefer a wider, looser interpretation. Congress specifically avoided trying to codify the line between infringement and "fair use," because it would be an impossible task given the nearly infinite richness of language and the situations in which this inevitable contest would occur. For new writers, however, the bottom line pretty much comes down to this: don't spend time worrying about copyright infringement. Instead, concentrate on creating and then selling your work. Once that blessed event happens, your publisher will negotiate with you or your agent or attorney for precisely what rights it wishes to acquire. Typically, you will want to determine the scope of your work's marketability and then sell those rights that will yield you the greatest income source over the most advantageous time frame. Clearly, those goals and factors are different for each author. Assume for a minute that you've sold your book and enjoyed the thrill of seeing it on the shelf in your favorite bookstore. You've smiled every time you've deposited those royalty checks in your bank account. Then, one day, you pick up a magazine and find your work excerpted. Your attorney tells you she doesn't believe the magazine's presentation falls within the "fair use doctrine." You feel violated. You sense that your work has been stolen just as if you'd been a painter and come home to find a broken back door and an empty spot on your living room wall where your work once hung. What do you do? Like all litigation in the United States, legal action for copyright infringement is an expensive and somewhat amorphous proposition. The courts look at a variety of factors to determine if infringement has occurred. Was your work already published? If so, the courts have tended to offer greater protection than if someone swiped your floppy disk and used your material before you ever saw a publishing contract. What percentage of your work was allegedly copied? It doesn't always follow that use of all or substantially all of your work means a greater violation. Depending on the intended use of the copier, the "fair use doctrine" may be easier to prove for an entire work than a small excerpt. Did your copied work become the basis for a new, expanded work? This is another gray area that's very difficult to codify. If your work was taken, in whole or in part, and added to or enhanced in such a way that the new work was bigger and broader—i.e., substantially different and new--then it would be more difficult to make your argument, legally speaking. The U.S. Supreme Court has tended to place the most weight on the factor involving potential markets, commercial value or profits from the copyrighted work. If in our example you can demonstrate that the magazine that excerpted your book financially damaged you, reduced your right or ability to gain economically from your work, the courts would be more likely to grant you relief. On the other hand, if your book sales increased after the magazine hit the newsstand, you would be less likely to secure relief since your economic position was improved, not damaged. An ancillary question would be: Did the alleged infringement cause you financial harm over the long run? Again, the courts would tend to look at that situation to determine not only the present economic situation but projected revenue streams as well. You can see that the entire subject of copyrights is very complex. If you've written a work and want to sell it, the best advice we can give is that you seek capable, competent legal representation, preferably from an experienced attorney specializing in intellectual property law matters, before you sign any contract or document that even remotely relates to or discusses your rights in that intellectual property. _______________________ For more information about copyrights, see the Library of Congress' Web site (www.lcweb.loc.gov) and other sites related and linked thereto. The Emporium Gazette does not warrant the veracity of that or any other Web site. We simply note it for your convenience and general interest. * * * * * James G. Rogers is the author of Capitol Chill.
From Another Angle "I can read! I can write! I have POWER!" This slogan permeates the speeches, seminars, and workshops of Nancy Robinson Masters, popular inspirational speaker and entertainer. Read the featured article about Nancy in the August issue of the Emporium Gazette. "I have POWER!" Does it really exist--a power that will help your writing take a giant leap and leave the editors crying for more? Create emotion--that's the POWER. I can see your shoulders shrug. "As far as I'm concerned emotion is a hit-or-miss affair." Not so, according to Dwight Swain in TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER. The writer can build motivation-reaction units to create emotion. First, there must be a motivating stimulus such as a door slams, a doorbell chimes, or a gun shot rings out. Second, a character reacts with feeling, action, and speech. "The pattern itself isn't at all difficult to handle," Swain states. "The big thing to remember is that motivation always precedes reaction. Our world would turn topsy-turvy indeed if the teacher first jumped and cried out . . . then sat on the tack!" Check your copy. You may be surprised to find places where reaction precedes motivation, which results in jerky writing. Dwight Swain gives this example. "John stiffened when a shot rang out far across on the hillside." Let's get back to reaction. The sequence here, too, is set. Feeling comes before action. Action precedes speech. It makes sense because feeling provides the fuel for action and speech. Quoting Swain,"Without some such inner force, some source of motive impulse, there would be no overt behavior to reveal your focal character's state of mind. "Behind this sequential order lies the fact that feeling is beyond the control of the person feeling. You don't decide to feel a particular way; you just do." You're on the path to better writing and here's how you did it. You can read! You can write! You have POWER! * * * * * Sue L. Turner is co-author with Russ Turner of Wings Born Out of Dust which will be available soon from 23 House Publishing.
Joyce Osterman "She's dead. The Sun God takes her spirit and our people can now become a powerful nation once again." Jose's ceremonial feathers ruffled and his mottled cloak flapped in the breeze. Thousands of people fled the murderous scene, their shocked faces replaying Alyssa's vicious murder. "You're crazy!" Manuel shouted. He stared into a rushing ocean seventy-five feet below where currents lapped foam onto cliffs to tug at sprays of Allysa's hair moving toward the deep. He bit his lip and tasted the mad blood of revenge pumping through his veins. He wanted to kill Jose, to hammer him into oblivion. "You don't understand!" Jose said, fighting against Manuel's strangulating grip. "Our people need this sacrifice! If Aymara is to reclaim its land, we must atone for our sins!" "That was five thousand years ago!" Manuel snapped, and his face flushed red. "Superstition! You're a murderer. You'll pay for what you've done!" Jose threw him down and pinned him to the precipice. For a fleeting moment, a vagrant scent of Alyssa's perfume curled up his nose. It was a fragrant melody of her soft downy arms and balmy nights of their love making under the moon. Suddenly, he remembered another legend of Pachamama. If budding love is gashed from this life, it can be renewed in the Tiahuanacchi--the Temple of Rejuvenation, but he would have to act fast. He didn't have much time. With all his might, he kicked Jose and raced from the precipice. Bounding down rocks with shocks of grass cutting his legs, he thundered through sand and sloshed through salt water. When he came to Alyssa's lifeless body, he glided it into his arms. In the distance, he saw the domed temple and ran toward it, his throat pulsing with the taste of bitter salt that would become his permanent refrain if he couldn't reach that sanctuary in time. Once inside, he placed her bloodied body onto the Altar of Life. A ritual song coursed through his mind and he remembered the power of the sacred Water of Life. Only the ancient priest of the Aymara knew its secret, and he was Manuel's ancestor. Now he needed his power more than ever. After obtaining the holy waters from the sacred niche, Manuel raced to Alyssa's side and spilled the rejuvenating drops onto her forehead and chest. He cried. "I love you, Lyssa." He wiped his tears off her cheeks. Her blood slurped up the ancient altar. The gouge in her head sealed. The music that burned through his heart clear to his fingertips had worked. She lived! As she opened her eyes he saw something sinister stirring deep within those dark pools of gray. Was this his Lyssa, or a reflection of his own anger spawned by calling upon the gods of life to empower her with resurrection life? The sun god did have her spirit, for awhile. * * * * * Joyce Osterman has just completed two science fiction novels; The Matter Stream and Terra! Now submit your segment to continue this story. It will published in the October issue. Please submit by October 20. Click here for guidelines. Didn't get the beginning? Want to read what's happened so far? Click here.
He sat there huddled in the corner, pondering. What he knew wasn't known to any living soul. Time wasn't important, but still, he had to make a decision. He pulled the mother-of-pearl pen from his shirt pocket and fiddled with it; doing so helped him to think. The basement light suddenly flooded the area. He cowered into the shadows of the corner. Elizabeth, his wife, cautiously came down the creaking steps of the cellar and headed toward the freezer. She shouldn't see him, not like this, not now. He cringed at the thought and closed his eyes to avoid the confrontation. She grabbed a bottle of wine from the shelf next to the freezer, turned, and quickly headed upstairs. The light went off and he once again was alone in the dark. He eased out his legs and enjoyed the momentary relaxation of muscles. No, Elizabeth wasn't expecting him home yet, but she was already preparing the evening meal in anticipation. He still had time, but time for what? The pressures of work had forced him to the basement and into this dire predicament. He'd called the office that morning to let them know he wouldn't be in and waved the car pool on. Elizabeth had been asleep and had absolutely no idea of what had transpired shortly thereafter. Yes, work anxieties had caused this. Still, if he'd known that the brain ceased to function only when the body died by natural causes, be them traumatic or quiet; he would have done things differently. The members of his car pool had all perished in a violent four-car accident before getting to work. Fate has a wry sense of humor, he realized. Purgatory existed only by its non-existence. There was no purgatory, per se. His car pool members were released at their death and given their just rewards, be it Heaven or Hell. For Heaven and Hell does exist for them. He had to face the facts. He had to open the freezer since all the answers lay inside. He had to face reality. Carefully maneuvering around items, he approached the huge chest freezer. Slowly opening the lid, he felt the cold escape about him. The freezer light flicked on and in the harsh glare, the vision shocked him. He stared at the contents. The body lay in a pool of frozen blood. All color had drained from the face through the gash in the throat. Some blood had spurted onto the freezer walls and soaked into the ice build-up. The blue hued lips formed a silent, anguished yell. The green eyes, covered in frost, glistened wide in death's knowledge. Arms stretched upward. The curled fingers with shredded and broken nails revealed the failed attempts to claw away the freezer's lid. Frozen blood encrusted the mother-of-pearl pen in the shirt pocket. He'd committed suicide. Yet that single, damnable spark within his brain continued to exist, to think, to be. He was dead but he couldn't die. There was no Heaven or Hell for him. When he released that last spark, he would cease to exist and never have been. Until then, he was doomed to this basement purgatory. * * * * * Robert S. Nailor is the Production Manager and Poetry Editor for The Emporium Gazette.
In the world of the action adventure writer, our hero's life often resembles a biblical deluge. The plot roars around our protagonist, bobbing him along like a discarded cola-can. Meanwhile, the flood of action creates slick goo from solid ground and washes away everything and everyone in its path that hasn't yet managed to scramble into the temporary safety of a tall tree. As writers we may be tempted to let our characters be driven and battered by the raging waters of our plot, leaving them to only grab an occasional breath (for pacing), but we cheat the readers if we do. Too often in the floods of life, we experience the phenomenon called laminar flow, where larger more critical elements lurk below the surface, beyond our hero's groping toes. If we only focus on what he sees when he pops to the surface, our readers miss most of the internal conflict and thus the power of the flood. This is no better than the sixty-second film clips we are fed by the local news team from the safety of their high ground or news chopper. Life, like the flood, is more than the churning waters in view one moment to vanish the next. Boulders, railroad cars and tractor-trailer rigs, tumble along the bottom, hidden from all but our hero when he is sucked into the depths. Like gold, the items of greatest value will gravitate to the bottom. It is our jobs as writers to risk these emotional hazards and dive into the dangerous places to retrieve a few of these treasures. The dark secrets that thud along the bottom are the home of the emotional scars and character flaws that shape your hero. The reader needs to feel these wounds to understand the deeper meaning of his struggle. Face it. Everyone has things they'd rather not admit. We spend our lives protecting old wounds, or fighting personal demons. Why shouldn't our hero demonstrate these same flaws and reality? A character should develop and evolve if the experience is to mean anything to the reader. Give him something to discover about himself while he struggles to reach solid ground or save the world. Let him dive into the depths and face his inner fears, which will likely be more frightening to him than drowning in the raging waters. Many writers don't understand how to write male emotion without sounding phony. He isn't likely to confess this to anyone since he won't even admit it to himself. There are ways to do this without leaving your character limp as an emotional dishrag. Let us take a crewman of the Enola Gay, seeing the devastation the atomic blast at Hiroshima at close range. It might go something like this: "Ballard stirred through the ashes with the polished toe of his boot. The 'lucky' survivors had scavenged everything that could be traded for scraps of food. All that remained were worthless remnants of vaporized lives among the ruins of charred homes. Passing Japanese civilians accused him with their stares. The bleached bones of a large concrete building still stood at ground zero. Ballard staggered to a stop atop the bridge and stared at the smoky shadow burned into the concrete railing. The blast had cooked the shadow of a woman into the cement, a ghost he knew would haunt him forever." First, the act of stirring with his toe parallels the rummaging he is doing in his soul. On the outside he is as shiny as his boots are, yet inside he is awash in ashes. He hasn't said a word, but from what he sees, we reveal his anguish. Also notice the words used to describe the setting: the bare bones of the building, the ghost of the woman's shadow, charred homes not houses, and the accusing eyes. Notice how these words paint a Kabuki face on his emotions without having him admit his inner torment. Don't be afraid to dive to the bottom of the flood and give the readers a glimpse of your character's inner torment. Even if your character never discusses it with another person, these snapshots of his emotion are what gives him soul. * * * * * Ronald Wayne Jones is the gazette's Managing Editor and is a science fiction, fantasy, and high adventure author. His books are available through 23 House Publishing and Amazon.com.
Ron Jones-- Managing Editor Bob Nailor--Poetry Editor and Production Manager Elyse Salpeter--Fiction Editor Mitchel Whitington--Non-Fiction Editor James Rogers--Business Editor Terrie Murray--Travel Writing Editor Sue Long Turner--The Writing Answer Lady & Denise Vitola--Editor-in-Chief
© Copyright 2000 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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