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Many storytellers have an unquenchable thirst to share their tales with the widest possible audience, often with agnosticism toward medium or format. This is why so many book authors have tried their hand at screenwriting – Agathie Christie, John Steinbeck, Stephen King and J.K. Rowling to name a few. Toiling away to satiate this thirst is admirable, but adapting a novel for the (big or small) screen presents its own unique benefits and challenges, and the more an author understands them before beginning their journey, the better prepared they’ll be. As a producer, here are a few questions about the book-to-screen adaptation process I help writers evaluate so as to best position them for success. How do I best judge adaptability? As with books, the best screenplays boast originality, developed characters, solid structure and themes that resonate. But remember, film is a visual medium. (I use the word film synonymously with TV unless otherwise noted.) Books that are cerebral, psychological and introspective are more challenging to adapt. On the flip side, genre-heavy material that’s inherently visual, with a large cinematic audience, already has adaptability baked in. Think action, adventure, thriller, horror, sci-fi. Ask yourself, “What new and distinct layers will More

Right now in these trying times I find it a little difficult to read social media, but on the other hand I can hardly keep away from it, amazed at how the world seems to be on fire. One evening, it literally made me tear up at the animosity and sarcasm. Honestly, some folks just hurt my heart. Also, lately, I’ve received more than the usual number of requests for book reviews. I just don’t have the time to accept all the requests, so that leads me to be selective. First, I usually limit reviews to mystery, how-to writing guidance, and Southern fiction, which are genres I am most familiar with. If a book sounds promising, I then look at the author. They don’t have to be debut or well-seasoned. They don’t have to be traditional or self-published. I just look at what resonates with me. And I realize that my review can be used by that person either on a cover, on a website, or in social media. I love that. Or, let’s say I usually love that. These days, however, people are being big and bold with their political affiliations, opinions, and memes. I don’t want to be More

The writer’s workshop model remains one of the best ways writers receive feedback. We share our work with a group, and everyone chimes in with ideas and suggestions. Early in our writing careers, we learn about structure and grammar through the workshop. As our writing improves, we begin to learn about character development, plotting, and structures. Sharing a novel through workshop process can often take years. It’s not uncommon for a first novel to take up to a decade to be completed.   Eventually, there’s a joyous moment when we find an agent and they sell our book to a publisher. Signing the contract, receiving an advance, making plans for the future are all exciting things. That’s also the time when we need to learn as much as possible about marketing and self-promotion.   What doesn’t get talked about often is what comes next on the writing front. For the traditionally published, there’s a cycle: A book a year. You have to keep publishing if you want to grow your audience. You have to keep publishing to build your series or your backlist and satisfy your readers. This is how most successful authors create careers. If you go more than More

I have finally cleaned up my social media such that I only see things nonpolitical and/or non-adversarial. Finally I can get back to business and breathe a better sigh of relief. That’s because I unfriended three dozen people and snoozed that many more. Do they have a right to speak up? Yes. Do I have to let that irritate my life? No. We find it difficult to unfriend people, because we feel we have to collect as many people as possible for our books, our brand, our image. Did I go after people? No. In each case, I went into their page to see if they were primarily negative or repeatedly and proactively adversarial, or if they were just experiencing a “moment.” When they fell into the former, I unfriended them. Did it cost me a book sale or two? Not sure. Did I discount people who would vote the opposite of me? No, not at all. I love it when people vote. I’ll be the first to go with you to the polls and cast a ballot. I just cannot tolerate negativity, sarcasm, and borderline threats from either side, or being told how horrible I am for leaning one More

Some of you have seen my social media of late. It’s not very active except to say I am hiding a bit behind pound cake, coffee, and my stories to avoid the universe. These are hard times. Don’t get sucked in. Write. I’ll be the first to tell you it’s difficult to claw past the noise in the world to write stories. It’s been more difficult in the last week than I’ve experienced in years. But write you must. Not only do you need to keep going, but the writing will soothe you. Disappearing into your words will help. Put down the social media. Pick up your pad and pencil or park yourself in front of your keyboard. Turn on music if you need to. Light a candle. Pour some wine, tea, or coffee. Don’t lose yourself in the animosity. Instead, find yourself in your own words, the words of your choosing, and create the world of your choosing. Be proactive in keeping yourself not only sane, but also humane.

Writers with experience in specific subjects are encouraged to use their niche, especially when breaking into the writing world. Holly Lisle used nursing experience for her debut novel Sympathy for the Devil, Justin Gustainis turned bodyguarding experience to supernatural fiction for Black Magic Woman — and if you know more about a topic than other authors, freelancing could help pay your bills. Here’s how you can write what you know, illustrated with my journey through playing card writing. Blogging Reaches Readers Not only readers but also possibly publishers and agents. I started writing posts for BridgeBlogging in 2017. A publisher later got in touch with a longer job offer – and today, the site is part of a larger company that I’ve often written for. The Niche My first bridge article introduced me to a wonderful editor. We wrote more features over several years and the connection stuck. I remember that it started with that first post, and the phrase: “Sold!” Persist and pitch. Then over time, as I published more, I was introduced to publications like IntoBridge via its readership. Message boards (like BridgeWinners) and discussions like Reddit are clues to your niche’s roadmap. What are people reading or More

In a recent success story, T. Jensen Lacey had a curious thought, dared ask for an interview, and dared pitch the piece. See what resulted. Her daring-do got her a fantastic assignment. (See Below) I once noticed a turf grass magazine. Keep in mind my degree is in agronomy, so there are still areas in the field that catch my eye. I had the idea to investigate odd ideas centered around turf management and came up with two ideas. One about green areas grown atop of university buildings for environmental and aesthetics, and the other about how to properly maintain cemeteries. Both sold. It’s a matter of watching the world and seeing it in terms of feature stories. How do they do that? Why do they do that? What made they think like that? What if they didn’t do that? Just basic questions like these can open your eyes to feature pieces that many magazines would embrace. Feature pieces are about seeing the magic, creativity, and intelligence in the world. They don’t drop in your lap. They are all around you. You have to possess (or develop) the mentality that everything in your path is fodder for a story. A More

I was recently asked by a local magazine to write about my opinion of AI. It wasn’t a paying gig, but just a way to remind the local community who I was and that I lived among them, writing my books. I turned it down. I have a lot of fans in this area. Some understand I am as anti-AI as it comes. Some do not. I am anti-AI in terms of creative writing, academic writing, and just about any kind of writing. I look down upon people who use it. I refuse to purchase articles in which AI assisted. I find it hypocritical for teachers to not want students to use it, then use it themselves. In other words, I could preach this loud. But in that audience I’d be preaching to are people who use AI, who teach using AI, who cheat using AI, who think AI is here to stay, and who believe it’s considered creative writing to use it to better create a masterpiece. A lot of those people read my books. Every one of us has political, religious, cultural, educational, and other issues that we feel strongly about. Sometimes we feel we have the right More

Resistance. Bookmarks. Dragons. Dreams. These are just a handful of examples of recent or pending “themed” submission calls posted on the Publishing . . . and Other Forms of Insanity web site, one of my go-to resources for submission venues. In my own writing, themed calls have played a key role in idea generation and sales. Brainstorming related to specific themes has generated a number of poems and short stories I might not have otherwise written. But what are the keys for success? I turned to authors on the Science Fiction Canada list-serve, as well as three anthology editors, to gather their thoughts on themed submission calls. In the Beginning Many of the writers who responded to my questions about themed calls noted they are selective about which calls to respond to, and they focus on themes that generate ideas they feel enthusiastic about. For some, the first step is to check whether a draft or finished story in their inventory might fit the call’s parameters. Others brainstorm new ideas. Science fiction author Robert Runté noted that often “one of [his] three usual casts of characters will muscle in and suddenly [he has] a story idea that fits into that universe.” The universe being the More

Victoria Strauss of the Writer Beware blog, has been around for ages informing writers how to not get taken by the less than reputable entities out there in the publishing world. In her latest article written for Writer Unboxed, titled Cheated, Swindled, or Scammed: What’s a Writer to Do?, she gives you options on what to do once you have been bamboozled. However, the best way NOT to get bamboozled is to: 1) Learn the ins and outs of publishing, from self-published to hybrid to traditional; 2) Research to the nth degree anyone you intend to go into business with; 3) Learn who an entity has done business with/published in the past, and reach out to them for opinion/testimonial/advice. You would be surprised, however, at how many people do NOT do one, two, or all three of the above, then afterwards get upset at not receiving the services they expected. A lot of people hang out a shingle as a publisher. Any kind of publisher. They can call themselves any of the three types and still scam you. Being called indie, hybrid, or traditional does not mean they are not scammers. I had a lady recently tell me at an event that she More