Current Affairs

Mad Max

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Ed Gorman posted an appreciation of novelist Max Allan Collins, co-founder of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, on his blog today:

I wouldn’t be blogging today if it weren’t for Max Allan Collins.
Twenty five years ago, I made a cold call to him to tell him how much I
enjoyed his novels…

… Naturally,
we talked about writing and why I, who’d sold a lot of short stories to
magazines of varying repute, hadn’t ever written a novel. I told him l
I’d started about a hundred of the damned things but that I always got
stuck at some point and started backtracking and then just gave up. He
gave me the single most useful piece of writing advice I’ve ever ever
received. Don’t look back. Finish the first draft straight through and
then go back and do whatever needs to be done in the revisions.

Ed also talks about advice he’s gleaned from other writers… all of it worth taking to heart.

Grey’s Blog

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The writers of GREY’S ANATOMY have their own blog. The latest post from Krista Vernoff tells the story behind her "Christmas" episode:

So
here’s a funny thing: we were never going to do a “Holiday episode” of
Grey’s Anatomy. Shonda, in particular, (though many of us agree) is not
a big fan of Santa Claus in the E.R. and elves in the operating room
and the kinds of things you most often see on medical show holiday
episodes. So, the mandate was: we can have a tree, we can acknowledge
the holiday, but we’re not doing a “holiday episode.” And then Harry and Gab walked into the writer’s room and pitched this: “A cranky, angry little boy needs a heart transplant because his heart is TWO SIZES TWO SMALL.”

Come on. That’s brilliant. The Grinch boy? How do you not make a holiday episode now? So that’s how this episode was born.

She goes into much more detail, but I especially enjoyed this observation:

I don’t know why I’m telling you all this… Maybe because I’m so often asked “How do you guys come up with this stuff?” The
answer is, we come up with it in a largely convoluted, fabulously
meandering, highly collaborative way where bad ideas lead to good ones
and good ideas lead to other ones and nothing is set in stone until
about a week before you see it on TV. Which is why I love working in TV.

This new trend towards blogs (eg CSI:MIAMI, SCRUBS) and podcasts (eg LOST and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) from  the writers room of TV shows isn’t just great PR and fun for the fans — it’s an incredible opportunity for aspiring writers, offering an inside look at how TV series episodes are conceived, written and produced.

Ships That Passed in the Night

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Shipsmenu1
I spent way, way, way too much time last night browsing through Mark Evanier’s remembrances of old Los Angeles restaurants that are no longer around, like Ships, Chasen’s, Zucky’s, and Bit O’ Scotland. He doesn’t include one of my old favorites (unless I missed it in my bleery-eyed haze) The Cock ‘n’ Bull, the upscale buffet on Sunset that is now a Jaguar dealership…but I’m sure he will get around to it.

Names is for Tombstones

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There’s been a lot of talk lately about mid-list writers adopting other names to get their books sold and keep their careers going. Author Tim Cockey has enjoyed some success with his HEARSE series of light-hearted mysteries — now he’s launching a new series under the name "Richard Hawke." He recently sent Bill Peschel an email touting his "debut":

So
I get this sorta-spam e-mail today with the subject line of YOU LOVE
MYSTERIES! The name "Richard Hawke" sounds fishy, but there wasn’t an
attachment and it didn’t look like it wanted to lengthen my penis, so I
opened it.

I prefer emails that will lengthen my penis, but that’s another story. Anyway, the spam went something like this:

Okay, I happen to know that you’re a reader and that you like mysteries
and/or thrillers. Don’t ask me how I know this, I just do. It’s my job
to sniff out folks like you.

So here’s the question: In the glutted world of mysteries and
thrillers, do we really need yet another new series to take up space in
our To-Be-Read pile? Well, the answer is yes, but only if it’s any good.

I’ve got one for you. And since it really is such a glutted world of
too many books, I thought it’d be wise for me to get to you directly
and let you know about it.

It didn’t lengthen Bill’s penis, but it did get him curious about the author. Cockey, as Hawke, has already won raves from PW and Kirkus for his new book. Makes you wonder why he bothered using another name…

On The Edge

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The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that my mentor Michael Gleason, creator of REMINGTON STEELE, has a new show in the works for UPN entitled ON THE EDGE. Michael has teamed up with writer/producer Alan Moskowitz and director Penny Marshall on the Lions Gate project, which revolves around a young female assistant district attorney trying to discover who murdered her parents — while struggling with her alter ego who is bent on returning her to a life of drugs and alcohol. Marshall is likely to
direct the pilot.

Where We Write

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Myoffice
One of my favorite little coffee table book is Jill Krementz’s THE WRITER’S DESK, which is filled with photos of authors at work in their offices. It’s fascinating and reveals a lot about each author’s personality. John Updike wrote in his introduction:

I look at these photographs with a prurient interest, the way that I might look at the beds of notorious courtesans. Except that the beds would tell me less than the desks do. Here, the intimacy of the literary act is caught in flagrante delicto: at these desks characters are spawned, plots are spun, imaginative distances are spanned.

Today, novelist Brenda Coulter posted pictures on her blog of where she does her writing, so I thought I’d follow her example and share with you where I do mine. This is my home office.  It overlooks our front yard and is adjacent to my daughter’s bedroom. What you don’t see in this picture are more bookshelves, a TV set/DVD/VCR set-up and a walk-in closet full of books, DVDs, CDs, videos and office supplies.  There’s also the original artist’s painting for the unpublished, fourth .357 VIGILANTE book on my wall.

To avoid throwing out my back, I also do a lot of writing laying on top of my bed, using my laptop, with my legs elevated on a couch cushion.

I showed you mine so now you show me yours.  Think of it as a photo "meme." All of you authors and screenwriters out there with blogs, please post pictures of your writing spaces…and provide linkbacks to this post so we can see them (or offer a link to those posts in the comments below).

The Pay for Script Readers in Hollywood Must Really Suck

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There is a guy on ebay who has gone from auctioning his old comic books and Heather Locklear posters to offering to read any script, and provide coverage, for $49.

I will read it and send back a 2-3 page analysis of the script. Also
called coverage, this is what the studios use when reading scripts and
will include a summary of the script (because if what I see as the plot
is different from what you meant it to be, there is a problem!), and
include notes on strong and weak points, and ways to make the script
more marketable.

A little bit about me and my qualifications. I graduated from the
University of California (USC) School or Cinema-Television with a BA
degree in Film, emphasis on Critical Studies. I also hold a minor in
Creative Writing and Literature. I have been working in the industry
for almost 6 years now, and have worked as a script reader for
Zide/Perry Entertainment (credits include "American Pie," "Final
Destination," and "Cats & Dogs"), and for Blain and Associates
(credits include "Save the Last Dance") and am currently working at
Shaprio/Grodner Productions ("Scared Straight," "Rescue 911", "Big
Brother").

This is a great chance for any aspiring screenwriter.

I don’t see how. Unless the reader is reading for a studio that’s actually considering the script for option/purchase, the coverage is completely useless. 

The sad thing about this isn’t really the desperate aspiring screenwriters who will send a stranger $49 to read their script (especially one who is so clearly on the fringes of movie-making).  The sad thing is the schlub who, after six years in the business, is still reading scripts — and is making so little money that he’s been forced to auction off his movie posters and underwear.

The guy isn’t doing a favor for writers — he’s asking you to do him a favor. This auction is an embarrassing act of desperation by someone still struggling to find a foothold in the industry. He’s trying to take advantage of wanna-bes when, in fact, he is still one himself.

(Thanks to Richard Yokley for the heads-up!)

A Million Words a Year

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…that’s roughly the rate that the incredibly prolific James Reasoner is writing. Amazing. On his blog today, he notes that in 2005 he published 13 books (under six different names) and wrote 14 books, which translates to 5524 pages and 1.1. million words. But this isn’t even his personal best. That was back in 1998, when he had 14 books published.

I sometimes hesitate to talk about how much I’ve written because some people always think that if something is written fast, it can’t be any good. My theory is that all
writing is words on paper, and if the right words are on the paper, it doesn’t really matter how they got there.

Amen to that, my friend.
By the way, in that same post, he kindly lists my book as one of his ten best reads of the year. I am honored.

Wisdom from MacDonald

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To celebrate the new year, novelist Alison Kent posts an excerpt from John D. MacDonald’s terrific introduction to Stephen King’s NIGHTSHIFT. The introduction is full of great advice for writers. Here’s a tiny bit:

Story is something happening to someone you have been led to care
about. It can happen in any dimension -physical, mental, spiritual –
and in combinations of those dimensions.

Without author intrusion.

Author intrusion is: ‘My God, Mama, look how nice I’m writing!’

Another
kind of intrusion is a grotesquerie. Here is one of my favourites,
culled from a Big Best Seller of yesteryear: ‘His eyes slid down the
front of her dress.’

Author intrusion is a phrase so inept the
reader suddenly realizes he is reading, and he backs out of the story.
He is shocked back out of the story.

Another author intrusion is the mini-lecture embedded in the story. This is one of my most grievous failings.

Looking for the Short Cut

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Screenwriter Paul Guyot offers some great advice for aspiring writers for the new year:

A huge problem I see with people wanting to write for a living – more
screenwriters than prose for some reason – is that they are so
completely focused on getting an agent, or getting their script to a
producer or studio, or dreaming of that one spec sale that will solve
all their troubles, that they don’t spend any energy on becoming a good
writer.

…Try something new this year. Just for 6 months. Forget completely
about trying to get your scripts or books to agents or producers, or
trying to enter contests, or suck up to the rich producer/editor at the
party, or meet the "right" people.

And just concentrate on your writing. Making it better. I promise
you, on my granny’s grave, that your writing can be improved upon. That
script that you think you can’t do any more with – it can be better.
That manuscript you’ve tweak four or five times and think is your best
work ever – it can be better.

He gave this advice, and a whole lot more, in response to a question from a reader of his excellent blog. That reader didn’t take the advice very well and, basically, told him to go fuck himself, essentially underscoring the point Paul was trying to make. The reader thinks he’s owed a career simply because he can type stories in screenplay format — he hasn’t grasped the concept that being able to write actually counts, too.

But this attitude isn’t limited to screenwriters — you see it a lot with aspiring novelists who, rather than hone their craft, send their half-baked manuscripts and checks to iUniverse, lulu, and the like and expect this will lead to being a bestselling author. Too many aspiring writers these days are looking for short-cuts to success, a way to avoid all the hard work and rejection,  and there simply aren’t any.