The Writers' Lens

Saturday, May 5, 2012

The 2012 Missouri Writers Guild Conference Interviews - part 1

The 2012 Missouri Writers Guild Conference Interviews – part 1

By Brad R. Cook

The Writers’ Lens, St. Louis Writers Guild, and the Missouri Writers Guild partnered together to host a series of live webchats with some of the speakers at the 2012 MWG Conference. The interviews went great and I have to thank the people who watched live online. Though we had a few technical snafus, we were able to bring these interviews to everyone in multiple formats.

Two goals defined this project – to showcase such an amazing conference and provide a deeper experience for everyone who attended.

I wanted to collect all the interviews into a single post, but as you will see, this project ended up being bigger than any single post or file could contain. So, it will be in two parts, and all the recordings are offered for free.

photo by Sarah Whitney

Today, we present the next interview in the series – Paul Lesko, IP Attorney with the Simmons Firm.

Paul Lesko manages the Intellectual Property Group at The Simmons Firm a nationwide law firm based in Alton, Illinois. He has published articles in The Columbia Science & Technology Law Review, and blogs on IP topics for the online magazine Cardboard Connection. He has lso provided expert legal analysis in national leading publications including The New York Times, PC World, American Legal Magazine and Chicago Lawyers Magazine.

Paul talks about copyright and its implications for writers.

The three part podcast can be heard here – http://writerslens.tumblr.com/

The first part the video interview can be seen here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYML_91eNcc

Part two of the video interview can be seen here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvygowVAh-g

But that’s not all…

New today we are also providing video of the interviews with Rhonda Penders and Christie Craig!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Rhonda Penders, Editor-in-Chief of The Wild Rose Press

View the video of her interview here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwlNPHW-pJ0

The link to the raw webstream – http://www.anymeeting.com/stlwritersguild/EA57DF85804C

The link to the Podcast on The Writers’ Lens Tumblr page – http://writerslens.tumblr.com/

New York Times Bestselling Author Christie Craig

Christie talks about the Agent/Author relationship and more!

View the video of her interview here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AtlXa9R44c

View the raw webstream here – http://www.anymeeting.com/stlwritersguild/EA57DF84844B

Listen to the two part podcast – http://writerslens.tumblr.com/

Saturday, April 21, 2012

photo by Sarah Whitney

Christina Katz, the keynote speakers at the Show-Me Awards Banquet!

Christina is the author of three books from Writer’s Digest: The Writer’s Workout, Get Known Before The Book Deal, and Writer Mama.

Christina Katz talks about Platform and more!

View the raw webstream here – http://www.anymeeting.com/stlwritersguild/EA57DF88854A

Listen to the two part podcast (best quality) – http://writerslens.tumblr.com/

Check out here pre-conference interview on the MWG Conference blog – http://mwgconference.blogspot.com/2011/11/whip-your-literary-ambitions-into-shape.html

There are more interviews coming!

Next Wednesday, I’ll post Part Two of the interviews from the MWG Conference – and you won’t want to miss them.

Literary Agent Ann Behar

Literary Agent Ann Collette with her client Carol Carr

The interviews were conducted by Brad R. Cook, T.W. Fendley, and David Alan Lucas II.

They were made possible by a collaboration between St. Louis Writers Guild, the Missouri Writers Guild, and The Writers’ Lens.

Many thanks to Tricia Sanders, the 2012 Conference Chair, and Deborah Marshall, President of Missouri Writers Guild in 2011-2012.

Thank you as well to all the speakers who participated.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

To Blog or Not To Blog is No Longer a Question

On May 5th, I will be giving a presentation to The St. Louis Writers Guild on Blogging. If you're in town . . .

To Blog or Not To Blog is No Longer a Question

Kirkwood Community Center, 2nd floor
111 S. Geyer Rd., Kirkwood, MO 63122
Get map and directions

Date: Saturday, May 5, 2012
Time: 10 AM until noon

SLWG members attend for FREE; $5 fee for non-members

Please register in advance

Whether you are using WordPress, Blogger, or Tumblr every writer needs to be blogging, but it can be a strange and unfamiliar world. David Lucas, who writes for not one, but many blogs, will discuss why writers should blog, what a book blog tour is, how blogs can be a great way to market a novel, and how to draw traffic to your site. If you are a blogger, have thought about blogging, or have no idea what a blog is – this workshop will you navigate the blogosphere.

David Alan Lucas is a writer, poet, martial artist and a prolific blogger. He has blogged interviews of emerging musical bands for "Rolling Stone" type ezines, writing techniques, self-defense, and health care law. Some of his blogs about overcoming learning disabilities have been used by professors in universities both in the United States and Great Brittan.

His fiction includes Paranormal, Horror, Science Fiction, and Mystery/Crime Drama.

David is a Sandan (Third Degree Black Belt) in Tracy’s Kenpo under Tim Golby and David Hofer and brings his knowledge of martial arts, physical and psychological combat to his self-defense articles and his fiction writing.

David holds a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education from the University of Missouri—St. Louis and a Masters Degree in Business and Leadership from Webster University. He is also a certified paralegal.

When David is not writing he is reading, working with the community, traveling, camping, studying martial arts, or otherwise looking to get into some kind of adventure that will likely spawn other story and poetry ideas.

In David's "To Blog or Not to Blog, There is No Longer a Question," he will go into the does, don'ts and musts of blog writing. Many of these will be from personal experience.

David currently blogs actively on his own Coffee with David blog site (http://davidalanlucas.blogspot.com) as well as The Writers' Lens (http://www.thewriterslens.com) and he can be followed on Twitter @owlkenpowriter

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com and www.thewriterslens.com. You can also follow me on twitter @Owlkenpowriter and the Writer’s Lens @TheWritersLens. Fiction is the world where the philosopher is the most free in our society to explore the human condition as he chooses.

Meet author Jennifer Wallis 5/5 at 6 North

Meet Jennifer Wallis, local author of SCARLET THE DOLPHIN, from 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, May 5, at

6 North Café

14438 Clayton Road

Ballwin, MO 63011

(directions)

Jennifer Wallis is a school social worker and lives in Arnold, Missouri, with her husband and biggest supporter, and her two daughters. Jennifer had a dolphin encounter on a family vacation with a dolphin named Scarlet. It was then she came up with the idea for Adventures with Scarlet the Dolphin. However it was not until she had children of her own that she took the time to start writing. Nothing has given Jennifer more joy than reading the book she wrote to her own daughters.

For every 10 books sold, Jennifer will donate 1 book to the Pajama Program. The Pajama Program is a non-profit that provides new pajamas and new books to children in need. For more information visit www.pajamaprogram.org.

Adventures with Scarlet the Dolphin: Green Sea Turtles
Hailey is an 8-year-old girl and her best friend is Scarlet, who happens to be a dolphin. Scarlet takes Hailey on a new adventure every day and teaches her all about life in the ocean. On this adventure, Scarlet takes Hailey off the coast of Hawaii where she meets Link, a Green Sea Turtle.

Autographed books will be available for sale on May 5.
Online: www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Writing Hitchcockian—the Second of the Story Worlds of Alfred Hitchcock

The scraping sound of rope rubbing on stone was barely audible in the howling wind. Each thread of the hemp slowly severing under the weight of a man hanging over a long fatal drop. The man is still alive. He kicks and screams, "I don't want to die! I only said you were a hack! Let me up!"

I stand, staring down the precipice with my arms crossed and foot helping the rope sway back and forth with a less than gentle shove with the toe of my shoe. I hear the crunch of gravel over sound of the wind. I look up and see you approach.

"Ah, I see I have company again in my darker corner of The Writers' Lens."

I see you look down at the dangling man and I shoo your concerns away.

"Never mind him. It's just my inner naysayer and he'll . . . drop out of our conversation soon enough. Instead, let's continue our discussion on Hitchcock's techniques and how they can be applied to writing."

On April 11, 2012, I began exploring the three story worlds of Alfred Hitchcock. The Master of Suspense developed a three-part story world based on Freudian theory:

The world of reality (the Freudian Ego) [See Writing Hitchcockian—The First of the Story Worlds of Alfred Hitchcock: http://www.thewriterslens.com/2012/04/writing-hitchcockianthe-first-of-story.html];
The world of desire (the Freudian Id); and
The world of the mind (the Freudian Super Ego).

While some psychologist will happily argue against Freud's theories, it is important to remember that Hitchcock worked on the movie scripts with the scriptwriters until he had every element of suspense and camera angle down to exactly what he wanted based upon Freud's theory--and leaving the film editors with little choice but to keep the shots he wanted. It was the psychological weaving of the story that helped give rise to the elements of suspense.

While the first Hitchcockian world is the world of reality (Ego), the second one is the world of desire (Id). We travel around in this world looking though the eyes of our desire. As human beings, we decide our goals by deciding on what we want. When we create our characters, we ask, "What is their goal? What do they want?"

This desire creates their world which comes into conflict with the story world of reality. When any two characters in this story world share opposite desires, the writer has character conflict as long as those characters are trying to change the world of reality to match the desire world that they want. From conflict (character vs. character and character's desire vs. the story world's reality) comes the suspense.

Let's stop talking psycho-babble and high level writing technique and get into the weeds. There are a lot of Hitchcock movies to choose from, but I am going to choose one of my top ten favorites: "Dial M for Murder." In the movie (or the original stage play) we have:

Tony Wendice: a retired professional tennis player married to a wealthy woman (Margot), who has discovered that his wife is cheating on him and desires revenge and her money. But, of course--he needs a way to get away with it. How does he do this? He blackmails a criminal into killing her.

Margot Wendice: Tony's wife is having an affair with Mark Halliday, a crime-fiction writer. Her desire for Mark, if followed to its conclusion, would leave Tony in the "penniless cold harsh world." (Side note: while the world hasn't changed as much as we would like to pretend it has, one thing can easily be seen: professional athletes make a lot more money than they did a few decades ago)

Mark Halliday: Is in love with Margot and wants her for her, not her money.

Captain Lesgate (aka Charles Alexander Swann): a petty thief and an old acquaintance of Tony who is tricked into leaving incriminating evidence that he would police in to thinking he is guilty of Margot's murder even if he doesn't do it. But on the upside, if he does the murder for Tony, the evidence would be "taken care of" and he would be paid £1,000 (if I account for inflation and the exchange rate, that may come to about $25,000 today, but I could be wrong).

I do not want to ruin the story for you, so I will not go any further into the plot and characters. However, from this you can see how the world of reality comes in conflict with the world of desire:

Tony

World of reality--he is about to be penniless because he is going to lose his wife.

World of desire--wants his wife's money, so if he can't have it with her alive he is motivated by his desire to have her money through her death.

Margot

World of reality--is in a loveless marriage.

World of desire--She wants to be in love with someone who wants her for her.

You can see where this is going to lead: Murder . . . but what if that murder attempt gets botched? The witches brew of suspense begins to bubble and steam. But, there is one more ingredient to add--the third story world. After that, we will really get spicy with the suspense.

In the next edition of Writing Hitchcockian, I will discuss the third of the story worlds of Alfred Hitchcock.

In the meantime, if you want to see how the world of desire can turn down the dark side, take a moment and read: The Murderer's Ladder: http://www.thewriterslens.com/2012/01/murderers-ladder.html. While you do that, I am going to pop some popcorn and watch "Dial M for Murder" again. (Feel free to join me)

There are a lot of resources on Alfred Hitchcock. The primary one for this part of the series is:

Douchet, Jean. “Hitch and His Public.” Translator Berena Andermatt Conley A Hitchcock Reader, 2^nd edition. Eds. Marshall Duentelbaum and Leland A. Poague: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated, 2009. 17-24. Print.

Monday, April 30, 2012

Monday Book Giveaway: Hitchcock on Hitchcock

This week, in the spirit of the series I have been writing (How to Write Hitchcockian), The Writers' Lens is giving away an entire book of interviews with and essays by the Master of Suspense himself. This book is one of my key resources when I want to dive into the mind of the Master.

The following is from Barnes and Noble: "Gathered here for the first time are Alfred Hitchcock's reflections on his own life and work. In this ample selection of largely unknown and formerly inaccessible interviews and essays, Hitchcock provides an enlivening commentary on a career that spanned decades and transformed the history of the cinema. Bringing the same exuberance and originality to his writing as he did to his films, he ranges from accounts of his own life and experiences to techniques of film making and ideas about cinema in general. Wry, thoughtful, witty, and humorous--as well as brilliantly informative--this selection reveals another side of the most renowned filmmaker of our time.

"Sidney Gottlieb not only presents some of Hitchcock's most important pieces, but also places them in their historical context and in the context of Hitchcock's development as a director. He reflects on Hitchcock's complicated, often troubled, and continually evolving relationship toward women, both on and off the set. Some of the topics Hitchcock touches upon are the differences between English and American attitudes toward murder, the importance of comedy in film, and the uses and techniques of lighting. There are also many anecdotes of life among the stars, reminiscences from the sets of some of the most successful and innovative films of this century, and incisive insights into working method, film history, and the role of film in society.

"Unlike some of the complex critical commentary that has emerged on his life and work, the director's own writing style is refreshingly straightforward and accessible. Throughout the collection, Hitchcock reveals a delight and curiosity about his medium that bring all his subjects to life."

How do you win a free copy of this book? To enter the contest, simply leave a comment or question on the Writers' Lens blog between now (April 30th) and midnight May 5, 2012. Please include your email so we can reach you if you win. The more comments you leave, the greater your chance of winning the contest. If you refer others to The Writer's Lens who mention your name in their comments, I'll enter your name again in our random number generator along with theirs, also increasing your chances at winning! The winner will be chosen after midnight on Saturday, May 5 and the announcement made on Sunday, May 6. Good luck and comment often.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Green wins Running into the Darkness

Congratulations to Peter Green, winner of this week's giveaway of D.A. Bale's RUNNING INTO THE DARKNESS.

Thanks for commenting to enter and good luck with the next giveaway!

Didn’t win RUNNING INTO THE DARKNESS? You can find D.A. Bale's books at:

Interview with Christina Katz from the 2012 MWG Conference!

photo by Sarah Whitney

St. Louis Writers Guild, the Missouri Writers Guild, and The Writers’ Lens continue to bring you interviews from the 2012 Missouri Writers Guild Conference.

Today we present Christina Katz, the keynote speakers at the Show-Me Awards Banquet!

Christina Katz is the author of three books from Writer’s Digest: The Writer’s Workout, Get Known Before The Book Deal, and Writer Mama. Her writing career tips and parenting advice appear regularly in national, regional, and online publications. A popular speaker on career growth, Christina presents at writing conferences such as AWP, ASJA, PNWA, OWFI, and Williamette Writers. She is also often featured at literary events, MFA writing programs, and libraries. Christina is the creator and host of Northwest Author Series in Wilsonville, Oregon, where she lives with her husband, her daughter, and far too many pets. Learn more at www.ChristinaKatz.com

Christina Katz talks about Platform and more!

View the raw webstream here – http://www.anymeeting.com/stlwritersguild/EA57DF88854A

Listen to the two part podcast (best quality) – http://writerslens.tumblr.com/

Check out here pre-conference interview on the MWG Conference blog – http://mwgconference.blogspot.com/2011/11/whip-your-literary-ambitions-into-shape.html

More interviews will follow.

Paul Lesko

Ann Behar

Ann Collette and Carol Carr

The interviews were conducted by Brad R. Cook, T.W. Fendley, and David Alan Lucas II.

They were made possible by a collaboration between St. Louis Writers Guild, the Missouri Writers Guild, and The Writers’ Lens.

Many thanks to Tricia Sanders, the 2012 Conference Chair, and Deborah Marshall, President of Missouri Writers Guild in 2011-2012.

Thank you as well to all the speakers who participated.