tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54445995885272656492024-03-05T12:02:20.530-08:00The Well Fed MuseWriting Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.comBlogger271125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-13289791845454197662013-11-13T16:29:00.000-08:002013-12-02T21:18:39.908-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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And we're better than ever!<br />
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You can still find all your inspirational interviews and free fun writing prompts here: <a href="http://writingpad.com/?page_id=24">http://writingpad.com/wellfedmuse/</a><br />
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-8168768119198624592013-10-30T13:06:00.001-07:002013-10-30T13:07:59.388-07:00Writing Prompt: Ghost Encounters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">By Dalia Martinez</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s happened more than a few times. I sense someone behind me but when I turn around no one is there. While I consider myself a modern woman of science and logic, there are times when I cannot find a logical explanation for spooky things. I grew up in a beautiful 1940s art deco apartment in Los Angeles. It was spacious and well-lit. But it also came with heavy footsteps in the long dark hallway, the toilet cover that closed itself with a thud. There were doors that opened and shut at all hours of the night. My mom, my brother and me often felt something staring at us, but we never talked about the spookiness until we moved out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My stories aren’t like something out of HBO’s
“Tales of the Crypt." But, if you’re in the market for writing the next
“Hemlock Grove,” legendary screenwriter <b>W. Peter Iliff</b> ("Point
Break", "Patriot Games", new gangster Netflix series- and
yes, "Tales of the Crypt") shows you how to <a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#SWBIZ"><b>break into the business</b></a> and write for cable and web
viewing. Through fun-in class exercises, you'll develop compelling characters
and find the stories that will give viewers goosebumps.<span style="color: blue;">
<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#CABLEPILOT"><b><span style="color: blue;">Class starts Monday, November 11.</span></b></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Classes Starting This Week/Next Week</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#BLOG"><span id="goog_2118618991"></span>Stuff I Like: Crafting An Irresistible Blog</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#TWITTER">#FameSuccessLove: Harnessing The Power of Twitter</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#SWBIZ">Hollywood Insider: Breaking Into The Biz</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#STORYTELL5WK">Story Time Plus</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#LITMOJO"><span style="color: black;">Writingpalooza: Find Your Literary Mojo</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#AGENT">How to Hook an Agent</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#PE1DAY">You In 1200 Words: Writing The Personal Essay<span id="goog_2118618992"></span></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Fiction/Memoir</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#KNOCKOUTNOVEL"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Addictive Fiction: Writing The Knock Out Novel</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#SHORTSTORY1DAY"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Afternoon Delight: A Short Story Workshop</span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Screenwriting</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#CABLEPILOT"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Politicos, Jailbirds and Werewolves: Writing the Cable Pilot</span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Journalism</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#TRAVELWRITING">Travel Writing</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#PECLINIC">Personal Essay Clinic</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Writing Prompt:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The mind plays tricks on us. Brain science shows there are times our brain fools us into feeling phantom touches or a presence. But what if it’s not always a mind trick? What if there is a presence? Perhaps of a loved one or… something, someone else?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For this week's writing prompt, make a list of times when you thought you felt a ghost or a presence. Maybe it was your mind playing tricks on you? Think of the things that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Pick one. Add a sensory detail to it (smell, taste, sound, touch). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Earlier this year, I lost a life-long friend. One night, I was dreaming about her when I woke up to an obnoxious loud beep coming from my electronic fan. There’s a button that presses down to turn it on and off. The only times it turns off is when the power goes off and nothing else works. This particular night, it was only the fan that stopped working. I walked to it in the dark, “it’s her,” I said to myself, turning it back on. This could’ve been an electrical glitch but I want to believe it was my friend letting me know she was still around. I wasn’t afraid, but comforted by the darkness and her playful presence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Now for 10 minutes, write about your experience, including the sensory detail (e.g. rattling chains, someone tapping your shoulder, a strange odor…). Then, post your results in the comments of this blog. You could win a free class!</b></span></div>
Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-86538166416474587342013-10-29T11:50:00.000-07:002013-10-29T11:50:32.749-07:00W. Peter Iliff: From Beach Bum To Screenwriter #1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">By Dalia Martinez and Lorinda Toledo</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Imagine the first movie you sell turns into a Hollywood blockbuster. That's what happened to W. Peter Iliff. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like many dreamy-eyed scribes, Peter waited tables in Los Angeles as he worked on his screenplay, "Point Break" about bank robbers who are part of a surf gang. When he sold it to Columbia Pictures, his new career began with a bang. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the last 25 years, he's been hired to write or sold </span>50 film and TV projects for six figure fees. He's written under contract for nearly every studio and TV network in Hollywood. Over and over he's been hired to rewrite or doctor a script. He's faced dozens of studio and television execs. So, Peter knows what it's like to write scripts that sell.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze in "Point Break"</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This November, Peter is teaching two classes at Writing Pad. </span>In <a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#SWBIZ"><b>"Hollywood Insider: Breaking Into the Biz"</b></a> he share his tricks for getting execs' attention and dazzling them. He'll also talk about how to raise money to make and distribute your own independent films and ensure that you select an idea that is relevant to this volatile market. In <b><a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#CABLEPILOT">"Politicos, Jailbirds and Werewolves: Writing The Cable Pilot"</a></b> he helps you craft a killer pitch, pen a show bible, and formulate a sales plan for your own TV show.<br />
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Peter took some time out of his busy schedule working on his new crime drama series for Netflix to answer a few questions for us.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>You've written many pilots and movies. Where do you get your ideas from? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our job as Hollywood writers is to sell, sell, and keep selling. We must constantly generate new ideas. But that’s fun. My daily routine includes reading the L.A. and New York Times, various magazines, and books. I am always reading a new book to hone my craft. The key to finding ideas that sell is crafting ones that fit the business model of the buyers. Can you imagine this idea as a one sheet ad in the Calendar Section? Does it have great lead characters that big actors want to play, because without hooking stars to justify the spend, these projects will never get made. It’s important to read the Hollywood trades to stay current on what is selling. And more importantly, who is buying? </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjDDNRG4TL8u77dQqqhvDNJNp15k4szkHkpxvhb5zHb6m7gdvoFUDWCRSociLGC9wYXnwoKS4sdl5Hee9SCx_qD0NKgmxLkOnE_dte-krCw2PAvksYUBLblM7gPj24hwFs3lJOJVJ37UHv/s1600/Varsity-Blues-movie-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjDDNRG4TL8u77dQqqhvDNJNp15k4szkHkpxvhb5zHb6m7gdvoFUDWCRSociLGC9wYXnwoKS4sdl5Hee9SCx_qD0NKgmxLkOnE_dte-krCw2PAvksYUBLblM7gPj24hwFs3lJOJVJ37UHv/s200/Varsity-Blues-movie-poster.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What can students expect from your class? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The #1 take away from working with me is getting an authentic lay of the land in Hollywood. How do the working pros navigate this landscape? Working writers succeed because they understand the business model. What are the pressures on that studio/network executive? How can you craft your product to give them what they need to advance their careers? The recipe for a successful writer is half talent and half used car salesmen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What's your favorite part of screenwriting? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Breaking the story is the hard part. Then there is the outline, and good writers spend half their time constructing this skeleton for their project. I’ve had feature film outlines that are 50 pages long. My favorite part of the process is finally getting to start writing the script. This is dessert. When I start hearing the character’s voices in my head, I’m rolling and having fun. The very best part of writing is working with talented actors who make your words and characters come alive. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>And your least favorite part of screenwriting?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Getting told by the studio “that we need to go another direction.” In other words, getting re-written. Ugh. Studio meetings can be difficult. You are sitting in a room with extremely over-worked producers and executives. They probably had to read and make notes on five scripts last night. And sometimes their ideas can make your blood boil. But you have to stay calm, professional, and realize that while their idea may be lousy, they might have found something that needs fixing, and it is your job to find a better way to fix it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What is your writing process like?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I prefer to work at home in my office, my dogs on the sofa, my 10 guitars on the walls behind me, perhaps one on my lap, Sports Center on mute, and Pandora Radio playing Foo Fighters. I got my start working on newspapers, writing in those noisy bullpens, trying to concentrate amidst total chaos. So now I cannot write in silence. I make writing fun.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Many screenwriters dream of a successful career like yours. How did you make it happen for yourself?</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvGCk7G1bie2DRF4H3YelkjiwDw4LLTdhxM97v4Ki1b3Y0n8EFr12KAf76qT7BI6yeLtrxU8RwVB6UkRnyQXAPrwv2IHjm4QY9-KvEsZDv4R49PIjGIvKcCPLVEW07M4-MOVmzANaMUlL5/s1600/MV5BMTMwOTIzOTkwN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDg4NDEzMQ@@._V1_SY317_CR5,0,214,317_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvGCk7G1bie2DRF4H3YelkjiwDw4LLTdhxM97v4Ki1b3Y0n8EFr12KAf76qT7BI6yeLtrxU8RwVB6UkRnyQXAPrwv2IHjm4QY9-KvEsZDv4R49PIjGIvKcCPLVEW07M4-MOVmzANaMUlL5/s200/MV5BMTMwOTIzOTkwN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDg4NDEzMQ@@._V1_SY317_CR5,0,214,317_.jpg" width="135" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">I had a simple mantra. “I will not be denied.” I was inspired by that great story of young Steven Spielberg who had the balls to set himself in an office at Universal – that nobody had given him. He found an empty room and just went for it. My first job was as a “runner” for the ABC series “That’s Incredible.” I was always being sent to various studios. So I would go around, find copy machines, make copies of my script, then give it to any producer I could find. I once pretended to be an agent for some small talent agency, selling my client, who was me. When an executive at Warners asked me and my client to come in together for a meeting, I was in trouble. When the executive discovered my ruse, she took pity on me because she loved the script, and helped get me signed by William Morris.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What projects are you currently working on? What's next for you?</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR_My3as5Q-TbHVnWwMue-sfvFdIM7F9hppC8ZrN4otBDH3gF4Qo8VMN9hCphFh8FoMIx3-MXCEFlDmIs-ybtOKMAf4-nIrykP2csicAnl7CNSTyPxwmir8yIIbqirouVAsaWpdpcTyrcC/s1600/MV5BMTg5NDAzMjA1MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzAzMDcxMQ%2540%2540._V1_SY317_CR4%252C0%252C214%252C317_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR_My3as5Q-TbHVnWwMue-sfvFdIM7F9hppC8ZrN4otBDH3gF4Qo8VMN9hCphFh8FoMIx3-MXCEFlDmIs-ybtOKMAf4-nIrykP2csicAnl7CNSTyPxwmir8yIIbqirouVAsaWpdpcTyrcC/s200/MV5BMTg5NDAzMjA1MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzAzMDcxMQ%2540%2540._V1_SY317_CR4%252C0%252C214%252C317_.jpg" width="135" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think the film business is getting tougher, because studios make less films, and develop fewer </span>scripts. How many original films were in last year’s top 10 grossing films? One. Bridesmaids. The new frontier is TV, and specifically premium cable, where viewers are binge viewing, and writers are essentially writing novels for TV. So I have sold a crime drama to Netflix, using my Point Break brand. My reps heard my idea, then hooked me up with the producer from “Entourage,” and the director of the original “Fast and the Furious.”<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Since you are working on a new TV show for Netflix and have written on shows like Tales From The Crypt, what do you think makes a good TV show and what are you trying to accomplish in your new surf crime drama?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Characters, characters, and characters! We want you to be drawn in by our characters, understand their motivations, and feel what they are feeling. We want to create a fascinating world that the viewer wants to keep coming back to. The writing room is a terrific opportunity to push each other to excellence. The writer has to verbally pitch ideas, some which get shot down, while others get tossed about, and become better ideas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thanks, Peter! That was fascinating. You've really shown that tenacity and commitment to craft go a long way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Writing Paders, if you're committed to your craft, now's the time to put it in action. <a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm"><b>Sign up for Peter's classes</b></a> before they're full!</span></div>
Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-23647142498089515962013-10-24T12:00:00.002-07:002013-10-24T12:00:35.661-07:00Writing Prompt: The Best Years of Your Life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM9Dsf2XOYLStur48pYrIuFlg4eYQqyH2ynDJWLVl1g-Acb2ty2lZv1TI6Rponvj6GudQMiX5r3-nkhuP7ollcrGegzk8H1eDhVMpMl0SyJvwy88IRhOGUFbAalaymmo58QeCcmzu-HH-O/s1600/Dalia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM9Dsf2XOYLStur48pYrIuFlg4eYQqyH2ynDJWLVl1g-Acb2ty2lZv1TI6Rponvj6GudQMiX5r3-nkhuP7ollcrGegzk8H1eDhVMpMl0SyJvwy88IRhOGUFbAalaymmo58QeCcmzu-HH-O/s1600/Dalia.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">By Dalia Martinez </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Maybe you are a child of the 70's and you still say “Good night John-Boy” to your siblings. Or maybe you think the 80's is the best decade ever. </span>Thriller, Like A Virgin, The Cosby Show and Family Ties come to mind. If you overdosed on Squeeze-Its and Hi-C when you were growing up, then you are probably a child of the 90's. <span style="font-family: inherit;">Or, maybe you came of age in the early 2000's and still find yourself inadvertently singing “Hit Me Baby One More Time." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> As writers, we often look back on our lives to find inspiration and reflection for our creative work. We have some great classes coming up to help you make your true tales into riveting stories. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">On Tuesday, October 29, bestselling memoirist Brett Paesel ("Mommies Who Drink," LA Times, More) will be teaching a <a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#MEMOIR"><b>memoir</b></a> class. And on Wednesday, October 30, </span>master storyteller Brian Finkelstein (The Moth) shows you how to tell a riveting <a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK"><b>story for the stage</b></a>. Sign up now, before the classes are full and your memories have faded!</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVELFLB">A Novel Approach (1 Day)</a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK">Storytelling Plus</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/creativewritingmultigenre.htm#LITMOJO">Writingpalooza: Find Your Literary Mojo</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#MEMOIR">Memorable Memoir Bootcamp</a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#SHORTSTORY4WK">Short, Smart and Literary: Writing and Publishing The Modern Short Story (4 Wk)</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Creative Writing/Multi-Genre</span></b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/creativewritingmultigenre.htm#LITMOJO">Writingpalooza: Find Your Literary Mojo</a><br />
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<b>Journalism/Web Writing<br />
</b></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff I Like: Crafting An Irresistible Blog</span><br />
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">#FameSuccessLove: Harnessing The Power of Twitter</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#TRAVEL">Travel Writing</a></span>
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<b>Fiction/Memoir</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Addictive Fiction: Writing The Knock Out Novel</span><br />
<span style="text-decoration: underline;">How to Hook an Agent</span></span></div>
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<b>Writing For Actors/Screenwriting</b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#SWBIZ">Hollywood Insider: Breaking Into The Biz</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#CABLEPILOT"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Politicos, Jailbirds and Werewolves: Writing the Cable Pilot</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9O19QVJYR13klX2yf-ydB9151GlB-D5h6lZFnE3QN0v_vtpDlsk39ko598bS5uklOOfj6nZDhtj7Y6qITND-jrECzLkk6W9s1t0SxwrDB_FqFMUOXxnWZ9FMnfrLtrOqym4ZptfiCm2xj/s1600/1980s-postcard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9O19QVJYR13klX2yf-ydB9151GlB-D5h6lZFnE3QN0v_vtpDlsk39ko598bS5uklOOfj6nZDhtj7Y6qITND-jrECzLkk6W9s1t0SxwrDB_FqFMUOXxnWZ9FMnfrLtrOqym4ZptfiCm2xj/s200/1980s-postcard.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">For this week's writing prompt, think of the best years of your life. Write down what year that was a part of (e.g. 1982). Make a list of sensory details (smell, taste, sound, touch) that were part of that epoch -- things that make you nostalgic </span>(e.g. snorting Scratch and Sniff stickers, the sound of Velcro ripping a Trapper Keeper open, the pop of Nerd candy…)<span style="font-family: inherit;">. Pick one. Now write about a moment that involved that sensory detail for 10 minutes.</span></div>
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If there is one time I’d like to travel back to, it’s the early 80's in Miami. We get nostalgic for various reasons. But there always seems to be a time that rises above others. It was a time before I counted calories, before I panicked about incurring late fees, before I lost many of my loved ones, there was a time when the world felt safe. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8VM3_CKplvd_Dq_nLhoHVX0jZpnW4K7fYl7BM0mO7OX951ap16whxOXQ4RVDTReKYu3xynlxv4XJfHEk3b7xiNVDrv3NQzetQKGIlAsQPpG1xawz249y7CiEbVXAEE7phr1odRbsZ-5oz/s1600/The-1970s-from-Watergate-to-Disco-9780766026377.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8VM3_CKplvd_Dq_nLhoHVX0jZpnW4K7fYl7BM0mO7OX951ap16whxOXQ4RVDTReKYu3xynlxv4XJfHEk3b7xiNVDrv3NQzetQKGIlAsQPpG1xawz249y7CiEbVXAEE7phr1odRbsZ-5oz/s200/The-1970s-from-Watergate-to-Disco-9780766026377.jpg" width="167" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">As a kid in the working class neighborhood of Little Havana in Miami, the early years of the 1980's were unmatched in joy to any other point in my life. My brother and I played outside till the streetlights came on, riding our bikes without worry of harm. My friend was a blonde girl with ringlets. She tried to show me how to blow bubbles with gum, but I accidentally spat it out. She picked it up off the ground and rolled it between her hands before I popped it back in my mouth. I know…gross, but it’s the innocence of these times that make memories so endearing.</span></div>
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Now it’s your turn. <b>T</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>ell us what your favorite decade or time period is. What made it so great? Use your specific time-based sensory detail and write for 10 minutes about your experience. </b></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Then post your story below. You could win a free writing class!</b></span></div>
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-30852659894773658212013-10-16T10:55:00.003-07:002013-10-16T10:57:02.569-07:00Writing Prompt: Tell Your Wild and Crazy Story<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By Lorinda Toledo<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK1q_Bj49YenfnKpO-ysZY-tQCO2opUWxK7YkNXcTJkJ7o7gyFBnx0HfO-q6kY8tMis6ZQc6OT3P7K_r3eejVyLz_RlKNRfGsOssmqyQsINoWKdS48wZHfAh6HFZ4y2SWeFfv0U-XHO0W7/s1600/10.2012Headshot_Square.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK1q_Bj49YenfnKpO-ysZY-tQCO2opUWxK7YkNXcTJkJ7o7gyFBnx0HfO-q6kY8tMis6ZQc6OT3P7K_r3eejVyLz_RlKNRfGsOssmqyQsINoWKdS48wZHfAh6HFZ4y2SWeFfv0U-XHO0W7/s200/10.2012Headshot_Square.jpg" width="178" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You know who I mean. It’s that guy or girl who has everyone at the party hanging on their every word. Just the way he tells a story makes him seem so attractive, so magnetic, yet…relatable.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0KirdzqwGt4aitwmoAEpL-PJkfheiU91fAsZ_uJ0520GDr_qQr9Ip8-hL_spc_vtu5K8S8QjnQCcigRvoVmISeRrBFzFm_bFbdcn-s6HmJa1MYVcDt12VgcVLM8KhZ87S6prHCC5Xdp6Z/s1600/487298_10151422713202288_160584831_n.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0KirdzqwGt4aitwmoAEpL-PJkfheiU91fAsZ_uJ0520GDr_qQr9Ip8-hL_spc_vtu5K8S8QjnQCcigRvoVmISeRrBFzFm_bFbdcn-s6HmJa1MYVcDt12VgcVLM8KhZ87S6prHCC5Xdp6Z/s200/487298_10151422713202288_160584831_n.png" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve never been that person. When I get in front of a crowd, my hands start sweating, my heart pounds and I feel like I might hyperventilate. If I do finally get up the nerve to tell my anecdote, it falls flat. I’m the awkward one who wants to hold an audience in the palm of my hand like that. But. I. Just. Can't.</span><br />
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Still, I've got a few stories in me. I'm a writer. Telling stories is what I do. I'd like to be able to tell one in front of an audience too.<br />
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Our time has come. This October, Brian Finkelstein, award-winning storyteller and host of The Moth will be teaching a new round of his popular storytelling class at Writing Pad! You can dip your toes into the storytelling pool this Saturday, Oct. 19, at his <b><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#STORYTELL1DAY"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">1-day Storytelling Bootcamp</span></a></b>. If you really want to master your storytelling skills, sign up for his <b><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#STORYTELL5WK"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">5-week Storytime Plus</span></a></b> starting Wed., Oct. 30. By the end of class, you’ll be ready to perform in a fun show at Writing Pad (don’t worry, there’ll be sangria to loosen you <i>and</i> the audience up)!<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Classes Starting This Week</span></b><br />
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOW"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">One-Person Show Workshop (6 Wk)</span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Storytelling Bootcamp: A Spoken Workout</span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Afternoon Delight: A Short Story Workshop (1 Day)</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#PE1DAY"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">You In 1200 Words: Writing and Publishing The Personal Essay (1 night)</span></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Classes Starting Next Week</span></b><br />
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Storytelling Plus</span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/creativewritingmultigenre.htm#LITMOJO"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Writingpalooza: Find Your Literary Mojo</span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#SWBOOTCAMP"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Dream It, Write It, Pitch It: Screenwriting Bootcamp</span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#MEMOIR"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Memorable Memoir Bootcamp</span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVELFLB"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">A Novel Approach (1 Day)</span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#SHORTSTORY4WK"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Short, Smart and Literary: Writing and Publishing The Modern Short Story (4 Wk)</span></span></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Creative Writing/Multi-Genre</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/creativewritingmultigenre.htm#LITMOJO"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Writingpalooza: Find Your Literary Mojo</span></span></a></div>
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<b>Journalism/Web Writing<br />
</b><a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#BLOG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Stuff I Like: Crafting An Irresistible Blog
</span></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#TWITTER"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">#FameSuccessLove: Harnessing The Power of Twitter
</span></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#TRAVEL"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Travel Writing</span></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#TRAVEL"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span>
</a><b>Fiction/Memoir</b></span><br />
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#KNOCKOUTNOVEL"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Addictive Fiction: Writing The Knock Out Novel
</span></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/publishing.htm#AGENT"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">How to Hook an Agent</span></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">For this week's writing prompt, make a list of three crazy things that happened to you or a memorable trip. Think of a story you’d often tell at parties. Pick one. Add a sensory detail to it (smell, taste, sound, touch).</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">One of my favorite stories is about the time I went bungee jumping. I guess I thought I was pretty tough, hiking 10 miles round trip just to jump off a 120-ft. high bridge. I like a thrill, so I’m all excited. But when we get to the top, I climb over that concrete railing and look beneath me at the rocky ravine, I am afraid I'm going to pee my pants. There is nothing keeping me from certain death except this relatively thin cord clipped to my torso. Every instinct in my body is telling me that I'm in grave danger. When it comes time for me to let go and jump backwards, my mind starts racing. What if I do it wrong? What if I grip the cable and chop off a finger, or fling back my head and snap my neck? What if the cable breaks?!</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">The guy counts down – 3-2-1…bungee! And I’m supposed to let go. But I don’t! So the guy – he had a blond mustache and a deep blue gaze -- he tells me, “Look at my eyes. I’m gonna count down, and you’re gonna jump.” I nod. I might cry I’m so scared. But I look into the guy’s eyes, and I bend my knees: 3-2-1…BUNGEE!!</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Surprising myself, I let go. And it was amazing. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">So, now it’s your turn to take the plunge. </span></span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Write a story about something crazy that happened to you or a memorable trip, making sure to include a sensory detail, for 10 minutes. It could be funny, poignant, sad -- anything you want. Then post your story in the comments below. You could win a free writing class!</span></b></h4>
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-25472447219825766642013-10-15T12:23:00.000-07:002013-10-15T12:23:38.310-07:00Ben Loory: The Art of The Short Story<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">By Lorinda Toledo</span><br />
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Ben Loory's short stories are unique and have universal appeal. Maybe it's his background in screenwriting. Or maybe it's his talking televisions and humorous octopi. Or perhaps its his succinct, yet dream-like prose.</div>
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Publisher's weekly has compared Ben to Kafka and famed Hollywood animator Tex Avery. His stories capture the imagination of readers and critics alike, drawing them into a world of contemporary fables, tales unlike any they've encountered. His stories have appeared widely in online and print publications ("<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/04/12/100412fi_fiction_loory">The New Yorker</a>," "Best American Short Stories," "Glimmer Train") and have been showcased several times on <a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/contributors/ben-loory">NPR's </a><i><a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/contributors/ben-loory">This American Life</a></i>. </div>
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Ben's book, <u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Nighttime-Some-Day-Loory/dp/0143119508">Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day</a></u> (Penguin, 2011) is now in
its fifth printing, and had been chosen for numerous awards, including the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Program, the Starbucks Coffee
Bookish Reading Club, one of 10 Best Fiction Books of
the Year by the Hudson Booksellers retail chain, and the Nobbie
Award for Best Book of the Year, given by the arts and culture
magazine TheNervousBreakdown.com.</div>
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This October, Ben will be teaching two classes at Writing Pad! Join us for a <b><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#SHORTSTORY1DAY">1-day class</a> </b>to ignite the short stories inside of you on Sun., Oct. 20, followed by a<a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#SHORTSTORY4WK"> <b>4-week class</b></a> beginning Mon., Oct. 28 that will end in you getting published. Read on for a glimpse of how the artistic mind of Ben Loory works:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZWrEFruwU7MGgQn_fBITMgFZ9f36JKO-yMQLJYObbzyL1MjQ5SZYhLU8AQonIXGmUQlK7N-_NZ5cCyp_hP-VbO0S6IVxShR0vgf73vOYJsLMlHoB48EpHdvpgj3qEHATrb0ykgBkjn-Ff/s1600/1372717687_c33812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZWrEFruwU7MGgQn_fBITMgFZ9f36JKO-yMQLJYObbzyL1MjQ5SZYhLU8AQonIXGmUQlK7N-_NZ5cCyp_hP-VbO0S6IVxShR0vgf73vOYJsLMlHoB48EpHdvpgj3qEHATrb0ykgBkjn-Ff/s320/1372717687_c33812.jpg" width="206" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The stories from your collection, "Stories for Nighttime </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>and Some for the Day," are short and often fable-like. Where</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b></b></span>I don't know that I really have <i>ideas </i>-- I only deal in images and emotions. I get a flash of an image -- like a canoe, or a tree -- and then I have a character interact with that and the story moves on from there. But the story as an idea, a concept, only exists once the story's complete, once I've finally found my way through the whole thing to the end. I never conceive of a story as a whole, or have any kind of outline or blueprint or "something to say"; writing for me is a process of discovery; it's not about ideas, but about the unfolding of a particular character in a particular situation.</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Can you share about your writing routine or process with us?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I tend to write first drafts very quickly-- often in ten or fifteen minutes. Then I spend months and sometimes years editing and rewriting and taking the story apart and putting it back together again until the whole thing makes sense. I work at night all alone in my house when everything is quiet and there are no distractions. I drink a lot of tea and I walk around the block constantly. There's really not much difference between me and a crazy person.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What appeals to you about writing short stories?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I write short stories because that's what comes out; it's not so much that they appeal to me as that I seem to appeal to them. In real life, I try to speak simply and clearly and to the point. I guess that doesn't make for a novelist.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite the fantastical premise of some of your stories, are they ever inspired from real life?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I'm writing them, my stories always seem completely removed from me, like something happening on some other plane of existence, but once they're done, I can always see my own life in them. Sometimes quite transparently, to the point where it's a little embarrassing. I mean, obviously no one can ever write anything that doesn't come filtered and shaped by their own experience. It just might be a little harder to spot when on the surface you're talking about octopi and spacemen.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">You received your MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute, and continue to work in film. How does screenwriting influence your short stories, and vice versa?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Actually, I haven't worked in film for years. I stopped writing screenplays as soon as I started writing stories; I was just so much better at writing stories and enjoyed it so much more. That being said, my stories definitely grew out of my work as a screenwriter. My obsession with clear story structure and my focus on visual storytelling comes directly from that experience.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">You also got your bachelor's degree from Harvard in Visual Arts. What type of art did you do (or do you still do)? Does it influence your writing, or do you write about your art?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I studied film. Harvard was kind of a weird place, and I think they were almost ashamed to actually have a film department so they stuck it in the basement of this English department building and called it part of the "Visual and Environmental Studies" department, which also encompassed drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, graphic design and some other stuff. (No one ever explained to me what the "environmental" part was. Maybe architecture? I really don't know.) Anyway, yeah, I studied film. Film history, theory and criticism, as well as documentary and narrative filmmaking and animation. It all led me down the road to screenwriting, which led in turn to writing stories, and here we are. I still see my stories unfold in my mind as little movies or cartoons as I write them.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Your short stories have been featured in <i><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/04/12/100412fi_fiction_loory">The New Yorker</a></i>, as well as on <a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/contributors/ben-loory">NPR</a> -- two things many writers dream of accomplishing. How did it happen for you, and did it change things for you as a writer?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I wish I could say I had anything to do with all that, but really I didn't -- it was all my agent and my editor at Penguin. I'd published around fifty or sixty stories in various literary journals before my story "The TV" got into <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/04/12/100412fi_fiction_loory">The New Yorker</a>, and I always expected someone to approach me about putting a book of them out, but no one ever did. Then the day after that story appeared in <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/04/12/100412fi_fiction_loory">The New Yorker</a>, I got a book deal from Penguin. So yes, that definitely was a game-changer! As for NPR, they've been amazing-- I think more people have found my work through <a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/contributors/ben-loory">This American Life</a> and Selected Shorts than any other way. It's been a godsend. And, once again, I had nothing to do with it. So much of finding success as a writer is a matter of luck and of finding people who believe in you.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What do you consider the most important element for a short story?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Relentless forward motion.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Your stories are usually 1000 words or less, how do you make sure that you squeeze in a complete story in such few words?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1000 words is actually a lot of words. I mean, we all tell each other stories all day long and most of our stories are pretty short. If someone's telling me a story and it takes more than five or six minutes, they've probably already lost my attention. Stories just don't <i>need</i> to be that long, and they don't need to get longer just because you write them down. If you stick to the point and always keep moving the story forward, the end will come soon. It almost has no choice.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Can you give us a preview of some of the things you will cover in your class?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As a writer, I just focus on understanding character (and story) as a simple conflict of desires. Everything else I do flows directly out of that. We'll definitely be covering these things.</span><br />
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Thanks, Ben! That was so helpful and insightful. Writing Pad-ers, I bet you've got some great stories to tell, too. And I bet you're dying to learn how Ben does it, and you want to get them published. So <a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#SHORTSTORY4WK"><b>sign up now</b></a> before his classes are full!</div>
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-47919079735231304262013-10-11T11:26:00.001-07:002013-10-11T11:26:40.443-07:00Lauren Weedman: Solo-Show Your Way to Stardom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By Lorinda Toledo<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lauren Weedman is everywhere -- but you might not always recognize her because the writer/performer is so good at transforming herself. You may know her as the drill sergeant-like chef from, "The Five-Year Engagement." Or as Horny Patty from "HUNG." Or as the hilarious correspondent from "The Daily Show." Or maybe you've attended one of "The Moth" shows she hosts in LA.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">She's appeared in a slew of popular TV shows and her first collection of comedic essays, “<span style="color: #042eee;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Woman-Trapped-Womans-Body-Cringe/dp/1570615012">A Woman Trapped in a Woman’s Body: (Tales from a Life of Cringe)</a>,</span>” was named by Kirkus Review as a top ten Indie book for 2007 and was optioned by Fox TV for a pilot. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">She also has a second book of essays coming out this year through Penguin and a regular role on HBO's much-talked about show,"Looking," slated to roll out next year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lauren's secret to success as a performer is that she's got a niche: her 8 acclaimed-one woman shows have launched her career. And lucky for you, </span><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOW" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>she's got a class starting this Wed., Oct. 16</b></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> in which she'll teach you how to do it too. </span></div>
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Lauren was kind enough to take some time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions:</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">How did you get into solo performance?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Way back in Seattle I was asked to be a part of a 'variety show' -- with dancers and performance artists etc., and I decided to write a monologue. It was in the back room of an internet cafe called The Speakeasy, and the experience of having full control of my words and experience on stage was GOOD. Actually the first time I thought, "I want to do that," was watching Whoopi Goldberg on HBO in the 80's doing an off-Broadway solo show. It blew my mind -- the idea of doing comedy that had characters and that was allowed to be dark and challenging as well. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-p7ELc8bEG0bbLLubwMMM2T83qO5vMxFyngvoKRpPH3J8rjkc4vJ9ItGjaZjqEqsksLoLziUpCCq6B3yDAwdln7oWQarHzP66A4txpmp2KImT5Baio24RkNZEMIkB_hbML7dS6SeC-rI/s1600/11002822-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-p7ELc8bEG0bbLLubwMMM2T83qO5vMxFyngvoKRpPH3J8rjkc4vJ9ItGjaZjqEqsksLoLziUpCCq6B3yDAwdln7oWQarHzP66A4txpmp2KImT5Baio24RkNZEMIkB_hbML7dS6SeC-rI/s320/11002822-large.jpg" width="227" /></a><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Where do you get your ideas for your shows, and how do you decide what genre (plays, one-woman show, essay) you want them to be?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My ideas come from whatever is going on or obsessing or traumatizing me at any given time. And I can use the same material for both essays and solo stuff. The details and set ups change but the story itself is the same -- I think. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">What are some tips for generating ideas to write about?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For me, it's very personal. It really comes from what I'm involved with at the time. Recently, I've been traveling alone a lot and seeing all these business men in hotels getting prostitutes (I should clarify -- I'm not WATCHING them get prostitutes. The people who work at the hotel will point out to me, "Okay -- see her? She's a high-end call girl," because they know I'm fascinated. Anything that matters to me, makes me react, or upsets me is material. Keeping a journal of moments/characters/music/movies that matter to you is a way to generate ideas. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Can you tell us a little about your process for writing?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I prefer to tell a story to a director before I write it down. Afterwards, I make notes but don't script it out to keep it loose and allow for more improv and discovery with it. I don't finalize scripts until I'm done with the run of the show. I go from verbally sharing it to outline to improv to script. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">You are now a regular on HBO's series, "Looking" and have appeared in many TV shows and films. How have your one-woman shows helped your acting and writing career?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As much as I'd like to say, "Just do the show you want to do and tell the story that you want to tell," I will say that solo theater has been vital for myself. I've never been an easy fit for a lot of the female roles in TV and film out there, but once people see me and hear my voice in my shows, I've been brought in to many projects. I got the Daily Show show job from one of my shows and also a writing job on the HBO show HUNG. But I always try to stay grounded in the art of solo theater and don't try to look at my shows as giant auditions. Though in L.A. they certainly can be. The thing is when you get to create your own work -- and strengthen your own voice -- you will bring people to you. And work. And stalkers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If I had not started doing my own work I would have been going insane waiting for the right project. I want to work and create and tell stories and perform. Bottom line. And I'm not going to wait around until someone else tells me I'm allowed IN. Creating my own work has changed how I approach auditions. Mostly because I'm not so starved and needy as I used to be. Well, that's a lie. My shows have gotten me acting jobs but mostly they help me feel like an artist. So when I walk into the TV world or Film world, I'm coming in with a life and perspective that I can bring to my work. I feel like this is all sounding so general. I blame the quesadilla I just ate. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">You have written a book of comedic essays, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Woman-Trapped-Womans-Body-Cringe/dp/1570615012">A Woman Trapped in A Woman's Body</a>," and have a second essay collection forthcoming. How is writing for print different than writing for the stage?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It is completely different because with the essays I obsess and I'm alone and I re-write the shit out of them….and I can do so much more with a 'look' on stage. The editor of my first book used to send me notes like "Remember, we can't see your face!" </span><br />
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Thanks, Lauren! Whatever was in that quesadilla, it inspired some great stuff.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dear readers, don't miss your chance to study with Lauren!! By the end of class, you'll have a completed solo show and had a chance to perform it. <a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOW"><b>Sign up here</b></a> </span>for her class, "From the Page to The Stage" before it's all full!</div>
Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-81071883958143834912013-10-11T11:04:00.002-07:002013-10-11T11:04:48.512-07:00Writing Prompt: Voicing Your Opinion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By Dalia Martinez<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZC1uc4d3PQaPLFlhWSz3yYxnAAIBXgaoAYN3CousenfFLZ1JP67yiYnuuRl_uB9BWBeNLi8GLhqKQkl4JMtvgzxWg91jJbbdDChNt3mKg7eccSpoQNksnw8AFtRUVn6YSqtbrs6SzQi0q/s1600/Dalia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZC1uc4d3PQaPLFlhWSz3yYxnAAIBXgaoAYN3CousenfFLZ1JP67yiYnuuRl_uB9BWBeNLi8GLhqKQkl4JMtvgzxWg91jJbbdDChNt3mKg7eccSpoQNksnw8AFtRUVn6YSqtbrs6SzQi0q/s1600/Dalia.jpg" /></a></div>
Just say it! That’s one of the bold red notes I got from a college teacher once. I’ve always been one of those who struggled to get my opinion out. It’s not that I didn’t have one. But I was taught that voicing an opinion was un-lady like. No, I did not grow up in the 19<sup>th</sup> century Antebellum South.<br />
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Want to make some money off of your passion? Dreaming of getting a personal essay published? Starting Monday, Los Angeles Times contributing op-ed editor Erin Aubry Kaplan,<b> </b><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#OPED"><span style="color: #042eee;"><b>will show you how to write an Op-Ed</b></span></a>, make your argument as strong as possible, and pitch it to the right editors. We love this class! And there's a huge market for getting Op-Ed's published--newspapers have to publish three per day, and there's at least one newspaper in every city!<br />
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<b>Classes Starting This Week/Next Week</b><br />
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#OPED">What Do You Think? Writing the Op-Ed or Cultural Essay</a></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#PUBLISH">Your Name In Print: Get Your Story Published<br />
</a><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#SOLO1NIGHT">One-Person Show Workshop (1 Night)</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOW">One-Person Show Workshop (6 Wk)</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><br />
<b>Journalism/Web Writing<br />
</b><a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#PE1DAY">You In 1200 Words: Writing and Publishing The Personal Essay (1 night)<br />
</a><a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#BLOG">Stuff I Like: Crafting An Irresistible Blog<br />
</a><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#TWITTER">#FameSuccessLove: Harnessing The Power of Twitter<br />
</a><a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#TRAVEL">Travel Writing</a></span></div>
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</a><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVELFLB">A Novel Approach (1 Day)<br />
</a><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#SHORTSTORY1DAY">Afternoon Delight: A Short Story Workshop (1 Day)<br />
</a><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#SHORTSTORY4WK">Writing and Publishing The Modern Short Story (4 Wk)<br />
</a><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#KNOCKOUTNOVEL">Addictive Fiction: Writing The Knock Out Novel<br />
</a><a href="http://writingpad.com/publishing.htm#AGENT">How to Hook an Agent</a></span></div>
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</a><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOWAM">One-Person Show Workshop (5 Wk)<br />
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<b>Writing Prompt:</b></div>
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As a child, I once told one of my aunts, who is pigeon-toed,
that she was beautiful but had "duck feet!” It
made for a good laugh coming from a 6-year-old, but over time, my opinions got
me into trouble. And how many of us got into trouble for loud-mouthed and rude
observations? As adults, we learn to better formulate and dispense opinions… one hopes.
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For this week’s writing prompt, make a list of three strong opinions you have (or had as a kid). Did
it get you in trouble? What did you learn? Include a specific detail (e.g. mom
grounded you; you went to bed hungry, a crowd applauded you, etc.). Now for 10
minutes, write about your experience, including the sensory detail. Then, post
your results in the comments of this blog!<br />
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Truth is I can recall more times I did not voice an opinion
than the times I did. I still struggle with speaking up, but less so. Now I mentor
younger cousins and opinions fall boldly from my lips. My cousin called me once because she was unsure of meeting a date. I told her to take it as a learning experience,
carefully giving her reasons why she should go. Over drinks, I talked to a
friend about international politics. He couldn’t have been more misguided and I
laid out my thesis while he finished his beer. Ironically, I yelled it out over
the loud music of the bar. Finally! I got to yell out an opinion.<br />
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<b>Now it’s your turn. Write about voicing your opinion, including a specific detail. Then post your story below. You could win a free writing class!</b></div>
Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-75716182266179081882013-10-02T14:43:00.002-07:002013-10-09T11:25:27.444-07:00Writing Prompt: First Literary Crush<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">By Dalia Martinez</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiyCDj-XulJNZxf0LmlG4IOj024n_0vLjnUja5w_CLgSBi0IG8LIcFGQ1IQSVGDBoe4TUkCm7crwQEWn_fdwAdLg_HCyaEZsE5UdOJDjtQ3iHRoBVocHb-bmAhHyaTRcZeARw5qJUU8s5B/s1600/Dalia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiyCDj-XulJNZxf0LmlG4IOj024n_0vLjnUja5w_CLgSBi0IG8LIcFGQ1IQSVGDBoe4TUkCm7crwQEWn_fdwAdLg_HCyaEZsE5UdOJDjtQ3iHRoBVocHb-bmAhHyaTRcZeARw5qJUU8s5B/s1600/Dalia.jpg" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He was in his early 40s. I was 15. It was 2 a.m., and my mom caught me enthralled with him. Atlanta was burning, Melanie was in labor and Scarlett had to get them out because the Yankees were coming. He stole a horse and got them out. I’d already fallen for Rhett Butler, in the library at “Twelve Oaks.” </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Gone With The Wind</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> was one of those “can’t put down” books and I spent a dry Southern California summer biting nails as I read about the Civil War through the rough-and-tumble romance of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A well-rounded character can make inspire strong feelings of</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> hate and love</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">. This Saturday, in </span><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL5WK"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A Novel Approach: Tackling The Long Format Writing Project</span></b></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">, award-nominated writer Lauren Strasnick shows you how to create characters so vivid, they pop off the page! She'll also help you craft a thrilling arc, irresistible dialog, and sizzling conflict. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
Once you have your novel done, you’ll need an agent. This Friday, October 4, join us for a lively discussion with <a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#PUBLISH"><b>literary agents</b></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> BJ Robbins of the BJ Robbins Literary Agency and Deborah Warren of the East West Literary Agency. You'll get a chance to ask questions about the publishing business and what agents look for. It's only $5 and includes all the sangria you can drink. Hope to see you there!</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL5WK">A Novel Approach: Writing The Long Format Writing Project</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/childrenyawriting.htm#EDIT">P</a></span></span><a href="http://writingpad.com/childrenyawriting.htm#EDIT"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ress the “Better” Button: Revision and Editing</span></span></a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><a href="http://writingpad.com/childrenyawriting.htm#PB5WK"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Marketable Picture Book (5 Wk)</span></span></a><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/creativewritingmultigenre.htm#LITMOJO">Writingpalooza: Find Your Literary Mojo</a></span></b><br />
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<b>Writing Prompt:</b><br />
<b></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I’d read “Romeo and Juliet” but Romeo wasn’t like Rhett. Romeo shopped at Bloomingdale’s and got pedicures on Saturday mornings. I liked Rhett’s rugged charms. Just my type of guy. At 15, he became my ultimate literary crush.</span><br />
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For this week’s writing prompt, tell us about your first literary crush. Who was it? Was he or she from a bodice-ripper you couldn’t put down? Or a literary classic that made you re-think every person you’ve dated? Use a sensory detail (e.g. a perfume your crush might wear, a culinary delight your crush might eat, weather your crush would live…). Now for 10 minutes, write about your literary crush, including the sensory detail. Then, post your results in the comments of this blog!</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In college, my friends and I compared literary crushes over fizzy peach-flavored wine coolers. Romeo was a popular crush among men and women. Others named ubiquitous characters from books I’d never heard of. “The guy who sells the basket on the road with the story about the witch.” Huh? No. The list went on and on.</span></span></div>
Since Rhett Butler, I’ve had more literary crushes. When I saw Gregory Peck as Atticus Fitch, I gulped bitter coffee and re-read <i>To Kill A Mockingbird</i>. Righteousness is sexy. Atticus would totally have a chance. Oh and remember the ULTIMATE lit crush of so many women (and some men)? Mr. Darcy? He made me swoon in ways even a real English man I dated could not make me swoon. In pop lit, I fell for Tom, the adopted son-turned-lawyer in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. I have a thing for studious types. I'll stop here. Now it’s your turn. </span></span><br />
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<b>Write about your first literary crush for ten minutes, including your sensory detail. Then post your story below. You could win a free writing class!</b>
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-16847979756552142392013-09-25T07:39:00.001-07:002013-09-25T07:39:44.821-07:00DC Pierson: A Literary Powerhouse Across The Genres<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">By Lorinda Toledo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">DC Pierson is the kind of guy who has talent coming out of his ears. He's known for his writing across genres, including: two novels, short stories, movies, stand up comedy, storytelling essays, and blog writing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He's also a writer and actor in the sketch comedy group DERRICK, whose film,"Mystery Team" premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. He has appeared on TV shows such as "Community" and "Weeds", various commercials, and movies both short and long. He is a member of The Upright Citizens Brigade's legendary Wednesday Night Brew Crew. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you've ever dreamed of finding the time to write on a regular basis and finish an essay, a webisode, a sketch or a short story, DC will help you find your literary mojo next <a href="http://writingpad.com/creativewritingmultigenre.htm#LITMOJO">Wednesday, Oct. 2 in his <b>Writingpalooza</b> class</a> at the Pad!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">DC took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to tell us how he does it all.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">You are a comedian, author, actor, director, and --uh -- rapper?! What did you get started doing first and how do they influence each other?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I've been writing in some form since I was a kid. I went to school for dramatic writing (plays, movies, TV). Doing sketch comedy in college led to me doing stuff at UCB in New York, and that led me to doing comedy in general.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Improv and sketch comedy are about taking a simple idea and asking "If THIS thing is true in this world, what else is true?" To me, any longer form of writing is just a larger application of that basic "if-that-then-what-else" principal.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8TEMvUEisqrVDElFNh9TUcuKAcsattg5oZqX2ijtPmzL304ic00OTVNv94qY4g5D6dwbyhLBeRE-mOAr3A6vLE3718EMx77IOMrQ-oUG-hz0I3ptWUpEMG0GF4c1YfIVkeUB4QxDR0gep/s1600/9780307474612.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8TEMvUEisqrVDElFNh9TUcuKAcsattg5oZqX2ijtPmzL304ic00OTVNv94qY4g5D6dwbyhLBeRE-mOAr3A6vLE3718EMx77IOMrQ-oUG-hz0I3ptWUpEMG0GF4c1YfIVkeUB4QxDR0gep/s200/9780307474612.jpg" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>You have two novels out, but you regularly post essays, poems, and short stories on your Web site. What is the advantage you see to publishing your work online?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When you've just finished writing something, it's nice to have that immediate "Hey! You wrote a thing!" feedback from people. That's impossible with a novel because traditional publishing takes so long, so having that more direct affirmation from your audience is a nice little hit of adrenaline to get you through the long slog of writing and publishing a longer thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">By putting short pieces out on my blog while I was in college (short stories, poems, and comedic essays), I ended up getting enough encouragement from my peers in the comedy community to try and tackle something larger, like a novel. I don't know if I would've tried even writing a novel without people saying "These short things are good -- you should do a longer thing!" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Your books both have fantastic premises--<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Couldnt-Sleep-Never-Vintage-Contemporaries/dp/0307474615/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373408142&sr=1-1">The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep And Never Had To</a> (Vintage Contemporary) is about a guy who never needs to sleep, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crap-Kingdom-DC-Pierson/dp/067001432X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373408608&sr=1-1">Crap Kingdom</a> (Viking) is about a guy chosen to be the ruler of a magical (and lame) kingdom. How do you come up with your ideas?</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBQo_s_2yk_r5dId75T46FTIwW2mKuHtAf6RvD0BEZJIeDm3peD2He2BNC8nc5w2Uz0JheqbLbbfPRku_ANLZf6oumt30BL4thk7-kwt346g5DMmgJFy7u2VCWnRALYLSYpLVxDt0yp3N/s1600/Book.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBQo_s_2yk_r5dId75T46FTIwW2mKuHtAf6RvD0BEZJIeDm3peD2He2BNC8nc5w2Uz0JheqbLbbfPRku_ANLZf6oumt30BL4thk7-kwt346g5DMmgJFy7u2VCWnRALYLSYpLVxDt0yp3N/s200/Book.png" width="131" /></a><br />
Like most people, I don't really sit in a chair and think "Okay, time to think of ideas." The spark of a premise will usually just come to you, either based on something that really happens to you or the simple occurrence of a "Wouldn't it be neat if..." type thought. What cements one of these premises for me as something that's actually worth writing a book about is if I can find some kind of emotional resonance in them beyond the whiz-bang sci-fi or fantasy premise.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crap-Kingdom-DC-Pierson/dp/067001432X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373408608&sr=1-1">Crap Kingdom</a></span></u> </i>is about a kid who finds out he's the Chosen One in a fantasy world, then finds out the fantasy world sucks, and so he declines the Chosen-One-hood. But when his best friend picks up that Chosen One mantle and seems to have a great time, he thinks "Hey, wait! I want it back!" and goes to great and terrible lengths to do so. I'd had the idea of "What if you were the Chosen One in a fantasy kingdom that sucked," but it wasn't until I realized I could transpose an experience I'd had dating a girl, breaking up with her, and then having her go out with someone else and suddenly wanting her back on to the fantasy premise that it felt exciting to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Getting laughs is your specialty. How do you amplify the comedy in your writing?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Comedy comes (at least in part) from contrast, and I really like contrasting very outsized experiences, particularly in the realms of science fiction and fantasy, with more everyday, mundane experiences. Making things feel more immediate, relatable, and human is something the novel form is really good for, because you get to spend a lot of time in the character's heads. So it's usually not that I'm trying to crank up the laughs so much as I think the more human a story feels, the more entertaining and relatable it is. And if it's funny in the bargain, that's great.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Your first book was geared toward adults (and ended up winning a YA award), while your second book is being marketing specifically as YA on Viking Juvenile. Was there a difference in the way you approached the crafting of these two books?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There was to a certain degree, in that when I was writing the YA book (<u>Crap Kingdom</u>) I wanted the narration to feel a little bit more like a fantasy story in the vein of <u>The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe</u>, just because the contrast between that and a real kid's mundane experience seemed interesting, and it suited the premise.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">You write books, screenplays, comedy and a blog. How do you prioritize your projects in a way that has enabled you to be so prolific?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I don't have a system. Often one thing is a distraction from something else, or some things I'm working on with a group and then I'll be working on a novel in my off time. At any rate, it's way more chaotic than it appears from the outside. Thankfully the reader (or viewer) doesn't see the work, they just see "here is a thing for me to read, or watch."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Has one project ever started in one medium, and then ended up in another?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Not really, though I am working on adapting my first book into a feature film, and working through the adaptation process with my screenwriting partners over the years has made it abundantly clear that it's more important to be faithful to the spirit of the book when adapting it into a screenplay than it is to be faithful to every single word and action. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>You perform sketch comedy with Upright Citizens Brigade. Do you find sketch comedy has helped your writing career?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Absolutely. As I said above, I really believe the idea that from one key artistic decision (what's ONE thing that's true in the world of my sketch / novel / movie) you can keep making decisions until the entire world is fleshed out. The idea of everything proceeding outward from one central premise is really something I learned doing sketch and improv.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Wow, thanks, DC! That was really inspirational.</span></div>
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Want to be a writerly powerhouse like DC? Lucky for you, he's teaching two sections of his popular class <a href="http://writingpad.com/creativewritingmultigenre.htm#LITMOJO"><b>Writingpalooza: Find Your Literary Mojo</b></a> in October. The first one starts Wed., Oct. 2. Sign up now! </div>
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-32333640640251832752013-09-24T15:06:00.001-07:002013-09-24T15:06:19.531-07:00Writing Prompt: Office Romance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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By Dalia Martinez</div>
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Peggy and Pete did it. Don and Megan did it. Joan and Roger did it. As for me? Guilty. For those who spend forty-plus hours dwelling in cubicles, workplace romances are not that unusual. Yes, they have potential for ending badly. But if it weren’t for these office disasters what would Mad Men’s world of advertising revolve around? Ads?! </div>
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Speaking of advertising… TBWA/Chiat/Day’s Lauren Smith is coming to the Pad. She's worked with companies like Kraft. She even got them to change the name of salad dressing! In her intro to copywriting class at Writing Pad, she will teach you how you can create your own copywriting masterpiece. If you’re considering making a career jump into advertising or you want to earn some money on the side for writing snappy ad lines, this class is for you!</div>
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And, if you've ever thought of turning your failed flings into a killer plot, join "500 Days of Summer" writer <a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#SPECTACULAR">Scott Neustadter and producer Tom McNulty</a> at Writing Pad this Friday, Sept. 27. They'll talk about indie filmmaking and their newest movie that’s garnered five-star reviews, "<a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_spectacular_now/">The Spectacular Now</a>." </div>
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Their latest film is based on a book that was a National Book Award Finalist. Sign up for one of these upcoming classes, and one day your writing could end up on the big screen, too!</div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#COPYWRITING">How to Make it in a World of Mad Men: Intro to Advertising/Copywriting</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL5WK" target="_blank">A Novel Approach (5 Wk)</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#BLOG" target="_blank">Stuff I Like: Crafting An Irresistible Blog</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#SOLO1NIGHT" target="_blank">One-Person Show Workshop (1 Night)</a></div>
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<b>Writing Prompt:</b><br />
<b></b>Maybe your hands brushed as he took your Swingline stapler. Maybe her perfume lingers at your desk a little too long. Considering the amount of time we spend at work, more than half our lives are shared with coworkers. Face it, workplace dating is bound to happen. Romance amid the cubicle maze is risky but common. </div>
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For this week’s writing prompt, make a list of three workplace crushes or romances you've had. Did you break rules? Pick one. Add a sensory detail (e.g. scented roses at your desk, the feeling of his fingers on your shoulders giving you an impromptu massage…). Now, write about your workplace romance for 10 minutes, including the sensory detail (smell, taste, sound, touch). Then, post your results in the comments of this blog!</div>
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Once, I dated someone from work. Let me be clear: he wasn’t my boss or even in my department. We just happened to work for the same company. But, I found out early on there are consequences to dating colleagues. We didn’t want anyone from work to find out- at least not for a while. While at work, we kept it friendly and created space so as not to arouse gossip. E-flirting was off company property. Ultimately, we broke up because we were incompatible. Although I was hurt, I didn't need to duck behind bushes or sprint into the bathroom when he was around because the break-up was friendly. That’s the key with workplace romances- keep it friendly. Be mature about it. Don’t let it blow-up into a Jerry Springer worthy break-up. But if it works, you’ll have a good story to tell the kids. </div>
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Now it’s your turn. <b>Write about your workplace dating experience for ten minutes, including your sensory detail. </b>Then post your story below. You could win a free writing class!</div>
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-47694989109697222592013-09-17T13:39:00.000-07:002013-09-17T13:40:28.024-07:00Lauren Smith: Copywriting Her Way To The Top<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQe4wa3iGt1dMouIxvDUyFO942Dy8wm_ZkW0-TglfMyb1ngB-3oMVAulZI_NkBgYTQlMC77dRs7GfcRSuXlNNwEVNma82HiMO1vP76QKkVi6Uw2diSJvx-FV7xknBei5e9-iw7hBoEs12m/s1600/LaurenSmithnew2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQe4wa3iGt1dMouIxvDUyFO942Dy8wm_ZkW0-TglfMyb1ngB-3oMVAulZI_NkBgYTQlMC77dRs7GfcRSuXlNNwEVNma82HiMO1vP76QKkVi6Uw2diSJvx-FV7xknBei5e9-iw7hBoEs12m/s200/LaurenSmithnew2.jpg" width="200" /></a>By Lorinda Toledo and Dalia Martinez<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2E_hdPDz4KeiXVNOv2hroRViWYBAn6yMsj0a7hwPkLeCKoE6k3IGSrvYGqQhCBLxJmYUJJ8sf68I82h4wINQvky-9JRtZqaXcy9_YwzqwwL3V2_hj_eoiYfVQRMjblJ74DThUZymtbZK6/s1600/Peggy_Olson_Don_Draper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a>Have you ever dreamed about ditching your boring day job and doing something creative for a living? Now's your chance!<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Lauren Smith is an Associate Creative Director at TBWA\Chiat\Day. She's worked on ads for some of the biggest brands in the world,
including Visa, Kraft, Southwest Airlines, and Samsonite, just to name a
few. <a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#COPYWRITING" target="_blank">Next Thursday</a> Sept. 26, Lauren shows you how you can do it too. Lauren was kind enough to share what it's like to be a real-life Peggy Olsen:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQCo3JnMZAjqR0wiwi-SygxqmMh4Vl4zdfkxuH268bkJKRZ3Uabcwu07qUPMGiKcrzuLeHIClA5rq8EsT_bzKqKvcpYBb3WLFCuN72U5F7QF6diW6eIF5zVwz8Eje6VAg7E62jolLI6_ia/s1600/la_color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQCo3JnMZAjqR0wiwi-SygxqmMh4Vl4zdfkxuH268bkJKRZ3Uabcwu07qUPMGiKcrzuLeHIClA5rq8EsT_bzKqKvcpYBb3WLFCuN72U5F7QF6diW6eIF5zVwz8Eje6VAg7E62jolLI6_ia/s200/la_color.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQCo3JnMZAjqR0wiwi-SygxqmMh4Vl4zdfkxuH268bkJKRZ3Uabcwu07qUPMGiKcrzuLeHIClA5rq8EsT_bzKqKvcpYBb3WLFCuN72U5F7QF6diW6eIF5zVwz8Eje6VAg7E62jolLI6_ia/s1600/la_color.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br /></span></a><br />
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<b>How did you break into a place like TBWA\Chiat\Day?</b></div>
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Hard work, good people and luck! Advertising, much like any industry, is based on who you know, the work you do and whether or not people like how you do on either one of those things.<br />
<b><br />How did you get Kraft to rebrand their salad dressing as "Anything Dressing"?</b><br />
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They initially came to us saying they wanted to change the way they did advertising. They wanted to start trusting their agencies instead of mandating to those agencies. And they also said that they wanted to win lions and make money. So they were looking for an idea like that changed things. We had the right idea and clients in the right mindset.<br />
<b><br />You say that you've worked long hours on ad campaigns for clients like Mandalay Bay and La-Z-Boy. How much time are you given to come up with ideas and copywriting?</b><br />
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That depends on the project and the client! I've had months to come up with some campaigns and I've had a matter of days with others. Some projects are quick, down and dirty. Some are big and important and stretch out over long periods of time. <br />
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Creativity to me doesn't work on time frames. But, because it's a business and not an art project, we have to work within the constraints given to us by the agency, the client, the media buy, the timing, etc. For instance, when I worked on Visa's sponsorship of the NFL in 2012, we were briefed on the project in May and had one week to come up with our "big idea" campaign. Then, we finessed, fine-tuned, collaborated with Visa, the NFL, the players and teams, found a director, shot, edited, and got on air by September. We had very strict deadlines because we needed to be up for kickoff, so the timeline worked backwards from there.<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></b>
<b>What's it like working with big clients like Nissan, Visa and Southwest Airlines? </b><br />
Big clients come with big stuff. Sounds obvious, but it's true. They come with big budgets, big expectations, big shots at the agency, big risks, etc.<br />
<br />
It can be really challenging. When you're doing a campaign that's going to have a lot of money behind it and a lot of eyeballs on it, there's a lot of pressure, internally at the agency and externally from the clients. That being said, you have the ammunition and the budget to make big ideas happen, so it can also be really exciting. <br />
<br />
<b>What are ad firms looking for?</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSteOQ4EXJ3uWFHCy_X-zDpCIwhTo2fzROB5IG1_ZcLVPBdCvk9xfIE0Mp4Trs0_4W09sc74eTmqKVHU5a9rJ5eJILYRBIyGB19l4sRsxvKUwKGtcfl95i3rDMlm-BCKgl3tASUZ7CbiX/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-02-11+at+5.02.25+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSteOQ4EXJ3uWFHCy_X-zDpCIwhTo2fzROB5IG1_ZcLVPBdCvk9xfIE0Mp4Trs0_4W09sc74eTmqKVHU5a9rJ5eJILYRBIyGB19l4sRsxvKUwKGtcfl95i3rDMlm-BCKgl3tASUZ7CbiX/s320/Screen+shot+2013-02-11+at+5.02.25+PM.png" width="246" /></a>That's a tough question to answer. Ad firms are looking for YOU, in your best and purest form. It goes without saying that ad agencies are looking for creative, interesting, driven, exciting, colorful people. <br />
<br />
What they don't always tell you is that advertising is a social place. It's competitive, and everything can change at the drop of a hat (or the drop of a client!), so you have to be the mastermind of your own destiny, and let people know you're doing it.<br />
<br />
The most important quality is that extra something - the je ne sais quoi. To make it as a creative, you have to have a good book. Check. But if you have a super successful blog, or a unique social media presence, or you worked as a photo journalist in Africa after college, or you had a previous career as a coal miner (that's my current partner! coal miner from Wyoming!) but designed logos on the side, they are going to look at you differently. So treat yourself - and your career - like you would a client. Build a personal brand, love that brand, and make the world love it too.<br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></b>
<b>What do you love most about copywriting?</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGMCpKzQhyphenhyphen6laLgWNaLs63oKAn1ihr206OT4Hf7jgJy6_1W3BhoiQsf85eeDTsolJKcnGbzvPob5gDf-IG5GEFOGHJQr6cHq9Mt51WMlU9tjzz-rXUHYdnkkyf_fERP9_bG5AkeWywefEy/s1600/peoplefrontdiecut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGMCpKzQhyphenhyphen6laLgWNaLs63oKAn1ihr206OT4Hf7jgJy6_1W3BhoiQsf85eeDTsolJKcnGbzvPob5gDf-IG5GEFOGHJQr6cHq9Mt51WMlU9tjzz-rXUHYdnkkyf_fERP9_bG5AkeWywefEy/s320/peoplefrontdiecut.jpg" width="231" /></a><br />
I love that I get to make things for a living. I love that my job is blasting cool music, putting my feet up on my desk, talking about ideas and then writing them. I love that I work with the raddest, baddest, maddest people around. I love that I can turn on a San Francisco 49ers game and see a commercial I made running. And then check twitter and just watch people talk about how they love it. I love that one day I'm in an animation house making stop-motion food dance and the next day I'm working with Academy Award-winning editors. The next day I'm watching a cool band play a private show for our agency on the basketball court. Yes, I also love that instead of conference rooms we have basketball courts, parks and bars in the office. And I love that they pay me to do all of this. <br />
<br />
<b>What are you currently working on?</b><br />
<br />
I've just finished a commercial for Pepsi's sponsorship of the NFL. I'm concepting a campaign for the 2014 Grammys. I'm working on a top secret new business pitch. <br />
<br />
<b>Can you give us a preview of what students will be learning in your copywriting class at </b><br />
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<b>Writing Pad?</b><br />
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We'll talk about the ins and outs of the industry. Like every business, it's deeper and richer and more interesting than you ever knew. We'll talk about career paths and how to start them.<br />
<br />
But more importantly, we will practice making ads. We will make ads, rip them apart, make some more, start over again, look at other peoples' ads, rip them apart, make them better, and then start it over again. This industry is about coming up with ideas, coming up with more ideas, and then waking up the next day and doing it again. And then we will work on how to sell those ideas, because if you have a great idea but can't sell it, you might as well not have had the idea at all.<br />
<br />
And most importantly, we're going to have a heck of a lot of fun. Not a day goes by when I don't have fun at work, and not a class should go by where you don't have fun as well<br />
<br />
Thank you, Lauren! We are pumped for your class, <a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#COPYWRITING" target="_blank">How to Make it in a World of Mad Men: Intro to Advertising/Copywriting</a> that starts next Thursday.<br />
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Writers, don't miss this opportunity. Only 2 spots left, so sign up now!<br />
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-4433085669931002372013-09-17T12:09:00.000-07:002013-09-24T14:04:05.648-07:00Writing Prompt: Getting Over Someone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMAj0f9VUtkdCp4lUVBlJy1vXOHPFdNxTMDap06cyhTMyZ1M95SHPQcP1qXAzmaQFV_ljE2avn3cGGx5Ia8u_X7_kUZJffiUmPFCbG4VpXCeHva8EhrM6R_UPbz_ox5WkZFsoH4hJej9z8/s1600/Dalia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMAj0f9VUtkdCp4lUVBlJy1vXOHPFdNxTMDap06cyhTMyZ1M95SHPQcP1qXAzmaQFV_ljE2avn3cGGx5Ia8u_X7_kUZJffiUmPFCbG4VpXCeHva8EhrM6R_UPbz_ox5WkZFsoH4hJej9z8/s1600/Dalia.jpg" /></a></div>
By Dalia Martinez<br />
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Summer's officially ending this week. It's okay if you're feeling nostalgic, remembering that first kiss at camp or maybe the summer your true love turned into your greatest heartbreak. Not all summer's are so easy to get over. In the movie "500 Days of Summer", Tom (played by Joseph Gordon Levitt) falls in love with Summer Finn (played by Zooey Deschanel). Scott Neustadter co-wrote the film based on a real-life relationship gone sour!</div>
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Next Friday, Sept. 27, <a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#SPECTACULAR">Scott and Producer Tom McNulty</a> come to Writing Pad for a fascinating conversation about indie filmmaking and their newest movie, "<a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_spectacular_now/">The Spectacular Now</a>."Join us for only $5 (includes sangria and snacks)! And if you haven't seen "<a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_spectacular_now/">The Spectacular Now</a>", go! It's so good, but don't just take our word for it, it got 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.</div>
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Also, if your love life is like a turbulent plane ride, now's the time to turn that walk of shame from 2004 into an irresistible <b><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#MEMOIR">memoir</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">!</span></b> Bestselling memoirist, Brett Paesel shows you how to write a relatable story that's more exciting than your favorite novel. Sign up for <a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#MEMOIR">Brett's class</a> and other wonderful classes on our roster this fall by clicking one of the links below. Please hurry. Classes are filling up!</div>
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We'll see you at Tony's Saloon <u>this Friday night</u> for <a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#DRINKS" target="_blank">Writers With Drinks</a>! It's free, and they'll be doing a special literary cocktail and pizza slices for us next door at Pizzanista.<br />
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<b>Classes Starting This Week</b></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#PE5WK" target="_blank">Writing and Publishing The Personal Essay (5 Wk)</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#MEMOIR" target="_blank">Memorable Memoir Bootcamp</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#SWBOOTCAMP" target="_blank">Dream It, Write It, Pitch It: Screenwriting Bootcamp</a> </div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#AGENT">How To Hook An Agent </a></div>
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<b>Creative Writing/Multi-Genre</b></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/creativewritingmultigenre.htm#LITMOJO">Writingpalooza: Find Your Literary Mojo</a></div>
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<b>Journalism/Web Writing</b></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#COPYWRITING">How to Make it in a World of Mad Men: Intro to Advertising/Copywriting</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#BLOG" target="_blank">Stuff I Like: Crafting An Irresistible Blog</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#TWITTER">#FameSuccessLove: Harnessing The Power of Twitter </a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#OPED">What Do You Think? Writing the Op-Ed or Cultural Essay</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#PE5WK" target="_blank">You In 1200 Words: Writing and Publishing The Personal Essay (5 Wk)</a></div>
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<b>Fiction/Memoir</b></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL5WK" target="_blank">A Novel Approach (5 Wk)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/childrenyawriting.htm#PBOOK1DAY">Marketable Picture Book (1 Day)
</a><a href="http://writingpad.com/publishing.htm#SELFPUBLISH">Do It Yourself: Get Your eBook Published</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#PUBLISH">Your Name In Print: Get Your Story Published</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#PUBLISH"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/childrenyawriting.htm#EDIT">P</a><a href="http://writingpad.com/childrenyawriting.htm#EDIT">ress the “Better” Button: Revision and Editing</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/childrenyawriting.htm#PB5WK">Marketable Picture Book (5 Wk)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/childrenyawriting.htm#PB5WK"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVELFLB">A Novel Approach (1 Day)</a><br />
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<b>Writing for Actors and Screenwriting</b></div>
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<b></b><a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#PILOT" target="_blank">Writing A Pilot That Can Fly (6 Wk)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#PILOT" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOW" target="_blank">One-Person Show Workshop (6 Wk)</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOW" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#SOLO1NIGHT" target="_blank">One-Person Show Workshop (1 Night)</a><br />
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<b>Writing Prompt:</b></div>
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In the movie "500 Days of Summer", it takes Tom several seasons to get over Summer Finn. This movie is based on Scott Neustadter's real life heartbreak. Scott has the right idea: one of the best ways to get over a break up, is to get even! Write about it!<br />
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For this week's writing prompt, tell us about how you got over heartbreak. Make a list of three relationships that went bad. Pick one. Now makea list of what you you did specifically to get over that heartbreak (e.g. started swing dancing every night of the week, TP'd his house, etc.). Add a sensory detail to it (smell, taste, sound, touch). Now write about your heartbreak remedy, including the sensory detail. Then, post your results in the comments of this blog!<br />
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It took a year to get over my male version of Summer Finn. "He did you a favor," my best friend repeated. Between tanning on hot beach days and drinking during late-night chats, her wisdom sank in. Sometimes, I just needed my mom to scratch my head while we watched a period piece. When I flew to the East Coast, I steamed up the kitchen windows cooking savory Sunday dinners with my boisterous cousins. These simple times ushered me past heartbreak. (And yes, a bounce-back boyfriend helped too.) After that disaster, I learned no heartbreak would ever be so monumental that I'd never move on. For the men who've broken my heart since, licking of perennial wounds has gotten easier.</div>
<b><br />Now it's your turn. Write about how you got over someone for ten minutes, including your sensory detail. Then post your story below. You could win a free writing class!</b></div>
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-73125388144889258032013-09-10T11:36:00.000-07:002013-09-10T11:36:17.285-07:00Writing Prompt: Your Inner Child<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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By Lorinda Toledo<br />
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Remember the fun times and big dreams you had when you were a kid?<br />
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Grown-ups don't get it, with all of their rules. Kids just want to have a good time. Sometimes this leads to riding bikes a little farther than you're allowed to, or tossing a bag of flour around the house, or refusing to eat broccoli, just on principal. <br />
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So get back in touch with your inner child! Take some time for yourself and do something that makes you happy--like writing!<br />
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This Sunday, Sept. 15, Sarah Maizes, shows you how to write a picture book ready for the bestseller list! Sarah is an award-winning children's book author and former William Morris literary agent. After taking her 5-week class, <a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#PICTUREBK5WK">Writing the Marketable Picture Book</a>, you'll have a completed draft of your book. You'll even get to test it out on a small audience of kids! There's only a few spots left, though, so sign up while you still can. <br />
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Check out these other opportunities to play with words at Writing Pad! Then scroll down for your free writing prompt. What could be more fun than that?<br />
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<b>Classes Starting This Week/Next Week</b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/childrenyawriting.htm#PB5WK" target="_blank">Writing The Marketable Picture Book (5 Wk)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#PUBLISH" target="_blank">Your Name In Print: Get Your Story Published</a><br />
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#SOLO1NIGHT" target="_blank">It's All About You: A One-Person Show Workshop (1 Night)</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK" target="_blank">Storytelling Plus (5 Week)</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOWAM" target="_blank">It's All About You: A One-Person Show Workshop (5 Wk Intensive)</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#FLASHFICTION4WK" target="_blank">Micro Short Stories: Writing and Publishing Flash Fiction (4 Wk)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#PE5WK" target="_blank">You In 1200 Words: Writing and Publishing The Personal Essay (5 Wk)</a> </div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#MEMOIR" target="_blank">Memorable Memoir Bootcamp</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#PILOT" target="_blank">Writing A Pilot That Can Fly (6 Wk)</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#SWBOOTCAMP" target="_blank">Dream It, Write It, Pitch It: Screenwriting Bootcamp</a> </div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#COPYWRITING">How to Make it in a World of Mad Men: Intro to Advertising/Copywriting</a> <br />
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#PUBLISH" target="_blank">The Secret To Getting Your Book Published</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#DRINKS" target="_blank">Writers With Drinks</a><b> </b></div>
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<b>Journalism/Web Writing</b></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#PE5WK" target="_blank">You In 1200 Words: Writing and Publishing The Personal Essay (5 Wk)</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#BLOG" target="_blank">Stuff I Like: Crafting An Irresistible Blog</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL5WK" target="_blank">A Novel Approach: Tackling The Long Format Writing Project (5 Wk)</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOW" target="_blank">From The Page To The Stage: A One-Person Show Workshop</a></div>
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<b>Creative Writing/Multi-Genre</b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/creativewritingmultigenre.htm#LITMOJO">Writingpalooza: Find Your Literary Mojo</a><br />
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<b>Writing Prompt:</b><br />
Ah, the innocence of childhood. Most of us are at our creative best when we're kids, before that inner critic has had a chance to develop in our heads.<br />
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When I was little, I once got in trouble after my Mom discovered the abstract art pieces I'd been making on the wall next to my bed. She just couldn't appreciate my brilliance in using ooey-gooey boogers as finger paints when I was supposed to be sleeping. I guess I can see now why she was a little upset.</div>
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For
this week's writing prompt, make a list of 3 times you got in trouble when you were a kid. Pick one. Add a sensory detail to it (smell, taste, sound,
touch).<br />
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<b>Write about that incident, making sure to include that
sensory detail for 10 minutes. It could be funny, poignant, sad -- anything you want. Then post your story in the comments below. You could win a free writing class! </b></div>
</div>
Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-10239403180230967062013-09-05T09:19:00.000-07:002013-09-05T09:20:28.589-07:00Iris Bahr: On Solo Peformance and Building a Career<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By Lorinda Toledo <br />
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Iris Bahr is a woman of many talents. She's a successful actor, writer, producer and director and a master of the stage, page and screen. Variety touts her performances, saying "Bahr has more voices at her command than a symphony orchestra has strings" and the Daily News proclaims that "Bahr demonstrates that smarts, talent and dramatic focus are a potent combination . . . the lady has more identities and accents than a cloned Merryl Streep. . .wickedly funny."<br />
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This September, she'll be teaching <a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm">two fantastic classes at Writing Pad</a>! Cue the lights and roll out the red carpet, because Iris will teach you how to create an unforgettable one-person show that could launch your career into the spotlight in her <a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#SOLO1NIGHT">one-night</a> and <a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOWAM">five-week</a> classes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhMQAeMc2HkEJlc37K4zBH_0j4FbNGOrekEpVahn_uRwwpYLsLBmBAi7XMhc_XADI42r_7B71JtHU2asq3t-hNNI_6C3EJOVu-67MsvbH1JEjicxZ1ss7-yeUrZeXbO6MaPCci3i6yyuVe/s1600/1339083982_svetlana-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhMQAeMc2HkEJlc37K4zBH_0j4FbNGOrekEpVahn_uRwwpYLsLBmBAi7XMhc_XADI42r_7B71JtHU2asq3t-hNNI_6C3EJOVu-67MsvbH1JEjicxZ1ss7-yeUrZeXbO6MaPCci3i6yyuVe/s320/1339083982_svetlana-poster.jpg" width="227" /></a>Iris is best known for her recurring role as Svetlana, the Russian madam and political consultant in a series of the same name that she wrote and produced for HDNet. Iris has also appeared on "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Her solo
show, "DAI (enough)" had an extended hit run Off-Broadway and won the prestigious Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Performance, (as well as 2 Drama Desk and UK Stage Award nominations for Best Performance and Sound Design).<br />
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She performed her show internationally, including at the United Nations. Her first solo show, "Planet America," received an LA Weekly nomination for Outstanding Solo Show and is currently in
development as a feature film. And as if that weren't enough, this wonder woman is the author of two humorous memoirs: "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dork-Whore-Travels-Twenty-Year-Old-Pseudo-Virgin/dp/1596912340">Dork Whore</a>" (Bloomsbury) and its sequel "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Machu-My-Picchu-Searching-America/dp/B008SLJLWG/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1">Macchu My Picchu</a>" (Skirt).<br />
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Iris took some time out to talk with us about her dynamic path to success.<br />
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<b>Solo performance is such a unique crossover of writing and performance. How did you find your way into the medium? </b><br />
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I began doing one-person shows due to my love for theatre combined with the desire to express myself through writing and playing parts that I would never get cast in. This made solo performance the perfect medium to both write and stretch myself as a performer.<br />
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<b>Do you have specific techniques for creating the entertaining characters that appear in your one-woman shows and your TV series "Svetlana"? How do you make sure that your characters feel three dimensional?</b><br />
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I always try to write from the heart and stay true to the character first. I enter the psyche of that character. If there is a real person that inspired that character, of course I implement aspects of his/her personality and physicality. I also spend entire days being the character -- whether it be driving the car, working in the backyard -- all these activities inform me about the character and inspire more writing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Iris Bahr with Larry David on "Curb Your Enthusiasm"</td></tr>
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<b>What inspires your shows and how do you develop that into full-length material? </b><br />
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My shows are inspired by autobiographical experiences, political events, relationships -- things that I want to explore, learn more about. Through my shows, I share my perspective on these events and experiences with others.<br />
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<b>You have written and starred in a hysterical TV series for Mark Cuban's cable network HDNet called Svetlana. How did you come up with the material for that </b><b>show?</b><br />
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I had been improvising as Svetlana on the street for little bits on the web. I then was invited by Marc Maron to do a weekly piece as Svetlana on his radio show, and then to KCRW to do a political commentary every week. I finally decided to write a pilot and shoot it myself. Marc Cuban saw it on "Funny or Die" and the next thing I know I was writing and producing two seasons of Svetlana for his cable network.<br />
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<b>You have published two comic memoirs, "Dork Whore" (Bloomsbury) and its sequel "Machu My Picchu" (Skirt). How does writing for print differ than writing for the stage? What do you think the qualities of a good memoir are? </b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT5TqyjE-5ZTn_cYRevUP9WLFdRnopDkZEy69WkKRLx48HFq212Kxq2prBksGGKTw_3fTBe8Ea24VcMCcxBSAGwa_D4FI2iX0YQzlfFfjVcV7LvhZSpPWzvYVWV-Z8INbXnwXJOSZj1Wbs/s1600/51ZYqsoKqpL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT5TqyjE-5ZTn_cYRevUP9WLFdRnopDkZEy69WkKRLx48HFq212Kxq2prBksGGKTw_3fTBe8Ea24VcMCcxBSAGwa_D4FI2iX0YQzlfFfjVcV7LvhZSpPWzvYVWV-Z8INbXnwXJOSZj1Wbs/s200/51ZYqsoKqpL.jpg" width="128" /></a>There is a lot more room to meander and play with style when writing a book. I think a good memoir has to be a combination of interesting life events, humor that at times is self-deprecating, life insights that stem from actual experiences, and vulnerability, which I think is the key to all good writing. <br />
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<b>What advice do you have for aspiring performers who want to start writing their own material?</b><br />
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Don't worry about being entertaining or interesting. Stay true to the character and his emotional arc.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRRTREmGwErLZUsCzd8rNDp6e85XasmceZtNBDCr6Bgx0WFuYk5FW-RrXM_-Z6tUGNjnsrfhpZwhOtwZL4RITmzdNXnH7jPL4ZRW4WqwuDHRov-wrvy1-hwm2dPtGak0pS330DlUmOLj2e/s1600/180778080-18074404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRRTREmGwErLZUsCzd8rNDp6e85XasmceZtNBDCr6Bgx0WFuYk5FW-RrXM_-Z6tUGNjnsrfhpZwhOtwZL4RITmzdNXnH7jPL4ZRW4WqwuDHRov-wrvy1-hwm2dPtGak0pS330DlUmOLj2e/s200/180778080-18074404.jpg" width="135" /></a><b>Though not the most obvious avenue in show business, solo performance has done fantastic things for your career. What types of opportunities have come to you through your one-woman shows? </b><br />
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People just got to know what I can do as an actor and a writer. I've been hired as a writer and gotten auditions based on people seeing my show.<br />
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<b>You are currently working on a film and you have a baby. How do you find time in your life to write and what is your writing practice?</b><br />
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I write in the evenings. I don't have a specific practice or method. Some days I can write for eight hours straight without getting up from my chair. Other days, I find it hard to focus and bounce in between several projects at once.<br />
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Thanks, Iris! You have inspired productivity in my muse. We can't wait for your class, <b>It's All About You: A One-Person Show Workshop</b> in downtown. There's a <a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#SOLO1NIGHT">one-night class on Sept. 15</a> and <a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOWAM">a five-week class starting Sept. 17</a>. And there's only a few spots left!</div>
Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-2783082315266473172013-09-04T03:48:00.000-07:002013-09-04T04:33:23.837-07:00Writing Prompt: Your Favorite Vacation Spot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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By Dalia Martinez<br />
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After traveling around, you've reached the conclusion that one place prevails above all others. Only you understand why Fort-de-France Bay during the late summer is where sand castle dreams are built. <br />
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Some of us are wired differently. Lounging like sand crabs on an exotic white sandy beach isn't appealing. But before you tell me I'm not right in the head, a few Writing Pad announcements. . .<br />
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Starting on Tuesday, Sept. 17, award-winning author Maureen McHugh (Publisher Weekly's Best Book of 2011, James T. Triptee award) teaches you everything you need to know about <a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#FLASHFICTION4WK">flash fiction</a>. Imagine writing your own super cool story that fits on a postcard. By the end of the class, you'll have a polished piece of flash fiction that is ready to be submitted for publication and a plan of where to submit it. Your goal will be to publish your story within a few months after the class ends!<br />
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Sign up for Maureen's class or one of the other wonderful classes on our roster this fall by clicking on one of the links below. Please hurry. Classes are filling up!<br />
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#PUBLISH" target="_blank">Your Name In Print: Get Your Story Published</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOWAM" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOW" target="_blank">From The Page To The Stage: A One-Person Show Workshop</a></div>
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<b>Screenwriting</b></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#PILOT" target="_blank">Writing A Pilot That Can Fly (6 Wk)</a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#SWBOOTCAMP" target="_blank">Dream It, Write It, Pitch It: Screenwriting Bootcamp</a></div>
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<b>Writing Prompt:</b><br />
This week Marilyn is on vacation in French Canada. She'll be back next week ending her sentences with "eh?" As for you, did you visit you favorite vacay spot this summer? Was it the Caribbean, Europe, Australia, Hawaii? Or maybe it was in the middle of a continent where you finally spent time away from humanity in a land far, far away. . .</div>
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For this week's writing prompt, make a list of 3 of your favorite vacation spots. Pick one. Add a sensory detail to it (smell, taste, sound, touch). Now write about that place and time making sure to include that sensory detail. Then, post your results in the comments of this blog!<br />
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While gameshow contestants hope for a prize that includes 7 days and 6 nights outside of the US, some of us prefer home as our vacation spot. Adventure seekers like myself often end up taking "vacations" in places where people live on less than one dollar a day. These are the places the Center for Disease Control warns you about eating street food or brushing your teeth with local water.They're often in very hot and humid environments. Capitals are muggy with black smog from dense out-of-control traffic. Trash bakes on the streets as smells of rotting debris fill your lungs. You have to keep your wits about you--even when lounging on the beach. Skirmishes between political factions could erupt at any moment. These are the places that I usually end up on "holiday." They build character and test my endurance. That's why home (Los Angeles) is my favorite vacation spot. It's the one place on Earth I can relax on my version of a real vacation. </div>
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<b>Write about your favorite vacation spot for ten minutes. Then post your story below. You could win a free writing class! </b></div>
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-27476451451745627922013-08-29T10:23:00.001-07:002013-09-04T03:30:41.633-07:00Maureen McHugh Talks Flash Fiction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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By Lorinda Toledo</div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maureen McHugh is best known for her short stories, but her resume is long. She has written two collections of short stories and four novels, including “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312860986/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1931520291&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1RT5DKJB80E6A81S2ESN">China Mountain Zhang</a>” which was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula award and won the James Tiptree, Jr. award. Her latest short story collection, “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/After-Apocalypse-Maureen-F-McHugh/dp/1931520291">After the Apocalypse</a>” (Small Beer Press), was one of Publishers Weekly's 10 Best Books of 2011. It was the only short story collection to win the award.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This September, Maureen brings her expertise to Writing Pad in a <a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#FLASHFICTION4WK" target="_blank">flash fiction class</a>. Learn the art of telling a complete story in 1,000 words or less and leave this 4-week series with a ready-to-publish piece.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maureen took the time to answer some of our questions about this increasingly popular literary form.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Many people may not be familiar with the term flash fiction. What is it and where is it typically published?</b></div>
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Flash fiction is a really really short story. The lengths vary (the most extreme may be six word stories (<a href="http://www.sixwordstories.net/"><span style="color: #0000e9;">http://www.sixwordstories.net/</span></a>) but the average length is about 1000 words. A page of double-spaced story is usually about 250-300 words long, so we’re talking an entire story in less than four double-spaced pages.</div>
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Flash fiction is concentrated, intense fiction. It often feels a little like a poem because when you have so little space, word count matters so the words have to work.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What do you consider the most important element for a great piece of flash fiction or any short story for that matter?</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3jLPOg2AbJp_DmfWBBTVKF9tBUyT46AJ_UtXJO1M_kOhKoFNH_UeqALpqG6yb5KNTtPJADcAItJH7A0f6dW4r0Va6rdoa2P8jUSPTr1JO5WElGeLRO2aXBPFaa24CEUA01cw5cwx-Kx1W/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3jLPOg2AbJp_DmfWBBTVKF9tBUyT46AJ_UtXJO1M_kOhKoFNH_UeqALpqG6yb5KNTtPJADcAItJH7A0f6dW4r0Va6rdoa2P8jUSPTr1JO5WElGeLRO2aXBPFaa24CEUA01cw5cwx-Kx1W/s320/images.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="206" /></a>The most important element is ‘does it evoke emotion in the reader?’ And the emotion shouldn’t be frustration (as in, ‘I don’t get this,’ or ‘This doesn’t feel like enough.’) Flash fiction often startles the reader into strong emotion.</div>
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The most famous of those six word stories (attributed to Hemingway although there’s evidence that it’s been around longer) does exactly that: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." It’s the last two words that turn the story, that make it <u>sad</u>.</div>
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There are a lot of places that publish flash fiction—many of them online. They range from literary to genre—places that publish science fiction or romance, for example.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You've written two collections of short stories and four novels. How does your short-form writing inform your long-form writing and vice versa?</b></div>
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That’s a difficult question. Three of my novels started as short stories. But for the most part, short stories feel different from novels. They’re more contained. I’ve been asked to turn a short story into a novel and my reaction is usually that I can’t. What’s there is there and it’s done what it needs to do. In fact, writing short stories sometimes makes it hard to write novels. I like to wrap things up and novels do just the opposite.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A lot of your writing is under the fiction umbrella. How often do real life people and events inspire your work and how do you translate that into fiction?</b></div>
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When I first started writing, almost none of my fiction had autobiographical elements to it. Now much of my work does—although they are almost never strictly autobiographical. I recently sold a story called “Dead Fads” about a girl who is going to art school and working in a bar. The story feels autobiographical to me even though I never went to art school or worked in a bar because underneath that is that feeling of being twenty-something and terrified that I was supposed to be making my life into something and I might be going in the completely wrong direction. It’s emotional autobiographical. I’ve also shaved the serial numbers off of real places and even my husband and used them in a story. Especially places. I like using real places.<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">You are about to teach a Flash Fiction bootcamp at Writing Pad. Can you give us a preview of some of the things that you might cover?</b></div>
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The nice thing about this little writing course is that we’ll write a couple of flash fiction pieces and then revise and polish one and when the class is done, everyone will have to submit it to something for publication. Because it will be done! A complete finished piece!</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">At Writing Pad, we're always curious about writing routines. Tell us about yours.</b></div>
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Over the years it has varied a lot. I don’t write every day but I probably write several thousand words a week. Sometimes that’s a freelance job. Sometimes it’s my own project. I like having a writer’s group so when I moved out here to LA I started a little one. My apartment is very small so I write on the dining room table. I write my first drafts on a computer. When it’s time for dinner I have to clear the table and put everything in the bedroom.</div>
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Thanks, Maureen! That was so helpful and interesting. We can't wait for your class <a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#FLASHFICTION4WK" target="_blank">Micro Short Stories: Writing and Publishing Flash Fiction (4 Wk)</a> starting Sept. 17th in Westwood.</div>
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-4922002116711212102013-08-27T09:19:00.004-07:002013-08-27T09:19:45.195-07:00Writing Prompt: Embarrassing Moments<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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By Dalia Martinez<br />
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No! I can't! It's too embarrassing. You'll never see me in the same light. What? You really want to know? For the sake of this blog (and for your eyes ONLY) I'll tell you about one of the most embarrassing moments ever.<br />
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But, before I do, a couple of Writing Pad announcements. . .<br />
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This September, we want you to get published! How about that? Here are two classes that will help you do just that. Successful freelance journalist Margaret Wappler (who has already helped five students sell essays, including one 15 essay series for xoJane), is teaching a five week <a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#PE5WK">Personal Essay</a> class, and Maureen McHugh (Best Book of 2011) is teaching a <a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#FLASHFICTION4WK">Flash Fiction Bootcamp</a>. Both of these classes are designed to help you get a short piece published right after you finish the class! Sign up before these classes are full.<br />
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And now, you can scroll down for your writing prompt. I can't wait to see what you come up with.<br />
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<b>Fiction/Memoir</b></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#FLASHFICTION4WK" target="_blank">Micro Short Stories: Writing and Publishing Flash Fiction (4 Wk)</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#MEMOIR" target="_blank">Memorable Memoir Bootcamp</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#PUBLISH" target="_blank">Your Name In Print: Get Your Story Published</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://writingpad.com/childrenyawriting.htm#PB5WK" target="_blank">Writing The Marketable Picture Book (5 Wk)</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL5WK" target="_blank">A Novel Approach: Tackling The Long Format Writing Project (5 Wk)</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVELFLB" target="_blank">A Novel Approach: Mastering The Long Format Story (1 Day)</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b>Writing for Actors</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#SOLO1NIGHT" target="_blank">It's All About You: A One-Person Show Workshop (1 Night)</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#SOLO1NIGHT" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK" target="_blank">Storytelling Plus (5 Week)</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOWAM" target="_blank">It's All About You: A One-Person Show Workshop (5 Wk Intensive)</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOWAM" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOW" target="_blank">From The Page To The Stage: A One-Person Show Workshop</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b>Screenwriting</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#PILOT" target="_blank">Writing A Pilot That Can Fly (6 Wk)</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#SWBOOTCAMP" target="_blank">Dream It, Write It, Pitch It: Screenwriting Bootcamp</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;">
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXCjlskWmZXX0odk19bywxf1X459GKl4FgQF2YM-cdkvnoq08jGaxoTpl2irz4twD4AhsNVK4XF9F1vtt5MkWE9SwEx4tlXJ3tLzEZ3BTDHD1u52ZhVRVwrcrkV-9mjvyfgAeQesMRck1x/s1600/embarrassing-moment-615x461.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXCjlskWmZXX0odk19bywxf1X459GKl4FgQF2YM-cdkvnoq08jGaxoTpl2irz4twD4AhsNVK4XF9F1vtt5MkWE9SwEx4tlXJ3tLzEZ3BTDHD1u52ZhVRVwrcrkV-9mjvyfgAeQesMRck1x/s320/embarrassing-moment-615x461.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<b>Writing Prompt: </b><br />
<br />
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They happen at the worst times- embarrassing moments. They could involve bodily functions, a loss of equilibrium, wardrobe malfunctions. . . Marilyn visited her family this past weekend in Chicago, so this prompt is inspired by her visit (as family can often create many embarrassing moments). </div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Make a list of 3 embarassing moments you've experienced (either with your family or alone). Pick one. Add a sensory detail to it (smell, taste, sound, touch). Now write about that embarrassing moment for 10 minutes, making sure to include that sensory detail. Then, post your results in the comments of this blog!</div>
<br />
And now it's time for me to share my embarrassing moment. So here it is. I got trapped inside a bathroom at a wedding. It was the only bathroom at an intimate ceremony held at an apartment in Los Angeles. Fearing the embarrassing moment of being caught on the toilet by a stranger I made sure the door was locked. Really locked. I turned the 1940s bolt till it couldn't turn anymore. My skin stung from pushing through the layers of paint turning the circular button. Safe and secure I peed, washed my hands, touched up on the mirror. I turned the same bolt in the opposite direction, but it wouldn't budge! I took a towel to grip it. Nothing. I tried my dress. Nothing.<br />
<br />
By now, people were pounding on the door." Hurry up!" I was too embarrassed to fess up to locking myself in. A child's voice screamed to his mother, "I have to pee!" I sweated like a freight train was coming towards me. The bride's voice crept from the other side of the door. The reception had halted. People asked what was going on. I gripped that bolt every which way I could. In the end, I punched out the screen and got out through window. The darn bolt just didn't move.<br />
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b>Write about an embarrassing moment for 10 minutes. Then, </b><b><b>post your story below </b>and you could win a free writing class!</b></div>
</div>
Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-90863036360250344172013-08-23T14:59:00.000-07:002013-08-23T15:14:21.266-07:00Brian Finkelstein: The Art of Telling A Good Story<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By Lorinda Toledo<br />
<b> </b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1VUOSkb_jUHF0BH9GrRbeGwo7Mn3OVZoO5U018SoJOsIdSpM_GbTWS0R1PJfFIXjyGonjNyfE7jStjwGa7UVA6KHL0lvw4S8ynLGcuYQiuaaCGWv1R7BBvr2RCFKd1Ndvy3lQ_SZ3WpEd/s1600/finkelstein_brian2-300x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1VUOSkb_jUHF0BH9GrRbeGwo7Mn3OVZoO5U018SoJOsIdSpM_GbTWS0R1PJfFIXjyGonjNyfE7jStjwGa7UVA6KHL0lvw4S8ynLGcuYQiuaaCGWv1R7BBvr2RCFKd1Ndvy3lQ_SZ3WpEd/s200/finkelstein_brian2-300x300.jpg" width="200" /></a>Brian Finkelstein knows how to tell a story so good it makes the audience laugh, cry and hang on his every word.<br />
<br />
This September, <a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK" target="_blank">Brian returns to Writing Pad</a>
in one of his popular classes to teach you how to tell a story that
will garner a great stage show or just make you the most popular person
at parties.<br />
<br />
Brian received an Emmy nomination for his writing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. He is a regular performer at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre, where he is currently performing his<a href="http://brianfinkelstein.com/" target="_blank"> one-man show</a>. He also tours and hosts with The Moth, and has performed solo shows in a variety of venues from the HBO/US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen to the 2012 Summer Nights Festival in Perth, Australia. And his screenplay, Good Grief is being produced by 72 Productions. He also has a story in the new "<a href="http://themothbook.org/books/the-moth">The Moth-50 True Stories</a>" book along with Malcom Gladwell and A.E. Hotchner.<br />
<br />
He was gracious enough to take a few minutes to tell us a little bit about how he launched his writing career and what he's learned:<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixMybx28jOQHeaYtHY3YKEKRpT029F8QxpkGzo9oTq0O9WOHJUXfmRt1TsYDMuHDAEMEsuCsam30i9tD86VPjSbJOh2nKwyKHAtzTD2iyAuO3R9ssi1DSRpLFXiOT2gCWQk_6_jWIud_AZ/s1600/SHOW+PIC+EMAIL+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixMybx28jOQHeaYtHY3YKEKRpT029F8QxpkGzo9oTq0O9WOHJUXfmRt1TsYDMuHDAEMEsuCsam30i9tD86VPjSbJOh2nKwyKHAtzTD2iyAuO3R9ssi1DSRpLFXiOT2gCWQk_6_jWIud_AZ/s320/SHOW+PIC+EMAIL+-+Copy.jpg" width="320" /></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></b>
<b>Storytelling is not the most obvious avenue in show business, but it's done great things for your career. Tell us how storytelling has opened unexpected doors for you.</b><br />
<br />
The first Moth I did, I met a friend who was a successful TV writer/producer and she introduced me to agents. At the same time, I got into a festival in Aspen, CO that was sponsored by HBO, which led me to meet other people and agents.<br />
<b><br />You were nominated for an Emmy for your writing on "Ellen" and you also do stand up. How does your TV writing and comedy background inform your storytelling and vice versa? Does anything about screenwriting structure influence you?</b><br />
<br />
I did stories first and then got into TV writing. When I wrote for “Ellen,” her style of comedy tends to be stories, so it worked well for that. But when you learn the mechanics of structure for those formats, you develop the ability to do whatever you want.<br />
<br />
I like screenwriting structure. It has that three act structure and I really enjoy that. I really enjoy hitting the marks at certain times in stories – a beginning, a middle, and an end – that’s what screenplays are. <br />
<br />
<b>You are not only a master storyteller, you've performed a number of one-man shows. How do you take your storytelling essays and expand them into full blown shows?</b><br />
<br />
I think it’s the other way, actually. I have my ideas for shows, and then I figure how to tell them in stories. Any good story can be told in five minutes, or a half hour. If it’s a good story, you should be able to do both. A good way to know if you have a good story if that if you can’t tell it in five minutes, it’s probably not a story. And if you can’t tell it in a half hour its probably also not a good story; it’s probably just an anecdote.<br />
<b><br />What types of experiences make for good storytelling?</b><br />
<br />
I guess it depends, but I would say big life moments. Everybody has a bunch of things happen to them, and I think anything can be a good story if it’s interesting to you.<br />
<br />
Sometimes you just have to accept it when something’s not a good story. If the audience doesn’t react to it and I’ve tried it three times, I just accept that it’s not a good story. I think most people intuitively know what’s a good story. Sometimes, it’s a way of trying to make something very specific come across more universally so people can relate to it.<br />
<br />
Anything can be high stakes if it affects you emotionally. If something seems small, you have to explain to the audience why it’s not small to you so that it becomes universal. You have to raise the stakes; you have to be more emotional to make people care about it.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQFtlzCIIGQgbRFo-vxjmJP-hRTHcgfyZXMroA9MYt94vEwfCeVqzeaZwtMFyox4YET9MZNdr4XRQfrrpbtrubN3ZylkmGfBfUuNEyR8c4NRvGW0Q4iKdKn_8HPGlJNMqeHaJed5NhCB2s/s1600/Brian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQFtlzCIIGQgbRFo-vxjmJP-hRTHcgfyZXMroA9MYt94vEwfCeVqzeaZwtMFyox4YET9MZNdr4XRQfrrpbtrubN3ZylkmGfBfUuNEyR8c4NRvGW0Q4iKdKn_8HPGlJNMqeHaJed5NhCB2s/s320/Brian.jpg" width="320" /></a><b>Of the stories you tell on stage, what's your favorite and why?</b><br />
<br />
I don’t have one favorite. I know which ones do well, which ones shock people, which are better for older people and which are better for young people. I like whatever the audience reacts to. Sometimes it's not the one I want to tell, but it’s the one the audience reacts to.<br />
<br />
I’m a narcissist. If the audience applauds or laughs then I like it. I think that’s what everyone wants, right? Otherwise, why do it?<br />
<br />
<b>What do you think is the most important element for hooking an audience?</b><br />
<br />
Telling the truth. I think that if you’re honest, you can rope people in.<br />
<b><br />In your upcoming 5-week class, you'll teach students your methods for 1) Structuring engaging stories, and 2) Crafting vivid stories out of small, seemingly insignificant events. How did you come up with your storytelling methodology?</b><br />
<br />
I don’t think that I came up with it. I just listened to a lot of stories and realized that I don’t care about some stories or the storyteller sometimes didn't seem to care about his story.<br />
<br />
There are ways to tell a small story that make it seem bigger. Other people rely on a really big story and don’t craft it well. Those are the two things I think people have the hardest time with, and that’s why I chose to work on that.<br />
<br />
Once you know how to use good details, then you can throw the structure away, because then you know how to tell a great story.<br />
<br />
Thanks, Brian! This was fascinating. We're looking forward to your class, <a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK"><b>Storytime Plus: A Performed Essay Workshop (5-WK)</b></a>. It begins Sept. 16. Students will get to finish two storytelling essays and perform one at a fun story-telling performance. Storytellers, snag your spot now! <br />
<br />
And don't forget to check out Brian's hysterically funny <a href="http://losangeles.ucbtheatre.com/shows/view/3499"><b>one-man show</b></a> at UCB on Thursday, August 29th. We recommend that you get your tickets now because the last three shows sold out.</div>
Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-4959851666894406792013-08-19T22:42:00.000-07:002013-08-29T10:20:58.078-07:00Writing Prompt: Good Party Stories<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3_a7nMxXNxfTscjKPsUyLT4lCQ9YTYJUyhdcMhh-1ud1rmawJWA4HpiNc-cCl7p5k1OG7FvCYXU10SBH5eRd9b5p2o8FTLzaRysA1E4L7okNQ4lsELQsAh4QNRskqkXgYWlBiOe33qQmn/s1600/Dalia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3_a7nMxXNxfTscjKPsUyLT4lCQ9YTYJUyhdcMhh-1ud1rmawJWA4HpiNc-cCl7p5k1OG7FvCYXU10SBH5eRd9b5p2o8FTLzaRysA1E4L7okNQ4lsELQsAh4QNRskqkXgYWlBiOe33qQmn/s1600/Dalia.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Meet Dalia, WP Event Manager</b></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By Dalia Martinez<br />
<br />
Summer’s almost over! School’s around the corner and pretty soon you’ll be bragging about where you got those sexy tan lines. Before you unpack those suitcases (come on, it’s been three weeks already!) we’re asking you to do some writing for this week’s prompt. Don't worry, it's a fun one.<br />
<br />
And before we have a little Writing Pad hiatus of our own till the beginning of September, we have two fantastic events coming up this week to keep those story ideas sparking in your heads. This Wednesday night, Marilyn is performing an essay at <b><a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#TABOO" target="_blank">Taboo Tales</a></b>, one of the best storytelling shows in LA. Also, Emmy-nominated <b><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK" target="_blank">Brian Finkelstein's</a></b> 5-week storytelling class is having a <b><a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#STORYTELLINGESSAY" target="_blank">Storytelling Essay Showcase</a></b> on Thursday at Writing Pad DTLA at 8 p.m. for free! Entertainment and laughter are guaranteed. The students are very talented and Brian is always a hysterically funny host.<br />
<br />
This week's writing prompt is inspired by our writing for performance classes in September. You won't want to miss award-winning actor and writer Iris Bahr's (Curb Your Enthusiasm) <b><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#SOLO1NIGHT" target="_blank">one-night solo-show class</a></b> on Monday, Sept. 9th. Iris will help you find your literary mojo and start crafting a solo-show that will leave the audience breathless! <br />
<br />
Also, Brian Finkelstein's next 5-week <b><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK" target="_blank">storytelling class</a> </b>on Monday nights starts Sept. 16. You'll finish two storytelling essays and get to perform one! Marilyn just finished taking this class and loved it. It's a ton of fun, and you'll learn so much about the structure of storytelling and how to craft sympathetic characters. It'll help you with any genre of writing: essay writing, writing for performance, fiction, etc.<br />
<br />
Below is what we have planned for you so far this fall (and this week). We hope to see you soon and that you enjoy the rest of your summer.<br />
<br />
<b>Writing Pad Events</b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#TABOO" target="_blank">Taboo Tales</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#STORYTELLINGESSAY" target="_blank">Storytelling Essay Showcase</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#ISSARAE" target="_blank">Hot, Black, and Literary: A Conversation With Erin Aubry Kaplan, Issa Rae, Percival Everett</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#PUBLISH" target="_blank">The Secret To Getting Your Book Published</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#DRINKS" target="_blank">Writers With Drinks</a><b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>Journalism/Web Writing</b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#PE5WK" target="_blank">You In 1200 Words: Writing and Publishing The Personal Essay (5 Wk)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#OPED" target="_blank">What Do You Think? Writing the Op-Ed or Cultural Essay</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#BLOG" target="_blank">Stuff I Like: Crafting An Irresistible Blog</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#BLOG" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#COPYWRITING">How to Make it in a World of Mad Men: Intro to Advertising/Copywriting</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Fiction/Memoir</b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#FLASHFICTION4WK" target="_blank">Micro Short Stories: Writing and Publishing Flash Fiction (4 Wk)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#MEMOIR" target="_blank">Memorable Memoir Bootcamp</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#PUBLISH" target="_blank">Your Name In Print: Get Your Story Published</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/childrenyawriting.htm#PB5WK" target="_blank">Writing The Marketable Picture Book (5 Wk)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL5WK" target="_blank">A Novel Approach: Tackling The Long Format Writing Project (5 Wk)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVELFLB" target="_blank">A Novel Approach: Mastering The Long Format Story (1 Day)</a><br />
<br />
<b>Writing for Actors</b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#SOLO1NIGHT" target="_blank">It's All About You: A One-Person Show Workshop (1 Night)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#SOLO1NIGHT" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK" target="_blank">Storytelling Plus (5 Week)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOWAM" target="_blank">It's All About You: A One-Person Show Workshop (5 Wk Intensive)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOWAM" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOW" target="_blank">From The Page To The Stage: A One-Person Show Workshop</a><br />
<br />
<b>Screenwriting</b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#PILOT" target="_blank">Writing A Pilot That Can Fly (6 Wk)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#SWBOOTCAMP" target="_blank">Dream It, Write It, Pitch It: Screenwriting Bootcamp</a><br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<b>Writing Prompt: </b><br />
Make a list of three stories you always tell at parties (e.g. a really bad date, the time that you thought you were gong to die on vacation, a crazy drinking tale). Pick one. Now add a sensory detail to the story (e.g. smell, taste, sound, touch). Write about your good party story for ten minutes, including the sensory detail and post your results in the comments of this blog!<br />
<br />
Allow me to illustrate…<br />
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There was a time I camped at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Was it the river water or seafood? I didn’t know what idiotic thing I had consumed. I was enjoying an otherwise beautiful African summer day. But something in my stomach went wrong. Very, very wrong. I spent hours upon hours in the campground bathrooms perched next to a toilet that reminded me of prison movies. The bathroom had no windows, the stalls had no doors and I didn’t care about the mysterious water puddles on the filthy concrete floor. I was so consumed with my own workings I wasn’t bothered by other bathroom smells. I rested my sweaty and achy head on the cold walls. After two weeks of tanning, my cheeks were a balmy white. Blue-balled monkeys loitered and I SWEAR one of them pointed at me in my state of disgrace. I nearly died. Well, it felt that way…<br />
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Even the most careful, seasoned, five-star traveler is susceptible to Delhi Belly, Montezuma’s revenge, riots, rough planes rides… etc. <b> </b><br />
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<b>Write about time you almost died on vacation or did something really stupid under the influence for 10 minutes. Then, </b><b><b>post your crazy party story below. </b>and you could win a free writing class!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span></b></div>
Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-45149341664601648172013-08-09T10:53:00.001-07:002013-08-10T11:41:22.152-07:00Writing Prompt: Strange Characters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">By Marilyn Friedman and Alana Saltz</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">We can't believe that it's the middle of August already! Don't forget that we still have some great classes to help you keep moving forward on your writing projects this summer. We've listed the classes that we have left for August and our Fall classes that we have planned so far below. Sign up before they are sold out!</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This week's writing prompt is inspired by the crazy characters in our lives.</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you've got a character you're itching to write a longer work about, be sure to check out Robbie Fox's </span></span><a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#MiniSW"><span style="color: #053bee; text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Mini Screenwriting Bootcamp</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> class this Monday and James Scott Bell's </span></span><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL1DAY"><span style="color: #053bee; text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Novel Writing</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> class on August 18th. And scroll down for your free writing prompt!</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Also, we hope to see you this Wednesday, August 14 for </span></span><a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#DRINKS"><span style="color: #053bee; text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Writers With Drinks</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">! It's free and is a great way to make new literary friends. Plus, The Fat Dog is a beautiful gastropub with delicious food that you will definitely want to check out. See you soon!</span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Classes August 10-19</span></span></b></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#PILOT"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Writing A Pilot That Can Fly (Weekend Intensive)</span></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#MINISW"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Mini Screenwriting Bootcamp</span></span></a></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL1DAY"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Addictive Fiction: Writing The Knock Out Novel</span></span></a></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELLING"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Storytelling Bootcamp</span></span></a></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Fall Classes</span></span></b></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELL5WK"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Storytelling Plus</span></span></a></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#FLASHFICTION4WK"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Micro Short Stories: Writing and Publishing Flash Fiction (4 Wk)</span></span></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#PE5WK"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You In 1200 Words: Writing and Publishing The Personal Essay (5 Wk)</span></span></a></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#OPED"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What Do You Think? Writing the Op-Ed or Cultural Essay</span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#ONEPSHOW"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">From The Page To The Stage: A One-Person Show Workshop</span></span></a></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Crazy Eyes on "Orange Is The New Black" is an Intriguing but Unusual Character</span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Writing Prompt:</span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Interesting characters are one of the most important elements of any type of writing, whether it is a novel, memoir, poem, or screenplay. But it can be challenging to develop a character who is both unique and believable.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For this prompt, make a list of three strange people you've known. It could be a friend, neighbor, coworker, or relative. Write three traits/characteristics that make this person strange or unique. Be specific. Does this person have a funny way of speaking? Does he have an unusual hobby or job? Does he have a weird quirk or habit? Pick one. For 10 minutes, write a story that involves this strange person and the trait that makes them unique. Post your story in the comments of this post, and you'll be entered into our July/August contest to win a free one-day writing class!</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For example, Marilyn is obsessed with "Orange Is The New Black." Crazy Eyes is one of the most unusual characters on the show. She makes up love songs for the main character, Piper, and pees on the floor in front of her cell to show her that she is her property. She acts like a thug in prison, but in contrast to who you might think she is, Crazy Eyes comes from an upper middle class family and is obsessed with Shakespearean style acting. This quirky character inspires some fun story lines in the show. Also, Alana had a friend back in high school who inspired characters in several of her stories. He was an eccentric young man who liked to collect road kill and explore the sewers of Los Angeles. Pretty strange, eh?</span></span></div>
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-83364027008525160112013-07-31T09:57:00.002-07:002013-07-31T09:57:54.469-07:00Writing Prompt: Favorite Summer Destination<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We're winding down for the summer, but we still have a few fantastic classes and events to engage your creative brilliance this summer. Scroll down for your writing prompt. Hope to see you soon! I'll be posting the September classes shortly. Keep writing!</div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></b><b>Classes/Events Starting August 4-12</b><br />
<b></b><a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#BLOG" target="_blank">Hello World, Welcome To My Blog</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#BLOG" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#PILOT" target="_blank">Writing A Pilot That Can Fly (Weekend Intensive)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#PILOT" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#MINISW" target="_blank">Mini Screenwriting Bootcamp</a></div>
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<b>Other August Classes/Events</b><br />
<b></b><a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#DRINKS" target="_blank">Writers With Drinks</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#DRINKS" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL1DAY" target="_blank">Addictive Fiction: Writing The Knock Out Novel</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL1DAY" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELLING" target="_blank">Storytelling Bootcamp</a></div>
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<b>Writing Prompt: </b>One of the best parts about summer time is the long-awaited summer vacation. We all have our own favorite summer destinations - those places we daydream about all year long, eagerly anticipating a visit.<br />
<b><br /></b>Make a list of three places you've visited during the summer. Be specific (e.g. Zuma Beach, Wisconsin Dells, Ft. Lauderdale). Pick one. Add a specific detail that you remember about this place (e.g. Harry's
Fish Shack where they have the best shrimp tacos, the Spanish moss covered
Haunted Victorian house). For 10 minutes, write a story that involves this place and include the specific detail. Post your story in the comments of this post to be entered into the July/August contest for a free class.<br />
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For example, Alana's stepmother has family in Northern Ireland, so she's gone there on vacation a few times in the summer. She stays in a village along the coast called Glenarm. Her favorite spot there is a beautiful wooded stream just down the cobblestone main road with a view of Glenarm Castle. The tiny town has two pubs, one cafe, and no restaurants or post office. It's quite a contrast to Los Angeles!<br />
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<b>What's your favorite summer destination? Write about it for 10 minutes, and you could win a free one-day writing class!</b></div>
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-89799892219840366092013-07-17T23:59:00.000-07:002013-07-17T23:59:12.816-07:00Exploring the Real Within the Surreal with Francesca Lia Block<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Award-winning author Francesca Lia Block knows novels.</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">She has published over 30 ground breaking novels—postmodern, magic-realist tales that transport readers to the unfamiliar within the familiar, the real within the surreal.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">If you're interested in writing a bestselling novel of your own, Francesca is offering a special one-day </span><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVELLONGFORM" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Novel Writing</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> class next Saturday, July 27! She'll share fun brainstorming exercises that take the pain out of coming up with a plot for your book. You'll leave the class with inspiration, an outline, some great scenes, and a brainstorming toolkit that you can apply to flesh out future novel ideas.</span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Francesca was kind enough to take time to answer some questions about her writing process and what inspires her. </span></span></b><br />
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</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">You've written over 30 novels. Can you talk a little about what your brainstorming process is like and how you've been able to generate so many ideas? </span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I usually combine my life experience with a myth, fairy tale, current event, etc. I am inspired by people, locations, music and art. The process is akin to collage--layering different disparate elements that fascinate me.</span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Setting (specifically, the city of Los Angeles) plays a big role in your novels. How can writers utilize setting to enhance their stories? </span></b><br />
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"I think of setting as a character. Los Angeles is a character in many of my books. Setting is also a way to express conflict directly through action (a dramatic event taking place during a storm, for example) or symbolically through description (using tense, terse language and dark imagery to describe a landscape to foreshadow a dramatic event). Lyrical and tension-laden description of setting can be a great tool to move the story through time. In other words, if you want to skip over a few months, you could summarize using setting.<br />
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Here's an example from the book I'm working on now:"Spring moved into summer like a child resentfully becoming an adolescent, mortified by sweat glands, acne and pubic hair. The excessive heat we'd had in April was worse and set everyone on edge. The air smelled flammable, gasoline prices and unemployment jumped again, fires still raged through the canyons, murder rates went up. At Body Farm, I switched back and forth between the news (explosions, fires, floods, tornadoes, rapes, shootings) and, when it got too depressing, reality shows, which sometimes made me equally depressed, if in a very different and ludicrous way."<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">You utilize magical realism in your novels. Do you have techniques for tapping into the surreal side of your imagination and for surprising your readers?</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The key word is surprise! I try to surprise myself as I write, to scare, shock and delight myself. I like to look at magic as a metaphor for real emotions and events.</span></div>
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</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbmR27fFHAD6k_ej1U-olHA7W5ZsIIhsL50wBgjodll8ehlK9oiQflJ0wQcv3Gyd46Xc4D16fTeQhhPnXtMWyqZh2Wgp24eosVLjBixIFB22_hIynjqis7EDobqnUetc1aBWt2Itf0k-6t/s1600/tumblr_lniyf5tOd51qf5bw1o1_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbmR27fFHAD6k_ej1U-olHA7W5ZsIIhsL50wBgjodll8ehlK9oiQflJ0wQcv3Gyd46Xc4D16fTeQhhPnXtMWyqZh2Wgp24eosVLjBixIFB22_hIynjqis7EDobqnUetc1aBWt2Itf0k-6t/s320/tumblr_lniyf5tOd51qf5bw1o1_400.jpg" width="207" /></span></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">If you could give advice to your younger self, what would the accomplished author tell the aspiring first-time novelist? </span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Dear Little flb (Francesca Lia Block),</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Follow your heart, passions, and obsessions, don't be devastated by harsh reviews but try to learn from them, share your work with a trusted few first, read a lot and widely, develop a writing community, write daily, get an MFA if possible.</span><br />
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</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Here at Writing Pad, we're obsessed with process. Tell us about your writing routine.</span></b></span></b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"></span></b></span></b>I have two kids so my schedule revolves around them. I also teach quite a lot. I write whenever I can, usually daily unless doing a teaching or promotional intensive but I don't have a strict schedule. The writing is usually a pleasurable escape/stress reliever and I seem to be able to get it done without having to put aside specific hours to do it.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Thanks, Francesca! We can't wait for your </span><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVELLONGFORM" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Novel Writing</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> class next weekend.</span></div>
Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-13093836780370003282013-07-17T23:50:00.000-07:002013-07-23T22:29:53.988-07:00Writing Prompt: Funny Dating Stories<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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By Marilyn Friedman and Lorinda Toledo<br />
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We're so excited! <a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#SEXY" target="_blank">A Night of Sexy Stories at Writing Pad</a> is almost here! Join us for an evening of hilarious tales about love, relationships, and sex performed by writers who are also successful actors!<br />
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DC Pierson ("Community," "Weeds"), Lauren Weedman ("Hung", "The Five Year Engagement"), Annabelle Gurwitch (Host of "Dinner and a Movie", "Fired"), Brian Finkelstein (Host of "The Moth"), Jeff Kahn ("The Ben Stiller Show"), and Iris Bahr ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") are performing! Plus, we'll be serving
special summer-themed cocktails and snacks. What could be sexier than that?<br />
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Scroll down for your writing prompt and to check out our upcoming classes. Hope to see you soon!<br />
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<b>Classes Starting July 21-25</b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#MININOVEL" target="_blank">Mini Novel Writing Bootcamp</a><b><a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#MININOVEL" target="_blank"> </a></b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#OPED" target="_blank">What Do You Think? Writing the Op-Ed or Cultural Essay</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#FLASHFICTION" target="_blank">Micro Short Stories: The Art of Flash Fiction</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#FEATURE" target="_blank">You've Been Featured: Writing The Mini-Feature or Interview</a><br />
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<b>Writing Pad Events</b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#DRINKS" target="_blank">Writers With Drinks</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/events.htm#SEXY" target="_blank">A Sexy Summer Night At Writing Pad</a><br />
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<b>Other Journalism/Web Writing Classes</b><br />
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<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#BLOG" target="_blank">Hello World, Welcome To My Blog</a></div>
<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#TRAVEL" target="_blank">From Cheng Du to Timbuktu: A Travel Writing Workshop</a> <b> </b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/journalismpeweb.htm#TWITTER" target="_blank">#FameSuccessLove: Harnessing The Power of Twitter</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#PE4WK" target="_blank">You In 1200 Words: Writing and Publishing The Personal Essay (5 Wk Intensive)</a> <br />
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<b>Other Fiction/Memoir Classes</b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVELLONGFORM" target="_blank">A Novel Approach: Mastering The Long Form Story</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/childrenyawriting.htm#STORYKIDS" target="_blank">It's Story Time: Storytelling For Kids</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#BOOKPUB" target="_blank">Get Your Book Published</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#SHORTSTORYREBOOT" target="_blank">Short Story Reboot: Rescuing Your Crashed Creation</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL1DAY" target="_blank">Addictive Fiction: Writing The Knock Out Novel</a><br />
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<b>Other Writing For Actors Classes</b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/playwritingactors.htm#STORYTELLING" target="_blank">Storytelling Bootcamp</a><br />
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<b>Other Screenwriting Classes</b><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/screenwriting.htm#PILOT" target="_blank">Writing A Pilot That Can Fly (Weekend Intensive)</a><br />
<a href="http://writingpad.com/classesbydate.htm#MINISW" target="_blank">Mini Screenwriting Bootcamp </a><br />
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<b>Writing Prompt: </b>Going on dates can seem like an exercise in embarrassment. We've all tripped and fallen, dribbled red wine on our white clothes, or passed gas at an inopportune moment. And even after you're in a relationship, there's still plenty of opportunities to humiliate yourself -- or end up laughing at your blushing beau!<br />
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Make
a list of 3 dates or moments in your relationship when something embarrassing, crazy or funny happened. Pick one. Add a sensory detail
(smell, taste, sound, touch). Now, write for 10 minutes about this funny incident. Make sure to
include the sensory detail and post your story in the comments of this
blog to be entered into the July/August comment contest for a free class!<br />
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Although it was not funny in the moment, Marilyn is going to write about the man who will be forever known as Valentine's Day Killer in her dating history book. He not only neglected to buy her even a card for Valentine's Day, he mauled this once happy, romantic holiday by getting hysterical when confronted and begging her to go with him to his shrink so she could explain why he was such a thoughtless jerk.</div>
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<b><b>What is your embarrassing date or relationship story</b>? Write about it for 10 minutes, and you could win a free class!</b></div>
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Writing Padhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08457445478510415827noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5444599588527265649.post-5679231779817217822013-07-10T11:02:00.003-07:002013-07-10T11:02:55.297-07:00From Trial Attorney to Bestselling Author: James Scott Bell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So you wanna write a novel? Great! Set yourself up for success by learning from master craftsman James Scott Bell.</div>
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Not only has James written numerous thrillers – including <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deceived-James-Scott-Bell/dp/0310269040" target="_blank">Deceived</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Try-Dying-Novel-Ty-Buchanan/dp/1599951983" target="_blank">Try Dying</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Watch-Your-Back-ebook/dp/B004MYH0MG" target="_blank">Watch Your Back</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/One-More-Lie-ebook/dp/B005QR9F1C" target="_blank">One More Lie</a>, and the Mallory Caine series – but he's also the #1 bestselling author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Plot-Structure-Techniques-Exercises-Crafting/dp/158297294X" target="_blank">Plot and Structure</a>. His career has been a melding of this two passions: writing and law. First, he <span class="s1">attended the University of California, Santa Barbara where he studied writing with Raymond Carver, then he graduated with honors from USC law school and went on to write over 300 articles and several books for the legal profession. </span></div>
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James has served as the fiction columnist for Writer's Digest magazine, to which he frequently contributes, and has written four craft books for Writer’s Digest Books. A former trial lawyer, James now writes and speaks full time, but fortunately, he took a time-out of his busy schedule to answer a few of our burning questions.<br />
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If you want to study with James at Writing Pad, he'll be teaching a one day class <a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL1DAY" target="_blank">Addictive Fiction: Writing The Knock Out Novel</a> on Sunday, July 14 and Sunday, August 18.</div>
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<b>What sparked your transition from trial attorney to full-time writer?</b></div>
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I sort of flowed into it. When I went into practice for myself, I had more time to try writing. When I got a five book contract, things grew from there. I was able to stay connected to the law by writing a law book, which I still keep up, but fiction writing became primary. </div>
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<b>You're the author of the Mallory Caine zombie legal thriller series. What are the crucial elements for keeping readers engaged in a series?</b></div>
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The lead character, of course. I wanted Mallory to be unique--a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer who just happens to be undead. Of course, some people contend all lawyers are undead, but I protest. </div>
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<b>Were your thrillers <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deceived-James-Scott-Bell/dp/0310269040" target="_blank">Deceived</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Try-Dying-Novel-Ty-Buchanan/dp/1599951983" target="_blank">Try Dying</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Watch-Your-Back-ebook/dp/B004MYH0MG" target="_blank">Watch Your Back</a></i>, and <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/One-More-Lie-ebook/dp/B005QR9F1C" target="_blank">One More Lie</a></i> inspired by true events? If not, can you tell us where you find inspiration for your story ideas?</b></div>
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<i>Try Dying </i>came from a news item I read years ago that haunted me. I kept the clipping. A man shot his wife in LA, drove to a freeway overpass, then shot himself. He fell 100 feet to the freeway below and hit a car, killing the driver. That's where <i>Try Dying</i> begins. <i>Deceived</i> popped into my head with a 'what if' question. What if someone found a load of stolen diamonds and somebody wanted them back? <i>Watch Your Back</i> was me wanting to do a James M. Cain style story. And <i>One More Lie</i> started a great opening chapter I thought up. Then all I had to do was figure out the rest of the story.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMLutpb5_ZGoooFVWPZiCmh5OvY-WYJIQSRt-aWLF_AiZXc-PEGFgyH20uShik62NVL1plYQACzrnaKQtRGv1wRrvI9pzA0nq3KLHBueTcgfZXSRvPwXida7aB5bX-5J9s1bLQu6X3dzT/s216/art-of-war-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMLutpb5_ZGoooFVWPZiCmh5OvY-WYJIQSRt-aWLF_AiZXc-PEGFgyH20uShik62NVL1plYQACzrnaKQtRGv1wRrvI9pzA0nq3KLHBueTcgfZXSRvPwXida7aB5bX-5J9s1bLQu6X3dzT/s1600/art-of-war-cover.jpg" /></a><b>You've written FOUR books about craft – <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Plot-Structure-Techniques-Exercises-Crafting/dp/158297294X" target="_blank">Plot and Structure</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Revision-Self-Editing-Publication-Transforming/dp/1599637065" target="_blank">Revision and Self-Editing for Publication</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Writers-Strategies-Exercises/dp/1582975906" target="_blank">The Art of War for Writers</a></i>, and <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Fiction-Writing-Conflict-Suspense/dp/159963273X" target="_blank">Conflict & Suspense</a></i>. What's your #1 tip from each?</b></div>
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From PLOT: Make sure your Lead character is forced into the struggle of Act 2. I call this going through "the doorway of no return."</div>
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From REVISION: Write hot, revise cool.</div>
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From ART OF WAR: You will understand the business of writing best if you understand that the parties are in this to make money.</div>
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From CONFLICT: Trouble is your business. Make more of it.</div>
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<b>In your one-day class at Writing Pad, you'll be teaching everyone about your L.O.C.K. system for writing a novel. Can you tell us a little bit more about that and how you came up with it?</b></div>
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I was trying to learn to plot, to figure out the basic elements that worked every time. I came up with LEAD, OBJECTIVE, CONFRONTATION and KNOCKOUT ENDING. I wrote this up as an article for Writer's Digest magazine, and it proved so popular I wrote a book around it, <i>Plot and Structure</i>. If a writer gets these elements right, she will never write a weak story. From there, you build into unforgettable.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihS8p2Uz_QUgCekFTSRzckwVx7kE5cKTNxWt0wGwHxXt86e2P_AHTw4oHQbUtqzqM-sSsiViVrYMLzwHxAxXWKHftcH4hNdcRewD_W_3mhJfjnDjSkbl9uq31xTkUO93uH36RMiJwUiyuj/s475/jamesscottbell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihS8p2Uz_QUgCekFTSRzckwVx7kE5cKTNxWt0wGwHxXt86e2P_AHTw4oHQbUtqzqM-sSsiViVrYMLzwHxAxXWKHftcH4hNdcRewD_W_3mhJfjnDjSkbl9uq31xTkUO93uH36RMiJwUiyuj/s320/jamesscottbell.jpg" width="237" /></a><b>Here at Writing Pad, we love to learn about different writers' routines. What's yours?</b></div>
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Get the coffee going and write early. I try to do a "nifty 350" before I do anything else. If I get those 350 words down right away, the writing day goes much more smoothly. I currently aim for 6000 words a week, taking Sunday off. I do this weekly, because I may have to miss a day for some reason, and can make it up on other days. I use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my words. I edit the work I did the previous day, then press on.<br />
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Thanks, James! That was helpful and very interesting. We can't wait for your <a href="http://writingpad.com/FictionandMemoir.htm#NOVEL1DAY" target="_blank">Addictive Fiction: Writing The Knock Out Novel</a> class this Sunday, July 14 and Sunday, August 18!</div>
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