Tool-books for Writers 2001
Tool-books for Writers 2002

Vol. 1, Issue 1, September 2001

This was our very first issue of the Gazette. Pressed for time, we didn't so much write reviews on tool-books that month as list some for consideration. But these are both books worth having on your shelf.

FOR WRITERS ONLY by Sophie Burnham

Sophie Burnham has collected the thoughts of the greatest writers and laced them with her own observations and experiences of the writer's life.

With an emphasis on the emotions that writing wrings from those who practice it, Burnham writes about beginning a work prematurely, the ecstasy when the writing is really flowing, the crash that can follow the flight and how to pick yourself up and continue.

Purchase For Writers Only

BEGINNINGS, MIDDLES & ENDS by Nancy Kress

Get your stories off to a roaring start. Keep them tight and crisp throughout. Conclude them with a wallop.

Is the story or novel you've been carrying around in your head the same one you see on the page? Or does the dialogue suddenly sound flat and predictable? Do the events seem to ramble? Translating a flash of inspiration into a compelling story requires careful crafting.

The words you choose, how you describe characters, and the way you orchestrate conflict all make the difference between a story that is slow to begin, flounders midway, or trails off at the end, and one that holds the interest of readers and editors to the final page.

Purchase Beginnings, Middles & Ends (Note: This link takes you to Writers Digest Books, where you'll need to enter this book title in their Search box).

Vol. 1, Issue 2, October 2001

EVERY PAGE PERFECT ~A Full-Size Writer's Manual for Manuscript Format and Submission~
by Mary Lynn
Reviewed by Milli Thornton

I've had Mary Lynn's book on my shelf for several years now and I wouldn't be without it. Who wants to wade through boring instructions on how to set out your manuscript when there are visuals available? Mary Lynn provides the layout for everything from query letters to cover sheets.

This manual is required and supplemental text in several universities, colleges, and schools around the country. Mary Lynn has impressive writing and teaching credentials, but I also know her through the pages of SOUTHWEST SAGE, the newsletter of the SouthWest Writers, where she writes a regular column called MARKETS. Mary Lynn can be emailed at: mary@writerscenter.com.

Purchase the 1997 Edition at Amazon.com: Every Page Perfect (Note: Get the 4th Edition direct from the author for $19.95 and free S&H: Mary Lynn, EVERY PAGE PERFECT, 6 Burke Loop, Silver City NM 88061)

JUMP START YOUR BOOK SALES
by Marilyn & Tom Ross
Reviewed by Milli Thornton

You often hear the term "wealth of information" in book reviews. I'm going to add to the flagrant overuse of that term by using it here because it fits so well. In fact, this book almost kills you with information. If you have a self-published or print-on-demand book, by all means, make this part of your marketing library. But take it in small doses and beware of overwhelm.

Promoting your own book is an intensive, challenging, time-consuming career unto itself. If you're just getting started, you need to go through the process of finding out what works for you. When I first got this book I did not yet know what worked for me. I thought I was supposed to cover every angle. As I began to read this book, a panic arose in me:

"There are all these markets to cover and I'm just one person!"

But over time I settled into my own style and found what is enjoyable and comfortable for me. JUMP START YOUR BOOK SALES can help by laying out the myriad of marketing options. It's your job to be discerning with those options.

Puchase Jump Start Your Book Sales [When you get to spannet.org, click on "Books at 20% off" in the left menu.]

Vol. 1, Issue 3, November 2001

WRITING TREATMENTS THAT SELL: HOW TO CREATE AND MARKET YOUR STORY IDEAS TO THE MOTION PICTURE AND TV INDUSTRY
by Kenneth Atchity and Chi-Li Wong
Reviewed by Milli Thornton

Like many people, I would someday like to write for the movies. OK, so where do you start? Do you go buy some hot screenplay software and let the machine do the formatting for you while you go wild with the movie inside your head?

No, you learn how to write a treatment. The treatment is your sales tool in Hollywood but it is also an excellent way to bring your story into focus. Imagine communicating your enthusiasm for a movie that you love to your best friend. That's what you get to do in a treatment--as long as you follow the formula that the "players" (Hollywood deal makers) want to see.
This book makes everything clear, from how to write a treatment to where the markets are to how to protect your work. Will this book inspire you to write for the movies? After reading this 220-page gem, I wrote two complete treatments and got down my notes and/or opening scenes for three more.

To read a sample chapter, WHO ARE THE BUYERS?, see a sample script, find out the answer to "What is a treatment?" and buy the book, go to A.E.I., click on Bookstore, then at the top of the page, click on KEN ATCHITY'S BOOKS [top right].

THE OBSERVATION DECK: A TOOL KIT FOR WRITERS by Naomi Epel
Reviewed by Milli Thornton

When Epel tried to create a workbook/dream journal for writers, she realized she couldn't ask others to do what she cringed away from herself. She could not bring herself to write in bound journals or workbooks for fear of making a mess. She wanted to give writing assignments that people would actually do.

Her Jungian background led her to think in terms of cards to prompt the subconscious and THE OBSERVATION DECK was born. The deck is fifty 3x5 cards, each turning up a single word or phrase designed to trigger you into creativity. As Naomi says in the companion handbook, "The cards relieve you of the anxiety of having to constantly decide what to do next."

Does her method work? Despite the usual feelings of resistance at doing an exercise, I have used the cards to write a story about a spy disguised as a refreshments boy plus a page of dialogue between a warring couple. Both ideas came to me from my subconscious when I pulled a card.

The cards haven't helped me with my bigger issues (how to find the time to write; how to find the discipline to avoid petering out with a journaling method after a brief, productive fling) but I can attest to the main thing: These cards inspire.

Purchase The Observation Deck

Vol. 1, Issue 4, December 2001

ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT
by Stephen King
Reviewed by B. J. Apostol

Reading, or better yet, listening to the audio version of ON WRITING is like having the King of Horror as your personal writing coach. This book brings the man behind the stories up close and personal. The first section follows his writing life from childhood through first major publication, CARRIE, and beyond.

The second shifts to the writing process itself, and by then King has made us as comfortable with him as a close friend sitting across from him in a diner. I eagerly wait for an answer when he asks himself, "What's it all about, Stevie?" He doesn't let me down.

From a 'writer's toolbox' of basics, to the first commandment of writing--"Read a lot, write a lot"--King shares thoughts on editing, workspace, structuring a writing day, finding an agent and getting published. He explains narration, dialogue and description. And what about plot, I ask? Forget it, he encourages. Plotting and creativity are incompatible--allow your stories to be as spontaneous as real life and see where they go. He even gives a writing assignment.

King says writing offers "more doors than one person could ever open in a lifetime." I say, thanks--I'd better get busy.

Purchase On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

B.J. APOSTOL is a single mother of two employed as a webmaster/graphic designer in San Diego, California. She breeds and shows purebred dogs, but her three cats claim to rule the house. She's had several non-fiction articles published, recently completed a horror novel and is at work on a second.

HOW TO PUBLISH YOUR ARTICLES: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO MAKING THE RIGHT PUBLICATION SAY YES by Shirley Kawa-Jump
Reviewed by Milli Thornton

When I decided to branch out into article writing, I had the notion that querying would be hard and that editors would be resistant to me (a newbie) because they already have dependable material from writers with established bylines. Even though there is some truth in these perceptions, after working with this excellent book I no longer dwell on the obstacles.

Kawa-Jump starts with the basics: understanding your goals. Brilliant in its power to demystify, Chapter One anticipates all of the reasons why a writer might want to publish articles and then helps you get realistic about yourself and the marketplace. Far from being a lesson in eating humble pie, I found this section to be priceless.

The author then takes you by the hand and walks you through the marketplace, covering every nook and cranny--from the sublime (refereed academic journals) to the heavyweights (syndicates) to the homely (small newsletters).

That was Section One. I stopped reading there because I couldn't contain my excitement for another page. I proceeded to draw up a realistic goal sheet based on Shirley's wisdom. I wrote a simple first article and aimed it low but true: right where I knew almost without a doubt I would be accepted. The editor of the small niche newsletter accepted my article by email two days after I wrote it. Two and a half weeks later, the newsletter arrived with my article on the front page. Not only that but I was paid $15 for it.

The surge of confidence gained by having instant success from a baby step such as this is powerful medicine. All this from the first 62 pages of Shirley Kawa-Jump's book! Our policy is to road test the tool-books we review so I'll be reviewing the rest of this book in a 2002 edition of the Gazette. Look for Shirley as a guest in our chatroom early in the New Year (tentatively scheduled for Feb. 27)

Purchase How to Publish Your Articles

Fiction Reviews
Tool-books for Writers 2002


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