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Dear [FIRSTNAME],
I am sorry there was no newsletter last week. I
was busy with getting a project completed,
looking for new material and so on. I'm back on
track now.
If you're taking part in this year's NaNoWriMo
(effectively, writing a novel in one month) this
November, you might find the book I've listed
above ('Finish Your Novel') helpful.
As usual, there is a lot to read: new
interviews, new stories from our columnists and,
also, a new review. I will,
therefore, not take up much of your time.
Here's to your storytelling success.
Aneeta Sundararaj
editor@howtotellagreatstory.com
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ARTICLES FOR STORYTELLERS |
Confident Writing
You know how, when you’re watching a speaker, you can tell if he or she is nervous? There are those tell-tale signs: trembling hands and voice, lack of eye contact, perspiration, twitches, lots of "ummms," and a myriad of other idiosyncratic gestures and signs that show he or she is not fully at ease in front of an audience.
Did you know that I can spot those same tell-tale signs in your writing?
If you’re not completely confident in your skills as a writer, and in what you’ve written in particular, there are warning signs that can tip off an editor or reader. I find them in query letters all the time, and, to a lesser extent, in articles and stories themselves.
The first tip-off? Stilted language.
Stilted language is formal and proper. It employs big words when small ones would suffice just fine. It "sounds" canned and over-prepared.
To
read more,
please
click here ...
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 A Malaysian Storyteller - interview with Amir Muhammad
Excerpts ...
Amir:
It's Malaysia's first queer anthology, and is a compilation of original creative writing on the gays, lesbians, transsexuals and transgendered folks of Malaysia. We even include bisexuals, who might normally just be considered slutty rather than worthy. I'm happy that it came out so well, so kudos to the hard-working editors Pang Khee Teik and Jerome Kugan! It includes some of the best writers in Malaysia, such as Shih-Li Kow and Brian Gomez. But due to its subject-matter, it is only in limited release in Malaysia.
To
read more,
please
click here ...
If you would like to be interviewed for this
column, please send an email to
editor@howtotellagreatstory.com
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 What can you do?
Excerpts ...
“What can you do? How many times have you been asked that question? But you never gave it any serious thought going by your usual answer: “Well, I am good with figures, and the computer especially, Word Perfect and Excel. Good answer, but how result oriented is it?
If you were in a job interview offering this answer, you are off target. You have not told a good short story of what you can do. Those assessing your suitability for the project or job may simply stare at you, or shake their heads mildly, no nodding. And this is clearly a non verbal indication that they are not satisfied with your answer.
They asked that question to determine the application and benefits of your training, strength, experience, talent and skills. But you were not affirmative in your answer. They wanted to know, what you can do, how you can do it, and the results you can achieve. Instead of stressing what you can do and the results you can achieve, you were dwelling on who you are.
To read more, please click here.
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INVADING SPACES: THE WARRIOR WAY
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 The Magician Paulo Coelho
Excerpts ...
Paulo Coelho rarely needs an introduction, one merely says ‘The Alchemist’ and it is clear who we are talking about. The Master, the Magician, the Wizard, who paints the most vivid pictures with his words, a man who had the courage and persistence to stay true to his dreams and follow them despite all obstacles confronted on his path. He lives his life to the fullest extent. That which is even more honorable is his endeavor to share with us all he learned on his path, his mind, his soul and his love. Read and adored worldwide, he is an International Bestselling author who has been on the best selling lists internationally, for a little over 20 years.
He has quite a few profound accomplishments under his belt. Namely; A United Nations Messenger of Peace, Ambassador to the European Union for Intercultural Dialogue, a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (Academia Brasileira de Letras), the highest honor for a Brazilian author, Knight of Arts and Letters of France (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres), French Legion of Honor (Ordre National de la Légion D'honneur), a UNESCO Special Advisor for “Intercultural Dialogues and Spiritual Convergences,” Member of the Board of the Shimon Peres Institute for Peace, Board Member of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, and Member of the Board Doha Center of Media Freedom.
To read more, please click here.
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 What is book design, and why do I need it?
You've spent weeks, months - maybe a year - writing
your book, and you're now ready to release it to the world.
Wait.
Is your book professionally designed?
Huh?
Apart from the mechanical book design structure, i.e. Cover,
Copyright page, Foreword, etc., are the things like paragraph
length, sentence length, white space, etc., done right?
Presuming that you want to be taken seriously as an author, and you
want your book to be taken seriously, professional book design can
make the difference between success and failure.
Book design can be thought of as the furnishings in a home. Sure, a
dull, empty house will still give us cover from the elements, but
it's the furnishings that make it comfortable, attractive, and turns
a house into a home.
To read more,
please click here.
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 A Good Time to Examine Priorities
Excerpts ...
All of us have, in one way or another, been touched by the economic downturn and the financial crisis that it has caused. Many of us live in fear for our futures and expect the worst as a result. Reports show that there has been a dynamic rise in serious symptoms because of our plight. Symptoms such as insomnia, heart attacks, strokes, anxiety, depression and other life limiting medical and psychological problems have been noted since the inception of the downturn. The toll is becoming more serious than the problem that initiated it.
I would ask that you stop for a moment and examine your priorities before you fall prey to these difficult times. You need to ask yourself some very simple but important questions whose answers will help put you on a healthy track. Here are some of them:
To
read more,
please
click here ...
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Blake Out In A Cold Sweat
Excerpts ...
Escaped teacher that I be – and glad of it too: glad of the effected escape, I mean; not my erstwhile handy government whipping-boy of an undervalued profession – I remain to this day, despite all efforts to the contrary in these twenty years past, an awkward cuss whose working year still begins, as does the English academic year, in September.
Not for me, come the English autumn, a wistfully Wordsworth-like contemplation of mists and mellow fruitfulness in Alkrington Woods in my home town of Middleton, Greater Manchester. True, my good friend, the writer Carl Spiers may well tempt me to sample coffee and small talk mid-morning mid-week at the Pavilion Café, Chadderton Park – particularly if he intends tipping up for the Bill Keeth titles he has so far held in stock on account. But this potentially lucrative social outing apart, rather is September-time my time to begin again. – Time to look out, as follows (ref. Write It Self-Publish It Sell It: Appendix 9), the reference books I need – and hold most dear. Namely . . .
To
read more,
please
click here ...
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1000 REVIEWS |
Machester United - Man and Babe
by Wilf McGuinness (Author), Ivan Ponting (Author), Sir Bobby Charlton (Foreword)
Excerpts
... With a generously bubbly 1200 word Foreword penned by the author’s good friend and former team mate, Sir Bobby Charlton, and no fewer than 140-plus photographs within its 316 page format, it is quite unbelievable that, 14 months on from its original publication date in October 2008, Manchester United Man and Babe, the long-awaited autobiography of Wilf McGuinness of Man U and England, has received nary a mention in the local or regional press. Because there must be thousands of north Manchester folk and Reds, too, inquisitive about their team’s past, who would love to get their hands on this story of a local boy done good. Which, of course, they may do, courtesy of Waterstone’s (where I first found it on sale @ £17.99), or– www.amazon.co.uk where I bought it @ a discounted £12.49 inc. p&p.
To read more, please click here
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TELL EVERYONE ABOUT |
AfricaWrites Fall expedition 09' - Central Africa
On Sept.16th the AfricaWrites team returns to Central Africa ( Congo & Zambia ) for a 3 month expedition and study of African rituals and ceremonies including those of Lega, Mulba tribes and others. Please help us reach our fund raising goal in support of this expedition. Every donation counts. Online donations can be made at this link
http://www.africawrites.com/donationsv9p1.html.
Thanks to everyone who has already pitched in!
New Asian Short Stories
From Professor Quayum :
CALL FOR SHORT STORIES
Asian and Asian diasporic writers, new or established, are invited to send short stories in English for a volume of NEW ASIAN SHORT STORIES to be published by Marshall Cavendish (Malaysia). The book will be edited by Prof. Mohammad A. Quayum whose details are given below. We invite short stories not exceeding 6000 words and NOT published or submitted for publication elsewhere to be submitted to the editor electronically at
mquayum@gmail.com, by 15 February 2010. The book will be released in September 2010, and all successful contributors will be sent a complimentary copy of the book upon publication.
How are people going to know
about your resources if you don't tell them? Here's your chance - Send
info about your stuff and we'll post it here for free. Please keep the
number of words to no more than 125. Send an email to
editor@howtotellagreatstory.com with 'Tell Everyone About ...' in
the subject line.
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