LTUE 2016 presentation materials

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I promised you I’d post my materials. Here they are.

Succeeding as a Storyteller 2016-02-13 HANDOUT

Vivid and Clear 2016-02-11

What Comes Next 2016-02-12 PRINT

Also, at the end of my and LL Muir’s presentation of Succeeding as a Writer, I offered some of my books, the ones I authored, for free in the back. I would like to ask whoever accidentally got caught up in the mad rush (it was like Black Friday) and took my copy of Cheree Alsop’s Daybreak: Girl from the Stars Book 1 to please mail it to me. It looks like this:

Daybreak-Amazon-Kindle-196x300

It is dedicated to “Mrs. Brown’s Class” and was a present for her. You may mail it to John D. Brown, PO Box 157, Laketown, UT 84038.

Does anyone going to LTUE want “What Comes Next?”

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LTUE didn’t have enough slots to include the presentation in the schedule, but I’m willing to give it in the chat area by the lobby to folks who are interested. Probably on Saturday.

So in “What Comes Next?” I share two tools I use that help me figure out where to start my stories and, well, what comes next all the way to the end. The second tool encapsulates, for me, the core of what story is all about.

If you’re interested, let me know

EDIT: I’m targeting 8-9 am on Saturday.

Do you want to meet authors and learn how to develop and write stories?

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Then you want to be in Provo, Utah this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, February 11-13th, and attend Life, The Universe & Everything, the annual science fiction and fantasy writing conference. (I think students get in free.)

If you live within a reasonable driving distance (I’m 2.5 hours away and consider that reasonable), then you should do everything you can to get down there. It’s going to be a blast. It and LDStorymakers are THE best conferences for writing that I know of in Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arizona. And if you’re into SFF, then it’s the one. I mean, just check out the list of guests.

I’ll be on the Role of Magic in Your Story and Distributing Your Novel panels. Look at the schedule and check out the guests who will be on those panels with me. Yeah. Awesome.

And then I’ll be presenting Vivid and Clear by myself and Succeeding as a Writer with L.L. Muir, which is going to reveal some things that will surprise a lot of people.

BTW, L.L. Muir is the best kept secret success story in Utah at the moment. She’s selling thousands of books, pleasing thousands of readers, and making, well, you’ll have to come to that presentation find out how much money she’s making. And what the secrets to her success are.

Good Stuff! Mr. Holmes and 13 Hours, the book

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Earlier this month I watched Mr. Holmes.

Mr._Holmes_poster

It left me with this fine peace. With this feeling of goodness and light, in spite of, or probably because of, a number of poignant moments. It also surprised me.

To write a story like this, to give people this kind of gift…

What a wonderful, powerful thing.

Now, it was not a thriller. It’s not an episode of Sherlock or Elementary. It’s not a murder mystery. It reminds me of Saving Mr. Banks most, but also of Miss Potter, maybe even The King’s English. It has that kind of tempo.

Basically, Sherlock Holmes is a much older man. He’s retired. And there’s a case he’s trying to solve. But, again, this isn’t a murder mystery. This story is about Sherlock himself and wisdom and the beauty of change whenever it occurs.

The story lingered with me, and I avoided reading or watching anything else for a few days to savor it. Give yourselves a treat. Watch this wonderful story.

*

The book 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi was the answer to so many questions.

13_Hours_ZuckhoffWant really happened in Benghazi?

What we’re we doing there?

Who are the brave men who tried to save the ambassador?

It was also a thrilling read in the tradition of Marcus Luttrell’s Lone Survivor. As such, it purposely avoids the political aspect of the incident. It’s not about what the officials of the United States government did, said, or knew, or the political firestorm that ensued.

It’s not a hit piece on Clinton and Obama, nor is it any kind of defense. Instead it simply documents the events on the ground in those last 13 hours, relying most heavily on what the five American security contractors who rushed to give aid said happened. Those men–two former Marines, two former SEALs, and a former Army Ranger—teamed up with Mitchell Zuckoff, the writer, to simply set the record straight.

I couldn’t put the book down. Not only because the book’s well-written and the characters and situation are compelling, but also because of the insight it shared into some key dynamics within Libya itself. For example, it helps you understand why the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi centered in Benghazi, not Tripoli. It also touches on some of the currents inside these Muslim-majority countries close to the epicenter of Sunni extremism—Egypt and Saudi Arabia–so volatile. And it shares details, large and small, as only those who experience such things first hand can.

If you want a fascinating account of really happened on the ground in Benghazi, get this book.

 

Blindingly white and female!

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MaryLeonhardt_KeepingKidsReadingThe Guardian just published a report of a survey taken of 34 American book publishers and found that 79% of staff are white and 78% female. Or as The Guardian put it “blindingly white and female” as if it’s some kind of horror show.  The rest of the article bemoans the lack of diversity in publishing and our society in general and quotes the author of the study suggesting that these percentages should be monitored.

Is anyone up in arms about appropriate diversity percentages in the NBA or NFL?

Some might roll their eyes and ask me not to trot out that old chestnut. But it’s not a chestnut. It’s a point–nobody cares, me included. So why care about this? Many industries will be skewed toward one gender or race than another. As long as everyone has free opportunity to compete, who gives a flip?

Maybe that still doesn’t satisfy. Okay, how about this. According to Humanites Indicators, approximately 70% of degrees in English language and literature in America are awarded to…women. And about 82% are awarded to Whites. I’m assuming these percentages are probably pretty good indicators for the gender and race of folks interested in working at publishing companies.

If so, the survey results don’t reflect some white woman conspiracy at these publishing houses. They simply reflect the choices people make in college.

By the way, did you know the United States is still 72% White and European. So it’s not surprising to see roughly that many Whites in these jobs. The numbers might be a little high, but minorities seem to be pursuing other degrees in greater numbers (compare the overall percentages here versus those with ELL degrees).

This is not to say that we don’t want to welcome authors from all different background. We do. But if you want more men and more minorities, then maybe instead of monitoring publishers, you ought to start by seeing if you can attract more men and minorities to ELL degrees.

Or even better yet, how about reaching out to more boys and minorities at an earlier age and helping them learn the delights of reading and writing? Maybe if they like it, more of them will go into it as a career.

The best program I’ve seen for helping kids learn to love reading is the one Mary Leonhardt outlines in Keeping Kids Reading: How to Raise Avid Readers in the Video Age. It’s the culmination of the insights she gained over her thirty-five years teaching high school English and focusing on helping kids learn to LOVE reading. What an excellent book!

Oh, and one other idea. It might be effective to maybe just skip publishers altogether and help folks go directly to readers as indie writers. Amazon’s algorithms are pretty much race- and gender-blind.