The Breakdown - Week of 4/27/20
Well, hello there! We are back with another edition of “The Breakdown,” a weekly newsletter where I provide you with news and article highlights from the publishing & entertainment industries, and on occasion, an article focusing on the writing craft. You’ll also get five scene-specific creative writing prompts, drawn from my book “What Would Your Character Do? - Writing Prompts to Help You Destroy Writer’s Block, Write Faster, and Write More” (up on Amazon and free in Kindle Unlimited!)
But first, a little housekeeping.
I wanted to let you know that you’ll probably see some repetition in these intros about the prompts, my background, and my aim for the newsletter for the first few editions since we’re just getting started. Folks can be awfully sporadic opening up emails, so this is largely for them.
Also, as far as the Query / First Five Pages Critiques, while these will be for paying subscribers, the first few will be drawn from the first 50 subscribers, whether free or paid!
Want to know more about my critiquing background? Well, in addition to the story analysis I’ve done at ICM and HBO, as a consultant, I’ve done over 200 story assessments for the company that runs the digital platform I write for, and I’ve also run a critiquing contest for two years. You can check out the feedback contest participants received here - The Standouts Contest 2019 - and here just a few props I’ve received to wrap it all up in a bow:
“Paula gave me some excellent advice and feedback on narrative flow and on hooking a reader across the first two chapters of my novel, which helped me to tighten-up the crucial first five thousand words. In addition, her feedback on my query letter made me take a step back and identify what was really important, editing it down, and hitting the key points. Paula's input has really helped me to improve my work and I'm grateful for her time.”
- David H. (@Southpawstance), West Sussex, UK - Author of Quid Pro Quo
All right, well, enough about me. Here’s a preview of some topics that I plan to cover once we’re more settled in to the newsletter, and I have time to write a few longer pieces.
What it’s like to write for an online, serialized fiction site. As I mentioned…hmm, somewhere, I can’t remember where…I write on a site called, Wattpad. While it has a much-maligned reputation as being a site for teeny-bopper fanfiction, it’s evolved from that iteration a long, long time ago. It calls itself a digital publisher, and with both a publishing and a studio arm, it’s earned that moniker. I’m in their Paid Stories program, which means that at least one of my stories is monetized. Readers access a few free chapters, and if they like what they’ve read, they pay to read the rest. In addition, I’ve done quite a bit of consulting for the platform, so I have some insight into what’s going on with their writer programs as well as their entertainment arm. Having assessed over 200 stories for them, I have a pretty good sense of what kinds of stories they’re looking for and ways to get a story noticed, at least by HQ, if not by the gaggle of readers who are there for the fanfiction and teen aged fare.
As I mentioned in my last post, I used to work in Hollywood. I worked at the talent agency, ICM, in the TV Writers department and at HBO in Development. I’m fascinated by the convergence of publishing and entertainment; and while they’ve always orbited each other—with an occasional fusion event—with everything evolving around the development of IP (intellectual property), they’ve practically melded into one. I have some anecdotes I’d love to share with you that might give you better insight into both industries in this regard.
I want to talk trends. We’re in the midst of an unprecedented time in modern human history, and the implications to our lives, much less our livelihoods, may be profound and fundamental. Or, things could bounce back to what they were before with alarming elasticity. Who knows? But as situations and events develop, I want to comment on them here. I’ll try, whenever possible, to back up any hypotheses or musings with other sources so it’s not just me navel-gazing and pontificating. :-)
Okay, cool! That all sounds great! Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get cracking with the second edition of “The Breakdown!”
Prompts
As mentioned before, these prompts are from my book, “What Would Your Character Do?” They’re designed to give you some momentum if you ever find yourself stuck in a scene. If these five prompts don’t work for you, hang tight! You’ll get another five in a week, or you could just buy, or check out, the book to pick from over 500 more.
Okay, so let’s get started.
If you're stuck in a scene, try to have your character:
1. Follow a hunch
2. See clearly what others in the room don't
3. Call someone out as a traitor
4. Warn someone about something
5. Fill someone in on what just happened
Give those prompts some time to marinate, and if they’re not doing it for you, you’ll get five more next week!
News
(Click title links for the articles)
Print Unit Sales Down 3.5% Through April 18
Okay, no surprise there. But the reason you should check out this article is because it breaks it down by market segment (for example - juvenile fiction sales down 34% while adult fiction sales rose by 5.5%, etc.) This gives us food for thought about the state of the publishing market (at least in terms of traditional publishing) for the next year or two to come, as well as which aspects of the market will be affected by the impacts of COVID, either positively or negatively, going forward.
Publisher's Weekly, Independent Publishers Launch #ReadIndie Campaign
This is a campaign to bring attention to, and support, indie publishers and bookstores, which is great! However, I think if you’re an indie author, it’s a good chance for you to 1) show your support for your colleagues in the industry and 2) to me, an indie is an indie, so while I am NOT suggesting any hashtag hijacking, the term #ReadIndie will probably be trending so…just saying… In any event, the campaign launches on Monday, May 4th, so get your tweets ready!
Harlequin Introduces Larger Mass Market Paperback
Ah, but I don’t write Romance, Paula, you say. Well, the reason I’m posting this news item has more to do with ways that you, as an Indie author, might be able to expand your sales. If you listen to the podcasts of Joanna Penn, one of the premier voices in indie publishing, you’ll know that she’s been advocating Indie authors consider diving into the potentially lucrative Large Print book market for some time now. And as someone who, in the past year, has practically given up reading anything in print (has print font gotten smaller or is that just me?) because of the eye strain, I can attest to age, the effects of staring at screens all day, and other aspects of modern life significantly impacting the way I consume stories. I’m now a huge audiophile and if I can’t change the size of the font or do text-to-speech, there’s a good chance I won’t read it. Large print (I’m not sure if the larger font in these books count as “large print”, but still…) is something, that at this time, is probably more advantageous for certain writers to pursue over others: Romances, Nonfiction titles, and Mysteries (particularly Cozy Mysteries), from what I’ve read, are in demand in that particular market.
Freeform Seeks New Talent Submissions Via Online Video For Future Network Projects
Okay, this one isn’t for writers, per se, unless you’re a writer/actor since it’s really an opportunity for young performers. However, what I find interesting about this item is that it sheds a light on how Hollywood is being forced to adapt to the circumstances we now find ourselves in. And in a bid to be more supportive, in general, as well as lay the foundation for its own survival, Hollywood is becoming more open too. With the WGA / Agency kerfuffle still bubbling and a strike possibly in the mix, there’s no doubt that the entertainment industry has been turned on its head. Might this open up new opportunities for new and unagented writers? It’s hard to say, but I think it’s a good time to use contests and social media to your advantage in order to get your work noticed, and also be on the lookout for how Hollywood entities are changing the way they do business in order to adapt.
Spec Script Deal: ‘The Aliens Are Stealing Our Weed’
If you’re a screenwriter, or interested in film & TV, you should be paying attention to the deals getting made, both to understand what genres and concepts are being bought, and also where the market may be going. While this particular spec sale is interesting in its own right—high concept, taps into the whole cannabis movement/trend, is undoubtedly a comedy—what’s even more interesting is the mention of the number of spec sales announced in 2020 over 2019. (More details on the actual sale of the script, with Gina Rodriquez attached, can be found here - Variety.) Now, I’m not saying the spec market is back, but with everything going on…. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Final Thoughts
Now is the time to pay close attention to what’s happening in your industry, or your desired industry, even if you’re far from ready to submit, or publish, or market your work. Why? Because things are changing, fast, and possibly in a fundamental, “move the needle” sort of way. You want to adjust accordingly and make sure that your plans and strategies don’t reflect the “old way” of doing business. Being up on current trends and their impacts on these industries is a competitive advantage that you simply can’t ignore.
Until next time!
~ Paula G.
”Give in to a superstition” this is also very interesting 🤔🤔🤔🤔
Using an object to remember the past was very helpful! Thank you :)