Barack Obama Joins the Red Room - Social Network for Writers

Recently, I joined the Red Room - a social network and professional hub for writers, after I reviewed the site here on WritersCrunch. But unfortunately, I haven't been 100% active with the social network for reasons beyond my control. I've been a member since 4 weeks.

Today, I recieved an email from the Member Services Manager of Red Room. No not what you're thinking...I wasn't about to be reminded that I've not logged in for weeks. Nor was my membership about to be cancelled for not using the service.

It was an announcement that Senator Barack Obama, the Illinois Senator and U.S Presidential Candidate had joined the Red Room community. As you know, Barack Obama is an accomplished writer and was recently awarded his second Grammy Award last Sunday for 'Best Spoken Word Album' for the audio recording of his bestseller, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.

In his author's page, you will find his blog, media speeches, reviews, published works, etc. Check out Barack Obama's Red Room page here.

Write To Done: Leo Babauta's Unmissable Articles About Writing

I'm wondering if anyone noticed that I took a voluntary break in writing WritersCrunch...I've been really busy with some projects that I'm starting off February 1st. These projects took me away from being online and have been more of brainstorming, research and writing offline. More gists later.

I took a peep today at my Reader and found that I've got lots to catch up with. My first look was at Zen Habits, where I discovered an interesting new blog Write To Done by Leo Babauta. The author of the ebook Zen To Done, created the new blog as a way to share some of what he has learned as a professional writer, as well as helping writers improve their craft and art of writing.

Write To Done is aimed at writers from professionals to people who want to be writers or enjoy writing, bloggers, aspiring novelists and poets to freelance writers. The blog will be covering many topics such as journalism, blog writing, freelance writing, fiction, non-fiction, getting a book deal, the business of writing, the habit of writing. And so on.

I found the post: How to Write First Thing in the Morning very practical for me. What about you? What did you find interesting in the new blog?

Fiction Writers Now Mash And Make Money At StoryMash

Now, this really got my attention. Probably because I have a flare for fiction. A new social community called StoryMash, for collaboration, constructive criticism and a place to experiment and discover different writing styles is mashing up fiction readers and writers together.

StoryMash is a place where fiction folks start new stories, continue existing stories, or take a story in a different direction by adding a chapter to its middle! All the while earning money for every chapter they publish on StoryMash. If you are a reader, you can vote for your favorite chapters and choose how you want the story to continue. After reading a chapter you can select from among multiple followup chapters. And while reading a chapter if you have a great idea on what should happen next, you can register and submit a followup chapter!

The idea is similar to Helium where writers are paid from $20 to $200 for each article selected by their partner publishers. The difference is that with StoryMash, you pay yourself for each work you publish on StoryMash depending on the number of votes you get from your story.

Here is how it works:

If you're a fiction writer and want the world to know about your work, you will post your story to StoryMash.com. Then, other authors can add follow-up, or even middle chapters to existing chapters written by others. Branching chapters compete with each other based on the vote ranking of registered readers. Eventually, the best storylines will evolve into the most entertaining, and profitable storytelling possible.

The whole idea is a a collaborative system of user generated content where StoryMash provides a fair contract for writers; writers keep their copyright, and grant StoryMash a non-exclusive license so that StoryMash can adapt and possibly resell combined works. Plus, all authors are paid over 50% of all revenue made by the content they publish.

There are also periodic writing contests, and this February, over $500 in prizes will be given away. So start posting on StoryMash by share your creative writing with the world, and earning some cool cash.

Have fun!

The Times Lists Greatest British Writers Since 1945

Erica Wagner of The Times recently wrote an article which introduced "The Times list of the Greatest British Writers Since 1945". The list was presented to stir up an argument into the new year.

But the list raises questions the criteria for considering the best postwar British writers, doesn't it? Because there was no scientific method for the analysis and then the results, certain factors were considered - sheer quality of writing, longevity, lasting impact, commercial success and wait a minute...nationality???

The list which includes novelists, poets, writers of nonfiction, etc comprises of names such as George Orwell, Ted Hughes, Doris Lessing (on the top 10), Ian Fleming, Ian McEwan, J.K. Rowling amongst others. It was a list of 50.

View the list of the 50 Greatest British Writers here at The Times. You might find your favorite British writer.

Tom Wolfe Drops Long-term Deal With Farrar, Straus & Giroux

As we see in the entertainment industry where artists could end a music deal with their record companies, so we see today in the world of writers and publishing houses.

According to the New York Times, Tom Wolfe, the author of social genre novels such as “The Bonfire of the Vanities” and “A Man in Full,” has severed his 42-year publishing relationship with Farrar, Straus & Giroux and has agreed to sell the rights to Little, Brown & Company to publish his next novel, “Back to Blood”.

Yeah, that's right. 42.

This news has sparked a lot of interest amongst publishing houses and their executives who viewed Mr. Wolfe and Farrar, Straus & Giroux's long-term relationship as "loyal". So that brings the question...who was unfaithful?

Reports reveal that a possible reason for the split could be as a result of the disappointment that Wolfe's last novel “I Am Charlotte Simmons,” published in 2004 which did not sell nearly as much as Mr. Wolfe's previous novels. The book about a sheltered freshman at a big university who throws herself into a life of frat parties and casual sex, received mixed reviews.

Interestingly, established writers who have spent many years with one publisher and then have a disappointing book often end up moving to a new publisher because the advances they demand become too high for the existing publisher. Even Stephen King famously left his longtime publisher, Viking, for Scribner when Viking balked at the $18 million advance he wanted for the novel, “Bag of Bones.”

The Wolfe/Farrar, Straus & Giroux split is so real that the link to the about page of FSG from tomwolfe.com cannot be found.

Wow!

Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction

Writing Contests could be a great way of kick starting a career in writing. Personally, I have participated in some writing contests in the past, but given the fact that my writing career has passed what I'll call the 'puberty stage', I recently have directed my writing efforts on my novel, blogs and other writing activities.

Since I started this blog, I've posted a few writing contests for readers who might be interested in taking a go at writing fiction, non-fiction, poetry, short stories, etc View the posts here.

Thus, if you are interested in creative non-fiction, you might want to participate in the Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction here.

Annie Dillard is best known for her nature-themed writing. She has explored her past and present dealings with nature through poetry, essays and novels. Her best-known work, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, has been described as a “book of theology.” While her more autobiographical book, An American Childhood, explores her early childhood years through nature. In 1975 she was awarded the Pulitzer for general non-fiction. Dillard continues to write and is now an adjunct professor of English and a writer-in-residence at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Could Any Spy Thriller Be Told Better Than "An Ordinary Spy"?

Perhaps the story of espionage will never be told better by anyone else except by an ex-C.I.A. agent. If that's true, then, Joseph Weisberg would be the master of spy thrillers. In a thrilling story of two CIA Case Officers whose lives are permanently changed by the agents they recruit and run, Weisberg spotlights the confusing but strangely bureaucratic world of the C.I.A in his new novel, An Ordinary Spy.

The author of the critically acclaimed novel, 10th Grade (2002, Random House), which was a New York Times Notable Book in 2002, Weisberg might have achieved his goal of writing the most realistic spy novel that had ever been written in this new novel.

The book is a chronicle of the mundanity of a spy’s daily routine - not just the surveillance-detection routes and cryptic cables to headquarters, but also the staff meetings, petty rivalries between colleagues and idle chatter about pension plans. Though some details that might be classified information are blacked out in the novel.

In writing An Ordinary Spy, Mr. Weisberg, 42, used some of what he learned while training to be a case officer with the Central Intelligence Agency in the early 1990s where he claims he's no longer working. But it seems that Weisberg has some complicated views about the C.I.A. One of the reasons he left the C.I.A., he said, was because he did not want to recruit agents who might face retribution for their betrayal.

So what might the other reasons be? Well, let's act as if we don't care. But, I'm sure that folks that love espionage would be interested to spy that out.

Scholastic Plans "The 39 Clues" to Succeed Harry Potter

Scholastic, publisher of those wildly successful books by J. K. Rowling is moving forward with what it hopes will be its follow-up blockbuster series after completing the Harry Potter series. Called “The 39 Clues", this series will feature 10 books - the first of which is to go on sale next September - as well as related Web-based games, collectors’ cards and cash prizes.

The series consisting of mystery novels telling the story of a centuries-old family, the Cahills, who are supposed to be the world’s most powerful clan will be aimed at readers 8 to 12. According to the books, famous historical figures ranging from Benjamin Franklin to Mozart were members of the family. The plots will revolve around the race by two young Cahills, Amy, 14, and Dan, 11, against other branches of the family to be the first to find the 39 clues that will lead to ultimate power.

The organisation is hoping to attach the books to an Internet game that could help recruit new readers amongst youngsters, since some kids generally prefer games to books. Thus, they could have fun while learning. The project demonstrates Scholastic’s acknowledgment that as much as the publisher heralded the renewed interest in reading represented by the Harry Potter books, many children are now as transfixed by Internet and video games as they are by reading.

It was also reported that writer Peter Lerangis who created the Spy-X and the Watcher series and wrote all the books in them, is to write the third book in this new series.

[Via] The NY Times

Are You Bold Enough To Write A Bestseller?

I recently read an excellent article about 'writing a bestseller' from Creative Writing Blog, and I thought I should share a few more tips on this topic. The article provided 3 things to consider before writing a book that could become a bestseller.

Of course, an author who has previously published several books typically stands a better chance of making the bestsellers list than a new author, but it is important that aspiring writers increase the chances of their novels being bestsellers.

Here are a few tips to consider when writing a book that could become a bestseller:

OUT of your comfort zone

Writing what you already know might be considered as a work of short story. So in order to get out of your comfort zone, write what you don't expect yourself writing. Of course that requires research on your part. For example, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, an international bestseller was seen as very controversial and that shows that he didn't just write what could be considered as a cliché, but rather an out-of-your-comfort-zone novel.

FORGET the clichés

This might sound a bit unethical to some:), but it is worth mentioning. As an aspiring writer, you should focus on stories that would not seem like a remake of a film. You've got to write something that has probably never been written before. Think! There's got to be something! In my opinion, the reason that some of John Grisham's novels are viewed as international bestsellers, even if some critics might call some of them clichés is because Grisham has already established himself as a the master of legal thrillers. So forget those clichés. Write what you know bestselling authors like John Grisham has never written before and probably will never write about.

TELL your readers more

Yeah, you've got to. Many people or readers know about certain stories, events, happenings, etc, but you have to tell them what they don't know. Of course, a work of fiction is a product of your imagination and creativity, but there are also certain information that your readers should know based on your storyline that could make your novel a bestseller. In Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, he exposes readers to secrets, mysteries and shocking revelations that makes you wonder. And remember, it need not be the real truth. That's why it's called fiction!

Above all, I agree with the author of Creative Writing Blog who advised that you should keep in mind that the reason for your writing a novel is not for it to become a bestseller, rather because you are passionate about the story. Besides, you should be less interested in making money.

So are you bold enough to write a bestseller?

J.K. Rowling's Fairy Tale Book Gets Mega Sales

Christmas has come early for J.K. Rowlings. The author, whose Harry Potter books have sold almost 400 million copies and been translated into 65 languages, wrote the The Tales of Beedle the Bard after finishing the Potter series and the book fetched nearly £2 million at auction today (close to $4 million).

The manuscript, a collection of wizardly fairytales, handwritten and extensively illustrated by the author, was sold for exactly 1,950,000 pounds (3,985,410 USD or 2,706,990 euro). The buyer, the London art agents Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox, now owns one of just seven copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and the only one to be sold on the open market rather than given to family and friends. The book originally had been expected to sell for about £200, 000 ($100,000).

The price is the highest ever achieved at auction for a modern literary manuscript, an auction record for a work by J. K. Rowling and an auction record for a children’s book. The proceeds from the sale will benefit The Children’s Voice, a charity co-founded in 2005 by Miss Rowling and Emma Nicholson, a member of Britain’s House of Lords.

Novel Writing on Mobile Phones Gets Fussy in Japan

Just a few days ago, I wrote a post about the first computer novel to be released in January by Russian Publishing House Astrel SPb. Little did I know that in Japan, half of the top ten best-selling works of fiction in the first six months of 2007 were composed on mobile phones and have sold an average of 400, 000 copies. Yeah, I mean written, not READ like you can on your Amazon's Kindle.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, mobile phone novels (or keitai shousetsu) have become a publishing phenomenon in Japan, “turning middle-of-the-road publishing houses into major concerns and making their authors a small fortune in the process.”

One of such novels, Koizora (Love Sky) by Mika about a high-school girl who is bullied, gang-raped, becomes pregnant and has a miscarriage has sold more than 1.2 million copies since being released in book format last October. In fact, it will soon be made into a movie.

For all we know, these mobile phone novels may be bestsellers in the Eastern front, but would they get attention in the Western terrain and eventually make the NY Times best sellers list?

How's Life After NaNo?

Now that the mayhem of NaNoWriMo is over, what are you doing with your life? For veteran Nanos, getting back to the real life might not be much of a big deal. But, how about 'Baby NaNos'?

Of course, it may be difficult to get over the post-NaNo blues, which veteran participants feel it lasts within a couple of days up to eleven months after NaNoing. But as tempting as it is to try and keep the blues at bay by tackling another huge writing project right away, what your body and brain would really need at this point is rest. Besides, the holiday is just here again!

Even if some of the greatest novelists like John Grisham had to squeeze in time before going to the law office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel, duh, you'd be doing yourself a lot of good, if you could gradually start working on your first novel now (based on your NaNo project - except it sucks - haha) instead of participating in any other writing contests.

Some NaNo participants like Writer-Mommy even confessed that starting up a blog and Nano-ing during the same month is not the best idea. Without doubt, NaNoWriMo writing contests could make you a good writer, so to get the writerly ball rolling again after your hangovers, you could explore the December and Beyond forums, dedicated exclusively to life after NaNo. There's always room to network!

There are also NaNoFiMo, JaNoWriMo, NaNoEdMo, JulNoWriMo amongst others, if you are interested in firing up your passion for writing.

Red Room Raises More Funds

The social network site for authors, The Red Room, has raised $1.25 million from angel investors, including Craig Newmark, author Rober Mailer Anderson and Nion McEvoy, CEO of Chronicle Books. With a small army of authors already supporting The Red Room, its social network looks to be going in the direction of a promotional hub for writers.

The site offers tools, such as blogs and book tour calendars for writers to promote themselves and connect with their fans. Thus, we can say that it serves authors the same way MySpace serve bands. Red Room(mates), Alice Walker and Amy Tan are just some of the high profiled authors that have pages on The Red Room.

As the social networking fever is gripping web enthusiastes, it is not surprising to see a growing trend for authors seeking networking and promotional tools on the web. Meanwhile, sites like Helium, StoryLink,TurnHere, BooksConnect , BookTour, Shelfari, amongst others continue to create online spaces for writers and authors to promote themselves with more web 2.0 tools.

The founder of The Red Room, Ivory Madison, also started the Red Room Writers Society - a place for writers to work on their projects and take part in seminars and workshops.

Writer's Ultimate Resource Guide 2008

Writer's Digest, the world's leading magazine for writers is maintaining it's trademark as the world's best writers' resource online. Founded in 1920, the online resource for writers is offering 65 pages of the best information available for working writers, from the hottest markets to the coolest websites—all piled into a single disc!

The disc's enhanced PDF format provides bookmarks that allow for easy navigation, hundreds of active links to take you straight to the Web, and easy keyword searches that make research faster and easier.

In addition to the new writing software, writing contests and more than 400 writing organizations, the site offers features such as "101 best websites for writers", "100 top markets for books and magazines", "22 agents who want your work" as well as answers to common and compelling writing questions.

Order The Writer's Ultimate Resource Guide 2008 here!

Dylan Days Announces 2008 Creative Writing Contest

Dylan Days has called for new entries for the 2008 Dylan Days Creative Writing Contest. The contest will accept poetry, short stories and one-act plays.

The poetry and short fiction categories is open for all writers and for anyone currently enrolled in high school or an undergraduate college or university. There will be first, second and third place prizes of $100, $50 and $25 respectively and all winners will be invited to read their poems or stories at the Dylan Days Literary Showcase on May 24, 2008.

The one-act playwright competition (a new feature this year) will showcase all playwrights and eventually a winner will be selected. Thus, the winning play will be presented on stage during the 2008 Dylan Days Literary Showcase under the direction of award-winning Hibbing Community College theater director Michael Ricci.

The deadline is Feb. 28, 2008. Click here for instructions on entering the contest online.

NaNoWriMo Contest Ends Today!

Today, November 30 is NaNoWriMo Day as I'd like to call it. Yeah, today is the last day of the November Novel Writing Contest. Read about it here and here. With less than two hours away from this year's NaNoWriMo contest some participants have finished the race before the writing competition closes at 11:59:59 PM local time.

I started out on the race, but couldn't beat the pace. Luckily, there's another NaNoWriMo contest next year, so I'd be prepared for it. For those who have almost given up on this race because they can't make up the 50, 000 word novel, an announcement on the NaNoWriMo site by Chris Baty might be a relief. So if you have written up to 45, 000 words, 'gravity' as he calls it will help with the rest 5,000 words.

So, what are you waiting for? Validate your novel now!

Tick...Tick...Tick...

Khaled Hosseini: Medical Practitioner Turned Best-Selling Author?

Khaled Hosseini has showed strength as a successful writer and best-selling author. His first book, The Kite Runner has sold over four million copies. When he released his second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, no one doubted that the book would get a lot of attention when it came out in May 2007.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is the Best Book of 2007 by Amazon. A story of friendship between two women that complements the tale of two boys in his first book, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a compelling drama of personal and national tragedy weighted equally with despair and grave hope.

Watch Khaled Hosseini Introduce A Thousand Splendid Suns

With a background in Medicine, the author believes that he has no intentions of quiting Medicine for Writing, though he claims to have been a writer years before deciding to go into Medicine. But history has made us see best-selling authors like John Grisham (an ex-lawyer) quit their professions to become writers.

Khaled Hosseini’s novels have offered a potent combination of a setting in an exotic land - Afghanistan - that has taken on increasing importance to Americans in the last several years with a compelling human drama. If he can continue (as he has with A Thousand Splendid Suns) to join those elements in his future work, his readers are likely to remain loyal for many works to come.

But the question is: Will Khaled Hosseini keep 'flying the kite' and quit medicine?

Buy A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini at Amazon

Writing, Editing and Publishing program at UQ

Becoming a writer requires strong communication skills and in order to succeed both in the corporate and academic worlds, a writer needs to be skilled enough to communicate. Being aware of the demand for professionally trained writers and editors, the University of Queensland's School of English, Media Studies and Art History (EMSAH) is offering a specific Writing, Editing, and Publishing program.

Whether you are a doctor, lawyer, vet or an English teacher, economist, etc or you are an aspiring writer, the UQ Writing, Editing and Publishing program is unique in that it covers academic, corporate and creative areas.

For further information on the Writing, Editing and Publishing program, visit the website here.

WGA Resume Talks Today

As the Writer's Guild of America strike enters it's fourth week, both parties involved in the negotiations are set to resume contract talks today. The WGA went on strike Nov. 5 over payment for TV shows and films being sold on Internet sites such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes.

Striking TV and movie writers kept up the pressure on studios by picketing and intensifying an Internet campaign that uses the very medium at issue in the contentious negotiations. On the other hand, studios, networks and producers, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, say it is too early to know which business model will succeed on the Web. They want flexibility to experiment without having to be locked into payment formulas.

For the past three weeks, writers use social networking sites, including MySpace, Facebook and YouTube, to communicate among themselves, post short videos, create blogs etc

One of the most popular efforts has been the video "The Office is Closed," which was shot on the picket lines by Peter Rader. The video features the show's writer-producer Greg Daniels and cast members belittling a TV network claim that reuse of episodes on the Web is merely "promotional". That video as shown below was posted on YouTube and has been viewed more than 520,000 times.

Update: The next United Hollywood Live broadcast will be today, November 26th, from 12-1:30 p.m. Covering all aspects of the WGA strike, the interactive show will include interviews, live reports from the various picket lines and video clips. Visit United Hollywood for more details.

Career in Filmmaking and Screenwriting at NY Film Academy

Are you interested in joining the next generation of filmmakers and actors in one of the most innovative and dynamic film schools and acting schools in the world? The New York Film Academy welcomes that generation.

With intensive, hands-on filmmaking, screenwriting, computer animation, and acting for film programs, the academy welcomes students from all over the world who develop an invaluable network of classmates that often provide opportunities for future work in the film industry.

Hollywood’s greatest filmmakers and stars such as Steven Spielberg, Susan Sarandon, etc have chosen to send their children to the film schools and acting schools of the New York Film Academy. Yet, some of the best projects to come out of the New York Film Academy are from students with no connections to the industry.

The following clip is from "Danny and the Ocean", a film written, directed by a New York Film Academy student named Abraham Heisler.

The Academy has film and acting locations in New York, London, Florence, Paris, Shangai, Bilbao, Milan, Abu Dhabi, Seoul, Budapest, Sardinia, Havard University, Universal Studios in Hollywood and Disney-MGM Studios in Florida.