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Ghostwriting and folding egg whites in batter: a tale of two Julia Childs

June 20, 2017 By Leave a Comment

How do you blend the idealist writer in you with pragmatic demands of  ghostwriting? Kristin Johnson draws inspiration from none other than Julia Child.

In ghostwriting, how do you blend your own ability and insights with your client’s story and voice? You could learn from America’s greatest ghostwriter, who has a hit musical named after him.

Also, you can learn from Julia Child (we’ve already discussed in this post on how Joan Rivers can help you become a better writer), and from the movie “Julie/Julia,” starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. [Read more…]

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How To Dazzle With Dialogue

May 29, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Screenplay writer Kristin Johnson offers five key principles of dialogue, with an example of all five from the movie “Steve Jobs”.

On February 9 I had the great fortune to speak to the Desert Screenwriters Group (DSG), a special interest group (SIG) critique group under the umbrella of the Palm Springs Writers Guild (PSWG). [Read more…]

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What Words With Friends can teach you about writing

April 30, 2016 By Leave a Comment

If you plan to procrastinate, you might as well do so with something to challenge your inner wordmaster.

Neurolinguistics professor Alice Howland (Julianne Moore) played it as a way to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s in the movie “Still Alice”.

Many of your writer friends probably play it.

You might, too.

Words With Friends. Better than Solitaire or WoW (World of Warcraft) as a procrastination tool, you rationalize. I mean, at least this game has something to do with writing. Welcome to the moral high ground. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Miscellaneous

Are You A Writing Hoarder?

October 28, 2015 By Leave a Comment

We all know what hoarding is, but have you ever heard about writing hoarders?

Digital hoarding is “a thing”. Haley Cue of XoJane.com writes:

Technology has made collecting things so much easier, more attainable, creative, customizable. Filters! Hashtags! Sharing! We can get to know another person’s life by scrolling through a collection of images we’ve been granted access to. I am certain I would be doing these things regardless of time and medium, but I am thankful for the conveniences of my generation. I’d be terrified to find out how I would function without it all. [Read more…]

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Top Memorable Writers Conference Moments

September 25, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Kristin Johnson, our writers conference junkie, reports from the Southern California Writers Conference.

Once again I’m packing manuscripts, new business cards and prose in need of medical attention, to go to another writers conference, this time the Southern California Writers Conference. I will reconnect there with Ara Grigorian, subject of our “Story Packing” blog post and winner of the Gold in Sports Fiction at the 2015 Readers Favorite International Book Awards for his breakout success Game of Love (Curiosity Quills Press), who, by the way called the blog post “My favorite writeup on my Story Beats workshop.” He will be teaching that workshop again, as he did at the June Santa Barbara Writers Conference, as well as his “Romance, Bromance and Beyond” workshop, which I will be attending. And he’s a keynote speaker. His Secret Service code name? Nutella. [Read more…]

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Story packing: Ara Grigorian’s Finding the Story Beats workshop (spoilers)

June 25, 2015 By 1 Comment

There is both an art and a science to setting the pace of your novel. Here is what Kristin learned at the Story Beats Workshop in Santa Barbara.

In a previous post we gave recommendations as to what to pack for a writers’ conference, in this case the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. Your humble correspondent spent last week at #SBWC15 and her bags proved to be well-stocked.

Packing for a trip is a great analogy for constructing story structure. You need to know your must-haves without which your vacation, a.k.a. the journey in the story, can’t succeed. [Read more…]

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8 Must-Have Items to Pack for a Writers Conference

June 8, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Kristin is off to the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, and – ooh, look what she’s packing!

It’s that time of year. To quote Alice Cooper, “School’s out forever.” Unless you happen to be packing your bags for the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, as I am. [Read more…]

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The Best Worst Thing That Ever Happened

April 6, 2015 By 1 Comment

Every hero faces that moment when they are cursed – The Worst Possible Thing happens. It is upon the ruins of that curse that the hero can burst out in triumph!

“This is the worst day of my life.”

So says your main character, or a key character, at a critical moment.

“I’ll never get out of this.”

Same character says this.

“I am undone!” [Read more…]

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Meeting your writing muse on the mountain

March 18, 2015 By 4 Comments

The exhilaration of writing is met with the fear of leaping into uncertainty. Listen to your muse and jump when she says to.

Marvin V. Acuna of The Business of Show Institute is on my radar for screenwriting information. My routine in the morning is as follows:

[Read more…]

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Can We Talk? What Writers Can Learn From Joan Rivers

March 11, 2015 By 2 Comments

Joan Rivers had Botox. Writers have editors. Everybody needs a helping hand to perfect their craft.

“I enjoy life when things are happening. I don’t care if it’s good things or bad things. That means you’re alive. Things are happening.”

“I have become my own version of an optimist. If I can’t make it through one door, I’ll go through another door—or I’ll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.”

[Read more…]

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Writers Family Holiday Bingo

December 3, 2014 By 1 Comment

Are you a writer, stressed about facing the family over the Holidays?  We have instant stress relief for you in the form of Writers’ Family Holiday Bingo

For many writers, the holidays are especially difficult.

It’s not just that we’re hoping our Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa romance ebook will be published in time to catch the holiday sales. It’s not just that many of us have an artist’s budget and a shopping list that extends downstairs. [Read more…]

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Historical Writing Comes Alive at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference

June 18, 2014 By 1 Comment

“Please turn off your cell phones. We are going back into the past.”  Let’s take a glimpse of how historical fiction is crafted, by some of today’s finest craftsmen.

On Sunday, June 8 in the El Cabrillo Room of the Santa Barbara Hyatt, moderator Barnaby Conrad III, son of Santa Barbara Writers Conference founders Mary and Barnaby Conrad II, announced, “Please turn off your cell phones. We are going back into the past.” He introduced the panel: [Read more…]

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Maile Meloy Addresses the Santa Barbara Writers Conference

June 10, 2014 By Leave a Comment

Kristin Johnson reports live from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference on speaker Maile Meloy’s keynote address.

Your humble correspondent had a full first day at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference.

Conference owner Monte Schulz (son of Charles Schulz) asked who has been deadheading and doing round the clock workshop. Four people have been nonstop conferencing for 24 hours. “You’ll be so exhausted you’ll forget your name,” he quipped. That’s why we have name tags, apparently (also to keep any freeloaders from grazing at this writers’ buffet.) [Read more…]

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Being Uncertain Means You’re Alive

May 23, 2014 By 5 Comments

Client-ghostwriter collaboration is like courtship. It always starts off with uncertainty, then subsides when you slide into that rhythm of collaboration.

In listening to The Moth Podcast, I came across this quote:

“Being Uncertain Means You’re Alive”.

Because my fingers are super-glued to Google, I googled “uncertainty in a writing career” because I felt a blog post cooking. Surprise: I found a blog post from Just Write Dammit addressing this topic. More on that in just a moment. I know…there’s nothing like a dash of suspense to liven up a post about uncertainty–which, coincidentally, is often part of a writer’s job description, especially if you write fiction. [Read more…]

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Black Eye Monday: Batman and Superman “Reuse to Vacate” Captain America

April 15, 2014 By Leave a Comment

Proofread.  Proofread. Proofread.  Kristin Johnson doesn’t want to know what “Reuse to Vacate” might mean.

The above headline might sound like a sentence from a particularly awful superhero comic book fanfiction crossover. If the good people at MovieWeb.com had used said sentence, we would have suspected they actually read awful comic book fanfiction crossovers. [Read more…]

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