How “Pinky and the Brain” Can Add to Your Writing…REALLY!

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Cartoon, characterization, dialogue, fiction, Pinky and the Brain, study, writing

I’ve already mentioned how studying plays can help to step up your dialogue. Now I’m giving you an excuse to sit and watch some cartoons.  Wait. What?

That’s right.  I said WATCH SOME CARTOONS.  But not just any cartoon. We’re digging up 90’s favorite “Pinky and the Brain”.  [Downloads are available on Amazon or buy the DVD.  We’ve got it at the local library, so check there first.]

Some of us were watching this as adults way back when.  Guilty pleasure then, must-do now. And here’s why:

Besides being hilariously funny, episodes are structured around a running dialogue (there’s that word again) between the two main characters who are genetically altered lab mice, one a giant-noggined big-brain and the other a lovable ‘narf’-spouting fool.

The dialogue is what makes the show.  It’s intelligent, witty, and it draws you completely and totally in. And that is exactly what you want to do in your writing. Good dialogue builds interesting characters. It is, in fact, the key to good characters.

So, when your spouse asks what are you going to do tonight, dear? Tell him that you are watching Brain try to take over the world again!

I promise that it won’t be time wasted, that your writing will be improved. That’s if you can stop laughing long enough to pick up a pen again.  🙂

Happy viewing!

Why You Should Be STUDYING the Walt Longmire Novels

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A&E, Cold Dish, craft, Craig Johnson, dialogue, fiction, Longmire, Lou Diamond Phillips, novel, Playwriting, Walt Longmire, writing

You’ve probably seen the promos for the Longmire TV series over on A&E. If not, you should be watching.  Crammed with great actors and Lou Diamond Phillips likes to tweet about all the yummie food that he whips up for the cast. Can’t wait for the cooking show LDP!

What you probably don’t know is that the books the show is based on are a fabulous read in themselves.  And I’m not just saying that so you can add to your already mountainous reading list.

Well, I am saying add them to your mountainous reading list.  But what I really want you to do is approach them with an eye to honing your craft.

Besides being an ex-cop turned cowboy, Craig Johnson, brain-father of the Walt Longmire mystery/western novels, is also a PhD in..get this..PLAYWRITING.

Yep. And what do we know about playwrights??????

They are exceptionally well-tuned to language, and dialogue in particular.

Johnson handles his with the ear of a master.

Oh. Light bulb moment. Well, who couldn’t help but learn from that!

Let me give you a taste from one of the novels.  This passage comes from the first chapter of The Cold Dish, which is Book #1 in the series, and it just so happens to be one of my favorites:

   We looked at each other, his expression carrying the self-deprecation that usually held some hidden meaning. “Beer, Tonto?’ he asked as he handed me an open Rainier and continued past with what appeared to be a tire iron in the other hand. I looked through the poolroom into the bar proper and could make out about eight people seated on stools, outlined by the fluorescent glow of the beer coolers. Big night. I took a sip and followed him to the far end of the room where he seemed to be preparing to tear apart the wall. Leaning against the offending structure he slipped the flat end of the tire iron behind the weenie-wood that made up the interior of the bar.

“You forget to pay your REA bill again?” He paused for a second to give me a dirty look and then put all 220 pounds into the tire iron and propelled the four-foot board from the wall, with nails still attached, to clatter at our feet. I bent from my vantage point to look at the ringshanked holes in the plaster surface that lay underneath the removed board.  Henry’s face was, as always impassive.

“Damn.” Without another word, he slipped the tire iron beneath the next board and popped it to the floor. Same result. “Damn.”

I figured it was time to ask, “Are we redecorating, or are we looking for something specific?” He gestured to the wall with a hand that pleaded and threatened at the same time.

“Fuse box.”

“You covered it up with boards.”

Another sidelong glance. “At least I have walls.”

Henry was one of the chosen few who had been to the cabin. His statement was hard to refute. “I’ve been thinking about getting an imitation sheepskin cover for my recliner.”  This got a long look.

“Are you drunk?”

I gave the question thought. “No, but I’m working on it.” He grunted a little laugh and popped off another board, which added to the considerable pile which was collecting at our feet.

“Damn.” He placed the tire iron in the next board. “Cady call you?”

“No, the brat.”

“Huh…she called me.” He popped the board loose to reveal the gray cover of an ancient fuse box. “Yes.”

WOW! You can read more of the surrounding passages on the Amazon preview. But you’ll probably want the boxed set.

Take your time, work through the series, and I promise that you’ll pick up more than you would from a whole stack of writing books.  I know that I have, and I don’t even like mysteries.  Huh.  Must be all the great characters.  Yes, it is so.

HOT TOPIC: The State of Poetry Publishing

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business, chapbooks, marketing, Ploughshares, poetry, publishing, Sandy Longhorn, writing

HOLY HOTCAKES!!!!!!  Writing Friends

Today, I’m weighing in on a very hot topic: the current state of poetry book publishing.

A few days ago, discussions started over on Sandy Longhorn’s blog and were starting to get juicy.

Here I want to approach the subject from a slightly different perspective. Look at the marketing angle.

So we know, and have experienced firsthand, that publishers are increasingly relying on the contest or reading fee model in order to offset the cost of poor-selling full-length collections.

Marketers are taught that poor sales are usually the result of: 1) a faulty or lackluster product, or 2)  a failure to reach the correct market.

The question then becomes are these full-length collections faulty or lacking in some way? Do readers in today’s marketplace even have the appetite for them? Or do they prefer shorter, less expensive, more focused work?

If the answer to that last question is yes, and I think that it is, then do chapbooks/pamphlets make more sense than the full-length pieces?

I think the fact that we are seeing a such a resurgence of them in both Britain and the US answers that question.

Chapbooks are, in my opinion, the best way to expose readers to a wider range of work, especially in terms of cost and collectability. [More on that in a future post].

Additionally, they help build a poet’s following, thereby making it easier to convince a publisher to take on a full-length collection down the road.

Even for those who already have full-length collections, chapbooks can be a good place to try out new things.

**For more on chapbooks, see Laura Madeline Wiseman’s blog. She has some really interesting interviews with both writers and publishers of the form.

As to failure to reach the right market, Ploughshares recently ran an article on just that subject back in May. You can find it here: Why Poetry Can’t Find It’s Public.

While I might not agree completely with the author of the article, it is clear to me that we as writers need to work along with our publishers in order to engage new audiences.

There are avenues open to us beyond youtube, radio, and e-chapbooks, if we will just allow ourselves to think outside the poetry box.

Which poets do you know that market themselves well? Which publishers are doing fun and creative things to engage more readers? Please post! I always love hearing from you.