Moving From Columns to the Silver Screen

My husband and I watched “The Soloist” on TV last week. It was a touching and thought-provoking movie about a homeless man who had been a classical bass student at Juilliard before his life was overtaken with mental illness. Jamie Foxx did a great job portraying Nathaniel Ayers and his struggle with schizophrenia. But what stayed with me after the film ended was Robert Downey Jr.’s character. Downey portrayed Steve Lopez , the LA Times columnist whose work the movie is based on. Ayers is playing a two-string violin when the two inadvertently meet on Los Angeles’ skid row. Lopez does some research and writes about Ayers in his column: Points West.

This film was the third movie and/or a column-inspired book I’d seen or read recently. Last month my book club read the Girls from Ames written by Jeffrey Zaslow, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal. The book was a result of a column he had written about the importance of friendships for women.

Months before, I laughed while watching Marley & Me at the movies (then I came home and bought the book). John Grogan, a journalist for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and then the Philadelphia Inquirer, had chronicled his life with the “world’s worst dog” in his newspaper column.

Erma gave me hope, humor and inspiration. I was attracted to her talent for finding the perfect word or chain of thoughts to make us laugh at ourselves.

As a young woman, I enjoyed reading Erma Bombeck’s work. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew somehow, someday I’d write a slice-of-life humor column. Erma gave me hope, humor and inspiration. I was attracted to her talent for finding the perfect word or chain of thoughts to make us laugh at ourselves. She gently cautioned us — while raising children and training husbands — to relish life’s random and ordinary moments.

I try to do that with my monthly column Woman@Heart, hoping women across the country see themselves in my 800-word riffs about losing weight, parenting teenagers or keeping romance alive.

After observing the success Lopez, Zaslow and Grogan’s have enjoyed, I’m tempted to put my fiction novel aside and concentrate on turning my essays into a book. If newspaper columns about dogs, friendships and mental illness can become best-sellers and blockbusters, then certainly a magazine column about sticky notes, cookie parties and believing in make-believe could vie for a spot in the NY Times Best Sellers list. Well, a made-for-TV-movie, at least.

Losing One of Our Own

Spenser creator Robert B. Parker

This week I’m mourning the loss of a friend. This friend isn’t someone I met for coffee, remembered on his birthday or friended on Facebook. We didn’t exchange Christmas cards. I didn’t call him to share my joys and frustrations. We didn’t take any journalism classes together.

I’m grieving the loss of a man I’ve never met, but he’s been in my home countless times. I will miss knowing — that while I’m at my keyboard writing — he’s somewhere across the country busy folding words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, paragraphs into chapters and turning those chapters into best-selling novels.

Robert B. Parker died last Monday in Cambridge, Mass. He was 77. The cause — a heart attack. I just finished reading one of his earlier works, Mortal Stakes, when I opened an e-mail from my sister asking me if I’d heard about his passing. She knew how much I enjoyed his books. Somehow I had missed the notice in the newspapers.

The prolific writer of more than 50 novels is best known (and in my case, best loved) for his Spenser novels: a series of nearly 40 books about a wisecracking ex-boxer turned Boston private eye. I lost sleep many nights wanting to find out how this PI would expose the bad guy, set the world right and still find time to cook for his beloved Susan Silverman. I loved his dog, Pearl, and I knew Spenser’s trusted friend Hawk would come to his aid in a moment’s notice. Mostly though, I loved the laugh-out-loud, self-effacing personality of Spenser, who Parker never gave a first name.

Parker’s mastery of short chapters wove vivid imagery with crisp dialogue. His books were so inviting that I  kept a photocopied check-off list of his titles in my purse to help as I scoured booksellers and used bookstores hunting for them.

Parker began writing Spenser novels in 1971 while teaching at Northeastern University in Boston. His first one, The Godwulf Manuscript, was published in 1974, the year I graduated from high school. It opens with a sentence that immediately catches your attention and makes you want to read more: “The office of the university president looked like the front parlor of a successful Victorian whorehouse.” And with that, Parker’s career — spanning some 36 years — was off and running.

In addition to the Spenser books, he’s written two other series-based novels, both with memorable central characters: the first is a female private investigator Sunny Randall and the other, a small town police chief, Jesse Stone. He’s also published numerous non-series novels.

Here’s the good news. The authors we love never really die. They live on through the pages of their books. I can still invite Robert B. Parker into my home any time I like. I can’t wait to read his next two books. Split Image, the ninth in the police chief Jesse Stone series, will be in bookstores on Feb. 23. And, for a change of pace, a Parker western, Blue-Eyed Devil, follows in May.

Write a Synopsis — No Problem

A gangster and a flapper.

After spending days, months, years writing a 90,000-word novel, I’m now faced with the task of boiling it down to a two-page, DOUBLE-SPACED synopsis. I’d have an easier time fitting my 2010 body into my 1986 Jordache jeans.

There’s no stress associated with this task. It’s not like these two pages will have any affect on persuading an agent or editor to take on my project and turn it into next summer’s best seller.

After I stopped hyperventilating, I started seeking help for this dauntless assignment. I dug through past issues of Writers’ Digest, perused novel-writing how to books. Of course I got my best information from the blanket of e-mails I sent to my writing friends asking for their advice.

The consensus of their suggestions follows:

1) Start with your logline (elevator pitch/one liner). After a series of grisly shark attacks, a sheriff struggles to protect his small beach community against the bloodthirsty monster, in spite of the greedy chamber of commerce. (Jaws)

2) Introduce your protagonist and her conflict with the antagonist. Your synopsis should tell the reader why she should care. A flapper, a gangster, a Southern belle, a killer whale.

3) Tell them where this is all taking place. Long Island’s North Shore, a plantation in pre-Civil War Atlanta, the New Jersey shore in the Roaring 20s.

4) Share the basic plot. Even if it hurts, write down the ending.

They also told me not to include detailed backstory, dialogue exchanges, minor characters and how much my husband (sister, writers’ group, best friend) loves the novel.

Leaving stuff out was easy. With only two pages, I barely fit in the ending.

Claire Yezbak Fadden

Ready or Not, Advance Reading Here I Come

It’s been at least five years since I attended my very first writers’ conference. I was much younger then. A wide-eyed hopeful, soaking in as much information as I could. Good thing I didn’t know how much I didn’t know.

This February, I’m attending the Southern California Writers’ Conference in San Diego. And I’m going one better. I’m ready (I think) to submit my novel for an advance reading. I feel a little bit like a novice swimmer who insists on jumping into the deep end of the pool.

I’ll mail two copies of the first 10 pages of my labor of love, creativity and frustration to an editor/agent of my choice. As a mom of three, it’s sorta like sending my kid off to camp for the first time. I think I’ve prepared him well enough, but I won’t know for sure until he comes back.

And what can I expect for my additional $50 fee. “This is a unique opportunity to receive substantive one-on-on evaluation of your work,” says the brochure. At the very least, I’m expecting a professional, impartial, real-world review of my novel.

I hope I’m ready for that. But the phrase: “If you don’t want the answer, don’t ask the question” continues to roll through my mind.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

It’s not enough to come up with interesting, entertaining or riveting prose. Writers have to make sure they’re spelling everything correctly. It’s always an adventure to keep on top of grammar, spelling and punctuation. To be a true professional, writers must maintain an accepted style and consistency to their work.
An ongoing challenge for me is possessives ending in s. Since I haven’t been to J school this century, I’m often scratching my head to remember the rules I was taught so very long ago. I keep a dog-eared copy of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style alongside my keyboard and once again, it comes to the rescue.
For those of you who also struggle with ‘s or s’s or s’ here’s a reminder of the accepted style for singular and plural possessive nouns:
Form the singular possessive of nouns ending in s with ’s: Mr. Jones’s wallet, Thomas’s music, Doris’s report. The only exceptions are ancient proper nouns: Jesus’ disciple, Moses’ acts.
However, you form the plural possessive of nouns by adding an apostrophe after the “s”: the girls’ purses, the kites’ tales, the pencils’ boxes.
In the case of the plural possessive of nouns ending in s — as in, say, the family James and their minivan — you add an es and an apostrophe at the end: the Jameses’ minivan, the Felixes’ car.

Writing In an Imagined World

In my current work-in-progress, my protagonist uses her long-forgotten supernatural powers to save the day. I love the concept, but I’m constantly at odds with how to weave in enough information to make her unusual ability credible. I’m asking my readers to suspend disbelief, have faith in my writing and join me in a jaunt through my imagined world.

According to Steve Almond, author of Not that You Asked, “Readers will happily suspend their disbelief (even in the face of space aliens and angels) if they feel their emotional and logistical questions have been addressed, and if they world the encounter feels internally consistent.”

I agree. Consistency is key to creating supernatural, mythical or fantasy worlds. In my favorite movie of all time – It’s a Wonderful Life, the writer stays true to its implausible premise: What life would have been like had George Bailey never been born.

Frank Capra co-wrote this enchanted tale of an angel swooping down from heaven to make George’s request of never being born a reality. In scene after scene, we watch as the story unfolds to show how one man’s life touches so many other lives. It demonstrates the void left when George had never been born.

Almond says “In the end, plausibility in fiction isn’t’ about adhering to the facts of the know world, but the imagined world.” I sure hope he’s right.

Going Up! Honing the Elevator Pitch

Some call it the elevator pitch; others know it as the log line or hook line. It’s that all-important summary, the one every novelist — published and unpublished — is suppose to rattle off at the drop of a hat.

All of us struggle to write it, memorize it and practice saying it. Those few words are designed to catch an agent’s attention, hoping she’ll say: “Wow that’s great. I want to hear more.”

I’ve been working and reworking mine for months. And at the last meeting of our writers group, one of our members read it, crossed out 13 words and improved it exponentially. Thank you Trish.

Still I toil over this brief recap of a story that’s taken me 90,000 words to tell. In a recent Writer’s Digest interview, novelist James Patterson emphasizes the same point. He tells the interviewer, “You’ve got to get a story where if you tell it to somebody in a paragraph, they’ll go. ‘Tell me more.’ And when you start to write it, they continue to want to read more. And if you don’t, it won’t work.”

Think of an elevator pitch as a concise, carefully crafted and well-practiced synopsis of your work of fiction or nonfiction. You need to be able to recite it seamlessly in about 30 seconds — the time it takes to ride up an elevator.

The cold facts are — if you can’t pitch your novel in 30 seconds then you’re taking too long. And if you can’t relate the plot of your novel in one short paragraph (three or four sentences at the most) then you’re using too many words. Head back to the drawing board to rework it. This is a bare-bones assignment. Cut out the fluff.

Re-read your elevator pitch. Does it:
1) Tell what the book is about.
2) Clearly state what the problem is.
3) Outline the goal of the protagonist.
4) State opposition (conflict/action) to the stated goal.

If not, get back to work. Those few words may be the hardest you’ve ever written. We all know it takes more time to write brief and concise. Like Mark Twain once said “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

EXTRA INFO: At the Writers Store website, Jonathan Treisman offers some great ideas for writing loglines that sell. Visit http://www.writersstore.com/article.php?articles_id=231 for more ideas.

Take Down the Scaffolding

As a novice novel writer, every day I discover how hard it is to weave an engaging story. For years I’ve enjoyed curling up with a book, ignorant of the work involved in good storytelling. I now savor the masterful way Robert B. Parker slides in a quick fact about Boston in his Spenser series novels without slowing down the story. Or how an 11-year-old snapshot stuck on a refrigerator door illustrates the pain of loss for a young wife and mother in Jodi Picoult’s novel A Change of Heart. I’m always impressed with the way Janet Evanovich reintroduces reoccurring characters in her Stephanie Plum novels without weighing down the reader with excess facts.

“Creating characters’ backstories before you start writing is crucial,” says Rachel Ballon author of Breathing Life Into Your Characters, “because you’ll want to determine each one’s past experiences and the repercussions these experiences will have on your story before you begin.” I’m really good at this part. I write page after page of character history. With great ease, my protagonist’s fun facts, broken dreams and unresolved conflicts pour out of my fingertips.

It’s gets a bit trickier when I have to trim my endless “tell” and trust my readers to get the picture through my “show.” I’ve become pretty successful in building story scaffolding. But once constructed, I’m reluctant to take the support beams off and trust my edifice to it’s own solid foundation.

I’m using all the arrows in my writer’s quiver — dialogue, narration, thoughts, scene setting, description and flashbacks to layer in important facts. I hope to nestle them in throughout the pages, so that the reader feels she’s uncovering tiny treasures along the way, waiting for the payoff – all the facts coming together in a satisfying climax.

Thanks to the patience of my fellow Pageadaywriters, especially Trish, I’ve improved at writing backstory and I’ve even gotten better at knowing when to delete it. Every day, every page, I’m sharpening my writer’s arrows and learning I don’t have to shoot them all at the same time.

A Diamond Anniversary

It seems to be anniversary season. Lots of family and friends have been celebrating wedded bliss during the past few weeks. In fact, my husband Nick and I are coming up on our 29th in a couple days. Not quite a milestone, but still something to be acknowledged.

There are resources to help husbands figure how to commerate those years of marriage. I’m all in favor of ways to take the guesswork out of shopping, but these lists, for the most part, delay the good stuff until many decades of being Mr. & Mrs. have passed. 

In spite of the fact that convention says otherwise, over the years — whenever possible — I’ve vigorously suggested to my husband that every anniversary should be a diamond anniversary. To that end, I’m an advocate of moving diamonds way up on the list.

Nick claims that traditional gifts like linens, wood and clocks are the way to go. If you operate with this mindset, just hang around until your 48th anniversary — there’s some groceries in it for you!

I was disappointed that there is no traditional gift suggestion for the 29th anniversary. The modern idea is furniture. Just what I want, a new couch.I think  Nick was hoping for golf clubs. Somehow we agreed on granite countertops. Not that I’m complaining by any means. Granite is a sturdy substance and signals a strong foundation — one that comes with 29 years of love and compromise.

But still I ponder why is there such a long wait for diamond gift-giving? Those gems don’t show up on some of these lists until the 60th anniversary.  I say give her diamonds early and often. The monthly payments alone will keep you together.

That’s why I continue to promote my “every anniversary is a diamond anniversary” concept wherever and whenever I can. And you can help by spreading the word.

But if you’re married to a traditionalist or if you’re just curious about what the lists suggests, here’s a sample of Traditional, Modern and Jewelry Anniversary gift ideas.

Of course, a night out and a champagne toast are always in good taste.

Anniversary| Traditional| Modern |Alternate gem stones

1st | Paper | Plastic, Clocks| Gold Jewelry
2nd |Cotton | China, Calico | Garnet
3rd| Leather | Crystal, Glass | Jade, Pearls
4th | Fruit, Flowers | Linen, Silk, Nylon | Blue Topaz
5th | Wood | Silverware | Sapphire
6th | Candy |Iron, Wood | Amethyst
7th | Wool, Copper | Brass, Desk sets | Onyx
8th | Bronze, Pottery | Linens, Lace |Tourmaline
9th | Pottery | Willow  Leather | Lapis Lazuli
10th | Tin (Pewter) |Aluminum | Diamond
11th  |Steel | Fashion Jewelry, Turquoise
12th  |Silk | Linen | Opal, Jade
13th | Lace | Textiles, Furs |Citrine
14th |Ivory | Gold | Opal
15th | Crystal | Glass, Watches | Ruby
16th | ——| Silver holloware | Peridot
17th | —— | Furniture | Watch
18th | —— | Porcelain | Chrysoberyl, Cat’s Eye
19th | —— | Bronze |Aquamarine
20th | China | Platinum | Emerald
21st  | —— | Brass, Nickel | Iolite
22nd | —— | Copper | Spinet
23rd | —— | Silver plate | Imperial Topaz
24th | —— | Musical instruments | Tanzanite
25th | Silver | Sterling Silver | Silver Jubilee
26th | —— | Pictures | —– |
27th | —— | Sculpture | —– |                                                                            
28th | —— | Orchids |
29th | —— | New furniture | —– |
30th | Pearl | Diamond | Pearl Jubilee
31st |—— | Timepieces | —– |
32nd | —— | Transportation | —– |
33rd | —— | Amethyst | Amethyst
34th  |—— | Opal | Opal
35th | Coral | Jade | Emerald
36th | —— | Bone China | —– |
37th|  ——| Alabaster | —– |
38th |—— | Beryl, Tourmaline | Beryl
39th | —— | Lace | —– |
40th | Ruby | Garnet | Ruby Jubilee
41st | —— | Land | —– |
42nd |—— | Improved real estate | —– |
43rd |—— | Travel | —– |
44th | —— | Groceries | Gourmet
45th | Sapphire | Sapphire | Cat’s Eye                                                             
46th | —– | Poetry | —– |
47th | —— | Books | —– |
48th |——| Optical Goods | —– |
49th | —— | Luxuries | —– |
50th | Gold | Gold | Golden Jubilee
55th | Emerald | Emerald, Turquoise | Alexandrite
60th | Diamond | Gold, Diamond | Diamond Jubilee                           
65th | Diamond | Gold | Blue Spinet                                                                 
70th | Diamond | Gold | Sapphire Jublilee                                                   
75th | Platinum | Diamondlike stones, Gold
80th | ——| Diamond | Ruby Jubilee
85th | ——| Diamond| Sapphire
90th | ——| Diamond | Emerald
95th | ——| Diamond | Ruby
100th | ——| 10-carat Diamond

Has the stimulus saved your job or created a new one for you?

I just read in the morning paper that unemployment hit 10% in San Diego county. That’s not as bad as other parts of the country — Michigan 15%; Oregon, South Carolina & Nevada hovering over 12%.

But all these facts and figures thrown out at us made me wonder – who do those number actually represent? Does the California Employment Development Department accurately account for all the people looking for work? Or just those seeking unemployemnt benefits.

I know many people who have lost their jobs, been asked to take unpaid leave or have had their salaries reduced. Many of my friends and neighbors are under-employed. A few I know have given up the hunt all together. A couple recent college graduate friends have decided to work on their master’s degrees, hoping things will improve in the next two years. How are those situations recorded in evaluating the true unemployment picture?

As a freelance writer, I’ve seen my income reduce by nearly 70 percent during the past six months. Magazine editors have fewer pages to fill as their issues shrink in size. Advertising is way down in the print media. As a result, I’m offered fewer and fewer assignments and — because of space limitations — less and less of my article queries are accepted.

So, I’m wondering how it’s going for every one else. How is the current unemployment (under-employment, part-time employment, reduced employment) situation affecting others? Has the stimulus saved your job or created a new one for you?