hemingwaywantabes » Uncategorized

Plot and Structure

Mark Shaw — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:06:24 +0000

Hello Hemingwaywantabes. Hope your writing adventures are coming along just dandy. Wanted you to know about a book that has been most helpful to many regarding writing fiction. It is called Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell. Good tips all around including how to create plots and structure guaranteed to assist with your first novel or your latest. Take a look. It’s a winner.

Scams Abound – Beware

Mark Shaw — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 20:19:44 +0000

With the development of such legitimate self-publishing tools as Create Space and PubIt, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to become involved with a subsidy publishers. So beware of the scams from Author House, IUniverse, Xlibris, Dorrance, and so forth. Sure, they do what they say they will do, but most books never are distributed enough to gain any sense of exposure. Authors, many of them with a good story to tell, and a good writing, end up with an empty wallet and boxes of books in the basement.

To educate aspiring authors, I provide free mentoring services. More information at www.markshawbooks.net.

Read Good Books to Write Good Books

Mark Shaw — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:37:18 +0000

That’s right, reading good books helps with the writing of good books. So pay attention to what books are marked as the best written so you can learn from them.

For instance, Hudson Booksellers just listed its Top Books for 2010. Here’s the list. Read a few of them and see what storytelling methods were used, what the writing style is, and what kind of word usage is utilized. Learn from the best, and then write like the best.

Best Fiction

The Passage, Justin Cronin
Room, Emma Donoghue
A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
Freedom, Jonathan Franzen
Tinkers, Paul Harding
The Eden Hunter, Skip Horack
Matterhorn, Karl Marlantes
Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart
Bitter in the Mouth, Monique Truong
The Lonely Polygamist, Brady Udall

Best Non Fiction
The Possessed, Elif Batuman
Let’s Take the Long Way Home, Gail Caldwell
The Wave, Susan Casey
Sh*t My Dad Says, Justin Halpern
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
Fatal System Error, Joseph Menn
Birdology, Sy Montgomery
The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee
Last Call, Daniel Okrent
Packing for Mars, Mary Roach

Best Young Readers
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth, Jeff Kinney
I am Number Four, Pittacus Lore
It’s a Book, Lane Smith
Art & Max, David Wiesner

Best Business Interest
Switch, Chip & Dean Heath
Delivering Happiness, Tony Hsieh
Getting Naked, Patrick Lencioni
The Big Short, Michael Lewis
Aftershock, Robert Reich

Query Letter Tracking System

Mark Shaw — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:55:22 +0000

Hello Hemingwaywantabes. Hope your writing is fruitful and that you are edging toward publication potential in the near future. Never give up – remember, it only takes one literary agent to say “yes,” and one publisher to say “yes.” Keep the faith, your day is coming.

Besides PublishersLunch.com, which I have suggested before as an important tool to help you with your publishing strategy, another side, http://querytracker.net/index.php may also be helpful. Take a look at what the site offers free of charge, a way to track submitted query letters. Scads of literary agents are also listed as well as some publishers and I like the site’s warning, “Never give money to a literary agent.”

Hope this information is helpful. Now go write “one true sentence” as Mr. Hemingway used to say.

Mark’s Free Book on Publishing Process

Mark Shaw — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:04:32 +0000

Hello Hemingwaywantabes. Hope your writing journey is going well.

Many who visit this blog site are most kind with their comments but somehow do not realize that it is possible to download my book, How To Become a Published Author: Idea to Publication, free of charge. Free! Yes, free, that magic word we all love.

To do so, simply download the various chapters posted above this posting. By doing so, you will learn practical information designed to guide your process toward becoming published. And also learn about the evils of subsidy publishing, a dragon is there ever was one.

More information is also available at my website, www.markshawbooks.net. Don’t hesitate let me help you. I love helping aspiring authors.

Self-Publishing – The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Mark Shaw — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 00:04:58 +0000

Interested in knowing all sides of the equation regarding the risky business of self-publishing? Then I suggest you take a gander at the following article:

reviews.cnet.com /self publishing

Good information all around, especially regarding all of the scams there are that trap unsuspecting writers into believing a subsidy publisher is their best friend. This is simply not true, as this article points out.

Hemingway and Emile Zola

Mark Shaw — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:29:05 +0000

Been reading a terrific biography of Emile Zola after having completed a biography of Henry Miller. One connection they have with every author who ever lived – poor reviews. So, Hemingwaywantabes, never let rejection bother you. Certainly learn from criticism, but keep pumping out your words and do your very best to tell the story you want to tell. Revise, revise, revise, and then revise again, but be true to yourself. More tips like this are available free if you download my book, How to Become A Published Author: Idea to Publication, displayed above. Since the new Thomas Merton biography is my twentieth book, I actually know what I am talking about when it comes to the publishing process. Please take a gander and then let me know if there is anything I may do to help you with your book.

Book Controversies

Mark Shaw — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:47:15 +0000

Hemingwaywantabes, hope you are writing away with the intention of telling your story to the world. And don’t worry about anticipated bad reviews of those who want to kill your book for others. Just keep writing, and keep the faith as the truth shall set you free.

One example, my new Thomas Merton biography has become quite a testy book for some people, especially those who want to protect his squeaky-clean reputation and not expose the truth about his love affair with a student nurse half his age. Take a look at this article in Religion News Services (http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/rnstext/book_about_mertons_affair_stirs_up_controversy/) or check out www.markshawbooks.net for more information.

Merton Biography Released

Mark Shaw — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:10:53 +0000

Hemingwaywantabes, pleased to report that my new Thomas Merton biography, Beneath the Mask of Holiness, has been released. One nice review thus far:

Mark Shaw’s latest captures a most controversial period of time in the life of a very enigmatic personality, Thomas Merton. Mr. Shaw doesn’t fail to envelop the reader in a fair, honest, provocatively enlightening, and highly entertaining read. Mr. Shaw treats his subject with dignity, sensitivity, and profound reverence. For followers of Merton, this is a must read. For those just now learning about Merton or those barely acquainted with the man and his work, “Beneath the Mask” cannot be more recommended.

That’s from Peter Mursak, a fellow monk of Merton’s. More at www.markshawbooks.net. Savings at amazon.com

Hemingway, Bugliosi, and Bush

Mark Shaw — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:14:17 +0000

Ever wonder what Ernest Hemingway would think of President George W. Bush. Would the macho writer bond with the macho, chest-beating president who goes to war under false pretenses and then boasts about the achievement despite the loss of life of more than four thousand American soldiers/kids and more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians? Or would he be repulsed by this administration, one that continues to be so disconnected from the real world that the pres did not not even know when a gallon of gas hit four dollars?

If you want to read one man’s opinion about this state of affairs, I encourage all hemingwaywantabes to read The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder by former Mansion prosecutor and best selling author Vincent Bugliosi. Despite being ignored by the media, the book hit the NY Times bestseller list this week because Vince, as he always does, actually researches his topics and then tells the truth based on the facts. Amazing, huh, but Vince actually believes in this way of living. Bless this man, I say – what a refreshing change of pace from writers who merely make up the facts to fit their storyline.

I’m about a third of the way through this book and while I don’t agree with everything Vince says (I may call him Vince because we know each other with him having written a jacket cover endorsement for my biography of famed attorney Melvin Belli)), he speaks with straight tongue when it comes to describing Bush and his lack of real love for this country. The insights presented, if one keeps an open mind while reading, certainly help one understand why there is no question Bush is the worst president we have ever had, with the only shining light right now that the ego-driven, holier-than-thou pres will be gone in six months. Thank you Lord.

For my part, I feel very sorry for the pres and pray for him for he has no idea what chaos he has caused. But you don’t need my opinion – read Vince’s and then tell me what you think.