WRITERS' Journal Table of Contents
September/October 2004
Volume 25, Number 5

Columns

  2        .....Editor's Note

  4        .....Marketing Helps, Janet Elaine Smith
            Creating a Traffic Jam  

  5        .....Massaging the Muse, Lynne Pisano
            Creativity Starters

  6        .....Effective Screenwriting, by Jerry McGuire
           Timing Your Script
            Let's say you want to write a half-hour sitcom, maybe something for Everybody Loves Raymond. Great. It is a top show with an audience of millions who prefer family entertainment over the racy stuff. Just how does one go about approaching this exciting challenge?

 8       .....Photography Techniques, by Ronald D. Kness
           Evaluating Photos
            Have you ever thought about what makes a great photo and why some are just mediocre? What is it that catches your eye and makes a lasting impression? The answer is that the great photo has all the elements contained in a generally accepted evaluative criteria checklist. For every element missing, the impact of the photo decreases. So, what are the elements in this checklist? Let's take a look at each one individually.

51        .....Essay Writing Contests, by Dorothy J. Geiger
            September/October 2004, Monthly
            Many national advertisers sponsor essay-writing contests and, in addition to a fabulous first prize, many contests offer additional prizes as well.

58        .....For Beginners Only, by Jeffrey Strausser
            Gremlins in Your Writing Don't Get Trashed
            For your manuscript to make it to a publishing house editor's desk these days, it will have to make it past one of their readers, who is usually an English major from one of the fancy Northeast schools (and usually, the son or daughter of one of the publishing executives). What they lack in actual writing experience, they compensate for with their nitpicking knowledge of word usage and grammar. The following is a typical scene:

59        .....Words...Tools of Our Trade, by Betty Garton Ulrich
            Don't Use Those Ill-Fitting Pronouns!
            As a writer, I'm frustrated by the necessity of being "gender inclusive" in the use of pronouns. It used to be that we could say, "Each editor has a distinct preference for what he wants in the column." But now—whoops! The editor could be a woman, It does no good to say, "Well, 'he' is just a generic term. It means either sex." Oh, no! With the onset of the "women's movement," that became a no-no. So how do we handle that?

61       .....WRITERS' Journal Market Report, by Laurie Graziano
            What is writer's block? Is it that quiet tree-lined street where all writers live and play happily? Or is it one of those geometric shapes we place one on top of the other to build unique little communities? Actually, it's both. Well, in a writer's mind, anyway.
                    Markets: Budget Living, Worth Magazine, The American Conservative, ASK Magazine, Cure Magazine, Bookmarks, Cruiser Quarterly, American Magazine, Indy Men's Magazine, DreamSeeker Magazine, InTouch Weekly, Everything For Men, Atomica Magazine.

Feature Articles

10        .....The Importance of a Prepublication Marketing Plan, by Jennifer Hollowell
            Get the Ball Rolling Before Printing
            You've written your book, gone through the editing gauntlet and decided to publish the finished product yourself. You've researched all the self-publishing options, decided on a company, approved the book's cover, and polished the book's final layout. All your i's are dotted and t's are crossed. Now, you're ready to go to press. Right?

12        .....Postcard Town Histories, by John Dinan
            Publishing Town Histories for Profit
            Postcards have illuminated human history, displaying it from this angle and that. They are vehicles we ride as we view the human landscape; they are our camera on the world and on ourselves.

14        .....Parallels, by Lawrence and Suella Walsh
            Duplicity with a Purpose
            In fiction, parallelism occurs when two story components are equal or similar in all essential parts. The writer establishes a parallel to the plot or to a character's personality. If, for example, you have a childlike adult in your story and that adult interacts with a child on the child's level, the similarities in the two characters adds impact to the adult's behavior, illuminating his mental restrictions in a way his actions alone cannot do.

16        .....Lonely? Hold a Workshop!, by Rachel Mendell
           Seeking Out Local Writers
            It was lonely. It was two years after my first writers' group broke up, and I still hadn't found a new one. I needed help on my novel (which wasn't getting done) and input on my articles (which were all getting sent back). Nobody understands a writer like another writer, I thought. I needed encouragement.

22        .....Ten Tips to Help You Write Good Screen Dialogue, by Dennis E. Hensley
            Helping Your Characters Speak
            If you are working on a script and you seem to run into mental roadblocks from time too time when creating dialogue, here are ten ways to "walk the talk."

23        .....Nurture Your Inner Hack, by Scott Nicholson
            Release the Natural Storyteller in You
            Most aspiring writers, and even all those millions who are going to get around to being writers someday, have the idea that the Great American Novel is sleeping in their brains and that all they need to do is sit down and type.

41        .....Author Interview: Ad Hudler, by Sherri Linsenbach
            Achieving Success in Today's Competitive Markets
            Ad Hudler is a rising new author with his first novels, Househusband and Southern Living, published in 2002 and 2003, respectively, by Ballantine Books. He attained success when his debut novel garnered five offers before being purchased by Ballantine. He is currently at work on his third novel. Here's how he managed to write, sell, and succeed with his first books in just a few short years. 

44        .....Writers' Notebook
            Cartoon
            Favorites: www.newswise.com www.epodunk.com www.math2.org www.booksforsoldiers.com 
            Improve Your Writing by Improving Your Vocabulary, by James Patterson

45        .....Pitcher Perfect, by Leith Stewart
            Ten Tips to Target Your Sales
            A great pitch doesn't guarantee that your idea will be accepted. Even if you do get the go-ahead, you may not be happy with the results. Getting the answers to ten simple questions before you prepare your pitch will help you find—and keep selling to—the right magazines for you.

47        .....The Stuff of Dreams, by Caroline Misner
            Making the Most of Your Dreams
            On a chilly summer's night in Switzerland in the year 1816, a nineteen-year-old girl named Mary Shelly sat up screaming in bed. Her sleep had been interrupted by a terrifying nightmare that had jolted her awake. Unable to get back to sleep, Mary crawled out of bed and jotted down the dream that had so disturbed her. Her husband, the renowned poet Percy Shelley, read her story and encouraged her to develop it further. That story became the classic novel Frankenstein, and it has since spawned numerous sequels and movies and has become a cultural icon in Western society.

48        .....I'm Gonna Write Me a Book and Get Rich, by W. H. Dark
            Writin' a Book Ain't All That Hard
            A few weeks ago I heard somewhere about this guy named Waller that wrote a little book and got somethin' over thirty-six million bucks for it. I ran right out and borrowed a copy and glanced through it. It was a little bitty thing and they wasn't even no big words in it that I seen.

Fiction

March 2004 Horror/Ghost Winners:

27        .....The Ladies of High Wine Street, by Jennifer C. Martin
            First Prize Winner of 2004 Horror/Ghost Contest

28        .....Forever, by Elizabeth Hawn
            Second Prize Winner of 2004 Horror/Ghost Contest

30        .....Hayride, by Greg Schwartz
            Third Prize Winner of 2004 Horror/Ghost Contest

More Fiction

32        .....Sonata in White, by Marie McBride
            Honorable Mention Winner of 2003 Short Story Contest

36        .....Saving Daisy, by Linda Douglas
            Honorable Mention Winner of 2003 Short Story Contest

April 20, 2004 Write to Win! Winner

38        ....."Hunger Pains"—The game was over, and...," by Johnny Boatright

Poetry

52        .....Every Day With Poetry, by Esther M. Leiper
            "Petrafied: The Burgon of Fame"
            Last winter, revising my oasis poem, "A Haven From the Sun," I recalled a famous quote about another place hidden in the desert: This column looks at the story behind the poem of "Petra" and shows you glimpses of two men (They probably never met each other) who were directly involved. Here is the immortal line that has a been repeated for a hundred and fifty years: