Writing for Podcasts

This year I finally conformed and jumped into the crowded pool called podcasting.  I wasn't going to as I've got enough pots on the artistic fires that aren't paying anything.  As it is, I'm having difficulty getting people to watch my Youtube shows and read my books, so why should a podcast change anything?  Won't it just add to my already over-saturated promotion schedule?

Well, yes.  However, until I find that sweet spot of media of which people will consume my stories, I am constantly on the search.  And I have noticed that people more often listen to new things in podcasts than they do anywhere else.  Movie studios and major publishers only seem interested in rebooting older products, and Youtube seems obsessed with commenting on those rebooted movies.  But podcasts are often filled with original, new material.

People seem to be more willing to try something new while they're driving during their commutes, or at work.  I used to think they'd try watching my videos at work because studies have shown a tendency for people to consume social media while there.  However, what I didn't take into consideration is that my videos are often around 20 minutes and sometimes longer.  People can't take a break for that long.  The videos they watch are usually about five minutes maximum.

As for my books, I've been trying to send out free short stories on Facebook and push promotions on Amazon.  This has been met with limited success as people want to spend their free time on things they trust.

So it seems the commute is the time to present something new; something they'll try while they're bored, because no matter how bad it is, it beats waiting in traffic.  And so I'll be recording my Relic Worlds short stories since I was giving them away anyway, and in so doing I'll see what might need to be rewritten.  I'll also be re-recording the narration for RPG Storytime, having to describe things a little more since I won't have visuals.  But it should be interesting.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it all goes; and I'm hoping it's at least a little more successful than my previous endeavors.

Building the Benefits of a Writers Group & Keeping it Afloat

Earlier this year a writers group I belonged to basically fell apart.  I usually don't go to writers groups as I don't need incentive to write, the travel time to and from them is time I could be writing, and most people use them as excuses to talk about writing rather than actually writing.

However I did notice a number of benefits to having a writers group, and they're not always completely evident.  There's the obvious aid it provides by being able to read what you're working on and getting feedback from others.  This can be laborious as you also have to listen to everyone else's and give them feedback; but you don't want to be selfish, and you can always learn from what others are doing.

But there are some other things to make one's writing group beneficial.  For one, having a central location to communicate between the group meetings is invaluable.  With our group what I suggested was to post on the Facebook group we already had.  It had been set up just for communicating who was coming, but when we started using it to post what we were working on, it became beneficial for members to post both what they were working on, and what they had already finished.  The current work could be critiqued and people could come to the meetings with advice already to give.

The earlier work was especially beneficial online because the members could share it.  Online resources are the best way to spread the word of your work, and one of the best uses of a writers group can be for everyone to help spread each other's work, and to post reviews for one another.  This latter action is one of the most important commodities for independent writers.

Another great benefit for writers groups can be for everyone to swap suggestions on where they can take their work to be seen by those who need to see it.  Screenplays need to be seen by producers.  Short stories need to be seen by magazines.  Traditional works need to be seen by publishers.  Independent works need audiences.  And everyone could use a good agent.

Some of these suggestions may seem obvious, but so many writers groups are all about people writing off of a prompt and fishing for compliments.  The group pats each other on the backs and everyone goes away feeling good, but they gain nothing.  Regardless of how good they feel in the moment, though, eventually they'll realize that they're going nowhere in their careers, and going to the writers group isn't paying off, so the group will slowly dissolve.

So the best way to make one's writers group thrive is to provide elements that will help the members in the long run.  It may not be as much fun, and it may be uncomfortable even when you give suggestions rather than just say, "that's great," but ultimately it will keep people coming back as they'll see it as indispensable.

The Art of Turning RPG Games into Videos

Earlier this year I started a channel called RPG Storytime which shows videos I've made that tell the stories that came out of RPG games.  Rather than live streaming us playing the game, like most channels do, I take the story that was generated from the game sessions, and I write a script for it.  I narrate it like an audiobook, put in sound effects and music, and I set up shots of miniatures on tiny sets which illustrates what's happening.

This creates a fast-paced story that continues from video to video.  Viewers follow it like it's a TV series, and get invested in the characters.  In order to get it to that point, though, there are some important things I have to remember.  First and foremost, I need to follow the rules of storytelling rather than the rules of the game itself.  There are a lot of rules and details in a game that would bog down a story.  These should only be brought up when they're relevant to the story, or when there's an amazing roll.  It becomes important to highlight this aspect when something seems way out of the ordinary, and happened only because of an unexpected roll of the dice.

What's also very important is developing the characters as characters, not as classes.  Rather than a character being a third level rogue, they are a moderately experienced map maker, or someone seeking out artifacts.  Give them some trait that people would want to read in a book or see in a character in a movie.

Most importantly, the series needs to stay focused on the story and character arcs.  Individual fights mean nothing if they're not part of a story that's leading to something.  This is something to keep in mind when game mastering, but it is far more important when you're reciting the story to the audience.

All that being said, I have found that it is good to tape the players playing at least for a little while, or to set them up as though they're playing later on, because it's good to integrate these moments into the videos.  Viewers seem to like seeing the players make the decisions.  To that end, I also tape the players giving testimonials that can be intercut with the story so viewers can get a sense of their thinking and decision making processes.

Ultimately, regardless of how successful the videos are, I'm proud of them and really enjoy having these records of the stories which have come out of our RPG sessions.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTOn2WMkuvRskZ2SN1YBplQ

Effective Strategies on Giving Book Talks

One effective way I've found for spreading the word of my books around and selling them is to give talks at various  events and clubs.  When I first started doing this I tried having events just for my books, such as a signing at a bookstore, or at a library.  I got spoiled because it went well the first time I did it.  This was, however, a fluke.  I happened to have written about a subject that occurred in the town where I was speaking, so I had a huge turnout.  But after that, you could hear crickets chirping as I sat and waited in a bookstore for someone to give a crap.

What turned out to work much better was to find groups that were already meeting on a regular basis and who were looking for guests to speak.  Rotaries are a perfect example of this, because they meet every week, and most of them need a new guest speaker every single time.  That's a lot of slots to fill, so authors are helping them out by offering to speak, as long as it's on a topic their members are interested in hearing.

The first few times I did this, I was very nervous.  However, it became easy for me once I understood what I really needed to do; just tell the story.

You typically have only 20 minutes.  That's enough time to just tell everyone the basics of your book.  This may seem like you're giving it away and they won't want to buy it afterwards, but the trick is to not tell them any major spoilers, and to give them broad strokes.  In the case of Two Gun Hart, I'm telling the story of a man's entire life.  By giving the broad strokes of what happened, I'm basically providing a trailer for each part of his life.  By the time I'm done, the listeners feel that they've been told an entertaining story, and they get the book to fill in all the details.

This style works particularly well with nonfiction.  With fiction, it's a bit more difficult.  First of all, Rotaries are less interested in fiction.  Most of the members are interested in hearing true stories.  However, they're also interested in hearing about true facts.  If you find some that are related to your book, you can give a talk on that.  For instance, when I give talks regarding my novel The American Game, I talk about the true history of baseball, and how it coincided with the Civil War.  I then end by explaining how I integrated this history into my book.

All these methods have gone over well with attendees, and have often gotten a good number of my books sold, and the word spread about them.

How Weird Al Yankovic was a Huge Influence on Me

Earlier this year, Jamie and I hurried down to Hollywood to see Weird Al get his star on the Walk of Fame. I'd never done that before, and there are few for whom I'd take that sort of time. 

The reason for this was evident when we accidentally went the week before and saw Jennifer Garner get her star right next to where his would be. (I had gotten the date wrong.) As we drove away, the person speaking at the event said, "Jennifer Garner is better than all of us." No joke, those were the woman's exact words.

What I have always loved about Weird Al is that he's outside all that Hollywood bullshit. Beyond being just a satirist, he's always provided an alternative to what we're told is supposed to be important, while not playing into the childish "conform to nonconformity" either. He's shown that it's okay to be different, to be smart, to be "weird." While much of that may seem obvious, it wasn't obvious to many as I was growing up.

In the '80s,just knowing how to run a computer got you labeled as a nerd and unworthy of popularity. God forbid you should be creative and interested in intellectual pursuits. Even being into Weird Al's music was considered lowbrow. It's a much different, and much better world today; one where differences are more celebrated and intelligence is a bit more appreciated.

But Al got me through a lot of lonely times, despite being seemingly nothing more than a comedian copying other people's music. It was simply the image of "being weird and oddball and different is okay" that was so important to me. So for that I can't think of anyone better to have gotten this star. I'll be sure to step all over it in the coming years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAYgZ_zzyTE

#weirdal #walkoffame #music #comedy #thomaslenon

The Screenplay Formula and Why Movies are so Homogenized

You might hear a lot of people question why so many movies have such a similar tone; as if they're all of the same genre, or made by a few filmmakers with exactly the same tastes.  You may have noticed this yourself and added your voice to the plethora of bloggers, vloggers, and other fans who have expressed their frustrations at how all movies seem alike now.

This might seem a bit like the old man going, "it' ain't like the good ol' days," but there's a strong truth to it, and a reason for it.  As an example, when Star Wars and Star Trek movies came out in the late '70s and early '80s, there was a strong distinction between them.  You went to Star Wars and got an action packed adventure.  You went to Star Trek and got an intriguing mystery.  Even the action scenes were completely different.  In Star Wars you got fast cuts with small ships or individuals shooting rapid fire shots at one another.  In Star Trek you had longer wide shots of large ships laboriously turning on one another while their crews discussed the best way to win.

Neither style was better.  It was like going to a restaurant.  No one wants the same food every day.  If you want Mexican food, you go to a Mexican restaurant.  If you want Italian food, you go to an Italian restaurant.  You switch it up to have a variety.  Hell, even films made by the same director had very different feels.  Take for instance Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark versus Jaws.  Their tone and style was so different that they seem like they're made by completely different filmmakers.

But now you could replace the title of one film with another and hardly anyone would notice.  In computer gaming terms, it's like changing the skins.  So what caused this?  Well, there are numerous theories, and I'm sure many of them have truth as any subject of this magnitude will naturally have a lot of answers.  But I've come to believe there's one overall reason.

Screenplay formulas.

For decades, filmmakers and theorists have been trying to narrow down what makes a film "work."  Understanding this will cause filmmaking to be less risky, and solve psychological mysteries of taste.  So people set about writing books on screenwriting, observing what has been respected and loved in movies, and trying to capture the reason for the magic in them.  The result of all this research was a multitude of formulas.  Books from Adventures in the Screen Trade to The Foundations of Screenwriting to Story to the Writer's Journey all try to identify the genie in the bottle.

These books do provide a basis for good practices in screenwriting.  For instance, they remind a writer to not linger too long in their introduction of the characters and the situation.  They provide guidance on moving the plot forward, and ideas for creating dynamic story beats.  These are positive guidelines to follow.

Why Watching Online Movie Critics Makes Me Feel Better

Some of the most popular channels on Youtube are movie critics.  Their rise has come because of how much a producer could get with the smaller investment.  A content creator can tape him or herself in a room, or even just record their voice, and let the clips of the movies provide the higher production value.  Since these movies have their own marketing departments, audiences already know what they are.  And since Youtube worked out a fair use clause to utilize movie footage, they could air their reviews and even monetize them.

In some ways I feel guilty for watching so many of these shows rather than searching harder for more original content by people who are willing to take the risk and not ride on the coattails of premade products.  However, I've found that there's something very cathartic about watching the critics slam on bad movies.  There were obvious reasons for this, but as I got to thinking about it, there were more reasons for me that go beyond the usual viewer.

When my own scripts and projects got rejected, I was willing to accept that there could be something better.  Whatever they did choose would probably be a better film, something that I would aspire to with my own writing.  Whenever a film got accepted into a festival mine didn't get into, I thought the same thing.  Then I would watch them...

My discouragement came from the fact that there was nothing to look up to; nothing to aspire to.  What I had presented may not have been perfect, but it was certainly better than what they were choosing.  Added to my frustration was the fact that I was then told that no, I was wrong.  The production companies, studios, and film festivals were right in their choices.  After all, they were the ones in power.  They made more money than me.  Their careers were going great.  They're right and I'm wrong.

Channels like Nostalgia Critic, Lindsay Ellis, Red Letter Media, and Your Movie Sucks beg to differ.  In fact, they've specifically taken on some of the movies that I got rejected in favor of.  Being outside of the industry, they feel no need to conform, or kiss the ass of anyone "important."  They actually scoff at Hollywood's self-importance.

THAT is cathartic.  It may not give me a career or change Hollywood, but it definitely makes me feel better to see movies that are objectively bad and producers who believe they're right about everything get called out on their bullshit.