Marketing Yourself

Issue 5: September 2012

Marketing Yourself-Remaking Yourself

I am in the process of remaking myself in order to market my product: my writing and essays. As a creative personality type thinking about marketing is alien to me. Maybe you’re the same way. Maybe the idea of having to work this portion of the writing business frightens and frustrates you. I does me. I don’t think we can avoid this aspect of the business for very long in today’s market, not if we want to make money with our writing. So I will share my progress, or lack thereof, with you in my newsletters.

For the last year I have been concentrating on getting my name, C.Lynn, out on the internet in order to promote my work. The problem I encountered is that there are many C.Lynns out there. There is poet who contributes to Poetry.com with that pen name and an artist in California who also has that pen name. Plus there are others too numerous to name. Since I chose this pen name shortly after I got married in 1974, you can imagine my frustration. Now I find it prudent to select another name for my writing, hopefully one that has less competition on the internet. I decided to “test” the pseudonym Rhodes FitzWilliam. I Googled this name and didn’t find any matching it. Maybe that’s a good start, but I know I have more to do.

Step one of my marketing strategy is simply to learn more about how to do marketing. There are many sources of information about marketing available, just make sure you select a reputable source. Right now I’m using “Marketing”, a free online source produced by the Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Center and the University of Missouri Extension. I’m sure it won’t be the only source I use, but it’s a start and I’ll keep you posted.

Why Should I Care?

Oh, I am late again! This should have been a July issue, but I got distracted again. Well, remember that writing takes discipline and keep trying to perfect it like I do. We’ll all get there one day.

Last issue we talked about the plot graph with its rising action, climax, resolution and denouement or closing.  It is important to keep something happening in our stories so they don’t turn into simply long vignettes. In escapism, plot drives the story. But in literary fiction, characters drive the story. The story will unravel based on how the characters will respond to what is happening in the situation, so it is important to create characters that compel our reader. The story becomes even more interesting if the characters’ ideas are challenged and they must either reaffirm their own beliefs or alter them to incorporate the new situation.

So what makes characters compelling? Call on what you know about people in your own life. What behaviors or beliefs do the people you love and admire possess? What about the ones you really don’t like? People who are real give us the material to work with to create fictional characters that connect to our audience. Characters, like real people, should have aspects you admire and ones you hate. So that character who is compassionate and caring may have bad habits like lying about trivial things. Or the character who is a real jerk to women or people of color may rescue stray dogs and cats. People are complex, so our characters should try to emulate that.

Results of Writing Challenge #4

The Challenge: To Be or Not to Be?

I’m going to give you the first line and the climax for this fourth writing challenge. We’ll extend the word count for this challenge to 1,000 words so you can build a decent story line.

Ken stood on the roof of the Carew Tower in Cincinnati. It was almost midnight and the full autumn moon frowned down from a partially overcast sky.²⁷

Climax: Does Ken jump or not?

You have the first 27 words now finish the “grabber” within 100 words. Remember this is the part where you connect to your audience and give them a reason to keep reading. Then your challenge is to create the background which led Ken to the critical point of considering suicide, which will include Ken’s first conflict at about the 400 word count, the second conflict at around 650 words and the final conflict that leads to the climax at 950 words. After that it’s all downhill (no pun intended). The last 50 words will close the story with some resolution and make your audience glad they read your work.

 

The Story: Carew Tower Jumping

Ken stood on the observation deck of the Carew Tower in Cincinnati. It was almost midnight and the full autumn moon frowned from an overcast sky.²⁶  It glared against a backdrop as black as Ken’s mood. He pulled out a Camel and lite it, drawing a deep suicidal breath. Barb’s petition for divorce was scrunched into a ball in the left pocket of his work uniform. Should he leave a note like Hazel Gundrum did in 1953 before she plunged from the 43^rd floor? “Sorry things didn’t work out. I loved you with all my heart.”⁹⁶

“Sorry it didn’t work out,” didn’t relate the depth of Ken’s sorrow. It didn’t tell Barb that he loved her as much today as when they met at that coffee shop at Miami University. It didn’t tell her how his love only grew when their son was born two years ago or that the affair he had was a meaningless backlash to his need for HER attention.¹⁶³

The walkie on Ken’s hip crackled. “Where are you, numb-nuts? I’ve got a busted pipe in the basement and I’m ankle-deep in water.” Ken flicked the Camel over the edge of the observation deck and watched it sail down to the 16^th floor ledge where Henry Bettman had landed after five years of harassment because McCarthyism labeled him a communist sympathizer. Ken grabbed the walkie from this belt and slung it off the building. “Sorry, Bob. You’re a cool guy to work with, but not tonight.” Nine years of working on the creaking pipes, questionable electric and cheap management was enough. Built in 1930, the Carew Tower had been renovated, but she was still demanding. Oh well, it wasn’t Ken’s problem anymore. The pink slip crumbled in Ken’s shirt pocket testified to that. If he threw himself off the building now, people would compare him to Norma Jean Haller who in 1956 plunged off the ledge of the 29^th floor leaving a note to tell her husband that the “Children will be better off.”³³⁷

The night air turned frigid as it gusted around him. Autumn would give way to winter early this year, just as his life would give way to and early death. Ken stood on the wall and paced in a pantomime of the trapeze artist at the circus where he took Barb and Justin last year. Justin was excited by the sights and sounds and smells which were so new to him, and they were ecstatic to be with each other and to watch Justin’s wonder at it all. They had made love in the back of the mini-van parked at Mount Lookout that night as Justin slept in his car seat. It was something they had never done before and it was a kind of testimony to their growing love. It was hard to believe that only a handful of months passed before Ken made his fatal screw up: a drunken night after an exhausting second shift and a ridiculous tryst with a college girl on a binge. Then Barb found out and her face, once so full of light and love, turned dark and hateful. She would never forgive him.⁵²⁸

Suddenly Ken’s vision blurred, he caught his breath and a dizzy, surreal feeling came over him. He felt the world tilt as his balance swayed out of control toward the tiered floors below and the quite Cincinnati streets. He heard a gentle swooshing of taffeta skirts in the wind and the sound helped him focus. He turned to see an African-American woman in a green formal gown standing a few feet away. Ken looked left, then right. “What the…” he started, and then rethought his words. “What are you doing up here?”⁶²⁰

“I think the better question is, what are you doing up there?” Her voice was like whipped butter, all melty and smooth.

Ken jumped down beside her on the observation deck. “How did you even get up here? The elevator to the 48^th floor is locked and I have the key. Besides, you shouldn’t even be in the building. Where are the security guards?”

Before he could continue the interrogation, she interrupted him. “Jumping off that ledge won’t make you feel any better.”

Ken took a step back. “What…how?”

“I just knew. Let’s leave it at that.” She walked over to the retaining wall with a swooshing of her green gown and looked down. A sigh escaped her and her glistening brown shoulders sagged. Her black hair was pulled up into a tight bun surrounded by lilacs. Ken thought of Barb’s hair, black and shimmering with subtle light as it fell across his face. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying block the image of her silky veil and the icy blue eyes which had contradictory affects on him: exciting him one moment and lulling him into contentment the next. The fresh lilac smell of her filled his nostril’s along with the smell of a freshly washed baby. Justin looked so much like Barb, black hair, pale eyes and pure joy of life. How could he live without them? Would they be better off without him?⁸⁵⁵

“No, they won’t,” the black lady answered. “Ask her forgiveness; she’ll give it to you.” Ken opened his eyes. Brown exotic eyes stared at him.

“I can’t. She won’t.” Ken hung his head, leaning over the retaining wall as if to vomit.

“Have you tried?” Her voice dripped sadness. “Don’t make the same mistake I made. I assumed my husband wouldn’t forgive.”

“Did he forgive you then?”

“I learned that he loved me enough to try again, but it was too late. I had already jumped.”⁹⁴⁵

Ken turned, but she and her green taffeta dress were gone. The Lady in Green wasn’t a just a ghostly tale after all, but she was a friend. Ken headed down the stairs to the 48^th floor and the nearest phone. He wouldn’t wait till it was too late to win Barb’s forgiveness and save his family.⁹⁹⁸

 

The Challenge of the Challenge

I liked the idea of including a little history of the Carew Tower in the story, so I did some online research. It helped me find a legitimate reason for a suicide jumper. Of course, lost love, insanity and public humiliation were the top reasons. Once I settled on love as the motivation for Ken’s planned jump, the words just tumbled out. In fact, too many words tumbled out! So the greatest challenge was to tighten the writing by removing phrases that were unnecessary or redundant. It’s surprising how many times you can repeat yourself without realizing it. Once I had done that, I still had too many words. I realized that I needed to introduce the Lady in Green earlier in the story. Originally she didn’t make an appearance until 800 words. It was way too late! By moving her up the 500s and timing her appearance as Ken was ready to fall, rather than jump off the building, I gave her time to talk Ken out of it. Having her appearance help Ken refocus and prevent him from falling, showed that she good. There is actually a story about the Lady in Green riding in the elevator and simply talking to a security guard, then disappearing. She intrigued me ever since I read the blog about her, so I knew I had to incorporate her into my story.

This whole idea of counting and double checking your plot line has been advantage to my writing and it’s helping me to polish my skills. I hope you find it advantage and fun, too!

 

Writing Challenge #5: Why Should I Care?

Since we’re talking about character, let’s combine two exercises into one. Select the characteristics from someone in your own life who you feel strongly about and put them into the below situation. Whether you love them or hate them doesn’t matter; just keep them as close to the real person as possible WITHOUT using any real names. Your goal is two-fold: keep your action moving along the plot graph for 500 words AND show the aspects of your character through their choices and thoughts.

The Situation: Your character is in a department store shopping for a last-minute gift when an electrical storm shuts down the power. Who is the gift for and how does the character decide what gift is best? How does the character respond? Anger, frustration, fear?

Remember to copy/paste your story into the body of your email with the Writing Challenge # in the subject box and send it to: rhodesfitzwilliam@gmail.com.

Good luck!