Tag Archives: writing

So, what do you do?

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How often has this happened to you? You’re talking to someone and either you or the other person asks what you do for a living.

It happens all the time. I’d say it happens to me at least once a week, and I’m probably being too conservative.

But how do you answer?

For me, I usually say I’m a writer. Sometimes I say I’m an editor. Other times I say I’m a journalist.

They’re all true.

When I tell people that I write or that I work with words, they make assumptions about me. They assume I’m creative, for example. Some assume something about my level of education. Some others try to stump me on a random subject, as though writers know everything about everything.

You know who else we tend to think those same things about? Teachers.

I know I do.

It makes sense, because at a certain level, most writers are also teachers.

Even though I minored in education and did my student teaching, I never served professionally as a formal teacher. I served as an instructor for various short-term classes, but it wasn’t my full-time job.

I spent a few years conducting classes at YMCAs where I was a full-time employee, but I was running programs. I thought of it as different.

I was wrong. I was a teacher and an instructor and a coach. I’ve realized lately that I still am.

I suspect this old saying (meant as a joke) is still told: Those who can’t do, teach (and the corollary: Those who can’t teach, teach gym.)

I never really liked those jokes, though I probably told them more than once, too.

But within those sayings is something that is certainly true, even if it feels like it shouldn’t be: You don’t have to be an expert to teach.

As writers, we should have lots of skills that non-writers envy. Our ability to imagine out-of-the-ordinary scenarios is one of my favorites. A way with words is another.

I was talking with my sister recently about another trait that she and my brothers share: We’re good at grammar. I suspect it had a lot to do with our parents, but we always valued quality writing. We read it often. It’s true that reading quality writing helps writers recognize bad writing.

Sometimes our preconceived notions of what something should look like distract us from what something is.

Maybe we think of teachers as people at the front of a classroom lecturing on how to do a task. My best teachers also taught why things are the way they are. They taught about perspectives.

Sharing perspectives is absolutely a part of writing.

From my perspective, I’m still a writer. I’m still an editor. I’m still a journalist. And when people ask what I do, those are the answers I’ll still give them.

But perhaps it’s time to change my perspective and see how my vocation and avocation can change how I answer those questions.

How about you? What do you do?

Fix the grammar glitch:

In the comment section, please indicate which sentence below is correct.

a) Please contact Amy or me if you have any questions.

b) Please contact Amy or I if you have any questions.

c) Please contact me or Amy if you have any questions.

Perceptions Matter

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The other day, I was included in the photo shoot for the annual report at the nonprofit organization where I work. From my perspective, the key contribution I made was when the photographer was setting up the first shot. He was going to have me at white board, looking like I was leading a meeting.

“I don’t think you want to have the middle-aged white guy leading the meeting,” I said.

Almost immediately there was agreement around the table. A moment later, a woman whose family is from India was at the white board.

The characters experience the story. And perceptions matter.

As an author, you need to know your characters, but I think it’s at least as important to know how your readers will see your story.

I’m not arguing for being politically correct (whatever that means these days). But I’m saying we’ve seen a lot of the same stories. There’s room for diversity.

We don’t need the story to be about the middle-aged white guy all the time. As a reader, I’d like to know more about the 20-something Indian girl; or better yet, the Native American woman in urban America.

There’s lots of stories about teens who feel like fish out of water. I mean, that’s what being a teenager is all about, right?

But what about the third grader from Egypt, or the second grader who moved to mainland U.S. from hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. There are so many stories that can be told.

What are their stories?

Usually, when I talk about these things with other writers, the chief argument is that they need to write what they know.

I get it. But it’s also true that to learn, we need to explore the unknown.

What are you writing? Could it be made better by changing the race, gender, or orientation of the protagonist?

Give it a try, even if it’s just a writing exercise. You might surprise yourself.

Buzz vs Word-of-Mouth: What Hollywood Could Learn From Publishing

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This post appeared originally on From the Write Angle in February, 2013. Gaining at least a basic understanding of marketing will help you identify and target work to your audience. In this post, R.S. Mellette offers a snapshot of his experience with buzz and word of mouth from the film industry. Shared with permission of the author, whose two novels, Billy Bobble Makes a Magic Wand (2014) and Billy Bobble and the Witch Hunt (2016) were published by Elephant’s Bookshelf Press.

Buzz vs Word-of-Mouth: What Hollywood Could Learn From Publishing
by R.S. Mellette

I moderated a conference of film industry professors a while back, and when one of them said that Hollywood relies heavily on word-of-mouth marketing, I laughed.

I couldn’t help myself. Here is an industry that considers a 20% or 30% drop in sales a success! That’s not word-of-mouth. Or if it is, good words are not being spoken.

Interestingly, the Hollywood insiders on the panel thought I was the crazy one for doing a spit-take with the Kool Aid they were serving. But of course, none of them had theatre or publishing experience.

In those disciplines, word-of-mouth marketing means sales INCREASE with time, not drop. A play that is worth the time, money, and effort of going to see will build an audience. A book worth the read will see an increase in sales.

In Hollywood, my filmmaking brothers and sisters have forgotten the difference between Buzz and Word-of-Mouth. So, let’s take a look at them side-by-side.

Buzz: “I want to see that movie,” says one friend to another before it premieres. “Yes,” says the friend, “I’ve heard it’s good.”

Word-Of-Mouth: “I saw the best movie this weekend, you should see it.”

In writing, we call that passive vs. active voice. In court, it’s called a firsthand account vs. hearsay.

Marketing generates buzz. The product itself creates word-of-mouth.

Why is that a distinction worth discussing? Because buzz owes only a passing fealty to the quality of the product. Producers in Hollywood will actually judge a script on “trailer beats,” meaning juicy stuff they can put in the preview to create buzz. A script that tells a good story but has no trailer beats will be passed over in favor of another script that is more easily marketable.

Compare this to the world of self-publishing today. Sure, sure, there is a sub-culture of writers trying to get good reviews—or spam their competition with bad ones—to increase buzz. There is nothing wrong with an honest pursuit of good buzz, but the runaway hits in the self-publishing world come almost exclusively from word-of-mouth marketing.

And word-of-mouth marketing is entirely dependent on the quality of the work. It is first-person, active, marketing. One friend telling another, “I enjoyed that, and I think you’ll like it, too.”

What does this product-oriented marketing technique look like on the sales charts, graphs, and tables? That’s easy. No drop off. Sales go up the longer the product is available. And when the same people create a new product, their sales start higher because they have become a trusted brand. As long as they keep up the quality, then their work will generate its own buzz.

The opposite is also true. How many of us have been fooled so many times by a great preview for a lousy film that we no longer trust the studios? Like so much of the rest of American Industry, studios have lost sight of long term success in favor of instant gratification. They have confused buzz with word-of-mouth.

So the work suffers. We, as consumers, suffer. And worst of all, we artists who must try to make a living in this environment suffer.

R.S. Mellette is an author and filmmaker. Prior to the Billy Bobble series of novels, Mellette had Sci-Fi short stories published by Elephant’s Bookshelf Press in the anthologies: The Fall: Tales from the Apocalypse, Spring Fevers and Summer’s Edge. Mellette is an Associate Director of Dances With Films (one of MovieMaker Magazine’s top 25 coolest film festivals in the world). He wrote and directed the multi-festival winner, Jacks or Better. He also wrote the first web-to-television intellectual property, “The Xena Scrolls,” for Universal Studio’s Xena: Warrior Princess. On Blue Crush and Nutty Professor II he served as script coordinator. He’s acted in Looney Tunes: Back In Action, Star Trek: Enterprise, Days of Our Lives, Too Young The Hero, and countless stage productions across the U.S.