Galdorisi PSWG Slide

1. Story Hour
Palm Springs Writers Guild
November 2, 2019

2. 2

3. 3

4. Let’s Talk About Stories…About Writing….

5. Isn’t this the oldest profession?

6. 6

7. And the newest?

8. “No one ever made a decision based on a number. They
need a story.”
Michael Lewis
The Undoing Project

9. A Few Preliminaries….
• Three promises:
– This will be a fast-paced session
– We’ll learn something…and we’ll have fun
– You’ll have access to these slides…take notes…or not….
• Three assumptions:
– You all are interested in writing as a hobby or avocation
– That includes articles of all kinds as well as books
– You didn’t wake up last Tuesday morning with this notion
• And a word about Power Point….

10. WorkLife
Passion
Do they…can
they…intersect?

11. For me…there were and are blurry lines….

12. The Five Minute CV
• Went to the U.S. Naval Academy looking for adventure
• Found it…in spades…as a naval aviator…CO of two squadrons
• After that – ship and squadron command and strike groups
• Add to that, two years leading the U.S. delegation to China
• Some years in the defense industry
• Currently at NIWC Pacific – supporting warfighters

13. Why do I write and what do I write?….

14. “For me, I gotta write, and it’s the adventure of it that’s
hooked me. As the writer, I can do it all. I get to be the
National Security Advisor who recommends the action
to the President who must commit the forces. I’m the
senior officer who sends his men into action and who
feels the pain if they don’t make it back. I’m the enemy
and the defender; logistician and staff planner. But
most of all, I’m a young man again, that fresh
lieutenant who must lead his men into battle.”
Dick Couch
“So you Want to be a Writer”

15. Why and What Do I Write?
• First, forget Paris – live your life
• I write what I know
• I write about what concerns me
• I had some parental push – but not like you might think
• I was on the outside, looking in
• I started small…and built on that experience
• I was, and remain, warm to new ideas

16. Living Life…and the Planets Aligned
• Leave No Man Behind
• Tom Clancy Presents Act of Valor (movie and book)
• The Kissing Sailor
• Tom Clancy’s Op-Center
• When the Killer Man Comes
• The Coronado Conspiracy and For Duty and Honor

17. That’s about as open-kimono as an
introverted New Yorker can get….

18. Let’s move on to news you can use….

19. 19

20. A preview of tomorrow’s workshop…
and more that you can use today

21. Finding the Heart of Your Story: Your Original Idea
“This session will help attendees explore the most basic – yet
most important – element of the writing craft, the original idea
that is the essence of your story. We will first examine how
generating this original idea works for both fiction and non-
fiction. We will deep-dive into where original ideas come from
and then progress to how to shape that kernel of an idea into
novel, narrative non-fiction, or even a screenplay. Attendees will
be provided with online access to all workshop material.”

22. What We Will Cover Today
• A six-session, twelve hour, writing seminar in an hour
• You’ll benefit from the feedback from other seminars
• I’ve been doing this for four decades
• I find it helpful to package what I’ve learned
• Writing anything is a journey
• So let’s walk together for a while, then have Q&A

23. Suggested Goals for This Session
• Learn something useful you can apply now
• Focus on what kind of writing you would like to do
• Have fun doing it rather than make it a chore
• Develop your network with each other

24. Exit Criteria: What You Should Expect
• If you’re interested in writing shorter pieces: blogs,
newsletters, print or online articles – you’re ready
• If you’re interested in writing a book or publishing a
book you’ve already written:
o You know enough to give yourself a good pole position to
break yourself away from the crowd
o You know enough about the resources available that you
can choose the ones that work for you
o You’re mindful of the level of effort required for these
pursuits as well as the odds of success

25. The Basic Building Blocks
• Step One: Why Write?
• Step Two: First - and Essential - Steps
• Step Three: Non-Fiction - The Hungry Market
• Step Four: “The Great American Novel”
• Step Five: Establishing an Online Presence
• Step Six: Social Media - Challenges and Opportunities

26. Step One: Why Write?
• History is what writers say it is
• Picking your medium
• A building block approach
• Due diligence the easy way

27. “History is what the historians and writers say it is.”
Norman Polmar
(Forty books – and counting)

28. Step Two: First - and Essential - Steps
• Content-hungry media
• Repurposing and building content
• Building relationships with editors – a win-win for
both parties
• Solo or with a wingman? The pros and cons of
collaboration

29. So Many Outlets – So Little Time
• A wide array of online media
• Newsletters
• Alumni magazines
• Professional journals
• Popular magazines
• Newspapers
• Portions of non-fiction books
• Non-fiction books
• Short stories
• Novels – of all kinds

30. Step Three:
Non-Fiction - The Hungry Market
• Being - or becoming - the expert?
• Pursuing a subject - or letting life happen?
• Scratching itches - or entertaining?
• How much to tell and what’s next?
• You must make this choice
• My former student’s journey

31. Why Non-Fiction Books?
• It is a hungry market
• Relatively easy to enter
• Lower risk – sell then write
• Can be steady money
• Can query without an agent more easily
• Vastly more nonfiction published than fiction

32. Step Four:
“The Great American Novel”
• Great or not-so-great? What you need to know
getting started
• Mainstream or genre? Which way should you go?
• Defining your audience and picking a “voice” and
point of view
• Getting the sale – and then promoting your work

33. Great or Not-So-Great?
What You Need to Know Getting Started
• Lots of decisions to make:
– Mainstream or genre
– Publisher or self-publish
– Single work or a series
– Time-bounding to complete
• The competition is intense:
– Increasing number of novels published
– This means that far-fewer are commercially successful
– In many ways, the market is over-saturated
– Compared to non-fiction, there are fewer barriers to entry

34. Step Five:
Establishing an Online Presence
• What makes yours unique?
• Beating the competition for “eyes”
• Balancing content and entertainment
• Doing-it-yourself…or…?

35. What Makes Your Online Material Unique?
• Are you providing something people can’t get
anywhere else or get as easily?
• Are you aiming at the right attention span of online
tourists?
• Think of your website the same way as what you
write – tell people a story
• Doing-it-yourself…or…?

36. Step Six:
Social Media-Challenges and Opportunities
• Everyone is doing it
• Vote early and often
• Building a following
• Sustaining momentum

37. Social Media Increases Your Reach
• 74% of online adults use social networking sites
• 71% of online adults use Facebook
• 23% of online adults use Twitter
• 26% use Instagram
• 28% use Pinterest
• 28% use LinkedIn

38. I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling
The Elephant’s Child

39. Some Things to Consider Before You Write
• Who are you writing for?
• What are you going to write?
• Where are you going to write?
• When are you going to write?
• Why are you going to write?
• How are you going to write?

40. “Storytelling is as human as breathing. Literature, since
it emerged 4,000 years ago, has shaped the lives of
most humans on planet Earth. We are what we read.”
John Sutherland
“Book People”

41. A Preview of Tomorrow’s Workshop
Finding the Heart of Your Story: Your Original Idea
“This session will help attendees explore the most basic – yet
most important – element of the writing craft, the original idea
that is the essence of your story. We will first examine how
generating this original idea works for both fiction and non-
fiction. We will deep-dive into where original ideas come from
and then progress to how to shape that kernel of an idea into
novel, narrative non-fiction, or even a screenplay. Attendees will
be provided with online access to all workshop material.”

42. Finding the Heart of Your Story:
Your Original Idea
• Your Original Idea: Spark That Starts the Process
• Fanning the Flame: From a Spark to a Fire
• Focusing Your Idea: Divergent to Convergent
• Is It Just a Story – Or Something More?
• Turing the Fire Into a Narrative
• Taming the Beast and Writing Your Novel

43. Your Original Idea:
The Spark That Starts the Process
• The coolest thing about writing!
• Only you are the steward of your original idea
• Can you state your idea in one sentence?
• Ideas can be absolutely anything
• Outward vs. inward focus
• A few examples

44. “Deconstructing” a Movie Log Line
The subject of the sentence will describe (1) an
imperfect but passionate and active protagonist. The
verb will depict (2) the battle. And the direct object will
describe (3) an insurmountable antagonist who tries to
stop the protagonist from reaching (4) a physical goal
on account of (5) the stakes, if the goal is not reached.

45. CharacterizationPlotting
Action
You must do
all three well!

47. James Hall – Hit Lit
• Gone with the Wind
• Peyton Place
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Valley of the Dolls
• The Godfather
• The Exorcist
• Jaws
• The Dead Zone
• The Hunt for Red October
• The Firm
• The Bridges of Madison County
• The Da Vinci Code

50. “Listen, Stephen King used to write in the washroom of his trailer
after his kids went to sleep. Harlan Ellison wrote in the stall of a
bathroom of his barracks during boot camp. Elmore Leonard got
up at 5 AM every morning to write before work. Every time my
alarm goes off at 5 AM and I don’t want to get up, or I would
rather sit down after work and play a videogame, I think about
those guys. Take care of your family. They need you and love you.
Make time for them. Then stop screwing around and finish your
damn book.”
Bernard Schaffer
Whitechapel: The Final Stand of Sherlock Holmes

51. Slides and Resources Posted:
http://www.georgegaldorisi.com/

53. “If you decide to become a professional writer, you
must, broadly speaking, decide whether you wish to
write for fame, for pleasure, or for money.”
Ian Fleming
How to Write a Thriller

54. Questions?
54