The television show Friends was immensely popular. It won 62 Primetime Emmy Awards. According to the Nielsen ratings, it was within the top 5 shows for 9 solid years. Personally, I loved it. Its message said that with the right friends, we can weather anything that life throws at us.
But why was this show so popular? It wasn’t by chance that it became a television giant. Today we’re going to comb through the reasons why I feel the show was successful and how you can use these methods to improve your writing.
Best seller lists are tricky. They can be manipulated and sometimes are. Nevertheless, they do serve a purpose. For one thing, I suppose, they inform people of what other people are reading, thereby generating a sort of herd effect that might drive up sales, but more importantly from a writer’s perspective, they provide a touch stone as to what readers are interested in.
I saw an interesting quote on Facebook this morning.
“Some days you don’t feel like doing your job. But there is no ‘teacher’s block’ or ‘dentist’s block.’ I can’t figure out why we have created this mysterious phrase..only for writers..which only means ‘don’t feel like doing this right now.” Lois Lowry
I’ve been chewing on it all day and decided maybe “The Block” is reserved for creative pursuits – creating something from nothing can go off the rails sometimes. Are Painter’s Block and Quilter’s Block a thing?
I find it hard to believe but recipe books do sell. The thing to remember is that precious few readers are likely to make much use of the recipes. The number one thing that draws readers is the fantasy of the thing. We might all like to dine on Sacher Torte but would we really want to spend the time and effort to make one?
Today’s article is for teachers and librarians and media specialists as well as for authors of books for children and teens.
When my children were in school, occasionally a form came home explaining that an author was visiting the school and my child could purchase a book which would be signed by the author.
As readers, we root for a kiss to happen between the characters who we know are just meant to be together in a novel. When it finally happens, we inwardly cheer (okay, sometimes outwardly as well) and then move on.
Characters do all kinds of things in fiction. Their actions make up the stories we write, and if they did nothing…it’d be pretty boring.
But how much motivation should there be in what they do? Do you, as the author, need to always know why they’re doing it, or can they just “do something for doing it”?
Let’s take a look at a scene and see how it works.
For the last few years, at every writers’ conference I’ve attended, the hottest topic has been social media. Writers crowd these sessions like medieval pilgrims seeking miracles at a shrine. They seem convinced that with just the right piece of information, they can use social media to promote themselves into writing stardom.
