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China, Free Stuff, a New Book Announcement, and a Quick Word About “Battered Bastards”

I’m heading to Beijing next week…

… to help launch the Chinese release of  “Story Engineering,” and to teach a workshop on how writing is taught in the States.  Which is a favorite topic of mine… I promise to be nice.

I thought I’d share a couple of things here on Storyfix that might provide a little nugget of clarity or inspiration for anyone looking for an edge.  A perspective on how we write, and why, is as valuable as biochemistry is to a surgeon, so here you go.

First, here are the slides for a 10-minute introductory presentation on that topic.  There are 14 of  ’em, I’ll have to talk fast.  Given the fact that I’ll be using an interpreter, that should be interesting.

Click here: China 10-minute INTRO

Here, too, is the synopsis (shown below) about the workshop, which I think captures the context of my work on a broad level, including both writing books, this website and my workshops:

“Larry Brooks, author of “Story Engineering: Mastering the Six Core Competencies of Effective Writing,” will share his views on what constitutes effective storytelling — the true nature of “story” itself — and the criteria, benchmarks and processes that combine to bring it about. He views the “sweet spot” of writing a great story as a twofold proposition: the inherent appeal and power of the integrated concept, premise and dramatic proposition of the story itself, and the means by which the story is developed through what he calls a “search” phase, which is the first of three distinct contexts of story development.
Brooks contends that the degree to which authors realize which of those three phases they are in at any given point in the writing process dictates the efficacy of the draft they are currently working on, and the potential effectiveness that will result from it.  Too many writers “settle” on a draft that is not fully optimized (developed to its fullest dramatic potential).  While recognizing that story development is a continuum, with blind drafting on one end and working from a tight outline on the other (with an acknowledgement that most writers end up moving around on that continuum as they go), Brooks contends that drafting is no different than outlining when viewed as a “story search and development” mode, that drafting is merely just another means of “searching for and fleshing out” the story, and in that context, no different than the goals of the outliner.  The outcome of either process is dependent upon not “settling” until the most effective story has been fleshed out, following by a phase in which optimization is the focus. The more one understands about the inherent components, structures, core competencies and story physics involved — as opposed to just “winging it,” or writing by the seat of one’s pants — the more efficient this process becomes at all points on that continuum.

Brooks says this approach and the “Six Core Competencies” model upon which it is built, is a recasting of universal truths about storytelling, rather than an advocacy of one developmental approach over another.  Both can work, both are challenging, and both are often mishandled.  Yet all writing methodologies, when they work, end up in the exact same place.  Nonetheless, the criteria, benchmarks, structures and narrative forces (what he calls “story physics”) that define effectiveness are rarely taught as a direct process goal.  His book, “Story Engineering,” recasts the writing process itself in context to these principles, thus making the “craft” of storytelling not only more easily accessible to authors, but empowering to the final draft of a story, as well.”

All of this is true for screenwriting, as well.  Story is story, in any form.

Announcement: My New Writing Book from Writers Digest Books!

I’ve just signed my third book contract with FW Publishing, the company that operates Writers Digest Books.  The new project, which will be released sometime late in 2015 is entitled:

“Story Fix: Transform Your Manuscript From Broken to Brilliant in Just One Draft

 The approach will provide criteria-based benchmarks not only for the revision of a novel or screenplay, but for the creation of a first draft, as well.  While there’s no getting around the contextual relevance of the six realms of story physics and the Six Core Competencies that create the toolbox for rendering them onto paper, this book will be process-focused, with analytical tools to help assess where a writer is on the various qualitative scales that become the heart and essence of the story.  It’s so easy to focus on one to the neglect of the others, and yet, when a draft finally works at a professional level, that finished whole reads as something in excess of the sum of those parts, perfectly balanced and blended, touching the heart and mind of readers.

It’s no accident when that happens. Even when their authors claim that it is, or at least, that something “bigger than themselves” intervened.  That doesn’t happen, either.

Fact is, it’s damn hard to make happen… which is why less than one percent of submitted manuscripts end up getting published.  This book extends beyond the entry-level prerequisites and the composition of the combined skill sets necessary to play at that level… this is about how to fluidly blend them within a seamless story architecture that takes on a life of its own, and how to recognize where you are on that path.

More on this project as it develops.

“The Battered Bastards of Baseball”

Long ago… I mean a long time ago… I played baseball for a living, and in pursuit of a dream.  I spent five years traveling among three different minor leagues, playing for eight different professional teams.

One of them was the 1974 Portland Mavericks, which was a remarkable experiment in baseball management that shook the entire baseball world to its core.  I had just been released by the Texas Rangers organization, and landed on the Mavericks in my hometown, a team owned by Bing Russell, an actor straight out of central casting and the father of legitimate movie star Kurt Russell (who later played for the Mavericks, as well).

Two of Russell’s grandchildren have produced an award-winning documentary on the team, which will make you laugh, cry and marvel at how a team of misfits and rejects and wannabes managed to beat the pants off of teams full of bonus babies and prospects, while making the baseball establishment blush and scramble.

It’s called “The Battered Bastards of Baseball,” and it’s now available exclusively on Netflix.

If you’re looking for me in there… I’m in two shots, one a still photo of the 1974 team (I’m the dark haired guy in the middle of the back row), the other a live shot, where I am seen behind someone being interviewed, apparently comforting a distraught teammate, or asking him for a dance, it’s not clear which… weird, but there I am).  I was the starting pitcher for the second game of that season, then was traded to another independent team in Vancouver B.C., playing against the Mavericks that season.

Check it out if you like baseball stories, or come-from-behind stories, or want to see what dreams look like when they are born, when they fight to survive, and when they change you forever.  You’ll be blown away at what’s there.

My first published piece of writing was about my experiences in professional baseball (for Scholastic Magazine, in 1977).  So for me, the dreams connect, and the intersection is right there, in this documentary.

 

 

 

 

 

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14 Responses

  1. @Mike–I had a hunch you already knew this, but seemed like good info to provide regardless for anyone reading who is just now looking into such things 😉

  2. @Robert – “uh huh, preachin’ to the choir here.” If anyone knows the marketing angle in this particular segment, it would surely be: “Writer’s Digest Books.”

    This thing I know: @Larry can be depended-upon to provide the necessary content. And, @WD can be depended-upon, one way or the other, to be able to sell it to a sufficiently-large segment. So as to be profitable (“knock, knock!!”) to all concerned.

  3. @MikeR–As someone who has spent some time writing, and time on SF, I would agree that the title change you’ve suggested makes sense to people like us. However, most of the would-be writers in the world want results from a writing book that brings instant results. The immediacy most people have is they want everything finished yesterday. And unfortunately, that crowd makes up a lot of sales for current books on writing. Amazon would certainly be a lot less rich without these guys. Call them the unintiated–or anything that you like–but I think it helps to cater to that imediacy in the title. That’s most likely the thought behind the current title. Then, once Larry has their attention, hopefully they’ll learn a few things. And they will make leaps in one draft if they buy the book, I’m sure. So it’s a win-win on both sides.

  4. @Larry –

    So, this book-guru thing is taking you to CHINA? And it’s all a business expense? What’s not to love about =that?= 🙂 Congratulations are in order.

    I like the title of the new book – and I’m glad to see you producing a new one – but the only thing I’d consider changing in the title is to omit: “… in just one draft.”

    That, to me, is just a little bit hyperbolic. And, overall, my initial take on the elevator-pitch is that it will need a little bit more simmering. I think that the “process orientation” is a good approach, and I would suggest that “very concrete examples” would be a good plus. (I still like my idea of a two-covered book of Deadly Faux and an analysis of it, if bookstore jockeys could figure out which side should face out. 😉 )

  5. @Larry – can’t find better words for you than Robert Jones writes above. Had you been praying for such a project? Or did the stars just fall in line? Wonderful experience ahead. Can’t wait to hear about it and all the stories you’ll have to tell. I do have a complaint. Do we really have to wait until 2015 for the new book?

  6. @Larry…China sounds great. Travel halfway around the world, make money doing what you love…and teaching it to a whole other culture. Gotta love that!

    Congrats on the new writing book deal. Can’t wait to read it.

    Trying to catch up here since life became a little busy of late. Glad to hear the exciting news. It makes me feel good…not to mention proud of your steadfast efforts.

  7. Larry, praying for you to have a safe trip and that you receive phenomenal success! You deserve it. I hope your Story Engineering reaches a huge audience. Just think how many wonderful untold stories are out there, just waiting to be unleashed with the right instruction. I know I’m grateful.

  8. I’ll pre-order your book right now.

    Testing your process and thinking in the context of a fundamentally different audience is a phenomenal opportunity. If these folks get it, it’s a good indication that what you teach and how you teach it is as universal as we both believe it to be. (My step-son reveres Japanese and Chinese fiction. I just can’t get into it.)

    We’ll be checking out the movie. I like all those things in a movie.

  9. @Glynis — I hear you. A lot of people are in that position, most, in fact. That’s the strategy of this book, it’s aimed for writers just like you… who have discovered their best story through drafting (how many drafts isn’t the point), but now they need to streamline and optimize. It’s more than revision, it’s shaping and empowering the story physics from the story you’ve developed.

    Thing is, it can happen at ANY stage, even the first draft (so the book will work for those writers, as well).

    @Cao – thanks for weighing in. Sorry to hear you view my works as advocating the “formulaic,” and I’m not hear to argue with you. But, those who only see “formula” in these principles are missing something. In genre fiction, as opposed to “literary” fiction, there are certain paradigms and tropes that the writer needs to understand and, eventually within a draft, adhere to. That’s not formula, it’s reality. So why not recognize those paradigms from square one, if you’re going to end up there anyhow, eventually (or get rejected). To use an analogy — how many different sizes and shapes of airplanes are out there? Hundreds, even thousands. And yet, they all share certain basic elements and shapes, based on physics. Writing is no different. You really can’t diss “formula” when you can come up with a successful book that departs from it.

    This is true, to a more vague degree, in “literary” fiction, as well. This discussion is “genre-driven,” and can’t be argued successfully outside of that observation and agreement. It isn’t formula, and it isn’t “rules.” It’s “prinicple-driven” storytelling… in any genre.

    Thanks for reading my stuff, Cao. L.

  10. I don’t think I could ever write a story in one draft. What I start out with gets a little removed from the product after just 2 drafts.

    I know a woman in Canada who just got back from China. She said that it’s absolutely fabulous. Have a wonderful time.

  11. Great news from you, Larry. Have fun in China; break a leg and all that. And most warm and happy congratulations to you on the next craft book.
    That’ll be me sitting in your classroom at Willamette Writers, eager to learn more from you.

  12. Congrats on your book deal! I wish I could read it right now because I’m just sitting down to edit my entire five-book series. Any idea when it will be released? I’m guessing a year…

  13. Congrats on the new book contract, Larry, and have a fabulous time in China. They’ll love you. Can’t wait to hear all about it.
    一路平安 Yīlù píng’ān (Safe journey in Chinese) Mindy

  14. Good luck. You’d think having a three thousand year history of writing, that Chinese authors would have the ability to write cogent, coherent, meaningful fiction. But it simply isn’t true. 99% of what is published as fiction in China is utter rubbish. While I am not a proponent of your formulaic methodology, it will likely go over great in China, as the average Chinese is exceptional at following formulaic, rote instructions. Unfortunately, the real issue lies in their inability to come up with interesting, original, and compelling stories. The creativity has been bred out of them after six decades of oppression under a creativity-stifling regime that requires authors to censor themselves or write in code.

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