Jon Samsel

Writers develop their character’s subtext based on the context the characters are placed in. Subtext is when the user “plots” the future circumstances of the character’s inner or outer “story” as they imagine what might happen next.

Dialogue and action are the scalpels with which a writer bares a character’s inner story.

Try This
Suppose you were told that a man viciously slapped a boy at a street corner. Without knowing anything else, how would you feel about the man? What does he look like? What about the boy? What’s happening in this scene?

New Information
You have just learned that as the man viciously slaped the boy, the boy droped a handgun he was pointing at the man’s head.

Review
Consider your initial impressions. Do your initial thoughts match what really happened in the scene? What about your descriptions of the characters? Were they accurate?

You’ll notice that your thoughts and impressions change depending on the what context the information is presented to you.

Final Thoughts
When you create characters for a novel you are writing or an interactive project you are creating, be aware that that context plays a critical role in user/character development.

Solution sketching is a lot like brainstorming. (I happen to be the world’s foremost expert on solution sketching because I just made up the term three hours ago).

Solution sketching can help unleash your create energies to focus on solving a problem. It starts a lot like brainstorming—a process of releasing your thoughts as rapidly as they come into your mind and capturing them for consideration. By coming up with a wide variety of creative ideas, you greatly increase your change to solve a problem in a bold new way.

A related technique is visual mapping—which is a process of following your natural intuition and freely associating seemingly random concepts so that a patchwork of uncensored ideas begins to develop.

The key to solution sketching, brainstorming and visual mapping is allowing for the free flow of ideas—good and bad—and then sort, edit and prioritize at a later time. Find yourself short on ideas? Got creative writer’s block? Try this simple exercise I like to call Out of Body Visualization. It’s a fun way of placing your mind into unusual situations in order to stimulate creative solutions. It’s like batting practice for your brain!

Many creative artists tend to get hung up on the fine details…editing their creative thought process as they go. This can limit the number of creative possibilities you might consider, but switching your mind from ’solve it now’ mode to a more artistic mode (such as sketching) forces you to focus on an alternative activity, which may lead to capturing thoughts that might normally slip away from your mind.

So without further adieu, here are my five simple tips for solution sketching:

1. There are no bad ideas: Capture every idea no matter how silly, irrelevant or disconnected you think that idea is from what you are trying to solve. Bad ideas can stimulate alternative ideas that are more closely aligned to the task at hand.
2. Sketch your thoughts: By visualizing your ideas using pencil & paper, pen & easel, marker & whiteboard or your laptop text editor—you greatly increase your chance of recalling all of these wacky ideas that may have bounced though your head because your thoughts are right there on ‘paper.’
3. Map your ideas: Once you have an entire whiteboard stuffed with every last idea that can be squeezed out of your feeble noggin, it’s next to add a little pizaz to your solution sketching session. Try placing your ideas into bubbles and draw lines radiating out showing how each idea is related to the main idea or issue you are trying to solve.
4. Set a time limit: Research shows that having a goal for your solution sketching session, especially a goal with a time limit, will lead to a more productive session (especially in group settings). People tend to focus and contribute more when they know there is only a limit amount of time to make their ideas heard.
5. Let it stew: Your solution sketching exercise is over. But before setting out to solve your problem, take a little extra time to let your ideas simmer. Mull things around in your head. Sleep on them. The dreaming mind is forever voyaging and sometimes presents an unexpected solution. Sometimes the best solutions come when not actively working on a problem.

Bringing a book to life is an exciting adventure. Make no mistake about that. Creating a book from nothing is similar, in a sense, to childbirth. Whether it sells a million copies or only 5,000, there is something very satisfying, even mystical, about bringing a new book into the world.

It’s a one-on-one experience. It is your words and ideas and thoughts being communicated to the minds and hearts of readers you will never meet personally. Yet, in the pages of your book, you do meet the reader. You lead the reader on a journey from page one to the last sentence. Each reader of your book shares a part of their life with the story or material of your book.

When It’s Time to Start the Writing

When the first page looms before you, and it’s time to start the writing, some important questions to ask (if you have not done so earlier) are: how can I say what I want to without boring the reader? How can I make the reader care about my characters and the situations they are involved in? How can I entertain or instruct the reader in this book?

One very helpful guideline is not to let all the material you have researched or gathered scare you. If the book you want to write is your first, or twentieth, don’t be overwhelmed by the mountain of facts and material you have and worry about transferring it into a book.

Worry about how to get it into book pages and you will be constantly on edge.

Follow these simple directions:

• Realize first that you don’t have to use all of the material you have. Go instead with the cream-of-the-crop.
• If you already have an outline, you will have a map, a framework showing where your material will be used.
• Your mountain of material will soon start to shrink by dividing it into the key sections or divisions of your book. This process will become clear to you by simply sorting through your material.
• Get a handle on the beginning, middle, and ending of your book. Put your material into the proper divisions. Then the mountain you first had in front of you will have shrunk to a molehill.
• Discipline is vitally important for an author. Some authors sign book contracts, receive and spend their advances, and then never complete the books they agreed to do. Publishers have been burned by such authors, and this is a key reason they look for assurances that a given author, known or unknown, will actually finish a manuscript
• Discipline will help you finish your book or books. Without enough discipline you may never reach that final book page. Try to develop as much working discipline as possible, for it can play a major role in leading you to success.

When a professional author agrees to collaborate with a well-know person such as a celebrity on a book, a commitment is made usually to do the following:

• Work out a plan and structure for the book
• Ask probing questions that will bring the best responses from the expert, star, or celebrity. This helps to focus on choice material
• Steer the work in progress and strive to write a quality book

When a public figure, celebrity, or film star decides to do a book, a literary agency or publisher is contacted. Then the agent or publishing house looks for the right author to work with the celebrity. There must be rapport between the two if the resulting book is to be an effective one. According to publishing executives, “Finding the right author is vital and can spell the difference between a pretty fair book and an excellent one. The decisive factor about whether we do a project is often whether or not we can get the right writer.”

One author, Samm Sinclair Baker, who has done collaborative work, believes the arrangement between celebrity and author should be equal: “No partnership is any good that isn’t 50-50. Otherwise, the expert is saying the author is inferior.”

As you have no doubt seen in many bookstores, most well-known celebrities from the entertainment industry, broadcasting, politics, the government, and business world are unable to write their own books without help. There are some exceptions. Some film stars and well-known figures have done well writing their own books. Those who decide to collaborate work with professional authors. The resulting title covers read “as told to” or “with Kitty Kelly.”

The point is that the authors who choose to collaborate must work out an arrangement with the expert or celebrity. There should be a written agreement on how the author is to be compensated for his or her work on the book.

Keep this idea of collaborative writing in mind. Tell editors you know, or work with in the future, of your interest in collaborative work with celebrities and public figures including film stars. If you sign with an agent for representation, let him or her know that you would be glad to consider any collaborative writing deals.

All in all, collaborative and ghost writing have opened up additional options for today’s author. It might just give your career a boost that could land you on the bestseller lists.

With the rapid emergence of Web 2.0 platforms and technologies, many Fortune 500 companies are now utilizing their websites and digital media assets to create mash-ups, crowdsource, microblog, and publish data in a way that promotes, engages and influences their key constituents. They are doing this by utilizing social media applications, word of mouth communication tactics, and consumer-centric interactive experiences to mesh business goals with constituent desires. The reward for successfully navigating this next media minefield is often a stronger brand, more loyal customers, and a new type of business mindset whereby markets are conversations.

Companies who have already embraced the type of conversations enabled by digital networks seem to have several things in common. Here are 10 of them:

1. An understanding that being responsive to customers with service level agreements that know no boundaries, channel barriers or time constraints.
2. Recognition that the online experience you provide is your brand. Great first experiences, like the theoretical ripple effect of a butterfly’s wings, are the catalyst for something larger, positive, profound, and influential, that associates a company with trust.
3. Admission that honesty and transparency trumps double-talk and corporate babble-speak. In fact, it’s this real discussion (warts and all) that constituents crave.
4. Have a network of smart marketers who prompt audiences to interact because they know that will increase the likelihood that their audiences will transact.
5. Have the foresight and knowledge that customer engagement means more than launching an online discussion board, it comes organically through enabling valuable and motivating experiences at every touch point.
6. Tend to have empathetic staff who question what they do for a living and then juxtapose this against what they know their consituencies actually need from them—implementing beneficial solutions as a result.
7. An appreciation that new web analytics and measurement tools need to speak to where the visitor is going, and not merely to ‘where the puck is’
8. Acknowledgement that although user-generated content diffuses corporate governance and editorial authority in some ways, it can be leveraged to boost site credibility and improve natural search results.
9. An innate ability to harness the talents of each individual employee to share their knowledge and leverage their personal connections.
10. Realizes that effective word of mouth campaigns cannot be manufactured. They tend to be spontaneous, honest and truly viral events centered around humor, oddities, insider news, the taboo or the just plain awe-inspiring.

Now that you have your new project idea–whether it’s a book, video game, or some other type of creative project, you will want to go out and sell it so you can get the money and support to bring your project to life. You’ve made your cold calls and leveraged your LinkedIn connections to set up your first pitch meeting. You have one objective: impress those in the room enough to warrant another meeting. Here’s how you do it.

First, size up the room. How many people are there? If there are only one or two individuals, your job will be much easier. Create an intimate space. Make eye contact. Remember, they need to feel your passion. What are people wearing? The gals in suits tend to like statistics, facts, and demographics. The guys dressed in blue jeans and T-shirts with want the creative stuff. Adjust your pitch accordingly.

Second, beware of small talk. Sure, you’ll need to be friendly so people in the room but watch out for conversation traps. Many of those who pitch projects have fallen into a seemingly innocent exchange of pleasantries, then, the trap.

Allow me to demonstrate:

SUIT BEHIND THE DESK: “What do you think of our multiplayer game, Rebel Conquest?”

Panic strikes. You’ve never even heard of the game, much less sampled it. You quickly improvise.

YOU: “It’s great. Very state-of-the-art. Kids seem to really like it.”

SUIT BEHIND THE DESK: “What I meant was, what’s the buzz? The product doesn’t roll out ’til March. Perhaps you’re confusing our game with some other product.”

OOOOPS! Somebody just put their foot in their mouth! Let’s try that scenario again.

SUIT BEHIND THE DESK: “What do you think of our multi-player game, Rebel Conquest?”

Panic strikes. You’ve never even heard of the game, much less sampled it. You answer truthfully.

YOU: “If it’s anything like your last online game, Crash Test Kids, I’m sure it’ll be a winner. But to be honest with you, Mr. So-and-So, I don’t know anything about Rebel Conquest.”

SUIT BEHIND THE DESK: “We have high-hopes for the game. Multiplayer experiences are the future of Super Duper Game Company. I’m anxious to see what you have to show us today.”

Two rules of small talk:

1. If you don’t know the answer, admit it. You won’t look stupid telling the truth. You will look stupid if you get caught in a lie
2. Keep pre-pitch conversation to a minimum. Restrain yourself from gabbing. Don’t loose sight of your objective!

Blow your audience away with a passionate , solid pitch. This takes lots of practice. I repeat, lots of practice. Keep your presentation brief and to the point. Be animated when necessary (flap your arms, grit your teeth, bark like a dog). Use visuals sparingly (your oral pitch should stand on its own).

How to Improve Your Pitch

• Start off with a teaser (hook the audience, then reel them in)
• Highlight unique elements that will compel audiences to ask for for more
• Pitch with conviction and passion (your idea must be infectious…the design team must share your enthusiasm throughout the development cycle)
• Humor helps (just use it sparingly)
• Pitch from a common frame of reference (use of terminology)Show your ability to create hybrid entertainment that can be franchised to other mediums such as television or books
• Sell the sizzle, not the steak
• Concentrate on the most exciting aspects of your project, rather than all the minor details (long-winded, unfocused presentations can kill a room)
• Never resort to reading notes (if you can’t eat, sleep and breath the pitch, you’re not ready to deliver it)
• Identify at least one emotional element that drives your idea forwar
• Take command of the room (always deliver a pitch standing up…unless it’s a small room, and don’t invade the personal space of others)

Lots of smart authors get more work accomplished, or make their current projects go more smoothly, by treating themselves to little rewards now and then. These vary from taking a ten-minute break after finishing several pages or a certain segment of work, to relaxing in front of the television set for a while. Set a timer, or before you know it, the whole evening will be gone, annihilated by TV. Television can steal your valuable time quicker than a pickpocket can steal your wallet in a crowded circus. Remember always: The most valuable thing an author has is time. Make the best possible use of it.

One writer may take a day off after completing a chapter. Another will spice up the workday with a quick snack or coffee breaks. Some authors work like beavers Monday through Friday and relax over the weekend; others seem to work in spurts and then knock off for a day or so.

There are many writers who almost never quit. They’re working all the time; if they’re not writing they’re involved in research, interviewing, planning, or some other work-related
activity.

Someone once wrote that “the true author works constantly throughout his or her career.” In the sense that most authors think about their work a great deal, even when actively engaged in some other activity, this is true.

Writers can’t seem to shut it off; the process is going on within them constantly. Many authors seem to be happiest when they’re working on books. Some achieve money and success enough to relax a bit but continue writing for its own sake.

Some writers say they experience a terrible letdown after a book is completed. It’s a trying time for them. They’re depressed when the work on one project comes to an end and they’re ready and anxious to get on with their next book. In truth, writing breeds more writing. For most authors, the more writing they do, the more they want to do.

Any author worth the name knows from experience that some chapters are harder to write than others. It’s par for the course.

Whether you write one book or 20, you’ll soon discover this for yourself. Some chapters almost write themselves. The work seems to flow. The material seems fresh and vibrant. The writer is enthusiastic and may even feel sad to reach the end of such chapters.

Not so with other chapters. Any author may get stuck at any point. If and when this happens to you, don’t force it. If you get bogged down, try one of the following remedies:

1. Take a break. Relax and think about something else for a while. You will come back refreshed and better able to solve the problem
2. Liquid refreshment may help. Drink a Coke, cup of coffee, tea, or a glass of fruit juice. Nothing stronger. Remember, you’re writing. Liquor and writing don’t mix well
3. Take a brisk walk for 30 minutes or so
4. Try reading the material out loud. This can help
5. If nothing seems to work, knock off work for a few hours or even until the next day

Once they have their book outlines, some writers go through them and mark the chapters they feel will be most interesting or easiest to write, and those that will be the toughest. Then they can alternate between difficult writing, first completing an easy or interesting chapter, followed by a tougher one. Some authors, of course, find every chapter hard to write, while the lucky ones enjoy working on every single part of their books.

I upgraded to a new laptop computer the other day (a Dell Studio 17 with lightning fast Mobile Broadband USB Modem connection– sweet). I decided to upload some old documents to my hard drive and after a few minutes, I found myself reviewing some ancient Word documents. Suddenly, there it was. A book proposal I had written in 1997 titled, Silicon Stories: Uncensored Tales From A World Gone Wired. The internet had only been accessible to the masses for a few short years when this book concept was first dreamed up. Even back then we all knew the internet was going to be big and would likely change our lives– but I always felt it would be the little stories– the honest, emotional, funny and heartwarming tales of real people that were impacted by the internet that would make this new medium worth all the hype.

Here is my original book summary, along with a sample submission I received from a member of the Apple Developer Program who was kind enough to respond to a request for story submissions. I have other small tales similar to this one that I may post in the future on this blog. In the meantime, enjoy your trip back in time to the year 1997…

Book Summary
If you’re a hard-boiled Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Silicon Stories: Uncensored Tales From A World Gone Wired is chicken soup for your hard-wired soul. If you’re just a plain old reader with an interest in technology and anecdotal storytelling, there’s something here for you to enjoy as well. This unique book captures the contradictions and everyday insanity of the computer industry and the Internet, while at the same time chipping away sardonically at the myths, legends and lies that have built up in our own time. Silicon Stories balances humor with a genuine appreciation of both the technical and not so technical accomplishments of real people who have found ways to meet the challenges of work with humor, ingenuity and imagination.

Submission from an Apple Developer

X-Sender: sperling at sojourn.com

Mime-Version: 1.0

Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 10:35:34 -0400

To: samsel at gte.net

From: sperling at sperling.com (tedd)

Subject: Inspirational Developer Stories

Hi Jon:

I received the Apple Developer News #52 today and read that you’re looking for “inspirational stories that explore the humanity behind the digital revolution”. Well… I got one.

First, a little back ground. I was contacted by the Wall Street Journal last year. They wanted some advise on the net which I gave them. In talking to the reporter, he inquired as to my background and my “story”. I told him.

After a couple of months, this reporter contact me again and said that he wanted to do an article about me. He asked if I could put together some things for him. I wrote and sent him the attached story “Net WORKS”.

He liked it, but his boss said that they needed more people like me to make a story. His boss didn’t want to do one story about one person. As such, he never found another person like me and that’s the end of that story.

Now, you come along asking for a story, well here’s one. You may use as you wish. Everything written herein is true.

Good luck, and let me know what you think.

tedd

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Net WORKS

We’ve all heard about the young whiz kids, cyberdudes, and computer jocks who are doing something new, hot, and fascinating with computers and the internet. But, who are these people? The answer may surprise you.

Let’s take a look at one of them. He calls himself “tedd” and has an email address of “sperling@sperling.com”. He provides Macintosh programming and consulting to the net. He has done a lot of exciting things and people have taken notice. His client’s range from large companies (like DOW Chemical) to the small “mom & pop” independants. His accomplishments are many and perhaps too many for his youthful image. Let’s peel away the cyber-veneer and see who this person is.

Tedd F. Sperling is a 50 year old professional who was originally from California and now resides in Lansing, Michignan. Tedd graduated California State University in 1975 with a BS degree (cum laude) in Geology. He later received an MS in Geophysics from Michigan State University.

In 1977, he started a Geophysical exploration company (Sperling Geophysics Corporation) and provided geophysical services for the petroleum community. In the 1980’s, Tedd found over 100 producing wells and generated over 2.5 million in consulting. He developed the first micro computer (Apple II) based seismic modeling workstation and was credited with the first micro-computer oil discovery.

The business was successful and life was great. However, it all ended in 1992. The oil and gas industry, which had been on the decline for several years, finally dusted for his business. While his business did not bankrupt, he found him­self “unemployed”. A condition found far too often in today’s business climate that has been producing large numbers of unemployed middle-aged professionals due to down-sizing, layoffs, and the new practice of hiring cheap young replacements.

During the next one and a half years, Tedd sent out over 1,000 resumes and received 11 interviews. All interviews ended with “I’m sorry, but you are overqualified for the position.”. His last interview ended with his interviewer saying “Well… we were actually looking for somebody a little younger.” At that point, Tedd thought would his next position be one that includes the phrase “Will you have fries with that?”.

During a continued and determined effort to find employment, he logged on to the internet and started sending out more resumes. He opened several freenet accounts in places like Detroit, Youngstown, Denver, Columbus, Traverse City, and Buffalo, New York. He sent email resumes to every lead he could find. But, he received little response. However, in the meantime he became net savvy.

A friend of Tedd’s, from the oil industry, had to go to Malaysia on business and commented to Tedd about the communication problems he was going to have keeping in touch with his wife in Arizona. So, Tedd got on the net and found several avenues for his friend to communicate with his wife for little, or no, money. In a similar situation, he helped another person in Michigan who was from Argentina establish communication with his family through the net for no expense. The more time Tedd spent on the net, the more his focus became providing assistance for others.

Tedd started frequenting several news groups on the net and helping others with questions. As he did, he became aware of what actions and conduct the net accepted and rejected about employment. He found that selling yourself on the net was much different from what he expected. Tedd said “No one wants to hear how good you are. They just want answers. Whoever provides the answers, will get the attention.”.

The key to Tedd’s success on the net has been his willingness to help others. Every time he posts an answer to a question posed by some newbie, his answer is posted with a subtle signature block that simply states “mac programmer” and in­cludes links to his email address and his web resume.

Tedd explains that potential clients looking for computer professionals will often “lurk” around news groups and observe the question and answer exchange. If they like your answers, and need your services, they will check you out, and contact you.

Tedd likes this new way of doing business. He now consults with no cash outlay for advertising, no meetings, no suits, no regimented work day, and no comments about his age. To the majority of his clients, he is a young computer whiz kid. An image that Tedd doesn’t discourage. In fact, Tedd has picked up the jargon of the net and often uses terms like “kewl” in business proposals. Tedd says “It’s almost expected to be unconventional. If the employers can’t have you under their thumb in the conventional 8 to 5 environment, then they react the other way and want the eccentric programmer.” Many clients find it novel to pose a problem to Tedd and then forget it while Tedd provides a solution.

His work on the net has been so successful, that he has other programmers working for him. Tedd says “I find programmers the same way as those who find me, I lurk. When a person has the right answers and I like his style, I contact him. I commonly provide sub-contracting work for a 20% commission and most of the work is done without any contracts.” As Tedd puts it “If you don’t trust your people, don’t hire them. Besides, many of the contacts I have are global and the expenses of global litigation make contracts a moot point. I just don’t have time for it.”

Tedd adds, “The net has been one of the most fascinating experiences of my life. The people there are brilliant, honest, caring and very giving of their time and talents. The generosity I have seen on the net is unbelievable. The net provides an avenue for people to put aside non-relevant discriminatory practices and deal with other people on a pure aspect of worth.”

Tedd
____
|[ ]| mac programmer tedd f. sperling
|[__]| mailto: sperling at sperling.com
|___-| http://www.sojourn.com/~sperling/resume.html
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