The Writing Workshop

JK Rowling to Publish a Mystery Novel for Adults, World Faints in Anticipation

JK Rowling, the world's first billionaire author and beloved creator of the world-wide phenomenon Harry Potter, has just signed her first new book deal.

Rowling has signed with new publisher Little, Brown (her previous American publisher was Scholastic, which does not do adult books) and will be edited by David Shelley, currently Little, Brown's publisher. The move is a bit surprising, since publishers don't normally edit. (They're too busy with the bigger picture stuff.) But hell, this is JK Rowling. Why not?

The choice of Shelley, being well-known for a career editing bestselling adult mysteries, basically also gives us the type of novel Rowling will be writing, a complete breakaway from what made her the world's most well-known author. (Well, maybe next to Stephen King. That one is up in the air.)

And I say, Good for her!

Authors, thanks to the branding nature of book producing these days, are often type-cast into a certain type of book. But authors often write more than one type of book (one of the reasons why authors use pseudonyms if writing in a different book genre than normal). If Rowling can break this mold, especially if she does so successfully (both on a financial scale and on a critical scale), perhaps publishers will realize that pigeon-holing their talent is never a good idea.

I mean, look at what happened when somebody let Heath Ledger play the Joker. Nobody thought it would work and he turned in one of the most amazing performances I have ever seen. Similar thing there in my mind.

Also, CNN ponders another interesting financial sidenote: the publishing industry needs to produce more "event" books or books that can drive customers into bookstores. This idea intrigues me, as we all know that Borders is now dead and that independent and niche bookstores across the country are closing every month. If more books appear that simply create interest in the wider world, as in the mainstream media, then perhaps people would pay more attention to books in general.

Part of the thing there is that people forget that books aren't like other forms of entertainment like TV shows or movies, wherein they come and go rather quickly. Books often sit for months in a bookstore before being bought and sometimes, a title suddenly become very popular, months after its first appearance. This happens with much frequency than in other forms of entertainments - movies rarely return to theatres and TV shows are cancelled. As such, while event books sounds like a nice idea to drive bookstore foot traffic (the pillar of any in-store retail money-making, really), I'm not sure it could ever work.

The mainstream media pays more attention to Rowling for the fact she's basically a celebrity than the fact she writes books. And Harry Potter became a social buzzword after the movies started coming out. Getting the media to pay attention to the written word is like asking for them to pay attention to new academic studies that aren't "neat" or "buzz-worthy" but are still insanely smart: it just ain't gonna happen. Sad but true.

Also, just announced this morning (more mainstream coverage for Rowling): the Harry Potter series will be released in ebook format for school and library use, from an collaboration between Rowling's Pottermore and Overdrive. The Harry Potter series was originally supposed to only be available digitally from the Pottermore website.

Get Published!: The Legality (and Perils) of Work for Hire

Work for hire is a legal term for a type of freelance work. In general, work for hire is done when a person does not actually work full-time for the company and only has a contract for a specific project, that is normally accomplished within a set timeframe. Work for hire is quite common in the publishing industry, most notably in the magazine, newspaper, and comic book fields, and also in the broader writing industries of TV, songwriting, and movies.

The main issue of work for hire is that it comes in direct contention with American copyright law and often causes lawsuits and disagreements between creators. In copyright law, the creator of something owns that creative property and any money created from it, unless bound by other contracts. In work for hire, the company that pays for the work owns the creative property.

Here's a few examples of why it can be a problem from the comic book industry:

• Marvel Comics' character Ghost Rider (pictured) was created by Gary Friedrich (with another writer and artist). He sued Marvel for money from the films. Marvel, now a division of Disney, countersued, and won, and the court ruled he had to pay back the money he was making from doing sketches as "the creator of Ghost Rider" - about $17,000.  The main problem? Ghost Rider is a re-working of an older character, now called the Phantom Rider, created by other people, and Friedrich was hired as work for hire - meaning he has no legal right to Ghost Rider at all.
• Comic book founding father Jack Kirby, alongside Stan Lee and others, created some of the most iconic of the Marvel superheroes. His heirs want a piece of the pie, since, under standard copyright law, Kirby's copyrights on the characters would have lasted for seventy years after his death. But Kirby never owned those characters in the first place, since they were created work for hire.
• Ditto the heirs of Superman's creators in a fight with DC Comics.
• And finally, just this week, The Walking Dead (now a popular TV show)'s original artist, Tony Moore, has sued The Walking Dead's creator and writer Robert Kirkman, his childhood friend, for more money.

It may seem like I'm coming down on the side of the companies here. Which is strange for those of who you read my blog regularly, since I'm very much a pro-creator person. But the reality of each of these is this is what the is.

I don't really like it. Work for hire, overall, is kind of evil. When I write a book review for a magazine, as opposed to the ones I write on the PFS Book Club, I am not allowed to reuse without express permission, and that permission is rarely granted. I can use them for my portfolio, but that's it. The company owns the whole thing.

But there are times you sign away your rights because you need to make money or you want something from whoever you're working for. A character can't appear in DC Comics without them owning them - so if you want to write Batman, you pay that price. Likewise, you want to write for a TV show, any jokes you write aren't yours - they belong to the show. There are several new publishing ventures which do a work for hire basis, where you create a novel from an editor's idea. Hopefully, you get paid accordingly for these things. If not, walk away.

The main lesson to take from these, especially from the heirs of the Superman creators and Jack Kirby, is that you must know what your legal rights are and what they are not. I feel bad for Kirby's heirs, but in the end, just because it sucks, doesn't mean it's unlawful. Kirby and the other original comic book creators didn't know better - most of them were quite young in fact and copyright law was just as hard to understand then as it is now - but that's the law and it's on the side of the companies.

Ignorance of the law isn't an excuse and doesn't stand up in court. Know who you're dealing with, what they want, and what the price you'll pay is. This will save you much heartache later on.

Writing Prompt: Flash Fiction Friday: Guys & Dolls

One of the world's favorite narrative arcs is that of the love triangle. Everyone loves a story of two competing lovers - look at the popularity of The Vampire Diaries, which is basically just Twilight with a lot more death and sex (all the good things) and one hell of a love triangle. Twilight's love triangle is pretty pathetic in comparison, since Edward is perfect in every way (to Bella) and Jacob is kind of an obsessive freak (to Bella). Or, in other words, it's really no surprise at all that Bella ends up with Edward instead of Jacob.

On The Vampire Diaries, there's actually been a question from the very beginning as to whether or not the heroine Elena would pick the good boy vampire Stefan or his brother, bad boy vampire Damon. Why, you ask? Because both characters have that wonderful shade of gray that makes Stefan not quite the good boy he appears to be, and Damon has the hooker with a heart of gold complex, just with fangs and killing instead of sleeping with people for money.

Write a one-page story in which a love triangle is resolved.

Your goal today is manage the depth of The Vampire Diaries' long triangle in a single page. Don't go all Twilight on me, especially if you're using vampires. No sparkles. No fluff. No obvious conclusions.

Paperbacks Coming Sooner than Ever: the Print Publishing Savior?

The New York Times has released a report on the newest trend in print publishing: the pushing forward of the paperback release.

Let's do a quick rundown of traditional print publishing book types. The three major ones are hardback, trade paperback, and mass market paperback. The hardbacks are traditionally published first, with a heavier spine and paper and tougher binding, meant for longer wear and tear (the extreme case of this is called the library binding).  Normally, hardbacks have dust jackets (the covers that can be removed).

Trade paperbacks and mass market paperbacks are lighter weight, with printed covers and are more apt to fall apart after repeated readings. Trade paperback books tend to be the same size as hardback books, while mass market paperbacks are much smaller - they're the romance books you see at the grocery store.

In the current market, trade paperbacks are gaining momentum as being the bestselling type of book. In the article, it says that book publishers are following the movie model of pushing the DVD release closer to the theatrical release of a movie, hoping to cash in on the remaining advertisements from the original release. I think this is completely true, but I also think there's another reason that hardbacks are losing favor.

Mostly, they're majorly expensive.

Hardback books currently run 20 to 30 bucks. Even when you get them on discount, say at Amazon, you're still talking 15 bucks at least. Trade paperback books tend to run $10 to $17, while mass market books are more like $6 to $10. In any case, people like cheaper things. Since most popular books are going to be printed as paperbacks at some point, people are just waiting until they come out in a cheaper form.

With the advent of internet and Amazon, there's no longer a guessing game about when a book is coming out - Amazon will list it the moment a publisher releases a new pub date. If you know it's only going to 3 or 4 months until that paperback comes out and you can save 10 bucks by waiting, then you'll probably do it. I know I do.

Also, a lot of smaller publishers are actually avoiding printing the hardbacks at all. Instead, they're just printing a nice, sturdy trade paperback and that's the only type of book they publish. While paper has gotten much more expensive in the last twenty years (why books have gotten more expensive), the printing process has also gained new technology that allows for trade paperbacks to last longer than before.

In other words, I have a feeling that the hardback will be the first death of traditional publishing now that Borders is gone. People with e-readers don't find heavy hardbacks all that wonderful anymore. I have a feeling that a library binding will remain, but that's about it.

Writing Prompt: Flash Fiction Friday: The Break-Up

Some people despise the movie The Break-Up. Frankly, I kind of loved it. I thought it was one of the most honest portrayals of a relationship ending that I had ever seen on the screen, and Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn give some of their best performances - combining that instant rage that riles up in people when you really want to hurt someone you still sort of love.

But the ending, wherein our two leads aren't back together by the time the curtain closes, riled a lot of people. To me, though, it was the smartest move the writers made. It, truly, was daring.

Write a one page story about a break-up.

The easiest way to go about this would be to show a one page fight with someone storming off dramatically at the end. The goal, though, is to be more nuanced. Pick the one moment in the entire break-up where the relationship is actually over - which often comes long before a couple chooses to part - or perhaps even a moment past the actual break-up, wherein the couple's relationship (and everything they had together) is finally gone.

Also avoid the other sure-fire relationship ending signs: the signing of the divorce papers, the stay together for the children speech, and the walking-in on a cheating partner. Try for something original to incite the end. Just remember to do it in one page.

Writing Prompt: Children's Cartoon to Gritty, Adult Action

Saturday morning and afterschool children's cartoons are pretty much a staple of American life (as they should be). I had a bunch of favorites growing up: Thundercats, Batman, X-Men, Gargoyles, Scooby-Doo, and Jem (pictured). In today's prompt, you're going to twist those wonderful cartoons into their adult versions.

Write a thinly-veiled story about a children's cartoon wherein the characters have grown up and entered a drama-filled and dangerous world. Add in as many nods to the original as possible, while also coming up with innovative twists.

To do this properly, make sure you remember how the original worked. A Scooby-Doo transformation, for example, could include a divorced Fred and Daphne, with Daphne as a struggling single mom, and Fred as an ascot-wearing gay man, while Shaggy's in jail for trying to smuggle coke across the Mexican border in the Mystery Machine. It was Velma, now a cop who is a stickler for the law, who turned him in. Scooby, being a dog, is dead. Perhaps the gang tries to come together when Shaggy escapes from jail, as Velma requests help from her friends to track him down, only to uncover a deeper mystery involving a haunted jail and an evil warden.

In other words, it's still Scooby-Doo: there's still got to be a mystery in there.

New George RR Martin Game of Thrones Book Leaks Early

The latest Song of Ice & Fire book A Dance with Dragons by fantasy writer George RR Martin, which the popular HBO TV series Game of Thrones is based on, was released early by Amazon Germany last week, causing quite the hubbub. At least 180 books were shipped before the mistake was caught.

Normally, if a book leaks early, it's not that big of a deal. Sure, fans are excited, but it's not like reading fans tend to be in-the-moment, first-in-line types. That culture is shifting a bit thanks to the internet, however. And thanks to Harry Potter, as well, which inspired many bookstores to stay open until midnight for the first time ever upon the release of the last several books in the series.

With rabid fans ready to devour any new information about a longrunning series and with easy access to such spoilers through the internet, Martin and his publishers have taken the strange course of trying to persuade fans to not visit fansites, as they may contain spoilers. Online news magazine Slate notes how odd this is.

Basically, the internet has been all abuzz with real and fake spoilers, flooding fansites while the publisher and author-run sites are being heavily moderated. All this is fine and good, but if people want their spoilers, they're going to have their spoilers. And I don't think that the fans who are searching the internet for spoilers are going to not buy the book now that they have them. They're already fans, after all.

It will be interesting to see how the series' new popularity, thanks to the critically successful and popular with the audiences TV Show, will affect its sales in the first week. There's little doubt that this will the best-selling book for the majority of July.

I do find it hilarious that the Kindle edition price is set at $35, with an Amazon price discount to making it $14.99. And that there's a note from Amazon saying that Random House Digital set the price. I mean, really? If I'm going to pay 15 bucks for a book, I want an actual book. You're not going to attract new fans that way. Hopefully they'll lower the price in a year or so, like they do with paperback releases.

On a related note, Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, which are the inspiration for HBO's other novel-based fantasy series True Blood, recently made a great comment about the TV adaption on her Facebook page. Both Harris and Martin have been strong supporters of their TV show adaptions, and many Song of Ice & Fire fans believe it was the show's success that finally made Martin finish the next book in the series (it took him six years to do so).

Writing Prompt: The Xanatos Gambit

In terms of a Machiavellian scheme, the TV trope referred to as the Xanatos Gambit is a good one. Named for David Xanatos, a character from the 90's Disney cartoon Gargoyles, a Xanatos Gambit is one wherein a plan is enacted where all possible outcomes benefit the person who starts the scheme.

Say, for instance, you start a fight to steal an object. You lose the fight to the object's guardian. But the fight was posted on YouTube and gained you massive popularity for "defending" yourself against a clearly superior opponent. Your newfound popularity allows you to get invited to a party where the object is, which you can now steal. The whole thing is - you knew that if you lost to the object's guardian, you could spin this in your favor to get close to the object. In other words, that was part of the plan from the beginning. That's a Xanatos Gambit.

Write a story in which the villain repeatedly uses the Xanatos Gambit - enacting schemes wherein all possible outcomes result in a victory for the villain.

There's a reason why Gargoyles was so popular - it was damn smart. The cartoon also took Shakespearean characters (Macbeth and Puck were major characters) and mythology (Avalon played a major role) to create a well-constructed plotline and smart world building. Even ten years later, it still stands up as being almost too smart for a kid's show.