As you make plans to enjoy your three-day weekend, consider these fun and enlightening literary events going on in the area:


On Saturday, September 1:

If you and your family have enjoyed sunny days filled with thrilling rides and water slides at Silverwood Theme Park (pictured above), you will want to make a point of visiting the park this Saturday or Sunday, from 10-5 both days, when Silverwood owner and founder Gary Norton will sign copies of his new book, American Theme Park. The book features personal stories and memories from Norton's life and explains how Silverwood came to be. Pick up the book at a special introductory price, and meet the man who made it all happen. (Silverwood Theme Park, 27843 N. Hwy. 95, Coeur d'Alene).

At Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, Kenny Knight will sign copies of his book Unknown Rock Star from 1 to 3 p.m., in which he recounts his forty-plus years of experience in the entertainment industry, from sound man to stage performer to radio host and studio master. Unknown Rock Star offers a rare glimpse of how an everyday kid from California harnessed his talent and made it in the entertainment industry through hard work, perseverance, personal tragedy, and an unyielding faith in the music. (402 W. Main, Spokane)

At Hastings in Coeur d'Alene, Jessica Hecket of Blanchard will sign copies of her book The Water Words from 1 to 3 p.m. The Water Words is a mystical tale of a young girl who prevails against all odds. You can view a trailer for the book here. (101 Best Ave., Coeur d'Alene)

Joan Kopczynski will sign copies of her book Spies, Lies & Psychosis at Hastings in Spokane from 1-3 p.m. Subtitled "A Personal Journey of Adult Schozoaffective Illness Triggered by Traumatic Events of Love, Espionage, and Betrayal," Spies, Lies & Psychosis tells of a harrowing journey through mental illness to healing and hope. (2512 E. 29th Ave., Spokane)

On Sunday, September 2:

Silverwood founder Gary Norton will again sign copies of American Theme Park from 10-5 at the park. (27843 N. Hwy. 95, Coeur d'Alene)

. . . and beyond the weekend:

Coming up on Tuesday, September 4 at 7 p.m., Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas L. Friedman (The World is Flat) will speak at Gonzaga Unversity's McCarthey Athletic Center, 801 N. Cincinnati St., Spokane, as part of the university's Presidential Speaker series. Friedman's latest book is That Used to Be Us: A Crucial Time for America and the Role Education Must Play. Admission is $15 ($12 for seniors, $10 for students). For more information on this event, click here.

Happy Labor Day!

Writers, what's in a name?

Fiction writers, how do you decide what to name your characters?

The U. S. Social Security Administration has a nifty website showing the most popular baby names for boys and girls in the U.S. during each decade going back to the 1880s. (Other countries may have similar databases of their own--check with the government.)

Did you know that "Mary" was consistently the first or second most popular name for girl babies right up until the 1970s, when it was ousted in favor of "Jennifer" and "Amy"? And it wasn't just nudged off its perch. During the Disco Decade, "Mary" plummeted to #15 and has never regained its former glory. In the 2000s, the top girls' names were "Emily" and "Madison."

Boys' names have been generally more consistent and less subject to trends. "James," "Robert," and "John" pretty much jockeyed for position until the 1960s, when "Michael" blasted ahead and has remained king of the hill ever since.

Getting back to your writing . . . say that you're stumped for a character name. Your story is set in Chicago in the 1950s. If your character is twenty years old in 1955, that makes their birth year 1935. Check the database for names that were popular in the 1930s to get some ideas. "Robert" and "Mary" were the top picks that year--does "Bob" or "Robbie" suit your male character? For girls, other popular 1930s baby names were "Betty," "Barbara," and "Shirley."

Or maybe you don't want a popular name for your character. "Hilda" and "Daisy" were at the bottom of the 1930s list for girls, and "Jon" and Alex" trailed the pack for boys.

Of course you'd want to take other factors into consideration when naming your character. Does he belong to a particular ethnic group? Use his middle name instead of his first name? Go by a nickname? Did he have unusually creative parents? I remember reading a book when I was a child where the lead character was named "Kalahari," after the desert. Her parents were, I believe, archeologists. And there are also connotations to consider. "Elmer" brings to mind a different sort of person than "David."

No data is available yet for the 2010s, but in my (admittedly limited) experience, I predict names ending in "den"--Aden, Braden, Jaden, Caden, Hayden, etc.--will place high for both boys and girls. What do you think?

Back to School: It's Not Just Kid Stuff

I've been out of school for years--yea, decades. And yet there's something about the end of August, when mornings are suddenly cool and there's a new snap in the air, that makes me yearn to stock up on the accoutrements of school: clean unspoiled notebooks, pens fat with dark ink, and freshly sharpened pencils with unsullied erasers. (That the erasers are unsullied means no mistakes have been made yet. How could anyone not yearn for that blissful state of grace?)

I'll admit, the back-to-school aisle at Staples or Office Depot makes my heart beat faster. Have you seen some of the cool stuff that's available today? Begone, bland manila folder! Fie on thee, utilitarian paper clip! Today's students may choose folders in every color combination imaginable, brilliant neon notepads, rainbows of pens, thumbtacks and paper clips with clever motifs to help students express their true selves through their choice of supplies, although I realize that my own list of dream-worthy objects "expresses" my age more than anything else. Today's students daydream about digital gadgets, not sharpened pencils.

Still, every schoolchild knows that the real New Year's Day is the first day school, not January first. As I've said before, by January you've been cast in your role as the class clown or drama queen or nerd. By the time snow falls, you're already ahead of the pack in English and falling behind in math (or was that just me?). But the first day of school, with its unsmudged college-ruled paper and uncracked books still smelling of the printshop, holds the delicious promise that This Year Will Be Different.

As an adult, I encourage you to grab hold of some of that back-to-school hopefulness for yourself. Our fine local brick-and-mortar colleges, of course, welcome adult learners. And thanks to the Internet, the world is your proverbial oyster. Sites like Udemy.com and MIT Open Courseware make it simple to take courses in oodles of subjects, just for the love of them. Or design your own personal "curriculum" in a subject area that interests you. For inspiration, search the Web for, say, "syllabus medieval history" to get a peek at universities' reading lists and study plans for the topic. Or simply visit your local public library or bookstore and browse the stacks for titles in your field, or pick up those classics you've always meant to read but have never gotten around to. Check online for book discussion groups and fellow adult learners on a similar path. At the very least, you owe it to yourself to visit an office supply store and fill a basket with fun tools and supplies that will add a dose of fun to mundane writing tasks.

Youth may be wasted on the young, but learning need never be. Get out there and give your mind a workout today!

By Liz Mastin

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a fun and productive summer. I thought I would continue my column with another form poem from the past called the villanelle. Along with the triolet, rondeau, ballade, sestina and pantoum, the villanelle is a “fixed form” poem.

According to Timothy Steele in his book All the fun’s in how you say a thing, “fixed forms have a specified number of lines, a particular pattern of rhymes, and (often) refrains or repeated lines. Most fixed forms derive from the Romance-language poems and require two or three rhymes to be sustained over many lines. Importantly, these reoccurrences should take on, with each reappearance, additional meaning.”

In my favorite book of forms The Making of a Poem; A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms, Mark Strand and Eavan Boland say (about the villanelle) that it is “a sparkling and complicated form that came from an Italian rustic song; the term itself villanelle thought to derive from villano, an Italian word for “peasant,” or even villa the Latin word for “country house” or “farm.”  The villanelle was adopted by the French who infused it with their own pastoral themes.”

Consulting yet another of my sources Writing metrical poetry by William Baeur “The villanelle is the most popular, adaptable, and successful of the various French forms.” I must guess then, that although the villanelle originated in Italy, the French made greater use of it and developed it further.

Rhyme scheme of the Villanelle

The villanelle consists of: five, three line stanzas,

And – one concluding four line stanza.

Note: Tercet is the name given to a three line stanza. Quatrain is the name given a four line stanza.

Here is the rhyme scheme for writing the villanelle: note how the first and last lines of each tercet rhyme with each other and how the middle lines of each tercet likewise rhyme with each other, and an extra rhyming line is added in the last line: the quatrain.

aba - line 1

aba - line 2

aba - line 3

aba - line 4

aba - line 5

abaa - line 6

Repeated lines in a villanelle

Certain lines are repeated in the villanelle:

Line 1 of the first stanza   --  repeats as line 3 of the 2nd stanza

                                            --   as line 3 of the 4^th stanza

                                            --  as line 3 of the final quatrain stanza

Line 3 of the first stanza – repeats as line 3 of the 3rd stanza

                                          --  as line 3 of the 5th stanza

                                          -- as line 4 of the final quatrain stanza

 Example of a famous villanelle poem:

*(This poem is written in iambic pentameter.)

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

By Dylan Thomas 

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightening they
Do not go gentle into that good night. 

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night. 

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight,
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

You will find much pleasure in writing a villanelle and I hope you will try it.

Liz Mastin is a poet who lives in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho during the summer and Bullhead City, Arizona in winter. She thrives on the study of the great poets, their biographies, the schools of poetry to which they adhered, and the poetic conventions of the times in which they lived.

While she enjoys free verse as well as metrical poetry, her main interest lies in prosody. She notices that most of the enduring poems are those we can remember and recite. Liz enjoys poetry forms such as the sonnet, the sestina, the couplet, blank verse, simple quatrains, etc. and she hopes to see modern poets regain interest in studied metrical poetry.

Liz is currently putting together her first collection of poems which should be completed this winter. The poems are a mixture of metrical and free verse poems.

Screenwriting: Should you turn your story into a screenplay?

Writers oftentimes simply don’t understand how the industry works and script sales are a function of demographic and box office rather than simply having a good script.  Although having an outstanding (not just good) script will get you noticed.  Understand that being a good writer and a good person are only two factors in being successful.  Knowing your market and comparable films help separate the writing hobbyists from the professionals.

Film & Television Scriptwriter J Gideon Sarantinos (gideonsway.wordpress.com)

Should you turn your story into a screenplay?

If you are thinking of becoming a screenwriter, chances are you already have a story in mind.  Perhaps you can picture the action in your mind or you just think the project should be a movie.

It would be quicker and easier to simply write a novel since you probably already have those particular skills, but if you decide to go for the screenplay it will open up a whole new world.  The first thing you must decide is whether or not your project is commercial.  Will anybody be interested in producing your work once you get it written? 

Think about the movies that have come out in the past year.  Does your storyline fit into the genre that is popular today?  Does it have a cast of thousands?  Are there dozens of location changes?  Does the story take place in a historical setting? 

Each of these factors, and more, are considered by producers when reading your script.  With the ever escalating cost of making movies, producers stick with known formulas for success.  Making movies that appeal to the largest movie-gong demographic (16-24 year old males) and producing sequels and remakes of successful films are two ways they can ensure box office dollars. 

Be aware of how much films cost to make and what you are asking of investors.  The typical ballpark production figure for a studio picture is $120 million plus another 30-40 percent for prints and advertising – a colossal investment that needs to be recouped.

Low end studio films, referred to being produced “at a price” cost under $10 million.  The mid-range class of films is being squeezed out of the studio system.

It’s also noteworthy that around 60-70% of studio box office income is derived from the foreign box office, so it’s important that the themes explored in your scripts travel universally.

Know where your film might fit in budget wise. Studios talk about cost to box office ratios to generate a profit. It pays to understand that your small horror movie can’t generally have a production budget of $100 million in light of tracking figures which project expected box office.  Studios basically require movies to earn around three times their production budgets at the box office to become profitable.

This doesn’t suggest that writers must be accountants, but rather understand how studio executives think. - J Gideon Sarantinos

Will it sell popcorn?

Demographics play a vital role when a producer takes a look at your script.  Who will the story appeal to?  Will the previews entice teenage boys, young adults or senior citizens to plop down the money in the movie theater?  Since producers are looking for the biggest bang for their buck, they look for movies that appeal to the largest movie-going audience.

When talking about commerciality of scripts, they refer to the genres that sell the most tickets. Since all forms of entertainment are essentially an emotional purchase, genres are useful tools to cater to audience expectations.

Keep your themes global, current and relevant. Films are a communication medium and must evoke an emotional reaction in their audiences. They seek escapism, reassurance and expression. Executives are looking for familiar stories with a fresh, modern twist. - J Gideon Sarantinos 

The following information on genres is an abbreviated list from an article written by J Gideon Sarantinos, found on giddeonsway.wordpress.com.  

ACTION films are the most produced genre because they appeal to the profitable 18-24 year old male demographic.  These movies are given the highest production budgets and are often referred to as studio tent pole pictures which “prop up” the box office. 

COMEDY are the second most often produced.  They are cheaper to make, but are sometimes culturally specific, resulting in fewer viewers.  Romantic comedies are highly profitable because of the 16-24 female demographic.  They are also good date movies and cater to groups of single women.

THRILLER is the third most profitable genre.  The category includes horror, mystery and supernatural films and caters to a slightly older demographic, the 24-36 year age group, as well as the 16-24 year old male demographic.  Political thrillers are generally unpopular and are usually made if spearheaded by a star. 

DRAMA is the least profitable of all film genres.  Studios avoid producing them unless they are part of their specialty divisions (genres they are known for producing) and have A-list talent attached.  These are the cheapest movies to produce and generally cater to the 36-54 year old demographic. 

Independent films offer hope
Independent films offer an avenue for screenwriters to see their work in production without trying to break into a major studio.  These companies are often geared toward specific genres and are more approachable than the major studios.  Do your homework and find out which companies produce the type of screenplay you are interested in writing.  View some of their films to get an idea of what they are looking for.  

A true independent film is any film that is produced outside of a major Hollywood studio.  Technological advancements are making it possible for independent filmmakers to produce films with the same quality as Hollywood studios for a significantly lower price. Everything in the industry is switching over to digital, including projectors.  

Self-distribution is bringing the power and control of the films back to the producers by giving them other options to distribute their films other than the conventional method.  The popularity for independent films is rising due to a mature audience. The market is flooded and the competition is fierce so it is ever more important to produce the highest quality passionate stories.

Producer/Director/Shooter Bryan Ross Bieber, (bryanbieber.com)

This blog is the second in a series geared to help writers interested in learning how to write screenplays.  Through these articles I will share the fundamentals of screenwriting using information gathered from the works and words of professionals in the field.

So you want to be a screenwriter

Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for film and television.  Writing for film is potentially one of the most high-profile and best paying careers available to a writer.  The capricious nature of the film industry makes it possible for a complete unknown to launch a career simply by writing a commercially-appealing screenplay and getting it into the hands of the right people.   - Unknown Internet source

Have you ever thought of writing a screenplay?  Do you want to see something you’ve written up on the big screen?  Do you have an idea for a television series or a made-for-TV movie?  Have you written a book you want to see made into a movie? 

Well, if you are, there is good news for you whether you live in Shoofly, North Carolina, Whynot, Mississippi or Athol, Idaho.  The Internet has changed the way Hollywood does business.  Today you don’t have to move to Los Angeles and slip copies of your project under doors hoping the right producer will read it.  If you learn industry standards, do the work and properly market your project, you have a chance to see your work become a reality without a change of address.

Don’t get me wrong, becoming a screenwriter isn’t easy.  It will take commitment, a lot of hard work and a little bit of moxie to see your project through.  But you can get there from your little corner of the world … no matter where it is. 

More good news for us Hollywood outsiders – you don’t have to do this alone.  The Internet offers hundreds of related sites and online courses.  And once you start looking, you'll discover amazing screenwriting software and dozens of helpful books written by professionals in the field that will help you in your quest to become a screenwriter. 

You might also consider joining a local or Internet writing group for additional support as you learn the craft of screenwriting.

Do you have what it takes? 

You may have heard that breaking into the movie business is tough.  It is. 

However, if you write a script that features a character who has a clean and specific goal, and there is strong opposition to that goal, leading to a crises and an emotionally satisfying ending, your script will automatically find itself in the upper 5 percent.  Few would-be writers have mastered even the basics of screenwriting.  

  If your script also presents a well-crafted story with a strong story concept and an original character with whom people can sympathize, there are agents and producers awaiting the advent of the next great screenwriter. 

Daniel Trottier, The Screenwriter’s Bible, A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting and Selling Your Script

If you are interested in screenwriting, you probably already have an idea for a movie.  You have an idea kicking around in your head that you see as the next Hollywood blockbuster.  But is it?

There are dozens of reasons a project gets accepted or rejected – most of them financial – and all of them out of your control.  There is little you can do to alleviate these concerns unless you learn about the current market and what type of project is in demand. 

Many novice screenwriters are interested in writing ana utobiography or a biography of someone close to them.  Unless it is a humdinger with universal appeal, chances are slim your life story or the story of your grandmother will make it onto the screen.  Does this mean you should drop it?  Absolutely not. 

Write that first screenplay.  Learn the basics and write the storyline that is keeping you awake at night.  Learn how to format a screenplay, write a logline and pitch your idea. 

Who knows?  You might beat the odds and your screenplay gets produced.  But at the very least, you will have become a screenwriter; and now that you have written that story you’ve always wanted to write … now that it is out of your head … your mind is free to come up with other ideas for that next blockbuster. 

What is a screenplay?

The following is taken from Syd Field’s book, Screenplay, The Foundations of Screenwriting: A Step-by-Step Guide from Concept to Finished Script, long considered a must-have reference for screenwriters. 

Well, for one thing, a screenplay is not a novel, and it’s most certainly not a play.  If you look at a novel and try to define its fundamental nature, you’ll see that the dramatic action, the story line, usually takes place inside the head of the main character.  We see the story line unfold through the eyes of the character, through his/her emotions, words, actions, memories, dreams, hopes, ambitions, opinions and more.  The character and reader go through the action together, sharing in the drama and emotion of the story.  We know how they act, feel, react, and figure things out. 

A play is different.  The action, or story line, occurs onstage, under the proscenium arch, and the audience becomes the fourth wall, eavesdropping on the lives of the characters, what they think and feel and say.  They talk about their hopes and dreams, past and future plans, discuss their needs and desires, fears and conflicts.  In this case, the action of the play occurs within the language of dramatic action; it is spoken in words that describe feelings, actions, and emotions. 

A screen play is different.  Movies are different.  Film is a visual medium that dramatizes a basic story line; it deals in pictures, images, bits and pieces of film:  We see a clock ticking, a window opening, a person in the distance leaning over a balcony, smoking; in the background we hear a phone ringing, a baby crying, a dog barking as we see two people laughing as their car pulls away from the curb.  “Just making pictures.”  The nature of the screenplay deals in pictures, and if we wanted to define it, we could say that a screenplay is a story told with pictures, in dialogue and description , and placed within the context of dramatic structure. 

This blog is the first in a series I am writing to help writers interested in learning how to write a screenplay.  Through these articles I will share the fundamentals of screenwriting using information gathered from the works and words of professionals in the field. You can find both Syd Field's and David Trottier's books at Amazon.com.  

For Writers and Readers: Author Rick Bass and Others

On Tuesday evening, August 21, acclaimed American nature writer Rick Bass will be at Aunties Bookstore in Spokane presenting his latest book, The Black Rhinos of Namibia: Searching for Survivors in the African Desert (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012) about a group of former poachers, now conservationists, who track endangered black rhinos through the punishing heat of their arid land.

Bass is an award-winning nature writer who has authored numerous fiction and nonfiction books and continues to give readings, write, and teach around the country and the world. In 1995 Bass won the James Jones Literary Society First Novel Fellowship for his novel, Whte the Sea Used to Be, was a finalist for the Story Prize in 2006 for his short story collection The Lives of Rocks, and a finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for his book, Why I came West. He also received the General Electric Younger Writers Award, a PEN/Nelson Algren Award special citation for fiction, and  National Endowment for the Arts fellowship.

An environmental activist, Bass lives with his family in Montana's Yaak Valley.


For writers, take a look at this article by Bass posted in the Huffington Post last year. In the article titled Writing Advice: Rick Bass's "Danger", Bass warns writers about using the wrong words, improperly using similes and metaphors, comparing bodies to car parts, etc..

"Writing a story is like crossing a minefield." He writes. "You cross the field, with the story loosely in your arms, and you try not to step on any of the mines."

Rick Bass will present his work on August 21, 7:00 pm at Aunties Bookstore, 402 W. Main Street, Spokane.


Other author events happening this month include animal communicator Joan Ranquet, movement therapist Larkin Barnett, Author Jess Steven Hughes, and the "Art of Writing" forum with bestselling author Laura Munson. For the details on these and other events, check the Events page of this blog.

Have a wonderful weekend!