“Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.”
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Tag: Art
Effective Existence
Shake Up the Familiar
“It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.”
— Anaïs Nin
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Genre Niche Needed
[found on westbowpress.com]
“Finding Your Niche in a Christian Genre
In both Christian and secular publishing there are different genres. Whether you are an experienced or novice Christian writer, your story will integrate within a particular genre. Therefore, every writer must ask, what is my writing niche and where does it fall in the realms of the various genres?
Your book will be classified under a specific type of category — or genre. A niche takes what you do — your uniqueness, insight, or experience — on a topic one step further, differentiating your writing from other authors within your genre. The journey towards discovering your niche may lead your writing through various avenues but the end result will prove rewarding for you and your writing. Begin by evaluating your own experiences and interests. Then, look inward to evaluate the following writing opportunities:
- My Writing Life: What do I want to write? Is there a common theme among my writing topics? Do I hold special knowledge or insight into a particular topic? Do I have to/need to write?
- Nonfiction vs. Fiction: Do I prefer the exploration of ideas or specific facts? Would I rather tell stories or research facts? Am I led by imagination or do I need structure and organization? Do I prefer to create my own truth through my story and characters or present the truth from interviews and studies?
- Audience: What targeted age group am I most comfortable with? Am I motivated to inspire or to teach? Where do I envision my book in a bookstore? Who do I envision reading an excerpt from my book to?
Defining your niche begins with knowing you. Understand your own writing and style while exploring what it is that makes you different from other Christian writers within your same genre. Recognize the unique positioning in which you can hold an exclusive advantage to. Here is where you will discover your writing voice — your story and your niche.
Once your niche has been defined, study it. Read the works of other writers in your genre and examine the similarities. Your comparison will help you lay out the varying elements of Christian-based works and better understand your position as an author.
Focus your efforts towards enhancing the niche in your book and your writing. Develop your marketing and branding strategy around your niche and create a forte to your writing. Your author blog can supplement your work with active postings regarding your book’s content, helping you to further your own insight into the topics through research.
Writing within a niche allows you to meet the needs of or appeal to a certain segment of readers. As your targeted niche audience grows, your writing profession transforms from writer to niche writer to expert, and, here is where readers, Christians and the Christian publishing industry turns to you for an outlook and inspiration.”
For more tips on writing from Westbow Press, click HERE.
[found on http://www.westbowpress.com/AuthorHub/Articles/ChristianGenreNiche.aspx]
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Script That Comic
[found on neilgaiman.com; by Neil Gaiman]
“How do you write comics?
When I decided I wanted to write comics in 1985 I went out and bought Will Eisner’s Comics and Sequential Art. If I were doing it now I’d also buy Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics.
I’d look at some comics scripts (there’s one reprinted in the back of Dream Country, although there are an almost infinite number of ways to write a comics script, and that’s only one.)
And then I’d read a lot of comics and try to work out what works and what doesn’t and why. And then I’d start drawing some comics for myself, not for people to see, just to figure out how to get from one panel to the next, one page to the next. If you’re going to work with an artist, now’s a good time to go and meet artists.
You’ll do best if you realise that there is a lot to know. Most bad comics are written by people who don’t know that there is anything to learn… (Many of them were written by writers who are successful in other fields.) Having something to say is fairly essential, too.
Good luck. Write good comics.”
For more writing tips from Neil Gaiman, click HERE.
Editing Addict, LLC 