Writers in the Storm

by Laura Drake

Tis the season.  Bell ringers with kettles stand outside stores, vying for territory with candy sale fund-raisers. We’re receiving charity requests every day in the mail, and at work, we’re adopting needy families for the Holidays.

Sometimes it seems easier to shut the door and close yourself in a nice quiet writing room. But when you do that, you also shut out everything you need to become a great writer and a better person.

This time of year especially, I count my blessings, and ask myself how I can give back. I make my  goals for volunteerism for the coming year.

I was suspicious if this was even a valid word, so I looked it up in Dictionary.com:

vol·un·teer·ism
vɒl ənˈtɪərɪzəm/ [vol-uhn-teer-iz-uhm] noun
The policy or practice of volunteering one's time or talents for charitable, educational, or other worthwhile activities, especially in one's community.

I’m NOT here to preach – everyone has different life circumstances and schedules to keep. But I’d like to make a suggestion in regards to your writing life…volunteer.

• If you belong to RWA or another writing group, volunteer to be on the board of directors, join a committee, or help at meetings.
• Befriend the newbie writers in your world. Mentor them: critique, give advice, refer good articles, blogs, etc to them.
• Even if your time is limited to tweeting good craft, market, or agent advice, it really does help. You never know when something will spark a flame in a reader.

Aside from obvious altruistic motives, there’s a selfish reason as well: When you give, you benefit twice over. I know, that’s an old saw – but those old saws exist because at their heart, they’re true.

I’m in the submission process with editors. It’s been a huge emotional roller coaster, and without the tight-knit community I’ve developed in several different places, I shudder to think where I’d be. If I only had my crit group to burden with all that whining (no, seriously) they’d have gagged me and tied me to a chair by now.

This journey is fraught with disappointment, and it’s not easy to pick yourself up and move on when you get knocked on your butt. But my efforts to help others over the past several years means I have gained many friends -- in cheerleading skirts.  They scoop me up, dust me off, and pat me on the back as I soldier on.

While giving is great, it’s good to remember to say thank you too. So please consider this a big kiss, and thank you all my amazing friends. Bottom line, to quote a stupid commercial, “I love you, man!”

I’ll leave you with my home chapter’s (OCCRWA) motto:

“One hand reaching forward,
one hand reaching back, in a continuing chain.”

 

by Jenny Hansen

Today, I’d like to introduce you to the late, great mystery and TV writer, Stephen J. Cannell. Trust me, most of you have watched his shows.

As many of you know, all of us at Writers In The Storm are blessed by geography to live near an active RWA chapter that gets incredible speakers.

Several years back, Stephen J. Cannell came to our monthly event to speak and there was a huge flurry of excitement. At the time, I hadn’t a clue who he was, but I still got caught up in the buzz.

So Mr. Cannell gets up to talk and he just looks like a Hollywood guy: sexy in a lanky-guy way, salt and pepper hair, snappy dresser. His easy smile and raspy voice commanded attention.

Here’s what I know now that I didn’t know when I arrived at the meeting that day:

• Cannell created or co-created nearly 40 television series, mostly crime dramas. (In addition to The Rockford Files, his credits include Baretta, The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team, Wiseguy, 21 Jump Street, Silk Stalkings, and The Commish.) If you look at his IMDb Bio, you won’t believe it.
• He was dyslexic and overcame huge hurdles to be a writer.
  
  Ex: he frequently had to dictate ideas or even complete scripts to a personal secretary and typed on an IBM Selectric typewriter unless he was doing research.
• He would unlock the mystery of 3-Act structure for me.

Obviously this man changed my life and had enormous impact on me as a writer.

When it comes to a story, 3-Act structure is…everything. And I never quite understood what it was until that first day Stephen spoke. I’ll never forget that moment, when he stood at a podium in front of 100 writers and broke down When Harry Met Sally in easy 3-Act detail. He did a few other movies, but this post is going to be long enough as it is, so we’re sticking with my favorite one.

A paraphrase of Cannell’s description of When Harry Met Sally:

When I ask young writers what 3-Act Structure is, they say it has a beginning, middle and an end. This is not the answer. A lunch line has a beginning, middle and an end. The Three-Act structure is critical to good dramatic writing, and each act has specific story moves.

Take the movie, When Harry Met Sally. The First Act is all about the hook, or the premise. In this case, it’s that “men and women cannot be friends.” So you’ve got the set-up where they meet and then decide they’re not going to be friends.

Act Two opens with Harry and Sally meeting up again in the bookstore and slowly becoming good friends. Their friendship becomes the single most important thing in their lives and the worst thing in the world would be to lose it. The scene in the wedding is the dark moment climax of Act 2 because it is the end of their friendship as we know it.

They’re off to the side of the reception, speaking in furious whispers about why they’ve been at odds since the night they had sex:

Harry Burns: You know how a year to a person is like seven years to a dog?
Sally Albright: Is one of us supposed to be a DOG in this scenario?
Harry Burns: Yes.
Sally Albright: Who is the dog?
Harry Burns: You are.
Sally Albright:I am? I am the dog? I am the dog?

The scene ends with her slapping him across the face, saying, “F*ck you, Harry!” and storming away. The curtain closes on Act Two because the WORST thing has happened…the two of them are no longer friends.

Act Three is the “clean up” act, the resolution to your story. In this case, it’s all about Harry trying to get back into Sally’s good graces so the two of them can be friends again, just as they were. Sally’s having none of it.

Finally, on New Year’s Eve, Harry has his turning point and we get the final scene of the movie where he runs through New York City to get to Sally before midnight. When he sees her at the party, he gives his now famous "I love you" speech:

Harry Burns: I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

If you want to wallow in the brilliance of When Harry Met Sally dialogue, click here.

I don’t know if this quick breakdown turned the lightbulb on for you, but it sure did for me the first time I heard it. To see Stephen Cannell’s “official description” of 3-Act structure click this post – he does a fantastic breakdown of the movie, Love Story.

More Stephen Cannell Trade Secrets:

Cannell discusses a myriad of “trade secrets” in this entire series on writing that he did on WritersWrite.com. But the main piece of advice that I remember, besides my 3-Act Epiphany was the way he’d refer to the villains in a story. I can hear his voice in my head right now.

He called his bad guys “the Heavies” and he was brilliant with them. It’s no surprise to me why his television shows were so wonderful. Whenever, he’d get stuck in a story, he’d ask himself, “What are ‘the Heavies’ doing?” Once he wrote the story from their angle for a while, he’d get back on track.

If you’d like to hear his voice too, he’s got more than 60 videos recorded on YouTube. Here’s some simple, yet sage advice from the man himself.

Advice for Aspiring Writers by Stephen J. Cannell

[youtube=http://youtu.be/u03tC9aWLlA]
If Stephen Cannell is a new discovery for you, enjoy! He’s awesome. His mantra was: “be honest, be sensitive, be reasonable, be fair and you can succeed marvelously in business and in life.” Go, Steve.

Who has made the biggest impact on your writing life? Do you have any other 3-Act or story planning tips to share with the rest of us?

Compiled and edited by Sharla Rae

The holidays are upon us and everywhere you go, there are people rushing as lights wink merrily and Christmas music plays. Have you ever wondered about these treasured songs and how they gained popularity?

The dates and authors of some Christmas carols (red font) and events (green font) are debated but the following information is generally accepted. Where there are contrary dates, I included those too.

1500s:  First decorated Christmas Tree: Martin Luther, in the Black Forest of Germany, brought a tree into the house and lit it with candles.

1780:  Carol,Twelve Days of Christmas: The 12 Days of Christmas start with Christmas Day and finish with the eve of Epiphany on 6th January. The carol, Twelve Days of Christmas dates back to English origins in the sixteenth century although the music is reputed to be French. The “first publication date” was 1780.

1719:  Carol, Joy to the World:  Lyrics Isaac Watts, Music Lowell Mason. It is believed that the melody for “Joy to the World” was partly based on the work of George Frederic Handel, specifically the oratorio Messiah.

1739:  Carol, Hark the Herald Angels Sing: Written by Charles Wesley (1707-1788). It first appeared in hymnbook called Hymns and sacred Poems.

1751:  Carol, O Come All ye Faithful:  Written by John Frances Wade (1711- 1786), a hymnist 1751. First written in Latin and translated to English in 1852 by Frederic Oakeley and William Thomas Brooke.

1809:  Washington Irving (of Dutch ancestry) makes reference to St. Nicholas as the Patron of New York City.

1818:  Carol, Silent Night:  First performed in the Nicola-Kirche (Church of St. Nicholas) in Oberndorf, Austria on December 24, 1818. Priest, father, Josef Mohr composed the words much earlier, in 1816, but on Christmas Eve brought them to headmaster, Franz Gruber and asked him to compse a melody and guitar accompaniment for the service. 

1822:  The Visit From St. Nicholas, now known as The Night Before Christmas written by Dr. Clement Clark Moore, a professor of divinity

1824:  Carol, O Tannenbaum or Oh Christmas Tree:  The best known version was penned in 1824 by a Leipzig organist named Ernst Anschütz. The melody is an old folk tune. The first known “Tannenbaum” song lyrics date back to 1550. A similar 1615 song by Melchior Franck (1573-1639).

1830s:  Poinsettias could be found in select greenhouses in America. By 1870, New York shops sold them at Christmas and by the turn of the century they became associated with the holidays.

1837:  Robert Weir who taught art at West Point painted the first American portrait of Santa, posing the saint as he readied to climb down the chimney. He was depicted as a short, beardless man, dressed in high boots, short coat, and stocking cap. He carried a bag of toys and wore a frightening sneer on his face to scare bad children.

1841:  Christmas trees gained popularity in England when Prince Albert introduced it to the Royal Family. Americans had the tree by the mid-eighteenth century when Hessian soldiers introduced it during the Revolution.

1843:  First Christmas card introduced by John Calcott Horsley in England. Thesentiment was “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.”

A Christmas Carol, novel by Charles Dickens published, December 19^th, 1843

1849: Carol, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear:  Words by a Unitarian pastor, Edward Hamilton Sears. Lyrics appeared in the Christian Register. Ten years later in 1859, Richard Storrs Willis, an American composer composed the music.

1850s:  (Early 1850s) R.H. Pease is described as the first maker and distributor of Christmas cards in America. He depicted Santa but the sentiment was an advertisement for his business.

1853:  Carol, Good King Wenceslas: Published by Neal and Helmore, originally an old Swedish song dating back to 1592.

1856:  Carol, Jingle Bells: Written by Reverend John Peirpont of Savanna Georgia, it was originally written for a church Thanksgiving program.

1857:  Elves first appeared around 1856 when Louisa May Alcott completed but never  published a book titled Christmas Elves. Thomas Nast depicted elves with Santa but didn’t invent them.

Carol, We Three Kings: Reverend John H. Hopkins Jr. (1820-1891) wrote music and lyrics. Published in Hopkins, Carols, Hymns and Song in 1863.

1860s:  (Mid 1860s) Glass tree ornaments and icicles introduced to the nation by the Germans.

1863:  Illustrated edition of Moore’s A Visit From St. Nicholas produced by Thomas Nast, a cartoonist employed by Harper’s Weekly. The work closely adhered to Moore’s description of Santa.

1864:  Carol, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day: Composed by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as a poem. John B. Calkin composed its music in 1872 though it is also sung to an alternate tune that was originally composed by Joseph Mainzer in 1845. Written during the Civil War, it reflects those stressful times of battle.

1865:  December 25 was legalized as a state holiday by this date by 31 states and territories.

1866:  Santa depicted housed in an ice palace by Artist Nast. Later he specified the North Pole as Santa’s home.

1867:  Carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem:  Phillip Brooks, a Clergyman wrote poem in 1867. A year later, Lewis Redner, Brooks’ organist at an Episcopal church in Bos­­ton, Mass­­a­­chu­­setts, created the music.

1870s:  Macy’s department store was putting on a good Christmas show in their display windows.

1870:  Christmas made a legal national holiday on June 26. Until this time it wasn’t on the US national calendar.

1875:  Lithographer, Louis Prang, began producing illustrated Christmas Cards. Most of the art was produced by women although he did use some famous artists. Americans were slow to use Christmas Cards and preferred to make their own until the early 1880’s. Later cheaper German cards were produced.

1882:  Edward Johnson, a New Yorker and vice president of the newly formed Edison Electric, claimed to be the first to add electric lights to his tree.

1885:  Carol, Away In The Manger:  First published in a 1885 Lutheran Sunday School book by James R. Murray (1841-1905), but the author of the first two stanzas is unknown. There are at least two major melodies for the song: one, “Cradle Song” [1] more commonly encountered in Britain; the other, “Mueller” [2] more commonly found in the USA. The tune commonly used in Britain was written by William J. Kirkpatrick and was first published in 1895. The tune commonly used in the US was written by James R. Murray and first published in 1887. Stanza three was added in 1904 by Dr. John McFarland of New York City.

1890’s & 1900s:  Americans revived the old English custom of caroling.

1895:  Electric lights replaced candles on President Cleveland’s White House tree. General usage by the populous didn’t come about until the 1920’s.

1899:  Santa had no wife until this date, when Katherine Lee Bates created a Mrs. Claus in her story, Goody Santa Claus On A Sleigh Ride.

1916:  Carol, Carol of the Bells. Composed by Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych (1877-1921). Originally titled Shchedryk, A Ukranian folk song about a sparrow and the bountiful year that awaits a family. First performed in the Ukraine on the night of January 13, 1916. On the Julian calendar this is considered New Year’s Eve. In the United States it was first performed on October 5, 1921 at Carnegie Hall. “Hark how the Bells, Sweet silver bells . . .

1920:  Ellis Gimbel of Gimbel's department store, organized fifteen cars and fifty people in the first Thanksgiving Day Parade. The high point was a fireman dressed as Santa, who brought up the rear.

1924:  Hudsons, a Detroit store inaugurated its Santa’s ThanksgivingDay Parade.

1934:  Song, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gilespie and first sung on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in November 1934. Original version was recorded on September 26^th, 1935 by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra.

1935:  Film, Scrooge, Adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

Song, Winter Wonderland: Composed in 1934 by Felix Bernard with lyrics by Richard B. Smith. It has been recorded many different times by such artists as Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Karen Carpenter, Cyndi Lauper, and the Cocteau twins.

1937:  Charles W. Howard opened a Santa Claus School. Students paid $150 each for a week-long course in showmanship, salesmanship and child psychology.

1938:  Film, A Christmas Carol:  American film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel.

1939:  Song, Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer. Written by a Montgomery Ward Department Store employee, Robert L. May. The store distributed copies of it to the children of its customers as an advertising gimmick. In 1949, it was set to music by Johnny Marks and Gene Autry recorded it. Two million copies sold during the first Christmas season.

1941:  Song, The Little Drummer Boy, also known as Carol of the Drum, written by Katherine K. Davis. Henry Onorati and Harry Simeone have been credited with writing the song even though they were only the arrangers for their recordings of it starting in 1957. In 1963, 20^th Century Fox Records retitled and reissued it as The Little Drummer Boy. In 1965 a new version was recorded by Kapp Records.

1942:  Film, Holiday Inn. Irving Berlin’s song, White Christmas was first sung by Bing Crosby, winning it an Oscar. Also starring Fred Astaire and Virginia Dale. Written by Irving Berlin & Elmer Rice.

1944:  Song, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas: Written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane for the MGM musical, Meet Me In St. Louis.

1946:  Film, It’s A Wonderful Life.

Song,  All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth, by Don Gardner.

Song, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire), sung by Nat King Cole, written by Mel Torme. King recorded versions of this song through 1961.

Film, It’s A Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart as George Baily and Donna Reed as Mary Hatch, his wife. Lionel Barrymore played Henry Potter.

1947:  Film original of Miracle On 34th Street with John Payne, Maureen O’ Hara and Natalie Wood.

1950:  Song, Frosty the Snowman. Penned by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins and then recorded in 1950 by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys. Although a popular Christmas song the word Christmas is not in this tune.

1952:  Song, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause. Original recording by Jimmy Boyd; Commissioned by Neiman Marcus to promote their Christmas card for the year, featuring an original sketch by artist Perry Barlow, who drew for the New Yorker magazines for many decades. When first released, the record was banned by the Catholic Church in Boston on the grounds it mixed sex with Christmas. Boyd was thirteen and was widely photographed meeting with the Archdiocese to explain the song.

1953:  Song, Santa Baby. Sung by Eartha Kit, co-written by Joan Javits

Song, Merry Christmas Baby. Sung by Charles Brown

1957:  Dr. Seuss’ (Theodore Geisel) wrote How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

Song, Blue Christmas recorded by Elvis Presley. Originally recorded by Doyle O'Dell in 1948 & in 1949 by 3 other artists — Russ Morgan, Hugo Winterhalter and Ernstein Tubbs who all had hits with it.

Song, Jingle Bell Rock. By Bobby Helms

1958:  Song, Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree, sung by Brenda Lee

Song, The Chipmunk Song, sung by David Seville and the Chipmunks.

1961: Song, Please Come Home For Christmas sung by Charles Brown

1964:  Song, A Holly Jolly Christmas, sung by Burl Ives, written by Johnny marks

1965:  Animated TV film,  A Charlie Brown Christmas, Written by Charles Schulz

1966:  Animated Film: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Adaptation of Dr. Suess Book

1969:  Animated Film:  Frosty the Snowman

1970:  Animated Film, Santa Clause Is Coming To Town. A television special based on the song, with narrator Fred Astaire telling the original story of Santa Clause Is Coming To Town.

1983:  Film, A Christmas Story. Written by Jean Shepherd about a 1940s family at Christmas.

Animated Film, Mickey’s Christmas Carol: Disney adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

1989:  Film, Christmas Vacation. Starred actor Chevy Chase, written by John Huges.

1990:  Film, Home Alone. About a child who having been left behind behind at Christmas, fights off robbers.

1992:  Film, Home Alone II

1993:  Tim Burton’s film, The Nightmare Before Christmas.

2002:  TV movie,  It’s A Very Merry Muppet Christmas, released by Jim Hensen

2003:  Film, Elf. Written by David Berenbaum. Actor Will Ferrel plays the elf.

2004:  Animated film, Polar Express. Written by Chris Van Allsburg & Robert Zemeckis. Depicts actor Tom Hanks in voice an form as the conductor.

Everyone has their favorite Christmas movies, carols, decorations and traditions. I hope you enjoyed seeing how long all of these have been enjoyed over the years.

What's your favorite Christmas carol or movie? Do you have any special traditions?