From my youth to this day when I am traveling, I continue to think about what life must have been like in the old days of the west. In my mind, I see Indians crossing the vast landscape or sitting on their horses atop a nearby mountain overlooking the vast expanse below. I see wagon trains slowly rolling across the plains on their way to a new life. I think of the many hardships they must have faced in order to make a better life, and I think of the many that never made it to their destination because of accident, disease, and ambush by Indians and devious white men. It amazes me to think of the millions of buffalo that roamed the vast western plains then. A small herd of buffalo roams near my home and images of the Old West seem so real. That is, until the camel appears. It is a strange sight to see this long-legged dromedary mixed in with the buffalo.

What strikes me most about these early settlers is their determination and willingness to endure in order to reach their goal. To me, that is still the spirit of people all over the world. Something about the human spirit compels people to search for a better existence and to keep going until life gets better. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who came before us because they did not give up. Whatever is in your heart to accomplish, do not waver. Dreams still come true. Western authors take us back to a time when life was not so easy, a time when life was raw and full of possibilities. Stories of courage and strength abound. Tales of families sticking together to eke out a better way of life compel us all to do our best.

I am a full blooded Texan who grew up in west Texas. I have been retired from public school education for 13 years, after working in special education most of the time as an educational diagnostician and special education consultant. I am married with four grandchildren: two boys and two girls. I find retirement to be a great deal of fun. I like to read, write, do arts and crafts and play with our grandchildren. At age seventy, I published my first western novel called, The Revenge of Sadie Jackson. You can read the first chapter free at http://www.revenge-of-sadie-jackson.weebly.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ray_Ham

Here, presented a few steps, or how you can do to make the school play scenarios (scenarist). The steps are as follows:

1.      Specify the story idea
This is the earliest stages how you can create a scenario writing later drama school. Your first step is to define the story idea of the scenario. You can dig up or find the idea of inspiration itself. The experience that you never feel or you experience in your daily life.
By having experience, you later can make the school play scenarios with spiced by your imaginations. Or if you do not already have an interesting experience that could be raised in a school play scenario, you can dig up the stories and experiences of your friends.

2.Top of  Form

The trick remains the same. But, finding stories ideas are not easy. You must be diligent, industrious interviewing your friends to get stories ideas. Not just passively wait for inspiration to come.
If you still do not have find stories ideas, you try to watch news, read the readings from various sources, novels, tabloids or magazines. That way you will be getting stories ideas to created scenarios. Try, you do this way first. Choose one of the courses so you can find stories ideas.

Think about what your audience looks like, believes, rejects, and values. Remember their age, gender, and other relevant characteristics. Most importantly, get in touch with their more difficult emotions: discouragement, frustration, guilt, shame and so forth. Then concentrate on the feelings you want them to feel: hope, competency, success and pride in a job well done. The more you understand your audience, how they think, what moves and motivates them, the better you will be at selecting most compelling stories.

Where can you find relevant stories?

I’ve used stories in all of my books and no doubt your favorite self-help book authors have as well. You may have wondered when reading self-help books, where do these stories come from? Stories can be found all around you. Let’s start with your story and how you can use it in your book.

1. Your story

If you want to develop a more intimate relationship you’re your readers, it’s a good to include it at the beginning of your book, such as in your introduction or in the first chapter. In Take the U Out of Clutter, Mark Brunetz and I each told our stories in the first chapter. You can also include snippets of your story throughout the book when your experiences are relevant.

Since your story is about you, it can be one of the easiest ways to illustrate your message. Most readers are curious about the author’s experiences. Occasionally, authors get overly obsessed with themselves and turn off their readers. But one of the most effectively way to create a personal connection between yourself and your readers is to describe your own foibles and achievements, and poke a little fun at yourself.

2. Your story in disguise

In addition to including stories about yourself, you can disguise your experiences and present the story as if it happened to someone else. In my first book, When Helping You Is Hurting Me, the clients I described were actually based on my own issues, inner conflicts and challenges. To the extent that the stories reflected my personal experiences, they were “true”. But I embodied these aspects in characters that I created.

A word of warning belongs here:Because an engaging story centers on conflict, your story will often include other people. Be careful about telling someone else’s story without their permission. Yes, you may have gone through a divorce and you want to draw from that experience. But chances are your ex won’t be too keen on you exposing his or her personal life for all the world to see. If you use someone else’s story in a way that can be identified, whether it’s a part of your story or not, it’s important that you get a signed release form that person.

3. Observation

Where else can you find stories? From both your personal and professional worlds. You can include stories from your clients, patients and customers. No doubt someone in your family has had an experience relevant to your topic. Round this out with experiences your friends have had and there’s quite a large pool to draw from. As with the previous section, stories that are about other people should be told only once a signed release form is obtained.

4. Interviews

I’ve interviewed hundreds of people over my career for the specific purpose of getting real stories to include in my books. I bend over backwards to make sure that those I interview are happy with the way they are portrayed.

I’ve never had any difficulty with using real stories because I work so closely with those I interview, and I have everyone sign a release form. However, it only takes one disgruntled person to file a law suit, and who has time for that? Search online for sample forms, or request that your publishing house provide you with appropriate forms. But it is a good idea to get something in writing as close to the beginning of the project as possible.

5. Someone else’s story in disguise

A way to sidestep having to get signed release forms is to disguise the identity of the people in the story. Similar to basing the stories and characters in your own story, you can change specific features such as gender, location, age, and their relationship to you. It’s important to change enough of the features so that no one, even those closest to you, can figure out who you’re referring to.

6. Composites

Another popular way to get the stories you need while protecting confidentiality and privacy is to combine features from two or more people you know. This can be helpful if the true story doesn’t illustrate the point you want to make as well as you’d like. Often, reality doesn’t fit into the nice, tidy categories we authors have created. As long as you’re up front with your audience about the nature of your stories, you can blend several people into one illustration.

7. Pure Fiction

There is a fine line between creating a composite and writing pure fiction. Basic honesty would restrict you from “making up” success stories when, in fact, no one has ever been helped by your program. It’s unethical to claim that Mary lost 50 pounds when no one has ever lost that much weight on your diet, or to report that your conflict resolution program saved Charlie and Pamela’s marriage when your clients have ended up divorced. Create your composite stories carefully, with a keen eye on illustrating what is true. You can run into problems if your stories are more fiction than genuine experiences people have had.

Acknowledge your story process

I’m often asked by readers I meet if the stories in my books are true. Since readers often identify with the people in the stories, they are naturally curious about how “real” these people are. I tell them the truth, whatever that may be for the book in question. Sometimes all of the characters are parts of myself, some stories give identifying features and I use people’s real names, and some of my stories are based in fact but told in a way that is not exploitive. I’ve never had anyone express concern about the stories I’ve used as long as I’m up front with them. To strengthen the credibility of your stories, I recommend that you acknowledge your process somewhere in the book.

To learn how to get your book published download my free article, “The 3 Most Important Questions You Must Answer to Land a Book Contract” at http://www.carmenreneeberry.com/untitled16.html

Carmen Berry, MSW is a New York Times bestselling author who has taught aspiring authors how to get published for 10 years. Her coaching draws, not only from her successes, but also from the many mistakes she has made during her 25-year writing career. As a result, her clients can avoid making common-sense blunders that many first-time authors make. It’s okay to be a first-time author as long as you don’t act like an amateur. She works with aspiring writers who love helping people such as mental health professionals, educators, medical professionals, pastors, fitness experts and craft enthusiasts.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carmen_Berry

Take the U Out of Clutter

I will use the book I co-authored with Mark Brunetz, Emmy award-winning co-host of Clean House on Style Network. Our book was divided into three sections and we used a different structure in each part:

Part One: You Make the Meaning / We used the Developmental Model

Part Two: Stories That Hold Us All Back / We used the Modular Model

Part Three: Clear the Clutter from the Inside Out / We used the Step-by-step Model

Even though the book used different types of book structure, our chapters followed a similar pattern, except for the first and last chapters. In the first chapter, we introduced ourselves and told our own stories about clutter to engage the reader. In the last chapter we briefly summarized the book and invited readers to contact us through our web sites.

For the chapters in between, we selected one story to be used throughout that chapter. Usually the story opened the chapter, but occasionally we made a few points prior to starting the story. Each story was presented in the first person by the main character in that story and a client of Mark’s and included details of their interaction. The stories we used were based on real clients that Mark or I had worked with, but the identifying features were changed. Our chapters were short and easy to read with a structure that followed this basic pattern:

* Opening Story

* 2 or more points we presented that were identified by chapter subheads

* Practices to Live Out, Follow, or Apply (Exercises)

* Affirmations

Here is the opening of chapter 7: Sort Your Stories, Not Your Stuff

An airline pilot who has traveled the world many times over, Jorge has collected souvenirs from every place he has flown. When we met him, many of these items were still in their boxes, unopened. In addition to his stash of mementos, Jorge’s garage held furniture, boxes of photos, gardening tools, and just plain junk.

Jorge told us:

I know that Mark has worked with a lot of people with clutter problems, but I think even he was surprised at how many things I was able to get into my garage. My wife, Arianna, is so irritated with me. We just bought her a new car and she wants to be able to park it in the garage. She told me if I didn’t have it cleaned out by her deadline, she’d call in an expert. I missed the deadline. The next thing I new, Mark was here

Mark said, “Don’t worry, Jorge. We’ll get this garage in order in no time.”

I liked his optimism but I had one question. “Where do we start?”

So, how many stories did Mark and I need for our book? We needed our two stories and then one story for chapters 2 – 15. Due to the fact that our book was highly structured, it was very easy to determine how many stories we needed. We needed 13 stories.

4-Hour Workweek

In contrast, is the 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. Tim writes with high-powered sales energy from start to finish, with a style all his own. Before his first chapter, he includes three introductory pieces that focused on his personal success story. Due to their unique nature, each piece had its own structure. They are:

FAQ-Doubters Read This

My Story and Why You Need This Book

Chronology of a Pathology

The remainder of his book is divided into four steps. The first letter of the titles of each section spell out the word DEAL. His last chapter is three pages long. It starts with an email, has a few remarks from Tim and then ends with a poem.

After the “last chapter” he includes a reading list and 7 bonus chapters. When you flip to the back of the book to read these bonus chapters, Tim informs you that in order to get them, you’ll have to visit his web site. Very clever.

Without following the rules too stringently, most of his chapters are short, usually opening with a quote with two or more subheads. He ends most of his chapters with “Q&A: Questions and Actions” in which he gives assignments, answers FAQ and gives a pep talk to the reader. The stories Ferriss includes, and the way they are presented, are as varied as the rest of his book. Some chapters are devoted to one person’s story. Other chapters he uses snippets of he tells in the first or third person.

Here’s a short sample:

I once asked my mom how she decided when to have her first child, little ol’ me. The answer was simple: “It was something we wanted, and we decided there was no point in putting it off. The timing is never right to have a baby.” And so it is.

How many stories did Ferriss need? Since he used so many different approaches throughout his book, it would be very hard to predict all of the stories included. If your book follows in Ferriss’s footsteps, a more accurate way of determining the number of stories you will need is to walk through a chapter and make a notation whenever you think one is needed.

The choice is yours to make. Will you use different stories in every chapter? Will you use one story per chapter? Will you use the same stories in all of your chapters? Decide upon a story strategy that aids your reader to better understand and apply your program.

Writing stories is my favorite part of authoring a self-help book. They bring a dimension of real life drama into an otherwise “instructional” narrative.

To learn how to get your book published download my free article, “The 3 Most Important Questions You Must Answer to Land a Book Contract” at http://www.carmenreneeberry.com/untitled16.html

Carmen Berry, MSW is a New York Times bestselling author who has taught aspiring authors how to get published for 10 years. Her coaching draws, not only from her successes, but also from the many mistakes she has made during her 25-year writing career. As a result, her clients can avoid making common-sense blunders that many first-time authors make. It’s okay to be a first-time author as long as you don’t act like an amateur. She works with aspiring writers who love helping people such as mental health professionals, educators, medical professionals, pastors, fitness experts and craft enthusiasts.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carmen_Berry

You know writing your book will be good for you–it will attract more ideal clients to you, it will make your business more visible, it will allow you to make more money, and it will get your message out to much bigger audiences. You want to write the book and you have lots of ideas, but when you sit down to do it, you just can’t seem to get anything done.

Why is it such a struggle when the desire is there? Because writing a book is such a big project that if you sit down thinking, “I’m going to write my book,” you’ll end up overwhelmed. You won’t see an easy entry point. It’s like trying to see individual trees in a vast and dense forest–the task seems so big that it’s hard to see it for its smaller pieces. But forests aren’t just one big thing; they’re a collection of many smaller things all working together.

Books are the same way. They’re not just a big idea written out; they’re many smaller ideas compiled and arranged so they communicate something larger. Books are created sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page, and chapter by chapter. When you understand this, the idea of writing a book is more manageable. Just like you’d have to plant a forest one tree at a time, you can’t write a book by sitting down to write a book-you have to break it down into smaller pieces and write them one at a time.

So where do you start? Once you understand that a book is several smaller pieces put together, you just need to figure out what your smaller pieces are. What stories are you going to use? What strategies are you going to teach? What examples are you going to give? Then when you sit down to write, you work on one of those small assignments.

You’re not writing an entire book; you’re writing an example of how your readers can apply your first strategy, or you’re writing about the importance of the third step in your system, or whatever your assignment is for that day. Only after you break the bigger task down can you truly grasp where to start and what it will take to get it done.

When you approach writing a book as many small pieces, the task is no longer overwhelming. You can sit down to write with a sense of purpose and a manageable task to complete. Then you can come back and do the same thing the next day. And before you know it, you’re no longer thinking about writing your book-it’s actually done.

Melinda Copp helps aspiring nonfiction, business, and self-help authors get clear on their story and book idea, and figure out how to put it all together so their ideal readers love it. Visit http://www.writerssherpaprograms.com/writeabook.html for a free copy of her “Jumpstart Your Book E-course!” and get your book started now.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Melinda_Copp

So how can a new professional create doubtless confidence and perceived competence? Easy write a book that eliminates all doubt to the reader. In fact a great story can even create a career that empowers the author with the ability to charge top dollar for their services based purely on the success of their writing.

Begin by identifying the some of the most challenging issues professionals in your field face. Than identify if they are issues in which you are competent in, then begin collecting Case Studies, that’s right study your field in depth and seek out the best case studies from those who have achieved excellent results.

Then go talk to the experts who achieved these results get their feedback, and even let them know that your collecting stories in a book for the niche or industry. Once you have the issues, and case studies then you need to add your own comments to each case. In this section of each story don’t be shy, if you would have done things better say so, if the expert actually screwed up mention this (professionally) find ways to identify your expertise.

ALWAYS be respectful to the expert but don’t be afraid to share your opinion, otherwise you will not be able to demonstrate your competence which is one of the reasons for writing this type of book.

If you’re ready to go to learn more just go to: http://www.bookbizability.com for FREE articles, videos and audios that will help you write your own book and build your platform, promotions, publicity and profits.

Paul Godines helps Authors with the Publishing Process, building the Authors Marketing Platforms (social media, products, coaching programs) Book Promotions (virtual book tours, amazon best seller campaigns, book award competitions) and receiving Publicity for your Book (Radio/TV and in Print.)

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Godines

1. First, make sure that you write about a story that will capture the attention of your target audience. Write something that is recent and newsworthy. If you’re writing for broadsheet, explore new stories in the global arena, new issues about politics, sports, government, sports, and other more serious issues. If you’re writing for tabloids, articles about heinous crimes, latest happenings on your local community, and latest stories about entertainment will serve your readers very well.

2. Use eye-catching headlines. You’ll be able to grab the attention of your readers if you use killer headlines. In here, you’re expected to communicate the gist of your content using as few words as possible. It’s important that you make it powerful and that you know how to target the emotional hot buttons of your readers. This is the only way to make sure that your articles will be read.

3. Use the inverted pyramid technique. Don’t save the best for last as your readers will surely not have the patience to wait for more than a couple of seconds just to get the information that they are looking for. Make your first paragraph meaty by spilling all the most important details on this part. Tell your readers what and where it happened, how it happened, and the people involved. You can then just present supporting details on your succeeding paragraphs.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article writing success, “Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide”

Download it free here: Article Writing

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_R_Mize

Theme

When writing a short story, our attention might be fastened to one side only, such as creating characterization, depicting the available things, dialogue or whatever. That is why, we have to remember that flowery words can bury the core of the story itself.

A good story is that which follows a border line. Determine what the core of your story is.although the theme is highly prompting to augment. You must still focus on the core you have made if you don’t want your writing to end like the opening of a novel or a compilation of complicated ideas with no explanation.

Period of time
The story in an effective short story usually presents a short period of time. This can be in form of an event in your main character’s life span or a story of events going on in one day or one hour. And the short period of time, make the events you are telling about can give rise to your theme.

Setting
Since you singly have a limited number of words to set forth your messages, therefore you must be able to select conscientiously the setting of the story. This means that a setting must also serve to participate in supporting the course of the story. This doesn’t mean that you must select a typical or guessable setting. For instance, few most frightening settings for horror stories are not graves or old houses, but common places the readers frequently find in their daily lives.

Make readers as though they felt the mood of the story through the setting having been selected.

Characterization
To keep the effectiveness of the story, a short story amply has some three main characters only, because too many main characters can blur the course of the story. Don’t be too lost in depicting the detailed background of each character.

Determine which character is the most important in supporting the story and focus on them. If you really fall in love with your characters, make use of them as the basis of your next novels.

Dialogue
Don’t underestimate the power of dialogues in supporting your characterization, on the reverse, dialogues must be able to partake in telling and developing your story. Don’t just make dialogues complements to enliven your characters.

Any word put in your character’s mouths must also be functional in giving rise to the theme of the story. If the dialogues are found to be unable to support themes, just eradicate them.

Plot
Create an opening paragraph interesting enough to make readers curious to know what happen next. Make sure that your plot is complete, there must be an exposition, climax and denouement. Nonetheless, You don’t necessarily take a long time in building up stories, so that the climax or denouement only emerges in one short sentence, and makes readers troubled and confused in a negative meaning, not charmed.

Don’t also make a ‘twist ending’ (unpredicted ending) which can be read too early, keep readers guessing until the final seconds. If you make a story move very fast, for instance a story of criminality, keep your paragraphs and sentences short. This is a trick to regulate speed and condense the nuance you want to serve to your readers.

Rereading
Readers can easily influenced by irregular format, use of wrong punctuations and grammar. Don’t let these all interfere with your story, check them up repeatedly.

1.Get to the main point
Don’t waste your reader’s time by presenting lengthy stories of the character’s past, the opening of long stories or funny things. Reduce the noise and talk less. King has a direct and fast technique on conflicts or tensions. Do this fast before the readers lose their temper and get rid of your works.

2.Draft the story and pour out for a while.
King suggests you to write a story draft and then keep it in a drawer. Let it have a rest there!, as long As you wish. King keeps his scripts for months before the editing process and rereading. This method is to get rid of confused thoughts when writing scripts and getting thoughts or clear view points over the scripts we have made. Thus, editing, correcting, adding or even cutting off the unnecessary can be easier. The result is inevitably better and sharper.

In 1990 in her way from Manchester to London, a coach she boarded broke down for almost four hours. While she was looking at a herd of cows through the window, the idea of Harry Potter sprang out of her brain. During the following months, Joanne was busy developing this story of a small magician’s adventure. September 1990 she moved to Portugal and worked as an English teacher. There she fell in love with a TV journalist named Jorge Arantes. They got married and in 1993 their first daughter, Jessica, was born. Not long after that they got divorced. And Joanne returned to Edinburgh, Scotland.
At that time Joanne lived a difficult life. So poor was she that she should go everywhere on foot though city bus fee was cheap. She often wrote in cafes, since her cold and narrow flat was of course not a place full of inspiration. Fortunately the café owner was kind, and let Joanne write there eventhough she only ordered a cup of coffee a glass of water, while her baby was sleeping. In 1997 her fate totally changed when British publisher, Bloomsbury Press, published the first book of Harry Potter “Harry Potter and Philosopher’s Stone” (in America it was published under the name of Harry Potter and Sorcerer’s Stone). This book was a great success throughout the world and so were her next books.

Jo plans to write a story of Harry Potter until Harry reaches his seventeenth, when he graduates from Hogwarts School of Magics. This means the seventh book. Her excellent gift can be proved through the launching of her world-shaking work, Harry Potter.