The Writer's Connection(sm), a publication of
The Virtual Writing Coach (sm)
"The Creative Process of Writing is a Liberating and
Therapeutic Experience"(sm)
April, 2003
Published by A. Keith Barton, Ph.D., Founder
virtualwritingcoach.com



In This Issue:

1. Preview
2. Publisher's Note
3. Writer Personality Types
4. Getting into Action

1. Preview

The Writer's Connection explores the creative process of writing and the interplay between thoughts, feelings, and actions. We are an interactive community of authors and readers who share ideas to enhance our knowledge, skills, and experiences in writing fiction in any genre, but our emphasis remains mystery and suspense thrillers.
Published monthly, the Newsletter offers writing tips for authors, coaching suggestions, editing, and marketing information.

Topics are presented from the perspective of Keith Barton and represent only his ideas on producing your first manuscript, and are provided to the general public. Because we are an interactive community of writers, other viewpoints are welcomed and may be printed in future monthly newsletters with permission from Keith Barton.


2. Publisher's Note

April, 2003

Dear Writer's Connection Subscriber,

This issue features common personality characteristics of writers.

3. Common Personality Types for Writers

We writers are a strange lot. We work alone at any hour with only our imagination to guide our latest project. If any of you are familiar with the Myers-Briggs Inventory we typically rate high on introversion, intuition, feeling, and perceiving (INFP). Let me briefly define each of these traits. Introversion-Extroversion refers to a scale that defines our willingness to engage others. Many of us abhor book signings. We’d rather be holed up in our favorite easy chair with a laptop away from people and interruptions. That’s why marketing is such an anathema to us. We’d rather pay someone to design and market our book covers, to design our website, or to announce our latest book tour. All these public appearances, while vital to promoting one’s latest book, detract from what we do best—writing within the purview of our imagination. My first book signing was horrendous. The B&N staff placed a small desk upstairs at one of their stores. There were four of us scheduled on the hour. I followed a polite, elderly gentleman, who had written a non-fiction book on the ‘real deal’ behind the Kennedy assassination. Suffice it to say, I was not prepared for the meandering public who glanced at my carefully, placed brochures, copies of my latest masterpiece, and bookmarkers. A few customers were kind enough to ask about the book, High Rise, which was a detective novel set in Austin. The fact that the signing was in Austin might bring out the more curious, I thought. B&N had sent out announcements the week before. The signing was set for one in the afternoon and my major competition was a U.T. football game and the Longhorns were on a roll. I sold three books and considered myself lucky to ‘get out of Dodge in one piece.’

The next set of traits involves whether we use our senses or intuition. I think any good writer needs both. Sensory perception is necessary in depicting a scene. The reader should feel like he or she is at the crime scene—can smell the rotting flesh, see the dead body, hear the sound of pieces of skull crack like eggshells under their shoe, hear the sirens and barking orders from the detective on the scene. On the other hand, intuition is important in plot and ‘hooking the reader’ into the story, which must be done in the first ten pages if the author writes mysteries and suspense thrillers. Also the pacing is such that the story reaches a crescendo before the end of the chapter, with major unfinished business to cause the reader to turn the page.

Thinking and feeling involve facts and emotion. Both are important in a well, crafted suspense thriller. Research is very important in fiction writing. Readers want to be entertained, but they are not stupid. If your book takes place in Tucson, Arizona, you better know everything about Tucson or have lived there. Many mystery writers write serials that conform to local geography and customs. The British were expert at defining early 20th century London in their ‘cozy mysteries.’ Grisham has done the same for the deep South, Woods, Los Angeles and Florida, King writes about Maine. When I was writing Low Country, I not only was born on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, but was familiar with the Middle-Atlantic coastline, its people, and customs. However, much of the book involves a restaurant owner as the protagonist, so I relied heavily on my brother-in-law who is a manager at a local eatery on St. Simons Island. I literally tracked him for a week and learned everything about running a restaurant: the ordering, maintenance, staffing, customer service, and the kitchen. Emotions are more difficult to impart to the reader. One has to be in touch with the character to impart that same emotion. If the author’s protagonist, loses his wife in a heated gun battle, then grief and loss issues are critical to ‘sell your character’s emotional state’ to the reader. Killing off characters in your novel is tricky business. One reader admonished me severely for killing off my detective’s wife in Symbiosis. They had been a dynamic couple and the serial killer had his choice of unwilling victims. But to create the tension necessary to move the reader forward, I had to create enough tension between the protagonist and villain and the only way I could do this was to make it personal.

Fiction writers generally don’t judge others. Our characters typically take on the full range of emotion and personality flaws. We fiction writers are generally a benign lot—we seldom protest; we’re apolitical; our job is to create stories to entertain our readers. We want to please others. We tend to be very perceptive about the human condition, however, and many of us come from backgrounds that work with the worst in people: doctors, lawyers, accountants, law enforcement, judicial, military, and governmental officials. A quick review of the latest ‘bestseller’ list will generally include authors who want to make a statement about the human condition through their fiction.

In summary, I hope I’ve given the reader some insight into the psyche of writers. We tend to be introverted, sensing, feeling, and perceiving, which describes most creative people in the arts and entertainment industry. Our task is to entertain, rather than inform, to remain subtle, rather than rant and rave, to mask our third-person omniscient observer in favor of our characters’ actions and words, and to bring the reader into our world if only for a brief few hours.

If you haven’t already done so, take the Myers-Briggs inventory and see what personality type you are. Next month, we’ll discuss leading a balanced life.





4. Getting into Action

"Getting in to Action" is a monthly feature of The Writer's Connection. In this section of our Newsletter, we will discuss action steps the writer can take to improved his/her knowledge base in writing novels.

"This Month's Recommendation(s)"

1. Check out the MentorCoach.com website along with others to get a sense of what coaching can do for you. Many coaches will give you a free, 30-minute phone session to see what coaching is like. Get a feel for what coaching can do for you.

2. Go to the many Yahoo group on writing and join a discussion group in a genre of interest to you. Some of the favorites are inkies mystery, romance, science fiction, etc, medical thrillers, mystery writers.

3. Go to a local book signing at your favorite bookstore. Many Barnes & Nobles stores have a monthly newsletter with workshops and featured authors who will be speaking about some aspect of writing.

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Contact Information

A. Keith Barton, Ph.D.
Voice: 281-893-5405
Fax: 281-893-1735
Web: http://www.virtualwritingcoach.com
E-Mail: keith@virtualwritingcoach.com
(c) Copyright 2003 A. Keith Barton, Ph.D.
All rights reserved.


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The Writer's Connection (sm) Mission:

The Writer's Connection is dedicated to helping first-time authors create their first manuscript for publication and to offer an exchange of ideas and opinions from our readers who might be interested in becoming authors.

The Writer's Connection is a publication of A. Keith Barton, Ph.D. and a registered trademark (tm).

We would like The Writer's Connection to be as interactive as possible. If you have feedback, comments, topics you would like addressed, or can suggest additional resources to benefit us all, please email us at any time. Send your e-mail to
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Archives

You can read previous issues of The Writer's Connection at our archive at http://www.virtualwritingcoach.com/archive.html

About A. Keith Barton, Ph.D.

Dr. Barton received his Ph.D. in 1972 from the University of Texas at Austin and has been a practicing therapist for over thirty years. He is currently enrolled in MentorCoach and is accepting new clients. He has been an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina, consultant to Fortune 500 companies in executive development, founded and managed Texas Community Living Ventures, Inc., in 1986 for providing group home services to persons with mental retardation, and for the past 13 years founded and runs a clinical practice in Northwest Houston. He writes part-time with the goal of completing one novel a year. His desire to coach others derives from his passionate interest in helping others become attuned to their creative powers of storytelling.

Dr. Barton has training in coaching, cognitive and family therapy and health psychology. He has published articles, made presentations and conducted workshops about:

Anxiety and achievement
Stress management
Self-esteem
Communication skills
Marital/relationship enrichment
Wellness issues
The relationship between psychology and spirituality


© 2003 The Virtual Writing Coach and A. Keith Barton.