The Writer's Connection, SM
a publication of The Virtual Writing Coach SM


"The Creative Process of Writing is a Liberating and Therapeutic Experience"

www.virtualwritingcoach.com

April, 2009

In This Issue:

1. Preview
2. Publisher's Note
3. Fact or Fiction
4. Helpful Hints

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, 2009

Dear Writer's Connection Subscriber,

This month features both a non - fiction and fiction review to show the difference in manuscript preparation and presentation. Thaler's Nudge about the psychology of decision making is our fact book while Grisham's The Associate is the fiction piece for this month.

3. Fact or Fiction

After five years of producing my writer’s newsletter, I am torn between talking about something dry and academic versus something entertaining. Both are books: the non - fiction piece, entitled Nudge, by Robert Thaler and Cass Sunstein, is about decision making using social psychology and economic principles; the second piece is John Grisham’s latest offering, The Associate. Can you tell which one is dry and which one is entertaining? So in an effort to remain neutral and to appeal to at least half of my audience let me briefly describe why I think both books are important.

Robert Thaler is Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago and his long - time writer and friend is Cass Sunstein, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. I reported an excerpt on their theory in an earlier business newsletter that many of the writers of fiction may not have seen. In essence Thaler & Sunstein’s book is especially important in today’s economic times. It resembles game theory in some respects but is more like a decision tree depending on whether people opt in or out of various decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. Their framework includes a concept called choice architecture in which certain decisions occur depending on how the question is framed. Consider a blackjack table in Las Vegas. There are two pots of money: yours and the House. If you win big, you tend to play with what you think is the House’s money (when it really belongs to you while you have it) and tend to take risks because you think it’s free money. Conversely, when you borrow against your money (credit card cash advance) you tend to play conservatively and pass certain wins: either way you lose and the House wins.

Another example is retirement accounts. With opt - in programs, we are presented with a myriad of 401k plans that can be changed annually, but very few of us actually change them from their default value (e.g. money markets) because of status quo and our own mindlessness. Naïve investing occurs when we try to play market rallies rather than income averaging over a long period of time. To be sure, we have the opportunity and flexibility to change the mix of investments depending on volatility from conservative prime money markets to foreign currency and commodity markets. Thaler and Sunstein’s theory posits that an opt - out program is preferable as the default value because people typically do not like to make decisions—e.g. an automatic 401k deduction is taken from your check unless you notify your employer that you do not want to save for tomorrow. Other interesting chapters have to do with school vouchers, increasing organ donations, prescription drug costs, and privatizing marriage. For the cerebral types I highly recommend Nudge as an explanation that there’s no such thing as chance and random events.

For the less cerebral folks (myself included) I disagree with many of the two and three star reviews of Grisham’s latest thriller, The Associate. The book takes place in NYC at a big Wall Street law firm that is spying on a competitor law firm for information on a big defense contract that means billions of dollars for the winning firm. The story is reminiscent of Mitch McDeere in The Firm which was later made into a motion picture with Tom Cruise. Grisham’s plot is part spy thriller, part legal thriller, and part morality trumps greed. The central character, Kyle McAvoy is followed by Bennie who works for the mob who extorts Kyle to work in a firm that bills at $400 an hour for bogus work. After his best friend gets killed Kyle decides to enlist the help of his attorney father in York, PA, to help him out of this Machiavellian horror chamber. A sequel is definitely in the works with the anti - climatic ending which disappoints most readers. For me, however, the ending is typical Grisham who does not follow a script with neatly tied ends. Look for another Grisham novel that continues with Kyle and his father.

Helpful Hints:

1. Do you prefer fiction or non - fiction and why?
2. Non - fiction writing is more rigorous with notes to back up facts; anyone who cranks out non - fiction books annually has a helluva research team or their books deal with redundant themes—i.e. Ann Coulter.
3. Even for Grisham fans, his latest offering is disappointing to some because they expect him to hit a home run every time he writes. What do you consider his worst novel to be and why?


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Contact Information

Keith Barton, Ph.D.
Voice: 281 - 583 - 5005
Fax: 281.583 - 5008
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(c) Copyright 2003 A. Keith Barton, Ph.D.
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The Writer's Connection SM Mission:

The Writer's Connection SM 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.

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Archives

You can read previous issues of The Writer's Connection SM in our archive section which is located at the top right section of this page.

About 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

Copyright by Virtual Writing Coach (SM) and Keith Barton, 2001 - 2008.