Sandy Frank, author of The Inner Game of Screenwriting: 20 Winning Story Forms, was briefly a Park Avenue lawyer before quitting to write for Late Night with David Letterman. He went on to write sketch, sitcom, drama, and features. And now, non-fiction.

Enter the October Challenge for your chance to win a copy of The Inner Game of Screenwriting from Michael Wiese Productions.

How did you make the jump from lawyer to comedy writer?
My law firm’s offices were in 30 Rock, a few floors above NBC, and one of my best friends from college (and from the humor magazine we both wrote for) had become the head writer of Late Night with David Letterman, so we ran into each other all the time. One night, he and I were having dinner, complaining about our jobs, when he said if I were really tired of being a lawyer he thought I could write on the show. He helped me get my material together, and I ended up quitting my law job and writing for Dave for four years, during which we won four Emmy Awards for comedy-variety writing.

Why did you write The Inner Game of Screenwriting?
Having been a math major, computer programmer, and lawyer, I always took an analytic approach to writing. As I went from comedy-variety to sketch to sitcom to drama to features, I always wanted to know, ‘how do I do this?’ Then, a couple years ago, I woke up and realized that I finally got what it was all about, how it really works. And I thought it would be great to help other writers get it, too.

What was your process for writing it? Why did you choose the story forms format?
As I wrote about Inner Story, I ended up cataloging and analyzing all its types, and they became the story forms in the subtitle. So the format arose quite organically from the material.

What are three things screenwriters need to know?
My book is really about the one thing that all screenwriters – up-and-coming or other wise – need to know: that the Inner Story is the most important element of any screenplay. Maybe you’ve heard of Isaiah Berlin’s essay about the hedgehog and the fox: the fox knows many little things; the hedgehog knows one big thing. Most screenwriting books teach many little things: how to write dialog, how to craft scenes, where to put your act breaks, etc. My book teaches one big thing: how to write an emotionally satisfying Inner Story.

What was your favorite part of writing this book? The greatest challenge?
Writing non-fiction is hard. You stare at your screen and think, this made so much sense when I thought it, how come it’s so confusing the way I wrote it. But the great part is it really forces you to think your hypotheses through. The old saying is true: you don’t really understand something until you can write it down clearly enough for someone else to understand it.

Additional advice for screenwriters?
Learn to gauge your emotional reactions as you watch movies or read screenplays. Are you fascinated? Are you bored? Then try to figure out why.

Advice for non-fiction book writers?
Clarity is the most important goal. Get it down, then read it with a fresh (ignorant) eye and revise it till it’s clear.

What do you know now that you wish you knew at the beginning of your writing career?
That what makes a screenplay successful is the emotional Inner Story. It’s easy to tell screenwriters that the main character has to want something and has trouble getting it. But what really determines a screenplay’s success is what’s going on inside the characters. That’s really what The Inner Game of Screenwriting is all about: it’s everything I’ve finally learned that I wish I knew years ago. To me, it’s the key that unlocks the art of screenwriting.

I had the pleasure of interviewing best-selling author Jackie Collins at the West Hollywood Book Fair on Sunday. We talked about her latest book, Goddess of Vengeance, writing, and more. Here’s a snippet from the interview where she offers a great tip for writers. Write on!

Carol Quinn is the author of Follow My Lead: What Training My Dogs Taught Me about Life, Love, and Happiness. A strategic advisor at her company ProjectQuinn, she is also an adjunct faculty member at USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.

Quinn talks about how she got published, writing from personal experience, and more in this Write On! Q&A.

Why did you write Follow My Lead?
So many of us have close relationships with our dogs, and we rely on them for love and companionship. For me, the experience of training my dogs in agility brought a deeper understanding of the nature of dogs, and it led me to look at my life in a different way. From a dog’s point of view, I was doing everything all wrong.

I’ve always been interested in the fundamentals of personal transformation; what are the right conditions for change, what are the necessary ingredients? It became clear to me during my agility classes that my relationship with life—and the man in my life—were both in need of a radical adjustment. Applying the training I was learning from my agility teacher to my own life worked to bring about that transformation for me. And my dogs, Nairobi and Sheila, became my guides in the process.

When I looked back over the experiences I’d been through, I thought the story about learning from my dogs might appeal to readers, and be something many people could relate to. The book evolved from there.

What was your process for writing it? Getting it published?
I got the idea for the book, wrote a proposal, worked with an editor whom I’ve collaborated with for years to get things just right, and sent it to my agent. He called two days later, made a few suggestions, and then he started sending out the proposal to publishers. Of course, I got a few rejections. That’s never a good feeling. I was in NYC with my best friend when I got a call from the editor at Seal Press. She loved the proposal, I was thrilled, and that was that.

For the proposal, I had already completed five chapters and an outline. When I began writing the book, I rewrote and extended the material quite a bit. Structuring material for a book proposal is far different from writing a book. Proposals are really short sales pieces.

I finished the manuscript in three months, turned in my first draft, and then began working with my editor at Seal Press, Merrik Bush-Pirkle. The first draft, for me, is an indication of the final material. Everything I want is in the manuscript, but it’s in need of rearrangement and finesse.  I have never written a perfect first draft, and I don’t even try. There’s still a missing voice in the process—the editor. Once you get a chance to learn how your editor “hears” your writing, it’s really the first time you get feedback on what you’re trying to create. Merrik and I spent another three months working chapter by chapter, incorporating her notes into my rewrites before I turned in my final draft.

When writing from real life, how did you decide what to include and what to eliminate?
My main concern was protecting the people in my life while telling the truth about my experiences. This is, after all, my story, and I had to tell it from my point of view. I tried to give enough detail for the reader to understand the characters in my book, particularly Henry and Irina, but I focused on their effect on me. I did not focus on why they did what they did. That’s their story.

It’s a tricky process, though, I have to admit. I trusted my editor implicitly throughout. If something I wrote made her uncomfortable, I deleted it. If she didn’t grasp an emotional flow in a scene, I rewrote until she did.

What was the most your favorite part of writing it? The greatest challenge?
I love writing so much it’s hard for me to pinpoint my favorite part of the process. Beginnings are wonderful because you aren’t hampered by anyone’s opinion. The editing process is exciting because you get the chance to clarify and improve your writing. Ending the book is glorious.

The greatest challenge for me was “track changes.” I like reading editorial notes on a printed manuscript. It’s very hard to do it onscreen—and frustrating.

Advice for dog lovers who want to write?
There are wonderful dog books out there. It’s a great category, and I would encourage anyone who thinks that they have a great story—tell it! Blogs to books are a great way to go, and there is a great community of pet bloggers on http://www.blogpaws.com/

Advice for non-fiction writers?
This was my first non-fiction/memoir, and I would have to say the mechanics of structuring a good story are the same. Finding the dramatic arc, though, takes a bit of work. Life doesn’t always present you with the right beginning, middle and end. I ended up going back and forth in time to create the narrative.

For anyone writing a memoir, it’s important to create a distance between your emotional experience and the story you want to tell. Not every aspect of your emotional experience may translate into a narrative form or resonate with readers.

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started writing Follow My Lead?
I’m not sure I would have wanted to know this beforehand, but it’s very hard to get people’s attention these days. Everyone is swamped, busy with their own projects and fielding requests left and right. And the social media and traditional media clutter is intense. It takes a lot effort to entice someone to sit down and read a book, let alone write an Amazon review!

That said, it’s a lot of fun to make connections with readers and reviewers whenever—and wherever I can. And it’s an amazing feeling when someone has been touched by the book. For me, that’s the whole point of writing.

In honor of social media week, today’s Write On interview is with Sukhraj “Suki” Beasla, Eat Suki Eat, a social media addict, freelance writer and food blogger.

Beasla is a great example of someone who took her passion and started developing a blog around it.

What first inspired you to start writing?
I’ve been writing since an early age. I blame my grandfather. He was a poet and an avid reader. I wrote stories about my life on the farm in a diary, which evolved into an online diary about my life in college – and then later blogging.

Why did you create Eat Suki Eat? What makes your blog so successful?
The idea came to me in December while having takeout pizza. It became as a way to chronicle my way around the kitchen as I learn how to cook, but has no evolved into everything food. It’s not quite the success I want it to be yet, but one day I hope it really becomes something and a journey about food around the world. I would love to travel and eat.

How does someone become a food blogger?
Anyone can talk about their food journey. It’s one thing that doesn’t really require any … extensive background. If you love food, you can talk about it.

What is your process for deciding what to write/when/schedule?
I talk about everything involving food that inspires me. I share those stories when they come to me on a weekly basis.

What is your favorite part of being a blogger? The greatest challenge?
Sharing my experience and having others relate or comment. I love engaging the reader. The greatest challenge is drawing an audience but I think every blogger faces that in the beginning.

What are the biggest mistakes newbie bloggers make?
They aren’t consistent, they rush out a blog post, or they don’t really know what their blog is about.

And your recommendations for correcting them?
Before starting a blog, make it your priority. It doesn’t have to be your life, but make some time for it and really commit to your subject matter and your potential audience.

How important is it for bloggers to do video?
Video isn’t for everyone. It’s important, but if it doesn’t fit your strategy then you’ll be lost. Figure out what you’re doing and how you can incorporate it. I use video to demo what’s in the kitchen – success and failure.

Additional advice for bloggers?
Be passionate about what you’re doing and talking about. Engage your audience with the idea of you.

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started your blog?
To be consistent and have a clear message.

Designer Ethan Bodner, a senior at Hartford Art School, is the author of Creative Grab Bag, a collection of work from artists, illustrators, and designers from around the world. Bodnar created more than 30 unique tasks and gave each contributor a task that different from his or her typical work. The book, which contains images of each artist’s creative task, typical work, and a biography with a short reflection on their creative process, captures the spirit of exploration and innovation and challenge readers to break out of their usual work.

What inspired you to write Creative Grab Bag?
Creative Grab Bag is about exploring your creativity and I think that is what I did by pushing myself further to make and publish a book. I had been seeing people launch book projects online that involved a diverse group of contributing artists for their books. From there I just decided that I wanted to make a book. The idea of actually doing something that could be tangible was really inspiring.

What was your process for writing/compiling it?
The first thing I did was create a very long list of artists, designers, illustrators, and all sorts of creative people who I had been bookmarking or looking at their work online. Then I created a website and sent out emails to them all inviting them to be part of the book. So many amazing people said “yes” and I am grateful for their support and contributions.

How did you go about getting it published?
I looked own my own bookshelf to figure out who published the design books that I had. From there I did some more research on the internet and found that all the publishers had contact information and instructions for pitching a book. So I emailed them all to see if any were interested, and HOW Books was!

What was your favorite part of making Creative Grab Bag?
The best part about putting together Creative Grab Bag was the amazing artists that I got to work with. It brought me so much happiness to check my email and see a new piece of work come in it that someone had created specifically for my book.

Advice for non-fiction writers and artists?
Just start writing and making your book, email lots of people, and don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice.

What are some things that you feel stop people from being creative?
Everyone is creative, I think the fact that many people don’t realize that is the main thing that stops people from being creative. You don’t have to be an amazing painter or something visual, creativity comes in many forms.

What do you know now that you wish you knew at the beginning of this project?
The most important thing is to just connect with people. It’s so easy to just send someone an email and reach out, many times people will respond to you.

Kim Brittingham is the author of the memoir Read My Hips: How I Learned to Love My Body, Ditch Dieting and Live Large, which was released in May.  A fabulous example of working a day job, while pursuing your dreams, Brittingham still works by day as a legal secretary in New York City.

Why did you write Read my Hips?
I didn’t originally plan to write a book about dieting and body image, although I’m certainly glad I did. I’d written an entirely different memoir a few years back. But when I met my agent, she pointed out that every time I published an essay online about weight-related issues, I got a hugely positive response. It was her suggestion to build an entire book around those essays, so I did.

What was your process for writing Read My Hips? Getting it published?
I wrote most of it while working as a legal secretary in New York City. I wrote in 45-minute increments on my lunch hour in the office kitchen. I had a crappy second-hand laptop I bought on eBay, and day after day I plugged it in and tapped away.

I feel very lucky in the way Read My Hips got published.  I had written an essay called “Fat is Contagious,” detailing an informal social experiment I conducted on the buses of New York City. (I made a very real-looking but fake book cover with the title Fat is Contagious: How Sitting Next to a Fat Person Can Make YOU Fat, and I pretended to read it while riding public transportation.) I was interviewed about it on the Today Show, and that helped bring me to the attention of the woman who would eventually become my fabulous literary agent. She helped me fill in the gaps of the book proposal I’d been working on, and held my hand through the process of pitching it to book publishers. The whole thing was very exciting.

When I was about 13 years old, I used to daydream about being an author, and I imagined walking into my publisher’s building, which was a Manhattan skyscraper with a lobby three stories tall. I pictured the publishing company’s name splashed across the back wall in giant letters. I also imagined a huge showcase on the wall with books displayed behind glass. And believe it or not, the day my agent took me to meet the editor who would eventually work on Read My Hips, the building looked just like that! RANDOM HOUSE was spelled out across the lobby wall and there really was a huge lit-up showcase filled with books.  An incredibly satisfying moment.

What was your favorite part of writing Read My Hips?
I guess my favorite part was the sense of purpose I felt when I sat down and wrote. I wasn’t madly in love with my day job. There wasn’t much in the way of creativity or passion involved. So when I took time out of the day to nurture that, it made a huge difference in how I tolerated everything else. And it felt good to say, hey, I’m not just sitting there complaining that my life isn’t what I wanted it to be; I’m doing something about it. The minute you sit down and start writing, you’re a writer. No one can take that away from you. Your life is transformed.

The greatest challenge?
I can remember needing to fill in about 20,000 words to really round out the manuscript.  At that point the book was sold and I was working with my editor, and some large parts of the original manuscript had been cut. So I had to come up with new stuff.  I remember taking a writing break and throwing myself on the sofa and whining, But I’ve already said everything I have to say about this issue! It was frustrating; I felt so tapped out.  It wasn’t entirely true, though. Even now I’m thinking of more and more things I can say about weight and body image. But it was my state of mind. I probably needed a vacation! I also find revision much more difficult than writing. But during the process of revising Read My Hips, I got really good at letting go. I no longer have any qualms about ripping out entire paragraphs and trashing them without looking back. If it’s the right thing for the greater good of the piece, do it and move on.

It was such a personal story – how did you decide what to include and what to eliminate?
I didn’t hold back anything in particular. My editor suggested cutting certain chapters because she felt they were only indirectly related to body image or weight issues. But I don’t have a problem getting personal. I think I was much more private 20 years ago.

Do you have advice for people who want to write about their personal life and send it out to the universe?
I do have some advice, and it relates to the reason why I seldom get embarrassed by something I did or said in the past. We are constantly learning and evolving. I’m not the same person I was last year, last month or even yesterday. Every experience, every observation and moment of reflection brings us to a new place. So if you did something yesterday that you might not do again today, what’s the point in being embarrassed by it? You’re a work in progress. Just remembering that can really help you to relax around your own foibles. Or even just around your changing opinions. Too many people seem reluctant to change their opinions when they’ve learned something new. There’s no shame in it. It gets a bad rap when people sneer and call it “flip-flopping”, but actually, I think it’s a sign of intelligence. It shows you’re actually using your brain. You thought about something, and made a conscious decision to change direction.

Additional advice for writers?
If you want to be an author, your first and most important step is to write. Period. I know that sounds so obvious as to almost be stupid, but I can’t tell you how many people have asked me to help them get their book published, only to find out they haven’t actually written anything yet! Writing a book takes a lot of time and hard work, so maybe ask yourself: do you really want to write, or just want to enjoy having written? If you’re leaning more toward the latter, then maybe you’ve really just got a fantasy of what you think being an author is like. Writing is work. You have to love it. And it’s more than just writing. You need to be constantly working on your craft by going to workshops and classes, working with a mentor or writers’ group. And then if you do publish a book, you’ll need to become a public relations and marketing genius, too. So my advice is to get clear on what you think you want. It may save you a lot of grief later mourning what you didn’t accomplish – because maybe it wasn’t the right dream for you anyway, and maybe you overlooked something else that could have been.

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started writing?
That’s easy. I wish I’d known that being a successful writer isn’t about whittling away at a single page of prose for years at a time, striving for perfection or some kind of literary beauty that will have people swooning and starting religions in your name. If you want your writing to be read and enjoyed by other people, you need to be productive.  You have to finish something. When I was a kid, I used to look at books and think, “How did they ever write so many words?” I didn’t know how I’d ever be able to do it.

What changed everything for me was participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). It’s an annual event in which people from all over the world commit to finishing a 50,000-word draft of a novel within the month of November. There’s no time to second-guess yourself and nit-pick. You just have to plow ahead. …Nothing comes out perfectly the first time. … I know there are some writers out there who claim to write a near-perfect final draft on the first attempt, straight through. But that’s superhuman, if it’s true. I never really got it before NaNoWriMo … that big writing projects are built on a gloriously messy foundation. But once I really accepted that and put it into practice, my whole writing life changed forever.

Kathie Fong Yoneda, author of The Script Selling Game- 2nd edition: A Hollywood Insider’s Look at Getting Your Script Sold and Produced, is an independent script consultant with more than 25 years experience in the entertainment industry. She who has worked for such studios as Paramount, Columbia, MGM, Universal, 20th Century Fox, and Disney, specializing in story analysis and development of live action and animated projects.

Yondea talks about her experience writing The Script-Selling Game, and offers advice for screenwriters and non-fiction writers in this Write On Author Q&A.

What led you to a career in the entertainment industry?
I did work as an “extra” and ended up working in the typing pool at Universal, as suggested by my first husband. I moved up the ladder as an assistant, ending with a boss who was a Vice President of Production. He went back into an indie-production deal and was on location on a film. Scripts from agents were piling up in the office and out of sheer boredom, I started reading them. When he returned, I had the scripts separated into the ones that I felt he should read first. He asked me to write up a short synopsis on each script as well as a paragraph on what were the script’s strengths and weaknesses. Turns out, he thought I was pretty good at analyzing submissions. From there he helped me gain entry into the Story Analysts Guild and after several years I ended up at Disney, where I was asked to do a set of notes for Jeffrey Katzenberg. I guess those notes must have been pretty good because the next thing I knew I was an executive.

Why did you write The Script-Selling Game?
After working with new writers as well as seasoned pros, I came to realize that their learning curve was made even longer because they didn’t have any information about how the system worked and what they needed to know to move ahead once they finished film school or had a couple of scripts under their belt. There were several books on subjects like structure, characterization, and the craft of screenwriting, but nothing on the “business” end of screenwriting. I wrote a monthly column for four years and it eventually became the basis of my book.

What was your process for writing it? Getting it published?
I organized my columns into various chapters and put them in a logical order. Because the columns had the basic information, all I had to do was add examples and more details—in fact, I loved that I was able to go beyond my usual 750 word columns to give more detailed advice. I actually had thought about getting my columns published, but my workshops were starting to get in the way. At one of my workshops, I became friends with one of the writers. Turns out he knew Ken Lee, who heads up things in the United States for Michael Wiese Productions. Ken mentioned he was looking for “a Hollywood insider” to write a book on screenwriting from the other side of the desk. The writer suggested me.

What are some of the biggest mistakes newbie screenwriters make and how can they fix them?
Most new writers think that success will come to them overnight. Very few writers get their first script optioned or bought. In fact, I used to ask the dozens of produced writers I worked with how many scripts it took before they got their first big break—either an option/sale or getting representation with an agent. Only one writer got her very first script optioned and she was quick to mention that it took her five years and several scripts later until she got her second sale. Another writer told me it took him 15 scripts until he got an agent to sign him. I asked him about his first ten scripts and he said he still has them in his office, but he won’t let anyone see them because he now realizes they really were much-needed “practice” scripts. I tell my writers to give themselves permission to fail—in other words, it’s important to understand that in reality, it will probably take people several scripts before things start to happen for them, so don’t be so hard on yourself and just continue to keep writing. Real writers always have half a dozen (or more) other projects in their hip pocket—they just can’t help themselves—they are compelled to write!

There is a learning curve to writing. Take classes, do research, attend and participate in pitchfests, competitions, and fellowship programs. Build a community—get to know other writers and share your work and your experiences to help gain additional knowledge and insight into the business.

Are there any advantages to being a new screenwriter?
New writers are (hopefully) not as jaded in their approach. They seem to be more open to getting in touch with their creativity. They are usually more eager to learn, to grow, and to experiment with their work.

Do you have any additional advice for screenwriters?
Try to understand that timing is important. Although Oliver Stone was a much-sought-after writer/director, it took him ten years before Hollywood finally agreed to let him produce Platoon because the subject of Vietnam was still too fresh a wound for many Americans. Join a writers group—believe it or not, writers who are in a group tend to move to the next level a little faster than those who try to go it alone!  And keep in mind that you only get one chance to make a good first impression—so always be sure your work is in the best possible shape it can be before sending it out.

Do you have any advice for non-fiction book writers?
I still maintain that truth is often a heck of a lot stranger than fiction. But what usually catches my attention with a non-fiction book is the personal approach that the author takes. Although your non-fiction book may be accurate in its facts and thoroughly researched, if you have characters, be sure their personalities jump off the page and engage us—be sure their story and their goal has an immediate, compelling and meaningful appeal to the readers. If your non-fiction book does not necessarily have characters in it, but might be more instructional, it’s still best to infuse the approach of your book with a personal style that makes your material more than just facts. Writing from within, whether your work is fiction or non-fiction, usually shows up on the page and inherently, makes its way up the New York Times best-selling charts.

What do you know now that you wish you knew at the beginning of your career?
I guess I wish I knew that making a mistake wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, when, in fact, most of the time, it’s an opportunity to learn a lesson and move ahead. If I had looked for the lesson I could have learned, I might have moved ahead a little faster and a whole lot wiser!

Maria Dahvana Headley is the author of Queen of Kings (Dutton, May, 2011) which is the first volume of a trilogy. Previously, she wrote The Year of Yes: A Memoir, which has been translated into nine languages, and optioned for television and film by, respectively, 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. She lives in Seattle, with her husband, playwright and screenwriter Robert Schenkkan.

What inspired you to write Queen of Kings? How did you get the book deal?
Queen of Kings is the first book in a trilogy, and I actually had the idea for the second book first—there was a certain historical character whom I’d suddenly realized might be able have some supernatural components, and it occurred to me that it would be a lot of fun to write a story that incorporated this person. And then it occurred to me that said character might be immortal. I’ve always been interested in the notion of characters who cross centuries—Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, for example, is something that has always inspired me, though this book is very different. I had to go backward in time, and figure where my character had come from. I ended up with Cleopatra. This will all make so much more sense when the second book comes out! I wrote the first draft in a wild 5-month, fairly hallucinatory stretch, and sold it shortly thereafter. Needless to say, there were serious revisions after I sold it!

What was your favorite part of writing it? The greatest challenge?
There are three witches in the book, and I adored writing them. They’re all based in ancient world sources, but I invented like crazy too. One of them is very, very dark, and she does some horror movie things—things that I based in classical texts. Some of Ovid is a lot like a contemporary horror movie.

The greatest challenge was writing a book in which the protagonist is a monster. She does some things I’d never do. It was a little scary to see the world through her eyes for months, and to make a narrative in which the things she does—the things she sometimes can’t help but do—are justified. Reading it, you should be horrified, yes, but you should also feel for her. That was challenging. I think I managed it, but that took more work than anything else in the book.

In what ways was the process similar to/different than writing your memoir?
It was actually much more liberating. With The Year of Yes, I was limited to certain components. Mind you, I didn’t suffer for lack of story there, but in Queen of Kings, I could go anywhere I wanted, incorporate anything. There are minor similarities, in that I in both cases, I had a chronological structure that came from real world events. I actually stuck close to a lot of the known history of Antony, Cleopatra, and Augustus (which was part of the fun—filling in the gaps in the history with invention), but my imagination got to run wild here in a way that it obviously couldn’t with a memoir. I loved writing The Year of Yes, but in that book, I was my own protagonist. In this one, the protagonist is an ancient, blood thirsty Egyptian Queen. Much more fun for me to write.

Why historical fantasy? How did you come up with the idea to mix the genres?
I didn’t even know I was doing it at first. It was a process of evolution, weirdly, and I found myself surprised by how many genres I ended up mixing in. There are elements of horror in here as well. However, there’s a definite precedent for this, in ancient world literature. The Iliad & Odyssey, for example, would both easily fall into this category. Ancient world histories almost always contain monsters. I usually refer to Queen of Kings as a monster novel. It’s a novel where the monster is the protagonist, and that was fascinating to write. The genre mixing happened as a result of that, I think. I loved the notion of blending classical history, this story we know really well, with a story that happens beneath the surface. A Secret History, as it were.

Are there any particular tips for those writing a trilogy?
I’ll tell you when I’m done! Ha!  Does anyone have any for me? I’m working on the second book right now. I know what all 3 books are, but they are not fully mapped out yet. I know where the larger story needs to go, but there’s lots of room for fun and crazy surprises. I’m inventing some amazing monsters right now. I do think having a pretty good idea of structure is important—otherwise, it’s easy to derail. I wrote the end of Queen of Kings before I had a finished beginning, and the beginning changed over and over. The end did not. Thank God, or I’d have been in trouble.

Advice for memoir writers?
Get clarity on which story, exactly, you’re telling. Every life has millions of stories. If you tell all your stories in one book, you’ll have a seriously hard time crafting a compelling narrative—lives don’t follow narrative structure. So, memoir-writing is about paring things away, really, and keeping the bones of the story, organizing it into a tale. It’s all in the filtering of the events. That’s what’s complicated about it. Just like writing history, the events are shaped by the teller’s understanding and contextualizing of them. There’s no one way to do it, no one truth (I mean, there are truths—don’t make things up!—but as far as how you interpret events in a memoir, you could go in a lot of directions). As the author, you’re the one providing the structure to your story. So, make a plan. I speak from experience. The Year of Yes had a very clear structure. I worked for four years on another book based in family history after it, and I couldn’t pare it down. I will go back to it, but the problem I consistently had was that the story sprawled and that I couldn’t decide which parts of it were irrelevant. It behooves you to be brutal, when it comes to memoir. And to anything, story-wise, really. Clarity is your friend.

Additional advice for writers of historical fiction?
Primary sources. I read a bunch of different translations of Suetonius and Plutarch, of Virgil and Ovid too—I loved reading primary sources that were not just “history” but poetry and prose from the moment as well. Those sources often contain references to the characters, and it gives you a sense of how people felt about them. But just like fantasy, when you’re writing historical fiction, you’re making things up. You weren’t alive in the moment, nor are you in the mind of the character. In my mind, it’s as much fantasy to imagine you are another person as it is to imagine you’re a monster. And that’s liberating. Get deeper into the character’s mind. Your character might shock you.

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started writing?
I actually think I DID know this when I first became a writer, and then it got beaten out of me. Now I’ve found it again. That is that there are no hard and fast rules at all in terms of what you can create. I started out trying to figure the business out, how to make something commercially viable, how to make art at the same time, and honestly, there are always exceptions to everything. My whole career has been a wild out of nowhere thing—and mind you, with a lot of steady work and drive too. For me, the great joys of being a writer have to do with the magical things that happen without warning. I’ve got a tattoo on my thigh that says “Exit Pursued By A Bear.”  It’s a Shakespearean stage direction from The Winter’s Tale—and that bear comes out of nowhere, with no foreshadowing at all. Shakespeare was having fun. For me, it’s a reminder to do the same thing, to enjoy myself, to let the bears come into the story, to let the monsters (whatever they are) have their say. The real fun of being a writer lies in those surprises.

Janine Warner is the author of more than a dozen books about the Internet, including Web Sites DIY For Dummies, Dreamweaver For Dummies, and Mobile Web Design For Dummies. Warner’s website—DigitalFamily.com—has free tutorials about web design and social media, as well as more info about her books and videos.

In this Author Q&A, Warner talks about how she got into the tech niche, trends in technology for authors, and more.

What is your favorite part of being a writer?
The flexibility, the independence, and regular the excuse to complain that I have too much work to do…

The greatest challenge?
Keeping up with the constantly-changing world of the web, and then sitting my butt in the chair and writing, even when I don’t feel like it …

How did you end up with a specialty in technology?
After working for several years as a reporter and editor, I started hearing about this “Internet thing” in the mid 1990s, and it just clicked for me. Somehow, I understood right away that the web was going to completely transform the way we share information in the world. I was living in Northern California where so much of the early Internet activity occurred. I was on Craig’s List when it was still just an email list for people in the Bay Area. I signed up because it was the best way to learn about all of the cool parties south of Market Street. If I’d only known then …

I never really expected to get “techy.” I set out to learn everything I could about the Internet and the next thing I knew I was writing HTML and creating websites. It was pretty easy to learn HTML back then because it was much simpler.

It all clicked for me when I realized that most people who understand technology are not very good at explaining it to anyone else. It turns out my background as a journalist gave me an advantage. As a reporter, it was my job to figure out new things every day and then write them in a way even a 7^th grader could understand. When I started trying to learn how to create web sites I realized I was using the same skill-set I used when I was reporting about immigration issues, organic farming, or the last controversy at a school board meeting.

Today, I call myself a “techy translator”—much of what I do is try to decipher the words far more accomplished tech experts and then ‘translate’ what I’ve learned into articles, books, and training videos, that other people can understand. I don’t always succeed, I’m sure, but I think the fact that I have a background as a journalist has helped me more as a tech writer than a degree in computer science or programming ever could.

What was your process for writing your first book and getting it published?
I met a guy at a conference who had a little more gumption than I did. He’d already decided he was going to write, edit, and publish his own book. I might never have dared such a thing at that time, but when he found out I’d written a couple of magazine articles on the same topic, he asked me to write a couple of chapters for him.

I wasn’t sure self-publishing was the best plan, but I was pretty sure we could write the book together so I started researching how to write a book proposal. When I went back to him with a proposal instead of my first chapter, I was able to convince him to try the more traditional publishing route.

We knew that a book about HTML and web design would have to get to market quickly or it would be outdated right away, so we went to a bookstore and looked for books on hot tech topics that were the first to market. Once we identified a publisher that looked like it understood the time sensitivity of our topic, we searched through the credits in the book and found the name of the Acquisition’s Editor (that’s the title of the editor whose job it is to “acquire” new book ideas).

We FedExed our proposal on a Thursday and on Monday we got a phone call from the editor. By the end of the week, we had a contract. Those were crazy days and publishers were desperate for people who could write about technology. Sorry, but I have to say it’s not that easy anymore.

I went on to write two more books for that same publisher, and then an agent found me and ultimately brought me my first Dummies book deal.

Are there specifics for writing for the tech industry?
Probably the biggest challenge of writing tech books is the short shelf life and the super short writing schedule. When I was in college I had this fantasy that someday I’d write a book and I’d go off to a cabin in the woods and spend a year focused on writing that one book.

Instead, I get 3 to 5 months to write an entire Dummies book (the books range from about 360 to 480 pages). Because I also run a consulting business and travel quite a bit for speaking gigs, I find myself writing chapters on airplanes and in hotel rooms. It’s not nearly as romantic as that cabin in the woods I used to imagine.

The other thing about the tech book industry is that most publishers, especially if you are writing for a series like the For Dummies series, have very strict guidelines about style, formatting, etc. You have to be able (and willing) to follow the rules if you want to be part of a series, and yet you still have to be able to find your own voice or the books fall flat. It’s not an easy line to walk sometimes.

The reward is the combined marketing power of a series. Just about everyone I meet knows what I’m talking about when I say, “I write Dummies books.” My first book wasn’t part of a series, it was called Hybrid HTML Design, and if you don’t know what that means today, imagine the blank stares I got in 1996 when most people hadn’t even heard of HTML yet.

What are the most important things a writer’s website must include?
Start with a compelling description of your book(s) and an image of the cover.

Offer a way to order the book—at the very least, include links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.

Prominently include your name and bio. That may seem obvious, but don’t skimp on your own biography. It’s one of the hardest—and most important things—you’ll ever write.

I finally turned to my husband (my partner in all things analogue and digital) and asked him to help me write my bio. He came up with a “top 10 list” idea and threw in a couple of lies to add humor. I have a very diverse background and my bio was getting rather long and dull and the list made bio more fun to read. I still include a link to my more formal bio for conferences, etc., but adding a little humor to the bio on your site can make you approachable. I’m not saying this approach will work for everyone, but you’re welcome to steal the idea if you like it.

What are the new trends in the tech industry that authors should know about?
Self publishing. It’s amazing how well some authors are doing on their own these days. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all that my publisher has done for me in the past, but I’m looking more and more at creating my own ebooks and videos.

Interactive books. Expect meteoric growth in the world of eBooks and eBook Apps. Creating books with interactive features, video, and other rich media is definitely the next big thing (or the new big thing already). If you have an iPad, check out the Inkling app and their growing book collection, get Al Gore’s book, and then explore some of the children’s titles. I especially loved the Dracula book by Padworx.

Additional advice for non-fiction book authors?
Find a niche, get known for that topic by posting on groups, tweeting about it, and getting your name out there any way you can to promote yourself and your expertise. Then do the hardest part of all: sit in the chair and start writing.

What do you know now that you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?
That writing a book is only part of the job. To be successful as an author, you have to spend at least as much time marketing and promoting your book(s) as you do writing them.