ROI in storytelling

ROI is generally defined as ‘Return on Investment’ and almost always concerns ideas of business and finance. Let me put a slant on this for you - have you ever wondered about how much ‘return’ you would get if you invested in acquiring knowledge from storytelling? Imagine having a wealth of stories to give examples when you are tying to explain something complicated? Imagine reading about the past and in the process get inspired to find new ideas? Stories from all over the world are full of intrigue, suspense, espionage and pure entertainment.

Let me introduce to you 7 stories from two ancient epics that portray love, rules of war, polygamy and polyandry, ‘upstairs, downstairs’, good parenting, gambling and all its ill effects and the real return on investment.

Story Number 1 – Love

In the Indian epic, The Ramayana, Prince Rama is sent into exile for 13 years. His devoted wife, Sita joins him there. However, bad luck befalls them and Sita is abducted by the King of Lanka, Ravana. Now, Prince Rama goes in hot pursuit of his wife and enlists the help of the monkey race. Together, they defeat Ravana, and Sita is rescued.

Story Number 2 – Rules of War

Today, there is much talk of war – war in Iraq, civil way in many African nations and even small factions in Russia, terrorist attacks in many parts of Asia. Ever wondered what the rules of war are?

In the Indian epic, The Mahabharat, there was a great war fought at Kurukshetra. Prior to battle commencing, the rules of warfare were laid out as follows:

• Each day the battle was over at sunset, and the hostiles mixed freely like friends.
• Single combats might only be between equals and one could not use methods not in accordance with dharma (concept of duty). Thus those who left the field or retired would not be attacked.
• A horseman could attack only a horseman, not one on foot.
• Likewise, charioteers, elephant troops and infantrymen could engage themselves in battle only with their opposite numbers in the enemy ranks.
• Those who sought quarter or surrendered were safe from slaughter.
• Nor might one, for the moment disengaged, direct his weapons against another who was engaged in combat.
• It was wrong to slay one who had been disarmed or whose attention was directed elsewhere or who was retreating or who had lost his armour.
• No shafts were to be directed against non-combatant attendants or those engaged in blowing conchs or beating drums.

Story 3 – Polygamy and polyandry Polygamy is the practice of having more than one wife. Polyandry is the practice of having more than one husband. Now in The Mahabharat, the two main female characters were both Queens – the first was Queen Kunti and the second was here daughter-in-law. Kunti was one of the two wives of King Pandu. Nothing very surprising about this. But her daughter-in-law, Draupadi, was the wife of all of Kunti’s five sons!

Story Number 4 – Upstairs, Downstairs The caste system has its origins with the Aryan people. They were nomadic warriors how began to settle in India on or about 1500BC.

The Aryans divided their society into separate castes. Castes were unchanging groups. A person born into one caste never changed castes or mixed with members of other castes. Caste members lived, ate, married, and worked with their own group.

At the top of the caste system were the Brahmin - the priests, teachers, and judges. Next came the warrior Kshatriya caste who were mainly the nobility and ruling classes. The Vaisya’s consisted of farmers and merchants and the Sudras, was composed of craftworkers and labourers.

Is this so very different from the difference aristocracy and the working class? What about the upper middle class and the lower classes?

Story Number 5 – Good Parenting In the Mahabharat, the great war is between two factions a ruling family. The father of the ‘baddie’ is a blind King. Throughout the epic, the blind King is constantly counseled by his advisors that he should discipline his son. Unable to do so, the blind King gives in to every wish of his child. This weakness on his part eventually leads to the destruction of his entire family!

Story Number 6 – Gambling and its ill effects In the Mahabharat, Yudhisthira, is bound by the code of Kings to play a game of dice when invited to do so. Unfortunately, not at all adept at it, he loses. But what he stakes over and over again are not only his personal possessions but eventually members of his family including his wife, brothers and eventually his kingdom! He loses it all.

Story Number 7 – Real Return on Investment! The apostle Paul in Galatians says: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows" (Galatians 6,7). This is very simply, a reward for anything at all can only be reaped if effort is put in. In Indian mythology, this is, in very general and simple terms, the concept of karma!

Aneeta Sundararaj is a published author and established writer for magazines, newspapers and journals. She created, developed and manages this website.

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iPause - Take a Break Before You Break Down by Aneeta Sundararaj and Rohi Shetty

You are in trouble. Your back is aching; so are your shoulders and wrists. Your mouth is filled with painful ulcers. You feel mentally drained and emotionally numb and you can't remember the last time you didn't feel stressed. But you can't take a vacation just yet because you are working on a tight deadline. You wonder whether you will burn out before finishing your book project.

Does this scenario seem familiar? It’s time to take a break.

Here are five suggestions to minimise the chances of a physical or mental breakdown caused by prolonged working hours:

1. Work in 30-minute slots

Think about it – when you were at school, each lesson lasted no more than 40 minutes: 5 minutes to settle down, 30 minutes for the actual lesson, and the last 5 minutes on winding up. Later, college lectures lasted longer but never for more than an hour at a time. Any longer and you hit the downward spiral of diminishing returns.

Therefore, work for 30-minutes and then take a break. One way to remind yourself to take a break is to set a timer or alarm every 30 minutes. You can choose to record your progress every 30 minutes, which is an effective way to boost your productivity. While taking a break, you can even opt for the best scented candles because it promotes relaxation.

2. Take a real break

According to the new PGi infographic, Screen Fiends, the average American spends over 12 hours every day in front of a screen—laptop, desktop, TV, tablet or smartphone.

The 30-minute-break we talk about above must be a real break. Don't spend this time checking your email. Give yourself the gift of "screen freedom." This means give your eyes a complete rest. For additional bonus points, do stretching exercises or take a micro-nap. You can also check out the top flower brands because studies have shown how hemp flowers are extremely beneficial to one's health.

3. Exercise daily

The novelist Haruki Murakami has run a marathon a year for over 20 years. In an interview, he says, "I try not to think about anything special while running. As a matter of fact, I usually run with my mind empty. However, when I run empty-minded, something naturally and abruptly crawls in sometime. That might become an idea that can help me with my writing."

Some form of physical exercise is absolutely essential for writers, since they spend hours at their desks. Exercise not only helps them to keep physically fit, but it's also a great way to bust stress. Several recent studies have found that even mild exercise such as taking a ten-minute walk substantially boosts creativity. That's probably why Nietzsche said, "Only thoughts reached by walking have value.”

4. Write standing

Ernest Hemingway wrote standing by placing his typewriter on a chest-high shelf. Other writers who did the same include Thomas Wolfe, Virginia Woolf, Lewis Carroll, and Fernando Pessoa. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. wrote his legal opinions while standing at a lectern and remarked “Nothing conduces to brevity like a caving in of the knees.”

If you choose to stand while writing, at least part of the time, it will help you to correct postural imbalance caused by prolonged sitting. In fact, a school in Britain is conducting a study where children are required to stand while taking their lessons. The aim of the study is to assess the impact on concentration of sitting for long periods of time - and what effects it can have on children’s health.

5. Gift yourself a holiday every week

According to the Bible, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.... By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work." Then He created Chuck Norris. :)

Jokes aside, you need to take a weekly holiday and recharge your batteries if you want to avoid burnout.

What is your favourite way to overcome stress and fatigue? Let us know in the comments below.

Aneeta Sundararaj is a published author and established writer for magazines, newspapers and journals. She undergoes a 'technology detox' on a regular basis as part of her rejuvenation exercises.

Rohi Shetty is a freelance writer who riffs about the importance of humor, mindful mojo, and creative entrepreneurship at http://rohishetty.com. He is also a star student of Danny Iny’s Audience Business Masterclass. And he has now taken to working while standing up.

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The ‘Delete’ Button and a Writer

Writer 1: I received an email from X. She said she’d read this blog post of a man who thinks one of my books is horrible.

Writer 2: Oh. What were his exact words?

Writer 1: I don’t remember the exact words. Don’t make me go back and read them. Please, I beg you.

Writer 2: But who is he? Writer 1: Actually, I don’t know anything about him.

***

For anyone who has been in the writing world long enough, they might have been Writer 1, Writer 2, counselled several Would-Be-Writers-1, or even been advised about how to avoid such situations altogether. Many times, the advice given and received can be distilled into one simple sentence: press the ‘Delete’ button. Here are five different scenarios of what can happen in such situations.

Scenario 1

Writer 1 goes into a tail-spin of misery because the Blogger’s words are hurtful, malicious and painful to read. He withdraws from the world to lick his wounds. Five years later, he emerges from his self-imposed exile from the publishing world and realises that, in truth, many others had disagreed with what the blogger wrote, but didn’t have the courage (or couldn’t be bothered) to let him know. Writer 1 regrets the years spent being depressed and wished he’d pressed the ‘Delete’ button when he first received the email.

Scenario 2

Writer 2, seeing her friend in such misery, decides to investigate the matter further. She makes discreet enquiries and finds out that the Blogger has been doing this to many other writers. All the other writers have ceased to have any contact with the Blogger and she advises Writer 1 to mentally press ‘Delete’ and forget this Blogger ever existed.

Scenario 3

A Commissioning Editor at a publishing house happens to read the blog and becomes amused at how ridiculous the Blogger sounds. As a person who knows neither Writer 1 nor the Blogger, the Editor is completely objective in her opinion and decides that the Blogger is ‘crazy’. Then, as the universe often conspires to have some fun at the expense of us mere mortals, the Editor receives a submission from the said Blogger for a novel he’s written and wants the publisher to look at. The Editor is not going to risk taking on such a ‘crazy’ person and presses the ‘Delete’ button.

Scenario 4

When the email first arrives, all Writer 1’s friends rally around him. They meet up for coffee and have a good gossip. Five years down the road, Writer 1 is invited to an international writing festival. The other writer friends are furious and envious in equal measure. They insist that Writer 1 refuse the invitation. Writer 1 ignores them and goes to the festival anyway. A year later, he publishes a new book, but when he sends out the announcement about it, all this friends press the ‘Delete’ button as they feel he betrayed them.

Scenario 5

Two years after the conversation above, Writer 1 and 2 are no longer in contact as one has moved away to a different country. Writer 1 reads about Writer 2’s success and is genuinely happy for his friend. The problem is that Writer 1 also notices that Writer 2 is now in contact with the Blogger. Writer 1 is left wondering how to deal with this situation. When Writer 1 does receive an email from Writer 2, panicked, he presses the ‘Delete’ button. He worries that Writer 2 may have told the Blogger all his secrets and Writer 1 chooses to withdraw into the safety of his cocoon. ‘After all,’ he reasons with himself, ‘a writer’s life is a lonely one.’

Other than the ‘Delete’ button, the common denominator in all these scenarios is the element of risk that a writer takes. John Coates, in an article called, ‘Risk Factor: How biology can explain what drives banks to the brink of disaster’, writes about what happens when traders take on too much risk. Although his article is completely unrelated to the writing world, he analyses that element of risk-taking and the biology behind it. If one were to paraphrase what Coates writes and put a publishing slant to it, a new premise that may emerge is this:

When writers are put into a stressful situation, their response can go into overdrive. They are in crisis mode and feel completely uncertain. They feel anxious and remember disturbing memories. They certainly feel hopeless and the need to ‘run away from it all’ becomes paramount. To others, this may seem like an irrational response, but their judgment is completely impaired.

If you look at all the scenarios mentioned above, you’ll recognise who gave a considered response and who was irrational. Coates solution is to ask banks to get their risk managers to learn to manage traders’ exuberance, fatigue and stress. In an ideal world, the writer should have someone they can turn to, someone they can trust completely to help them in such situations. Unfortunately, many writers don’t have such a luxury. Perhaps, that is the lesson for all writers: to find a suitable risk manager. In this way, when a possible crisis arises, if and when the ‘Delete’ button is pressed, it will the right thing to do.

Aneeta Sundararaj created, developed and managed her website, howtotellagreatstory.com on her own. You can learn from her strategies (and mistakes) by downloading her FREE eBook, Website Makeover. Visit howtotellagreatstory.com to know more.

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Making the Most of Your Website

[This article is an excerpt from Website Makeover]

You’ve done the research, found a niche market and created a product that your customers would like to buy. However, sales remain sluggish. You wonder if setting up a website will solve your problems. The options listed below give you an idea of how to make the most of your website. To make more sense of the options, assume that you’ve written and published a cookbook that specialises in Thai cuisine. You currently have 500 copies of this cookbook which you’d like to sell as fast as possible.

Option 1: Selling your own product
On your website, you show your customers the benefits of buying your cookbook. You also display your email address and have a ‘Buy This Book’ button that allows your customers to pay for your cookbook online. Selling the cookbook in this manner allows you to have total control over each sale. As your cookbook is self-published, you will know how much money you spent to publish it. Therefore, you can fix a retail price that is higher than your cost price, but lower than what your competitors charge for similar books. In addition, you will sell directly to your customers and ‘cut out the middle man’. For example, a similar cookbook might sell for $20.00 elsewhere. The cost price of your cookbook is $8.00. Even if you fix a retail price of $14.00, you will make a profit of $6.00 on each sale.

Option 2: Drop-ship products
Drop-shippers keep clients’ stock in warehouses. Upon receipt of notification from the clients that a sale has been made, the drop-shipper will pack the order and send it to the clients’ customers. With your cookbook, you will begin by arranging for a drop-shipper to store all 500 copies of your cookbook. A customer visits your website and pays $14.00 for your cookbook and $7.00 for postage and packaging. When you receive the order, you send an email to the drop-shipper with your customer’s name together with postage and packaging information. The drop-shipper packs the cookbook, puts your label on the package and sends it to the customer.

The drop-shipper will bill you for the wholesale price of your cookbook – assume that the wholesale price is $9.00 for the cookbook. The drop-shipper will add the $7.00 fee for postage and packaging. However, as you have passed the postage and packaging fee to the customer, you have just netted a profit of $5.00 (the retail price minus the wholesale price of your cookbook). While it may seem lesser than what you might earn if you sell the cookbook directly to your customer, remember that you did not use any of your resources to store the stock. The only effort you made to fulfil your customer’s order was to send an email to your drop-shipper.

Option 3: Selling your services
Unlike selling a physical product, your chances of success when selling your services depends on how much time you have to provide your services. Keeping your cookbook in mind, you can offer your services in two distinct ways:

• Providing your services online: this usually involves things like desktop publishing, consultations and advertising. For example, you can create a ‘Member’s Only’ section where your customers pay a nominal fee to receive a newsletter regularly. In this newsletter, you might choose one recipe from your cookbook, say, ‘Green Curry Chicken from Phuket’. Don’t regurgitate what is in the cookbook. Instead, provide historical and cultural information about Phuket. You could also name a few restaurants that serve this dish and offer the restaurants mentioned advertising options on your website. The valuable content of your newsletters will make the readers of your newsletter feel that they are getting something more than others who have merely bought your cookbook.

• Advertising your service online but delivering it offline: this involves expanding on what is already available in the physical product. For instance, one of your recipes is called ‘Chicken in Pandan Leaf’. Your customers may benefit from attending a class where they are taught how to wrap the marinated pieces of chicken in ‘Pandan’ leaf.

Option 4: The most profitable thing you can sell onlineGenerally, to make a reasonable living selling physical products, you must have large orders to fulfil because storage and shipping costs will eat into your profits. Today, one of the most profitable things to sell online is something that can be delivered electronically. For example, if you can find a way to convert your cookbook into an eBook, you will have a finished product that is ready to be sold online. As the eBook is delivered electronically the moment a sale is made, you won’t have to pay for storage, packaging or shipping.

Now that you know what your options are, go ahead and optimise the potential of your website.

Aneeta Sundararaj created, developed and managed her website, howtotellagreatstory.com on her own. You can learn from her strategies (and mistakes) by downloading her FREE eBook, Website Makeover. Visit howtotellagreatstory.com to know more.

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What Makes a Good Story?

Successful storytellers have a variety of opinions about what makes a good story. Keep in mind that not everyone will love, or even like, our story. Not everyone will love, or even like, us as storytellers. I will attempt, however, to discuss what I feel creates a good story that is strong and that most listeners do enjoy and remember — the true test.

A good story is one that touches people in some way. As storytellers, our mission is to involve the audience, make them interact with us and the story, even if it is just in their thoughts or core. A really good story has a sense of truth and resonates with some basic universal aspects of being human. It doesn’t have to be profound, but a good story should move the listener, make him/her laugh, think, and ponder it afterward.

A good story has to have substance. Storytellers often talk about the “bones” of a story. This is the basic outline or its skeleton. If the skeletal structure is strong and it fits snugly, chances are you have a good story. Sometimes the story has lots of pieces, but no deep truth running through it — no backbone or substance. Even young listeners want to hear a story with direction and purpose. (We, as storytellers, should never talk down to our listeners, no matter how old or young they are.)

A good story needs conflict and resolution. Stories are made up of people, places, and happenings. Strong stories usually have a well-defined main character — a he, a she, an animal, a machine, or whatever — that encounters some kind of trouble (conflict). There is something blocking our protagonist, whether it is nature, another person, or even the main character him or herself. The action taken signifies personal growth and change — possibly an “ah ha!” — and finally, some sort of redemption. It is the believable action moving the story from beginning to middle to end that keeps the audience entranced. They want to know what’s going to happen.

A good story creates vivid images. Through our knowing, as the storyteller, what vivid images the story creates for us, we will create images for our listeners. They may not see the same images we see and imagine, and that is the exciting part of storytelling. We want them to imagine their own images that relate to them and their experiences as the story unfolds. This is the part that makes interaction so important. If our stories help the listener to think of his/her own stories, we have succeeded in igniting a storytelling spark.

A good story is not “wimpy.” In the excellent book The Storyteller’s Guide by Bill Mooney and David Holt (one of our book picks), many well known storytellers give their views on what makes a “wimpy story.” Michael Parent says, “The difference between a good story and a wimpy story for me is the wimpy story gives too easy a solution.” Laura Simms says, “A wimpy story is one that points toward something very obvious, that doesn’t have resonance inside, that doesn’t provide an experience.” Jon Spelman says, “To me, the strongest mark of a good story well-told is its sincerity. I think there is something about a wimpy story that is insincere; it’s unauthentic. It’s not true to the person who is telling it.” Kathryn Windham adds, “When you find interesting people, you are going to find interesting stories. I think, if you open your senses and maybe even your heart to people, you will find an unending source of un-wimpy stories, good strong stories.”

A good story is the story that is perfect for your audience. I already touched on this briefly, and we will have many more articles in the future about listeners. One of our most important tasks as a storyteller is to prepare properly for our audience, but then read them as we tell. We must keep in tune with the listeners and change direction if we aren’t connecting. Storyteller Ed Stivender is a master of this when he asks for audience members to call out a name of a character, a name of a time and place, and a popular story. On the spot he pulls them all together and creates an improvisational story that the audience definitely feels is the “perfect” story for them.

A good story is a story that you love and love to tell. Never, never, never, tell a story you don’t like, even if a client has requested it. As a storyteller, we are never on the outside looking in as we tell the story. We are a part of the story. We have internalized that story and we truly care about it. We can’t do that, if we don’t like the story.

Keep on telling your good stories, and they will become better and stronger with each telling! No wimpy stories for us!

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What Makes Storytelling Artistic

There are some ideas about storytelling that have concerned me for quite some time. Those ideas are “…the power of storytelling lies with the story itself, and not the storyteller, dramatics, or any of the trappings of theater” and “A good story is a work of art all by itself.”

Yes, “A good story is a work of art all by itself.” and I contend that work of art is writing, not storytelling. When the story can stand alone and loses absolutely nothing by standing alone, that is writing not storytelling. So what makes storytelling artistic?

Storytelling demands the intersection of story, teller, and audience Yes, the story must be a good story worthy of the time given to it by teller and listener, but what distinguishes storytelling from the writer and reader relationship?

For storytelling to be artistic something must be happening that would be lost without the presence of all three – story, teller, and listener. I believe the words should not be able to stand alone (as they do with the writer/reader relationship). The teller should be conveying something through body and/or voice and/or gesture and/or timing and/or facial expression that is not conveyed if one only had the words. Note, this does not require screeches and flinging oneself all over the stage “a gaudy framework” but it does require more than simply speaking the words. I think the story for telling should be constructed with sensitivity to the mode of delivery which, with storytelling, is more than the words alone, so there’s more to storytelling than “a good story.”

In storytelling the presence of the listener should impact the telling. Unlike reading, where the reader can slow down or even turn back and re-read a passage for increased clarity or begin skimming if a section seems to warrant a faster pace, the story listeners receive the story at a pace set by the teller. A good teller watches the listeners and makes changes during the telling to match how the specific group of listeners present see to need/want the story to come to them.

Unlike reading, where no matter how many times a reader returns to a story, the delivery will always be the same (the same words and same punctuation), storytelling is dynamic, not frozen. Each telling of a story should be a new event because the listeners are not exactly the same, the environment is not exactly the same, how the teller feels that day is not the same, the teller’s voice and body will not be exactly as they were in the previous telling of the story.

This relationship between teller, story, and listener is the heart of our art. Storytelling suffers when any one of the three is seen as over-riding the others. All three must be given importance in the act of storytelling. An excellent delivery cannot make up for a poor story. An excellent story cannot make up for a poor delivery. The presence of the listeners allows the story to be told in the first place; excellent story and excellent telling cannot make up for the absence of listeners (I’m not talking about size of audience; I’m referring to the presence of a listener.).

In fact, I think there is no way to duplicate what happens when story, teller and listener come together. Moreover, I believe we practice an ephemeral art. It’s here; then it’s over, and it’s gone. I’m not saying the telling of stories has no lasting impact; I’m just saying the art as a whole (story, teller, and listener together) cannot be duplicated. This has been the source of both great joy and great sadness for me over the years.

Recently, I was telling an Appalachian version of The Three Pigs. After the first pig was visited by the fox and died, when the later pigs heard a knock at the door and said, “Who is it?” the audience replied “Fox.” So I did not say “Fox” nor did I say, “And Fox replied, ‘It’s me, Fox.'” Instead I had pig respond by telling Fox to go away. If I were to record the story, I would not leave a blank space, assuming the listeners would call out “Fox” when the pig asks “Who is it?” nor did I specifically plan to tell the story that way. But when the audience calls out, as they did, I am going to go with the telling of the tale as it is spinning out(and the audience has indeed made an impact on how the story is told).

I contend the relationship of audience and teller to one another and to the story is at the heart of our art form. And I don’t mind one bit if others want to disagree with me. This has been a soap box I’ve been thinking about for quite some time now, and stayed silent about. However,now I’m talking, and I don’t mind the disagreement.

P.S. I do see the creation of recordings by storytellers as a different art form than storytelling. The story does become frozen and the listener is absent (even in a live recording, the listener listening to the recording is still absent and cannot impact the telling), so it becomes a different art. And no, I do not have a name for this other art form. And yes, I’ll still let folks know when I have the stories I tell available on recordings and will sell those recordings with no disclaimers stating “this isn’t really storytelling, but something else I have no name for” even though I quite firmly believe that is what my recordings are.

Mary Hamilton, from Frankfort, Kentucky, tells stories in her straight-forward “just talking” style, serving up an eclectic repertoire of Kentucky tales, world folktales, true stories, myths, tall tales, and original fiction. All ages listen, imagine, and create worlds. You may learn more about her by visiting http://www.maryhamilton.info or reach her at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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What’s in a Name? Giving Birth to Your Characters

So you’ve got your plot outlined, a title lined up and the research is done. You’re ready to start writing your novel. But wait. Now comes the fun part: creating names for your characters. One of the best things about being a writer—besides the innate ability to create imaginary worlds—is giving birth to a character and then bestowing a name upon him or her. True, you didn’t carry the character in your womb for nine months (especially if you’re male). But he or she could’ve been in your head for nine months…or nine years. So choosing a name for your characters seems almost as important as the one you would give your own child.

The name you decide on will dictate the reader’s perception of that character, so select wisely. If your character is an agoraphobic scientist, he or she should not be named Brittany or Rick. Does this bunch of hoo-hah sound familiar to you? Raise your hand now, don’t be shy. I thought so. Now let me remove the rose-colored sunglasses so you all can see the harsh light of reality. The reality being that having a common name conjures up a stereotypical image. What picture forms in your head when you hear the name Tiffany? Pretty, popular, blonde-haired cheerleader? What about the name Melvin? Skinny guy with glasses and a pocket protector? Now what comes to mind when you hear something unique like Lyric? Or Dax?

We as writers have been blessed with a wonderful gift. We are a rare species unto ourselves in such a way that we can build alternate realities for the public to enter. We are storytellers that pull ideas out of our bu-that is-minds, invent our own language even, and the only names we can come up with for our characters are Johns, Susans, Kathleens, and Sams? Unacceptable. These are perfectly good names, don’t get me wrong, but they’re safe names. I used to be in an online critique group and someone said that if your main character has an unusual name, the secondary characters should have more common names; that way, it won’t be so confusing to the reader. My initial response wasn’t printable, but I can tell you that it sort of went a little like this: “Who died and made you Ruler of the Writing World? Heaven forbid we throw our readers a curve ball every once in a while.”

It’s called variety, folks. In the Dictionary, this word is defined as “the quality or condition of being various or varied; diversity.” If you don’t step outside your comfort zone and offer your readers some different flavors, you’re not going to sell any books. I decided from the get-go that all the characters in my books were going to have unique names. I wanted to stand out from the pack and dance my own little jig. So here are some suggestions on finding primo names for your characters:

1) Books, Magazines, and Newspapers – These are wonderful sources. In magazines and newspapers, a story, a self-help column or even a product ad could house a name that would be worth writing down. People use baby books to choose names for their children, so why not do the same for your characters? These books can be very in-depth, stating the meaning of the name as well as its origin. I’ve used The Writer’s Digest Character Naming Sourcebook (1994, Sherrilyn Kenyon with Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet). It features more than 20,000 first and last names and their meanings from around the world: Norse, Slavic, Teutonic, Arthurian Legend Names, and more.

I’ve also discovered the hidden cache of names in other people’s books. I’m severely addicted to the adult romance books that come out every month: Harlequin Blaze and Temptation, and Silhouette Desire. And my favorite authors are Janelle Denison, Kristine Grayson, Carly Phillips, and Julie Kenner. Every once in a while, I’ll find a name in their books that I can add to my continually growing list. Science fiction, time travel and fantasy books are good for names as well.

2) Walk of Fame – Hollywood actors and actresses may have been born with common names like Julia and Brad, but that doesn’t mean their offspring have to suffer the same fate. Will and Jada Smith’s children: Willow and Jaden; Demi Moore’s girls: Scout LaRue, Rumer Glen and Tallulah Belle; Gwenyth Paltrow’s daughter: Apple Blythe; John Travolta and Kelly Preston’s son: Jett; Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke’s son: Ronin. Singer Brandi’s daughter: Sy’rai; Thomas Jane (The Punisher) and Rosanna Arquette’s daughter: Harlow. 

Even some famous faces were lucky enough to have been born with one-of-a-kind names: Keanu Reeves, Jude Law, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Macaulay Culkin, Kiefer Sutherland, Oprah Winfrey.

3) Movies and Television Shows – This avenue isn’t as unorthodox as you might think. I guarantee someone out there could come forward and claim, “I was named after some character on a soap opera.” Ridge and Thorne Forrester, The Bold and The Beautiful; Topanga Morris, Boy Meets World; Teal’c, Stargate SG-1; Leelou, The Fifth Element (my favorite movie of all time); Blade, Ellora Danan, Teela, He-Man cartoons. Need I say more?

4) Daily Life – For almost two years, I worked the night shift, keying medical claims. Due to that job, I now have a nice long two-paged list of boys and girls names. You would not believe how many wonderfully unusual names I came across every time I flipped a page: Princess, Precious, Treasure, Oreo, Malachi, Ashanti, Treyvon, Diabolique (for real!), Natividad…the list goes on and on. Just think. You could be sitting at your desk, standing in line at the grocery store/coffee shop/fast food joint, listening to a song on the radio, eavesdropping on a conversation, or talking to your neighbor and the next thing you know, you’re bombarded with names for your characters. Being a writer, one can only hope that you’re aware of your surroundings at all times and can see a potential story in everything that goes on around you.

5) Character Naming Contest/Vote – I did this for my third book, which will be Book One in a teen series I’m creating. I had about four different combinations of a name I was trying to come up with for my main character. I sent an email out to my co-workers, close friends and family, asking them to vote on the name they liked best. The name that got the most votes became the name for my character. In return, I’ll be including a special thank-you on the Dedication Page of the book. Although there are too many names to print, if they buy the book, they’ll know they had a hand in choosing the name of the character. If you go the contest route, offer the winner a free copy of the book, a special gift, etc. If anything, you’ll get plenty of names for future books

I attended a book festival in Prescott, AZ in Sept 2004. A mother and daughter came up to my table, read the back covers of both books, then walked away. A half hour later, they came back and purchased my first book (Secrets and Kisses) because the female character’s name was Skylar. For whatever reason, the name meant something to that young girl. It could’ve been her name, the name of her friend, a relative…who knows? The point is, your readers are going to appreciate an “anomalous, exceptional, extraordinary, far out, incomparable, inimitable, special, standout, strange, uncommon” name. Now, you are ready to begin writing your novel. Your character has been born, breathing passages cleared (nice set of lungs there), weighed, measured…and awaiting a name. Get creative, step outside the box and remember… a rose by any other name should be something besides Tom, Dick, Harry and Jane.

Copyright © 2004 Celise Downs. Reprinted with permission. Celise is a Young Adult fiction author and owner of Gemini Mojo Press. She currently has two books out and is working on a teen series. Check out her “Young Adult Fiction with a Twist” at www.GeminiMojoPress.com

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What Is Your Point?

What is your point? What do you do if you don’t know? Why does it matter?

It is important for every writer to know their point because the writer is in charge of the reader’s experience. If the writer doesn’t know the point then the reader surely won’t.

That means at best, a writer without a point will soon be a writer without a reader. At worst, a writer without a point can end up with a confused and perhaps even angry reader.

Making the point of your article or essay clear and apparent is how you capture the interest of your reader and it is how you keep the interest of your reader.

However knowing your point and making it clear and apparent are sometimes easier said than done. So what is a writer to do?

Finding your point is as easy as 1-2-3.

First, identify your topic. Simply make a note of the subject you plan to address. Narrow it down to one word or simple phrase. For example, you plan to write an article about potty training. That makes potty training your phrase.

Second, ask yourself a pertinent question about that topic. For example, how can you make potty training easy? Now turn that question into a statement, such as “You can make potty training easy… ” This is your point. But you aren’t done yet.

Third, you will need to expand and support your point so you must come up with three supporting points. Remember, not only do you have to make your point, but you also need to make it clear and apparent. That is why support is important. So think of three points you can make to support your point. For example, keeping the pressure low, making it fun, and giving it time. Finally, you join your statement with the three points and use a preposition to join the two together. In this case probably “by” would work best and often “because” is a good choice. Some other prepositions include about, during, through, under, and with.

Now you have a good introductory paragraph:

You can make potty training easy by keeping the pressure low, making it fun, and giving it time.

Not only do you have a point that you will be able to make clear and apparent to the reader, but you also have a road map for your article or essay. Simply expand on your introduction and expand on each supporting point in turn and you will have a clear point, good organization, and solid support.

Taking a few minutes to plan out your point in this manner can be well worth spending the time as it will make your writing easier. It will also make the reading easier as well. And that is the point of this article.

Deanna Mascle has been writing professionally and teaching writing for more than two decades. She publishes a newsletter for writers whether they write for fun or profit. Learn more at http://WordCraftOnline.com

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What Is The Easter In Your Business?

Easter day is coming, Sunday March 27, and Christians worldwide are warming up to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, a great sacrifice for humanity. 

What about you and your business? Is there anything the market can celebrate about any great sacrifice you have made for yours employees, customers, partners, colleagues, friends, regulators and other stakeholders? Or are you there in business waiting for others to make sacrifices, and then you storm as an opportunist and reap from the pains of others?

Many of us are like that. We all want to live, and maybe die for ourselves. Nobody or business wants to die for others. If everybody had an Easter, and died in any way just like Jesus physically died for humanity, then the world of business would be a better place for us all. And so I ask you the question, What is the Easter in your business?

So what is there in biblical Easter that made the federal government declare public holiday? A period of Christian festivity. Well, yes. The high point of the Christian calendar, still yes. To respect Christian sensibilities, just as the government does for Muslims, still in order. To give workers and professionals time to cool off, rest and reflect on the message and meaning of Easter. Oh yes These are all valid reasons why government declares public holidays for Christians and Muslim festivities. And the highlights of these festivities are pilgrimages, fasting and prayers, almsgiving, religious services and entertainment. But the critical question for professionals that remains unanswered is this: Can I duplicate the message of the religious festivities of my faith, in my business, my job, my profession? What are the application and benefits of these messages for my clientele, customers, associates, partners, investors, regulators, employees, and the communities where I do business? For Christian professionals the critical question remains: what is the Easter of your business?

The message of Easter is clear. It means great sacrifice, betrayal, rejection humiliation, death, redemption and resurrection to new life. After this process comes ascension to greater heights. The death of Jesus guaranteed salvation, safety, abundance, confident living, joy and peace for mankind. Who made great sacrifice? Jesus Christ, son of man, a carpenter and itinerant preacher. In today’s business, Jesus would have been a professional speaker, who went about preaching His message branded as The Good News or The Gospel Message. He sold some divine products in His time. These were Love, Repentance, Salvation, The Renewed Life, God s kingdom, and how it can be replicated on earth.

Jesus converted His divine products into messages and took it to the market place moving from place to place, market to market, teaching and telling stories about His brands. He had no office or shelter, or home. He was the message and the medium and the master salesman. He not only preached, he taught his audience. To make his messages more understandable, he taught in parables, which is simply using the physical to explain the spiritual. As the workload increased, He selected 12 followers whom He transformed into disciples and deployed to the field to do His work.

What was the result? And great crowds followed Him. Why? He cared for them; He taught them, told them life transforming stories. He live and worked by example, a divine CEO who was out there in the marketplace and did what He preached. He showed the way to eternal life; redirected the focus of His audience to their promised land; did signs and wonders; He fed them and healed them. He spoke with authority, something they had never experienced before; told value stories about Himself, His Father, His Vision and what He came to do. He demonstrated what he preached, paid tax, applied discipline when necessary no hypocrisy, no faking. He led by serving, was humble and demonstrated leadership and teamwork through service.

Great crowds followed Jesus because they knew Him. He had vision and He repeatedly explained it; where He was coming from, where He was going, who sent Him; whose will He set out to do, and the price He was going to pay for mankind. Some believed Him, some did not. Jesus in three and a half years converted many hardliners and critics into His stakeholders. He knew his audience (customers), they knew him, and he described himself in terms of the value he adds to people s lives. He spoke with authority: I am the bread of life; I am the resurrection and the life, I am the light of this world.

And so dear professional, who are you? I am a medical doctor, Good attempt, but you have not said precisely what you can do for me. I can cure Aids That s more like it. If you spread that message, great numbers of patients will follow you. What is the Easter in your business?

If Jesus were to be in business today, His brands would have been market leaders, not necessarily because of His divine nature. His strategy was simple. His communication style was unique, simple, loaded with wisdom and people oriented. He told stories that are today branded as parables . Though great crowd followed Him, He still went ahead to pay a great price for them, which secured eternal benefits for His followers and many of us today. His message was simple: Have faith in God, care for others and love your neighbour. I will pay a big for you to empower you. That is the business strategy of Easter, if we can relate it to modern day business.

So do you have any examples of Easter in your business, your job? Is there any sacrifice you or your business has made or continues to make for the benefit of your employees, customers and other stakeholders? What is that sacrifice you make that guarantees benefits in the market place? What are the attendant benefits? Can they be quantified, seen or felt? That is what I mean by, what is the Easter in your business?

You don t have any. Then you are shortchanging the market and yourself too. Remember you have to die to live. It is a spiritual strategy that equally applies in business. As an employee, what sacrifices are you making for your employers, and other employees? Are you just there to work for pay?

When you or your business dies for others, you generate long lasting benefits. This is not physical death. It is professional or corporate sacrifice for the good of others.

But what do you see in business today? Professionals and corporate bodies hardly die for their customers, employees, investors. Instead they are killing them with fake and substandard products, fraud, unethical and sharp business practices. See the war NAFDAC, the state regulatory body for food and drugs is waging against fake products. The fake merchants and manufacturers are even fighting back with assassination attempts on the life of the NAFDAC boss and torching of the agency s corporate offices. These fraudulent merchants want to kill their customers with fake and substandard drugs and foods. If every customer dies, who will they sell to? What is the Easter in your business?

Check all the markets, some producers and marketers of goods and services are either killing or ripping off their customers, employees and other stakeholders. Yet they want to partake in the benefits of the great sacrifice of Easter. But it has never occurred to them to create benefits for the market. That is the tragedy of today s market place. Leaders in government, commerce and industry are either exploiting or killing their followers instead of serving and making sacrifices.
Anyone business that kills cannot grow. But anyone that makes great sacrifices will reap great rewards for his business.

That is the Easter in your business. If you already have it, keep it up, God will surely bless your job, your business. If you don’t have it, please do.

As you write your personal development plan, plug in the Easter strategy. Or if you are nursing it in your mind, think Easter. Be prepared to pay a big price for your personal success. Ask those at the top, they will tell you what they went through trials, setbacks, hardships, rejection, and humiliation. The message is simple! You must be prepared to carry your cross to achieve success.

Eric Okeke is a motivational speaker, business writer, copywriter, and corporate storyteller with more than 20 years experience. He is one of Nigeria s most experienced financial journalists. His strengths are creative writing, humor, publicity, and storytelling. His E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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