I'm a customer who got pulled in by one of their specials and have been back dozens of times. It's THAT good.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Do as You Purpose: People Are Different
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Aug 21I Purpose to:
- dress ~ DONE
- make the bed ~ DONE
- breakfast ~ DONE
- take meds ~ DONE
- feed the dogs ~ DONE
- make grocery list ~ DONE
- go to grocery ~ DONE
- wrote article ~ DONE
Progress:
The fair yesterday was great fun. We met DD1 and her new boyfriend, and spent time with DD2 and the boys. Afterwards we had dinner out with DD2 and family. As we were riding home from the restaurant, we were playing with our grandson in the backseat, and he was clearly tired. Finally, when he couldn’t keep his little peepers open anymore, he said, “Here, hold my sucker,” and stuck it to the side of DH’s face! Then he was OUT. Life just doesn’t get anymore precious. Then DH and I had another hour’s drive to get to our house. We came home absolutely exhausted, and DH and I slept for 11 hours! I woke up with my whole body hurting.
DH and I were out of coffee, so we had breakfast at the coffee shop, read the paper, made a grocery list and went grocery shopping. My body still hurts, and I am sooo tired.
I worked out 6 times this week, which is A LOT for me! I just feel like I need to heal for awhile now.
Thoughts:
People are different. I recently designed a book cover for a client, whom I consider a friend, a colleague, and a brother in Christ. The cover includes the shape of a state, with photos of immigrants filling, and occasionally spilling over, the outline. I made the photos into a collage, tilting and overlapping them. I was very pleased with my work, thinking how it showed fullness and burgeoning growth, the state virtually blooming with the diversity of its immigrant population.
When my client saw the cover, he loved it, AND he had one suggestion. “Can’t you straighten up all those pictures and keep them inside the borders? It looks messy this way.”
Is one way right, and the other wrong? Absolutely not! Whichever cover we use, some readers will like it, and others bill be “bothered” by it. They may not even know why, but something about it will just rub them the wrong way.
The point in all this is that people see things from different vantage points, and those visions shape everything we think and do: how we vote, what we teach our children, how we interact with each other, how we earn and spend money, how we structure our families.
As we move into the campaign season for the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election, we will hear much about differences and incompatibilities. We will likely see people behaving dishonorably. We will see people spewing vitriol from every pore and spending many millions of dollars to denigrate each other. We may even see rational, caring, patriotic human beings, with honest differences of opinion, putting forth platforms and making cases for what they think is best.
Another thing we will see is theological wrangling, with leaders and candidates believing they were called by God to run for the Presidency. Rick Perry, Michelle Bachman and Barak Obama all claim to be Christians, yet their approaches and world views range dramatically. “How is it even possible that such different people can?” many will ask, while others will declare one or all to be a fraudulent villain.
My hope and prayer is that the leaders and candidates of these United States will look for common ground to build upon. American people are highly polarized right now, and many are hungry on a number of levels. We need leaders who can fight the good fight, but we also need leaders who can exemplify unity and work for the common good of all Americans.
My client and I also consider ourselves to be both Christians and patriots. I believe, and I believe my client would agree, that the pathway to heaven is through the loving grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of Christian relationships. We also respect each other’s talents and business acumen, and that is how we are able to work together successfully. Yet we are very different people, and it’s likely that our votes will cancel each other out. That’s the American way.
How will we decide which book cover to use? We will go with the one likely to sell the most books. Who will decide the election? American voters. Who will decide who is saved, unsaved, called or acting in accordance with God’s will? In His great wisdom, God did not appoint me or any human being to pass judgment on those questions. He has that part covered.
And so, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only when I was with you but even more now that I am absent, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2:12
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Friday, August 19, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Will Ferrell Meets His Landlord
Untitled
Dad on cell phone trying to talk his daughter through her first period. Absolutely hysterical!
menstruation, cell phone conversation, men and menstruation, video, humor, frantic dad, tampons, sanitary pads, frantic dad
Untitled
Dad on cell phone trying to talk his daughter through her first period. Absolutely hysterical!
menstruation, cell phone conversation, men and menstruation, video, humor, frantic dad, tampons, sanitary pads, frantic dad
Will Ferrell Meets His Landlord
Untitled
I'm a big fan of Paula Deen, and this parody video is funny! Enjoy!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Tragedy at Indiana State Fair: Sugarland Stage Collapses, Killing 5
Tragedy at Indiana State Fair: Sugarland Stage Collapses, Killing 5
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Just Stop It!
Last one tonight. This one has been around awhile, but it's one of my favorites. Here's to anyone who has ever been in therapy--and to all you Bob Newhart fans out there! Stop It!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
How to Write a Book: Generating Writing Ideas « YOUNG WRITERS GROUP
Written by Deborah Owen
Saturday, 09 January 2010
Where do bestselling writers get ideas for their books? You can use the same methods they do to create your own successful book.How to Write a Book: Generating Writing Ideas
When you sit down to write, where do all the ideas go? Especially the ones you thought of only 15 minutes before. They went to Idea Land. Sometimes they will return, and sometimes they won’t, so you need to learn how to drum up more writing ideas.
One good way is to think of a dramatic scene:
Two ice skaters on a lake – one falls through the ice and drowns
Someone is kidnapped and they left a clue on purpose
The janitor at school wins a lottery ticket. What happens to him?
Someone hacks into a computer and steals the owner’s identity
A mother and child are separated in a shopping mallIdeas are all around you in real life. Read the newspapers. Listen to the news. Search old newspapers, rename the people, and lift out some of the information to make your own story. You could sit in a restaurant and eavesdrop on other people. Imagine all sorts of things according to what you hear. Or stand in a crowd and do nothing but listen. Life is full of weird things.
Look at any object – a house, semi-truck, car, dog, child, bridge, etc., and ask the six questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Example: Who is that person, when did they get to that place and why? Where is that truck going and what will happen along the way? What is the name of that bridge? Why does it carry that name?
All of these things can trigger ideas in your imagination. Some of your best ideas will come from real life. Don’t make the mistake of copying private circumstances into a story. That’s a good way to get sued, but you can take circumstances from three or four people and mix them up until they give you a story. (And then you can be sued by three or four people. Nah. Just kidding.) When you use circumstances in someone’s life, disguise them well and you will have no fears.
Here’s something I read on the net recently – look at a piece of furniture and imagine that one piece of furniture is in a house, hundreds of miles away. Now furnish the house however you like; fill it with occupants, landscape the yard, and focus a story on the house or the people.
You can come up with good ideas from writing prompts, too. For example: Three men are surviving in a life raft. Land is still three days away and even with rationing, there is only enough water for one man. What happens? When you think of the answer, ask yourself “What if?”. That will expand your mind to all the various possibilities.
And when you get the idea you want, run with it! Sit down to the keyboard and type and type and type. Do not edit until your ideas run out. If you can’t write at that moment, take brief notes so you don’t lose the thought.
About the author:
Deborah Owen, founder of http://www.creativewritinginstitute.com – the only fully mentored writing school. Have your own private tutor at bargain basement prices. To receive our newsletter or a free evaluation of your writing, write to deborahowen@cwinst.com
Novel Writing Ideas
Novel Writing Ideas: How to Get Them
by Glen C. Strathy
Every novel starts with an idea.
The best writing ideas come to you without effort and unannounced. They burst into your mind demanding to be written down in words and determined not to let go until you satisfy their need. They may live in the back of your head for years, impatiently nagging at you until you finally make the time to write them.
Such ideas are wonderful, because they are often the catalyst that finally begins your writing career.
Good writing ideas may be brief, but they will contain something that intrigues you. For instance, they may take the form of “somebody does something strange or discovers something unexpected.”
You, as the writer, are then left with a mystery to ponder. Who is this person? Why do they do that? Or … How did this unexpected thing come about? What are the consequences? The stranger the event is, the more you are compelled to come up with answers that make sense of it all. Your story will then be about both the event and the answers to the questions surrounding the event.
If you already have an idea for a novel gnawing away at you, one you feel must be written, congratulations! Feel free to return to the How to Write a Novel page and check out the next article. If you are short on writing ideas, don’t worry. Here are some easy techniques you can use to will generate a virtually unlimited supply of novel writing ideas...
Enlist Your Passion
Writing a novel takes a lot of time and effort. You’re going to live with the characters and the world you create for a long time. So don’t choose an idea you will get bored with or grow to resent after a while. Instead, look for writing ideas you can be passionate about – ones that are meaningful to you, that you will have fun working with, that you can feel proud to have written.One way to open your mind up to great novel writing ideas is to think about stories other people have written that you have felt most passionate about. Ask yourself which novels or films have given you the most enjoyment, changed your view of the world, or impacted you most profoundly? Make a list of these favourite all-time stories.
Then look over your list and ask yourself what these stories have in common.
For example …
Genre. Do you prefer literary fiction or genre fiction? Romances, mysteries, or science fiction? Historical novels, fantasy, or some combination? Keep in mind that most genres have loose definitions and tend to overlap with other genres, as in historical mystery, science fiction adventure, paranormal romance, etc. Stories that are typically lumped in the same genre can also be quite different. Star Wars and 1984 are very different types of stories, even though they can both be categorized as science fiction. A whodunit or a quest can be set in ancient Egypt or on the planet Mars. So pay attention to what your favourite stories have in common, even if they appear to be different genres.
Character. What type of people do you like to read stories about? What kind of characters do you have the most sympathy for or empathy with? Do you like stories about underdogs and misfits, or the rich and famous? World leaders or gang leaders? Men of action and valor? Women caught in difficult situations? Whose stories do you think need to be told?
Problems. Notice if your favourite protagonists face similar kinds of problems. What kinds of personal difficulties or external threats do they struggle with? Do they have similar goals (e.g. revenge, rescue, love, freedom, understanding, acceptance, wealth, discovering the truth, reevaluating their past, healing a relationship, winning a war, coping with change, attaining wisdom, fulfilling a dream, coming of age, finding meaning, protecting the weak and innocent, rediscovering their zest for life, to name just a few).
Themes. What values do your favourite stories concern themselves with? What lessons do the characters in them learn or fail to learn?
Be willing to spend some time on this process – not just one afternoon. As you consider your favourite stories, write out your thoughts and observations in as much detail as you can. Then reflect on and add to your observations over the next few days.
Chances are you will learn something about yourself as you do this exercise. The stories that touch us the most tend to be about characters who share our concerns, problems, values, and goals.
While you reflect on your favourite stories, you may even discover (to your surprise or horror) that the things that matter most to you are not what you thought they were. If so, congratulate yourself on your new insight. The more honest you can be with yourself, the better writer you will be.
The other thing that may happen over several days of pondering your favourite stories is that one of those great writing ideas I mentioned above may pop into your mind. If so, fantastic! Write it down.
If not, that’s okay too. At least you will have a clearer idea of the type of novel you want to write. There’s more than one way to prime a pump or persuade your muse to generate a stream of novel writing ideas. So try this next approach…
Fun with Plot Summaries
Here is one of the simplest ways to come up with writing ideas you can turn into novels.
Step #1. Get a bunch of plot summaries for existing stories.
You can find these on book jackets, TV listings, or movie guides. For example, the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) can be a great resource for generating writing ideas. It provides a brief plot summary for almost every movie ever made. The site has a list of the top 250 films (according to user votes), and the bottom 100, and also lets you browse alphabetically through all the films that have plot summaries.
Choose summaries that are brief, perhaps one or two sentences at most.
Step #2: Create original writing ideas by changing one thing at a time.
Choose one plot summary.
For the purpose of illustration, I’ll pick one plot summary from IMDb’s top 250 list. I choose The Third Man, because I have never seen the film, so I have no preconceived ideas about it. (This actually makes it easier.) There are several plot summaries for this film, written by different people. I want the shortest one for this exercise -- just the bare bones of the story idea. Here it is …
“An American pulp writer arrives in post-WWII Vienna only to find that the friend who waited for him is killed under mysterious circumstances. The ensuing mystery entangles him in his friend's involvement in the black market, with the multinational police, and with his Czech girlfriend.”
Now chose one thing to change about your chosen plot summary. It can be anything at all.
For instance, here are some possible changes I could make …
1) “An American pulp writer…” What if the protagonist was a diplomat or a psychiatrist? Or a criminal on the run from the law? Or a young girl from a sheltered background on her first trip to Europe before starting college?
2) “…arrives in post-WWII Vienna…”Instead of this setting, what if the story took place in a small town in the old West? Or an Inuit village? Or in 15th century India? Or on a space station? Changing the setting may involve changing the genre too, since some genres are defined by setting (e.g. Westerns).
3) “…only to find that the friend who waited for him is killed under mysterious circumstances.”Instead of the writer’s friend being killed, what if he is kidnapped, or about to embark on a quest to recover stolen treasure, or fighting to save a group of orphaned children? What if the friend asks the writer to help him smuggle something back to America? What if the friend who was waiting for the writer turned out to be an imposter and the real friend is elsewhere for some reason?
4) “The ensuing mystery entangles him in his friend's involvement in the black market…”What if the friend isn’t involved with the black market but with a group of former SS officers? Or Russian military intelligence? Or war profiteers? Heck, they could be art collectors, zoo keepers, film students, physicists, anything at all.
5) “…with the multinational police…” What if instead of the police being involved, the police refuse to get involved for some nefarious reason?
6) “…and with his Czech girlfriend.”What if the Czech girlfriend is actually a homosexual man? Or the friend’s illicit daughter? Or the wife of a powerful politician?
7) Could I change the genre? The original story seems to be a murder mystery or thriller. However, I could certainly put a romance into it (perhaps between the writer and his friend’s girlfriend). I might even be able to make the murder plot take a backseat to the romance. I could turn it into a children’s or young adult story by changing the age of the main characters. Perhaps I could make it a horror story by adding supernatural elements. (Is some monster the real killer? Is the girlfriend a ghost?) Perhaps if the mystery is never solved the story could even take an element of ambiguity that would make it seem more like literary fiction.
As you can see, the number of new writing ideas you can create from a single plot summary is enormous.
In this example, I’ll keep it simple. For my one change, I’ll make the protagonist “a young girl from a sheltered background on her first trip to Europe before starting college.”
Step #3: Rewrite the plot summary, incorporating your change.
Chances are you will have to alter a few other elements of the summary to make sense of the first change you made. For instance, post-WWII Vienna might seem like a strange vacation choice for a young girl. So I could either give her a different reason for going, or I can change the setting to a different period, say the year 2000. Also, if she is sheltered, perhaps she is planning to stay with one of her mother’s old friends (who can keep an eye on her). So we get …
“A young girl from a sheltered background arrives in Vienna in the year 2000 to stay with an old friend of her mother. It is her first trip to Europe. However, when she arrives, her mother’s friend is killed under mysterious circumstances. The ensuing mystery entangles her in this friend’s involvement in the black market, with the multinational police, and with her Czech husband.”
Step #4: Make the writing ideas fit your passion.
Consider what you’ve learned about the kind of story you want to write. Can you rewrite your new plot summary so that it becomes about a problem or situation that interests you, or a protagonist you can empathize with?
For example, I happen to like stories about people with suppressed talents who get their chance to shine. So perhaps I’ll give my protagonist a unique talent for solving puzzles. Maybe she is planning to study criminology at college (perhaps she has a rebellious streak). So, while her parents would like her to come home after the murder, she decides to stay and try to investigate what happened herself.
Step #5: Change ambiguities into specifics.
In the above example, the word, “entangles,” is rather vague. So is “mysterious circumstances.” It’s a good idea to change such terms into specific details.
Perhaps this family friend’s Czech husband was actually planning to use the protagonist to smuggle a stolen miniature painting into America, by concealing it in a book he gives her. Perhaps he stole it from a gangster who then committed the murder accidentally while searching the woman’s home, trying to get the object back. The lack of an apparent motive for the murder would qualify it as mysterious.
So we get…
“A young girl from a sheltered background arrives in Vienna in the year 2000 to stay with an old friend of her mother. It is her first trip to Europe. However, when she arrives, her mother’s friend is killed under mysterious circumstances. The girl decides to investigate the crime herself. She finds herself pursued by gangsters, who think she has a stolen painting that belongs to them, and by the police who want to use her as bait to catch the gangsters. Meanwhile, her investigation is aided by the murdered woman’s husband who secretly wants to use her to smuggle the stolen painting out of the country.”
Step #6: Decide on the Ending.
One thing about plot summaries you find on the web or other listings is that they generally don’t mention the ending of the story. (They don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t seen or read the story.) So go ahead and make one up. In the example I’ve been using, I would probably let the girl solve the mystery and put the evil husband in jail. But that’s just because I like crime stories where justice triumphs.
Again, I have no idea how the plot of the original film, The Third Man, goes, though I hope it’s very different from my new version. However, if I were to actually use this idea for writing a novel, I would be sure to make so many other changes by the time I finished my outline that my story bore little resemblance to the original.
Step #7: Repeat until you have many writing ideas to choose from, and one you love.
Use this process to create a number of new writing ideas. You can come up with several writing ideas using one plot summary as your starting point, or use a number of different summaries. Try to come up with a dozen or more new writing ideas before you settle on one for your novel.
In case you think this method is cheating and that you should be coming up with writing ideas totally from scratch, let me remind you that some story ideas have been used many times by different writers.
Take this one, for example …
“An orphaned boy is raised in the care of a powerless uncle, but watched over by an old wizard. When the boy reaches a certain age, the old wizard tells the boy about his true heritage and helps him develop his powers until he is able to avenge his father’s death.”
That is the basic writing idea behind the stories of King Arthur, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Eragon, and many other novels and films. For example, change the word “powers” to “ballroom dancing skills” and you have the premise for the Australian film, Strictly Ballroom. Change it to “soup making talents” and you have the premise for the Japanese film, Tampopo.
Similarly, Helen Fielding took this writing idea from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice …
“A young woman wants to marry for love rather than money. But she discovers that, of her two suitors, the poor man she initially likes is a villain, while the rich man she initially hates is most worthy of her love.”
… and reworked it into her original novel, Bridget Jones’ Diary.
Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility likewise underlies the martial arts film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Do we call this plagiarism? No, because the writers took only the basic writing ideas from earlier works. They made major changes to the setting, plot, and characters in order to create a new and original piece of fiction. That is perfectly legitimate.
Finding Writing Ideas In Real Life
Another source of writing ideas you can draw upon is real life. Events that happen to you, someone you know, or even events in the news can be the basis of a story if they strike you as uncommon.
The first thing you should probably do when taking writing ideas for your novel from real life events is change the person the events happen to.
After all, you’re not writing a biography. You’re writing a novel. If you try to use a real person as a character in your novel, they may object. Even worse, they may want to have some control over how you portray them. And that’s one hassle you don’t need.
So create a different person for the event to happen to. And while you’re at it, don’t just pick any old character. Choose a character for whom the event would be especially disturbing, challenging, embarrassing, galling or otherwise fraught with emotion.
It’s also important to note that real life isn’t a story. Real life is just stuff that happens. Stories are about depicting events and experiences that resemble life, but doing it in a way that gives them meaning.
When you use a real life experience as the basis of a story, you must tell it in a way that makes it meaningful. Even if all you do is add your perspective, you will be creating a meaningful context. But more than likely, you will need to make other changes and additions.
To create meaning, you will need to put the event into a dramatic structure. You will need to decide if this event will be the Inciting Incident, the Climax, or the Resolution of the story. You will need to ask the same questions you would with any other idea: Who are the people involved? Why do they do what they do? Or … how did this strange event come about? What are the consequences? And you will have to invent additional characters and events around it.
The other thing you should consider when basing a novel on a real life incident is whether you can heighten the emotion of the event. If the event was embarrassing, can you make it more embarrassing? If it was frightening, can you make it more so? It’s worth experimenting with different ideas to see if you can heighten the drama, without harming credulity. With your novel writing ideas in hand, go to Part 3: Choosing a Story Goal.
Do you have a question about finding ideas or any other aspect of novel writing? If so, visit our Questions About Novel Writing page to get the answers you need.Or for another fun source of Writing Ideas, click here!
Otherwise, return to How to Write a Novel!
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Book Ideas for Writers |
Sometimes book ideas for writers come so quickly you can’t shut them off. They wake you up at night, seemingly calling your name. Other times you sit in front of a computer screen and — nothing. You have no meaningful thoughts and doubt you ever will again. Just take a breath and let it be. Remind yourself that, like waves on a beach, this too will pass.
Consider Life Stages
Whether writing fiction or non-fiction, the pivotal points in people’s lives are always fertile ground for writers. If you want to write fiction, think about the life-changing events you have experienced and imagine those you haven’t. The day you learned you were becoming a father, taking your driver’s test, moving into your first apartment, grieving a death, jumping out of an airplane, entering the military, your wedding day–consider how characters facing these circumstances, might interact with each other.
To write non-fiction, research these topics. Become an aggregator of information and offer needed skills for people who have come face to face with a particular situation.
Write What Sells
There is nothing wrong with wanting to experience commercial success through your writing. Read the top ten books on the New York Times Best-Seller List. What are their common denominators? Look for themes you can emulate or expand upon.
Write What You Know
Are you a gifted plastic surgeon, a successful realtor, a financial services whiz? People are always looking for insider information from seasoned professionals. Give it to them!
Block Writer’s Block
Every writer feels just plain stuck occasionally. Don’t panic; just engage in one or more exercises to shake it off.
- Take a walk, and pay attention to your surroundings. Focus on your heart beat, the rhythm of your pace, the sounds you hear, smells, the temperature, your surroundings. After you’ve stopped walking write down whatever impressions you experienced.
- Go to the mall and notice attention to the people around you. Who intrigues you? Is it the teenage drama queen arguing with her boyfriend, the old woman walking slowly and purposefully, the young man with sagging pants and teardrops tattooed on his face, the woman talking rapidly and loudly on her cell phone, the weekend dad with his son? Don’t judge the people; just experience them. Imagine who they are and what their story might be. Pick out different personalities and imagine how they might interact with each other.
- Read the newspaper. Place characters inside the stories and consider how they might interact.
How to Write a Book
If you need book ideas for writers, by all means read or re-read How to Write a Book, by Marathon Publications’ founder and CEO, Hale Meserow. This report prevents writer’s block and illustrates that the majority of good writing happens during the preparation stage. From the germ of an idea all the way through to a completed project, this document literally tells you how to write a book.
via marathonpubs.com
Book Ideas for Writers
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Friday, August 5, 2011
Business Review: Is Marathon Publications the Best of All Worlds? - Technorati Business
Business Review: Is Marathon Publications the Best of All Worlds?
The publishing world has been rocked with dramatic changes in the past decade, presenting both opportunities and headaches for writers. Now Marathon Publications has developed a business model seeking to combine the best of past and present publishing avenues into a new hybrid.Why Develop a New Model?
Existing publishing models exclude too many talented writers. Consider the pros and cons of each.
Pros: Hemingway, Michener, Grisham and hundreds of others made millions from the sale of their books using traditional publishing methods. The writer contracts with an agent, who presents his work to publishers. A publisher purchases his manuscript, he receives a handsome check and moves on to the next project.
Cons: Production and marketing techniques employed by traditional publishers have become so expensive that publishers can no longer afford to risk investing in authors who are not known commodities. Talented or not, only 1 in every 5,000 authors is offered a traditional publishing contract. Traditional publishers have also been slow to embrace e-books and print on demand (POD). Meanwhile, sales of e-books eclipsed those of printed books in 2010.
Self-PublishingPros: Self-publishing allows authors to retain ownership of their work and receive 100 percent of all royalties.
Cons: Publishing and writing require vastly different skill-sets, yet the author suddenly finds himself responsible for print specifications, formatting, cover art, ISBN number(s), book distribution, marketing, and more. Perhaps the greatest challenge is that the writer is no longer free to write. He has become a publisher.
Independent and Vanity Publishers
Pros: If your goal is to become a published author, vanity publishers can make it happen.
Cons: Costs typically range between $6,000 and $30,000, and marketing is not included.
Enter Marathon Publications
Marathon Publications, Inc. partners with new and developing writers, sharing both risks and rewards. Like traditional publishers Marathon's goal is to publish quality, marketable books. Unlike traditional publishers, Marathon's production and marketing techniques, while high quality, are extremely cost efficient. These cost savings allows the company to focus on nurturing both raw talent and existing authors.
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