Fan loyalty and the Muppets

So I went and saw the new Muppet movie yesterday.

It was beautiful :) It made me smile and laugh out loud. The heart of the original Jim Hensen stuff was there, and the wacky humor, and the cameos by a cast of random and hilarious celebrities. I loved it.

The whole thing was about the Muppets as a brand, and whether or not they still had the backing of a loyal fan base. Obviously they did. And do. And it got me thinking: what does it take for something to have that kind of fan loyalty? Like, what makes the difference between someone buying your book and someone waiting for and looking forward to and buying all your books?

Obviously the most important part is having something amazing to offer, or people won't have the emotional engagement it takes to become a rabidly loyal fan. The Muppets are amazing. Harry Potter is amazing. That's why people care so much.

But beyond that. There are plenty of incredibly amazing things that don't have that same kind of widespread, devout fan base (Connie Willis), and also plenty of less amazing things that do (*ahem* Twilight. Sorry.) So what is it that makes the difference? I really want to get my hands on a copy of The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, but what are your thoughts first?

Here are some of mine: to try and get some kind of answer to my own question, I thought about what makes me personally a fiercely loyal fan of something.

First, past experience. I love the Muppets because I remember watching them as a kid. I will always consider Walk Two Moons one of my favorite childhood books, because I remember how strongly it effected me when I read it. I will always love Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, despite my knowledge of it's and Andrew Lloyd Weber's many musical flaws, because I remember listening to it while my sisters and I ran circles around the living room naked. (That was our form of dancing. We haven't progressed much since then.)

Second, because someone we know and trust recommended it. I've never washed clothes with anything other than Tide, because that's what my mother always used. I will always love Stephen Sondheim, because my mom loves him. A River Runs Through it will always be one of my favorite books, because it reminds me of Mr. K, my high school English teacher. I love Listerine and the '500 Miles' song by The Proclaimers because they remind me of my dad. So does Steve Martin dancing. (And you wondered where my family got our dance skills.)

Third, herd mentality. I hesitate to mention this one, because for me and I suspect for a lot of you, when EVERYBODY likes something it tends to make me like it less, at least at first, and if I love it then I love it despite what everybody else thinks. Like the play Wicked. I love it because it's awesome, not because every theater goer and their dog loves it. But still, whenever anybody goes to New York, they ALWAYS see Wicked and Phantom of the Opera, because that is what EVERYBODY sees. So basically, even though herds are sometimes annoying and often wrong (I still do not understand how Phantom is still there and Les Mis is not), if they're going to be there, they may as well be in your field, right?

Anyway. As far as it goes for us writers and artists, all that really matters is that we create the best work we know how. With work and some luck the rabidly loyal fans will follow. Hopefully not too closely. But yeah, the psychological and business aspects of this are fascinating, at least to nerds like me.

What do you think? What makes you a loyal fan of something, and how do you think we can maybe apply that to writing careers?

Sarah Allen

The End. Almost.

I've never written the end of a novel before. But now I'm 3/4 of the way through, and I'm starting to get to the wrapping up point. I'm trying to remember all the lose strings I've got dangling so I can tie up at least some of them, and have something somewhat complete. That will feel so amazing, to have finally finished a full-length novel.

The weird thing is confronting things I've only been thinking about for months/years and now actually having to confront them. Or at least just things I need to start thinking about for reals now. Major editing, finding good beta readers, researching and querying agents, trying my best to be contract-smart, that kind of thing. I mean, all that's still going to be a while yet, especially anything to do with signing contracts, but I'm getting to the point where I almost have something ready to try with. And that is exciting.

As far as actually writing, though, I could use some tips and advice from those of you who have actually done this before. Finished a novel, I mean. I want to make sure I wrap this thing up right. Of course it's not going to be perfect and it's going to need major changes anyway, but I want to get it as good as I can the first time around. So what can you tell me about making a successful ending?

I'm also finding myself arguing with whatever part of my brain controls motivation. I want this done so bad, and I'm working and everything, but I feel so...slumpy. It's still coming, but it's going slow again, and taking a lot more effort than usual. I hit that kind of thing before, at around the 53% percent mark, and then I got over it. I'm hoping that happens again, that I get even closer to the end and I get some kind of last cross-the-finish-line energy boost. I'm also trying hard not to think too much about what I'm going to do next. Because guys, I have so many ideas, and they are going to be awesome. Next year is going to be awesome. But in the meantime I've got what I'm working on now, and I still love it and will feel so much better about myself and my life and my presumptuous attention whoring from all y'all and people all over the interwebs when its done. So I'm going to just keep going and hopefully get it done this year, but any ideas on how to make that easier or get through it with more smiling and less teeth gritting would be greatly appreciated.

Those of you doing NaNoWriMo, I hope the ending is working out for you. We will make it to the end.

Sarah Allen

101 Things I'm Thankful For (in no particular order)

1. Candied pecan yams
2. God
3. My yellow bedroom
4. Windowsills
5. My family. I wouldn't be without them.
6. Pansies. I like their faces.
7. J.K. Rowling
8. Chapter 33, 'The Princes Tale.'
9. England
9. Jane Austen
10. Jazz
11. Colin Firth
12. White Chocolate
13. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels
14. Frasier
15. My luck with roommates. I've never had a bad one.
16. Black-Eyed Peas on the radio
17. Thursday night dinners with my mom
18. Reeses Puffs and Waffle Crisp
19. My computer
20. My car
21. Blogs and blogging
22. Being as far as I am on my WIP
23. The amount of butter and sour cream my mom puts in the mashed potatoes
24. Meryl Streep
25. My parents marriage
26. The letter Captain Wentworth writes to Ann Elliot at the end of Persuasion
27. Mathew Macfayden in the rain in the new Pride and Prejudice
28. Having ward prayer and FHE at my apartment. It forces me to socialize.
29. Sweaters
30. Farmer Hogget in Babe
31. Taming of the Shrew
32. My best friend who introduced me to awesomeness like TNG and Doctor Who
33. This poem
34. Friends who I can argue with and they still love me
35. Midnight showings of anything. Even Twilight.
36. Alan Rickman's voice.
37. Dr. Benjamin Linus. Don't think I'll ever get over him. Don't judge.
38. My cell phone.
39. My green leather purse I've used so long its chipping on the bottom.
40. Indoor plumbing. It's big.
41. Pixar
42. Josh Holloway's dimples
43. Hooker boots
44. Gum
45. John Green
46. Peach flavored Fresca
47. 100 calorie fudge bars
48. Dishwashers, especially because my apartment doesn't have one
49. Dollar theaters
50. The smell of Listerine and after-shave
51. Colin Mochrie
52. My adorable preschool kids
53. YouTube
54. This song. And this one.
55. My playbill of 'Gypsy' signed by Patti LuPone
56. Holly Flack for Michael Scott
57. Niles Crane
58. Vincent Van Gogh
59. Post-it notes
60. Converse shoes
61. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
62. The Book of Mormon and the Bible
63. Fingernail clippers
64. Rain
65. Sonnet 130
66. Zoos
67. Secondhand book stores
68. Construction. Not really, but I'm trying.
69. My ginormous Gone With The Wind poster
70. Brian Regan
71. This dance from Sasha and Twitch, or this one from Melanie and Marko.
72. Gustavo Dudamel's hair. Also Josh Groban's.
73. Toby Stephens as Mr. Rochester
74. The part in Two Towers where a muddied, bloodied Aragorn bursts through the big double doors.
75. My teddy bear named Russ.
76. Having at least one X chromosome
77. C. S. Lewis
78. Pinterest
79. Laughing
80. David Tenant and Catherine Tate
81. Stephen Sondheim
82. Pajamas
83. Treadmills with TV's
84. Animal Planet
85. Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain
86. Black trench coats
87. Google and Wikipedia
88. Paychecks
89. Duotrope.com
90. Brigham Young University
91. Disneyland
92. Eating frozen chocolate covered bananas, churros and funnel cake by the Rivers of America waiting for Fantasmic to start
93. Waking up ridiculously early on Christmas morning and talking with my siblings until it's time to go upstairs to open presents
94. Amazing high school teachers
95. Guys with beards or curly hair
96. People who need people
97. The Bronte sisters, especially Charlotte
98. Airplanes and road trips
99. The smell of sharpies (should explain a lot)
100. Jim Hensen
101. The word 'chimerical'

What would you add to this list?

Happy Thanksgiving!
Sarah Allen

Five Cookbooks for Writers

So we all know what tomorrow is. Stuff our faces day. To help with the stuffing, here are 5 cook books made especially for writers and readers:

The Write Ingredients

The New Great American Writers Cookbook

Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen

The Book Lover's Cook Book

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook

Pretty fun, huh? I'm definitely not one for cooking, but I think if I had a few of these it might make it a little more fun for me. I may actually invest in that.

Do you know of any cookbooks for writerly people? What are your favorite general cookbooks and recipes? Any that you're going to be using tomorrow?

Sarah Allen

So Nike Was Right

The past few days I've stumbled upon something that is quite a novel concept to me, though for the rest of you its probably very old hat. The concept is this:

Just do it.
Its so incredibly simple. I don't know why I've made things so complicated in the past. It's like I let myself float from thing to thing, distraction to distraction and do some writing here and there when it happens. I get some done that way, but only a little some. (Pun very much intended).

Here's the thing. This weekend and yesterday (and hopefully today) I just quit the goofing off. I've set aside morning writing time, which typically works out well, but I've wanted the after-morning time to be more productive too. So the past few days I get home from work, get a quick snack, and then say, ok, now its time to write. That's it. Nothing else. I turn on a classical iTunes radio station, turn off the internet, and just write. Doing that I've gotten 4000 words out in the last three days, which for me is huge.

See, the mornings work for me because I tell myself its writing time. But the afternoons its been more like "stuff" time. Like email and reading blogs and eating and going to the gym and maybe writing a paragraph and playing on Pinterest time. It's pretty obvious that, for me at least, I don't write unless its WRITING TIME. It's not that I didn't know that before, it's just that I'm discovering how much I can get done when I apply it across the board. Because I want this book DONE, dang it.

Its amazing what a little mental manipulation can do. Do you have any mental tricks to help boost your creativity or productivity?

Sarah Allen