Writing Tip: Using of Copyrighted Material

There once was a time when you could include a few lines of a song or poem, or quote another book, and no one cared. That time is gone.

To use any quoted material from a work under copyright, you must have official permission from the rights holder. In the case of a published work, this is almost always the publisher, and it will cost money. Expect to pay $250-$500 for up to 100 words for the first 5,000 copies sold (although some may set the maximum at 2,000), after which an additional fee may be required. Fees of $1,000 and more are not out of the question.

Phrases that have been used so often ("Make My Day.") can still be used with impunity, although even then it's technically a copyright violation. 

If you're determined to use a bit of copyrighted material, it's your job to obtain the necessary permission. It takes time and money.

Be aware that when it comes to copyrighted material these days "just a little" is too much.

Match Maker by Alan Chin

My favorite fan, Fausto Unamzor,  made a video trailer for my novel, so I thought I’d share. 

Match Maker by Alan Chin. Published by Dreamspinner Press.

Can gay love survive on the Pro Tennis Tour? See the video trailer: http://tinyurl.com/2ev95ds

In the four years since being forced off the professional tour for being gay, Daniel Bottega has taught tennis at a second-rate country club. He found a sanctuary to hide from an unkind world, while his lover, Jared Stoderling, fought a losing battle with alcohol addiction to cope with his disappointment of not playing on the pro circuit.

Now Daniel has another chance at the tour by coaching tennis prodigy Connor Lin to a Grand Slam championship win. He shares his chance with Jared by convincing him to return to the pro circuit as Connor’s doubles partner.

Competing on the world tour is challenging enough, but Daniel and Jared also face major media attention, political fallout from the pro association, and a shocking amount of hate that threatens Connor’s career in tennis, Jared’s love for Daniel, and Daniel’s very life.

Thanks

Alan Chin

Art Palm Springs – Opening Night

Opening night at Art Palm Springs with one of our favorites, Vladimir Cora. Everything I liked was over $28,000, so luckily there’s no room left on our walls. I also saw a magnificent modern painting by Joan Mitchell. She could easily become my new “favorite artist”.

Book Review: Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

This collection of short stories first became known to me after seeing—and loving—the movie Arrival. I was so impressed with the movie, I sought out the book, not knowing it was in a collection of short works.

This is one of the few times I’ve enjoyed the movie more than the written work.

Chiang takes an introspective, and what can be a complex, scientific journey in storytelling. One is a take on the Tower of Babel, from the perspective of one building the tower. Another considers what it would be like if there was a mind-enhancing drug that could exponentially increase one's intelligence. Another explores the intellectual and how that challenge of communication with an alien race, and discovering the fluid dimension of time. One takes on an old Jewish idea is that a name (word) has power, and using names to give intellegence to animate objects (e.g. a golem).

I found them all interesting and thought provoking, but probably not to everyone's taste. His prose can be complex, needing a scientific-based mind to fully appreciate/understand all the nuances. This can make following the prose challenging, and often intriguing.

Writing Tip: Sound

Prose creates sound. Accomplished writers not only tell a story or paint a picture with words, they pay attention to the sound of language, to its rhythms, breaks, alliterations, rhymes and echoes. Good writing translates into immaculate prose, beautiful to hear and beautiful to read.

Musical notes reverberate in tiny waves, always growing louder or softer. The same is true for prose. And sound can be one of the harder problems to diagnose and correct. You want it to flow. The last thing you want is a jarring sound that pulls the reader out of the dream.

The most common dilemma with sound results from poor sentence construction. The root problem is caused by awkward sentence division – misuse of commas, periods, colons, semicolons, dashes and parentheses. 

In some cases sentences are simply too short or too long.

Another problem is echoes, using a character’s name or some other word too often. Many authors use “he” and “she” too often. Also, using an unusual word that stands out too often. I have a habit of using “he” or “she” to start several sentences in a row, as in “He said this. He did that. He heard something. He turned around.” It quickly gets monotonous.

Yet another issue is Alliteration, where the repetition of the first letter of a word and the first letter of a following word is the same – for instance, the “large lock” or “walking down the wide street.”

The best way to catch sound issues is by reading the text aloud. On my Mac, I can highlight the text and have the computer read it aloud. I can’t tell you how many problems I’ve caught doing this.

Once you identify an issue, an effective way to deal with it is to cut and/or simplify. Many writers equate complexity of thought with complexity of sentence structure. I believe that is a huge mistake. To present ideas simply and clearly is next to Godliness.

Bottom line is to pay close attention to the sound of your prose.

My Impression of the POTUS

I wrote the following over a year ago when I began my current work-in-progress. At the time I didn’t actually know of anyone who fit this description, but after watching Trump over the last several months, I believe this describes the kind of man I see in him.

Throughout recorded history, many humans were labeled monsters. Some were born physically misshapen, no legs or arms, enormous heads and spindly bodies, crooked backs, joined twins, no sexual organs or both sexual organs. The list is endless.  These corporeal abnormalities were once considered God’s retribution for the sins of the parents, but now they are thought of as nature’s accidents, an unlucky roll of the dice, no one’s fault.

There is, however, a different breed of monster, where the deformity is hidden from the eye. The face and body may be faultless, yet a twisted gene or benevolent drug with devilish side effects taken during pregnancy results in a malformed psyche.

 Monsters are deviations from the traditional norms. As one child is born without legs, another can be born lacking empathy and a conscience. The child born without legs eventually learns he is handicapped, and struggles to overcome his physical abnormality. But the child born with no compassion goes through life unaware of his defect, because he has nothing visible to compare with others. He wrongly assumes everyone is like him, coldblooded, calculating, unfeeling, self-absorbed. To this kind of fiend, a soul-stricken man seems weak, even comical, in the same way that to a criminal, honesty seems pathetically ludicrous.

This means, of course, that to an inner fiend, integrity and simple human kindness seems abnormal, dishonest, and perhaps even monstrous. They will, therefore, do everything possible to expose the monster in everyone around them, and they will interpret that as an act of righteousness.

My Favorite Thing About Visiting India: The Food.

One of the great things about traveling is eating. Luckily for us, Indian food happens to be one of our favorites. It's different here of course and so much better than what we can get back home and one of the things we will miss when we leave. There is no vindaloo here and samosas, which is street food, is not served in restaurants.

Fresh seafood with an Indian twist in Mumbai.

 Tandoori fish. Tandorri is served as an appetizer here. Not as part of your main course.

 Butter Chicken, Palak Paneer, and Chicken Biryani.

 Uttapam. Rice pancake with chili, onions and other spices. Served with sambal.

Lamb seekh kabab perfectly spiced.

 Alan likes all kinds of curries.

 Nan with every meal.

 Great seafood in Mumbai.

 Masala Dosa for breakfast, almost every morning.

 Colabra curry prawns. The best I've ever had.

 Saffron rice pudding.

 Typical meal, rich in sauces.

 Anise seed and sweetener. A perfect way to finish any Indian meal.

 Service is impeccable.