<![CDATA[A New Tale ~ Creative Writing is FUN! - Blog]]>Mon, 24 Feb 2025 01:10:52 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Tell Me Again Why You Are A Creative Writer?]]>Mon, 24 Feb 2025 03:41:03 GMThttp://anewtale.com/blog/tell-me-again-why-you-are-a-creative-writer
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I write to develop my imagination, which is the essence of all living... AGREE or DISAGREE???

Comments Welcome!

Authors can do great things with just a pen and some paper.

We create stuff, solve problems, inform, inspire... Make people smile and laugh or sigh.

Lots of great things get written while the author is located in the most unusual places. Many books, stories, chronicles, have been penned under the harshest conditions... in jail, for instance, or during wars or while recovering or dying in hospital beds.

Learn to write well and you can and will change the world!

How much of the world you wish to write for is up to you.

Heck, Shakespeare still influences the present-day world, hundreds of years after his death and the Play-Write will go on influencing coming generations yet to be born too.

Will someone find your book four hundred years from today and be delighted?

If you write it passionately, they will read it cover to cover.

]]><![CDATA[How Good Are You At Writing Email?]]>Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:07:12 GMThttp://anewtale.com/blog/how-good-are-you-at-writing-email
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Effective E-mail Writers Are Worth Their Weight In Gold
By Stu Leventhal - A NEW TALE!

All Writers can make their mark in the Email Arena. So many Emails are sent each day that businesses cannot keep up with writing them or with replying to the emails they are sent.

The world revolves around Emails. Snail Mail is dead for marketing, though it still gets sent. Yep, sending an email can be FREE of charge. Sending thousands of emails with one click may cost a small fee but compared to stamps being put on letters and stuffing printed literature into envelopes the cost for mass emailing too seems almost FREE!

IMPORTANT: All emails are not created equal. Cleverly crafted emails get great results.

Companies that use email campaigns the most effectively, know that people do not respond to the same style of email message. The wise emailers send different emails to different groups of people.

A creative writer that understands how to connect with varying audiences thru email writing will always be in high demand.

It is very easy for a company to find out which writer's email brings in the most orders. Emailing is a number game. As long as your emails bring in customers and sales, you will have lots of work writing emails.

The smart companies will pay you to create a series of emails targeting each group they message because once they have paid for an email address list they want to email the folks on the list at least a few times. They need a new email designed for each emailing attempt or they will be accused of spamming the recipients on their email list.

NOTE: It is illegal to constantly send advertisement emails (SPAM) to the same E-address without permission from the person you are messaging.

Once your email business clients have realized the results your well-crafted emails bring in for them, you can easily convince them of the value of hiring you to write for them a weekly company email letter for them to send to all their customers and prospects each week.

From there you can offer blog writing services and social media posting services. Explain that blogging and social media are great ways for brands to gather email addresses from fans so the company can send out special offers and new product announcements via emailing.

Just remember that emailing gets the best business bang for the buck because it so inexpensive to connect with infinite amounts of people. Blogging, article writing, promoting with video, social media activity all helps your client gather email addresses from people who show an interest in what they sell.

A well-crafted series of emails sent out on autopilot, a different email every few days, brings in the sales and convinces new customers to try ordering.

TIP: Yes, you are an email writer but, you can still add photos and videos and graphics to your emails to make them more dynamic.

One key to email success is you need to get past the spam email filters. Thus, your email titles cannot give away that this is a promotional email or your emails will be sent straight to email trash with no one reading them.

Another Key element is making it clear how you wish the recipient of your e-message to respond.

TIP: Don't wait until the very last line of your email message to tell them how to act. For example, if you wish for them to call a phone number in order to receive a discount, you have to ask them to call a few times thru-out the email. The more times you ask them to call, the more calls your client will get.

"Mastering the electronic world is the future of Business and Marketing!"

Writers who can help businesses compete will always be able to make a nice living.

Winning at emailing requires you to be able to address the interests of specific types of people. Once you build your reputation as the go-to writer for a specific industry the companies and brands will find you to place their writing orders.

As long as you can speak the language of a niche group, you will get great results for your clients. Write honestly. Speak directly and yes, get personal!

IMPORTANT: Once you have a winning email message, that is not the time to stop and start working on a totally new email. You should attempt to improve all your best emails so they work even better! Turn your good emails into Super Emails!     
]]><![CDATA[Read More to Write Better]]>Fri, 07 Feb 2025 18:07:38 GMThttp://anewtale.com/blog/read-more-to-write-better
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You learn by reading other author's work. The more skilled the writers are, whose words and phrases you are exposed to, the better you become at communicating when you write.

The object is not to sound smart. You ideally do not want your readers even thinking about you, their author. You wish them to be engrossed in the subject matter of your written piece.

When you can use less words and simple language... Do It!

You want to thoroughly explain what you are talking about but then move quickly on, to make your next point.

What and who you read matters most in your development.

Great Authors:

  1. Mark Twain
  2. Ernest Hemingway 
  3. George Orwell
  4. Tennessee Williams
  5. William Faulkner

Who is Your Favorite Author?
What is Your Favorite Book?
]]><![CDATA[Your Next Writing Project Idea]]>Fri, 07 Feb 2025 16:33:36 GMThttp://anewtale.com/blog/your-next-writing-project-idea
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You do not learn Art from textbooks!

You search the world seeking great art picking up the sense of the wonders of art thru each example you experience.

There is surely a lot of art all over the place. Some of the best art works we stumble upon in the most unlikely places.

To create artistically, you need to first put yourself in a playful mindset. The ideas can come to you on a whimsy but the process of turning your visions into real works of art takes concentration.

Get to it... If you are a painter, PAINT! A writer... WRITE! A sculpture? Mold and carve!

Listen, you have to do then fix, then do some more and try to do better this next time.

There is inspiration all around you for subjects to write about or to sing about. Just glance around you if you want something to paint.

It is not a question of whether you have the right stuff to be the next Picasso or John Steinbeck. The only question to ask is, "Do I have the determination to stick it through?"

TIP: When you have FUN expressing yourself thru a specific art form, you will find a way to continue creating. When crafting and creating is no longer enjoyable, the world is full of distractions which will pull you away from your art projects.

I have no doubt that you have great art inside you. Know, your journey is going to be mostly traveled alone.

Learning about ART is mainly self-teaching.

What is your favorite type of art? Painting, writing, dancing, acting...?


]]><![CDATA[What Makes A Great Blogger?]]>Wed, 22 Jan 2025 14:22:38 GMThttp://anewtale.com/blog/what-makes-a-great-bloggerThe popular bloggers are able to spur their audience, fans and readers to participate with their new post. It is all about engagement. People that keep coming back to a specific favorite blog site, come as much for the action and play between the usual commentors as they come for the blogger who publishes the original blogs... Picture
TODAY'S BLOGGING TIP: Ask Questions!
When your audience answers with their comments you have sprouted a blog conversation.

Every comment left, creates opportunities for others in your audience to speak their mind. They now can agree with you or take the side of a commentor or state their own novel idea on the subject being discussed.

People can argue with other commentors, like comments or try to turn the conversation in a new direction.

When things are slowing down you, as moderator, can add your two cents to try to get more comments coming in...

Comment with another good question and a whole slew of more comments might start rolling in.
JOIN - A NEW TALE - A CREATIVE WRITING GROUP 
On LinkedIn!
]]><![CDATA[Great Characters Make Your Story a Winner]]>Wed, 22 Jan 2025 13:18:29 GMThttp://anewtale.com/blog/great-characters-make-your-story-a-winner
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Creating Great Written Fiction or Nonfiction Characters Is an ART!
By Stu Leventhal - A New Tale Editor

Many claim characterization is all about point of view...

Who is describing the player in your story?

If you, the author tell your readers about a new character, who is just now entering the story, you have super human insight you can share. But you should know we readers would rathe have a few other characters tell us what they think about a character than hear you the writer scroll on and on describing someone.

One character may like the new player a lot. Another character may not trust the new addition to the tale.

Can your current characters let your readers know what they nee to know about a new character?

Maybe you wish the new character to tell your readers about him or herself.
Do you really wish to allow your reader to know what a character is thinking in their head.

How do you decide what to reveal about a character, how much info is necessary to share with readers and when is it best to reveal the info?

Authors have a lot of options and a lot of decisions to make when telling a story.

Readers trust you.

Author Anais Nin explained, "We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect."

Jack Kerouac wrote, "One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple."

I like less author narrative when finding out details about a character. I'd rather learn that a person is brave through the plot and their actions, in story form, than by having a writer just type; Old Man Bob was known by all in town to be very brave...

Show me Old Bob is courageous! Let Old Bob's dialog say he is tough! Show how folks get out of Old Bob's way!

What are some of your favorite novel characters and why? Share in a comment! 


]]><![CDATA[Join A NEW TALE LinkedIn Group]]>Wed, 22 Jan 2025 12:55:46 GMThttp://anewtale.com/blog/join-a-new-tale-linkedin-group
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Have you written 'A New Tale' or a great poem you want your peers to read and evaluate critique or review?

You need to join the best Creatve Writing Group on LinkedIn: A NEW TALE - a LinkedIn Writing Group!

Writing Instructors, Wordsmiths, Author Coaches, Book Cover Artists, Literary Agents, Editors and of course scribes of all kinds... are all welcome.

Post links to your articles, stories, where we can find your books. Post a poem or two or three.

Share advice. Discuss technique. Let's help each other sell more writing and become better writers.
JOIN 'A NEW TALE' - LinkedIn Creative Writing Group

Welcome Authors, Poets, Lyricists, Biographers, Story Tellers of all Kinds!

]]><![CDATA[What if There Were… NO ARTISTS?]]>Sun, 18 Dec 2022 19:16:55 GMThttp://anewtale.com/blog/what-if-there-were-no-artists
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WHY ART?
By Stu Leventhal
 
Every so often, the great debaters pose the question… ARE ARTISTS NECESSARY?

Many philosophers claim artists are not producing anything of real value nor are they contributing to society. They do not fix any problems so, could art and artists actually be holding humanity back?

If all the artists were forced to work in a factory… we’d have a lot more stuff that was actually useful.

As long as some people, somewhere, anywhere are starving, why not put our artists to work trying to feed these people in need?

Should artists be working all day on a painting or sculpting a statue or practicing dance moves when there are so many important things that need doing?

Of course, this is the same argument that folks present when they rant against our space program. “There is poverty and homelessness we should be using our money to end before we waist a penny on travelling to the moon and setting up space stations.”

So, do we ALL have our priorities mixed up?

No… We just like comforts.

We naturally want to mold the world immediately around us to meet our emotional needs.

Wearing bright patterned clothes that we deem stylish and hanging a colorful photo in a drab hallway does zip for our physical wellbeing. That porcelain panda statue on the shelf has no real function nor does our Puka Shell wristband. Yet, we gain pleasure from making ourselves into what we feel is more attractive and interesting to others. We also enjoy decorating our home to be more inviting and cozy.

With Art you are telling others that you lived…

“Look at this…This is what I know and want to share with you.”

One works on art to help figure out more about oneself…
     “Am I capable of more?”
     “Am I special?”

Thru our finished projects we try to define ourselves to others. Yes, sometimes we showoff thru using our art skills, which may be the most humanist thing artists do.

The truth is that the art work is not always the most important thing as many artists would have you believe. Sometimes we have other motives. Artists are human and flawed after all, just like everyone else in our society.

Life, the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of living as a person, is full of happenings that can’t be explained. With art we try to make our best attempts to puzzle out some of the many mysteries.

When something we encounter baffles us, perhaps our art will get people talking about it.
During the artistic toiling we often are delighted to find, we have uncovered new questions and riddles.

All along the way our art pushes us to develop better skills.

We get smarter, become more capable and build self-pride and confidence as we work on our art projects.

We practice problem solving and build character as we painstakingly try to get the details of our artwork perfect.

The best art often contradicts societies accepted thoughts about a subject or situation. Art shows things from a different angle. The artist is always thinking. "How can I dazzle my audience?"

The artist may wish you to tune into his or her mood.

Artists want to surprise you, make you laugh, cry, sigh...

Why go thru all this trouble just to say what has already been said a thousand times.

“If I am not giving you something that you cannot get anywhere else then it ain’t ART.”

The true artist is always learning each day, developing further.

When the artist realizes that they have reached a new plateau in understanding themself some more, they wish to shout it to the world.

What better way to proclaim the old me is gone, here’s the new better me!

Thus, we make new art.

So, is art necessary?

Probably not always but… ART is always FUN!

​What is your favorite art form?  
]]><![CDATA[Write Your Way to Fame]]>Sun, 02 May 2021 19:08:09 GMThttp://anewtale.com/blog/write-your-way-to-fame          Keep Writing Fun!
By Stu Leventhal
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I know you like writing. Sure, sometimes you get frustrated. A writer's life is full of self doubts. All of those other authors seem to be getting all the luck.

Why won't publishers and editors give you and your work a chance?

You care about one thing...WRITING! You write well. You study writing, old and new. You read, a lot! So what is the problem? Why can't you get your writing career going?

You have to write your way to stardom!

Celebrity as an author is not easy but you chose a fine profession if fame and recognition is what you seek. So how can you do it? How does a new scribe take hold of their destiny and go forth to forge their career breakthrough moment?

​There are lots of writing stages that you can shine on...

Listen I know you got into this thing because you are more artsy than business minded. All artist and especially authors despise the commercial aspects of living.

Enterprise, entrepreneurship...BUSINESSS...are not your enemy!

Authors who pursue money are not... SELL-OUTS!

It is time to start treating your past time, hobby, PASSION...as a business!

First thing, know that businesses have competitors. You are in competition with every other writer out there who wishes to be the next Tolstoy, Kafka, Faulkner...

You have to get serious and learn some things about business. You do not want to get taken advantage of by unethical literary agents, publishers and internet trolls who put their own interests above yours.

You have talent. Your skills and ability are valuable. As an author, all you need is a pen and paper to make money. Few have an option like that!

I am going to let you in on a little author industry secret. You have to mingle with others like you, who love literature and believe writing truly is mankind's greatest legacy.

When you surround yourself with people who want nothing more than to get the greatest new writing out there to the world for all to enjoy, you no longer have to worry about having your writing ripped off.

One of the greatest pleasures in the literary arena is competing with other authors. There are so many geniuses for you to try to impress, surprise and delight.

Stop letting people who cannot write tell you how to write and what to write.

You became a writer or are pursuing a writing career because you want to be able to write on the beach, in the park, laying on your couch in your pajamas. A traditional 9-5 job is not attractive to you.
 
You put a lot of time into writing. You are proud of your creativity. It is time you start getting paid what you are worth.

It is time you start using your creativity to be more entrepreneurial.

Writing is a business...YOUR BUSINESS! 
]]><![CDATA[The Copy Writing Makes All the Difference!]]>Fri, 06 Jul 2018 06:01:50 GMThttp://anewtale.com/blog/the-copy-writing-makes-all-the-difference​Does Bad Marketing Hurt Your Business?
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What’s your vote for the worst commercial of our decade, TV, Radio or magazine?
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All of us have heard the saying, “All publicity is good publicity.” The theory is that if no one knows about you then they cannot make a decision of whether they like you or not. Folks have to at least, hear about you before they can do business with you.
 
We have all seen more than a few of those annoying TV commercials that are played over and over on certain stations and which seem to have been designed to get under our skin on purpose. Yes, we do remember those commercials vividly but the question is, “Do you think that shock, gross and planned annoying ads builds one’s business or in the long run actually harms business?”
 
Is all publicity really good publicity?
 
And please, feel free to share any current commercials running that make you want to pull your hair out every time they appear on the silver screen or come blaring thru your radio. Which are the worst commercials so far during 2018?  
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