Thank You, Kola Boof!

Thank you, Kola Boof!

I've always been a firm believer in giving credit where it's due. I was greatly relieved to see the news story "Zendaya ‘no longer involved’ in Lifetime network's Aaliyah biopic."

Ms. Boof's online petition against this blatant miscasting regarding Aaliyah raised awareness about the ongoing whitewashing of BW, and surely played a major part in this outcome. As Ms. Boof has said, it's not about this teenage actress. This girl's management put her in a bad position. Furthermore, since she's as much White as she is Black, her management can send her to audition to portray Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, or other historical White women in upcoming biopics. Let's see if Hollywood allows this actress or the rest of the biracial actresses (like Paula Patton, etc.) to portray historical White women.

It's not about this actress, it's ALL about the systematic whitewashing, replacement and erasure of Black women in the entertainment industry. As I discussed HERE, things have escalated to the point that roles portraying African-American Black women are increasingly reserved for women who are not African-American Black women.

Furthermore, it’s obvious that if Angela Bassett, Diahann Carrol and Vanessa Bell Calloway were starting their acting careers now, they would never get hired. As many of the comments I've read in the online discussions inspired by Ms. Boof's petition have noted, the same whitewashing is entrenched in today's music industry. If Ella Fitzgerald, Gladys Knight, Dinah Washington, Dionne Warwick and Donna Summer were starting their careers now, they'd never get any recording deals.

Hopefully, this marks the beginning of the end of the whitewashing and erasure of African-American Black women.

If Angela Bassett, Diahann Carroll & Vanessa Bell Calloway Were Starting Their Acting Careers Now, They’d Never Get Hired—And Many Of You Are Okay With That Result

I would strongly urge everyone to read the latest excellent post over at Not Your Girl Friday. Because she describes the “perpetually surprised” mindset that far too many African-American Black women* (AABW) embrace:

  There are a number of black women online, and I am POSITIVE it transfers to real life, that simply believe ANYTHING.  This is not meant as an insult, but for many black women whether this happens from a lifetime of being gas-lighted or simply refusing to listen to reasonable people assert reasonable things. These black women absolutely refuse to access the system upgrade required to practice discernment.

 These black women, yes I’m probably speaking to you, have the mind-boggling problem of  simply ACCEPTING ANYTHING AT FACE VALUE  without ever doing what is called “fact checking” first.

 This lot, because of their denial of the necessity of fact checking, their absolute refusal  to check the fruit of the vine BEFORE they irresponsibly jump in head long; and their outright dismissal of anyone who has gone before them and knows with certainty the ending results, consequently, leaves many of these women * perpetually surprised*  as many BWE writers have described.

 . . . These women, only after they have been perpetually surprised over and over again (be honest its happened to YOU), then bemoan the fact that their lots have been cast and they are stuck perpetually at the bottom of “whatever” totem pole they have found themselves.

[*By AABW, I’m referring to modern-day BW who have 2 Black parents and who are descendants of the Africans who were held in slavery in the U.S. Since a lot of y’all choose to play “confused” about who’s a member of the AA tribe.]
But here’s another feature of  The Girl Who Believes Anything (TGWBA) mindset that’s even crazier than what One Less Soldier described in her post: A lot of y’all who are TGWBA can’t even see things that are obvious AT FACE VALUE!

You can’t see that AABW are being replaced in the American entertainment industry. You can’t see that AABW can’t get hired to portray other real-life AABW. The roles portraying AABW are increasingly being reserved for women who don’t have 2 Black parents; and for those women who are not descendants of the Africans who were held in slavery in the U.S. In other words, roles portraying AABW are increasingly reserved for women who are not AABW. This casting pattern is obvious AT FACE VALUE:

 

Good God, they won't even let a BW play a BW cartoon character:

 

Instead of seeing the erasure, whitewashing, and replacement of AABW that’s been going on AT FACE VALUE, a lot of y’all have been making various convoluted excuses for why you’re okay with AABW being replaced by non-AA women and non-Black women.

There's nothing random or benign about this pattern. We've had several decades of an all-out assault on AABW's image. This was accomplished through the anti-BW denigration promoted by hip-hop and c/rap; the accompanying worship of the lighter, whiter-looking, half-other and "Cablanasian" women. All at the expense of BW who have 2 Black parents and who look like they have 2 Black parents.

So, to add it up:

• 50+ years of the Harry Belafontes, Sidney Poitiers, OJs, Wesley Snipes, Arsenios, Yung Bergs, Neyos, etc.;
• a little over 30 years of hip-hop, c/rap and the virulent denigration of BW that is part of that mess;
• a little over 30 years of masses of AAs openly worshipping the half-others and "Cablanasians" in our midst at the expense of AABW who look like they have 2 Black parents.

Instead of seeing the whitewashing that's been going on for decades, a lot of y'all don't seem to notice the entrenched pattern that's been in place. You somehow don't notice that, in particular, the bulk of the entertainers who've been occupying "Black" roles and "slots" in the American entertainment industry are White women's children. Here's a partial list:

Halle Berry

Lisa Bonet
Shemar Moore
Persia White
Rashida Jones
Jennifer Beals
Jasmine Guy
Victoria Rowell
Boris Kodjoe
Lonette McKee
Sidney Tamiia Poitier
Clark Johnson
Mario Van Peebles

 

Most recently, yet another WW's child has been chosen to portray Aaliyah. But a lot of you can't and won't see the pattern here. Even after decades of this. Even as this pattern escalates.

This pattern and the destructive fallout associated with it mostly started with negro male celebrities and their insistence on having only lighter, whiter, White and other nonblack women cast in their music videos and other projects. But the majority of AABW aid, abet and perpetuate this pattern by supporting these negro male entertainers. And by supporting entertainment products that erase, displace, and replace AABW.

 

AABW do have a choice. We can make the conscious, deliberate choice to only support the entertainment products that lift us up.

 

When you look at the pattern of what’s going on, it’s obvious that if Angela Bassett, Diahann Carrol and Vanessa Bell Calloway were starting their acting careers now, they would never get hired. Even though she’s dark-skinned, a young Cicely Tyson might be able to slip into today’s industry if she emphasized the fact that she’s of foreign Black (West Indian) heritage. You may be *perpetually surprised* to hear the end result described in this manner; but this is what the casting choices YOU support with your money add up to.

I accuse you of being okay with that end result because: You financially support the casting decisions that EXCLUDE today’s AABW actress equivalents of Angela Bassett, Diahann Carrol and Vanessa Bell Calloway from ever being cast to play AABW.

We’ll probably never know who all of this generation’s Angela Bassett, etc. are because today’s Angela Bassett and others can’t get work. They can't get work and they won’t "do for self" to create their own productions.

I’m sure you’ll be *perpetually surprised* when things get to the point that the only roles in which White Hollywood and negro male directors and producers are willing to cast AABW are either in porn or “reality TV.”

THIS is where all of this is headed.

African-American Slave Consumers’ Addiction to “Business As Usual” Vs. Escape Velocity

When I read this excellent blog post (A is for Anger… And, Why I write What I write…), I chuckled as I read through the comment section. I chuckled because Black female slave consumers consistently use the same tired and convoluted excuses when trying to justify their choice to continue supporting anti-BW media garbage. It doesn’t matter whether the topic under discussion is:

Anti-BW gangster (c)rap;

Anti-BW- (especially anti-professional BW) Tyler Perry flicks;

Movies and TV shows that portray BW as unattractive mammies;

Movies and TV shows that portray BW as hardened, professionally competent shemales who are never the recipients of devotion, love, or protection from quality men (or any man at all);

Movies and TV shows that put BW characters into the Stay Losing side of love triangles;

Movies and TV shows that put BW characters into immoral love triangles (with men who are married to other women); and so on.

The excuses are always the same:

First, Black female slave consumers try to redefine the problem (negative propaganda portrayals of BW) as not really being a problem. “It’s no big deal. BW characters shouldn’t have to be ‘perfect’ or have ‘perfect’ lives.” Notice how Black female slave consumers deliberately misconstrue and twist the demand for decent, 3-dimensional images of BW—you know, the way nonblack women are portrayed— into demands for “perfect” images.

[Incidentally, let me note that there’s nothing “traditionally feminine” about a woman being a homewrecker who dates married men, or a woman who shacks up with a man. Those are hoodrat behaviors, no matter how well-dressed or physically attractive a woman might be. The better-dressed, better-coiffed homewreckers and shackers are simply upscale hoodrats.]

Second, Black female slave consumers will say that other African-American (AA) women shouldn’t withhold or retract their support from these movies and TV shows because to do so would be to deprive BW actresses of jobs. NO, what’s depriving BW actresses from being employed is their own refusal to Do For Self, create their own production companies, and create their own media products starring themselves.

When a BW actress takes a job that involves running BW’s image through the mud, then I certainly have no obligation to support her having that job. That’s the ethical equivalent of the drug dealer’s justification: If the way you feed yourself is by doing something (selling drugs, doing a minstrel-show/Jimmie Walker—Dyn-O-Mite!/Stepin Fetchit/Mammy/Hood Rat performance) that cuts my throat, then NO, I’m not going to support you feeding yourself by cutting my throat.

The other thing about the drug dealer argument is that it’s a false, intellectually dishonest argument. There are plenty of other ways in America to make money to feed oneself besides selling drugs. Similarly there are plenty of other ways for BW actresses in America to have acting roles besides playing roles that run BW’s image through the mud.

The reality is that negro drug dealers and, unfortunately, most BW actresses are too lazy to work these other angles. Because these other angles involve trailblazing, doing for self, and a lot more work than looking for somebody else to make things happen for you.

In an age of video podcast TV shows, YouTube videos, digital film equipment, etc. modern day Black actresses don’t have any legitimate excuses for not producing and creating an audience for their own content. These women are not trapped into begging for other people to cast them in their productions the way pioneers like Diahann Carroll and others were in previous generations.

Too many AA creative artists are still waiting on White (specifically Jewish-dominated, White*) Hollywood to do for them what they do for their own White artists. Which includes providing jobs and stardom for a long list of foreign White actors and actresses from places like Australia. White Hollywood has not, is not, and will not provide employment for Blacks en masse.

*Before anybody accuses me of anti-Semitism, they should read some books written by Jewish writers in which they brag about their people’s creation and ongoing domination of Hollywood. Starting with An Empire of Their Own: How The Jews Invented Hollywood by Neal Gabler. From the book description: “Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Award for history, this "wonderful history of the golden age of the movie moguls" (Chicago Tribune ) is a provocative, original, and richly entertaining group biography of the Jewish immigrants who were the moving forces behind the creation of America's motion picture industry.”

My point is that Jewish immigrants did not create Hollywood in order to create jobs for Black folks. The modern-day Whites who control Hollywood are also not in the business of creating jobs for Black folks. Nor are they concerned about portraying BW as healthy human beings, much less portraying BW as desirable women.

The Whites who created and continue to control Hollywood are ALL about lifting up their OWN people and portraying their OWN women as the pinnacle of beauty. THAT will never change. It’s not White folks’ fault that AAs refuse to Do For Self. It’s not White folks’ fault that BM denigrate and refuse to lift up the image of the women from their own racial group. It’s not White folks’ fault that Black female slave consumers actively support images that cut their own throats. All of those are choices that slaves make. God respects free will, and so do I.

I’m not saying any of this as an I Never Watch TV snob. Over the years, there have been a few TV shows that I regularly watched. I watched Babylon 5 and the newer version of Battlestar Galactica on a regular basis. However, the Battlestar Galactica writers put the BW character into a Stay Losing love triangle in which she (as the fiancé or wife, I can’t remember which) ultimately lost against a butch-looking WW character (Starbuck). The writers ultimately had this BW character commit suicide. [!!!] Long before it got to that point, I had stopped watching that show.

This pattern of negatively positioning BW characters is an old and frequent pattern, and once I saw the beginning moves in that direction with the BW character on Battlestar Galactica, I drifted away from watching that show. I don’t support things that cut my throat as a BW; I gravitate away from such things.

Anyhoo, the general refusal to disconnect from non-productive and/or actively harmful things isn’t a dynamic that’s limited to Black female slave consumers. Almost any type of positive change creates internal resistance within the person who’s contemplating making a positive change.

HERE'S an excellent blog post that discusses these dynamics. In order to reach escape velocity into a self-actualized life, you have to disconnect from anything and everything that’s pushing you down.

ADDENDUM

Be sure to read the blogger One Less Soldier's excellent follow-up post Houston… We Have A Problem: Happily Adrift In Our Own Demise… And Other Little Sticky Wickets.

A Good Example Of A “Colorless”—And Therefore Successful—Fiction-Writing Career

I’ve recently come across several online conversations in which African-American (AA) women are talking about getting started on their novels, screenplays, etc. Which is a wonderful thing. We need to produce our own content.

However, I would strongly urge any AA woman who’s entering the entertainment biz via writing to position her work as colorless (meaning, directed toward White consumers) FIRST.

After you get established, then you’ll be in a position to disseminate positive portrayals of AA women and girls. If you start off your career by writing AA/Black-oriented works, the odds are that your career will crash and burn and be over before it even begins.

As I said during a post at the other blog:

For the reasons I explained in great detail during this post, Black business owners who are serious about success need to stop structuring their businesses around hopes of appealing to African-American consumers. The masses of African-American consumers are emotionally incapable of responding appropriately to any visibly Black-owned business, regardless of its quality.

African-American business owners need to position their businesses as “colorless” in order to tap into the larger pool of nonblack consumers. Unless they find out otherwise, many (if not most) American consumers will assume that a business is White-owned. Making your business “colorless” means to preserve this assumption of White ownership for as long as possible.

It takes emotional discipline to have a colorless business and to maintain secrecy about it being Black-owned. This means that you don’t get to puff your chest out and brag about how you’re a business owner. This often means that you don’t get the emotional payoff of visibly looking like The Boss.

But if you’re in tune with reality, then you know that life is not fair and that you can’t afford to behave the same way as nonblack business owners. That is, if your priority is to make the sale while providing excellent goods and service. The reality is that you won’t even get the opportunity to provide excellent products and service to most potential customers (of any race, including Blacks) if they know your business is Black-owned. As I mentioned to a reader during an earlier conversation,

For AA business owners, it’s a difficult, hostile business environment all-around. I agree with you that things are not much better with nonblack consumers. I never said it was Paradise with them. But here’s what I feel is the (meaningful) difference:

If you can position yourself in such a way that maintains “colorlessness”—let’s be blunt, in a way that maintains the illusion of White ownership—then your business has the chance to survive long enough to maybe, perhaps . . . be judged on its actual merits. There’s NO realistic hope of that when dealing with AA consumers as a visibly Black-owned business. AA consumers won’t patronize the business, AND they’ll be more prone to rob and/or steal you blind if they know it’s Black-owned.

If your business can survive long enough, you might be able to develop a professional reputation that’s well-known enough to get you over that “racism from nonblack consumers” hump.

It’s not a direct comparison (after all, she’s a WW dealing with other White people), but this is what the Men With Pens blogger was able to accomplish with her online business. She “passed” as a WM-owned business long enough to more or less get over the sexism hump.

She came up with a decidedly MALE pseudonym, and named her blog the manly-sounding “MEN With Pens.” Her problem was that at a certain point, she had to make business phone calls. And then customers would hear her (woman’s) voice.

She talked about all of this in her post entitled Why James Chartrand Wears Women’s Underpants.

I’ve heard tales of Black business owners who do like the AA plumbing company owner who pretends to be an employee of his own company when he goes out on service calls.

Sensible nonwhite writers already know all of this. There are successful African-American women writers who have “colorless” writing careers that I could mention. But I won’t mention them, because I don’t want to “out” them and risk damaging their careers (by bringing attention to the fact that they're Black). I want them to continue being successful.

But I don’t mind mentioning the example of an Asian woman writer who has found success by writing for White consumers: Tess Gerritsen, who writes the very popular Rizzoli & Isles series of novels.

Note that she does NOT write under her Chinese maiden name. And for the most part, she does not write about Asian characters as starring characters. I would guess that most of her WW readers have no idea that Ms. Gerritsen is Chinese-American. I would further guess that if they had been aware of this in the beginning, then her career never would've taken off. As she stated in her post, Non-white heroes: the kiss of death in the marketplace?

And there are lots and lots of novels about middle-aged white men having affairs and mid-life crises.  But rarely do you see a novel, much less a bestselling novel, that explores the Asian American experience.

 

So why have I never written one?  My three-word answer: fear of failure.  

 

That's not just my own lack of confidence speaking; it's something that a very canny (and honest) publishing executive told me two decades ago.  It was back while I was writing romance novels for Harlequin Intrigue, and I had a chat with one of Harlequin's top brass.  She loved my writing and she wanted to discuss my upcoming book projects.  I asked her if she'd be interested in a romance featuring an Asian American heroine.

 

She wasn't afraid to tell me the truth, and I will always be grateful for her honesty.  Harlequin had done extensive market research, she said.  They knew which titles were hits and which were flops.  And whenever they published a book with an Asian hero or heroine, no one bought those books.  They might be the best stories in the line, but they invariably failed in the marketplace.

  

"I want your books to be bestsellers," she said.  "And this will hurt your sales."

 

I took that advice, so generously given, and all my novels have featured white heroes and heroines.  I've slipped in Asian Americans as secondary characters: Maura's morgue assistant Yoshima, for example, or Vivian Chao, the fearless surgeon in HARVEST.  But in none of my books have I featured an Asian or touched on those painful memories from my childhood -- until now.

 

In THE SILENT GIRL, I've finally written the story I've been burning to tell, a story with bits and pieces of my own Chinese-American childhood. Not the painful memories, but the quirky bits, imbued with my mother's lore about ghosts and monsters.  One of her stories in particular has always stayed with me, the much-beloved Chinese legend of the Monkey King, a wild and unpredictable creature who was born from a stone and becomes a warrior.  When Jane Rizzoli finds monkey hairs on the body of a butchered woman in Boston's Chinatown, the legend of the Monkey King becomes key to understanding the crime.  Monkeys both fascinate and frighten me, and I get chills thinking of such a creature roaming Chinatown's dark alleys.

 

For the first time, I introduce not just one, but two major Asian American characters.

Ms. Gerritsen can afford to do this (without killing her career) because she’s already built a fan base of White consumers. She built this base by orienting her earlier novels toward White consumers. Without letting them know (in the beginning) that she's Asian. And her sales are great. I know this because I’m an indie fiction writer and publisher who keeps up with my industry. I have market analysis software that tracks and estimates monthly sales on Amazon based on ranking numbers.* Here’s a screen capture of the search I performed a few minutes ago on Ms. Gerritsen’s Kindle books (using this software)(click to see a larger image):

 

African-American women writers who are serious about financial success need to stop structuring their art around hopes of appealing to African-American consumers. When you write for African-American consumers, all you’re doing is throwing away a larger pool of customers to chase after a smaller pool of customers. You’re leaving money on the table—and damaging your writing career—when you start your career by writing for Black consumers.

 The better way (with much higher odds of success) is to get your money first by writing for White consumers, and then—after you have a mainstream fan base—start inserting positive, attractive BW characters as starring characters in your art.

[*As an aside, if you're looking to make a living from your writing, you'll keep track of market trends. You'll use the tools that are available to keep track of what types of books consumers are looking for. I'm not saying to chase after fads with your writing. I'm saying to see if the sort of material you're inclined to write can fit into a niche that already has a large fan base looking for that sort of material. This applies to both fiction and nonfiction.]

I’ll end by repeating a comment I made during a discussion at my other blog a few years ago:

I don’t expect to write any more AA/Black-oriented materials. My side business (and any future projects, such as writing a technothriller novel) are totally oriented toward the nonblack mainstream consumer. But thanks so much for your kind words; I truly appreciate it.

And since I mentioned business, let me repeat part of a real talk comment that I previously made over at Halima’s blog. It might provide some food for thought for aspiring AA entrepreneurs. I explained the reasons why I didn’t and don’t want payment in exchange for this blog’s premium content:

I deeply appreciate your call to action, but NO—I DON’T want anybody sending me money for my premium content—please DON’T do that!!!

Here’s the primary reason why:

As a Black business owner, I don’t believe in trying to do serious business with “typical” AAs/Blacks. It never works right for the reasons (I’ve outlined in depth at my blog). I refuse to do business with slaves in that direct fashion. A Black business owner who tries to do direct business with slaves is only setting themselves up to be sabotaged by those slaves.

A reader at my blog previously described the AA slaves’ behavior pattern regarding Black businesses: First the slaves pretend to be excited about the Black business endeavor. Then, they start backbiting it. Then, they work their fingers to the bone to pull it down.

I’m already an online business owner. My side business is totally oriented toward mainstream, NON-Black consumers. I don’t want hateration-type AA slaves to have any possible openings to do any sabotage that could potentially spill over onto my side business.

That’s the primary reason why I don’t mix any direct exchanges for money with my BWE activism. I know that there are legions of DBRBM, disgruntled colored girls, and other trolls who would looove to have an opening to file false complaints to the Better Business Bureau, etc. about me out of spite. If I accepted money for the BWE premium content, doing so would give bad-faith slaves a lever to use to potentially impact/sabotage what I’m doing with my side business.

Keeping the premium content free protects me from the disgruntled colored girls and other Black haters.

I know that I have to protect my side business from MOST of the people in the reading audience. As Halima noted, there’s an undercurrent of resentment toward many BWE bloggers. Even from audience members who aren’t full-blown trolls or haters. That’s why my name is not on my side business. So the haters in the audience will never be able to find it and connect it to me. They can’t sabotage what they can’t find.

For any Black business owner’s self-protection, AA slaves must be kept at arms’ length from one’s business, and only dealt with via 3rd parties like Amazon.com.

That way, when the hateration-AA slaves falsely claim to have a problem or issue about their order, they have to take it up with the 3rd party such as Amazon.com. And the Black business owner is removed from the main “line of fire” from hateration AA slave-consumers.

There are secondary reasons why I don’t want money in exchange for the premium blog posts:

(1) I don’t want folks to be able to dismiss the reciprocity lesson as actually being about “money-grubbing.” I know that this is how AA slaves think; and I want them to genuinely learn what reciprocity means. AND

(2) I’m already a business owner, and my online business is totally oriented toward majority, NON-Black consumers. I want the Sojourner’s Passport social activism blog to pay for its own upkeep (through book sales), but it’s not like I’m trying to use the blog to put food on my table.

Let me emphasize that I don’t feel that there would be anything wrong with accepting donations or making the blog paid-subscription only. Other folks—people who are not African-Americans—understand how it’s often necessary to pay for valuable, life-enhancing information. Sadly, most AAs are simply too primitive and slave-minded for that—they don’t want to pay any other Black person for anything sensible.

It’s an interesting paradox: Most African-Americans are cynical and yet gullible at the same time. We’re quick to interpret any other Black person seeking fair monetary compensation for their life-enhancing work as somehow inappropriate. Yet, we’re simultaneously delighted to throw piles of money to all sorts of useless Black (mostly male) hustlers who are peddling less than useless wares such as Steve Harvey, most AA male pastors/imams, etc.

So, even though it would be perfectly appropriate to charge for the information I provide, I don’t want to do that. In addition to the concerns I mentioned in Part 1 of this comment, I believe charging for premium content would actually work against the reciprocity lesson that I’m trying to teach.

It would make it too easy for indoctrinated AA slave-women to dismiss the reciprocity lesson as just an attempt to “get over.” Which is what they’re inclined to think, because they don’t understand the idea of reciprocity. All they understand is exploitation. Either from the perspective of the user or as the person being used. How very sad . . . and downright savage.

Aspiring AA entrepreneurs: Don’t be naive about the typical AA consumer and their behaviors.

Expect Success!

**Advanced Bonus Tips For Aspiring Storytellers** ONE—When I first started writing novels, I discovered that most of the existing books about fiction writing are filled with disinformation. Very few of them were useful in teaching the tricks of the trade. I found that screenwriting materials were much more useful in teaching one how to structure a compelling story.

 TWO—One of the best ways to learn the underlying structure of good, compelling stories is to read the screenplays of good, compelling movies and TV series. Lots of them. There are several sites where you can read and download free screenplays, including those listed on this page.

 

 [As a side note, please know that people in the movie industry (and wannabe screenwriters) are reading the various drafts of film scripts even before any particular movie finishes shooting, and long before the movie comes out.  So for all the confused slaves who felt that nobody— like, oh, let’s say Spike Lee—could fairly criticize Django Unchained or its content without seeing it: Folks like Spike Lee typically have access to movie scripts long before the movie comes out. So they’ve often read the shooting script to a movie long before that particular movie is playing in theaters.

In fact, there’s a very popular blogger who devotes a large chunk of his time to reading screenplays of movies that haven’t been produced, and/or haven’t come out yet. The ScriptShadow blog host also has an excellent book about the tricks of the screenwriting trade.

 

For those aspiring screenwriters who are really interested in keeping up with the "haps" in the industry, and want to know about the latest film and TV script sales, there's this site: Done Deal Professional]

THREE—In terms of novels, series sell much better than stand-alone books. To write a successful series, you need an underlying premise that can sustain readers' interest for more than one book. Here’s a good book (Writing The Pilot) that explains how to craft that type of premise. It's specifically for writers who want to write spec TV series pilot scripts, but many of the same considerations apply to coming up with ideas that can sustain more than one novel in a series.

The Sojourner-Artist: Have More Than One Iron In The Fire

I recently read the following blog post from a literary agent: http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2009/06/more-thoughts-on-re-pitching-agents.html Among other things, she said: "I’ve always taught that if you have made significant changes to your book for one reason or another you should definitely consider re-pitching agents. " However, she added that she often worries about how pleased many aspiring authors are to hear this particular suggestion. She went on to say:

"I will tell you right now, if you don’t learn to move on, to write the next book and query the next book and write and query the next book after that you will never be published.

No agent and no publisher wants an author for only one book, and if you spend years reworking and re-pitching that same book you’re not making yourself a very marketable or publishable author." (emphasis added)

Even though I groaned when I read this last part (after all, it's HARD work to write just ONE book), it does make sense. People in general are accustomed to perceiving their goals in a "gonna fly now-Rocky" context of the one prize fight, the one hit song, or the one blockbuster novel that will propel them to the top of their field. Very few people contemplate the sustained effort it takes to create a body of work.

So, what does this mean to me? It means that after I finish the first draft of my novel, I'll set it aside for a while and write some short stories that I can enter into writing competitions. And then I'll start my second novel after I finish revising the first one. Onward and forward.

In most contexts, it's not good to depend upon one thing. This has been noted throughout the ages. As Baltasar Gracian said in his 1637 book, The Art of Worldly Wisdom:

"Double Your Resources. You thereby double your life. One must not depend on one thing or trust to only one resource, however preeminent. Everything should be kept double, especially the causes of success, of favor, or of esteem. . . Thus as nature gives us in duplicate the most important of our limbs and those most exposed to risk, so art should deal with the qualities on which we depend for success." The Art of Worldly Wisdom, pg. 54.

Tools For The Writer's/Filmmaker's Craft: "Selling Your Story In 60 Seconds"

I'm reading an extremely helpful book for the budding storyteller: Selling Your Story In 60 Seconds by Michael Hauge. http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Your-Story-Seconds-Guaranteed/dp/1932907203/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246419408&sr=1-1

As he points out, "If you're a writer or filmmaker who wants to connect with an audience, who wants to touch as many people as you can with your work, you must devote time and energy to the marketing process, just as you do to your craft. . . You've got to get your work read, which means you've got to put yourself out there in a positive, committed way and make people aware of your talent." pg. xxi.

This principle applies to more than the arts. It also applies to entrepreneurship in general. From what I've seen and read, one of the main causes of small business failure is the lack of a (sound) marketing strategy. People fall in love with their product or service without giving a single thought to the question, "How am I going to sell this?" It seems to me that it's best to think of the marketing aspect from the very beginning.

I also agree with the author that you only have a short amount of time to make a successful initial pitch. People settle into a general attitude about things or ideas fairly quickly. I've seen this with juries.

As I mentioned in an earlier post:

"Most of the current work created by African-American women promotes the status quo ENTRAPMENT of African-American women and girls. Often, those few works that promote the freedom of movement of an individual Black female author have the negative side effect of blocking the path for others. We need Sojourner-Artists. We need art that promotes and protects the Sojourner's Path by showing the possibilities that are available for African-American women and girls. We need art that encourages African-American women and girls to seize these possibilities." http://muslimbushido.blogspot.com/2009/05/sojourner-as-artist-extended-readers.html

If we are going to have the African-American Women's Arts Movement that we desperately need, then we have to be at the top of our game as Sojourner-Artists.

Read, learn, and Get Busy!

Tools For The Writer's Craft: 2 Books & 2 Blogs

I've been reading the following two books that I've found to be extremely helpful:

Break Into Fiction: 11 Steps to Building a Story That Sells, by Mary Buckham and Dianna Love. http://www.amazon.com/Break-Into-Fiction-Steps-Building/dp/1605500151 , and

How To Write Killer Fiction: The Funhouse of Mystery & The Roller Coaster of Suspense, by Carolyn Wheat. http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Killer-Fiction-Funhouse/dp/1880284626/

Evia, blog host of Black Female Interracial Marriage Ezine, http://www.blackfemaleinterracialmarriage.com/ mentioned another excellent resource for writers in one of her comments:

http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2009/06/writing-advice-database.html The blog author Nathan Bransford (who is a literary agent) linked to another literary agent blog that has helpful articles. It's at http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/

Read, learn, and Get Busy!

Tools For The Filmmaker's Craft: "Rebel Without A Crew" by Robert Rodriguez

From Wikipedia:

"Rebel Without a Crew (subtitle: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player) is a 1995 non-fiction book by Robert Rodriguez. Presented in a diary format, Rebel details Rodriguez' beginnings as a young filmmaker; his stint at a medical testing facility to raise money for a feature film; the making of that film (El Mariachi) for $7,000, and his subsequent experiences in Hollywood selling the film and going to film festivals promoting it.

Later editions of the book also feature one of Rodriguez' tutorials on low-budget filmmaking ("Ten Minute Film School") and the screenplay to El Mariachi.

Rodriguez' rags-to-riches story, detailed in Rebel, as well as his vociferous support of low-budget techniques (such as digital cinematography) to allow anyone to make a movie cheaply, have made him an icon of modern independent filmmaking."

There's really no excuse. The tools are already there, if we're willing to seize them.

Read, learn, and Get Busy!

The Sojourner-Artist: Make Sure There's Something COMPELLING About Your Art

One of the recurring problems that I've noticed with most so-called "positive" art is that the artists never gave much thought to how they were going to sell or promote their work. Their art usually does not have a built-in, compelling aspect to it. Many of them seem to think that the fact that their work is "positive" is enough to make it sell and become popular. Ummm . . . NO! A commenter named Roslyn (who is a published, working author---check her out at http://www.roslynhardyholcomb.com/) alluded to this in an earlier conversation when she said:

"Danny Glover is another one who annoys the living stuffing out of me. Twenty years ago when he was huge making those Lethal Weapons movies he had the clout to do something more substantial, but he didn't. Now he's trying to get funding for Toussaint L'Overture movie. He's irate because producers are asking him, 'Where's the white hero?' Of course they are. I'm sure they're also asking 'Who's going to watch this movie?' Black folk won't support anything without a black man in drag, and white folk certainly aren't going to see a movie WITHOUT a white hero. Back in the day, he could've gotten studio backing for a small vanity film. But now? Uh no."

"Who's going to watch this movie?" is a legitimate, critical question.

"Why would anybody WANT to watch this movie?" is another question.

Yet another critical question is the one mentioned by the columnists over at WORDPLAY, "Is the premise naturally intriguing---or just average, demanding perfect execution?"

These sorts of considerations apply to more than just screenplays. They apply to art across the board. The people who created the classical crossover group named Bond know this. That's why they selected women musicians who can "pass" as fashion models. They know that sex sells. I strongly urge all aspiring Sojourner-Artists to keep these commercial considerations in mind when creating your work. Quality is not enough. There has to be some type of compelling "hook" to your work. You have to give thought to how and why your work will sell.

Consumer behavior is fairly consistent no matter what type of product is involved. There are a handful of people who actively seek out healthy, nutritious food that is good for them. But such people are not the norm. Similarly, there are a handful of people who actively seek out entertainment products that are high-quality and life-enhancing. Again, this type of consumer is not the norm.

Most people go with whatever is readily available. And what's readily available (read: heavily promoted) tends to become popular. Whatever type of work that becomes popular then becomes even more readily available (through sequels and imitators, etc.). Most "positive" artists haven't figured out how to break into this circular process. A negative manifestation of this circular process is why African-American arts have been spiraling down for the past two decades. Trash art begets more, and even worse, trash art.

A good beginning to answering the above questions is to read the following columns from WORDPLAY:

http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp01.A.Foot.in.the.Door.html
http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp02.Strange.Attractor.html
http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp03.Beachcombing.html
http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp05.Death.to.Readers.html

Tools For The Writer's Craft: WORDPLAY-Screenwriting Secrets From Working Screenwriters

During a recent blog discussion a reader named BklynGirl mentioned a wonderful and helpful website called WORDPLAY-Screenwriting Secrets From Working Screenwriters at http://www.wordplayer.com/.

While browsing the site, I've found references to helpful books explaining various aspects of writing good drama, such as The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri, and Making a Good Script Great by Linda Seeger.

For those of you who believe that good writing can only be done in perfect, "hothouse" conditions (not having to work a "day job," having a specially-designated writing room, etc.), I would remind you of our African-American ancestor, Dr. Martin Luther King. I would also suggest that you read his Letter From a Birmingham Jail!

I'm not talking about encouraging the children to get into the arts. We can't wait that long. African-American women and girls need new dreams right now. We can't afford to do our "business as usual" tradition of creatively listing all the perceived "reasons" why what we need is impossible. We also can't afford to follow our tradition of throwing our responsibilities off on the next generation. We can't wait any longer for the things we need in order to survive and thrive.

While we're waiting (stalling, procrastinating) the STIGMA that we have collectively attached to ourselves as African-American women is getting more repellent with each day that passes. I've noticed the trend that Evia described in her latest comment. This "We Are Dysfunction" banner that we've been waving for the past few decades is tightening into a noose around our collective necks. This noose gets tighter with each new foul image of ourselves that gets beamed across the planet. This movie "Push/Precious" sounds appalling. Right now, there's next to nothing to counteract that sort of madness.

I'm challenging all of us who are capable (that would be me, YOU, and others) to start meeting this need right now. Now. Not until after we have homes with specially-designated "writing rooms." NOW. If we are committed, then we will find ways to do what needs to be done. And not wait until it's totally convenient, comfy and cozy to do so.

Browse, learn, and enjoy!

Black Women Need New Dreams and a Black Woman's Arts Movement

This essay is contained in my new book. I'm delighted to announce that The Sojourner's Passport site has launched! You can visit it at http://www.sojournerspassport.com/.

Everyone, I can't thank you enough for your ongoing encouragement and support; I truly appreciate it. Your support is what made this possible. And here's a special shout-out to my web designers at Educo Web Design. They're nice people to deal with, and they do outstanding work!

Peace and blessings,
Khadija Nassif

Tools For The Writer's Craft: Television Tropes & Idioms

I found a delightful and helpful website last month called Television Tropes & Idioms. http://tvtropes.org/

While browsing the site, I've found references to helpful books explaining various aspects of writing good fiction, such as 20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them by Ronald B. Tobias.

Reading through the entries has also helped me focus my thoughts about the structure of the novel that I'm working on. My novel's setting is:

(1) "Twenty Minutes Into the Future" http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture

(2) in a "World Half Empty." http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WorldHalfEmpty

(3) I've decided to open with an "Action Prologue," http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ActionPrologue

(4) and have at least one character who's a "Sour Supporter." LOL!http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SourSupporter

Browse, learn, and enjoy!

Wildest Dreams Checklist: Are You Leveraging The New Media to Make Your Dreams Come True?

I just bought the Amazon Kindle version of Scott Sigler's book, Infected: A Novel. What I find even more exciting is the backstory of how he grew an audience for his fiction by podcasting his novels. Aspiring authors take note:

From Wikipedia:

"EarthCore was originally published in 2001 by iPublish, an AOL/Time Warner imprint. With the novel doing well as a promotional ebook, Time Warner was planning on publishing the novel. With the economic slump following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Time Warner did away with the imprint in 2004, Scott decided to start podcasting his novel in March, 2005 as the world's first podcast-only novel to build hype and garner an audience for his work. Sigler considered it a "no brainer" to offer the book as a free audio download. Having searched for podcast novels and finding none, Sigler decided to be the first. Sigler was able to get EarthCore offered as a paid download on iTunes in 2006.

After EarthCore's success (EarthCore had over 10,000 subscribers), Sigler released Ancestor, Infection, The Rookie, and Nocturnal via podcast. Currently he is producing a weekly podcast with Contagious, his current podcast novel (Podiobook).

Pushing boundaries, Sigler released an Adobe PDF version of Ancestor on Monday 19 March 2007 through Sigler's own podcast as well as others. Ancestor was released on April 1, 2007 to much internet hype and, despite having been released two weeks earlier as a free ebook, reached #7 on Amazon.com's best-seller list and #1 on Sci-Fi, Horror and Genre-Fiction on the day of release.

Sigler is leveraging new media to keep in-touch with his fans, regularly talking with them using social networking sites, via email, and IM.

Scott Sigler was featured in a New York Times article on March 1, 2007 by Andrew Adam Newman which was covering authors using podcasting innovations to garner a broader audience."

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu8svldpJToIBD81XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzNTdwY2JqBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA0RGRDVfMTE5/SIG=11t0iu07u/EXP=1239148207/**http%3a//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Sigler

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu9LMldpJkoABQNdXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzNTdwY2JqBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA0RGRDVfMTE5/SIG=11bq8spmp/EXP=1239148364/**http%3a//scottsigler.com/

Ladies, these are exciting times for those of us who take FULL advantage of what's available. Fortune favors the bold!