• Skip to main content
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Interview with Steve Laube
    • Statement of Faith
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
  • Guidelines
  • Authors
    • Who We Represent
    • Awards and Recognition
  • Resources
    • Recommended Reading
    • Christian Writers Market Guide Online
    • Christian Writers Institute
    • Writers Conferences
    • Freelance Editorial Services
    • Copyright Resources
    • Research Tools
    • Selling What You Write
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Twitter
  • FaceBook
  • RSS Feed
  • Get Published
  • Book Proposals
  • Book Business
  • Writing Craft
    • Conferences
    • Copyright
    • Craft
    • Creativity
    • Grammar
  • Fun Fridays
Home » Writing Craft » Page 31

Writing Craft

8 Ways to Write Like Shakespeare (Part 2)

By Bob Hostetleron September 19, 2018
Share
Tweet
10

I started a post last week about how much I owe as a writer to Shakespeare. We never met, of course (I’m old, just not that old); but in addition to the four lessons I listed last week, I also learned these crucial and valuable lessons from the Bard of Avon:

  1. Do something new.

Shakespeare started his career where others did—imitating Chaucer, Milton, Spencer, and others. He not only borrowed and stole from other writers (as everyone did back then), but also chose subjects to compete simultaneously with competitors’ plays. But what set him apart from everyone else were his powers of innovation. He invented new words, coined memorable phrases, and took old plots and gave them new twists.

In earlier versions of King Lear, for example, the tale ended happily. In Macbeth, he borrowed characters from different periods of history. In Othello, he made the noble African of the title a Christian instead of a Muslim, as would have been expected.

Whatever you’re writing, ask: What’s new about it? What’s fresh? Are you breaking new ground or at least putting a new twist on something?

  1. Roll with the punches.

Shakespeare was just getting started as a player and playwright when London’s theaters were closed in June 1592 due to an outbreak of the plague. Suddenly, there were no theaters in which to perform and no crowds to applaud. So what did he do? Did he return to Stratford-upon-Avon to see his family? Did he travel with his theater company through the English countryside? We don’t know, but we do know that he produced two long poems for patronage and publication during that period: Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, which became his first published works and probably established his reputation as not only a “player” and playwright but also as a poet.

You have to make adjustments as a writer. If you hit a roadblock, strike out in a new direction. Try another market. A different genre. A fresh tactic. Even a crazy idea, once in a while.

  1. Rewrite.

Most would agree that Shakespeare’s most famous words are Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy. But did you know that famous speech exists in at least three versions? Similarly, the modern text of King Lear is based on three versions, each of which contains lines not found in the others, suggesting that Shakespeare revised the play more than once. Shakespeare was apparently still rewriting and revising long after his plays debuted.

All good writing is rewritten. And great writing is rewritten many times—even for someone as gifted as Shakespeare. Sorry, but that’s the way it is. Never ever send “foul papers” (as Shakespeare and his contemporaries called their first drafts) to an editor or agent; keep at it until you produce “fair paper,” as they called the production draft.

  1. Write to change minds and lives.

The predecessors of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice were characters that inspired only contempt. But Shakespeare crafted a far more complicated, even sympathetic character, while depicting the ugliness of vengeance and beauty of mercy.

Othello is a compelling warning against jealousy. Measure for Measure satirizes the “bawdy courts” of Shakespeare’s time. The Taming of the Shrew, while it offends twenty-first century standards, actually challenged Elizabethan beliefs and practices relating to marriage.

So how will your reader be better off for reading what you wrote? Realistically? Specifically? How will your next piece of writing light a fire? Change a mind? Enrich a life?

 

Leave a Comment
Category: The Writing Life, Writing Craft

Checked Your Copyright Lately?

By Steve Laubeon September 17, 2018
Share
Tweet
11

Have you checked your copyright lately? I mean, have you actually gone to the US Copyright Office web site and searched for your registration? You might be surprised at what you won't find. Here is the link to start your search.

Most publishing contracts have a clause that requires the publisher to register the copyright, in the name of the author, with the US Copyright Office. This is supposed …

Read moreChecked Your Copyright Lately?
Category: Book Business, Copyright, Legal Issues, Publishing A-ZTag: Book Business, Copyright, Legal Issues

8 Ways to Write Like Shakespeare (Part 1)

By Bob Hostetleron September 12, 2018
Share
Tweet
36

I learn something new in every article or book I write, but perhaps never as much as I learned while composing my book The Bard and the Bible: A Shakespeare Devotional, a book of daily reflections drawn from a quote from Shakespeare and a verse from the King James Bible. Even after more than forty books, hundreds of articles, and thousands of blog posts, I learned from the Bard of Avon at least …

Read more8 Ways to Write Like Shakespeare (Part 1)
Category: The Writing Life, Writing Craft

Rumbles in CBA

By Steve Laubeon September 10, 2018
Share
Tweet
59

News broke late last week that key staff people in CBA (aka Christian Booksellers Association) are no longer working for the association. In what appears to be a purge, Curtis Riskey, president for 11 years, is no longer working there. Other key people are either no longer with the organization or are on their way out. In addition the chairman of the CBA board resigned last month. According to an …

Read moreRumbles in CBA
Category: Book Business, Book Business, Publishing News, The Publishing Life

Embedded Writing

By Dan Balowon August 28, 2018
Share
Tweet
25

During World War II, one of the highest profile journalists who wrote about the war for Americans back at the home front was Ernie Pyle. Ernie was one of the first “embedded” journalists in wartime and he lived and wrote while among the soldiers. He focused his stories on individual soldiers and their daily struggles. The troops loved him because he “got it.” The generals and politicians weren’t …

Read moreEmbedded Writing
Category: The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: The Writing Life, Writing Craft

New Author Acronyms for The Oxford English Dictionary

By Steve Laubeon August 20, 2018
Share
Tweet
41

Last week the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added a bunch of new words to their august tome. What made news is that four of the words aren’t words at all but acronyms that have crept into our everyday communication via the Internet. “Words” like LOL, OMG, BFF, and IMHO.
In honor of this auspicious occasion I thought it would be fun to see if we can find other acronyms that should become part of …

Read moreNew Author Acronyms for The Oxford English Dictionary
Category: Book Business, Humor, Writing CraftTag: Humor

Brainstorming: How and With Whom?

By Steve Laubeon August 13, 2018
Share
Tweet
19

Brainstorming is one of the fun parts in the development of a book. The key for the author is a willingness to hear other ideas. The second, and most critical key, is discovering those with whom you should brainstorm. Those people need to be willing to have their ideas rejected in the discussions and be willing to let an idea they created to be used by someone else. It takes a special …

Read moreBrainstorming: How and With Whom?
Category: Book Proposals, Writing CraftTag: brainstorming, Creativity, Editors, Ideas, Pitching, Writing Craft

Same Message, Different Reader

By Dan Balowon August 7, 2018
Share
Tweet
14

When a published book is successful (sells well), the publisher and author begin pondering how to be successful again with the next book. Often times, the solution to the repeat-success puzzle in non-fiction is having a similar message but aimed at a different audience. You’ve seen it happen many times, whether you realized it was intentional or not. Examples of branded book lines which have been …

Read moreSame Message, Different Reader
Category: Book Business, Creativity, The Writing LifeTag: Book Business, Book Sales, Career, Creativity, Nonfiction, The Writing Life

The Slush Pile: Enter at Your Own Risk

By Steve Laubeon August 6, 2018
Share
Tweet
26

The publishing world is divided between those who have read the slush pile and those who have not. If you have, then you can understand some of the cynicism and jaded eyes you see behind the glasses of an editor or an agent.

If you have not, then it is difficult to comprehend the unbelievable variety of ideas that can cross our desks.

Read moreThe Slush Pile: Enter at Your Own Risk
Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Get Published, Writing CraftTag: Agents, Book Business, Editors, Get Published, Pitching, Rejection, Writing Craft

Amazon Rank Obsession

By Steve Laubeon July 30, 2018
Share
Tweet
13

Admit it. You've checked your Amazon.com sales ranking at least once since your book was published. You feel the need to have some outside confirmation of the sales of your book. And Amazon's ranking are free to look at.

I've even seen book  proposals where the author has gone to great lengths to include the Amazon ranking for each title that is competitive with the one the author is proposing. …

Read moreAmazon Rank Obsession
Category: Book Business, Marketing, Publishing A-ZTag: Amazon, Bookselling, Get Published, Marketing
  • Previous
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 29
  • Page 30
  • Page 31
  • Page 32
  • Page 33
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 85
  • Next
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Interview with Steve Laube
    • Statement of Faith
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
  • Guidelines
  • Authors
    • Who We Represent
    • Awards and Recognition
  • Resources
    • Recommended Reading
    • Christian Writers Market Guide Online
    • Christian Writers Institute
    • Writers Conferences
    • Freelance Editorial Services
    • Copyright Resources
    • Research Tools
    • Selling What You Write
  • Blog
  • Contact

Copyright © 2025 · The Steve Laube Agency · All Rights Reserved · Website by Stormhill Media