On the value of agents...
KEN KUHLKEN (The Loud Adios, The Angel Gang) : I wish somebody had told me not to even bother with them.

On agents charging reading fees...
MILES BEAUCHAMP (award-winning columnist, novelist): It's like wanting to sell your house. You're calling Century 21 and saying, "Well, I wanna list it with you." And they say, "We'll come and look at it but it'll cost a couple-hundred bucks first to come and look at it to decide if we'll list it."

On what an agent can do...
MARK CLEMENTS (Children of the End, The Land of Nod): They can get you a better deal but they're not necessarily gonna go out an have an auction for your book and get you a six-figure advance. That's a rarity that's the Lotto for a writer.

On whether or not to self-publish...
MIKE MacCARTHY (The Celestial Bar, Child of Java): When somebody has to self-publish, or decides to self-publish, that discipline is forced upon them by the virtue of the fact that now they have to look at that piece of paper, these thousands of words that they've written, from the point of view of How am I going to sell this? What have I got to sell here?

On the editor's job...
BILL MARTINEZ (literary consultant, former agent): So many writers are uninformed about how the publishing process is, how it works, that the assumption is that the editor will take their work, polish it, get it into shape for them.

On writing nonfiction...
JOSEPH WAMBAUGH (The Onion Field, Floaters): Nonfiction is easier for me to write in that I don't have to use my imagination as much. There is imagination required, when one writes what Truman Capote called a "nonfiction novel," that is a nonfiction book in the style of a novel.

On writing fiction...
QUINCY TROUPE (Miles and Me, Avalanche: Poetry): Everything comes from me. Not only the ordering, but the characters come from me. I have to breathe life into them. I have to give them a language. I have to give them a point of view.

On ethics...
BETTY ABELL JURUS (Men In Green Faces): So you better damn well be responsible about what you write. You better tell the truth, whether it's in fiction or nonfiction or whatever. And it better not be designed to hurt somebody.

On business...
SHARON IHLE (Maggie's Wish, Untamed): My fun, my actual oh-this-is-so-much-fun writing, was before I sold a book and discovered that I had to write some more.

On reality...
CRICKET ABBOTT (screenwriter, novelist): People who don't write think that you're writing when you're typing... In fact, my best writing comes taking a shower staring off into space.

On screenwriting...
MICHAEL STEVEN GREGORY (Spider-Man Unlimited, Blood): Optioning a screenplay is considerably easier than having a movie made from your screenplay which was optioned.

On being published...
LEROY V. QUINTANA (The History of Home, Great Whirl of Exile): We have this kind of mystery or mystique that you're not a writer until you've been published—You're not a football player until you're put in the game.

On epic novels...
DAVID BRIN (Foundation's Triumph, The Postman): These long, long John Grisham books that would end at page 50 if the protagonist would consider, maybe, getting out of town!

On money...
ALIJANDRA MOGILNER (The Children's Writers' Wordbook, Soldier of Fortune): 'Bout every three years, to make the IRS happy, I make money.

On the secret to writing...
NANCY HOLDER (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel): As for that one basic secret, I think the secret is there is no secret... So if there's no secret you don't have to find out what it is, so anybody can do it!

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Recent Publications: Readers & Writers Magazine

Viewers: Suzanne Scarborough Robinson, Jamie Loren, Viewer in Westlake Village .

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From Readers & Writers Magazine:

"There are over 10,000 writers in San Diego County," begins the opening narration of We, The Writer. Impressive? Not as much as the intensive effort, four years in the making, put in by Michael Steven Gregory (film director and organizer of the Southern California Writers' Conference) as he meticulously edited what must have amounted to hundreds of hours of interview time into one fast-paced video.

We, The Writer is a veritable Who's Who of San Diego authors, and includes video clips from David Brin, Judy Reeves, Betty Abell Jurus, Ken Kuhlken, Leroy Quintana, and Quincy Troupe, among others. Gregory has tapped a variety of writers-from commercial to literary, from poets to journalists, from the hugely successful to the still-struggling-for their insights and opinions. Each brings their individual perspective to the craft and business of writing, meted out to the viewer in short clips arranged around free-flowing subjects, as Gregory allows the conversations to seamlessly flow from one topic to the next through intensive splicing and dicing. The result is an intriguing mix of contradictions.

"Nobody is born a writer," one author asserts, who is then immediately followed by another, in a separate interview, who states, "I was born a writer." This kind of constant shift in perspective is oddly charming, and contributes to the fundamental feeling behind the film-that writing is a totally individual experience-and, as author Nancy Holder explains so succinctly, "The secret to writing is there is no secret."

An hour long, We, The Writer tackles such topics as the sociability of writing, the money to be made (or not), rejection, rewriting, what writers talk about, writers' work habits and discipline, writing instruments, working writers' strategies, confronting limitations, self-publishing, writers' misperceptions, editors and agents, genres, and more than can be easily summed up here. The fragmented video clips race by like neurons firing, seemingly allowing Gregory to get inside the archetypal "Writer"-into his or her mind-where he does a good deal of stomping around and airing out of ideas.

Another of the video's most interesting aspects is its short history of the recent San Diego writing scene, which more than anything helps fill in the blanks of many previously hot subjects. Betty Abell Jurus opens the conversation by reminiscing about her Writer's Bookstore and Haven, added to by Judy Reeves' The Writing Center and Mike McCarthy's Writer's Monthly. The process and thinking behind the floating phenomenon The Exquisite Cadaver (a surrealist attempt at writing a novella involving a hundred writers) is also exposed.

San Diegans will appreciate this peek into local history, but the video's appeal is truly universal. An added plus is that Gregory has wisely packaged a classroom syllabus into the educational version for creative writing teachers wanting to integrate it into their curricula. Gregory is already at work on the next installment (We, The Screenwriter) of what will be a five-part series, proving that perseverance is no small part of the craft.

Copyright © 2000 Readers & Writers Magazine. Reprinted with permission.

From Suzanne Scarborough Robinson in Sugar Hill, GA:

Who are creative, artistic people and what do they have to say about what they do? We, The Writer answers these questions and much more. A telling glimpse into talented minds, this work reveals writers in a natural and relaxed format that makes viewers feel they've been invited into a cozy kitchen for a cup of coffee and a stimulating chat. If you write, want to write, or are curious about who's behind the name on the book cover, this unique and penetrating inside look is for you.

From Jamie Loren in Portland, OR:

You typically see authors interviewed by people who aren't and can't possibly begin to understand how writers approach their craft or their career. Talk show hosts ask the same old generic questions resulting in the same old answers that, at least for most aspiring writers (myself included), are in no manner applicable to our concerns. There's so little information of substance, so little that might actually help our approach or resolve our own concerns as a writer, that they simply wind up being yet another forgettable "celebrity interview."

Admittedly, I was expecting more of the same with We, The Writer, but kept my fingers crossed. Let me tell you, I am not disappointed. We, The Writer provides so much information in such a fast and entertaining way that I immediately had to watch it again just to try and digest it all. A week later, the members of my writers group gathered to watch it and all felt the very same way I did.

This is an unexpectedly fresh and delightfully entertaining film. It not only gave me specific answers to problems that no "how to write" book I've read addressed adequately, but it made me think about actually BEING a writer, about dealing with the myriad issues that being a professional writer entails--ethics, agents, personal relationships, and a whole lot more things I never considered. Perhaps and even more important, what it reflects is professional writers as being far more than the stuffy "authors" we see in so many interviews. These are uniquely funny, thoughtful and genuinely accessible people that are just like every aspiring writer I've ever met. They're real.

If you're a serious writer, or are thinking seriously about becoming a writer, then do yourself a favor and get We, The Writer. You won't be alone.

From a viewer in Westlake Village, CA:

If you love to read, then you'll love We, the Writer for the insight it will give you into the creators of all things literary. This is a film that gets to the heart of the creative process...and all the work involved.

We, The Writer actually makes talking heads exciting for two reasons. First, because of the writers themselves--some of them my favorites, others far down on my list--and the way they express their thoughts and feelings about what they do. Second, because this film never lets anyone overstay their welcome. Bim bam cut, back and forth, from the sublime to the ridiculous, the wise to the oblivious, and back again.

I learned more about writing and writers than I ever thought I could, and, in some respects, more than I wanted to. Guess what? These fabulous wordslingers are human, after all. I no longer see them on their pedestals, but because of that I appreciate their work and the effort they make to create it, even more.

For me, We, the Writer has only one flaw: It isn't a book!