The Gifted Series: Book Trailer
Something that you are seeing more of is the concept of commercials and/or trailers for books. Honestly, I’m surprised that it’s taken this long to become more popular and I feel that it still has a ways to go. I think that as a society we rely too much on t.v. and/or internet to tell us about things and that includes new books. It only makes sense that trailers are a step in the right direction for book marketing. I still don’t see many trailers on t.v, but I have have seen a few. Anyway, I stumbled across this trailer for the Gifted series by Marilyn Kaye. It looks like a good read. The Gifted Series trailer can be found here:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/flashVideo/element_id/2140398090/taxid/34194.html.
Site Interruptions
Just a warning. I am doing some work on my site. If the sites goes down, I promise it will be back up by Tuesday, 12/1/09 at the latest.
New Moon Movie Review
***spoiler alert****
Well, I must say I was impressed with New Moon
Here’s a quick overview of my thoughts:
Pros:
They stuck to the book for the most part
Most (not all) but most of the things they did add in, were plausible based on what is in the book
They nailed the werewolves, they were big, and the phasing was fantastic
I thought the acting was well done and loved how they developed the relationship between Bella and Jacob
There was some beautiful cinematography throughout the movie
Book to Movie Discrepancies:
Jacob does not give Bella a birthday present (not to be confused with the scene in Eclipse where he gives her a graduation bracelet) in the book
They left out the CD that Edward made for Bella in the movie
Bella does not get on the back of some random guy’s motorcycle in the book
Bella does not hit Paul in the book and the movie reversed the beach scene and the scene at Emily’s house
Jacob did not promise Bella to take her cliff diving in the movie–they just have her want to do it on her own.
Edward does not fight the Volturi in the book ( I mean seriously who could get the jump on Alice, like they had happen in the movie)
They don’t have Charlie and Harry “hunting” wolves in as much detail in the book but I felt that scene worked very well and was plausible based on what was written.
Jacob did not get angry during the movie scene with Mike and Bella, in the book.
Jacob did not rat out Bella’s motorcycle to Charlie in the movie.
I did imagine the Aros, Caius, and Marcus as being much older and having translucent skin. I also imagined Jane and Alec looking more alike since they are twins in the book. However, that’s just my personal opinion.
Those are the main differences that I can think of and honestly, they didn’t make much of a difference to me. They captured the essence of the book and left all the key scenes in without adding a bunch of nonsense. I am greatly looking forward to Eclipse this summer.
Book Review: The Hunt for Dark Infinity by James Dashner
This book is the sequel to The Thirteenth Reality. Read that one first; just my opinion.
If you like a book that has great characters, adventure, and is just plain fun, then read this. I really enjoyed the first installment and this second one is even better. Of course, I don’t want to give too much away. The main character, Atticus, Tick for short is once again helping Master George with the aid of his new friends. We have a new villain, an odd ally, a deadly plague, and surprising twist of Chi karda at the end of the book. It kept me on my toes and I couldn’t put it down, so go give it a read. To learn more about the author, James Dashner, check out his blog. http://jamesdashner.blogspot.com/
~Keep Reading
Back on Track
Occasionally my life derails my writing schedule. Being pregnant has caused a prolonged derail. I’m not using that as an excuse, but I’ve been more interested in sleeping that just about anything else. Oh maybe eating that’s another priority of mine ;).
Anyway, my point is what to do when you get derailed? I think a good start is to go back to the beginning. I don’t mean re-writing your story or even editing but re-reading it. Hopefully your first chapter is enough to re-captivate your imagination and pull you back in. If not the first chapter then perhaps where you left off, or those pages and pages of notes on what needs to happen next.
Often we simply don’t even give ourselves the chance. We put it off for the sake of sleep, dishes, laundry, more sleep in my case. It’s important to peruse through these things, re read your favorite parts, and let yourself be sucked back into your story. Your motivation may come from that original spark that has kept you going this far. So re-read, fan the flame, and happy writing.
Overcoming Obstacles
We all have those times in our lives where nothing makes sense, we see no hope in whatever it is we are doing, we are time crunched, scatterbrained, and in dire need of a vacation. For me, these are the times where writing gets shoved to the side and forgotten about for weeks at a time. I know, bad me. I guess the point of this post is that we all face obstacles that stop us from writing either by stealing away our time or blocking us creatively. I think the key thing for working through these times is relaxation and hope.
I know that with the economy the way it is those two things are much easier said then done. Still though find things that help you relax, once you are able to relax your mind is free to wander and it is through these random thoughts that one often finds a path they didn’t see before that can lead to renewed hope.
If you like to walk or run, do it.
If you like music find something soothing.
For others simply taking a shower helps clear their mind.
It’s easy to get bogged down in the every day crap. You have to remember to mentally step away from it on occasion. Yes that may mean neglecting the laundry or the kitchen for one afternoon. But in the grand scheme of things is one afternoon of undone dishes really going to matter? No. Especially if it brings you peace of mind.
Another thing for you to consider if you currently feel you are surrounded by chaos, is to stop and remember what you were doing in your daily life the last time you did not feel chaotic. Myself, I listened to music at night, brainsync music. I wrote often in a journal, just to vent. Typically when I find I stop doing little things like that, life starts making less sense to me. So remember, little acts of relaxation, often lead to thoughts of hope and sometimes that’s enough to get through the crazy times in our lives.
A couple of website I really like for music sources is www.brainsync.com where you can purchase brainsync music and www.pandora.com, which is a free internet music project.
Marketing
I know some writers think that if they have a great book that their editor loves then it will surely makes it’s way to best seller status. Yeah, I use to think that too, a long time ago. There is one thing you have to remember, you may write because you love it, but for publishers, it’s a business. Writer’s should always be honing their craft but you also have to learn about the business end, and I don’t mean contracts and royalty checks. I mean marketing. As a writer you will need to know how to market your book. While I was at the Willamette Writer’s Conference, I attended a workshop called Red Hot Internet Basics with Penny Sansevieri. Now I do not consider myself a ‘basic’ internet user. I honestly thought I would sit there and hear the same old same old about have a website, have a blog, get on facebook, etc. While she did talk about these things, she talked about HOW to make them work for you. HOW to use them to market. It was an incredible workshop. Her website is http://www.amarketingexpert.com
It offers a free newsletter that has really helpful tips. I recommend subscribing to it. She also has a book out, Red Hot Internet Publicity. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s on my to get list.
She talks about using Google Alerts and being active on other sites to help get your name out there. Also she talked about using www.twitterfeed.com to feed your blog to your Twitter account. She provided some great info and I recommend signing up for the newsletter, which is also packed with marketing tips. Just go to her site and a box pops up to sign up for the newsletter. http://www.amarketingexpert.com
Down to Details
I hope that you’ve done some ‘fun’ writing lately. I know, all writing is fun, it’s the editing that can be a pain in the rear. At least, that’s how it is for me. While I was at the Willamette Writer’s conference, I was extremely lucky to be able to sit down at a table with Charlotte Cook, one of the agents and presenters at the conference. She graciously allowed anyone who wanted to meet her one morning to sit and chat. This was in follow up to her workshop: An acquisition editor polishes your first pages. I wasn’t able to stay for the whole thing because I had to go pitch, but it was incredibly nice of her to do and it was helpful. Something she talked about it something that you’ve probably already heard about. Spacing, margins, font. I know that getting that detailed seems silly, but it’s important to remember that editors and agents do care about and look at those things. Don’t change your margins to cram in more words. Don’t use times new roman font (unless submission guidelines say to), it’s harder on the eyes. Read the submission guidelines. Simple things. If you don’t already have a ‘formatting’ book I recommend Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon. Great book; lots of good advice. Reading something like this if not this book will help save you from some of the sillier mistakes that can be made. Such as putting two spaces after a period. I’m not that old but that is how I learned how to type. I think I’ve started rambling so I’m going to sign off for today.
~Keep Reading
A personal Moment
This is going to be short and completely not related to writing. I am currently 16 weeks and 3 days pregnant and was able to get a good listen to my baby’s heartbeat today for the first time.
Click the link below to hear the heartbeat.
Show me, don’t tell me
This is probably going to be quite obvious but I wanted to talk about showing versus telling. I know we’ve all heard that. I know that sometimes I do it and don’t even realize it. So I’ve written three sentences below, each giving more detail and hopefully, showing more and telling less.
1. He laughed at her while she hopped around comically.
2. He laughed at the funny expression that flitted across her face
3. He laughed at her wrinkled nose and pursed lips as she hopped on one foot, clutching the other in her hand.
“Damn chair, who put that there!”
“You did.” He grinned at her.
As you can see with the third sentence I continued, going further into the scene. For me, the writing flowed easier. I also want to point out something about the dialogue, something that I only learned this year, 2009. The second line of dialogue is punctuated with a period and then a separate sentence. Why? Because a person cannot grin words, at least so I’ve been told. It is one of the ‘rules’ you can get bogged down in but it is still important. Interestingly enough, I haven’t found a book that deals with the punctuation of dialogue to an extent that I would like. So, if you want to learn more, you are probably best off going to your local library or bookstore and perusing several books to see what their dialogue sections say.
Something you can try to practice showing versus telling is to write a scene, showing an emotion. Never use any adjective or adverb that can be linked to the emotional word, such as angry.
So, give it a go.
Anger
Happiness
Morose