Friday, August 21, 2009

Two Great Links for Authors



Ah so missed the blog day again....I’m busy! (crunching numbers in my sleep...) Everybody in the house has colds...I hate spring, the pollen, the up and down temperatures...all designed to make me feel lousy as my body protests...

So what do I have for you this week.

As I am way behind my deadline of evicting current WIP I thought I would share with you a piece on revision by Jenny Crusie from her presentation at the Romance Writers of America national conference.

Mother in law says this conference has to be experienced to be believed.

They book venues 5 years in advance...coz they can have up to 20.000 delegates. Yes, you did read that right...

Jenny is a popular speaker and a brilliant writer. So if you have never read anything by her GO and Check her out! Her dialogue is brilliant. Her plots, are fast paced. Her characters are amazing...

Ok Enough said.

Jenny writes about turning points in your script. Where should they come? and why...


Here is a snippit

So what are turning points?

They’re events in the action of the plot where something happens that turns the story around in a new direction, raising the stakes and creating a new, more difficult struggle for the protagonist and, in turn, for the antagonist.

You can diagram a story in five turning points:

Yep, it makes you want to read more...


The next thing that I want to share with you is a video heads up I received from the owner of the Children’s Book Insider Clubhouse which I am a member of.

Jon wanted to let authors know of a cool new website that is particularly relevant to authors and new technology...

It’s about reading books but in a whole new way which gets the authors royalties every time...heeheeheehee

Now you have to view it! But seriously this is a very interesting development.

maureen



6 comments:

Melinda Szymanik said...

Um, I'm worried about the ripple reader. Doesn't the best reading experience for littlies happen in the arms of their mums and dads and grans and aunts etc... This has the potential to be another child minder allowing parents to abdicate their responsibilities to a computer :(

Melinda Szymanik said...

sorry, but I just see the potential for misuse of a product like the ripple reader. That whole google settlement thing has made me paranoid :)

Maureen said...

Hi Melinda,
I think it is good that authors discuss this. Healthy debate is better than no debate. From our own family experience...before my brother left for Afghanistan last year he recorded a DVD with the help of a friend of himself reading stories for his kids(30 favourites). The idea being that they could still get their bedtime reading with Dad while he was away...there was a slight ulterior motive it was a postive record for them in case he didn't come back.
Lots of the troopies over there when they heard what he had done wished they had done something like that too...this technology would allow that...(Yes they have internet in the feild...so they can order a book off amazon send it and say here's me reading it to you...)
I know it is not the same but it gave my brother piece of mind and his kids a great resource untill the DVD player played up and damaged the disc...when he still had 3 months to go...this technology would have helped that situation...
I think that there are positives here...it's still a trial...Have you thought about the added value of audiobooks where the author reads the book... this just makes it more virtual...but the author gets paid a royalty every time the book is bought to read...virtually as well as physically...
Think about the Were Nana being read by 30 troopies in the feild...the power of word of mouth in this situation...'Such a cool book and you can do scary voices if you want...Your kids will love it... mine did'

Anyway it's all good to discuss the implications...for authors and readers.

cheers
maureen

Maureen said...

There is an interesting debate going on at e-reads Richard curtis's blog on the google settlement.

http://www.ereads.com/2009/08/google-settlement-under-attack-for.html

The comments debate both sides of Richards argument...so all good heathy stuff...with tomatoes:)

Melinda Szymanik said...

I can't deny use of this product by troops and family living away from home would be great.

who does the audiobooks with the author reading?

Maureen said...

HI
I'm sure that I've seen a few audio books featuring the authors reading the story. If you could channel this into a downloadable podcast...something like audio smashwords....ooooh
on another topic...
Have fun at Storylines Auckland...We're gonning to have mega fun at Storylines here in Wellington. Fi and I are there with bells on tomorrow...me literally!
maureen

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