The latest version of Amazon's Kindle (due on August 27th) will be just $139
I predict a $99 version by Christmas 2011.
- Mood:
contemplative
Most folks already know that if you’re planning a murder, you want to make sure the likes of Jane Marple and Hercules Poirot are nowhere to be found once the investigating starts.
Now there’s another name to add to the list, Karen W. Newton (aka ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
karen_w_newton), who saw through more devious deceptions than anyone else during the recent ‘Where’s the Fib?’ contest.
Karen scored an impressive 10 points (out of a possible 19*)
Four people came in joint 2nd place, with 7 correct guesses. They are:
Rose Lemberg (aka grayrose76)
Terri-Lyne DeFino(aka bogwitch64)
Tracy Dickens (aka tracy_d74)
Mike Lawson (aka mtlawson)
*I made sure the folks who supplied four facts and a fib were credited with correctly guessing their own, even if they didn’t answer on the poll – or in the case of one person, gave the wrong answer in the poll.
I’ll be in touch with Karen about her prize. In the meantime, thanks again for taking part everybody. We’ll play ‘Where’s the Fib?’ again next year, but next up on the contest calendar, The 2010 Meager Puddle of Limelight Award for Best Book Title opens its entry doors on August 16th.
- Mood:
creative
Today is Senior Management's birthday. She's currently back in blighty with my eldest, which is a little sad (not least because there won't be any cake eating done here today).
On the bright side, no cake and candles means there's no chance of repeating last year's 'sprinkler' incident. Something which never happens around my own birthday, since I long ago decided to stay 29.
- Mood:
cheerful
Over the last few years, I’ve come to realize what a huge impact my old gran had on my writing. With that in mind, I thought I’d share some of her quaint little sayings and explain how they've influenced my work.
10 Things My Old Gran Taught Me About Writing.
1. ‘You only get one chance to make a first impression, so don’t bugger it up, you pillock!’
Pull the reader into the story from the very first line. It’s no good having an amazing plot twist or a stellar ending if the reader gave up on the story because the first three pages put them to sleep.
2. ‘I don’t know, CAN you?’
Using the right words is important. A wrong word or careless grammar can kick the reader right out of the story.
3. ‘Don’t make me come up there!’
Ever found yourself yelling, ‘Get on with it!’ at a slow-paced book? If we think something might bore the reader, maybe we should leave it out.
4. ‘Can’t you see I’m watching the telly? Bugger off!’
Chances are, your readers have plenty of things demanding their attention. We need to make sure our stories are enticing enough to first hook them, then keep them reading.
5. ‘What are you looking at, fish-face?’
We want our readers to experience our stories with all their senses, but we need to make sure they always know where the character is and what (or who) they see.
6. ‘Who’s ‘she,’ the cat’s mother?’
Make sure the reader never has to stop to figure out which character spoke, or who just did what to whom.
7. ‘Touch that again and I’m fetching the cattle-prod!’
The stakes have to be high enough to make our readers worry about the consequences should our protagonist fail. The suffering has to be bad enough for them to empathize with our characters and keep reading in the hope that things turn out okay.
8. ‘I don’t like any of you.’ [in answer to my (then) four-year-old brother, who’d asked which of her many grandchildren was her favorite].
Gran’s unique approach to diplomacy taught me that honesty might hurt, but it’s better to recognize when a whole chunk of a WiP stinks (and then try to fix the problem), than to delude ourselves that a story’s perfect, when it really isn’t.
9. ‘It weren’t me it were the dog’ [For a long time, this particular phrase confused me, since my old gran never had a dog]
Misdirection is a great tool. As readers, we love to guess the who, the why and the what’s going to happen next, but even more than that, don’t we love to be outwitted fair and square (please note: surprise telegrams proving that innocent-looking Character A, who has no possible motive for murder, is in fact, character H – the illegitimate half-brother of the deceased who stands to inherit a fortune now he’s the sole heir of Character B, does NOT qualify as ‘fair and square’)?
10. ‘For crying out loud. You’re nearly five years old. Get your own damn dinner!’
We don’t have to do everything for our readers. In fact, they’ll probably enjoy the story more if we let them work some things out for themselves. Of course, the tricky bit is deciding what those things are.
If I had to choose, I’d say I struggle with #2 and #10 more than any other.
How about you?
What (if anything) on the list do you struggle with?
- Mood:
content
COMING SOON:
THE 2010 MEAGER PUDDLE OF LIMELIGHT AWARD FOR BEST BOOK TITLE
Is your book title good enough to win a Puddle?
Contest doors open, August 16th
Contest doors open, August 16th
- Mood:
excited
I’ve been working on my talk, THE FINE ART OF SELF-PROMOTION, in preparation for my presentation /workshop for the GLVWG writers’ group in November. One of the first things I plan to cover is whether or not unpublished writers should even have a blog.
By strange coincidence, at Kidlit.com the other day, Mary Kole asked that same question. Jodi Meadows (aka
jmeadows) wrote a great response to this (with which I mostly agree), but I’d like to add my own thoughts. Should unpublished writers blog?
If you’re a not yet published short fiction writer, and don’t like the idea of blogging, then don’t. I think you’re missing out on a great experience, but I wouldn’t advise anyone to start a blog who wasn’t keen on the idea.
However (and here's where I'm afraid I must disagree with from both Mary and Jodi), if your goal is to one day publish a novel, that’s a different story. The days when a debut author let the publishing and publicity department do the marketing and promotion work while he/she just got on with writing the next book have long since passed (if indeed they ever existed).
If you’re in the ‘However’ category, I’d say the question isn’t so much ‘Should unpublished writers blog?’ as ‘How should unpublished writers blog?’
In her post at Kidlit.com, Mary said that too many unpublished writers’ have blogs with poor content or too little content. I see where she’s coming from, and I totally agree that content is important. The problem I had with her post is that she makes the distinction between published and unpublished writers, as if getting a book contract automatically makes you both interesting and a good blogger. It really doesn't.
The fact that someone’s a published writer might attract a few readers at first. It would certainly give a little credibility when it comes to offering writing advice, but other than that, unless you’re a celebrity of some sort, the success (assuming the goal is to attract readers - and by default, potential book buyers) of any writer’s blog comes down to quality and frequency of content, and more importantly, the way in which he/she interacts with other folks online.
Of course, how folks use their online journals is up to them, but I would argue that far too many published, or soon-to-be published, writers only use their blogs for social broadcasting (talking at people), when social networking (actually engaging with people) is far more effective and a lot more fun.
Effective blogging isn't as difficult as writing a book, but it is a skill of sorts, requiring practice and deliberate intent. It doesn’t matter where you are in your writing career, if you make the effort to create interesting posts and take the time to connect with other folks, you can develop a blog readership. If you don’t, then it doesn’t matter how many novels you’ve published, few people will visit your journal more than once.
Since good blogging takes practice, doesn’t it make sense to acquire that skill now, rather than wait till you get your book contract? I believe it takes years of steady work and a deliberate plan of action to develop a wide social network. If that’s your goal, I recommend starting early. Down the road, when that novel you’re working on gets published, you’ll be glad you did.
How about you?
Do you think unpublished writers should blog?
- Mood: contemplative
Thick Skin (Jennifer R. Hubbard aka
writerjenn) Writers and social media (Jodi Meadows aka
jmeadows) The Importance of Self-Editing (Victoria Strauss)
Five Self-defeating Recession Behaviors (Kathryn Craft)
In Praise of Reading Slush (Nathan Bransford)
Has the camel’s nose entered the ebook tent? (Karen W. Newton aka
karen_w_newton) Don’t Take Yourself Out of the Game (Diana Peterfreund)
by way of Saundra Mitchell (aka
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/user_ontd.gif){kind=small}
anywherebeyond) Publish America: Now With 67% More Poodoo! (Jim Hines aka
jimhines) Self marketing might be the most important kind (Seth Godin)
7 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting a Writing Group (Chuck Sambuchino)
If you have a particular favorite among these, please let the author know (and me too, if you have time). Also, if you've a link to a great post that isn't here, feel free to share.
- Mood: creative
I don't know about other folks, but when I'm in writing mode, I find it very hard to get stuck into a good book. The same goes for when I'm reading. I find it almost impossible to focus on a WiP if I'm engrossed in someone else's novel.
It's probably one of those left brain/right brain things. Either that or I'm just not that bright, which is equally possible.
How about you?
Can you read AND write, or do you find it has to be one or the other?
- Mood: contemplative
rippatton) who's stopped by to talk a little about the natural New Zealand phenomenon which inspired her fantasy story, THE FUTURE OF THE SKY. The Land of the Long White Cloud - guest post by Ripley Patton
The Maori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, which loosely translated means "The Land of the Long White Cloud." And it is a wholly appropriate name. I have seen this long cloud creature, thick and material as you or I, broil over a hill and fill a valley with its ethereal presence in minutes. I have seen it creep in from the sea and swallow a small bay settlement whole. I have seen its long serpentine body curled around the peaks of mountains.
I have lived many places, but only in New Zealand have the clouds taken on such personality, such intent and solidity. Here, clouds are not just wispy hints of weather in a distant sky. In New Zealand the clouds come down to earth and treat with us. They are alive; we have seen their faces, and this is their land.
And so, when I heard there was going to be an anthology of New Zealand Speculative Fiction published by Random Static, I knew I wanted to write a fantasy story about the mythology of clouds.
As soon as I started my research, I stumbled upon the concept of sylphs.
The Meager Mythology of Sylphs
Before this, I had never heard of sylphs and maybe you haven't either.
Sylphs are mythological air elementals out of the Western tradition, and there is very little known mythos surrounding them. I found that exciting because it meant that I could make some up.
The first mainstream mention of sylphs in literature was from Alexander Pope in Rape of the Lock, in which women full of spleen and vanity turn into sylphs when they die because their spirits are too full of dark vapors to ascend to the skies. Belinda, the heroine of Pope's poem, is attended by a small army of sylphs, who foster her vanity and guard her beauty.
Other than that, sylph has passed into general usage as a term for minor spirits, elementals or fairies of the air.
But in the absence of literary mythology, humans have a way of filling in the gaps.
Modern Sylph Mythology
Google the word sylph and you will find a wealth of information, including numerous photos of actual sylphs in the sky.
Here are some of the basics of the modern sylph mythology.
What are Sylphs?
Sylphs are air elementals who live in Earth's skies (as well as the skies of other planets) and can manifest as transparent, or take on the appearance of clouds, though usually with very strong, distinguishing shapes. They are INTRA-dimensional, existing in both the third and fourth dimensional densities. They were called Thunderbirds by the Native Americans, and are sometimes referred to as Wingmakers, but are not to be confused with Cloudships.
Where do Sylphs come from?
One theory says that, as elementals, sylphs are simply a part of nature's supernatural manifestation, much like any other fairy being. They have always existed and always will.
Another more sci-fi theory is that sylphs are the living spirits of heavenly bodies, such as comets, meteorites, asteroids, moons, and even planets.
And yet another theory concerns the birth of sylphs. Some say that sylphs can divide themselves and birth new, smaller sylphs. But it is also commonly accepted that sylphs and other elemental beings can be born from the wombs of human women. This may be a concept used to explain false-pregnancy, or very early miscarriage, an idea I used heavily in my sylph story, The Future of the Sky.
What do Sylphs do?
Sylphs are the shepherds of the sky, our atmospheric care-takers. They coordinate weather, climate, forest growth, forest fires, land animal migrations, bird migrations and the dissolution of dangerous pollutants in the atmosphere. They herd clouds, and direct lightning. They are the spirits one calls to for the gift of rain. They clean up chemtrails, dispersing the dangerous chemicals man injects into his skies. Some claim it was sylphs who repaired the hole in the ozone layer. Crop circles are attributed to sylphs as an increasingly complex attempt to warn us and guide us toward a more earth-friendly path. The larger the sylph the older it is and the more sky clean-up it can handle. Sylphs have no problem flying through space. Extremely large sylphs may actually migrate from the sky to more roomy places such as the belt of comets beyond Pluto's orbit.
Enemy of the Sylph
It may come as no surprise that man is the main enemy of the sylph. Many people believe that the world's military has been aware of the reality of sylphs for decades and has developed specific technology to combat the interference of sylphs in man's exploration and domination of the skies.
Photographing the Sylph
A Sylph is more than an odd-shaped cloud. Sylphs manifest as distinct forms you won't find in any cloud book or weather guide. There are oodles of photos and quite a lot of video footage of sylphs all over the net but below is one of my favorites from the website www.indianinthemachine.com and it served as inspiration my The Future of the Sky story.
If you'd like to find out more about sylphs, much of my research came from the website Educate-Yourself here; http://educateyourself.org/cn/sylphandch
You can also read my sylph story, THE FUTURE OF THE SKY, in the anthology A Foreign Country: New Zealand Speculative Fiction. Just click the image below to pre-order your copy now.
Ripley Patton is an American writer of short speculative fiction and flash who lives on the South Island of New Zealand. She currently has two works on the final ballot for the Sir Julius Vogel Award, one short story and one novelette. She is also the proud founder of SpecFicNZ, the new association for New Zealand spec fic writers, which will be launched at Au Contraire on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 in Wellington. Other than that, she is quietly plugging away on her first novel, a YA urban fantasy that will be nothing like the Twilight Saga. To find out more about Ripley and her work visit her website at http://www.ripleypatton.com/ or her blog at http://rippatton.livejournal.com.
- Mood: content
It's been almost six months since I launched FindAWritingGroup.com, the free-to-join/free-to-use network of information about writing groups in individual countries/states). Thanks to some of my online friends, there are now seven FAWG Yahoo groups set up in the USA ( for Alabama; California; Colorado; Florida; Louisiana; Massachusetts and New Jersey).
If you live in one of the above states, please consider joining the appropriate Yahoo group where you can find (and/or upload) information about writing groups there.
If you live elsewhere but would still like to help, please promote the organization, or better yet, consider setting up a FAWG Yahoo group for you own country or state. I'll add a brief bio of anyone who sets up a FAWG Yahoo group to the Find A Writing Group page on the main website, along with a link to your blog and website. If that's not an option for you at the moment, but you like the idea of FAWG, you're welcome to join our Live Journal community.
- Mood: content
Profile
- jongibbs
- Jon Gibbs
- My writing website
Stuff What I Wrote
Available now from Echelon Press $2.99
Artwork by Nathalie Moore of GraphicsMuse.com
Click on the cover to see the book trailer.
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