Rachel Howzell Hall's Blog, page 13
November 21, 2011
Do You Like to Read for Less?
And do you like chatting cyber-ly with writers from everywhere?
Pop on over to Authors on the Cheap. I am one of five featured writers this week. You'll find good readin' over in them parts.
Pop on over to Authors on the Cheap. I am one of five featured writers this week. You'll find good readin' over in them parts.
November 16, 2011
Sooooo exciting!Really, it is.No One Knows You're Here no...
Sooooo exciting!
Really, it is.
No One Knows You're Here now has a Facebook page.
Go visit it. Please?
There will be updates on the book, announcements about giveaways and such, interesting things.
For realz.
Really, it is.
No One Knows You're Here now has a Facebook page.
Go visit it. Please?
There will be updates on the book, announcements about giveaways and such, interesting things.
For realz.
November 4, 2011
Let's Talk About Characters
Characters shouldn't be perfect. Characters who are perfect are BORING. Snow White? Bitch is BORING. But the what's-her-face, Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Oh yeah, more of her. Vikki from One Life to Live was only interesting when she became Nikki. And Tyler Perry's version For Colored Girls? Which character did you want to watch? The social worker (played by beautiful Kerry Washington (hi, Kerry, please play Nicole if View ever becomes a movie. xoxx) - or The Ho' (played by gorgeous Thandie Newton - hi, Thandie, please play Leilani if View ever becomes a movie. xoxx)
Lionel Shriver recently wrote an article about this.
Because in real life, people are not always perfectly charming. I try to duplicate in fiction the complex, contradictory, and infuriating people I meet on the other side of my study door. When fiction works, readers can develop the same nuanced, conflicted relationships to characters that they have to their own friends and family. I'm less concerned that you love my characters than that you recognise them. Human beings have rough edges. Authors who write exclusively about ethical, admirable, likeable characters are not writing about real people.
In The View from Here, Nicole is a bit whiny, insecure, a bitch in many ways. I BET you know someone like that.
In A Quiet Storm, Stacy is self-deprecating and enables her sister, putting her husband second and running off to save her sister at all costs. Until she doesn't.
Ahem.
Who are your favorite flawed characters, in film, literature or television?
Lionel Shriver recently wrote an article about this.
Because in real life, people are not always perfectly charming. I try to duplicate in fiction the complex, contradictory, and infuriating people I meet on the other side of my study door. When fiction works, readers can develop the same nuanced, conflicted relationships to characters that they have to their own friends and family. I'm less concerned that you love my characters than that you recognise them. Human beings have rough edges. Authors who write exclusively about ethical, admirable, likeable characters are not writing about real people.
In The View from Here, Nicole is a bit whiny, insecure, a bitch in many ways. I BET you know someone like that.
In A Quiet Storm, Stacy is self-deprecating and enables her sister, putting her husband second and running off to save her sister at all costs. Until she doesn't.
Ahem.
Who are your favorite flawed characters, in film, literature or television?
Nathan Bransford shared this article from GigaOM about th...
Nathan Bransford shared this article from GigaOM about the death of book publishers:
Amazon executive Russell Grandinetti gave the most succinct comment about the new world that publishers find themselves in: a wakeup call that should be posted in giant letters in every publishing house and agency. In an interview about Amazon's moves into signing authors directly, he told the New York Times:
[T]he only really necessary people in the publishing process now are the writer and reader. Everyone who stands between those two has both risk and opportunity.
Amazon executive Russell Grandinetti gave the most succinct comment about the new world that publishers find themselves in: a wakeup call that should be posted in giant letters in every publishing house and agency. In an interview about Amazon's moves into signing authors directly, he told the New York Times:
[T]he only really necessary people in the publishing process now are the writer and reader. Everyone who stands between those two has both risk and opportunity.
November 3, 2011
New e-Novel a'Comin'
I've been silent. Cuz I've been working. On what? you ask?
Drum roll, please.....
In collaboration with Beyond the Page Publishing, my new e-novel will be published in time for Thanksgiving.
Here's a little more about No One Knows You're Here:
Three weeks out of cancer surgery, crime reporter Syeeda McKay is in the pursuit of Los Angeles' most active serial killer. Over the last twenty years, the Phantom Slayer has hunted African-American prostitutes working in one of the worst parts of South Los Angeles, killing eight victims in the alleys off Western Avenue, and then disappearing into the shadows. But Syeeda doesn't know that the killer has turned his sights on her. Detective Adam Sherwood, a hotshot investigator with the Robbery-Homicide Division of the LAPD, has been handed the Phantom Slayer cases, and together, he and Syeeda must figure out who is doing the killing… before Syeeda becomes his next victim.
And here's the cover which was designed by my husband David Hall -- who also designed the cover for The View from Here. (Psst! Need a cover for your novel. Let me know -- I'll hook you up, man!)
I will keep you posted on all thing No One Knows You're Here aka NOKYH as well as other book-related news-es.
Drum roll, please.....
In collaboration with Beyond the Page Publishing, my new e-novel will be published in time for Thanksgiving.
Here's a little more about No One Knows You're Here:
Three weeks out of cancer surgery, crime reporter Syeeda McKay is in the pursuit of Los Angeles' most active serial killer. Over the last twenty years, the Phantom Slayer has hunted African-American prostitutes working in one of the worst parts of South Los Angeles, killing eight victims in the alleys off Western Avenue, and then disappearing into the shadows. But Syeeda doesn't know that the killer has turned his sights on her. Detective Adam Sherwood, a hotshot investigator with the Robbery-Homicide Division of the LAPD, has been handed the Phantom Slayer cases, and together, he and Syeeda must figure out who is doing the killing… before Syeeda becomes his next victim.
And here's the cover which was designed by my husband David Hall -- who also designed the cover for The View from Here. (Psst! Need a cover for your novel. Let me know -- I'll hook you up, man!)
I will keep you posted on all thing No One Knows You're Here aka NOKYH as well as other book-related news-es.
September 19, 2011
Yelping with Cormac McCarthy
And I discovered this on Pajiba who discovered it from someplace else and I'm re-posting cuz I think it's awesome.Called Yelping with Cormac McCarthy. Here's a bit about 'his' trip to Ikea:I went to the damndest store I ever saw with my son and my daughter in law shortly after my granddaughter was born. Had to be the biggest furniture store in the world. Showroom floor with these little rooms all done up you could walk through. I felt like I was trespassing. My son and his wife were arguing about I don't know what so I hung back a bit and before long I lost them. I ended up next to a wall of chairs. Maybe 30 chairs on shelves all lined up. I guess I stood there for a long time just looking at them. These entries are the clever work of EDW Lynch, and it's some of the funniest writing I've read.
Hello, Again, Hello
As Ned Flanders would say, "Heidi-ho, neighborino!"I've been away for a long time, huh. According the Blogger, since March.I haven't been idle, though. Nope. Not in the least. Writing, writing, reading, writing some more, trip to Disneyworld, conference, writing and reading. And if you're into true crime, I've got some book recommendations for ya! Oh, yeah, my mind was filled with all kinds of unfortunate yet provocative stories. Next post. Promise!And! And I'll have exciting news about my next release No One Knows You're Here.For now, I'll leave you with a sign -- I won't tell you where I took it but I don't think it matters. It would be blech wherever it hung.
Hello, Again, Hello. 2GUKJJ3URWBE
As Ned Flanders would say, "Heidi-ho, neighborino!"I've been away for a long time, huh. According the Blogger, since March.I haven't been idle, though. Nope. Not in the least. Writing, writing, reading, writing some more, trip to Disneyworld, conference, writing and reading. And if you're into true crime, I've got some book recommendations for ya! Oh, yeah, my mind was filled with all kinds of unfortunate yet provocative stories. Next post. Promise!And! And I'll have exciting news about my next release No One Knows You're Here.For now, I'll leave you with a sign -- I won't tell you where I took it but I don't think it matters. It would be blech wherever it hung.
2GUKJJ3URWBE
2GUKJJ3URWBE
March 28, 2011
Writing in my Car... with Nicholas J. Ambrose
Dialogue Dos and Don'ts
One of the things that I tend to struggle with is dialogue. Ironically, my trouble with dialogue doesn't come from the dialogue itself – but the action that takes place around it. For a lot of writers, I suspect the problem is the same.
To write, I believe you have to be very adept at picturing things visually. When you're in the middle of writing a scene, that scene should be playing out in your head. The same goes for anything you write – any piece of background or scenery, any of your characters, any action, and any dialogue. When I write, the scene plays like a movie in my mind.
That's useful, because it means you can get everything down as you're picturing it. As something happens in your mind, you can describe that action.
Enter dialogue, and with it, a problem.
My problem comes down to sometimes being too visual-minded. When I'm writing dialogue, I like to convey the action happening around it – and when I was newer to writing, still developing my style and voice, before I started to really hone the craft, I used to convey the action too much.
Cue many instances of dialogue brimming overfull with tags like 'cried' and 'shouted' and 'yelled' and 'whispered' and 'muttered' and so on ad infinitum. Cue even more instances of dialogue where each line is broken up by a snippet of meaningless action – someone turning to someone else, looking up sharply, swinging kicks, moving across rooms, staring into space. Conversation turned from conversation to something else entirely, the flow entirely broken to pieces.
This is something I still struggle with from time-to-time, although I am getting much better. Sometime after writing my first couple of novels, I began to read more, and started to pay attention to dialogue and conversation in books. Instead of ceaseless tags, a lot of dialogue is a perfect mix: subtle pieces of action peppered throughout, a scattering of tags to indicate the way someone is speaking (although you should try to use 'said' most, if you do, as it's read but not consciously taken in), but mostly just solid dialogue. It was exactly what it should be: an exchange.
Think about what your characters are saying, rather than doing, when you write your dialogue. Try to turn that visual brain of yours down a notch, or you risk ruining the thing entirely. Remember that writing is art, and you should paint with subtle brush strokes and leave the rest to suggestion and imagination. Don't insult your reader and spell every little thing out for them – let them put the picture together for themselves.
And if it doesn't come out perfect? Well, no sweat – that's what the second draft is for.
***
Nicholas, thanks so much for sharing all this. I love writing dialogue and I often eavesdrop on conversations between real people to get the flow down, the equivocations and half-lies, the hearing and not listening rhythm. Then, I read it aloud. Elmore Leonard is the KING of dialogue.
For you, Reader-Friend, please visit Nicholas at his blog, An Author's Journey and his site Regarding the Hive (pretty cool title, huh?). And. And! His book Progenitor is available at Amazon for only 99 cents. Check it out and tell him I sent you!
One of the things that I tend to struggle with is dialogue. Ironically, my trouble with dialogue doesn't come from the dialogue itself – but the action that takes place around it. For a lot of writers, I suspect the problem is the same.
To write, I believe you have to be very adept at picturing things visually. When you're in the middle of writing a scene, that scene should be playing out in your head. The same goes for anything you write – any piece of background or scenery, any of your characters, any action, and any dialogue. When I write, the scene plays like a movie in my mind.
That's useful, because it means you can get everything down as you're picturing it. As something happens in your mind, you can describe that action.
Enter dialogue, and with it, a problem.
My problem comes down to sometimes being too visual-minded. When I'm writing dialogue, I like to convey the action happening around it – and when I was newer to writing, still developing my style and voice, before I started to really hone the craft, I used to convey the action too much.
Cue many instances of dialogue brimming overfull with tags like 'cried' and 'shouted' and 'yelled' and 'whispered' and 'muttered' and so on ad infinitum. Cue even more instances of dialogue where each line is broken up by a snippet of meaningless action – someone turning to someone else, looking up sharply, swinging kicks, moving across rooms, staring into space. Conversation turned from conversation to something else entirely, the flow entirely broken to pieces.
This is something I still struggle with from time-to-time, although I am getting much better. Sometime after writing my first couple of novels, I began to read more, and started to pay attention to dialogue and conversation in books. Instead of ceaseless tags, a lot of dialogue is a perfect mix: subtle pieces of action peppered throughout, a scattering of tags to indicate the way someone is speaking (although you should try to use 'said' most, if you do, as it's read but not consciously taken in), but mostly just solid dialogue. It was exactly what it should be: an exchange.
Think about what your characters are saying, rather than doing, when you write your dialogue. Try to turn that visual brain of yours down a notch, or you risk ruining the thing entirely. Remember that writing is art, and you should paint with subtle brush strokes and leave the rest to suggestion and imagination. Don't insult your reader and spell every little thing out for them – let them put the picture together for themselves.
And if it doesn't come out perfect? Well, no sweat – that's what the second draft is for.
***
Nicholas, thanks so much for sharing all this. I love writing dialogue and I often eavesdrop on conversations between real people to get the flow down, the equivocations and half-lies, the hearing and not listening rhythm. Then, I read it aloud. Elmore Leonard is the KING of dialogue.
For you, Reader-Friend, please visit Nicholas at his blog, An Author's Journey and his site Regarding the Hive (pretty cool title, huh?). And. And! His book Progenitor is available at Amazon for only 99 cents. Check it out and tell him I sent you!
March 15, 2011
The View from Here Gets Italian Love!
Recently, I cyber-chatted with lovely Italian blogger Serena Gobbo over at her site, Librini (little books). We covered writing, books, multitasking, all of it.
Please pop on over. Serena translated the interview just for you!
Rachel
Please pop on over. Serena translated the interview just for you!
Rachel
