Natasha Deen's Blog, page 66

Worth Reading

Bob Mayer’s post on e-books, publishers, agents, and authors.

Friday Freebie

“I don’t believe in animal testing. They get all nervous and give the wrong answers.” ~ A Bit of Fry & Laurie

Thursday Time

Author Ray Bradbury, has died at age 91.  I wanted to pass on this speech of his…

Wednesday Whoa

Been feeling like I’m running out of words and the words I do have, have all been used before and used by better (wo)men than me.  So, I’ve been watching West Wing and trying to fill up my tank—not just words, but with the beauty in which they can be used.

For those who have never had a chance to see Aaron Sorkin at work, head to http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/West_Wing and revel in the genius of a guy who knows words are currency and uses them to the optimum investment.

Tuesday Technique: Start Where it Gets Good

Was talking to an author about their book and they said, “You need the information from chapter 1 & 2, but it gets good in chapter 3.”

There are few readers who will stick with you through two chapters of “okay” to get to “good.”

If your story doesn’t get interesting until page 30, seriously considering deleting pages 1-29.

Monday Mechanics: Expressing The Simple Future

This one is quick & good (and helpful when you think of character dialog): According to Schrampfer Azar, “The use of shall with I or we to express future time is possible but uncommon in American English.  Shall is used more frequently in British English than in American English.

UK: I shall go to the fair tomorrow.

USA: I will go to the fair tomorrow. (or more exact, I’ll go to the fair tomorrow).

Friday Freebie

There are just videos that make me happy—downright giddy—to be living in this time and in the glorious continent of North America.  The Renaissance may have had Da Vinci, and the ’50s may have had Einstein, but we got David Hasselhoff!

Tuesday Time: Cool Resource

For all those writing children’s picture books, illustrator Carolyn Fisher has a great post on storyboarding.

Monday Mechanics: Independent Vs. Dependent Clauses

I think I’ve talked about this before, but an independent clause expresses a complete thought, a dependent clause does not:

Julie studies at Perdu. (Independent)

When Julie was studying at Perdu… (Dependent because we’re not sure what happened—it’s not a complete thought.)

Friday Fury

Ugh, okay, I acknowledge that as a writer perhaps I’m overly sensitive when it comes to words, action, and character, & I’m totally fighting this manuscript, but holy smokes, sometimes people just tick me off. I’m at the store today and this mother has two kids in her cart. One of them is crying. The mother (with NO authority in her voice) keeps saying, “If you keep crying, I’m leaving you here.”

Granted, it’s not my kid screaming his lungs off, but give me a break. Seriously, you’re thre...