Simon Rose's Blog, page 40

The Children’s Writer’s Guide

The Children’s Writer’s Guide examines how you can get started as a writer, create time and space to pursue your craft and deal with lack of motivation and writers block. Topics covered include where ideas come from and how writers turn them into stories, choosing names for characters that are appropriate to the story, the importance of historical research if your novel is set in a different era, writing science fiction and fantasy, and the use of magic in stories for children.

The guide examines the role of editing and revision and how to deal with what is often the inevitable process of rejection, at least until good fortune comes your way. I also recount some of my experiences with marketing and promotion, such as book launches and in-store signings, websites, blogs, and social media, and discusses presentations, workshops and author-in-residence programs at schools and libraries.

You can also learn more about writing for children and young adults in The Children’s Writer’s Guide 2.

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Learn How to Write Effective and Compelling Historical Fiction

Historical fiction combines the events of the past with characters and stories from the writer’s imagination.This course examines the art of writing historical fiction and the need to fully immerse yourself in a particular time period to make your storytelling more believable. Learn how to write effective, authentic and appealing historical fiction and how to turn your ideas into compelling stories. Understand what defines historical fiction and different historical time periods, create believable settings and plausible characters and learn how research plays a crucial role in the creation of your novel.The course involves assignments and writing exercises, and also deals with aspects of the writing process. The course also examines ways to research publishing houses where you can submit your work, cover letters, synopses and sample chapters.https://www.simon-rose.com/?page_id=3511

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The Benefits of a Writing Coach

A professional writing coach is someone with whom you can consult, ask questions and receive constructive feedback. They act as a guide as you build your career as a professional writer. A coach can help you conquer a stumbling block, regain momentum or make a start on a new project.

My program helps you progress as a writer. You decide what you want to work on during a personalized, one on one relationship. I can be your coach for just one month or we can establish a month-to-month arrangement, depending on your schedule and expectations.

I’m very flexible regarding your own unique requirements in areas where you feel that you need the most help, but examples of topics that can be covered include character development, dialogue and format, editing and revision, story structure and plot, pacing your story, realistic settings, dramatic beginnings,  and cliffhanger endings. We can also examine submitting work, the publishing world,  and marketing and promotion.

You can also learn more about the writing and publishing process, including where ideas come from and how writers turn them into stories, choosing names for characters, the importance of historical research if your novel is set in a different era, the role of editing and revision, marketing and promotion, and more, in The Children’s Writer’s Guide, The Working Writer’s Guide, The Children’s Writer’s Guide 2, and School & Library Visits for Authors & Illustrators.

The writing of time travel stories and historical fiction is covered in The Time Traveler’s Guide, and fantasy and magic in Exploring the Fantasy Realm. The study guides for my novels are featured in Where do Ideas Come From?

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Cool Links

If you’re interested in writing historical fiction, check out this article that has some great tips and advice to make the past come alive for the reader.

And this article in The New Yorker has some good advice for young writers.

Looking for tips and advice to help you with your writing? Check out the ten worst pieces of writing advice you will ever hear.

We all sometimes need to add scary scenes to our books to keep the story moving or to hold the reader’s interest. Here are some great tips on writing frightening scenes in novels and stories for children.

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Granary Road Farmers Market – December 10

Granary Road Farmers Market – December 10Looking for the perfect gift? This Saturday from 10 am to 5.30 pm, I’ll be signing copies of all my books at the Granary Road Farmers Market.The event is being held at Granary Road, 226066 112 Street West, Foothills County.Learn all about my novels, including the new Stone of the Seer series, as well as about coaching and editing services for writers and authors.Hope to see you there.

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Writing Workshops and Study Guides

Writing Workshops and Study Guides 

My writing guide entitled Where Do Ideas Come From? examines how my novels The Alchemist’s Portrait, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, The Clone Conspiracy, The Emerald Curse, The Heretic’s Tomb, The Doomsday Mask, The Time Camera, and The Sphere of Septimus can be used to create workshops and creative writing exercises for the classroom.

These include writing time travel stories, creating superheroes and comic books, inventing imaginary worlds and fantasy kingdoms, exploring fascinating historical eras, imagining future technological developments, and examining ancient mysteries and civilizations.

Where Do Ideas Come From? is available as a paperback and as an ebook and provides suggestions and recommendations for teachers developing classroom projects based on the books.

Please contact me directly if you have any questions or require further information.

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Triwood Christmas Market

Looking for the perfect gift? This Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm, I’ll be signing copies of all my books at the Triwood Christmas Market.The event is being held at Triwood Community Association, 2244 Chicoutimi Drive NW in Calgary.Learn all about my novels, including the new Stone of the Seer series, as well as about coaching and editing services for writers and authors.Hope to see you there.

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What’s it all about? An excerpt from The Time Traveler’s Guide

“The Time Traveler’s Guide is a great resource for any writer wanting to improve their craft.”

 

Chapter One: What is time travel?

Time travel is defined as taking place when there is movement between specific points in time. This is achieved in the same way that objects and living things move through space. In fiction, this kind of travel is made possible by the use of a time machine, device, or method. While nothing is carved in stone, I tend to think that time travel involving machinery or some kind of technology should be defined as science fiction while time travel that makes use of magic or similar methods is probably best classified as fantasy. However, these genres frequently overlap, particularly with time travel stories.

Over the years, novels, movies, and TV shows featuring time travel have included methods involving highly sophisticated machinery, scientific laboratories, various items of jewelry, wearable technology, vehicles, ancient artifacts, books, portals and doorways, dreaming, food and drink, and so many more. Time travel stories have featured journeys to the past, the futur
e, and to alternative timelines created when previous events were changed so that they occurred differently, thus affecting what happened next in various different ways. Time travel has long been a theme in books, short stories, TV shows, and movies and shows no signs of declining in popularity anytime soon, although of course only time will tell.

A common theme in time travel tales involves someone being sent into the past by accident. When they arrive at an earlier point in history, the device or machine is somehow broken, fails to operate properly, runs out of power, is misplaced, or is stolen by the story’s villain. The reader is thus left in suspense, wondering if the heroes will be able to return safely to their own time. Of course, the reader most likely believes that the heroes will eventually escape from danger. However, the plot still has to imply that the lead characters might be marooned in the past permanently or that their lives are in jeopardy. In my time travel novels, the main characters always face serious challenges from the moment that they appear to be trapped in a dangerous historical era.

Some time travel stories simply feature an adventure in a different period in order for the characters to experience what life was like. Perhaps the character discovers an old piece of jewelry that sends them back in time when they wear it or adjust it some way. The characters then witness historical events or meet famous people. Many time travel stories concern the consequences of traveling either backward or forward through time. The idea of changing the past, either intentionally or by accident, is a common theme in science fiction and fantasy. When events that have already taken place are altered in some way, what the time traveler knew as the present day has changed when they return home. This might lead to a further adventure to restore things to what’s perceived as normal, depending on the nature of the alterations to the timeline. As you’re probably thinking already, time travel can sometimes be very complicated but the creators of these kinds of stories are aware of the potential issues at the outset and work hard to make their story entertaining, plausible, and realistic. Some stories in the genre concentrate on the paradoxes involved in time travel, such as the well-known grandfather paradox. This is when the time traveler is responsible for the death of his or her own grandfather, meaning that the traveler was never born. If this is the case then how could they have gone back in time to cause their grandfather’s death in the first place? Time travel has lots of issues like this, some of which I examine in Chapter Nine.

Time travel stories involving journeys into the past overlap with the genre of historical fiction. This kind of fiction involves stories that are set in the past. There are no firm rules, but the setting is usually at least fifty years earlier than when the story is written. The setting is a particular period in history and often includes real historical personalities. The story’s main characters are usually fictional, although the social and other conditions of the time are presented accurately. Historical fiction stories usually take place during a significant period in history. In some stories the characters are part of the events taking place but in others the events merely serve as the background to the story. In The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, the story takes place in 1483 and features the aftermath of the Wars of the Roses and the mystery of Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, known as the Princes in the Tower. The princes appear in the story, as does their uncle, King Richard III, along with some other historical characters. In The Heretic’s Tomb, the story takes place during the period of the Black Death in England in the mid fourteenth century. The novel features imaginary characters but also refers to the effects of the Black Death on society, medieval medicine, and living conditions, and to some of the personalities and events of the era. In The Alchemist’s Portrait, Matthew’s time travel adventures take him to Amsterdam in 1666, the French Revolution in 1792, the American Civil War in 1865, and the Russian Revolution in 1917, all of which needed to be portrayed accurately. The Doomsday Mask has scenes that take place in Berlin in May 1945 and the characters needed to fit into that world. In Flashback, Max finds himself in the mid 1990s, not too long ago perhaps, but he still needed to inhabit an environment that’s correctly portrayed. Next, we’ll look at some of the many time travel stories that have appeared in printed form and on screen over the years.

The Time Traveller’s Guide is available as an ebook and as a paperback on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Smashwords and many other locations.

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Learn How to Write Effective and Compelling Historical Fiction

Historical fiction combines the events of the past with characters and stories from the writer’s imagination.This course examines the art of writing historical fiction and the need to fully immerse yourself in a particular time period to make your storytelling more believable. Learn how to write effective, authentic and appealing historical fiction and how to turn your ideas into compelling stories. Understand what defines historical fiction and different historical time periods, create believable settings and plausible characters and learn how research plays a crucial role in the creation of your novel.The course involves assignments and writing exercises, and also deals with aspects of the writing process. The course also examines ways to research publishing houses where you can submit your work, cover letters, synopses and sample chapters.https://www.simon-rose.com/?page_id=3511

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Author Happenings

I’ve been working in person at local events in November and December, selling autographed copies of all the novels and promoting my services for writers and my programs for schools. I was at Riverbend Fall Fair on November 5 and at Balzac Christmas Market on November 18 and 19.

I’ll be at Triwood Christmas Market at Triwood Community Association on December 3 and 4, from 10 am to 4 pm, and then at Granary Road Farmers Market on December 10, from 10 am to 5.30 pm

I’ll also have copies of Where Do Ideas Come From?, which features a variety of ideas for teachers for study guides, workshops, and writing exercises based on some of my novels for young readers.

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