Simon Rose's Blog, page 57

Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo 2019 – Day Two

Today, I’ll be exhibiting at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. You can find me in booth number 5209 in the Big Four Building.

You can buy autographed copies of Shadowzone, Into the Web, Black Dawn, Parallel Destiny, Twisted Fate, The Time Traveler’s Guide, The Children’s Writer’s Guide, Future Imperfect, Flashback, The Sphere of Septimus, The Time Camera, The Doomsday Mask, The Heretic’s Tomb, The Emerald Curse, The Clone Conspiracy, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, and The Alchemist’s Portrait

You can also learn more about my many services for writers, including editing, coaching, school programs, workshops, as well as my copywriting services for businesses and social media, or you can just stop by and say hello.

I’m also making a presentation and appearing on a panel today. Check out the schedule here.

Writing for Children and Young Adults – Palomino H, BMO Centre 4.15 pm

Explore research, planning, pacing your story, developing characters, connecting with the reader, choosing settings, the role of adults in children’s stories, and more.

Creating Immersive Fantasy Worlds – Palomino AB, BMO Centre at 7.15 pm

Five fantasy authors discuss how they approach writing fantasy. Each author will share their preferred sub-genre and why. They’ll elaborate on how they each tackle creating mythos, world building, magic systems, creatures, and races.

This is the only festival in Calgary where you can get your sci-fi, film, television, fantasy, horror, comic book, gaming, and animation fix all in one incredible weekend. Join 100,000 other fans for this celebration of pop culture at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo taking place at BMO Centre, Stampede Park on April 25, 26, 27, and 28.

Hope to see you there.

 

The post Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo 2019 – Day Two appeared first on Simon Rose.

Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo 2019 – Day One

Today, I’ll be exhibiting at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. You can find me in booth number 5209 in the Big Four Building.

You can buy autographed copies of Shadowzone, Into the Web, Black Dawn, Parallel Destiny, Twisted Fate, The Time Traveler’s Guide, The Children’s Writer’s Guide, Future Imperfect, Flashback, The Sphere of Septimus, The Time Camera, The Doomsday Mask, The Heretic’s Tomb, The Emerald Curse, The Clone Conspiracy, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, and The Alchemist’s Portrait

You can also learn more about my many services for writers, including editing, coaching, school programs, workshops, as well as my copywriting services for businesses and social media, or you can just stop by and say hello.

I’m also making some presentations and appearing on a panel this year. Check out the schedule here.

April 26

Writing for Children and Young Adults – Palomino H, BMO Centre 4.15 pm

Explore research, planning, pacing your story, developing characters, connecting with the reader, choosing settings, the role of adults in children’s stories, and more.

Creating Immersive Fantasy Worlds – Palomino AB, BMO Centre at 7.15 pm

Five fantasy authors discuss how they approach writing fantasy. Each author will share their preferred sub-genre and why. They’ll elaborate on how they each tackle creating mythos, world building, magic systems, creatures, and races.

April 27

Time Travel: Not Just a Thing of the Past – Palomino AB, BMO Centre at 4.15 pm

Learn how to plan and realize your novel with an alternate reality element that takes the reader on a logical journey, in an illogical world.

This is the only festival in Calgary where you can get your sci-fi, film, television, fantasy, horror, comic book, gaming, and animation fix all in one incredible weekend. Join 100,000 other fans for this celebration of pop culture at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo taking place at BMO Centre, Stampede Park on April 25, 26, 27, and 28.

Hope to see you there.

 

The post Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo 2019 – Day One appeared first on Simon Rose.

Visit the 2019 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo – April 25 to 28

This week, I’ll be exhibiting at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. You can find me in booth number 5209 in the Big Four Building.

You can buy autographed copies of Shadowzone, Into the Web, Black Dawn, Parallel Destiny, Twisted Fate, The Time Traveler’s Guide, The Children’s Writer’s Guide, Future Imperfect, Flashback, The Sphere of Septimus, The Time Camera, The Doomsday Mask, The Heretic’s Tomb, The Emerald Curse, The Clone Conspiracy, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, and The Alchemist’s Portrait

You can also learn more about my many services for writers, including editing, coaching, school programs, workshops, as well as my copywriting services for businesses and social media, or you can just stop by and say hello.

I’m also making some presentations and appearing on a panel this year. Check out the schedule here.

April 26

Writing for Children and Young Adults – Palomino H, BMO Centre 4.15 pm

Explore research, planning, pacing your story, developing characters, connecting with the reader, choosing settings, the role of adults in children’s stories, and more.

Creating Immersive Fantasy Worlds – Palomino AB, BMO Centre at 7.15 pm

Five fantasy authors discuss how they approach writing fantasy. Each author will share their preferred sub-genre and why. They’ll elaborate on how they each tackle creating mythos, world building, magic systems, creatures, and races.

April 27

Time Travel: Not Just a Thing of the Past – Palomino AB, BMO Centre at 4.15 pm

Learn how to plan and realize your novel with an alternate reality element that takes the reader on a logical journey, in an illogical world.

This is the only festival in Calgary where you can get your sci-fi, film, television, fantasy, horror, comic book, gaming, and animation fix all in one incredible weekend. Join 100,000 other fans for this celebration of pop culture at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo taking place at BMO Centre, Stampede Park on April 25, 26, 27, and 28.

Hope to see you there.

The post Visit the 2019 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo – April 25 to 28 appeared first on Simon Rose.

PlayWriting Camp in Calgary in July

PlayWriting Camp will take place once again with Cassa Musical Arts this July.

The 2019 PlayWriting camp runs from July 15 to 19 at St. Vladimir’s Cultural Centre, 404 Meredith Road NE (Near Memorial Drive and Edmonton Trail), Calgary, Alberta.

In a dramatic and fun-filled week of half day camps, children will learn how to write, rehearse and perform their own unique play in just five days. Children will create the plot, craft the script, write dialogue and hone their acting skills for their very own dramatic production, which will then be performed at the end of the week. Half days are from 9:00 am – 12:00 noon daily.

Details of fees and registration forms are available on the CASSA website.

The post PlayWriting Camp in Calgary in July appeared first on Simon Rose.

PlayWriting Camp in Calgary in July

PlayWriting Camp will take place once again with Cassa Musical Arts this July.

The 2019 PlayWriting camp runs from July 15 to 19 at St. Vladimir’s Cultural Centre, 404 Meredith Road NE (Near Memorial Drive and Edmonton Trail), Calgary, Alberta.

In a dramatic and fun-filled week of half day camps, children will learn how to write, rehearse and perform their own unique play in just five days. Children will create the plot, craft the script, write dialogue and hone their acting skills for their very own dramatic production, which will then be performed at the end of the week. Half days are from 9:00 am – 12:00 noon daily.

Details of fees and registration forms are available on the CASSA website.

The post PlayWriting Camp in Calgary in July appeared first on Simon Rose.

Book Signing at Chapters Crowfoot, April 6

This Saturday, I’ll be at Chapters Crowfoot in Calgary from 11 am to 4 pm.

I’ll be signing copies of The Alchemist’s Portrait, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, The Clone Conspiracy, The Emerald Curse, The Heretic’s Tomb, The Doomsday Mask, The Time Camera, The Sphere of Septimus, Future Imperfect, Flashback, Twisted Fate, and Parallel Destiny.

Chapters is located at 66 Crowfoot Terrace NW in Calgary. Hope to see you there.

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What’s it all about? An excerpt from Where Do Ideas Come From?

 

“The idea of creating a learning guide for young people’s books is truly inspired.”

 

Introduction

Many of my novels can be used as the basis for workshops and projects in the classroom. The Alchemist’s Portrait, The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, and The Heretic’s Tomb are all time travel stories and can be used as the basis for workshops in which students create time machines and stories set in a different era. All three novels are also ideal for studying the different historical periods depicted in the stories.

The Alchemist’s Portrait can be the starting point for workshops using pictures for inspiration, creating stories based on artifacts found in museums, or for creating unique characters. The Sorcerer’s Letterbox might inspire children to learn more about the Tower of London or other medieval castles, as well as study the mystery of the Princes in the Tower, the Wars of the Roses, and medieval life.

The Heretic’s Tomb can be used to learn about the Black Death, medieval society, the beginnings of healthcare, or the role of the medieval church. There are also strong female characters in the story and this can lead to students learning more about the very important women that lived in the Middle Ages. Teachers can use The Clone Conspiracy as a starting point for projects about the development of technology or what students might except to see in the world of the future. The Emerald Curse is an excellent novel for projects in which the students create their own superheroes and comic books.

The Doomsday Mask can be used to study ancient civilizations, ruined cities, and the extinctions of animals that took place at the end of the Ice Age. The Time Camera lends itself to wonderful projects related to the history of photography, writing speculative stories about alternate history, and finding inspiration from old photographs. The Sphere of Septimus has a wealth of potential for projects in which students create their own fantasy kingdoms, along with the people and animals that inhabit their imaginary world.

Where Do Ideas Come From? provides suggestions and recommendations for teachers developing classroom projects based on all the novels but might also serve as inspiration for aspiring writers of all ages.

Where Do Ideas Come From? is available as an ebook and as a paperback on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Smashwords and many other locations.

The post What’s it all about? An excerpt from Where Do Ideas Come From? appeared first on Simon Rose.

What’s it all about? An excerpt from The Social Media Writer’s Guide

 

“The internet can be a powerful promotional tool and, following Simon’s suggestions and guidelines, a professional copywriter can certainly improve his/her skills. A good resource.”

 

Chapter One: People don’t read web copy

These days, any organization that wants to either do business, or stay in business, has to have an online presence. A website is crucial if a company’s going to connect with both existing and potential customers and they need to make sure that their web pages tell their clients everything they need to know about the company’s products and services. However, despite that, the company can’t include too much information, especially on the home page, the place where people will first encounter them.

Readers of web copy typically scan the page very quickly, rather than actually reading every single word. Consequently, it’s vital that a company has the right words, and enough of them, to grab and hold the visitor’s attention. Although it’s important to include as much information about the company as possible in order to entice the reader, the copy also has to be easy to read. Killer headlines and text broken up into manageable chunks will make web pages easy on the eye. There are no hard and fast rules, but as a guideline, headings should be eight words or less, sentences up to a maximum of twenty words, paragraphs no more than seventy words, with a total page count of around two hundred and fifty words. In the online world less is nearly always more.

Hiring a professional copywriter to compose content for a website involves not merely displaying the company’s brochure online but creating an online brochure. At first glance this might appear to be the same process but there are fundamental differences. Many organizations make the mistake of simply putting their brochure online when they have a website created. After all, they already have all the information aimed at potential customers in printed form, so why not put it all online? The details are already in existence and have worked perfectly well so far, so why not just use the same text on the website? Surely it’s the same thing, isn’t it? The truth is, a company can’t simply put its brochures online, because writing for the internet is very different to writing for traditional printed materials, whether they’re brochures, catalogues or even direct mail pieces. Any organization only has seconds to grab and hold someone’s attention on the web, since people typically scan text very quickly.

Website pages have to be created with the impatient reader in mind. The writing of website copy is a specialized area, since the pages must provide all the relevant information, yet not get bogged down with too many details. Well-written, yet concise, text can also help improve a company’s ranking with search engines, which could make all the difference between success and failure. Featuring all the details from official brochures on the newly created web pages may simply encourage people to dismiss the company and its products in a matter of seconds, especially if the home page appears to be overloaded with text. Potential clients will always appreciate being able to locate what they’re looking for quickly and easily. They’ll be able to do this if a company’s pages are well written and organized properly, and that translates into good customer service.

This is where the experienced copywriter comes in. Hiring a professional to compose the content is one of the most important decisions an organization can make when planning or improving its website.

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

The post What’s it all about? An excerpt from The Social Media Writer’s Guide appeared first on Simon Rose.

PlayWriting Camp in Calgary in July

PlayWriting Camp will take place once again with Cassa Musical Arts this July.

The 2019 PlayWriting camp runs from July 15 to 19 at St. Vladimir’s Cultural Centre, 404 Meredith Road NE (Near Memorial Drive and Edmonton Trail), Calgary, Alberta.

In a dramatic and fun-filled week of half day camps, children will learn how to write, rehearse and perform their own unique play in just five days. Children will create the plot, craft the script, write dialogue and hone their acting skills for their very own dramatic production, which will then be performed at the end of the week. Half days are from 9:00 am – 12:00 noon daily.

Details of fees and registration forms are available on the CASSA website.

The post PlayWriting Camp in Calgary in July appeared first on Simon Rose.

“I absolutely loved this book!”

The Alchemist’s Portrait

A school trip to the art gallery at the city museum leads Matthew into an eerie meeting with Peter Glimmer, imprisoned inside his own portrait by his villainous uncle in 1666. Entrusted by Peter with recovering the one object that can save the world, Matthew is sent hurtling over 300 years into the past. Encountering magic, mayhem and murder, Matthew also has to contend with Peter’s uncle, the ruthless and seemingly immortal Nicolaas van der Leyden, at every turn, in a desperate race through time to save the future

The Alchemist’s Portrait received great reviews when it was first published and remains a favourite with young readers today.

“The Alchemist’s Portrait is a delightful and charming read.”

“I absolutely loved this book!”

“The Alchemist’s Portrait is guaranteed to keep junior readers in suspense.”

“Author Simon Rose combines time travel with an exciting twist, and the power of magic. Well written and fast-paced this novel will keep the reader spellbound.”

“Congratulations on a great read for kids.”

“Complete with an evil villain, magic and suspense, Rose weaves a tale that will have young readers engaged right up until the very end.”

Read more reviews of The Alchemist’s Portrait here on my website.

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