Roz Morris's Blog, page 70

‘Black metal for reimagining a well-known legend’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Steven A McKay

My guest this week writes reimaginings of the Robin Hood legends. He uses music to conjure the atmosphere but says he has to avoid anything that’s too tuneful or he’ll pick up his guitar instead. He admits his choice of Scandinavian black metal is a challenging listen – but finds the fast drumming, screaming vocals […]

The book versus the film – a tip to help writers fix an incoherent and sprawling plot

I’ve had this question from Marco Viviani: I’m stuck. I outlined a setting, characters and events. But when it comes to put all together, they don’t fit. Every time I try to change something (aspects of the setting, adding or removing characters) things don’t work. I tried killing several darlings (and reviving them),but the plot […]

‘Music for the inner wilderness’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Anne Stormont

My guest this week describes her books as stories about and for the sometimes invisible women; the 1960s feminists; women in their late 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond; thinking, feeling, loving, intelligent characters who are steering their lives through choppy waters. She says she uses music as a short-cut to their inner wilderness, with signature […]

‘Music prepares me to face a blank page’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Carol Cooper

I’ve long suspected that the music writers work to is not necessarily their favourite listening. My guest this week supports this theory. She says music is her creative Viagra, but that her choices sometimes surprise her – thus confirming for me that Undercover Soundtracks belong to a separate department in the mind. She describes her […]

Can authors get smarter with Amazon keywords and categories? Start here!

Categories and keywords on online retailers: choose them wisely and the algorithms will target your ideal readers – especially on Kindle. You can make a whole science out of it, but this piece on KDP explains the basics in good, plain English. Essentially, you pick two categories, and then get yourself in several more specialised […]

How to finish your novel: top professional tips – guest video at The Write Life

You started writing a book… but will you finish? Laura Pepper Wu of The Write Life Magazine invited me to her series ’7 Superstars in Writing & Publishing’ to answer that question. I’m thrilled to be on this because her other superstars are steampunk author and marketing guru Lindsay Buroker, Bestseller Labs founder Jonathan Gunson, […]

‘Music summoned from somewhere unknown; secrets and hope’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Therese Walsh

My guest this week felt daunted when she embarked on her second novel, worried that she didn’t have the mileage to finish. A duo of songs kept her on course, gave her confidence and made her believe in the reality of her characters and their story. And two is a recurring theme as her novel […]

How to make an audiobook with ACX – more tips for narrators, producers and authors

A week or so ago I talked about making audio books with ACX, the self-publishing arm of Audible. From the author’s end it’s relatively simple – pitch your book, listen to auditions, guide the narrator and review chapters as they’re posted on ACX. But at the other end of the line, the narrator/producer is spending […]

‘The moment of making the first sound or writing the first word is special’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Pete Lockett

My guest this week is a percussionist who has worked with an astonishing list of world-class musicians, a list to make any music fan giddy – Bjork, Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant, Dido, Bill Bruford, Jeff Beck, Ustad Zakir Hussain, The Verve, Texas, Trans-Global Underground, Nelly Furtado, Lee Scratch Perry, Primal Scream,  Damien Rice, Dave Weckl, […]

How to write a novel: following the strange – guest post on Writer.ly

Have you ever filled in one of those questionnaires that’s supposed to tell you what your ideal job is? Whenever I did, I usually found them desperately disappointing – but then they probably weren’t meant to send people to precarious, impractical occupations like writing. Except that one day, I filled one in that did. And […]