Phil Giunta's Blog, page 107
April 15, 2012
About This Writing Stuff...
10 Things To Think About When Sitting on a Writing Panel by Hildy Silverman via Jon Gibbs
Amazon Trying to Wring Deep Discounts from Publishers by Amy Martinez
Amidst Justice Department Lawsuit, Kindle Ebook Prices Rise Sharply by Jeremy Greenfield
Hachette Settles With DoJ, Admits No Involvement In Conspiracy by Digital Book World
When to Mail Short Fiction to Traditional Publishers by Dean Wesley Smith
How to Write a Book When You're Really, Really Busy by Ashley Ream
Do Your Stories Match Your Voice? by Jami Gold
7 Setting Basics That Can Bring a Story to Life by Jody Hedlund
On Pushing Yourself To Be Better by Allison Winn Scotch
The Community Behind the Independent Bookstore by Bob Proehl
Downers! Really Depressing Stories and How I Grew With Them by Steven H. Wilson
April 10, 2012
Write It Right!
Next weekend, I will be speaking at the Write it Right writers conference to be held at the Schuylkill County Chamber of Commerce.
10AM - 10:50AM: Digital Publishing & Audio Books
11AM - 11:50AM: Writing Paranormal Mystery
Here is a link to the conference.
April 8, 2012
About This Writing Stuff...
Kristine Kathryn Rusch discusses audience and bestsellerdom while Donald Maass has some ideas about...well...ideas. Michelle Diener calculates the ratio of action/tension/emotion and debut author Lance Woods is excited to receive advanced reader copies of his fantasy mystery novel, Heroic Park.
Last but certainly not least, congratulations to media tie-in writer and comic editor Bob Greenberger on receiving the John Pilkington Award at I-CON !
7 Reasons Your Muse Isn't Talking to You by Joe Bunting
Receiving an Award While Having Fun by Bob Greenberger
Indie Publishing Thinking by Dean Wesley Smith
Amazon's $1 Million Secret by Alexander Zaitchik
What, Me Debate? by JA Konrath
Amazon's Relations With the Publishing Industry - A Debate on The Seattle Times
The Business Rusch: Audience by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The Good Seed by Donald Maass
The Action/Tension/Emotion Ratio by Michelle Diener
Holy Crap! I Wrote a Real Book! See? by Lance Woods
April 7, 2012
The Hunger Games
I enjoyed the film but didn't quite become as emotionally engaged with Katniss as I'd hoped to. Don't get me wrong, I rooted for the heroine certainly and there were many tense moments during the competition itself--and no small share of cliche's found in your average TV action series (no spoilers here, though). The most disturbing scene in the film for me (yet not terribly shocking) was what ensued after all twenty-four kids stepped out of the lift tubes into the clearing and dashed for the supplies.
We've all seen or read tales of dystopian futures, benighted societies run by morally bankrupt governments, and themes of "survival of the fittest" and "fight to the death". Perhaps that's why I was not disgusted by watching children kill one another.
And that's a problem.
Our society today has become just that "desensitized" (to coin an overused buzzword), which is precisely what The Hunger Games seems to be about at its core (at least in my opinion). For the very reason of its prescience, then, maybe we should pay attention. Inner city street gangs populated by children kill one another on a weekly basis. How is that any less repulsive than government sanctioned brutality against children, pitting them against each other as a spectator sport disguised as "tribute" to your nation?
Overall, the film was well paced and acted with an excellent cast in Jennifer Lawrence, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz, Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, and many more.
I definitely look forward to reading the book and seeing where the film may have been deficient in the emotional aspects of the story. Let's face, isn't the book almost always better than the film?
Images above and below copyright Lionsgate Pictures, 2012.
March 30, 2012
About This Writing Stuff...
And congratulations to Lance Woods, creator of Superhuman Times , on the upcoming release of his debut novel, Heroic Park from Firebringer Press !
Winning the Battle of Book Discovery by Otis Chandler, Goodreads Founder and CEO
What Comes First, the Platform or the Book? by Edward Nawotka
Is Fan Fiction Ready to Go Mainstream Thanks to Fifty Shades of Grey? by Alma Katsu
Amazon Book Reviews: Democracy in Action, Ignorance or Bullying? by Bob Mayer
The Business Rusch: Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Bigger Than Agency, Bigger Than eBooks: The Case Against Apple & Publishers by Tim Carmody
7 Dialog Basics That Can Help Tighten Our Stories by Jody Hedlund
BEWARE - Writers Have Long Memories by Shelli Johnson
Flip the Script: Write What You Don't Know by Jael McHenry
Showing and Telling Emotion in Fiction by Dave King
And We're Back...With a Novel! by Lance Woods on the upcoming release of his first novel, Heroic Park
March 25, 2012
About this Writing Stuff...
We first delve into the bizarre as St. Martin's Press finds itself the recipient of an unusual package. Kristine Kathryn Rusch addresses the belief that quality books are only found in traditional publishing. A bit late on this news, but Random House has decided to stick it to libraries through eBook prices.
Some thoughts on publicity and marketing from Crystal Patriarche and Jane Friedman. Jody Hedlund provides insight into visibility for writers and Marie Lambda shares advice on blog tours. Writers Digest offers some "How To's" to help us edit our novels and find writing time. Finally, C. Hope Clark encourages us to write against the grain!
Feds Intercept Pot Shipments to Publishing House by The Smoking Gun
Random House Sharply Increases Library eBook Prices by Laura Hazard Owen
The Business Rusch: Quality by Kristine Kathryn Rush
Goodreads and Other Genuine Publicity Thoughts by Crystal Patriarche
The Marketing Paradox: Start Small to Get Big by Jane Friedman
How Writing Against the Grain Creates a Niche by C. Hope Clark
How Can Modern Writers Become & Stay Visible? by Jody Hedlund
Blog Tour Tips: On Planning Your Journey by Marie Lambda
How to Edit Your Novel by Roseann Biederman
How to Find, Rather than Make Writing Time by Jessica Strawser
March 24, 2012
How About a Little Unfriendly Persuasion?
Unfriendly Persuasion was released by Firebringer Press on March 8 and is available in eBook and paperback formats and soon on audio as well. You will be able to hear it on Steve's podcast site, Prometheus Radio Theatre . So keep checking back!
You can read my review of Unfriendly Persuasion HERE.
From Amazon
On Kindle
From Barnes & Noble
From SmashWords
March 21, 2012
Author Interview: Christine Dougherty
First, tell us where we can find you online such as blogs, websites, Facebook, etc.
www.christinedoughertybooks.com is good enough. You can get to the blog and FB page from there, if you’re demented enough to want to. Jesus, isn’t that enough? I won’t even mention to look for me on Goodreads and Twitter…I feel so over-exposed!
Tell us about the first completed story you wrote, published or not. What was it about?
The first short story I wrote was “The Owners” and it was also the first thing accepted for publication (Absent Willow Review, July 2010. It is a sci-fi/horror piece about the original owners of this planet showing up to reclaim it. It is told from the perspective of an unnamed narrator as she and her husband are trying to get out of the city, chased by a nephew (and niece) who are set on killing them.
I have a very special place in my heart for this story, in large part because it caused a rift in my family. My mother hated “The Owners” and cold-shouldered me for a while because of it. It was my first indication that I had the power to disturb. That’s important information for someone in the horror business. Especially because the plot for “The Devil Stood Up” was already swirling around in my head and I knew that book was going to be rough to write–it had to disturb in the right ways, not just be gruesome for gruesome’s sake.
What attracts you to the paranormal genre and which authors influenced you?
Stephen King is, of course, the first name that comes to mind. I have been reading him since I was in grade school (my reading choices were never policed and I love a good scare). But the thing I always enjoyed the most about his writing, besides the scare factor, was that his people were so real. The ‘horror’ itself was always secondary to what people did with (or about) that horror. I loved the Americana of his books. It was easy to recognize yourself and the people you knew.
My other biggest influences are not even in the horror/paranormal/thriller genres. Margaret Atwood has the prose I envy above everything else and Anne Tyler has the people I covet until it makes my teeth ache from jealous grinding.
Straying back to the genres I write in, the other influences are Dean Koontz, Peter Straub, Clive Barker…all the big guns, really.
What inspired your first novel, FAITH Creation: All Lies Revealed (Createspace, June 2011)?
I think I was inspired mostly by my own feelings of being a lost kid and not really feeling very ‘at home’ in the world. I always wondered what it would be like to have someone you could depend on completely…I always wondered how comforting it would be. And then, of course for the sake of plot, the next big question is: what if you lose your only tether to the world? It’s a frightening thought and without giving anything away, that theme is taken to an extreme in the book.
This book is listed on your website as first in a series. Do you have an estimated release date for book two?
FAITH United has been started and will be available in 2012.
Your next two novels, Messages and The Devil Stood Up , were released via Createspace in July and September 2011, respectively. You then followed up with a short story collection, Darkness Within , in October and finished the year with Born Lucky: The JD Chronicles in December.
That’s an impressive four books in six months. What is your writing schedule?
“Darkness Within” was actually written prior to the first novel, “Faith Creation”. It is a compilation of the short stories I started with; we decided to put them all together in a book, so that required little outside of editing. “Faith” had been sitting around for about six months and “Messages” for about two before we looked into self-publishing, so in reality, you can see it wasn’t actually four books in six months.
I’ve gone back and forth with many different writing schedules. I started out with a 1000 word a week word goal. That bloomed pretty quickly to 10,000 a week and there have been many times I’ve done more than that. I am sedentary and exceedingly imaginative–it’s an ideal combination. I write every chance I get and if I am not writing, I am usually thinking about the characters and/or the story line.
I can’t stress enough the importance of the ‘sedentary’ part of my nature when it comes to writing. When you keep your ass in the chair, shit gets done. Really.
Your latest release, The Boat (Createspace, January 2012), is a zombie novel about an AIDS drug that brings the dead back to life. For a few years now, zombies have been trending in comics, novels, movies, and television. What makes The Boat stand out from the rest?
The first review I got for the The Boat on Amazon started off like this: “While this is a zombie story…I found it more in the realm of a suspense or mystery book with evil - the kind that reminds you of something that Stephen King or Dean Koonz (sp) would write.” Man, was I ever flattered!
I don’t seem to write ANYTHING 100% true to genre. I don’t know why. I think that the books are all good stories and hard to pigeonhole. I guess that’s good. I HOPE that’s good. I imagine it is that quality that will set me apart as a writer in general.
What factors went into your decision to self publish?
My age was the biggest factor. I am middle aged (what a phrase, ugh) and didn’t feel like waiting the prescribed ‘7 to 10’ years it supposedly takes to get noticed. My husband had read a few articles about self-publishing and since I am a graphic artist by trade, it was pretty easy to understand the basics of it.
My husband was the other factor. He was behind it 100% and really interested and supportive. He is the one who gets me the book signing gigs and is always by my side at the events. His participation and support are immeasurably helpful.
What can readers expect next from you?
Oh man, a lot, hopefully. I have ideas stacked on ideas at this point. Luckily, my husband writes them all down (and probably comes up with about a half of them). Lots of good stuff. Lots of events this year. Very excited for it. Hope to meet a lot more of the readers.
What does Christine Dougherty do when she isn’t writing?
Jesus, not much. I’m pretty basic. I like television and movies and books. I garden when I can. I play with my cats and dog. I do the laundry. I wash the dishes. I shop for groceries with my husband and we talk about monsters, zombies, plagues, ghosts, vampires, the end of humanity…the norm, right?
March 19, 2012
About This Writing Stuff...
We end this week's list with recaps of the Write Stuff conference held this past weekend in Allentown, PA and hosted by the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group.
Scott Turow on Why We Should Fear Amazon by Laura Miller
Scott Turow: Wrong About Everything by David Gaughran
Presumed Inane by JA Konrath
Who Cares About Quality Writing Anymore? by Jami Gold
Scarcity and Abundance by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
My Favorite Writing Advice: Feeling In Over Your Head by Shelli Johnson
Who Are the Big Six In...? by Dean Wesley Smith
Key Advice for Writing Fantasy by Scott Francis
How to Use Pinterest to Market Your Book by Ron Eagar
Write Stuff Conference Recaps
Phil Giunta
Mary Ann Domanska
March 18, 2012
Write Stuff Conference Recap
After collecting my registration materials and donating a signed copy of Testing the Prisoner as one of the door prizes, I set off to the main ballroom for the complimentary continental breakfast, saw some familiar faces (members of GLVWG) and then at 8:50AM, it was time to attend the first panel on my list, Gayle Roper's "Creating and Maintaining Tension in Your Fiction." Ms. Roper touched on five types of suspense including "people, process, time (ticking clock), anticipation, and emotional". She elucidated methods for creating suspense via your characters and POV and maintaing that through the story with actual manuscript examples.
The next session was James Scott Bell's "Power Revision" wherein he discussed his ideas for writing a first draft "hot" and coming back later to revise "cool". He presented various methods such as revising the previous day's work and the "20,000 word step back" to ensure that you are still on track with your story elements. Mr. Bell explained the idea of a "Rolling Outline" wherein you outline a few chapters at a time, write them, see where they take you, and contine to outline the next few chapters and repeat until finished. He also discussed using coincidences, raising the stakes for your characters, methods of developing characters, and much more.
The final session before lunch was Katherine Ramsland's "From Research to Results: Immersion, A-ha! Moments, and Best Narratives". Dr. Ramsland's insights into the value and types of research, the proper etiquette when reaching out to experts, and how our brains process it all and make sense of it without any effort on our part, was absolutely fascinating. Such concepts as Mental Maps, Observation Quotient, Perceptual Quickening, and others were truly eye-opening.
It was also at this session that I met Sara Hodon, president of the Black Diamond Writers Network. Sara had reached out to me back in October with an invitation to speak at the Write it Right writers conference next month at the Schuylkill County Chamber of Commerce.
We broke for lunch at this point and during dessert, keynote speaker James Scott Bell gave a humrous talk called "Storytellers Save the World", a general overview of why writers do what they do. I also met Anna Getz, another member of the Black Diamond Writers Network.
It was then time for the final two sessions. I was back with Gayle Roper again for "Building to Your Story's Emotional Peak". Ms. Roper shared nine ways to deliver the emotional heart to your story and used two film clips to illustrate her points, one from The Miracle Worker, the 1962 film about Helen Keller and starring Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft. The second clip was from Mel Gibson's The Patriot.
To round out the day, I remained seated for James Scott Bell and "Keep Them Turning Pages: Suspense Secrets of the Masters". Mr. Bell covered a variety of ways to ratchet up suspense from cliffhangers, twists and turns, the ticking clock, use of dialog, raising the stakes, and others.
At 3:30 it was time for the Book Fair. Although I did not sell any books (I'm a newbie so I did not expect to), I did swap a book with new fiction writer Pamela Hegarty who also agreed to an interview for my blog. I had a lot of people stop by to say that they recognized my name from the GLVWG forum. An aspiring writer who was also in the last James Scott Bell session, stopped by to talk about her project and asked me to read the first page of her short story. It was good; I offered a suggestion or two.
It was during the book fair that I met writer and editor Kathryn Craft . Also, Kathy Ruff, again of the Black Diamond Writers Group, stopped by to introduce herself. It was very nice to finally make personal connections with so many talented people!
I ended the day with a quick photo op with James Scott Bell. Me and my crooked baseball cap... :)
