Jennifer Becton's Blog, page 37
July 16, 2013
See Bath by Skateboard
I can’t tell you how happy this video makes me. See bath in a unique way.
This has been your moment of zen.
June 30, 2013
Charlotte Collins Ebook Sale!
Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is on sale for $.99 at the following ebook retailers:
Audiobook Fans: Charlotte Collins and “Maria Lucas” are now available on Audible.com! I love my narrator and hope you will too!
June 21, 2013
Horseback Riding for Writers, Part 2: Horse Talk
In the movies, horses make noise in situations where they would remain silent in reality. So let’s talk about the sounds horses make and some general guidelines on when and why each sound might be made.
Fart: Yes, we’re starting at the rear because in truth, horses fart more than anything else. You try eating a steady diet of high fiber hay and see how it affects you. So imagine, if you will, that typical movie scene where the hero and his trusty steed are overlooking the battlefield. They are preparing to gallop into the fray, and what usually happens? The rider dramatically yanks the reins and spurs the horse, who then rears up and whinnies loudly before plunging down the hill. That’s movies, people. In reality, in that same scenario, you’d be more likely to have the horse bolt forward and fart loudly as he took off down the hill. But that doesn’t look or sound as cool on TV.
Whinny: Having said that, horses do whinny often, but this sound is used more for calling out to their friends. If one horse is taken on ride away from her buddies, she may want to call out to see if anyone can still hear her. Think of that sort of whinny as “Hey! Is anyone out there?” Or “I’m here. Where are you?” A horse in a new environment with unfamiliar horses may also whinny for the same reason. They want to know if any of their friends are around.
Here’s a great shot of a mini donkey doing his equivalent of a whinny. At 3 ft tall, this is the loudest animal on the farm. Seriously. Photo by Cherie Steele of One Oak Farm.
A whinny sounds different from horse to horse and is as individual as a human voice. Some whinnies sound as graceful as hippo bellows, and some have a high pitched throaty sound and everything in between.
When I arrive at the barn, I often call out to Darcy, and she whinnies back. We had our conversation. I said, “I’m here,” and she answered back, “I’m here too.”
Nicker: A nicker means “come closer to me.” A mare will nicker to her foal (not colt, btw. A colt is a young male horse; a filly is a young female horse; and foal is a baby of either gender.) to bring him back to her side. Darcy nickers at me because I usually have treats, and she wants me to bring them closer.
Snort: A snort could occur for as mundane a reason as needing to clear their airways, but it can also be a sound that indicates a release of stress, like a sigh or large exhale. The nasal openings vibrate, and snot is usually involved.
Blow: Not to be confused with snort, a blow is a really huge snort that happens in a high stress situation. It sounds more like air moving fast through a straight tube, no vibration of the nasal openings. This is a good sign that the horse is about to freak out.
Some people combine snort and blow to mean blow as I’ve used it here. In that case, they may call what I call a snort a sigh. Whatever. Just know that they make sounds with their nose that mean things.
Here’s a handy page that offers audio samples of the sounds I describe above.
June 7, 2013
Maria Lucas Audiobook Now Available
“Maria Lucus,” the short-story sequel to Charlotte Collins, is now available as an audiobook on Audible.com! Both the novel and the short story are narrated by Anne Day-Jones, who will also be reading Caroline Bingley. I’m pleased to be able to offer the novels and short stories in the Personages of Pride & Prejudice Collection as audiobooks, and I hope you will enjoy them
June 5, 2013
US v Apple et al: Indies, This Concerns You
Have a look at the opening slides in the US v Apple et al ebook price fixing trial, and for more information about what his all means, read here.
The results of this trial will have a big impact on our industry, so stay tuned!
U.S. v. Apple et al Opening Slides
May 23, 2013
Win the Charlotte Collins Audiobook
Today I’m pleased to participate in the Jane Austen Giveaway Hop hosted by vvb32 Reads. Fans of Ms. Austen have come together to offer some great items for you to win.
I’m offering the audiobook edition of Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
, which recently became available on at Audible.com and is coming soon to iTunes!
Charlotte Collins is the first audiobook I’ve produced, and I was quite nervous about finding just the right person to narrate it. So I was beyond thrilled when I connected with , a British actress who has had numerous TV and movie roles and voiced video games as well. You can read more about her work here. I think she did a fantastic job. Go here to listen to a free sample.
(If you are an indie author who is curious about audiobook production, go the Indie Jane to read my 3-part series on the subject.)
Best of luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Hop On to Enter to Win More Austenesque Goodies!
May 21, 2013
Charlotte Collins on Audiobook!
It’s here! Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is now available on audiobook at Audible.com and is coming soon to iTunes!
This is the first audiobook I’ve produced, and I was quite nervous about finding just the right person to narrate it. So I was beyond thrilled when I connected with , a British actress who has had numerous TV and movie roles and voiced video games as well. You can read more about her work here.
Because of Anne’s talents, the audiobook truly came to life. Her narration goes beyond mere reading. It’s as if I’m somehow watching my characters even though I can’t see them. Her voices for the Charlotte, Maria, and Mr. Basford gave their characters so much depth and emotion, but I also loved the voices she used for the older, more humorous characters. Mrs. Card is a particular favorite.
Thank you, Anne, for all your hard work bringing Charlotte into a new venue, and I’m so glad you agreed to voice “Maria Lucas” and Caroline Bingley as well.
I hope you will all enjoy the audiobook!
May 17, 2013
Updates
For the past nine days, I took an unusual vacation. I spent the whole time learning and riding with my pal and Riding Fear Free: Help for Fearful Riders and Their Teachers
coauthor Laura Daley, who flew from California to South Carolina, to spend time with me at fabulous One Oak Farm Paints and Quarter Horses.
Jennifer and Laura, Photo by Cheri Steele
Isn’t Darcy pretty?
Here we are again:
On the Trails at One Oak
But I digress.
I am slowly catching up on work, but I’ll hit the highlights.
At Fault is updated in all ebook versions, including the Southern Fraud Thriller Box Set.
The paperback updates of At Fault are in progress but will take longer due to the proofing time required. The paperback will be off sale temporarily.
The audiobook version of Charlotte Collins is still in the validation stage. I expect it to be on sale in the next week or so.
The audiobook version of “Maria Lucas” is back from my awesome narrator and will be available soon.
I am behind on all email. I’ll get back to you soon.
May 14, 2013
May 5, 2013
Swearing
I hit this button more than I realized in At Fault.
When the first reviewer mentioned that there was more swearing in At Fault than in the previous two books in the Southern Fraud Series, I didn’t think much about it. Then another reader mentioned it on my Facebook page. This morning, I found another review that mentioned swearing in Absolute Liability. Three is a pattern, and so I decided to look more closely at the language I had chosen for the Southern Fraud Thriller series.
That’s right, I counted the swear words in each book. I’m not going to break it down word by word for you because that would be boring, but after a count, it was clear that At Fault had twice as many expletives as the previous books.
I never intended my books to be “clean” mysteries with no foul language, violence, or gore, and I am comfortable with the precedent set by Absolute Liability with regard to language and description. Bad guys swear; cops swear; that’s the way it is. But I do believe that because the books are in a series, I set up expectations in book 1 that needed to be followed in all subsequent volumes. Readers should expect the same type of language and descriptions in all the books in the series based on what they read in the first novel, and I had inadvertently given them something different in book 3.
This morning, I edited At Fault so that the language matched the precedent set by the first two books. In fact, it now has fewer swear words than Death Benefits. I apologize for failing to maintain the precedent I had set and promise to do better in the last three books of the series.
Updates to the ebook versions of At Fault and the box set of Southern Fraud Thrillers are in progress, so please check for them at Amazon, BN, and Kobo in the next 48 hours. Updates take longer at the other retailers, but they should be there in the next week or so.
Thank you to Candy M at So Little Time, Carolyn from Facebook, and Amazon Reviewer Lillybellenana for bringing this to my attention.
