Salomé Jones's Blog, page 5

On Strong Female Characters in Red Phone Box

It's been on my mind a lot lately.

What makes a character strong? I don't think there's a single, straightforward answer to that. Are characters weak if they cry? Do they need to be physically strong? Do they need to be fearless?

I guess I feel there are many kinds of strength. There's physical strength, as in the power-lifting kind. Women are usually going to be at a slight disadvantage in this area because of simple size and muscle density reality. But there are many other factors to streng...

What I have to say about typos in books

In my youth, like when I was a new teenager, I would find typos in books and think, 'Oh my god, they left a typo in here. How could that happen?' The outrage, the indignation!

Okay, so flash forward twenty-mumble years, and I'm a writer and an editor. I still get really distressed about typos and so forth. But then I go through the process of preparing a book for publication. Not just developmental editing but copy editing and proofreading, book layout, managing writers and artists, overseeing...

More from the Red Phone Box Playlist

Playlist and comments

The writers of Red Phone Box put together a playlist for the book. Here are some of my favorite songs from the list with links to the songs on Spotify.

Personal Jesus by Marilyn Manson This song speaks to the whole book in a way. 'Pick up the receiver, I'll make you a believer.' Apparently we're all very alt rock because this is the kind of stuff that most of the writers picked.

Furious Angels by Rob Dougan Professors Henry Bannister and Kelly David are unwitting academics who get caught up in...

London is still there

It's been lurking outside my window for months. I wake up every morning to find it there, peering in at me with its 10 million pairs of eyes.

Today I thought it might have left. No such luck. I don't think it's going away.

It offers me things. Fresh produce. Donner kebabs. Chicken sandwiches that have corn in them. CORN! It sends delivery people to my door with packages, and pigeons to my balcony with, well, the things pigeons have. Mostly feathers.

I confess, at times it lures me out. Last wee...

RPB Update

I sent uncorrected proofs of the Red Phone Box manuscript to all the writers last night. My part in the writing and editing is now finished. Tim Dedopulos will now do the ebook formatting and also print and proofread the text on paper. As one does.

So tired, but it's been amazing. A much different experience than working on a book alone.

I'll be sending review copies out next week, if everything goes as planned. And then I'll start working on the Cthulhu Lives anthology. (And finishing my own...

Joy Mode

I really am trying to blog more regularly. The book is eating my face. I just finished most of the revisions on the last story-chapter. Because of the way the ending has changed, I now need to add a small section. Then it'll be read again, quickly, by a couple of people, and the whole thing will get a paper and pen proofread. The final, FINAL stage.

In my wildest imaginings, I never thought I'd be doing revisions at the eleventh hour, but something strange - or not so strange - has happened....

The patience of a fruit fly

The process of writing and editing a book is obviously a long one. In the case of a book that I write all by myself, I can at least feel that any delays are mine to resolve. In the case of a book written by a small army of friends and acquaintances, I I sometimes just have to wait.

The book has been with a few beta readers for the past six days and feedback is just coming through now. There aren't actually that many issues, but having waited a week unable to do anything, I feel anxious and re...

Getting the word out

I wanted to write a little about what it's like when you need to promote a book. This book, Red Phone Box, is something I've been working on for two years. But more than that, it's something I've recruited a couple dozen people, friends and strangers, to work on with me. So I want to make sure all our time wasn't wasted.

Though I can't be totally unbiased, I think it's actually quite good. It's not like anything I've looked at before. We've called it 'a story cycle' but it might be more approp...

Brixton Book Jam

Last night I went to the Brixton Book Jam. It was full of lovely people including some good writers. The list of readers included Jim Pollock and Suw Charman Anderson.

I read from one of the stories late in the book. It was the first time I've read in public in about four years. It felt good. I remembered that I like it. So I'm going to try to do more of it.

I believe I'm going to have another event to go to soon. I look forward to hearing other people's readings and meeting peopl