Phillip T. Stephens's Blog: Wind Eggs, page 12
May 6, 2017
Capturing a sense of character in the land and in the sea – Art for Writers
If you follow this blog, you know I always like to ask the reader to study Beth Fiddes’ composition for lessons in writing description. Notice how she changes the hue of the waves where the light hits from cobalt to an analogous shade of aqua. To create the light, she brightens the tones by mixing white into her colors.
Perhaps more important: Fiddes draws our eye to the canvas with that intersection of light and wave, but she doesn’t paint it dead center. Instead, she shifts it to the top left of the canvas, balancing the effect in the lower right by darkening the colors and using a complimentary red shade (in this case, almost copper).
How would you write this? Perhaps, “A single ray broke through the clouds, catching the crest of a wave and calling to the surface shades of aqua, even turquoise. Far behind it, another beam danced across the waves in counterpoint, brightening the copper and cobalt cast of the storm-driven sea.”
How can you apply these painting techniques to other writing?
Looking at this wonderful seascape, I am reminded of the words of American novelist E.L. Doctorow:“Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”
Good art evokes too.
The painting is the work of a contemporary Scottish artist Beth Robertson Fiddes who is inspired by the natural world. Her own take on the way she works is pretty inspiring too….
I find more and more now that I want to retain the spontaneity of the initial impressions and sketches in the final pieces…I try to evoke a sense of character in the landscape, to capture the feeling and essence of the landscape on a more intuitive level. I look for unusual structure in landforms and in coastal areas and often try to emphasise their ambiguous qualities.
My work has sometimes been described as having…
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13 Things To Do After Publishing Your Next Book – Guest Post by, Toni Pike…
Author Toni Pike shares 13 quick steps you can take after publishing your first novel. Many I’ve seen elsewhere, but if it’s really your first novel, this may be new to you. Also good for promoting your first published online poem or short story.
PS, you should explore some of these before you publish too.
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
You have already published your first book. As part of that process, you set up your author pages on Amazon and other distribution sites such as Smashwords. You also established your own website, Facebook author page, Goodreads Author page, Twitter account and accounts on other social media platforms.
Now the time has come to publish your next book. You upload it and, hey presto, a short time later your precious creation goes live. Here is a list of thirteen housekeeping jobs to attend to before beginning the hard work of post-publication marketing.
1. Assemble your Buyer Links
Assemble a list of the new buyer links for adding to your website, signatures and posts.
2. Your Amazon Author Pages
Update your author pages on Amazon USA, UK, France, Germany and Japan: claim the new book and modify your biography.
3. The Author Page on other distribution sites, such as Smashwords
Modify…
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Publicity Tips for Book Authors
Speaking of reblogs (from my previous Post), How to eBook reblogs John Kremer’s excerpt of Danny Wall’s article on SEO Chat. Kind of like an Escher maze of links.
What Do You Do for People?|
For Media?
Below is an excerpt from a long-ago issue of Paul Hartunian’s Million Dollar Publicity Strategies ezine.
I just read a brochure produced by an interior decorator. I now see why most of these people are starving. Here are the first two sentences I read in that brochure:
“Hello Everyone, Welcome to my world.”
What do I possibly care about her world?
What do I really care about? What’s the *only* thing I care about? If you said the only thing I care about is what she can do for me, you are right on target.
So many people approach the media people the same way. They actually think reporters, editors, talk show hosts, etc. really care about their book, their product, their service or their whatever.
They don’t care. Nobody cares.
The only thing people care about is what you…
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10 Commonly Misunderstood Words in English – Infographic…
I’m reblogging a reblog because Daily Infographic’s post would require me to set up a post, copy and paste links…Too much trouble for a simple graphic.
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
Source: Daily Infographic
Query Letters
The Mad Scribbler’s post on query letters sums up pretty much all the different advice I’ve read on queries over the years (and I’ve queried a number of publications, some successfully, some not). As to 7, hand signing your name, this may not work with email.
However, if you can send HTML emails, you can place a scanned version of your signature above your name. (Be aware, however, that some readers automatically render HTML emails as text so your signature may simply show up as an attachment.
Personally, I don’t think you need it if the editor prefers email queries.
A query letter is basically a letter to the editor of a newspaper or magazine, inquiring whether or not their print would be interested in your article. Oftentimes it’s sent out before the article’s complete or totally revised. This saves the writer time; if no one replies, then the article’s content is too boring and the writer needs to move on. There are plenty of resources to teach about query letters, and some company’s even provide instructions on the format and content of the letter. But these are seven things writers usually forget before they send their letter.
Make certain you’ve designated the current editor or literary agent correctly. This means researching their credentials. Do they have a PhD or a masters? Are they referred to as Doctor _____ or simply Editor, or Chief of Editing? Double check your spelling and verify the address you put in the header.
Your…
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May 4, 2017
POV-Common Mistakes
POV is essential to good writing. Too me POV makes or breaks a novel, and I don’t write until I’m certain whose POV I will use for the story. This includes the decision for first or third (I rarely use omniscient). Jan’s post provides a good starting point for POV.
From now on, if you’re serious about writing, you should read every novel through the lens of POV. What POV did the author choose? How well do they adhere to it? Does she use any techniques you can borrow?
Writing your first novel-Things you should know
Think of your POV character as your camera. He/She walks through the story giving you a personal glimpse of what’s happening. If your POV character can’t see it, you can’t describe it for your readers. If he can’t hear it, you can’t let your readers hear it. If your POV character doesn’t know it, you can’t tell it. You are bound to your POV character.
Character can’t see it
Suzy stood staring straight ahead. Her ex stood behind her, his arms crossed over his chest, his blue eyes scowling.
Problem Unless she has a mirror in front of her, she can’t see her ex standing behind her. She wouldn’t know his arms were crossed and he was scowling.
Fix Use other senses. She can smell him, she can hear him, and she can imagine what he is doing.
Character can’t hear it
Suzy walked down the dark hall. Several floors…
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Self-publishing via Word and Createspace – page setup
I don’t use Create Space’s templates because too many people I’ve talked to have had poor results. In truth, once you’ve followed the steps Flory provides, you aren’t far from creating your own Create Space ready file.
1. Go to the Format > Font > Advanced Features dialogue and turn ligatures on.
2. If you are using fully justified margins turn on Tools > Hyphenation automatic and make sure to allow no more than 2 hyphenated lines in a row. Then turn on automatic kerning for type above 12 points in the advanced fonts dialogue. This should remove unsightly rivers and gutters in your justified text.
3. If you haven’t applied a style to your chapter titles and subheads (which you should have) apply a style, or create one and apply it to every chapter and section head. Make sure to set the style format.
4. Make sure any images are 300 ppi.
Double check every page and make manual adjustments. Save as a PDF file and submit.
Make sure to double check the pdf proof and then order a printed proof.
This is the second post in this series and this time, I’ll be showing you how to setup your Word document to match the Createspace template for your chosen trim size. If you’ve forgotten about templates and trim sizes, you can find the post explaining what they are, why you need them and where to find them…here.
Right. So in this post I will assume that:
you have typed up your manuscript in Word or in a Word compatible format – e.g. Rich Text Format or .rtf for short.
you want to change that manuscript to make it compatible with Createspace so the printing process goes smoothly
you have decided on a trim size
you have downloaded the appropriate template [from Createspace] specifically for that trim size
you have looked at the template but did not change any of the settings
If any of these assumptions are incorrect…
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#Indie #Author Day 2017: Saturday, October 14! Start Planning NOW!
Indie Author Day is a great opportunity to promote your work and other indie authors, Start planning now. Sally Ember provides a few tips to get you started,
#Indie #Author Day 2017: Saturday, October 14!
The second annual Indie Author Day will be held on Saturday, October 14, 2017. This event brings together libraries and local writers around the world for a day of celebration and inspiration devoted to indie authorship.
Registration for Indie Author Day 2017 is officially open. Visit the Indie Author Daywebsite, https://goo.gl/6HJZG3 . to learn more information about this year’s event and how to get involved in IAD programming near you.
From the Indie Author Day website:
HOSTING AN EVENT
In addition to a selection of on-demand video workshops that will be available from Indie Author Day sponsors, there are many activities for your #library to offer as part of its Indie Author Day 2017 event.
To get you brainstorming, here are some suggested activities that #libraries have done at past events:
—An #author panel featuring traditional, hybrid and self-published #authors from…
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May 3, 2017
The Library at the End of the World
Imagine a catastrophic event that cripples humanity. Or worse, this Congress decides that books are worse than public broadcasting. We could Fahrenheit 451 our favorite books and hope we survive to share them with others, or support digital and physical archives of critical texts.
Who decides which texts should be preserved raises a hornet’s nest of questions. We know the Bible will be there, along with the Tao (suck it up religious right), Qu’ran, Vedas and Upanishads. But I vote for Wittgenstein, Derrida and Michèle Le Dœuff, not to mention Walker Percy and Flannery O’Connor. And me. (They don’t know it now, but the three people who survive who read my books will say, “You really shoulda. I really want to read those books again.”) But that’s a hornets’ nest you can postpone probing until you real Kristen Twardowski’s
Source: The Library at the End of the World
May 1, 2017
Dawn Davis Loring Dances Until Dawn
I’ve been following Dawn’s dance career since we worked together at Austin’s American Youthworks, an organization that did wonderful things for students and treated its employees miserably. Rarely does an artist find work in their field that allows them to pursue their avocation; Dawn now as executive director for the San Antonio Dance Umbrella.
Apologies to Dawn: We conducted this interview last year, but I went into the hospital immediately after and am still getting caught up.
Why would a writer, one who writes noir thrillers and dark fantasies about optimists in hell, care about dance? Because writers should immerse themselves in all art forms. Dance delivers grace, speed and motion (even athleticism) rarely experienced in another art form. This is true of ballet, of modern dance and even traditional folk dance. Small studio dance provides an unparalleled up-front exposure to the form. Sit on the front row, smell the sweat, see the muscles strain, and you’ll never ignore human or structural form in the same light after.
Dawn and I took a virtual flight to Cambridge to talk at the Green Street Studio.
The back studio was my favorite because it was so cosy. I spent a lot of time there between 2002-2009. The walls were a dingy white and the sprung floor had a light-gray marley covering on it that was taped down with fraying gray tape. Mirrors covered one wall and along the sides of the room were portable barres in varying levels of disrepair. Although there are a few folding chairs in the room, we will sit on the floor, most likely alone.
Unfortunately, they don’t allow food so we had to bring snacks. Dawn brings snacks from the Harvest Co-op on Mass Ave including garlic tofu and greens with sesame oil, along with sweet onion jam and baguette. I looked for snacks designed for dancers, including no-bake energy bites and spiced granola.
I ask what’s on her playlist.
We can listen to anything in my collection, but I will probably make you listen to a song I am thinking of using for my next piece.
My favorite piece from one of Dawn’s performances is Talvin Singh’s Jann Anokha from his compilation album Soundz of the Asian Underground. I ran out and bought the album after the show, and have lost it and replaced it several times. I finally burned it for iTunes.
How does the place where we’re meeting figure in your work, inspire your work?
It is a place that holds many happy memories for me – rehearsing, taking class, attending concerts, and working. I like the bareness of the studio – no limitations on the work and nothing to distract me.
[image error]
A peek through the door at a Green Street rehearsal.
We discuss the people who influenced us to develop our art. My muse was Nelwyn Moore, a high school friend’s mother who played bridge with me and is the only person I recall encouraging my writing. Dawn points to two:
Pina Bausch and Carol Burnett. Now deceased, Pina Bausch was an extraordinary artist from Germany who explored the idea of merging dance and theatre. For her, dances are epic collections of episodic ideas that overlap and confront the audience with a deep understanding of the human psyche. Her work is not merely beautiful or entertaining – it grabs you with its repetitive insistence and it knows you at a very deep level. There is no tepid response to it. Carol Burnett, on the other hand, used humor (and dance and song) in her variety show. She also explored episodic ideas, but from a delightfully playful point of view. Both greatly influenced my work. One made me fierce and the other made me funny. I love the variety that dance-theatre embraces and I enjoy exploring difficult and troubling ideas and using the lens of humor to frame the subject.
My own family watched Carol Burnet from the time she was featured on the Gary Moore show, just about the only form of entertainment (or anything for that matter) we could agree on.
I ask about a project that she mulls over often, but for some reason never gets around to staging.
I want to do another site-specific work – this time on the grounds of a new hospital here in New Braunfels. The grounds and outdoor spaces are enormous and welcoming and there are two brilliantly blue glass rivers that wind through, representing the Comal and Guadalupe rivers. There is an elevated butterfly garden and plenty of walkways and benches and partial atriums. They opened about 18 months ago and I have been wanting to do this project since my first visit. Sadly, I am still looking for full-time employment and getting a job has to come first. I would want the hospital to sponsor the performance and there is another dancer that just moved to town who would be a wonderful creative partner. However, she is also struggling with not enough employment and motherhood, so I keep the idea in my back pocket, hoping for better times and friendlier cultural climates.
One project I recall was How to Choreograph which she performed with Austin’s Mosaic Dance body.
[image error]
Dawn performs her composition How to Choreograph for the Mosaic Dance Studio.
She admits that dedication to her art makes a personal life difficult to pursue.
My parents have always been extremely supportive of my career, and that has been such a blessing, because this is not the easy path. My social life has been limited by my unwillingness to give up time in the studio to go drink alcohol in bars. The work was always more important. Having a child has made me less of a workaholic and more interested in smaller moments, but the passion to create dances is still there.
She doesn’t share this, but I know that a difficult marriage in which she followed her husband to England where he spent his time at work and left her to cope with a new culture made her eager to resume her own focus on dance. She did return with her son, upon whom she dotes.
[image error]
Dawn’s son Bee shows his own artistic turns with this self-portrait.
Readers interested in dance as an art form might want to look at:
Pina Bausch
Carol Burnett
The Mosaic Dance Body, who you can follow on Facebook.
And, of course, Dawn’s official online resume.
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