C. Gockel's Blog, page 129

Fates: I Bring the Fire Part IV

Fates: I Bring the Fire Part IV:

Available in: NOOK Book (eBook). The Leader Who Rules Chaos, Rules the Realms…Two years ago, Loki, God of Mischief, Chaos, and Lies, destroyed a large chunk of Chicago’s financial district and then vanished into thin air

Fates is on Barnes & Noble and available for the NOOK!

avenging-sherl0ck:unabating:Holy shit how much does that cat...

avenging-sherl0ck:

unabating:

Holy shit how much does that cat weigh

meowlnir

Steve breaks rules for the greater good.Amy breaks rules because she feels she has too.Beatrice...

Steve breaks rules for the greater good.
Amy breaks rules because she feels she has too.
Beatrice breaks rules to protect Amy.
Bohdi breaks rules for the LOLs.

Thoughts on Using a Distributor | RJ Crayton

Thoughts on Using a Distributor | RJ Crayton:

RJ Crayton is a self-published author who writes speculative sci-fi-romance. 

For those of you new to self-publishing, a “distributor” is someone who will take your book and send it out to various sellers for you: Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and Apple. They usually charge a fee or a percentage of sales. If you can go direct, you earn a lot more money. (Also, if you want to go Permafree it’s my understanding that B&N won’t let you set your price to FREE, but if you go through a distributor you can).

Follow the link above for a very good explanation of the pros and cons of using a distributor. If you’re thinking of self-publishing, it’s important reading!

RJ Crayton is author of the Life First series. Her blog is here.

Is this true? In terms of personailty, Loki is a cat (aloof and mischevious) and Thor is a dog (big and loveable, yet also with a temper)

I don’t know about Loki being a cat—in Marvel certainly. In I Bring the Fire and mythology, not so much. He was always willing to make a fool of himself for a good cause, or just for the LOLs.

In mythology, Thor’s temperament makes him almost undoglike…Don’t dogs mostly take it from people and then come back for more tail wagging? Thor DEFINITELY has a temper, though. He also actually has a brain, even in the myths. I know other authors don’t like to portray him as such, but there are tales of his cunning as well as his strength.

"Script to Screen: One simple way to make a screenplay stronger and easier to film is to cut out all..."

“Script to Screen: One simple way to make a screenplay stronger and easier to film is to cut out all dialogue that tells something through words that’s already or will be told through images. Search your dialogue for every example. Does the story stand without that bit? Dump it, or at the very least make it part of something more interest and dynamic. Trust your director to understand the visuals.”

-

writing advice from this old bitch. (via thisoldbitch)

This is something that can be said about fiction too. I HATE long conference scenes where they talk about what they are going to do, and then they do it. Sometimes you need a “meeting” scene, but it should divulge new information, or show something important.

Please Help Me Pay My Wonderful Authors the Royalties Owed Them! | The Passive Voice | A Lawyer's Thoughts on Authors, Self-Publishing and Traditional Publishing

Please Help Me Pay My Wonderful Authors the Royalties Owed Them! | The Passive Voice | A Lawyer's Thoughts on Authors, Self-Publishing and Traditional Publishing:

From IndieGoGo: I am Vera Nazarian, two-time Nebula Award Nominee author, award-winning artist, publisher of Norilana Books. In 2006 I singlehandedly started a small independent press Norilana Books, with about 300 paper print POD (Print-on-Demand) titles in print, mostly classics of world literature…

This is a very sad story, both for the author of the post, and for the author who have not been paid.

I have a couple of thoughts:

Firstly, think very hard before you go small press. If they offer you an advance in cash, that you don’t think you’ll ever make on your own (and when I say that I mean upfront) it might be okay. But this isn’t the only story floating around about this sort of trouble right now. 

Secondly, this woman really shouldn’t have been running a business other than her writing. It’s all well and good to want to do good…but you can wind up doing a lot of wrong to yourself and others.

Whether you are a writer, painter, or entrepreneur of any stripe you should have financial reserves of at least one year. You should also have a health plan. When it comes time to buy a house, you should damn well put 20% down and have a mortgage that you can pay on half your income. 

…and you should always, always, pay your creditors first.

The author of the post took down the fundraising scheme. I could not in good conscience have contributed to it. Regardless of intent, she seemed not to have much financial acumen.

Side Note To Fan Fic Authors

cgockel:

twobirdsonesong:

Here’s the thing.

I read a lot of scripts.  A lot.  From professionals to aspiring writers to complete newbies.  Features and pilots.  Specs and treatments.

And 8 times out of 10 the fan fic that I’ve read over the last, oh, 15 years is leagues better than this stuff.  It’s more inspired.  It’s more compelling.  It’s genre bending and creative and heartfelt.  It’s well-paced and intense and funny and sexy and meaningful.  It’s smart and thoughtful and good.  It’s novel-quality.  Better than, sometimes.

Rare is the script I don’t want to put down, but how often have we stayed up until 3am to get to the last chapter of a 100k fic? And it’s not even a fan fic author’s day job.  This is what they do on the side.  In their spare time.  For free.

So my point is, fan fic authors, you’re good.  You’re good writers and great storytellers.  I know it doesn’t always feel like it, especially if you’re one of the authors who’s not a BNF and doesn’t get the notes/hits that a few do.  And  because some people still view fic as “not real writing.” You guys know the shit that gets made into movies.  You’re better than that.  So be better than that.  If writing is what you think want to do, then just know you’re already doing it.   You’ve already started.

And you’re more talented than you might think.

I naively thought when I started self-publishing, that the quality of the average self-published novel would be better than fanfiction.

I was wrong.

Yep. The really bad thing? There are lots of people out there trying to con those people — promising that they can be a best seller if they only spend $X.XX on their book/seminar/conference/webinar.

oecologia:"In March, due to a natural phenomenon,...

oecologia:

"In March, due to a natural phenomenon, Siberia’s Lake Baikal is particularly amazing to photograph. The temperature, wind and sun cause the ice crust to crack and form beautiful turquoise blocks or ice hummocks on the lake’s surface.”

Photograph by Alex El Barto.

Ooooh, this could be useful for research!

I can't wait for your next book! I'm addicted. Very well written.

Thank you, I’m so glad you enjoyed I Bring the Fire! I’m thinking of releasing some short stories in a few months, and hopefully Warriors will be done by Christmas.