J.U. Scribe's Blog, page 11

January 5, 2014

The Reviews are in…

The wait is almost over. Like so many writers out there, I’m eager to find out what others think about my work. It didn’t take too long after publishing my book, Before the Legend, that I realized just how important reviews can be. Reviews, especially positive ones, can sway an unsure reader to take a chance and read your story. However their is a but. A review that simply says “Good job.” ”I like this. Keep writing,” may be positive but they don’t tell a reader why the reviewer likes the book. It may in fact appear that the author’s friends or relatives wrote biased  or cheap reviews, which is not the impression an author wants to make. Although by all means it’s great to have the support of family and friends, an honest constructive review carries more weight. At the other end of the coin, having no reviews can be just as bad as getting mixed or all negative reviews. And if you want to garner the spotlight on your book, some sites such as Bookbub factor in the number of reviews you have when deciding to advertise your work to their readers. After all they want to make sure that they are promoting quality books to their followers.


Considering that getting reviews has not come easily for me, I was thrilled to receive a glowing review from a reviewer on Goodreads who also posted it on their blog. Here’s a snippet of their review. The whole review can be found on: “The Bookworm Who Never Stops Reading” as well as on my Goodreads page.


…This story was wonderfully written. This is seriously my first favorite book this year of 2014. The grammar was perfect and the style really brought me to the times. Not to mention I like stories about the Roman times!

The story begins with Troy’s nightmare. He dreams that his parents are being swallowed by the earth. Because of this nightmare, he turns to his Mom for comfort during the night. But his Father says that he needs to learn that nightmares aren’t necessarily true and turns him away.

He wonders if either his Mother or Father love him. But during this conflict of matters, a great incident comes (withheld in this review so you can pick up this book to find out!) and the consequences prove worse than they had imagined.

This book calls for more to it! Yes, the book has a satisfying ending, but it leaves you begging for more!…


In addition to the new reviews I received, check out the spotlight for my story on the blog Pick Your Poison where you can also sign-up for a chance to win a free print copy of my book, Before the Legend, for a limited time only. Also check out my guest appearance with Deborah who hosted  me as part of Self-Published Sunday on her blog  ”Novel Notions.” There you will find an exclusive excerpt to my story and learn some random facts about me.


*****


Earlier I made a statement regarding getting no reviews. But I want to turn this question to my followers and new visitors alike: Is having no reviews really just as bad as having mixed or all negative review? I want to hear your thoughts! Leave a reply below.  I might post a poll later too if people prefer that.


Important Update: Check out the page: Before the Legend, for the latest price changes and availability. Before the Legend is now free on Kobo Books. Amazon is still reluctant dropping my book to free so it remains at $.99 at the moment.


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Published on January 05, 2014 15:49

December 23, 2013

Rethinking “Free”

“You get a car. And you get a car…everybody gets a car.”


Who remembers this scene from Oprah? Maybe you’re a fan of Oprah and her show (or maybe you never watched her show and don’t care too) yet many people have heard of this unforgettable TV moment by Oprah a couple of years ago after she gave away free cars to all her guests. Just imagine being an audience member when you see the person next to you jumping up and down because they got a key in their box only to find out that you also have the keys to a brand new car. It’s no wonder why her largely female audience went hysterical.


Why am I talking about Oprah? What relevance does she have with self-publishing or even my own stories I blog about? One word.


Free.


Virtually everybody likes free things. This is especially true if those free things are things that the intended user would want or need. When it comes to self-publishing you have spent considerable time and effort writing, editing, and rewriting your book. Why? Because you want to produce your best work so others would want to buy it. After all the work you might have poured in for editing, formatting, and creating the book cover (unless you handled most of that on your own) you expect to actually see results of your labor. So naturally you decided on a sale price that will still generate a reasonable profit after you factor royalty rates.


But for self-publishers starting off  it can be very hard to get your work noticed in those first few weeks your book goes live for distribution. If your book doesn’t crack the New Release list (for example on Amazon) or fails to be featured on other lists you risk falling by the wayside, losing visibility. If your book isn’t visible, people can’t find it. If people can’t find it they won’t buy it!


Costly Lessons

This is a lesson I learned all too well in my very first launch. One of the strategies I tried to utilize was what I now called the “Free Promo.” When I first released Before the Legend I set the book for free for a day (more like half a day). To get some downloads I even texted some of my friends and posted about it on my Facebook Fan Page. While the # of downloads weren’t impressive on Smashwords it was notable considering I didn’t tell a huge audience about the free release and it was last minute. The next day I decided to end the free run and raise the price back to the sale price I preferred which was $2.99 the very next day. Big mistake! The downloads I obtained as well as the elevated page views for my author page dropped off sharply. From there I tried other ways to get noticed such as by paying for ads on Facebook and later Goodreads. Although I was getting some interaction and clicks I felt more and more disappointed at the lack of sales.


What went wrong? A lot of things now that I take a step back and take an objective look. Some things are merely out of my control. Some authors simply had a stronger fan base to begin with or bigger  marketing platforms to their disposal to catapult their book to the prime spotlight. Obviously I’m an indie author with a limited budget for marketing and advertising so I lacked the fire power that my competitors had. A critical mistake  on my part though was rushing to get my book published before it was even ready or even strategizing my launch plan. There were no big platforms that were supporting my work. I had nothing playing in my favor.


Back to Basics

Was my initial strategy wrong? Not necessarily. The principle that free things attracts reader is mostly accurate. Personally I love free things and when a blogger broadcasted he was setting his book for free for a limited time I couldn’t help but jump at the offer before it expired. What I failed to realized was just how powerful the label free can be and I failed to maximize on it to gain more exposure to my work that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to achieve setting it to the standard price. After reevaluating my own missteps  and reading Let’s Get Visible by David Gaughran, a guide for increasing visibility for self-publishers, I realized I needed to seriously rethink my strategy and even go back to the basics. That meant stopping the ads I was running until I could come up with a more effective approach. That meant going back to get a clean edit of minor punctuation errors. It even meant polishing up on the formatting. (which is never fun when you have to go back and revise your eBook!)


In David’s book he mentioned the different launch strategies one can use amongst many other helpful insight such as choosing the right keywords, understanding Amazon’s algorithms to make the ranking system work in your favor to garner more visibility. One of the best ways to garner publicity for a new title or one that needs a little boost is to run a sale whether it be a 99 cent eBook or free. I hope to combine my free run with the approach he calls “spreading the love” which basically means spreading out the time between the launch and when you actually tell people. I highly recommend his book for all self-publishers and I’ll be discussing more about it (once I finish it) in later posts so stay tuned!


I’m Rethinking Free

So does free still catch your eye? I hope so. Now imagine in that picture at the top of this post that instead of saying you get a free car… you get a free book. So you get a free book and you get a free book… EVERYONE GETS FREE BOOKS (don’t mean to get carried away lol)! I officially announce the start of my Free Promo Week. This week only I will be making my eBook, Before the Legend free on Smashwords where you can download in multiple formats including ePub, Mobi, PDF and more! It will be made available for free on other retailers as well. Check out my Facebook fan page in the days to come (to your left). Also starting this Monday I started a free giveaway of my print book. Only 5 copies remain for a limited time only! Click here for more details. These next three weeks anticipate free promotions, giveaways, and a free guest spot on  the blog Pick Your Poison in the coming days. So stay tuned as a rethink my launch strategy and rethink free.





Goodreads Book Giveaway
Before the Legend- The Prologue by J.U. Scribe

Before the Legend- The Prologue
by J.U. Scribe

Giveaway ends January 13, 2014.


See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.





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Published on December 23, 2013 18:49

November 29, 2013

Updates on “Before the Legend”

Now on sale! Now on sale!

For readers that weren’t aware I officially published my debut novelette, “Before the Legend.” It’s been a long project of mines stemming all the way back to 2010 and its surreal knowing it’s been finally released for sale. It’s been two weeks since I published the book but these past weeks I’ve been busy  1) perfecting the book, especially the e-book (I decided it will never be perfect lol) and 2) marketing! I will briefly summarize what are the marketing strategies I’ve been utilizing and plan to use. I will also briefly list sale information, which can also be found in the navigation bar, under the link “Before the Legend.”


Marketing
You have to stand out.

That is the one piece of advice that’s been drilling in my head this week as I crank up the marketing. This  week is especially important considering Black Friday is a strategic time to make a sale. In addition to the book trailer I created which is now up on Youtube, I’ve been reaching out to other bloggers for book reviews. Book reviews are essential especially from an unknown author who don’t have the full assistance of a publishing company to give the book needed exposure. A book review, particularly a good solid one, might I stress, can help sway unsure readers to take a chance with your book. In a sea of thousands upon millions of books coming out, I’m already at a great disadvantage.


As it stands though, I have 2 bloggers interested. I won’t be doing a full tour this week (I will provide the date soon. Promotions coming…) but I will be doing a partial tour this week as my work is currently being featured on AwesomeGang, an awesome site that’s geared towards helping indie publishers to get their works out there. My book is featured on their homepage and will be featured up till tomorrow so check out the preview as well as the author interview. My book is also now added to Goodreads so check it out. Goodreads is a great site where reader can discover new works and find what their friends are recommending. It’s also a great site for authors who want to advertise their works because authors can upload their book if it hasn’t already been added to their database. Goodreads also has a system where publishers and authors alike can advertise their works by creating ads that can be targeted to specific groups or to everyone. Personally I’ve found Facebook more effective in getting more engagement for my ads but I’ve used Facebook to gain exposure to my book on Goodreads so we’ll see how that goes.


Updates on Retailers



Amazon: Print book listed on the site for only $5.39. If you purchase the print book you can get the Kindle version free! If you get the Kindle by itself it’s only $.99
Barnes & Noble: Paperback listed as $5.99
Smashwords: e-book available currently for $.99

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Published on November 29, 2013 11:32

November 17, 2013

Before the Legend hitting the big screen!

It’s hitting the big screen; well almost.

This evening I released the official book trailer to my debut novelette, Before the Legend. The trailer is now up on YouTube. For my loyal fans, it’s being featured on my Facebook page on the side, and premiering here on Writer’s Nook. Inspired by the first book trailer I made for my story Chasing Blue, I decided a book trailer would be an essential part of my marketing plan for my latest story. It will be going on sale later this week in both print and e-book format. The price for the print book stands currently at $5.99 and $2.99 for the e-book. However there may be promotions coming (hint, hint).


The book is expected to be hitting online retailers in the next 5-7 days but it depends on the specific retailer when they make the title available so it’s too early to say quite yet. The earliest date it will be hitting stores is tentatively November 19th this Tuesday. Expect to see it on Amazon, Smashwords, Apple, Barnes and Noble and much more in the weeks to come. I will be busy updating the site, which will include more details about the book and how you can purchase it. Expect the latest updates on my Facebook page J.U.Scribe. Now the next thing besides last minute formatting woes for the e-book I have to worry about is obtaining book reviews. I’m kick-starting the tour starting tomorrow. While I’m away enjoy the sneak preview below.



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Published on November 17, 2013 20:13

October 27, 2013

Editing 101: The Price of Editing

Free editing anyone?


That was the question I found myself asking when it came down to editing my own story, Before the Legend which I’m merely weeks away from publishing. This post is long overdue, mainly due to my very busy schedule, but I have editing and life to thank for that. Things are coming along nicely with the novelette and are slowly falling into place. Yet there are still many choices one has to make, and it’s critical that one makes the right choice to ensure the best possible outcome for their book. Before I share my updates on where I’m at with the story, I would like to discuss one of the most important steps other writers including myself have to make.


Task of Editing

This has to be one of the most important steps any writer whose serious about publishing must take. What’s involved with editing? A lot! In my journey of self-publishing, I quickly realized editing is more than just editing the mechanics of your writing such as grammar, spelling, and punctuation. That’s not to say those things aren’t important because they are very important. A book riddled with spelling mistakes or poor grammar could distract the reader from the actual content of the story because they’re focused on glaring errors. However when you edit you have to take into account the overall plot of the story as well as the structure or framework the story hangs on. Is the plot consistent throughout the work? Are certain actions taken by the characters plausible (if this is a fantasy novel you can likely get away with it)? Does the dialogue flow and match the characters? Are there any plot holes? Is the story paced appropriately? Are the tenses and POV consistent?


This is only half of what’s involved with editing. When you consider the list of things you must take into account when editing their work you quickly realize that spellchecker on your Word document won’t be sufficient! All writers are responsible for editing their works including those going through a traditional publisher. But for those that self-publish, editing is especially important because you’re the one primarily responsible for the final product: the book. For a self-publisher, which people tend to be more critical about, you don’t want to close any doors before you get a fighting chance. This makes the task alone very daunting at times. Yet, you don’t have to go alone. You can ask for outside help. However how much are you willing to pay?


The Price of Editing

Professional editors are a great service to utilize when getting your story ready to publish. There are different types of editors who focus on different aspects of your writing when editing. In a guest post on Catherine Caffeinated ’s blog, she explains what a copy-editor does as well as mentions other types of editing. However editing does come at a price. It’s important to remember that most editors charge in these two main ways.



They charge you a flat rate based on your word count (e.g.. $250 for 10,000 words or less)
They charge per word in the document ( e.g.. 5 cents a word)

The 2nd option may seem more alluring but if you’re writing a 100,000 word novel, the price tag may not seem so attractive after all.


Cheap Alternatives

If you’re a cheap skate like myself, you probably feel apprehensive about dropping hundreds if not thousands of dollars on editing your manuscript. For some it may simply be out of your price range. However you can still find those that are willing to edit your works for a more affordable cost or even free. Where on earth can you find those who would make time to edit for work for free?



Writing communities and groups. Within certain groups or clubs you can find amateur or freelance editors and beta-readers to read your work. You’ll want to know how much experience they have editing other people’s work as well as what types of works they would be interested in reading and editing.
Other connections. This could be an old English teacher, a blogger who offers editing services or sites such as Thumbtack that match you to qualified editors and from there you can choose which quote is reasonable to you.

For me I found an editor on Wattpad and a beta reader on Fictionpress. Both were very helpful in the editing process and brought out areas in my work that needed improvement that I otherwise would have overlooked. When it comes to our works we tend to be biased or unaware of the smaller technical details of writing. Editors are great because they approach the work from a fresh unbiased perspective and can therefore be an objective pair of lenses. After all they are trained or experienced in finding the little details that make a big difference in the end. However it’s still important to choose a good editor. As a disclaimer although you want a cheap or free editor you don’t want cheap quality editing! That’s why I ended up paying a professional in the end.


Another alternative are online tools. This includes open source software that writer’s can plug their text in. The software or plugin will then analyze the text for grammar issues, repetitive phrasing, awkward sentence structuring amongst several other things. One in particular I discovered was Pro Writing Aid. It’s a powerful tool for editing and can check for



Clichés and redundancies
Grammar mistakes
Spelling
Passive voice
Sentence variety
And more…

I highly recommend it because it’s a great start for those who feel ambitious enough to self-edit. Another good tool is Grammarly. This one as the title suggests focuses more on grammar as opposed to Pro Writing Aid which is more well-rounded but it does provide explanations and suggestions for edits when you copy and paste your text. Another cool feature about it is that you can download it as a plug-in for Microsoft Word.


These are great tools however one must be ready to subscribe to maximize the fullest capabilities of these tools. Are they a substitute for a professional editor? That’s a question I’ll leave you to decide. In conclusion, there is a price for editing but you’ll pay a huge price for not editing so take it seriously. In the meantime here’s a quick update.


Updates:



I’ll publishing my work (print version) on Amazon’s Createspace. Check out the latest preview of my work on Createspace.
Ebook version is still in the works and will be slated to be released around the same time as the print book (tentatively on November 11, 2013)
The book trailer is still in the works but should be coming soon. You don’t want to miss it!
Stay tuned for the next post because more finalized updates are coming!

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Published on October 27, 2013 17:57

September 8, 2013

Is this historical or fantasy?

What do categories and boxes have in common?


Both carry the idea of constraining something into a fixed space. We put things in boxes mainly with the purpose of organizing things to make it easier to retrieve certain items. As people we love to put things in figurative boxes whether we are consciously aware of it or not. For example if a person has certain characteristics that belong to a certain racial group we identify them as a certain race. And in many cases based on a person’s outward racial identity we assume certain things such as their customs, language, or sometimes how they act.


Thankfully in fiction you say it’s not so ‘black and white’…or really?


In books you have categories. You have: fiction and nonfiction. Seems pretty straightforward so far. From fiction we have numerous categories to categorize one’s work whether it be: romance, science-fiction, fantasy, historical, teen-fiction, adventure, mystery, horror, Children’s, etc. This doesn’t even include poetry or other literary works that are more prose or have a different structure. However you might be wondering why are categories so important anyways? And how does this tie in with marketing or self-publishing?


Marketing and Categories

In extension to the world in general, the literary world breaks literature into categories. The category your work falls under, determines what section your book will be found in the shelves of Barnes and Noble or any other bookstore. If it’s an e-book, your book will be categorized with like works. This is done with the intention it making it easier for the reader to access certain types of information. If a reader had no idea the exact book he or she wanted to read, they might know they want to read a mystery novel. So from there a reader can start broad and narrow down their search until they find what they are looking for.


Some genres attract a certain audience or market. Depending on the genre, you’ll draw a larger market. For example romance novels are still one of the most popular genres. When your book cover and content identify with a certain genre, readers will come to your work with a set of expectations depending on the genre. This ties with my earlier post about book covers and how they can help attract your target audience which you can read here.


The tricky thing about categories is that not everything fits into one neat “box.” Do works have to fit a neat box to be more marketable or more easily retrievable? Not necessarily. Some works may have elements of two or even three genres. Some genres especially romance are easily meshed with other genres (eg. teen-fiction/romance). In those instances readers can have their works appear in both categories. Considering romance is a genre that has a large audience (especially with girls and women alike) making romance a subgenre or vice versa could make other genres more appealing. This is where subcategories come in because it even narrows down the scope of work to a particular niche that’s targeted to a smaller group of people.


History or Fantasy?

Some categories though like historical fiction may have stricter standards of what counts as being historical in the first place. This leads to the title of my post because some staunch fans of historical fiction have strict standards of what counts as historical fiction and adding fictionalized elements especially fantasy creates a blurred line. I’ve recently seen a discussion about what’s considered historical fiction in Wattpad so I got to see both sides of the debate. Let’s start with some elements in historical fiction most people can agree upon…



Set in a period in the past
Reflects the era in which the characters lives in
Can take place during actual historical events that happened that can be documented or verified

With any added elements of fantasy, some argue that the story is NOT historical. Others feel that fantasy can be a subgenre of Historical fiction, granted the work is well researched and stays true to the era in which it’s written. While some stuff is classed as historical and ends up being mostly fantasy or largely inaccurate, some works are based off legends, people or events that could have taken place but there is no proof to verify such. Does that automatically make the story fantasy instead? As I said in another post, when I think of fantasy I think of adding fantastical elements  (eg. magic, mythical creatures, or outwardly elements) What if the story takes place in a town or island that doesn’t exist? Does that discredit the historical elements of the story? Although I’ve never had anyone discredit my own stories as not historical, I realize that when I put my work out there for the wide public to see, I will have to be aware of how I categorize my story; both the main category I identify it as and the subcategories. To clarify some points about Before the Legend, I kindly put a disclaimer in my Prologue page to avoid any ‘false expectations’ the readers might have.


What do you think about the questions raised? Can historical fiction have elements of fantasy or should they be separate? Can certain subgenres coexist? Are there better ways to organize fictions works? I would like to hear from you…


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Published on September 08, 2013 13:30

September 2, 2013

Choosing The Right Distributor: Smashwords vs Draft2Digital

Reblogged from David Gaughran:

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Since I started self-publishing in 2011, Smashwords has been the overwhelming favorite for savvy self-publishers who wanted or needed a distributor to reach non-Amazon e-bookstores. However, a new competitor called Draft2Digital launched a beta version of their service earlier this year and has been gaining popularity. In July, they hit 1,000 users, 10,000 titles, and 1,000,000 books sold.


I’ve been getting lots of questions about Draft2Digital, and experimenting with them myself, so I thought it was a good time for a side-by-side comparison as there are distinct pros and cons to each service.


Read more… 2,894 more words


Most people who have self-published or are thinking about self-publishing have heard about Smashwords but this is my first time hearing about Draft2Digital. David, you do a great job of comparing the two distributors in this insightful post on weighing the pros can cons of each.
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Published on September 02, 2013 12:55

August 24, 2013

Did Someone Say It Would Be Easy?

Reblogged from Catherine, Caffeinated:

Click to visit the original post Click to visit the original post Click to visit the original post

In all the time I've been researching self-publishing, self-publishing myself and reading about the experiences of other writers who've self-published (I started my self-publishing shenanigans in November 2009), I've never once come across a post by a self-published author that said "My book started selling 1,000s of copies every day almost from the first one. One Friday I couldn't quite make my rent, and the next I was counting out a wad of cash in front of my landlord, saying "Heck, I'll just buy the place!"' Or, 'What really amazed me was how, mere…


Read more… 1,983 more words


A growing number of writers are choosing to self-publish vs. the traditional publishing route. Is it necessarily easier? What should we expect from self-publishing? Catherine, self-publisher and blogger, keeps it real in: Did Someone Say it Would Be Easy?
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Published on August 24, 2013 19:59

August 2, 2013

Make your pitch.

Pitch your storyline


You often get one chance to get it right. You’re aiming that ball to your next catcher and you want to make sure that he sees where you are throwing the ball at so he’ll catch it. Likewise when you get close to completing your story and you’re deciding to publish traditionally or self-publish, you want your story to reach it’s destination. What’s the destination? Ultimately you want it in the hand (or device if it’s an eBook) of the readers. For those publishing traditionally you have to first get to the middleman before that happens; the publisher.


I liken the pitch of the story to the blurb which is a little shorter than a typical summary and is often found in the back of a book cover. In those few words you have to inform the reader what the story is about but in an interest arousing way. But in those words you’re also selling your story. A good blurb is the difference between having the reader pick up your story vs. tossing it back on the shelf. You don’t want to make the story seem too ambiguous nor would you want to give away the whole plot. You should provide enough information to the reader yet pique their interest such as by raising a question in the reader’s mind.


Getting this idea from a forum on Wattpad, I attempted the ten-word blurb pitch challenge with the word count including the title. It wasn’t easy but here’s my attempt:


Before the Legend- Watch his world crumble in 3 days. 


Did I succeed? Let me know what you think. Feel free to try this challenge out yourself. I would like to see what you come up with. For those wondering about my other story Chasing Blue, here is the sneak preview to the newest chapter below…


Snippet from Part 2: (currently in the works)….


When it rained it poured.


Nothing was left untouched. Their legs ran as far as it could take them, sloshing against the puddles. Weighted by the rain, their clothes clung to their skin slowing them to a halt. Exhaustion and desperation was setting in. But they were almost home. They could feel it.


“I hope Julian finds Troy?” Julia said biting her lips. Water drizzled down her soggy hair that fell over her face as she spoke. A rumble of thunder sent both of them scampering into the alley. Tiberius raced past Julia as he darted underneath the building’s awning. He paused to catch his breath…


Boom.


His heart skipped a beat. A deafening thud followed.


He swung around to find Julia crumpled against the sidewalk, her hair splayed all over her face.


“Julia!” he shouted through the rain…


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Published on August 02, 2013 14:33

July 26, 2013

My take on The Giver movie

by Lois Lowry by Lois Lowry

What is your favorite book? For me my favorite fictional work was The Giver. Finally after years of waiting it was officially announced a couple weeks back that The Giver movie was underway. To me it was surreal knowing my favorite book was being adapted to the big screen. Most people who have read this book or other books adapted or going to be adapted to the big screen (Hunger Games, Ender’s Games, etc) are more likely to be the most critical judges to a movie. I’m no exception to that rule! However what led me to my fixation to The Giver all these years? Well let me explain…


Back in the 8th grade during a DI class session, (Direct Instruction) our teacher decided to veer away from the usual lesson plan and instead have us read the book “The Giver” by Lois Lowry. I had never heard of the book let alone the author but I figured reading a book would sure beat boring repetitive reading and writing activities. As we continued reading the book, I found myself somewhat intrigued. What did that word “release” mean? As I delved deeper into Jonas’ world I found myself enthralled in his world where there was no hunger, war, racism, or choices. I won’t give the story away for those that haven’t read it (I highly recommend checking it out) but you begin to unravel the truth with 12-year-old Jonas, as he must bear the past… a past that held the true pain and joy of life.


It was probably the best book I’ve ever been made to read in class and quickly became my favorite fiction book till this day. Even now I’ll admit it has influenced my own writing. For awhile I wondered what the book would be like if it was adapted into a movie. For several years I heard the book was being adapted to a movie, much to my delight, only to be disappointed to find on IMDB the date kept being pushed back.


But now  the book is “officially”  being adapted into a movie and casting is currently underway with Jeff Bridges casted as the Giver who transmits memories to Jonas. However like many I was eager to find out who would be casted to be Jonas. The actor casted to play Jonas is Brenton Thwaites, an Australian actor who is 23. There’s one big major discrepancy… the actor is almost double the age as Jonas! For those that have read the book, you know that age plays a significant role in the story up until the age of 12. For a person that looks like he’s past puberty, it makes it very difficult to past them off as a 12-year-old, which is why the people directing the movie decided to bump the main character’s age. Do you think changing the age will greatly impact the story? Your thoughts on the actor (pic below) I would like to hear from you….



Find out more about the casting and the fan reactions @ http://www.hypable.com/2013/07/02/brenton-thwaites-to-play-joans-in-the-giver/


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Published on July 26, 2013 15:06