Alton Gansky posted this on one of the writer loops we belong to:
A few weeks ago I learned of www.animoto. com. I think it might have some marketing value for writers. In short, it's a website where you upload photos and it will automatically make a music presentation. I did a down-and-dirty experiment with some of my bookcovers. That's what the embedded link is for.
Alton Gansky
http://animoto. com/play/ qeaKgDCyDiRKdYdc 005tZA
If you like it, why don't you try creating one yourself? It's free and really simple, so head over to our site and give it a try: http://animoto. com
Cool.
Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends
Friday, May 9, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Advice for Novelists (Part 16)
C.J. Darlington, co-founder of TitleTrakk, is running a great series on her blog: She started a series of blog posts in which industry professionals (editors, agents, publicists, authors, etc.) share their responses to this question:
"If you could say one thing to aspiring novelists, what would you say?"
Rebekah Guzman weighs in today...One thing I like to remind any writer is simply this: You can’t create and perfect at the same time. While most editors love an author's attention to details, don’t feel like you have to get everything right the first time. Jot down your thoughts, create the content, and then set it aside for some time and come back to it later. Keep in mind that editors are here to help you. I love coming alongside a writer to make his/her work the best it can be. Also, remember to pray for wisdom as you create (for now)—and later as we perfect, together.
--Rebekah Guzman, Senior Editor, Navpress
Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The Warriors by Mark Andrew Olson
This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing The Warriors(Bethany House April 1, 2008) by Mark Andrew Olsen
About the book: A failed recon mission deep in the tunnels of Afghanistan has provoked a demonic onslaught that had been brewing for centuries. The mission's sole survivor is reformed black ops assassin Dylan Hatfield, and he once again teams up with Abby Sherman, now at the helm of the Watchers, an ancient spiritual force. Uncovering and preventing a secret wave of death whispered across cyberspace and threatening to be unleashed against civilization will require another level of spiritual power and expertise--the Warriors.
Journeying across the Alps of Europe through the multilayered history of warfare in the unseen world, Dylan and Abby uncover an age-old stone engraving that rouses the church's Warriors to action, placing them dead center in one of the fiercest spiritual battles of their time! And once again they are reminded: This is all part of a vast and perpetual war, a war beyond all human conflicts, one that has engulfed heaven and earth since before the dawn of history....
Abby Sherman is headed back to Israel, where a Watcher, the Sentinel of Jerusalem, lies dying. In her last breaths the old woman tells Abby of an ancient document prophesying humanity's full-scale entry into the ongoing conflict between armies of heaven and fallen angels. Dylan Hatfield has decided to answer a summons from his old boss and join a secret operation, its mission to reconnoiter the Afghani tunnel complex from which Osama bin Laden escaped in 2001.
What he discovers sears his very soul and likely will end his life. Abby learns of the peril facing Dylan, and she sends out a call for intercession on his behalf. Her frantic email message sets in motion a series of harrowing events, propelling the two on a new mission and quest--one where the stakes are the lives of millions!
The Warriors is packed with high-octane action, featuring exotic international locales, with characters in a clash against spiritual "principalities and powers" with eternal consequences, The Warriors is a story that will enthrall, enlighten, and engage its readers.
If that piques your interest, you can read the first chapter HERE
About the author: MARK ANDREW OLSEN whose novel The Assignment was a Christy Award finalist, also collaborated on bestsellers Hadassah (now the major motion picture: One Night With the King), The Hadassah Covenant, and Rescued. His last novel was the supernatural thriller The Watchers.The son of missionaries to France, Mark is a Professional Writing graduate of Baylor University. He and his wife, Connie, live in Colorado Springs with their three children.
Buy the book here
Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Advice for Novelists (Part 15)
C.J. Darlington, co-founder of TitleTrakk, is running a great series on her blog: She started a series of blog posts in which industry professionals (editors, agents, publicists, authors, etc.) share their responses to this question:
"If you could say one thing to aspiring novelists, what would you say?"
Today we hear from Dave Long, acquisitions editor at Bethany House but also an author in his own right. Ezekial's Shadow is probably his most well-known book, earning him a Christy Award.
Take it away, Dave!: Publishing is not the apotheosis of writing. Completing something you love is. Publishing is a random, wildly subjective and often painful commodification of your creative spirit. Writing and publishing are two very different things.
--Dave Long, Fiction Acquisitions Editor, Bethany House
Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends
Monday, May 5, 2008
Back Story Question...
Last week's series on Backstory from My Book Therapy generated a great question. Both Susan and Rachel were nice enough to answer...
Question: I've always wondered how authors could come up with some pretty fantastic characters. I wonder how they organize it all (the backstory)?
Susie here: I sit down with my character as if we’re on the sofa and we have a chat, and I go through his/her major life events, and how they affected him, what fears and dreams and lies they might have generated to find out which ones I might include in the story. I might even write out those events in a journal entry and then refer to them as I write the story. I also keep a picture (usually a movie star or a catalogue model) and a chart of the particulars – height, eye color, etc. Finally, I make a timeline of his life, so I keep it all accurate. I staple that all together and keep it with me as I write (and I do this for each character).
Rachel: I write the bio as if someone were going to read about this person like an interview. I would start with your family to who your siblings are, major things that might have happened where they lived, favorite things, past relationships, college, etc. So it’s more of a personnel file. From that, I may find a mindset, a value, a fear, a characteristic I can use to plot and characterize. I organize it all in 3 x5 cards, an excel spreadsheet or I keep it in a word doc. I do it for the major characters – hero and heroines.
Stop by mybooktherapy! We're talking about dialogue!
Thanks for the post Tricia!!!!!!!
No, no ladies, THANK YOU for sharing your GREAT advice!
Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends
Question: I've always wondered how authors could come up with some pretty fantastic characters. I wonder how they organize it all (the backstory)?
Susie here: I sit down with my character as if we’re on the sofa and we have a chat, and I go through his/her major life events, and how they affected him, what fears and dreams and lies they might have generated to find out which ones I might include in the story. I might even write out those events in a journal entry and then refer to them as I write the story. I also keep a picture (usually a movie star or a catalogue model) and a chart of the particulars – height, eye color, etc. Finally, I make a timeline of his life, so I keep it all accurate. I staple that all together and keep it with me as I write (and I do this for each character).
Rachel: I write the bio as if someone were going to read about this person like an interview. I would start with your family to who your siblings are, major things that might have happened where they lived, favorite things, past relationships, college, etc. So it’s more of a personnel file. From that, I may find a mindset, a value, a fear, a characteristic I can use to plot and characterize. I organize it all in 3 x5 cards, an excel spreadsheet or I keep it in a word doc. I do it for the major characters – hero and heroines.
Stop by mybooktherapy! We're talking about dialogue!
Thanks for the post Tricia!!!!!!!
No, no ladies, THANK YOU for sharing your GREAT advice!
Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends
Friday, May 2, 2008
Backstory: The Big Reveal from My Book Therapy
On Monday and Wednesday I posted on 'backstory' from Susan Warren's and Rachel Hauck's writing blog, My Book Therapy. You can read that here and here.
So you've whet your reader's appetite with just the right amount of bread crumbs to lead them into the story. They knew, basically, that there is a dark secret in your hero's past, a good reason why he needs to fight the dragon, or climb the mountain. So...when do you reveal the secret?
I love HG TV....it's sort of an addiction, I agree, but HG TV tells me that I CAN fix up my house, I CAN be an interior designer. (regardless of the truth!) I especailly love the show where they go into a really ugly room, and fix it up based on the stuff they have around the house (like Design ReMix). However, every HG TV show is the same...they present the problem, they show how they'll fix it, do the work, then have the GREAT REVEAL. (I admit, sometimes I fast forward to the end, to see if I like the reveal, and thus, should watch the show. I know it's a little like reading the ending of a book before hand. Don't shoot me!) In theory, however, this is a bit how backstory should play out in a book.
Show us the problem. Don't tell us WHY he/she has that problem, just show us the effects of the problem, or the way he deals with the problem. Ie, in my book Flee the Night, the book opens with Lacey on a train, sitting next to her daughter. She sees a man get on – one she recognizes as an assasin. She knows he's after her (but doesn't tell us why). We also know she's protecting a briefcase (don't know why). And, we know that she hasn't seen her daughter for a while. (Also, don't know why). All these problems are hinted at, but not solved.
Then, bring us through the story, showing us how they'll “fix” the problems. All the while, they'll be giving us sufficient motivation as to why this action is the right course, just like HG TV “fixes” their decorating problems. Need a lamp? Oh, we'll just use this old tin garbage can. Need to rescue you're daughter from a kidnapper? Just call up your oldest friend, a Green Beret. And, when he hangs up on you (presenting another backstory hint), then break out of your hospital room handcuffs and go find her yourself. All these things will reveal who she is, and her backstory.
It's like this – we are today the SUM of our backstory. Everything we do, think, or feel is because of the things that have happened to us, the choices we've made. In HG-TV speak, backstory is the stuff we have in our rooms for decorators to work with and create something out of.
Okay, now that you've dropped all your breadcrumbs, when you've assembled the pieces of the story, when, if the reader doesn't find out about the backstory, someone is going to get hurt, THEN you do the big reveal, the HERE IS WHY I let my life come to this. This is a little where my HG TV metaphor breaks down, because in HG-TV land, the Big Reveal is something new and pretty. In the backstory BIG REVEAL, the character sits down with the other characters and the reader and says, okay, here's my secret. Sometimes it's in dialogue. Sometimes it's the revelation of a secret through another source. But about ½ way to ¾ through the book, the truth needs to come out. Why? Usually because there is a final challenge before the hero, something SO great it seems unsurmountable, and maybe not worth fighting for UNLESS we know the backstory. Why is it worth it (or maybe not worth it, depending on the story...a character might have a GREAT thing looming before them, but lack the courage to reach for it, thanks to the backstory) to fight this battle? What is the great motivation behind your actions?
Remember the Patriot, that part in the story where Mel tells Gabriel about his past, during the French/Indian war? It suddenly gives resonance to all the pieces of the story we've seen – his battle ax, the way he confronts the British soldiers after they kill his son, the “type” of men he recruits, even his battle tactics. And, we also understand the opening line: I've long feared that the sins of my past would revisit me, and the price would be greater than I can bear (or something like that).
You'll know when to do the reveal. If you hold back, the truth will press upon you until you MUST tell it. And, if you've set up the problem, and used elements from the backstory room to face them, then your reveal will be something that has the reader putting down the book, just for a moment, to gasp, wipe a couple tears, and dive in with the hero to the end.
When I teach, I often have a lot of questions about backstory - when to put it into a prologue (uh, NEVER!), and how to structure the reveal. If YOU have questions about your backstory, I'll be setting up a VOICES forum for backstory questions today. Stop by over the weekend, and Rachel and I (and your other voices) will try and help.
Happy Decorating!
Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends
So you've whet your reader's appetite with just the right amount of bread crumbs to lead them into the story. They knew, basically, that there is a dark secret in your hero's past, a good reason why he needs to fight the dragon, or climb the mountain. So...when do you reveal the secret?
I love HG TV....it's sort of an addiction, I agree, but HG TV tells me that I CAN fix up my house, I CAN be an interior designer. (regardless of the truth!) I especailly love the show where they go into a really ugly room, and fix it up based on the stuff they have around the house (like Design ReMix). However, every HG TV show is the same...they present the problem, they show how they'll fix it, do the work, then have the GREAT REVEAL. (I admit, sometimes I fast forward to the end, to see if I like the reveal, and thus, should watch the show. I know it's a little like reading the ending of a book before hand. Don't shoot me!) In theory, however, this is a bit how backstory should play out in a book.
Show us the problem. Don't tell us WHY he/she has that problem, just show us the effects of the problem, or the way he deals with the problem. Ie, in my book Flee the Night, the book opens with Lacey on a train, sitting next to her daughter. She sees a man get on – one she recognizes as an assasin. She knows he's after her (but doesn't tell us why). We also know she's protecting a briefcase (don't know why). And, we know that she hasn't seen her daughter for a while. (Also, don't know why). All these problems are hinted at, but not solved.
Then, bring us through the story, showing us how they'll “fix” the problems. All the while, they'll be giving us sufficient motivation as to why this action is the right course, just like HG TV “fixes” their decorating problems. Need a lamp? Oh, we'll just use this old tin garbage can. Need to rescue you're daughter from a kidnapper? Just call up your oldest friend, a Green Beret. And, when he hangs up on you (presenting another backstory hint), then break out of your hospital room handcuffs and go find her yourself. All these things will reveal who she is, and her backstory.
It's like this – we are today the SUM of our backstory. Everything we do, think, or feel is because of the things that have happened to us, the choices we've made. In HG-TV speak, backstory is the stuff we have in our rooms for decorators to work with and create something out of.
Okay, now that you've dropped all your breadcrumbs, when you've assembled the pieces of the story, when, if the reader doesn't find out about the backstory, someone is going to get hurt, THEN you do the big reveal, the HERE IS WHY I let my life come to this. This is a little where my HG TV metaphor breaks down, because in HG-TV land, the Big Reveal is something new and pretty. In the backstory BIG REVEAL, the character sits down with the other characters and the reader and says, okay, here's my secret. Sometimes it's in dialogue. Sometimes it's the revelation of a secret through another source. But about ½ way to ¾ through the book, the truth needs to come out. Why? Usually because there is a final challenge before the hero, something SO great it seems unsurmountable, and maybe not worth fighting for UNLESS we know the backstory. Why is it worth it (or maybe not worth it, depending on the story...a character might have a GREAT thing looming before them, but lack the courage to reach for it, thanks to the backstory) to fight this battle? What is the great motivation behind your actions?
Remember the Patriot, that part in the story where Mel tells Gabriel about his past, during the French/Indian war? It suddenly gives resonance to all the pieces of the story we've seen – his battle ax, the way he confronts the British soldiers after they kill his son, the “type” of men he recruits, even his battle tactics. And, we also understand the opening line: I've long feared that the sins of my past would revisit me, and the price would be greater than I can bear (or something like that).
You'll know when to do the reveal. If you hold back, the truth will press upon you until you MUST tell it. And, if you've set up the problem, and used elements from the backstory room to face them, then your reveal will be something that has the reader putting down the book, just for a moment, to gasp, wipe a couple tears, and dive in with the hero to the end.
When I teach, I often have a lot of questions about backstory - when to put it into a prologue (uh, NEVER!), and how to structure the reveal. If YOU have questions about your backstory, I'll be setting up a VOICES forum for backstory questions today. Stop by over the weekend, and Rachel and I (and your other voices) will try and help.
Happy Decorating!
Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Advice for Novelists (Part 14)
C.J. Darlington, co-founder of TitleTrakk, is running a great series on her blog: She started a series of blog posts in which industry professionals (editors, agents, publicists, authors, etc.) share their responses to this question:
"If you could say one thing to aspiring novelists, what would you say?"
Dave Bartlett: The phrase "show me, don't tell me" regarding creative, descriptive writing was drilled into my brain by a wonderful college professor (and it obviously stuck). Also, do your research, make your characters believable, lovable, detestable, whatever, but make them believable-- you want, really, need the reader to become emotionally attached to your characters. The same goes for your scenes and settings, they need to be realistic.
Read the rest here.
--Dave Bartlett, Print & Internet publicist, Harvest House
Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends
"If you could say one thing to aspiring novelists, what would you say?"
Dave Bartlett: The phrase "show me, don't tell me" regarding creative, descriptive writing was drilled into my brain by a wonderful college professor (and it obviously stuck). Also, do your research, make your characters believable, lovable, detestable, whatever, but make them believable-- you want, really, need the reader to become emotionally attached to your characters. The same goes for your scenes and settings, they need to be realistic.Read the rest here.
--Dave Bartlett, Print & Internet publicist, Harvest House
Stop Lurking! Every week I will draw names for a free Tricia Goyer book from those who comment on my blogs. Winner's choice! Tell your friends
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