P.T. Hylton speaketh again!
I love this guy, something about him. He’s just cool. I liked him before he read my book and 5 starred it, and did the contest where he gives away 4 in an entire month, but whatever, now I love him like a billion times more….hmm, maybe I need to walk that back a little. I like him like a neighbor who lives across the street, firm handshakes only, manly head nods like “yo man, mad props” and “sup” and “I enjoy ultimate fighting, how about you?”
Check out his latest video — lots of fun.
Filed under Blogging, Just Cool, Writing Experience
Hello, World (REDUX)!
Thomas A. Mays rejoices, and we rejoice with him. 15k download$ making him an instant Amazon best-seller, 10k blog views. Happy day. I shall now reblog him, bringing his blog view total to 10,002!
Last time I did this, a whole lot less of the world was colored in. But now?
BOOYAH!! Check that out:
You could almost circumnavigate off that map. The Improbable Author has now had over 10,000 views, which I realize are merely a single afternoon’s numbers for John Scalzi, but I’m geeking out about it pretty hard nonetheless. Most of my readership (and most of my ASID sales) are in the ol’ USA, naturally, followed in a distant second by the UK, then Canada, Australia, and Germany. Sweden is next, which is a bit of a surprise, but then you’ve got Brazil, which is a HUGE surprise. My wife is Portuguese-American, but not the South/Brazil brand of either of those ethnicities, and I’m a northern European – Native American mutt. No ties there other than a love of kick-ass science fiction and pithy blogging, one supposes. Either way, I’ve got a…
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Filed under Uncategorized
The ABNA reviews are in…
I’m not sure if there are more to come for me, for this round, but here’s what I have so far:
Filed under Reviews
Funniest short story I’ve ever read — in my life…
Mike Resnick wrote a story for “Beyond the Sun”, an anthology with a ton of great authors. I’ve only read his story, titled, “Observation Post”.
Hat Tip to Carol Kean for bringing this to my attention. I now feel like giving up writing, it was so good. But I won’t, there’s too much money in being an indie author. Next week, if things go the way I hope with my sales in the United States and Europe, I’m hoping to buy some gum. Not just any gum, either: Hubba Bubba. That’s right baby…
Clare Boothe Luce / “No good deed goes unpunished”
Clare Boothe Luce. This woman’s writing makes me green with jealousy. A real mover and shaker, she nixes the “his” right out of “history”.
2 quotes (go to the site to see more):
* All autobiographies are alibi-ographies.
here’s another…
* Censorship, like charity, should begin at home, but unlike charity, it should end there.
Sounds like something Mark Twain would have said, right? According to Ask.com, the phrase has been attributed to Oscar Wilde and to Clare Booth Luce but the origin is actually not known. Of course I’m sidetracked now by this woman, her many witty quotes (I have been too involved with living to write much – or well – about life) and her little-known fight for the Jewish people.
Clare Boothe Luce (March 10, 1903 — October 9, 1987)
1932 photo by Carl Van Vechten / “a deceptively fragile blonde beauty”
A Connecticut journalist writes:
…..Luce, who passed away in 1987, is usually remembered for her accomplishments in the theatrical world and, especially, for advancing the role of women in politics. But her outspoken support of Holocaust rescue and Jewish statehood, and her key role in making the “Jewish vote” a part of American political culture, add a new dimension to the legacy of…
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Filed under Just Cool
Jim Butcher videos!
Something to watch later:
** Quick Update **
Here’s a breakdown of the basics of Jim Butcher’s theory on scene-design:
1. POV: unless you are using first person, the way to choose POV is to decide which character has the most to lose in a scene
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2. Goal: The POV character must be actively pursuing this in the scene. They must be pursuing this goal for a reason which must be communicated to the reader.
3. Conflict: Somebody or something must be getting in the way of the POV character reaching the goal. The best choice here is the antagonist, but it doesn’t have to be. Often it can be the POV’s allies, and conflict doesn’t have to represent a great argument or a fight, just something that will block or slow the POV character down and distract from the goal.
4. Setback (the end of the scene): Does the POV character achieve the goal? There are 4 possible options:
A) YES… (Butcher says you should only ever use this at the end of the novel, and even then rarely, because it’s boring)
B) YES, BUT… (The character achieves the goal, but in doing so creates a new, unforeseen problem)
C) NO (Butcher says this is great for drama, but should be used sparingly as a character coming to a complete stop can halt the momentum of the story)
D) NO, AND FURTHERMORE… (This is Butcher’s favourite (and mine!). Not only does the POV character fail to achieve the goal set out by the scene, but in their failure they make things a whole lot worse)
Filed under Writing Experience, Writing in general
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest: I’m a quarter finalist
Just a quick update, I’m a quarter finalist:
http://www.amazon.com/b?node=332264011
My sympathies to those who didn’t make it to the next round.
** update: I just learned that Mark Capell’s “Cafe Insomniac” also made it to the next round **
Filed under Indie Publishing
Indie Author Appreciation Day!
I had no idea today was dedicated to me (and one or two others, I suppose). But whatever, it was. Here’s a short essay on audiobooks by Mark Capell, creator of the Fogland project, and whose book you can see over on the left under “Awesome Indies.” You’ll also see “Hyperlink From Hell”, another awesome indie book, and the creator of Indie Author Appreciation Day.
It’s Indie Author Appreciation Day! (Yes, I just made that up.) Today, I’m appreciating Mark Capell, author of Cafe Insomniac and much, much more, including this guest post:
Will Audiobooks Change Writing Styles?
by Mark Capell
Recently, Audible.com brokered a deal with the author David Hewson to publish his latest book, Flood, well ahead of its print run. As audiobooks rise in popularity, will the way they’re written change?
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John L. Monk 