Okay was that confusing enough? Everyone knows I am a huge fan of tv/movies/books and music right? One of the shows I watch faithfully is Castle. I started watching of course because of Nathan Fillion. Who wouldn't? He is funny, handsome and a very talented actor. But a funny thing happened. The show turned out to be a lot deeper and a lot better than I expected. So I kept watching. The fact that he is playing an author on the show was in no small part why this show grabbed me.
They would mention his different books and then go on to work on what ever murder they had to solve that week. Fun and fluff all at the same time right? Well recently on a goof I decided to go to amazon and see if they actually put out any of the books that Richard Castle refers to. And wouldn't you know it they did!
Yes I have complained about famous people getting all the notice because of their name but I thought hey this is a fictional book by a fictional character. Lets see if they actually got a good writer or if one of the many talented script writers tried their hand at writing a novel. Yes folks these are two very different skill sets. I am a short story and novel writer, I have never even tried to do a script and I hold those who do in high regard but that isn't what this is about.
The first Nikki Heat book started out a bit rough, kind of what I expect but then I got sucked in. I could see where the fictional Richard Castle had included himself and the fictional Kate Beckett in the stories but it was fun and lighter than a lot of the murder mystery/cop thriller books out there are. So I decided to go ahead and read the rest.
Let me tell you I can't wait for the fifth book! They are slowly getting much better. The writer (who every he or she is) has managed to catch the flavor of the fictional Richard Castle and made the books fun and worth reading. By ending the books with a cliff hanger of sorts it makes you want to read the next.
Just on a hoot I went and looked up Richard Castle on Wiki and whoa. A very well done page with lots of books that you can actually download. Amazing. I wish I had such a nice page. I decided right then that I might as well read the read of the so called Richard Castle books. I have read four of the Derrick Storm books and they are the typical spy book with a bit of tongue in cheek and attitude. Again a fun and fast read for a voracious reader like myself.
It was hysterical last night that they broadcast an episode with the fictional character who was the basis for Richard Castle's fictional female spy. The episode was a lot of fun, actually had the same flavor as both of the series and of course had a dramatic cliff hanger at the end! Yes these are reruns so I am lucky enough to be able to see the second part tonight but it was just pure unadulterated fun.
As a writer I dream of someday seeing my work in other forms. I would love to see things like Guardians of the Gate city made into a short series. The Saga of Loralil Greyfox made into an anime and even maybe my Death Walks Through tales made into a manga. We all dream these things, wel don't dare hope but we dream. Right now I will admit I just want to find a few (thousand) readers who love my tales and will read them and comment on them to me and the world. I have a few fans who I adore having and I will continue to write what I can till the day I can't.
So as you can see my blog title is weird but it is accurate. I am a writer who reads books about writers who write books about a writer in their books...confusing but fun and that is what reading and writing is all about to me. Confusion and fun and maybe the ability to open up the mind of a reader to something they never thought of before.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Friday, August 9, 2013
Making book covers on your own
As a independent writer I have to do a lot of what publishers used to do. Years ago a writer got to just do the writing. Editing, marketing and things like book covers and even book trailers was done by your publisher. People who have read my posts in other places know that the two small press publishers I have did none of that for me.
The editing and marketing parts bothered me quite a bit as I can only do so much editing on my own and well marketing is a skill, a well paid one. I have little to no idea how to market my work and I am very glad to those who have taken the plug to read my work.
Even more I have a huge thanks for those who have beta read some of my work and have pointed out where I need to fix something. When you are a starting writer with no money you have to hope to have wonderful friends who can help you.
But one thing I have enjoyed is making covers for my work. Many of the covers have come out of my photography hobby. When you have a few thousand nature shots it is easy to find something that will work. I keep searching the web for fun fonts and play around in photoshop to make them better. While most of my covers don't have half naked images I think they are okay.
Now that I have started trying to do painting I thought I would try doing one of my short story covers as a painting. I wrote a short called The Pest House, which is a Death Walks Through short story. It is based out of a story I read on the Nashua, NH facebook group. Pest houses were the places that people with contagious diseases were taken to back in the 1830s. Most of them were places for them to go and die. So it fit perfectly in my series.
Going through my little paintings (yes I do small paintings) I decided this painting just might work well for the cover for this tale of a ghost
So should I use this or not? Any suggestions?
The editing and marketing parts bothered me quite a bit as I can only do so much editing on my own and well marketing is a skill, a well paid one. I have little to no idea how to market my work and I am very glad to those who have taken the plug to read my work.
Even more I have a huge thanks for those who have beta read some of my work and have pointed out where I need to fix something. When you are a starting writer with no money you have to hope to have wonderful friends who can help you.
But one thing I have enjoyed is making covers for my work. Many of the covers have come out of my photography hobby. When you have a few thousand nature shots it is easy to find something that will work. I keep searching the web for fun fonts and play around in photoshop to make them better. While most of my covers don't have half naked images I think they are okay.
Now that I have started trying to do painting I thought I would try doing one of my short story covers as a painting. I wrote a short called The Pest House, which is a Death Walks Through short story. It is based out of a story I read on the Nashua, NH facebook group. Pest houses were the places that people with contagious diseases were taken to back in the 1830s. Most of them were places for them to go and die. So it fit perfectly in my series.
Going through my little paintings (yes I do small paintings) I decided this painting just might work well for the cover for this tale of a ghost
So should I use this or not? Any suggestions?
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Media in other forms or hey anime shorts on YouTube
Okay I blog about a lot of things. On wordpress you can find my blogs and the perils of writing, examples of my writing, a cooking blog and a photography one. But like everyone else under the age of 90 I am a fan of lots of media.
I watch tv, movies, listen to music, read books and even browse around on youtube. Something cool that my hubby found yesterday for the family to watch was an anime series of very short eps based on the SD gundam. As I have been learning to build these fun little guys I wanted to see the series that they are based on.
Of the first 6 or so eps I have watched I find it both funny and actually pretty good at the same time. Yes it has a lot of the typical anime bits. Three heroes who combine for a bigger, stronger fighter. Bad dialog from the villains and the token female (this is for the male audience) character. But the best part is this little series is great for the entire family. Titled Brave Battle Warriors (I know but that is what it translates to) this is something that both parents and kids could sit down and watch. Each episode is about 12 minutes long and while there is a lot of cliche here, it is pure fun. Fun in the old style of fun from when we adults were kids.
Anime has come a long way since I was first intriduced to it way back in the 60s. Back then it was Speed Racer and Kimba the white lion. Now you get the redux of Ghost in the Shell and the soon to be released Captain Harlock in CG. Just pulling out my old VHS tapes of things like Wedding Peach or Bastard can send me back in time yet inspire me to new views of the world.
Japan has given the world a lot of amazing artwork over the years with mangas like Mushishi and Far, Far Away. They have given us things like DragonBall Z (the never ending) and now they have given us a world stuffed full of tiny little robot warriors who are living out ancient legends. Retelling stories that are a part of their cultural heritage while putting those tales into a format that the current crop of kids will enjoy. That is both smart marketing (IE the model kits) and smart teaching.
As a writer I try to tell my tales in a way that will catch an audience and I have been known to take an existing legend and twist it around to fit my story. I like that they have taken cultural history tales and twisted the characters to fit the story. Try looking this up on YouTube. I bet you will want to watch them all.
I watch tv, movies, listen to music, read books and even browse around on youtube. Something cool that my hubby found yesterday for the family to watch was an anime series of very short eps based on the SD gundam. As I have been learning to build these fun little guys I wanted to see the series that they are based on.
Of the first 6 or so eps I have watched I find it both funny and actually pretty good at the same time. Yes it has a lot of the typical anime bits. Three heroes who combine for a bigger, stronger fighter. Bad dialog from the villains and the token female (this is for the male audience) character. But the best part is this little series is great for the entire family. Titled Brave Battle Warriors (I know but that is what it translates to) this is something that both parents and kids could sit down and watch. Each episode is about 12 minutes long and while there is a lot of cliche here, it is pure fun. Fun in the old style of fun from when we adults were kids.
Anime has come a long way since I was first intriduced to it way back in the 60s. Back then it was Speed Racer and Kimba the white lion. Now you get the redux of Ghost in the Shell and the soon to be released Captain Harlock in CG. Just pulling out my old VHS tapes of things like Wedding Peach or Bastard can send me back in time yet inspire me to new views of the world.
Japan has given the world a lot of amazing artwork over the years with mangas like Mushishi and Far, Far Away. They have given us things like DragonBall Z (the never ending) and now they have given us a world stuffed full of tiny little robot warriors who are living out ancient legends. Retelling stories that are a part of their cultural heritage while putting those tales into a format that the current crop of kids will enjoy. That is both smart marketing (IE the model kits) and smart teaching.
As a writer I try to tell my tales in a way that will catch an audience and I have been known to take an existing legend and twist it around to fit my story. I like that they have taken cultural history tales and twisted the characters to fit the story. Try looking this up on YouTube. I bet you will want to watch them all.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Working in short story series
Anybody who reads my work knows that most of what I do is short. Short stories, short poems just plan short. It isn't that I don't have a lot of words, it is that I don't believe it wasting them. A short story is a snap shot of time, a scene to an act in the life of your characters. Sometimes that snapshot will complete itself in just two pages and sometimes it is more like thirty of them.
Most of my tales average out around ten pages. Now since I write in what I like to call series I bet you are thinking why dont I just hold off and put them into one book? You see I take a common thread and write a lot of different tales under that thread.
In my Death Walks Through series the common thread is Death. He is not the main character of each tale but he is there, in the background most times. Those stories are ghost stories, not the scary, creepy ghost stories that are so popular on tv and in movies but little tales of souls searching for the end to their tales. So far I have written ten of these little tales. They truly are little tales because these ten little stories all total up to 25K so far.
My next series of tales, Guardians of the Gate City, just got combined into a collection and published. Six tales that come up over the 50K limit for a novel. These stories are more interconnected than the Death stories because they focus on the main character, Harry Lionsey. I have worked through a couple years worth of his life and introduced side characters that will be getting their own series. The first Guardians of the Gate city side stories will be out next month. That series will focus on characters like Sheldon, the dragon information broker.
Thirdly I have the Echoes of Elder Times series. Now the tales in this series might not seem to be connected but they all have the feel of the ancient world to them. Modern tales with ancient themes is what I planned when I started putting the tales out.
Next we have the Worlds Apart series. These tales are of course about different worlds than our own. They are written as science fiction or fantasy but the idea is the worlds are separate from our own but hold theme and characters that could have been our own.
Then I have Beyond Realities. Like the series above it is our world but not our world. Stories of just a step to the side of our own world.
My newest story series is going to be Myths of Love. I have had The Knight Protector up for ages now but I had a handful of stories in the works that were more romance than the rest of my tales. I recently added the series title to Knight Protector. I have one more that will be going up next month and two more right now in the works. They will be odd fantasy romances they may or may not have a happily ever after.
Of course I have collections out. Two complete erotic collections in fact. One with interconnected stories and one that is just a mix of a lot of erotic tales I wrote. Two other series are of different kinds of erotic tales that I will some day compile into separate books, but not for a long while yet.
Then there is Gates. This was the book that kicked me into self publishing. The six tales in the Gates book all have some type of gate in the tale and if the publisher had done more than take my rough files and publish them I think it would have gone further. For now it is a nice little collection and the first book I have in my hands of my own work.
Of course i have been found in a lot of anthologies over the past year. Between my poetry and short stories I have added up a nice little set of anthology entries. And speaking of my poetry I now have three collections of my poetry and photography up for sale.
I have rambled a lot here but that is the point. There are a lot of ways to do your writing and writing short stories is one very fine way of doing it.
Most of my tales average out around ten pages. Now since I write in what I like to call series I bet you are thinking why dont I just hold off and put them into one book? You see I take a common thread and write a lot of different tales under that thread.
In my Death Walks Through series the common thread is Death. He is not the main character of each tale but he is there, in the background most times. Those stories are ghost stories, not the scary, creepy ghost stories that are so popular on tv and in movies but little tales of souls searching for the end to their tales. So far I have written ten of these little tales. They truly are little tales because these ten little stories all total up to 25K so far.
My next series of tales, Guardians of the Gate City, just got combined into a collection and published. Six tales that come up over the 50K limit for a novel. These stories are more interconnected than the Death stories because they focus on the main character, Harry Lionsey. I have worked through a couple years worth of his life and introduced side characters that will be getting their own series. The first Guardians of the Gate city side stories will be out next month. That series will focus on characters like Sheldon, the dragon information broker.
Thirdly I have the Echoes of Elder Times series. Now the tales in this series might not seem to be connected but they all have the feel of the ancient world to them. Modern tales with ancient themes is what I planned when I started putting the tales out.
Next we have the Worlds Apart series. These tales are of course about different worlds than our own. They are written as science fiction or fantasy but the idea is the worlds are separate from our own but hold theme and characters that could have been our own.
Then I have Beyond Realities. Like the series above it is our world but not our world. Stories of just a step to the side of our own world.
My newest story series is going to be Myths of Love. I have had The Knight Protector up for ages now but I had a handful of stories in the works that were more romance than the rest of my tales. I recently added the series title to Knight Protector. I have one more that will be going up next month and two more right now in the works. They will be odd fantasy romances they may or may not have a happily ever after.
Of course I have collections out. Two complete erotic collections in fact. One with interconnected stories and one that is just a mix of a lot of erotic tales I wrote. Two other series are of different kinds of erotic tales that I will some day compile into separate books, but not for a long while yet.
Then there is Gates. This was the book that kicked me into self publishing. The six tales in the Gates book all have some type of gate in the tale and if the publisher had done more than take my rough files and publish them I think it would have gone further. For now it is a nice little collection and the first book I have in my hands of my own work.
Of course i have been found in a lot of anthologies over the past year. Between my poetry and short stories I have added up a nice little set of anthology entries. And speaking of my poetry I now have three collections of my poetry and photography up for sale.
I have rambled a lot here but that is the point. There are a lot of ways to do your writing and writing short stories is one very fine way of doing it.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
writting really is a full time job
Yup I keep forgetting this little blog...what with four over on wordpress and doing my writing I get behind. So I am just a little too busy right?
I have a lot of new releases to talk about here though. What with the Writer's Stuff anthology going live I am really happy
The Writers stuff anthology
The story I have in here is one of my Death Walks Through short stories and speaking of those i have another one that I put up for people to enjoy.
Under the Black Bridge This short story is set back home in Nashua...a fun little read.
I'm working hard on the new series, Myths of Love. I decided that Knight Protector would be the first of those tales
The Knight Protector these are my more romantic fantasy tales. I have another finished and ready for release next month and I am working on two more as you read this. One is titled Now and Forever, a sad tale and the other is Singer of the Blood song. My romances dont always have the happily ever after but there is love and romance and occasionally a bit of sex.
So with everything else i will try to remember to post over here too
I have a lot of new releases to talk about here though. What with the Writer's Stuff anthology going live I am really happy
The Writers stuff anthology
The story I have in here is one of my Death Walks Through short stories and speaking of those i have another one that I put up for people to enjoy.
Under the Black Bridge This short story is set back home in Nashua...a fun little read.
I'm working hard on the new series, Myths of Love. I decided that Knight Protector would be the first of those tales
The Knight Protector these are my more romantic fantasy tales. I have another finished and ready for release next month and I am working on two more as you read this. One is titled Now and Forever, a sad tale and the other is Singer of the Blood song. My romances dont always have the happily ever after but there is love and romance and occasionally a bit of sex.
So with everything else i will try to remember to post over here too
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Cheating the Hangman at OneTrueMedia.com
book trailer for Cheating the Hangman, a Death Walks Through Short Story
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