Tag: book trailer

A TO Z OF WRITING TIPS

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FAIRYTALES WITH BITE

I started a new series yesterday (31st May 2017) and share the links here for Part 1 and Part 2 of my A to Z Series of Writing Tips, which I hope you find useful.  Part 1 covers A to E and I look at things such as how useful being published in anthologies can be, just to name one example.  Part 2 covers F to H and includes my thoughts on heroes/heroines and that they need to be fully rounded characters who have off days, the same as the rest of us (!), yet there should still be something about them which makes it clear they deserve to be cast heroically.

THIS WORLD AND OTHERS

The Right Title shares some of the ways in which I come up with titles for my stories, and again I hope this is of use.  I use some of my stories in From Light to Dark and Back Again as examples (though if you want to read more of the tales, you will have to buy or borrow the book!  Having said that, and if you would like a taster of what I do, one of my stories is on my book’s trailer, which I share below).

FROM LIGHT TO DARK AND BACK AGAIN – BOOK TRAILER

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CHANDLER’S FORD TODAY

I hope to resume blogging for CFT in the next week or so.  I have taken a short time off all writing due to a family bereavement and am only beginning to get back into things again.  (Am glad to be writing again, it is so therapeutic at times, but I know it will take me a little while longer to get back into writing my feature articles again).

FACEBOOK – GENERAL

I talk about moods tonight.  I either write to my mood or sometimes deliberately write against it.  Both can produce good stories (and make you focus on anything other than the situation that triggered the mood in the first place!).

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FACEBOOK – FROM LIGHT TO DARK AND BACK AGAIN

Topic for you to consider – are the best characters the ones where the author actively dislikes them?  I think so!  For reasons why see the link and comments with your views on this would be very welcome.

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WHAT YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR

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FAIRYTALES WITH BITE

What You Don’t Want to Hear is a post about those moments when, while visiting a magical world, your excellent tour guide suddenly has an expression that tells you something has gone badly wrong.  This includes the revelation that you have inadvertently entered dragon country and they’ve spotted you.  Then there’s the question of having to stay at a creepy house and hope there are no monsters in it OR definitely stay outside where the monsters are known to be!  I love writing fun posts like this and the kind of humour I show in this ties in with the humorous stories in From Light to Dark and Back Again too.

THIS WORLD AND OTHERS

Don’t Give Up is a brief bio of my writing career and how I came to realise how important it is that you really don’t give up!  I’ve written for years, learned a great deal along the way (there really is a point to all those rejection slips, the ones that give feedback are the best) and I confidently expect to get more rejections in the future.  Why?  Firstly, it happens.  Secondly, nobody writes perfect prose.  Thirdly, what appeals to one editor won’t appeal to someone who has just taken over that role perhaps.  (Writers for the magazines will know how true that is – you pitch successfully for years, a new editor comes in and they don’t like your work at all!).

FACEBOOK PAGE – FROM LIGHT TO DARK AND BACK AGAIN

I share an extract from material I prepared for a flash fiction workshop I ran for the Southampton Writers’ Circle earlier this year.  It talks about why write flash fiction at all and I share what I think are the advantages of doing so.

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BOOK NEWS

Glad to report a book trailer is in production for From Light to Dark and Back Again, produced by Chapeltown Books.  I had great fun in choosing the images and picking a track to accompany it.  Chapeltown have been brilliant in putting it all together and selecting the right version of the music I chose.  Works really well and I’m looking forward to sharing it soon.

FACEBOOK PAGE – GENERAL

Our Prime Minister called a General Election today to be held on 8th June.  I talk a little about this and why I think political leaflets are not fascinating reading material.  (In many ways, they ought to be really but they’re not!).  I reckon they can all be categorised as fiction!

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Flash Fiction can make a bright, brief impact but all the more powerful, I think, for being brief.  Image via Pixabay.

 

 

Books make wonderful gifts. Image via Pixabay.

AWKWARD QUESTIONS AND WRITING GOALS

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Again many apologies for the no-show last night.  The bug that got me last week decided to put in a repeat appearance much to my annoyance!  Still, hopefully all gone now.

FAIRYTALES WITH BITE

Awkward Questions can be fun to ask of yourself and your characters. In the case of the latter having someone ask them the questions that they didn’t want to be asked can be a great way of raising tension and guarantees conflict!  But the questions must be significant enough to have a real impact, the kind of impact that will turn your story on its head.  It also pays to ask yourself as a writer from time to time things like why am I writing this, is my meaning as clear as I think it is and so on.

THIS WORLD AND OTHERS

Writing Goals discusses why I review my writing performance in the post-Christmas run-up to the New Year.  I also set some goals, some I know I won’t achieve in 12 months but I want to be well on my way to doing so in that time frame, which is the point of setting these!  Others I will achieve.  Other things happen that are unexpected bonuses.  But writing goals down is, I’ve found, a good way to ensure I’m in with a reasonable chance of achieving said goals.  I don’t really know why writing them down makes a difference.  All I know is it does and that’s enough for me.

CHANDLER’S FORD TODAY

My post this week shares the news of local YA author, Richard Hardie, whose books, Leap of Faith and Trouble with Swords, are being stocked by local independent bookshop, P&G Wells of Winchester.  It’s a real pleasure to promote a local writer and a local bookshop!

FACEBOOK PAGE

I discuss my upcoming Chandler’s Ford Today post and share a link to Southampton Writers’ Circle’s You Tube channel as they have kindly shared the Baubles trailer on this.  Thanks, everyone, and hopefully see you again in 2017.

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You really do enter another world when you read.  Image via Pixabay

 

 

 

 

WHAT A FAIRYTALE HERO/HEROINE DOESN’T WANT TO HEAR

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FAIRYTALES WITH BITE

Lines a Fairytale Hero/Heroine doesn’t want to hear lists those words that will tell your characters here their quest is almost certainly doomed.  Can you think of others?

THIS WORLD AND OTHERS

Further Signs You’re a Writer includes my thoughts on anguishing over edits, how real your characters seem to you and whether you prefer them to those you come across making the news.  Again, can you add to the list?

FACEBOOK PAGE

I am delighted to say Baubles, Bridge House Publishing’s 2016 anthology, will be out on 15th November.  My story, Helping Out, is in there and for the first time I’ve contributed an image to the book trailer.  I share the links to said trailer via my FB page.  Hope you enjoy.  I think the front cover of the book looks stunning.

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Baubles - the new anthology by Bridge House Publishing. My story, Helping Out, is in there. 2016 has been my most successful year for acceptances to date and I hope I can build on that. Image supplied by Gill James of Bridge House Publishing.

Baubles – the new anthology by Bridge House Publishing. My story, Helping Out, is in there. 2016 has been my most successful year for acceptances to date and I hope I can build on that. Image supplied by Gill James of Bridge House Publishing.