Saturday, 31 July 2010
My article on 'Calamity's Corner' at 1st Turning Point.
1st Turning Point turns the tables on Calamity! Now Calamity, who seeks articles for Calamity's Corner, is invited to write one herself -- about Calamity's Corner. How great is that?!! Want to read it? You can on August 5th at 1st Turning Point but don't wait till then. They have wonderful articles on self promotion and marketing, every day. http://1stturningpoint.com/
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Calamity's Corner e-newsletter
As usual, the May issue of Calamity's Corner is filled with fascinating contributions from readers and writers around the world. In the 8 page pdf e-newsletter, sent on the 1st of the month, they share their experiences on writing, travel, book and movie reviews and pets.
In May the featured author is Canada's Jo-Anne Vandermeulen, author of Premium Promotional Tips for Writers and Conquer All Obstacles.
Fantasy writer, Anna L. Walls, author of King by Right of Blood and Might, shares her Alaskan Wilderness, a young violinist, Gabriela, busks in Paris and we feature Andy, a four month old Shih-Tzu as Pet of the Month.
In her regular column L.J. Roberts reviews Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand by Fred Vargas.
There is something for everyone, including a quick quiz, writing exercise & a grumble from The Groper.
Always seeking to expand, Calamity would love to welcome you to our growing group, which, so far, reaches 22countries: Australia (all states); Canada; Denmark; England; Germany;Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Ireland; Italy; Japan; Malaysia; Mexico; Mongolia; New Zealand; Poland; Portugal; Ukraine; USA (most states including Alaska &Hawaii); Slovenia; South Africa and Switzerland.
Any member is welcome to contibute to the regular segments, if they wish, and I will thank them by promoting their websites, if they have one.
You can subscribe by sending an email to calam@live.com.au with Subscribe Calamity's Corner in the subject bar.
Best wishes,
Calam
In May the featured author is Canada's Jo-Anne Vandermeulen, author of Premium Promotional Tips for Writers and Conquer All Obstacles.
Fantasy writer, Anna L. Walls, author of King by Right of Blood and Might, shares her Alaskan Wilderness, a young violinist, Gabriela, busks in Paris and we feature Andy, a four month old Shih-Tzu as Pet of the Month.
In her regular column L.J. Roberts reviews Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand by Fred Vargas.
There is something for everyone, including a quick quiz, writing exercise & a grumble from The Groper.
Always seeking to expand, Calamity would love to welcome you to our growing group, which, so far, reaches 22countries: Australia (all states); Canada; Denmark; England; Germany;Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Ireland; Italy; Japan; Malaysia; Mexico; Mongolia; New Zealand; Poland; Portugal; Ukraine; USA (most states including Alaska &Hawaii); Slovenia; South Africa and Switzerland.
Any member is welcome to contibute to the regular segments, if they wish, and I will thank them by promoting their websites, if they have one.
You can subscribe by sending an email to calam@live.com.au with Subscribe Calamity's Corner in the subject bar.
Best wishes,
Calam
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Tagged
Thank you for tagging me Rosalie. So now I tag you back and tag 6 others :)
A #1. Rockfest the Band
the hottest rock band in Australia.
And six talented writers who are all dear friends of mine. Meet them and their work and they could become your friends too at:
2. Rosalie Skinner
3. Laurel Lampherd
4. Carole Sutton
5. Esmaa Self
6. Edith Parzefall
7. Kim Smith
and now to follow the rest of the instructions. Tell 6 things about me.
1. I really admire people who put the needs of others first when they are in need of attention themsleves.
2. Self disciplined people have a head start. It must be a gift because I don't know how to get it, but my husband has it.
3. I'm too judgmental even with myself.
4. I believe in Destiny. If you really want something bad enough, you will get it -- for better or for worse.
5. Realizing that I prefer silence to music while I work proved that I'm no longer a spring chicken, but having just figured out how to add these links (the hard way - thanks Rosalie -the regular link icon proved to difficult) I'm not quite over the hill yet.
6. I'm really, really glad that my kids chose me to be their Mum.
A #1. Rockfest the Band
the hottest rock band in Australia.
And six talented writers who are all dear friends of mine. Meet them and their work and they could become your friends too at:
2. Rosalie Skinner
3. Laurel Lampherd
4. Carole Sutton
5. Esmaa Self
6. Edith Parzefall
7. Kim Smith
and now to follow the rest of the instructions. Tell 6 things about me.
1. I really admire people who put the needs of others first when they are in need of attention themsleves.
2. Self disciplined people have a head start. It must be a gift because I don't know how to get it, but my husband has it.
3. I'm too judgmental even with myself.
4. I believe in Destiny. If you really want something bad enough, you will get it -- for better or for worse.
5. Realizing that I prefer silence to music while I work proved that I'm no longer a spring chicken, but having just figured out how to add these links (the hard way - thanks Rosalie -the regular link icon proved to difficult) I'm not quite over the hill yet.
6. I'm really, really glad that my kids chose me to be their Mum.
Saturday, 26 July 2008
How to Plot a Story to Engage Your Reader
PLOT
Often the beginning writers ponders too long over characterization, scenery and setting up the story/backstory and finds it difficult to accept the fundamental element of a good story.
SOMETHING MUST HAPPEN TO DRAW THE READER INTO THE STORY
WHERE, WHO, WHAT, HOW, WHY
GOAL or PROBLEM is all important.
If you are blocked you might need to re think your story.
Maybe your main character doesn't have a big enough goal to reach, or problem to overcome.
- Maybe nothing or no one is trying to stop him achieving it. (Conflict)
You need obstacles that lead your character to make decisions. (Crises) It's Furtherance and Hindrance that build suspense.
- Maybe you need to physically visit the site, or a similar site, for the setting of your story to get the atmosphere/mood right where you will find the unique details.
- Get a group of friends to fire questions at you about your story so that you have to answer them so fast you'll even make up stuff that wasn't originally part of it and be surprised how relevant the new answers are. That is a wonderful unblocking exercise.
- If all else fails, try introducing a new character to hinder your hero.
Your hero's character develops and changes through the ways he attempts to solve his problem or achieve his goal. How he reacts to his situation is determined by what motivates him.
Have you covered the who, where, when why and how?
1st chapter.
Have you introduced your main character, anchored him in the setting, given him a strong goal, (preferably one the reader thinks is impossible to reach) one which is extremely important to himself, given him a motivation for wanting to reach this goal, and have you put a stumbling
block in his way to prevent him achieving it? Now the reader will read on to find out if and how he does achieve it.
- What is this story about? Reduce it to one noun which will probably turn out to be what motivates your main character at every turn of the story.
eg. Love, pride, honour, brotherhood, survival, etc. [themes/motivations]
Ask yourself
- . What have I promised the reader? A good mystery, an adventure, a rollicking good yarn, a dark thriller, comedy. A hero's journey, a bumpy ride, etc? This should be apparent from the first page.
You must remember to deliver on the promise? [maintaining your focus]
Don't be afraid to use imagery and symbolism. It's amazing how creating a simile to replace an adverb can set you on a roll and get you writing for longer than you intended. Similes and metaphors are great unblockers. You could try getting your character to make up a quote. That will reveal a lot about him/her.
I've discovered that first chapter(s) need to be re written when the novel is completed, so keep moving forward and don't worry about editing until much later. Add to earlier chapters, of course, when you discover you need to prepare the reader for something you hadn't expected in the chapter you are writing. But get it down. You can't edit a blank page.
Keeping this in mind, all writers should do NaNo in November at least once. http://www.nanowrimo.org/ i.e. write a 50,000 word novel in a month. I completed 3 NaNos successfully. It's hard going but it is so satisfying and teaches you to think fast and to turn off your internal editor until your story is written. You can edit later but by Dec 1st you have a beginning, middle and end to work on and improve.
Often the beginning writers ponders too long over characterization, scenery and setting up the story/backstory and finds it difficult to accept the fundamental element of a good story.
SOMETHING MUST HAPPEN TO DRAW THE READER INTO THE STORY
WHERE, WHO, WHAT, HOW, WHY
GOAL or PROBLEM is all important.
If you are blocked you might need to re think your story.
Maybe your main character doesn't have a big enough goal to reach, or problem to overcome.
- Maybe nothing or no one is trying to stop him achieving it. (Conflict)
You need obstacles that lead your character to make decisions. (Crises) It's Furtherance and Hindrance that build suspense.
- Maybe you need to physically visit the site, or a similar site, for the setting of your story to get the atmosphere/mood right where you will find the unique details.
- Get a group of friends to fire questions at you about your story so that you have to answer them so fast you'll even make up stuff that wasn't originally part of it and be surprised how relevant the new answers are. That is a wonderful unblocking exercise.
- If all else fails, try introducing a new character to hinder your hero.
Your hero's character develops and changes through the ways he attempts to solve his problem or achieve his goal. How he reacts to his situation is determined by what motivates him.
Have you covered the who, where, when why and how?
1st chapter.
Have you introduced your main character, anchored him in the setting, given him a strong goal, (preferably one the reader thinks is impossible to reach) one which is extremely important to himself, given him a motivation for wanting to reach this goal, and have you put a stumbling
block in his way to prevent him achieving it? Now the reader will read on to find out if and how he does achieve it.
- What is this story about? Reduce it to one noun which will probably turn out to be what motivates your main character at every turn of the story.
eg. Love, pride, honour, brotherhood, survival, etc. [themes/motivations]
Ask yourself
- . What have I promised the reader? A good mystery, an adventure, a rollicking good yarn, a dark thriller, comedy. A hero's journey, a bumpy ride, etc? This should be apparent from the first page.
You must remember to deliver on the promise? [maintaining your focus]
Don't be afraid to use imagery and symbolism. It's amazing how creating a simile to replace an adverb can set you on a roll and get you writing for longer than you intended. Similes and metaphors are great unblockers. You could try getting your character to make up a quote. That will reveal a lot about him/her.
I've discovered that first chapter(s) need to be re written when the novel is completed, so keep moving forward and don't worry about editing until much later. Add to earlier chapters, of course, when you discover you need to prepare the reader for something you hadn't expected in the chapter you are writing. But get it down. You can't edit a blank page.
Keeping this in mind, all writers should do NaNo in November at least once. http://www.nanowrimo.org/ i.e. write a 50,000 word novel in a month. I completed 3 NaNos successfully. It's hard going but it is so satisfying and teaches you to think fast and to turn off your internal editor until your story is written. You can edit later but by Dec 1st you have a beginning, middle and end to work on and improve.
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Writing the Novel
I wasn't sure if there had ever been a monastery at the site of my fictional town which is a real town in real life so I had to be cautious and when I had the chance I checked the details.
My fictional St. Gabriel's monastery was built about 1000 AD, made of wood. That way when it fell into ruin sometime after 1307 AD there would be no trace of it in the modern world as there would be from a stone one. Plus timber (a wattle and daub structure) would more easily burn if I needed it to.
I imagined in the Eastern Arcade salt and grain would be stored at the near end of the promenade.
The time in Switzerland proved to be necessary. I discovered that a monastery does dominate the town of Altdorf. It has been there since the 1580's. In the book I had Stefan wonder if there'd ever been one, so I had to make a quick adjustment during the final edit, to counteract that major error. While in Switzerland, I found it fascinating to discover here is little difference from the Uri Bull emblem seen in Altdorf today and the one common in 1315 AD.
My fictional St. Gabriel's monastery was built about 1000 AD, made of wood. That way when it fell into ruin sometime after 1307 AD there would be no trace of it in the modern world as there would be from a stone one. Plus timber (a wattle and daub structure) would more easily burn if I needed it to.
I imagined in the Eastern Arcade salt and grain would be stored at the near end of the promenade.
The time in Switzerland proved to be necessary. I discovered that a monastery does dominate the town of Altdorf. It has been there since the 1580's. In the book I had Stefan wonder if there'd ever been one, so I had to make a quick adjustment during the final edit, to counteract that major error. While in Switzerland, I found it fascinating to discover here is little difference from the Uri Bull emblem seen in Altdorf today and the one common in 1315 AD.
Friday, 30 May 2008
Mastered it.
Calamity's Corner worked better this month since I converted the newsletter to PDF. Takes less space in email. I think I've mastered it, now. It's lovely to receive such interesting contributions too. I can't wait to see what pets will be forthcoming.
The next step is to figure out how to make a video - just a little one. For myspace. Not for emailing.
The next step is to figure out how to make a video - just a little one. For myspace. Not for emailing.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Newsletter Success.
Thanks to some advice from family members I was able to send out my first newsletter. I used the Bcc feature in outlook to hide the list of names. The Bcc was hard to find and I did have to add each address seperately. There has to be an easier way! Also I must get software to convert Word to PDF so that the format isn't corrupted for non Word readers. The May issue is nearly ready.
I'm happy now that it worked this time, but will be happier when I can discover how others send their newsletters in large numbers. So far the companies I've asked haven't responded.
I'm happy now that it worked this time, but will be happier when I can discover how others send their newsletters in large numbers. So far the companies I've asked haven't responded.
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