May 11, 2012

What’s Your Favorite Opening Line Of A Book?

The opening line of a novel tends to set the mood for the entire story.  So I want to know what you’re favorite opening lines of a book are.  Here are a few of my faves

“My mother died at the moment I was born, and so for my whole life there was nothing standing between me and eternity; at my back was always a bleak, black wind.”

- Xuela by Jamaica Kincaid

“It happened for the first time on a Tuesday afternoon, a warm spring day in the flatlands near Hollywood, a light breeze moving east from the ocean and stirring the black eyed pansy petals newly planted in our flower boxes.“

- The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

“I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.“

- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

What are some of your favorites?

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April 28, 2012

Are Book Trailers Effective?

I buy (and read) books for a couple of different reasons.  If I am a fan of an author then I’m willing to try anything they write even if it is in a genre I’m not a fan of.  I’ll also give a book a chance if it has an interesting premise.  With that said I know it can be hard to encapsulate the awesomeness of a book in a couple of paragraphs on the back cover.  There was an interesting article recently in The Writer that talked about how more people are creating book trailers to promote their books.  Below are a couple.

 

 

 

My question to you all is this, have you ever purchased a book because it had a good trailer?  Is it worth putting  in the time, $$, etc to create a book trailer?

 

 

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April 18, 2012

Recording My Ideas

Jace’s Story are a series of posts where you can follow me as I attempt to create a story for my son

During my “Idea Phase” I love to throw thousands of things to the wall and see what sticks.  The problem with doing this is that by the end of the process I have a notepad that looks like it has been through World War II.  I struggle to decipher my own handwriting and there isn’t really any kind of order or organization to what gets written where.  So when I attempt to go over my ideas I usually spend the majority of my time sifting through complete chaos.  With that said I have found a little program that I’m quite happy with.

If you’re like me then your ideas come at the strangest time.  Whether it be in the middle of the night, while your driving to work, using the restroom, or in the middle of a really good scene in a movie.  I don’t always have my notepad on me but one thing I do have is my Kindle Fire.  Now in their apps store I found a little program called Evernote.

This handy-dandy little program allows you to keep track of your ideas by either typing them in, recording a voice message, and even taking photos of whatever inspirational image you have just found.  Not only that but your information also exists in the cloud.  So you can access it through your mobile device, work computer, home computer, etc.  So far this thing has really helped me not only keep track of my different ideas but organize it in a way that doesn’t hurt my brain.

The program is free so if you struggle to organize your thoughts and/or your just tired of notepads I HIGHLY suggest it!

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April 4, 2012

A Change Of Plans

The story I have been working on for the last year is a pretty dark tale that examines things such as right vs wrong, fighting fire with fire, and to an extent what people would sacrifice in order to save someone (or something) they loved.  I’m around 60% finished with the story and still have a strong passion for it, but the problem is that I have to get my mind in a pretty dark place in order to re-enter that world.  As some of you know my wife & I just had our first child so its hard to enter a “dark place” when I am excited and loving the world!  So needless to say my dark WIP is going on the back-burner while I work on something new.

Now I plan on using this new-found love for the world to realize a story that I have had rolling around in my head for a while.  Some of the best books & movies I consumed as a child made me believe that anything was possible.  That the world was this giant place filled with wonder and beauty.  Now I still believe that is the case but once you lose those “innocence-glasses” it’s hard to see the world the same.  I want my son to have that same feeling of wonderment so I am going to tap into my inner-child and try to create something that will give him that same feeling.

I have another project I’m working on that I hope to make into a series of books.  This project is not inherently dark but does have some darker undertones.  Whenever I’m having a hard day or I’m just not in the kiddie writing mood I plan on developing and jumping into that world.

Just wanted to let you all know as your support and inspiration has continued to push me forward in my writing journey.  While I still haven’t nailed down a new writing routine having this little guy has provided me with plenty of inspiration.  Now if he’d only let me find a few hours a day to utilize it  :-)

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March 24, 2012

Rumors Of My Death…..

Hey All,

Just wanted to drop in and let you know why I haven posted in nearly 2 weeks…

Little man has arrived and with him has come the total destruction of my free time.  My usual routine of waking up early and knocking out a couple of posts has been replaced with cleaning diapers and preparing formula.  So just wanted to let you all know I am still alive and hopefully sometime soon I will be able to develop a new writing routine!

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February 25, 2012

It’s All In The Details

My greatest weakness as a writer is being able to create and describe a setting.  In my prior work I would throw a few details at the reader giving them a general idea of where the characters were & then completely discard the setting to focus on what is happening.  Some of my favorite authors are able to not only properly describe the setting but make it seem as if it was another character in the story.  So in order to strengthen my setting weakness I began to ready Description & Setting by Ron Rozelle.

This is a part of the Write Great Fiction Series that also covers Plot Structure, Compelling Dialogue, and Revision.  Now the Description & Setting book is the first I have attempted so I can’t speak about how great the series is, BUT I am enjoying this one.  Part of the book includes exercises to help you improve your writing & the first one I tried was about capturing details.

The author challenges you to not only pay attention to normal sights but to look closer at the small little details.  For example you notice someone eating a hotdog, normally I would notice this and then ponder upon whether I wanted a hot dog :-)    The book encourages you to notice how the person holds the hotdog -tight in an almost death-like grip, how they consume the hotdog -In large desperate bites as if the hotdog will suddenly & inexplicably vanish from existence, and what their body language is like -Head held high to show the world he has a hotdog and is proud of his ability to eat it.

I tried this at work the other day.  During a break I “noticed”, I say noticed because it sounds kind of creepy that I was watching them, one of my coworkers as they read a book.  Normally that is where I would leave it but I took a second to find the details.  I noticed he was situated in his chair so that he was facing away from everyone else towards a wall, just to confirm that he didn’t want to be bothered.  He gently swayed back & forth in the chair, so slowly you couldn’t tell unless you were paying attention.  I imagined he was reading something action packed and was involuntarily running and fighting with the main character.

I’m hoping that my new detail-capturing mind will help me discover things that will make my worlds & stories more believable.  What about yourselves, how do you come up with details to fill your stories?

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February 14, 2012

Learning To Be Vulnerable

As my wife and I get closer to the birth of our first child I can’t shake this feeling of pure excitement & terror.  We are given the ability to love people with all our heart but the more we love them the harder it is when we lose them.  Those of you who have followed me for awhile know that I lost my mother and sister to an auto accident & my father recently to health problems.  Due to this I will admit that for every burst of excitement that runs through my body another burst of fear shoots through my head.  :-)

I can lay next to my wife and feel my son rumbling around in her stomach and it brings a smile to my face.  I know this little guy has the potential to go from a fragile little baby, into a rambunctious young boy, to a headstrong teenager, and finally into a man.  I also know the harsh truth of the world, we are not promised anything.  Just as quickly as he is given to me he can be taken away.  I know that no matter what I do I will not be able to protect him from the world.

I know this fear is something that comes to all new parents regardless of what has happened in their past.  I know this fear is just as big as the love I currently have for this little person I have only glimpsed in grainy video.  I will do as all of us do, I will love and I will do everything in my power to protect my loved ones.

As I sit here typing I have a smile on my face and I’m convinced every butterfly in the world is currently contained in my stomach.  For those of you who have followed me I thank you.  This blog started as a way to keep my butt motivated in writing, and has evolved into also helping me fight through the issues that life has thrown my way.  Reading your comments and following your own journeys has provided me with more joy then you know.  Knowing that you all are going to be with me as I take the next step in my life brings me more comfort then it probably should  :-p       Thanks

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