Friday, January 29, 2016

6 Movies About Writers

The title pretty much says it all. Whether it's the life of Riley, the fashionista high living or a total disaster, writers have made good fodder for movie writers throughout the years. I've seen all of these films and they're all great, in fact most are on my list of Favourite Movies of all time.

(all images and movie descriptions from Imbd.com)

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Funny Farm

Funny Farm

When Andy and Elizabeth buy a farm in Vermont, they can't imagine the trouble that awaits them. Andy has quit his job as a sports journalist and is planning to use the peace and quiet of the country to write the Great American Novel. From the moment the movers' truck gets lost with their furniture, though, there's little peace and less quiet. From a manical mailman to a dead body buried in the garden, Andy is distracted by the town and its wacky inhabitants. His effort at a novel is mediocre, at best, and he's threatened by Elizabeth's foray into writing when she attempts a children's book. Can the Farmers survive the townsfolk and each other?


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Secret Window

Secret Window

Mort Rainey is a successful writer going through a rather unfriendly divorce from his wife of ten years, Amy. Alone and bitter in his cabin, he continues to work on his writing when a stranger named John Shooter shows up on his doorstep, claiming Rainey stole his story. Mort says he can prove the story belongs to him and not Shooter, but while Mort digs around for the magazine which published the story in question years ago, things begin to happen around Shooter. Mort's dog dies, people begin to die, and his divorce proceedings with Amy continue to get uglier. It seems that Shooter has Mort over a barrel, but perhaps Mort has his own ideas on how to resolve all the problems that plague him lately.


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Romancing the Stone

Romancing the Stone

Joan Wilder, a mousy romance novelist, receives a treasure map in the mail from her recently murdered brother-in-law. Meanwhile, her sister Elaine is kidnapped in Colombia and the two criminals responsible demand that she travel to Colombia to exchange the map for her sister. Joan does, and quickly becomes lost in the jungle after being waylayed by Zolo, a vicious and corrupt Colombian cop who will stop at nothing to obtain the map. There, she meets an irreverent soldier-of-fortune named Jack Colton who agrees to bring her back to civilization. Together, they embark upon an adventure that could be straight out of Joan's novels.

Written by Denny Gibbons

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Jewel in the Nile

Jewel of the Nile

This is the sequel to "Romancing the Stone" where Jack and Joan have their yacht and easy life, but are gradually getting bored with each other and this way of life. Joan accepts an invitation to go to some middle eastern country as a guest of the sheik, but there she is abducted and finds her- self involved with the "jewel". Jack decides to rescue her with his new partner Ralph. They all go from one adventure to another... What is the story of this "jewel"?


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Misery

Misery

Best-selling novelist Paul Sheldon is on his way home from his Colorado hideaway after completing his latest book, when he crashes his car in a freak blizzard. Paul is critically injured, but is rescued by former nurse Annie Wilkes, Paul's "number one fan", who takes Paul back to her remote house in the mountains (without bothering to tell anybody). Unfortunately for Paul, Annie is also a headcase. When she discovers that Paul has killed off the heroine in her favorite novels, her reaction leaves Paul shattered (literally)...


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The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

DBaB

The true story of 43 year-old magazine editor Jean-Dominique Beauby who after suffering a stroke is found to have locked-in syndrome, where he is paralyzed from the neck down. He can see and hear but cannot speak, communicating only by blinking his left eye for yes or no. Literally trapped inside his body, he faces a terrifying situation despite the support he has from an an expert medical team and his family. It's only when his speech therapist Henriette Roi devises a system for him to "speak" one letter at a time by blinking his eye does the world open up for him. The film is based an Bauby's book, which he dictated, one letter at a time.

Written by garykmcd

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Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Musical Inspiration

Whether you're writing a historical or simply classic-ly romantic story, sometimes you need the right inspiration, to get that vibe.

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[spotify id="spotify:user:11121244068:playlist:4AhcWai8r8DqyxW0hdFVSF" width="250" height="330" /]

Monday, January 25, 2016

Exercise

2016 is the year I'm going to try to get fitter. I've tried it a million times, in the past, but due to my many medical conditions and such, it's been deemed nearly impossible. I beg to differ.

As a writer/author, it is vitally important that we remember to take some time out of sitting on our butts, to remember to move. Here are some fun exercises that can be done at home, some of which are from Just Dance (you can either buy the produce yourself, like I have, or you can find various dances available on YouTube, which I'll link to).

If you choose to buy, definitely have a look around. You can get fitness specific games, like My Fitness Coach. You can get band specific ones: Abba, Black Eyed Peas. You can also get the regular pop ones, called Just Dance 1, 2, 3, etc or you can get Line Dancing, Just Dance Musicals and more. So definitely have a look at all the dance workout DVD's or video games that are out there, until you find the right one for you.

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Regular Workouts

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrlbPo-rxvw[/embed]
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKAuh0zYdLg[/embed]
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcN37TxBE_s[/embed]


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Just Dance

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_OJxorGwkM[/embed]
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYS_RbW-mfk[/embed]
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKa0OM5Wh60[/embed]
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NNToJzyzAg[/embed]
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WD01RMtloI[/embed]
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neqGdK8qAxQ[/embed]

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Yoga

Exercise 2

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Writing Inspiration

Sometimes, whether you're editing or writing, all you need for a good bit of writing inspiration is some great music. As a lover of music, with eclectic tastes, you might find some stuff in here that you've never heard, that you like, love or don't care for. Feel free to pick and choose what you want.

Some of these are my most favourite songs, ever, so I hope you enjoy them and they help.

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Thursday, January 21, 2016

How to: Use Animoto

In this new tutorial, we'll be looking at the video making site, Animoto. There's an alternative "Windows Media Makes", which I'll be looking at later.
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The first thing about Animoto is that you want to buy a plan. This all depends on how deep your pockets are and what you're looking for. I'm lucky enough to use them for free, thanks to my publishers. However, here are the price plans:

animoto pricing

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Now that we've got that covered, let's look at HOW to make a video.
First, you want to choose a theme. Click "Create" in the top right hand corner of your Dashboard and let's see what's on offer:

animoto themes

This is all about personal choice and what theme you want your book trailer to have. If you click on each small theme, it will give you a larger view and play a pre-made video to show you how the theme will look when in use. Once you've chosen one, click "Create Video". For this post, I'll be using the "Simply Stated" theme.

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Here's your page, where you can add all your information to your theme.

animoto video page

The first thing you want to do, once you have your theme, is choose a song. Again, this is personal choice and there is so much choice that it can be dizzying. But, the right song can make your book trailer. And don't worry about legal use, because Animoto take care of all of that for you. They only provide songs that are legally allowed to be used for a book trailer, so you have nothing to worry about!
Most themes come with a set playlist. But, you don't have to stick to it. Click "Change Song" to change the song.

animoto song selection #1

Each song on the list has a play button that you can use to sample it before choosing. Try the songs suggested, using the this option or go looking for another option. You can upload your own songs or a song from YouTube's Audio Library, as long as you remember to credit it in your video.
If you click "Browse Full Library" you can view the entire selection that Animoto offer and sort by length, style, artist or song title.

animoto song selection #2

Simple click the song you want to use instead and choose "Select Song" or stick with the original option by clicking the X.
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Once you've got your music sorted, let's look at how to add images. You can use the large box with an X in it to add images or text (see image) or you can click the "Add pics and vids" or "Add text" box on the left menu.

animoto image selection

The choice is yours. Once you get there, you can add images from Animoto's image library or from your own computer. If you choose your own computer, make sure the images are legally allowed to be used for Commercial Use, which is what your book trailer will be. Also, it's best to add one frame on the end letting people know where your images were taken from, e.g. All images purchased or from Pixabay, is what I usually use.
Here's Animoto's library:

animoto image selection #1

For the purpose of this example, I've chosen some random images from my computer, all licensed for Commercial Use.

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Now it's time to add text. There are two ways to do this: 1) use the Add Text button or hover over the image you want to write over and you'll see the word "Caption" appear on the bottom of the picture's frame:

animoto image selection #2

I use the 'Caption' option, as it allows me to add text to each individual picture as and how I feel. Here's what you'll see once you click 'Caption'.

animoto text

At the bottom, you'll see a bunch of symbols. From right to left: Spotlight, Rotate, Edit Photo, Delete Image.
You can see the one line where you can add text. At the other side, you'll see the number 50: this is your character limit! It's like Twitter in that you have to say what you want to say in as few words as possible. This isn't just about space or getting to the point, this is about how long people have to sit at a computer and focus on words. No one wants to sit and watch a 5-10 min video about your book, that they haven't read, because you have so much text that you had to add more images to make room for it. Your total video length should be between 1 and 2.5 mins. You're not making a movie.

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Once you've added text to all the images you want to, and you decide you want to change the order of things, it's really easy. All you need to do is click and drag your picture to where you want it:

animoto shuffle

I've moved this image into a blank space to show you how it will look. Say you want to move it behind the image on the left, of the girl with white hair. Simple, just keep dragging it across until the image moves:

animoto shuffle #2

This is literally how it happens: one minute you're moving the space image and the next the girl with white hair has moved. Very simple and easy. You can do this as many times as you need to, until you have everything where you want it. Moving the captions is the same: open the image (the way you did when you added the caption) and highlight the text. Then copy and paste (Ctr+C) and close the image, then paste your text into the box you really want it in. It can get a little fiddly if you want to completely switch the text of two boxes. If you want to do this, it would be easier to re-add the image, to give yourself a blank caption box to add your text to. This way, you're not deleting a line of caption that you want to keep for another picture. Believe me, I've done it and it's annoying. Especially when you had it perfectly worded to fit the 50 characters.

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Well, now that you've got everything in order, let's check out the preview. Click "Preview Video". This is where you can see how your images and text appear on the theme you've picked.

animoto preview #1

Here's how the video looks with text and image together:

animoto theme #1

Personally, I don't like it. The theme makes this image look hazy and dims the colours. Also, the text is a little too cursive for easy reading. You have to remember that most people will be reading on a small screen (phone, ipad, computer, tablet) and might not bother to squint or lean close to read text this small or cursive.
Don't like your theme, after all? No problem. Exit the preview by either clicking "Continue Editing" or the little X on the top right corner of the box. Then, in the top left corner, you'll see "Change Style". Click that.
I'm going to change mine to "Clean Lines", because that theme is a little more tricky to work with.
Here's how the same images and text looks in the new theme. Much better!

animoto theme #2

This is one of my favourite themes, because I love the way that it shows all images faded in the background, while popping one image at a time. I also love the way it focuses on the writing and has it large and easily readable.
But, there is one problem with this theme: layout! I had to deal with this recently, on my last video, and there's no simple solution. Check out this image below:

animoto rotate

Ideally, you'd want the text box on the right, correct? Well, you can't move that. So you flip the picture, right? Nope. I tried this on another video, previously, and every time I flipped the picture to suit the text box, the text box moved. Unless you have a particular item in the image that you want to focus on, I'd recommend not worrying about this. The text boxes move, on large images like this, to a different spot every time it is played. It's going to move no matter what you do, so I suggest that you either live with it or crop your image to a poster size (similar to the first image). These images are always centred and the text is always placed on the right or left of the image, not over the actual picture.

That's the only solution I can offer.

However, the video looks fantastic!

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Once you're happy with the music, text and image placement, it's time to Produce your video. WARNING: Only do this if you're absolutely sure. You can't come back and re-edit your video later, once it's been produced.
But, if you're ready, let's go.
Click "Produce" on the preview box OR if you're on the images page, click the preview box and click 'Produce'.

animoto produce

Now, I'm not techno savvy, so I won't be touching the Video Quality options. If you know what you're doing, you're welcome to choose whatever you want. I'm sticking with the recommended 360p.
As for the rest, the Producer Name has been removed, as that's the name of the account I'm using. So whatever account name you opened it under will already be in that box. You don't have to change it unless you want to. The Description is optional, but a great place to add your book blurb, if you choose to. The title is up to you, but I recommend saving it under the name of your book, especially if you're sharing the account with others. As for the date, change it to the date you completed the video, if you want.

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And there you have it! Your very own book trailer. Music, images and a beautiful piece of art that you can share with your fans. It will save to your computer automatically, but you're welcome to share it to FB, Twitter or whatever other options Animoto offers:

animoto share

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Happy Video Making!

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Author Swag Ideas

As an author, one of the most important things you need to plan and budget for are prizes. Generally, it all depends on how you operate, but the most key events to have swag prepared for are: signings, book events, release day, random prize giveaways and other milestones that you want to celebrate with your fans.
As a newbie author, you probably won't do much of this until you really know what you're doing and how to get it done without blowing the bank. But, here are some easy, quick things you get buy that are personalised to your book/author brand, that you can get in the UK. I won't be covering US sites, because - honestly - I've never used them and it would be pointless. I won't talk about something I know nothing about. So, this post is exclusively about UK sites, because they're really hard to find.

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Ordinary Swag

Forget about bookmarks, because unless you buy rackcards instead, you're unlikely to find any UK sites, with decent postage, that won't charge you an arm and a leg for bookmarks. Your best bet is to print your own (2x6, 2x7 or 2x8" are good sizes) or buy some.
Amazon do great bookmark options. You can get these die cut bookmarks, 10 in a pack, for just £2.17, which is a total steal. Then it's just an extra £2.39 (plus £0.45 postage) for a pack of 10 tassels, if you want them, and £6.48 for protective sleeves, if you choose to go that way (only 6 in a pack, but still great value). Bargain!
If you do want to go the route of buying them, you can go to Moo.com and buy a bunch of business cards that can act as bookmarks (you even get nice rounded edges on some designs) or you can head over to Zazzle.com to personalise a bookmark (£6.65 for a pack of 20). You can also try VistaPrint, which always have offers on (TV100 is their advert code). They do 'rack cards' which are basically bookmarks the size of those little booklet flyers you get in banks.
It's all about what you prefer.

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You should definitely check out Moo.com if you're looking for something a little different. If you have the money, you can get some really special adaptations of the usual swag.
Examples:
Their Tailored Collection of business cards include options like gold foil, spot glass or raised spot glass. You can also get letterhead business cards. (shown in order lists)

gold foil  raised spot glass spot glass letterpress

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Unusual Gifts

You can also use business card designs to make something different. I chose to make character cards from mine. I simply chose one front design (my author logo) and used the wonderful feature of up to 100 different backing designs to create character profiles. Each one has their name, book, age and a profile of their character traits, followed by a single quote. Here's a close up:

business cards

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I also made series cards. These were made using the square business card option. It was super easy and, again, you could choose one front option and many back options. I simply chose the half-cut layout, with half being an image and half as words, then used the book covers for the image part and a series description for the writing.

square business cards

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Another great option is to choose MiniCards and make quote cards. I chose one quote from each book and made one quote card for each book.

mini cards

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For each option, you really have to be careful about your font size and wording, because the space isn't huge. If you play around with different fonts, you'll find one that works best for you. I kept mine the same for every card, in case I wanted to do a 'series' giveaway. You can also change the layout and colour of your background etc, so there are a lot of options for personalising it. I just prefer the simple look and having them all with black text and a white background means that I can mix and match each book/series mini card with the corresponding character card.

As for cost, they were all affordable. Here's what I ordered and what I paid for that order:

business cards cost


Business Cards (Character Cards): Matte Laminate Business Cards x 100
(ordered Dec 2015)


square business cards cost



Square Business Cards (Series Cards): Matte Laminate MiniCards x 100 + Orange MOO MiniCard Holder x 1
(ordered Nov 2015)

mini cards cost


Mini Cards (Quote Cards): Matte Square Business Cards x 50
(ordered June 2015)



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If you want something really spectacular and different, try out Moo's Limited Edition section:
"Make stunning Limited Edition print with exclusive designs from the incredibly talented Ohh Deer. (And no pressure, but once they’re gone…they’re gone forever!)"
limited edition
limited edition profiles
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Hopefully you've found something that tickles your fancy. As soon as I find more awesome swag, I'll let you know.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Romantic Quotes #2

This is a new feature, for 2016, to help provide the inspiration needed for those sexy, intense romances that we know you all love so much. Incidentally, some of the names are great resources for unusual character names. Poets and writers often had unique names, pen names or a flair for the dramatic and it may be useful to your story.
(Some of these are really old and from people and sources that I don't agree with. Take them as you will, but remember that I am not responsible for the meaning or implication of the quotes.)
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Romantic Quotes #2

Friday, January 15, 2016

The Power of the Sidekick

In all the epic journeys of literature, there is a sidekick or two. But, sometimes, the sidekick is more often than not the actual hero of the story. Even when they don't reach such heights, you can clearly pinpoint parts of the journey that would have failed had the sidekick not been there.

Examples:
  • Frodo would never have reached Mordor or destroyed the ring if it wasn't for Sam.
  • Harry would have died or never solved the mysteries of his numerous journeys without Ron and Hermione.
  • Luke would never have succeeded without Leia or Han.
  • The dwarves of The Hobbit would never have made it without Bilbo.
  • The Pevencies wouldn't have returned home without Aslan or Tumnus.
  • Dorothy would never have reached the Wizard without the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion or the Scarecrow.
Even in Disney: Belle would never have saved the Beast without Chip. Cinderella would never have made it to the ball without Jack and Gus, or her fairy godmother. Sleeping Beauty would never have survived Maleficent's curse without the three good fairies. Tiana would never have become human again without Ray and Mama Odie.

You'll find sidekicks in most books and movies that involve adventure. And when you do, you'll find that they offer some critical insight at one point of the journey, or more.
So, how do you write your own sidekick? It depends on your story. For this example, our adventure is one of life or death. There's an evil force out to destroy everything, but only one (or a band of a few) individual can save the world.

Your sidekick will need to provide a little levity, so they need to be funny, good with one liners, and generally good natured and not easily frightened (unless this can be used to comedic value). Never let your sidekick become so hilarious that it becomes incredulous or uncomfortable. Think Ron Weasley, Merry and Pippin, Han Solo. All were funny without effect and without becoming inappropriate.

Your sidekick also has to be helpful, intelligent and it helps if they can see the world in a completely different way to your hero. Examples: Hermione, Samwise, C3PO and Ray (Princess and the Frog). These characters provide clues, positivity in light of dark times and have a broader view of the world than some of the other characters. They use these traits to lead the way, spot clues or generally keep up morale, as the fight for Good against Evil reigns.

It's also important for your sidekick to never overshadow or take the limelight from your hero. Your hero is the hero for a reason and it needs to stay that way. So give your sidekick some insecurities: aversion to blood, a physical or mental weakness, phobias, lack of a sense of direction or an uncanny knack for being clumsy or getting in trouble. That will stop them from becoming the 'too-good-to-be-true' hero. Again, think about Ron Weasley (fear of spiders and insecurity about being poor), Samwise (not adventurous in the least, too curious, can't swim), C3PO (natural coward), Scarecrow (made of straw) and the Tin Man (rusts!)

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There are so many ways that you can create a believable sidekick without making them weak-willed or pathetic. If you want some inspiration, check out the great movie 'Sky High' which is about a school for superhero's, where a bunch of 'sidekicks' or 'Hero Support' end up being the only ones capable of saving the day, thus becoming the real superhero's. It might give you a glimpse of how to balance the characteristics of a sidekick with a hero and how any small talent can win the war.