Phooey to the End of Books

I don't think so!

Many conversations about the future of books, publishing and reading seem to be gloomy these days. I read blogs, hear radio conversations and even meet authors that think authors will suffer great income loss over:

A. the introduction of ebooks

B. cheap ebooks (99c)

C. competing with tv, movies, internet and gaming for children's attention.

I say phooey to all that. I think the future of books is brighter than it's ever been. Here's how I validate my excitement for this industry:

1. The introduction of ebooks has enabled MORE people to access fiction in a variety of mediums.


2. By having a novel available online, you have opened your readership up globally. You don't have to rely on only reaching a national market. If an Australian publisher prints one of my novels, I will still have to try to secure an agent/publisher for each other international market such as the UK or US.


3. Cheap ebooks have excited readers and tweaked an interest in otherwise cautious customers. This in turn develops a fad of reading, the more you read the more you want to read. 99c will gain initial interest, but readers will evolve to be more aware of their own taste and more discerning towards the quality of fiction they read. I now scrutinize my purchases and do not base my choice on price. I trust other readers to do the same.


4. Hooray for technological distractions. The iPads, laptops and iPhones might be popular with teens for the games they supply but the wonderful phenomenon I'm noticing is kids that wouldn't usually want to buy books now want to, all because they can download them onto their iPod etc. I had a yr7 media class (12-13yr olds) and introduced them to online books via Amazon. I showed them how you can get Kindle for your iPod. They were all so excited about this and most downloaded the app. A lot of these kids would have scrunched their noses up at me suggesting they borrow a book from a library.


5. Ebooks are making reading a very popular trend. This in turn makes people want to own books and buy books for their shelves as well as their iPads. It has almost become a fashion statement for our living rooms. Don't believe books are trendy? Department store catalogues are expensive to produce and distribute, this makes space on them prime real estate. As you can imagine, front page is pretty special. In the past. I've only noticed books get a small corner of a page in the middle somewhere. Yesterday I was so surprised and pleased to see a Big W catalogue feature the first TEN pages all for books and that they now sell the Amazon Kindle here in Australia!

So, aren't you excited?!

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World Building for Fantasy Novels

You've got the whole world in your hands...

Wow. Another amazing writers workshop.

This time the workshop was held in Canberra and it was run by the extremely talented and popular author, Fiona McIntosh.

World building for fantasy novels was the focus of this workshop, and my head is still spinning from all the great advice Fiona generously shared. I have pages and pages of notes on this topic now, but here are just a few points Fiona got across about world building:

• You need to introduce your fantasy world in the first chapter. Readers are impatient now and want immediate satisfaction, so along with the hook, character and inciting incident, they want a sense of setting. In my story THE COSTUME MAKER, my characters are sent from this world to the fantasy world. I can get around this by using a prologue that occurs in that world.


• Don't get hung up on the details of your world. Yes you should know your world and love it, but ultimately readers purchase books because of the characters and story. In some of the best Fantasy novels you barely notice the world because you are so lost in the story.


• Read novels in the genre and the sub genre you wish to write in. Focus on the way they set up their world.


• Don't over-describe everything in your world. Assume your reader is intelligent and imaginative and can fill in the gaps. They've seen a blue sky before, don't spend five pages on it.


• Culture is part of the world. Think about food sources, language, authority, etc.

Okay there was loads and loads more, but you'll have to attend one of Fiona's amazing workshops to learn it all. I can tell you she has inspired me to take a more professional approach to my writing. Fiona shared with us her schedule for a great balance between writing as a profession, family and life in general. I'm keen to get productive!

And to brush up on my reading I've got The Whisperer on my bookshelf:

Plus I've just ordered Royal Exile, the first in the Valisar trilogy - what amazing cover art!

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5 Benefits of a Writers Workshop

Merimbula, a great place to relax and write.

This weekend we drove down to Merimbula (coastal town popular during whale-watching season). While visiting the in-laws, I also got to take part in a writers workshop run by Writers of the Far South Coast. I met some wonderful writers and am always in awe of how people from such different backgrounds and lifestyles can come together with a common interest and goal.

I know I could spend the time that I travel around participating in workshops actually writing, or doing writing exercises from a book or the web. But I get a lot out of writing workshops.

So why take part in workshops?

1. Learn - This gives me an opportunity to hear from published authors and writers with different experiences from myself. I learn a lot from the speaker and the other participants.


2. Reminder - Even if I've been going through a writing lull, hanging out with other writers reminds me to get back into my WIP.


3. Sharing - It's a good environment to bounce your ideas of other writers and see if they can help you smooth out any wrinkles in your current story.


4. Socialise - You are all passionate about the same thing, writing is a great thing to have in common.


5. Push your boundaries - This is my favourite reason. During a workshop I will take part in exercises I might otherwise shy away from because I think they're too hard or outside my comfort zone. You are pushed to perform when you take part in a workshop. For example, in this workshop we were asked to write a Haiku. I'm not a big fan of writing poetry and even less of writing haikus, so I would never have tried this if I wasn't in the workshop. We were asked to continue from the line 'For deliciousness'. Here's my attempt:

For deliciousness

try pieces of lemonade

sprinkled in the sun

We also did some sensory invoking exercises, worked on characterisation details and setting's mood. I came away with a new scene for my mystery novel The Warracknabeal Kids, as well as a small inspiration that promises to ferment into a new story idea. Best of all, I made some new writerly friends.

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Writing Time

The real life Fossil aka my zombie dog.

This year I made time for my writing. It wasn't easy. Like a lot of other writers who also work and parent, I tried to write in my 'spare' time. Pfft! There's no such thing as spare time. So this year I started making 'writing' time. Spare time is for tidying the house, or watching a flick. This has paid off, I'm getting a lot more accomplished.

I've also been attending a lot more writing workshops and seminars. Last week I was at a science talk for writers and this weekend I'm off to the pretty coastal town of Merrimbula to attend another workshop:

The Psychology of Creative Writing

I started out my Uni years studying psychology, so I'm really looking forward to this topic. Of course I will let you all know how it goes.

This week I also finished my last lot of edits for MY ZOMBIE DOG. Yay! The book is now completely in present tense and I'm really happy with how it flows. My beta readers (all kids between 10 and 13) are all very positive about the story, and ask for more stories like this one. My main character is Zane, and he has his hands full with this crazy zombie plague, but everyone loves his loser mate Kev' the most. I'm now ready to start querying MY ZOMBIE DOG. I already have a pitch session lined up for a conference in a few weeks (shaking a little).

The best part of finishing a project is getting to work on a new one. I'm excited to get back into Warracknabeal Kids and finish off the first draft of this outback murder mystery.

Are you using your writing time, or still trying to find 'spare' time?

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Science in Writing

As part of my endeavour to immerse myself in the culture of writing, I attended a FREE seminar held at CSIRO (initialism for some sciencey department) titled:

Get Your Facts Right: How science can help you write your book.

This was organised by my local writers centre: ACT Writers Centre

The speakers covered topics about weather predictions for 2050. It was great information if you intend to ever include a storm, flood, drought or fire in your story. For instance, did you know that if the Great Barrier Reef was to die off and no longer exist, that storm surges along the coast of Queensland would be much worse?

I also found it interesting to learn that if global warming keeps affecting Australian summers and heats reach low 50 degrees in summer, we could still survive but our lifestyle and culture would change. We'd have to do all outdoor activities at night when it's cooler and try stay still and indoors during the day - good weather for vampires? And that you might first notice the onset of a deadly heatwave by the unusually high death of parrots?

There were also experts in the field of forensic science. One interesting story was about a copper that killed his ex-wife and tried to make it look like suicide. The investigating policeman said he wouldn't have been suspicious at all, until he stepped into the bathroom. The toilet seat was up in a house where a woman lived alone. That little clue might not be evidence, but sparks suspicion and then the police can search for some evidence to convict.

I was surprised to learn that even if the police witness a crime taking place, they still need to gather forensic evidence to convince a jury. And that scientists are working on one day being able to produce a picture of how a suspect would look based on their DNA sample.

Have you joined your writer's centre? They can let you know whenever there are writers events you might find useful.

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Blogfest - HATE

Tessa's Blurb hosted a blogfest on Friday, and although I missed posting on time, I decided to give it a go anyway. The idea was that we would all post a scene with a character showing hate. I hadn't noticed before, but none of my main characters express hate in my stories. I did manage to find a scene in My Zombie Dog, where Zane's mate Kev expresses strong feelings against the girl of Zane's dreams. Here's is Kev's hatefest:

I could get a real dog, a nice Border Collie like Max. Molly and I would have matching dogs, we could spend afternoons together down at the off-leash park. Perfect. Except, it seemed like I was forgetting something…

Then it hit me. Actually he hit me. Kev. He punched me in the arm and said, “Miss Seagull let you out huh? What do ya want to do? Handball?”

“You don’t have a handball.”

“We can confiscate one from the grade 2 kids.”

I gave Kev a look, then looked over at Molly, still sitting alone, head down staring straight at her uneaten sandwich in her lap.

“Um, I think I might go and talk to Molly.” I made it sound like no big deal.

“What? Why would you want to do that?”

I shrugged. No big deal.

“Molly O’Mally? I hate that chick.” Kev narrowed his eyes in her direction and kicked a stone on the asphalt.

“Why? She’s alright. She’s kinda… nice.” I couldn’t meet his gaze. No big deal, no big deal, no…

“Dude, she’s my nemesis.” Kev grabbed me by the shoulders. He could be dramatic at times.

I was sceptical. “Really? You have a nemesis?”

Kev swiped the question away with a hand through the air. “Yeah, haven’t you noticed how we match wits in class all the time?” He crossed his arms and looked back at Molly, like he was weighing her up. “I’ll give her this, she’s a worthy opponent.”

“Um, Molly’s really smart. I mean like genius smart.”

Kev shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right, we’re probably just enemies because we’re too much alike.”

The bell rang and lunch was over, along with my only opportunity to talk to Molly.

Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

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What Blocks Your Writing?

I don't get writers block in the sense of not being able to think of anything to write, but I do manage to block myself from writing by convincing myself there are other tasks that MUST be completed first. My latest? I wanted a new screensaver and just couldn't find the 'right' picture. I've now been working on this for three days. In this time I've gotten NO writing done.

What silly things do you let interrupt your writing? 

Tomorrow WILL be productive. That is my vow. But for now, here's my laptop wallpaper:

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Writer's Dream Diary - Results

Look at that date - 8th August - that means we've come to the end of our Imagination Sparks Blogfest. Well I say Pffffft! to dates. I've read some fantastic writing exercise ideas from the blogs participating (you can visit them too, at the links below. I've been trying them all out this week and gotten some interesting results. Soooo, I've decided to extend the date and blog my results of each exercise I tried separately. If you're taking place, please blog your results too, so we can see how you went.

I'm starting with Milly's post from Paper Dolls. Milly is 13 and blogs reviewing tween and teen fiction with her little sister Tilly (they're also my daughters, so books are pretty major in our house). Both girls like writing and Milly's favourite writing exercise involves recording her dreams.

All writers know you should write down your dreams, and we all mean to... but... sometimes we need reminding. I tried this exercise for three nights with a pad and pen right by my bed, but kept forgetting to actually write things down - I'm pretty dopey first thing in the morning. I'm sure I had amazing dreams those nights.

On the fourth try I finally remembered to write down my dream. I was teaching a very disruptive class of teenagers English in a demountable classroom.

What?

In real life I teach (amongst other topics) English to teenagers in a demountable classroom. Even the kids were the same. I pointed out of Facebook that this dream was a bit of a let down. Who wants to record a dream just like real life? Then I thought more about it. One of the kids was trying to sneak out of the class. Why? There was a visiting carnival to the school and these kids were not allowed to participate. There were rides and shows and a scary looking clown. I kind of think the clown might have been someone evil undercover. 

Ta da! School taken over by evil circus and the only people left to help are the naughtiest kids in the school and the very tired teacher. Or maybe the clown is a pedophile, the kid that escapes class is sneaking around the back of the buildings in time to catch him trying to abduct a child. These kids might be disruptive, but they're brave if nothing else, and they always stick up for each other. There's no way this kid would just walk away.

Did you dream any good plots this week?

And I'm loving this blogfest so much, I've decided to run it again (maybe same time next year?) but next time let it run for a month (although I don't dictate how many times you post about you inspiring exercise).

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How to Get Writing Ideas

This week is dedicated to the Imagination Sparks Blogfest. Writers are sharing their favourite writing exercises on their blogs. It's not too late to join, simply add your name to the list at the bottom of this post. Post on your blog which creative exercise gets your imagination warmed up and visit the other blogs to see what they suggest. Some people are super organised and blogging several exercises, but you can do just one if that's what you prefer (we're pretty easy going here at Wagging Tales).

In my last post I blogged about a great way to get your mind in the zone to write by Tom Evans - check it out, there's a free audio!

On the weekend I attended a writers workshop (I've been sneaking in a lot of them lately) hosted by author Sue Whiting about writing for children. It was a great day, very productive, and I picked up a new writing exercise. Apparently Sue picked this one up from Markus Zusak (The Book Thief).

Here it is:

On a big piece of paper, a whiteboard, or even on your laptops (I used an app from the Mac App Store called SimpleMind) you write, in the top left hand corner your first idea or action for your character. It could be something simple and everyday, like 'doing homework'. If you look at the pic, you'll see the idea I started with was 'Kitty loses her mobile'. Kitty is an 11yr. old mystery solver from my novel DOG SHOW DETECTIVE. I'm looking for ideas for the second book.

The next step is to think of 5 things from that first idea, they can be 5 things that could happen next:

In case you're wondering, Spade is Kitty's Miniature Schnauzer, not some overzealous friend. Great, already you have 5 ideas, but from there, you add to EACH idea, 5 things that could happen next. That gives you 25 new possibilities! Here's a close up of 5 things that could happen after Jessica tries ringing Kitty's number:

Do you know what you do next? Yep, 5 things that could happen next of each of those. Then you spend a couple of minutes looking over your ideas and write for a few minutes whichever ideas you like. My idea from this is that the girls come across a body hidden in the overgrowth by the river.

Got an idea you want to share? Come on, sign on! Or checkout the blogs below for some more imagination sparks.

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