Long time not seen!
I’m finishing up the book #1, and I’m trying to postpone all other things that come my way, including this blog, sorry.
But, I need to give it something to eat, otherwise next time I come back, I’ll see only bones.
Being engrossed in writing up my story, every now and then I need to do something else, just to give my brain a breather. So today, I read the part of the book I had started some months ago, but then stopped to finish up book #1. Continue reading “Someone else”
Part of my whole book writing project was to set up a webpage. This means first of all designing the webpage and secondly, implementing or programming the design in html browser code.
What I want to focus on in this post is the design part. I got the tip from a friend of mine whose company’s logo was designed by 99designs.com and I used the same web platform for my webpage design.
Using 99designs.com feels like walking into a hall with more than 100 designers ready to listen to your design request and transform it into art.
Here’s how it works: Continue reading “Where to get a webpage design?”
There is a blog of an indie author, Cristian Mihai, which I really like to follow.
In a recent blog entry he wrote about famous artists. Not artists that became rich from their art, but artists who moved people by writing books, making paintings or music pieces. The artists whose work stay with the audience for a long time after they die.
The classics. Continue reading “Suffering and pain: The cornerstone of art”
I need to again praise the J.A. Konrath “Guide to publishing”. He gives really valuable advice and I wished I had read it before I started writing my first book. (Mind you, I started writing before he actually published his “Guide”).
One of the things he advises is to write a story line for your sequel-book: just a few sentences that describe what happens in each chapter.
This is something publishers/literary agents want to have when a writer promises a sequel. Before any contract is made, they need to make sure you (as a writer) know what will happen in your book No. 2, or 3, or 7 (if that’s how far you’re going). Continue reading “Before you start writing your book, write a story line first”
A good friend of mine recommended a book. “It’s a love story, you have to read it!“
Being such a sucker for love stories, by all means, I had to.
Now, I’m not going to tell you which book this is, because I’m going to reveal a few things, which most people would define as spoilers. So if you plan to read it at any point in time, you’d better not know.
It’s a story about a woman and a man, who should be together, but because of stupidity and miscommunication, they aren’t. Continue reading “Happy end vs. real end”
Ken Follett, I found out recently, has 30 people to do the research for him: historical facts, architectural facts etc. I am also aware that when he wrote his first book, he didn’t have that. He had to do the whole research himself.
Like me, and every other indie author.
I follow a blog which you might also find interesting, so here’s the link. This particular entry was about something called the Bechdel test. This was the first time I had heard of it and what it is about.
In short, this is a test about gender bias in fiction (books or movies). It’s a very simple test to perform. There are three questions that need to be answered:
It’s Friday night. I’m in my bed, tired. Must be close to midnight. Eyes closed. I want to sleep.
In my mind there is a scene running. It goes on and on. I think: “Fine, I’ll remember it. Now let me sleep! “
It still goes on, and on, and on.
Ahgrrr!
I’m reading “The Newbies Guide to Publishing” by Joe Konrath. Really good stuff! For new writers, but also for anyone else who wants to know what happens behind the scenes. Have a look at it, it’s worth it!
What I would like to talk about here is: editing. I’m not doing much of it yet, but it’s something that every writer should do, again and again. The first draft is NEVER good enough for publishing (despite some egotistic opinions of young writers, such as myself :-p).
Continue reading “Editing: Cutting the creation, for a good reason”
My characters need to be believable. That means I need to know what they are about, what are they going through, what have they experienced, what are their wishes, needs and expectations. To bigger or lesser extent I need to know them.
So – the question then is – how do I write about a villain?
