Posts Tagged With: author

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo!

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Ladies and gentlemen, hold onto your hats, because I’m about to drop a bombshell that specializes in blowing hats off people’s heads. And that bombshell, my friends, is that …

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NaNoWriMo starts in two weeks!

Everyone still hatted? Excellent.

I don’t remember much about last year’s NaNo, a fact which leads me to assume that I failed spectacularly at creating the necessary 50k words to achieve ULTIMATE VICTORY!

This year, however, will be different. I came up with a kicka** idea yesterday in the shower, and I’m getting pretty psyched about writing it. It’s going to involve college, superheroes, and (potentially) evil twins. I’m thinking it’s going to end up being some sort of sci-fi thriller mystery combo, which will be fun, as I’ve never attempted such a genre before. It’s also going to be quite dark, which I’ve dabbled with in the past and had quite a lot of fun with, despite it not being my usual cheery style.

The tentative title I’m going with is “The Nemesis Contract”, which I think sounds suitably menacing. There’s a mini-series of comics that share that name, but as far as I know, titles can’t be copyrighted. Is that correct?

So I will officially be participating in NaNo this year. I can’t promise I’ll succeed, or even get past the first few days, but I’ll definitely give it a shot. I’ve gotten woefully behind on my writing these days, and I figure NaNo’s a good way to get back on the literary horse (whom I have named “Diction-neigh-ry”).

All aboard the NaNo train!!! Who’s with me?

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/4LlH8JR

Categories: Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

Attention writers: Free online course “The Future of Storytelling” starts soon!

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Hey everyone! I don’t have much time right now, so I’ll just cut to the chase — I ran across this free online course (https://iversity.org/c/6?r=103aa) called “The Future of Storytelling”, and it looks really great for any and all writers, including yours truly.

It’s 8 weeks long, and the basic format is weekly videos plus lots of opportunity for interaction with other students. They’re going to cover topics like:

  • Storytelling basics
  • Serial formats (on the TV, web and beyond)
  • Storytelling in role-playing games
  • Interactive storytelling in video games
  • Transmedia storytelling
  • Alternate-reality gaming
  • Augmented reality and location-based storytelling
  • The role of tools, interfaces and information architectures in current storytelling

Anyway, it looks pretty darn useful — and fun! — so here’s the link again if you want to check it out:

https://iversity.org/c/6?r=103aa

Oh yes, and in other free news, the talented Misha Burnett will be offering his ebooks for free on Amazon this weekend, so click here to get a sneak preview:

http://mishaburnett.wordpress.com/buy-my-book/

That is all.

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Categories: Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Vlogs on hold while I find my video camera …

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

I’m really annoyed by this. I brought my FlipCam to the Argyle Arts Festival, where I had a booth back in August to sell Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It, and I got a decent bit of footage from said event. I don’t remember if I mentioned the Argyle festival on my blog, but basically it was a medium success. I only sold 3 books, but I did trade one book for another local author’s book, and then I traded another book for some handmade soap and body butter. So not much in terms of sales, but lots in terms of swag!

Anyhoo, I’ve since misplaced my video camera, hence the appalling lack of vlogs. There are few things in life I enjoy more than babbling into a camera (Note: that was a blatant lie), and now I can’t even do that! Horror, thy name is my inability to replace objects from whence they came!

So that’s essentially why there haven’t been any vlogs for a while. Ah well.

On the writing front, still working away at Chasing Nonconformity. I’ve got the timeline worked out properly now, so at least my characters will be in the right places at the right times. Now to just get everything slotted into place.

I’ve also been toying around with a new short story concept, which would be called “The Dusk Bugs”. It would be based off my recent walking trip through the “Banana Kingdom”, a long stretch of pavement in a swampy area that someone has spray painted a bunch of bananas on. I made the mistake of walking through the Banana Kingdom at dusk, and there were … well, not to ruin the ending, but there were a fair amount of bugs. Terror ensued. I think it will make for an underwhelmingly thrilling tale. Stay tuned!

 

Unrelated link of the day:

The Harry Potter-themed series of gifs is titled: “No … no no no, I wasn’t ready for feels today!”

http://imgur.com/gallery/sB9Vj

Categories: Random | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

So I Accidentally Got Elected VP of the London Writer’s Society …

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Big news! Last night I accidentally got elected VP of the London Writer’s Society. Well, not technically “accidentally”, but close enough to count. Here’s what happened …

So my local writer’s society is really great — we go on handgun field trips, have great critique groups, listen to interesting and informed lecturers at our general meetings, etc. etc. The thing is, elections for the exec board are in September every year, and all positions decided to step down this year … leaving all the exec spots open. For some reason no one in the society wants to be an exec, which led to the former VP basically bribing me into becoming VP on the promise that all I have to do is attend general meetings, exec meetings, and sometimes answer emails.

Und hence, I am now the VP! Huzzah!

Of course, immediately after the meeting concluded, a member hurried over to me and started asking about assorted VP-related matters. To which I had to shame-facedly say, “Actually, I have absolutely no idea what’s going on at all yet, so … yeah, sorry.” It was awkward. But she was really nice about my incompetence and congratulated me on my new post, so it all worked out.

I had another brief panic attack when the former treasurer came up to myself and the new treasurer and started talking finances, handed over the PO box keys, etc. My panic attack was due to the fact that I’m staggeringly irresponsible at the best of times, and I just knew I’d lose the keys the second they got into my possession. Luckily the new  treasurer is far more competent than I, and she accepted the keys and the stacks of financial folders with a confident smile. I fully intend to ride her coattails to glory.

So basically I’m hoping that this new VP position will mostly involve me being a figurehead, and then the president and treasurer can be the real power behind the writer’s society. Mine would be a ceremonial position, if you will. I’ll probably get roped into organizing at least a few events, because that’s just what happens when you get involved with something, but hopefully I’ll pull through and said events won’t be a complete disaster.

Well, that’s all that’s new in my life! Anyone got any exciting news to share? Writing-related is great, but I’ll also accept anything involving a new pet, passing a test, getting promoted, going to the supermarket wearing real clothes (i.e. not sweat pants), etc. Share away!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/l32HFPg

Categories: Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 35 Comments

And Thus the Re-Writing Commences!

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

As you may recall from my previous post, I recently got my manuscript for Chasing Nonconformity (sequel to Imminent Danger) back from my beta readers. Huzzah!

Now come the re-writes.

I’m not going to lie — I’m having a lot of trouble with Chasing Nonconformity. Sequels are really hard, and I’ve been struggling with making sure this book has as much “oomph” as the first book. It’s a delicate balancing act — bringing enough elements from the first book to keep the feel of the world and characters the same, while at the same time introducing enough new elements to keep the story and characters changing and evolving.

My first draft, waaaaaay back in 2010, was a lot of fun to write, but there was a distinct lack of plot. The characters mostly just wandered around and did amusing things — as I said, enjoyable to write (and probably to read), but not exactly a “story”. My second draft, which I finished back in the spring of 2013, was much better — the characters actually had motivation for doing stuff! But the stakes still weren’t high enough, which once again made it feel like the characters were just milling about.

Then, a couple of weeks ago — and all credit goes to my brilliant brother Jesse — the solution to my “lack of stakes” problem arrived. I can’t tell you what it is, obviously, but it is both awesome and incredibly amusing (well, amusing to me, at least!), and it has the added bonus of wrapping up a few loose ends from the first book. Woo!

That’s pretty much how my brain works. First I write the story … then I go back and figure out how to make it make sense. Not the most streamlined of processes, but … well, for whatever reason it seems to work for me!

So, for everyone keeping track of my writing progress, Chasing Nonconformity is slowly but surely getting done. Assuming all goes well, this should be the last major re-write. I figure that’ll take me a month or two. So going into December the story should be ready to go out to another round of beta readers … give them two months to read it, since my beta readers are notoriously slow … putting us at the start of February …

Therefore I’m going to tentatively put the release for Chasing Nonconformity somewhere around the Spring 2014 area. I was initially aiming for January, but that’s just not going to happen now. Onwards and upwards, my friends! To victory!

 

Unrelated link of the day:

Are you a 90s kid? Prepare to be blown away by nostalgia:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/things-that-look-just-like-childhood

 

Semi-related image of the day:

Categories: My Works, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

Got my book back from the beta readers!

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

That’s right! As of yesterday afternoon, I’ve officially reacquired Chasing Nonconformity, the sequel to my debut novel Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It, from my beta readers. Huzzah!

Granted, I only actually got it back from two beta readers — specifically, my mother and brother. Three big cheers for them! The rest of my so-called “beta readers” haven’t done a whole lot of reading. But that’s okay! Because I’m going to be doing a lot of re-writing (again), so by the time they remember they’re supposed to be reading the book, I’ll have a new draft for them anyway. Then they can busily not read the new draft while I start on the next one. This plan, my friends, is fool proof. FOOL PROOF!

Ahem. So, onwards and upwards with the re-writing! I’ve got a lovely 200 page manuscript full of red ink sitting beside me just waiting for me to begin my perusal, so that’s exciting. More awesome, however, are the small cartoons I noticed that my mother and brother and slipped into the manuscript every now and again. They’re quite artistic, my family members. Thus without further delay, I present to you:

Drawings from Chasing Nonconformity (Summer 2013 draft)

Artists: Jesse Proulx and Linda Schneidereit

Note: Please don’t ask me to explain these, because … well, because I can’t. Enjoy!

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And that about wraps that up. Now that you’ve seen the drawings, can you imagine the kind of ridiculous comments and suggestions I have to put up with from these people???

Categories: My Works, Writing | Tags: , , , , , | 34 Comments

Book Review: Catskinner’s Book (Misha Burnett)

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Today’s book review features fellow blogger and self-publisher Misha Burnett!

The Bookcastkinners book

Catskinner’s Book

The Genre

Science fiction / urban fantasy

The Author

Misha Burnett

The Plot

James Ozryck has a monster in his head.

All of his life the entity that he calls Catskinner has made him a fugitive, afraid to get too close to anyone, afraid to stay in one place for too long. Catskinner kills, without compassion and without warning, and is very good at it.

Now James has learned that Catskinner is not the only monster in the world, a world that has suddenly become a far stranger and more dangerous place than he imagined. In order to survive, he will have to become something more than a monster — he will have to learn what it means to be human.

The Review

I LOVED this book! It’s short, it’s sweet, it’s violent, it’s sexy, it’s intriguing … A+ all around! The world Burnett’s created is absolutely fascinating, and totally unlike anything I’ve read before — I honestly don’t know where he comes up with this stuff!

The protagonist, James, is enthralling — he’s a curious mix of beleaguered every-man, jailkeeper to a vicious alien entity, lonely man just trying to find his place in the world, and hired hitman. It’s bizarre. It’s wonderful.

I’m trying to think if there’s anything I didn’t like … I think the only thing that threw me was Godiva’s evolution as a character (Godiva being the love interest). When she first shows up, she comes across as extraordinarily vacuous. But by the time you get to the end of the book, she’s brilliant, resourceful, and deviously clever. It made a certain amount of sense, but I would have liked more of a gradual transition or explanation.

I highly recommend Catskinner’s Book. If you’re at all a fan of science fiction — or even urban fantasy! — I suggest you give it a try. It doesn’t fit neatly into one genre box, but … well, read it and you’ll see how great it is!

The Rating

5 out of 5 stars

 

Sound intriguing? Check out Catskinner’s Book here. The sequel — Cannibal Hearts — is also out, so click here to learn more about that!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/wPqa2UB

Categories: Book Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

My Poem: “A Toothbrush’s Tale”

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

I was going through my old file folders yesterday, and I discovered this absolute gem of poetry. It’s rather terrible, quite absurd, and has a moral which is totally incorrect and should definitely never be learned by any child ever. Cringe and enjoy!

A Toothbrush’s Tale

***

Fred the toothbrush was a sorry sight,

For his toothbrush friends knew not his sad plight.

This young little toothbrush was unhappy, you see,

His plastic casing oppressed him; he sought to be free!

***

“But Fred,” his mother said, “That’s quite absurd,”

“All toothbrushes are plastic, haven’t you heard?

I love you, my son, but to be quite frank,

Your mental skills I couldn’t take to the bank.”

***

Disheartened and miserable, Fred looked away,

And resolved to leave town the very next day.

Away from Toothbrushia little Fred would fly,

For hope gave him wings, much like a pie.

***

Far past the Cheesecake Mountains he flew,

Dodging the cavities, root canals, and goo,

Then to Toffee Lake, that abominable mess,

Delight of little children, but alas, I digress.

***

Finally came our hero to a castle on the sand,

Where, waving from the window, was a tiny old man.

“Come, little toothbrush, I can help you!”

Cried the old man, sitting on the loo.

***

Eagerly young Fred alighted at his side,

“I hate being plastic,” the poor toothbrush cried.

“Don’t worry!” the man said, “That form’s such a joke!

Soon you’ll metamorphize into an oak!”

***

“An oak?” Fred stammered. “But what can that be?”

“Why, you silly toothbrush, an oak is a tree!”

“But I don’t want to be wooden,” the toothbrush said.

“Don’t worry,” the man chuckled, “it’s like being dead.”

***

Terrified, poor Fred ran for the door,

But the old man pinned him via two-by-four.

“Abracadabra!” he cackled with glee.

And just like that, Fred turned into a tree.

***

The good folks of Toothbrushia soon forget Fred had left,

They cried for a while, but they weren’t very bereft.

So you see, little children, the point of this story,

Don’t complain, and don’t whine, or you’ll be sorry.

***

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/ujrztwP

Categories: Random, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Book Review: The Stone Kingdom (Danielle E. Shipley)

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

As you may recall from a previous post, I recently had the good fortune to read Miss Danielle E. Shipley’s new fairy tale novella, The Stone Kingdom (Book Two of the Wilderhark Tales). It is now time for the review!

The Novella Stone Kingdom Cover, front

The Stone Kingdom (Book Two of the Wilderhark Tales)

The Genre

Fairy tale / Fantasy

The Author

Danielle E. Shipley

The Plot

One thoughtless act is all it takes to bring the curse threatened on Rosalba’s christening day to pass. Now the princess must combine her desperate determination with the service of benevolent tailor Edgwyn Wyle to find the second half of the key to her kingdom’s restoration.

The Review

This was a short, sweet, and delightful novella. The heroine, Rosalba, is everything a princess should be — kind, beautiful, caring, and rather feisty on top of that. She falls into the classic fairy tale trap of doing something she really shouldn’t, and the kingdom pays the price for her mistake. Luckily, help arrives in the form of the chubby but helpful tailor Edgwyn — an endearing young man who is probably my favourite character in the story. He’s everything you want in a fairy tale prince, minus the rock-hard abs and … well, being a prince. But he’s kind, and generous, and their love story was so fun to watch unfold.

As this was the second novella in the series, and I hadn’t read the first, I was expecting to be hopelessly confused, but that wasn’t the case at all — this novella stands on its own as a separate story. I could tell from the way certain parts were written, and the inclusion of a couple of chapters that struck me as being rather irrelevant to the story, that these were put in to tie this novella into the existing series and please fans of characters from the first novella. As a new reader, I found that a bit irksome, but hey, I can hardly fault a book in a series for being part of a series!

Aside from that, I found this novella to be a charming and excellent read. Shipley is obvious well-read in fairy tale lore, because she draws a lot on common fairy tale tropes (evil fairy curse, princess trapped in tower, etc.), but she puts her own spin on them, which makes for a really enjoyable read. I would definitely recommend this story to any fairy tale fans out there!

The Rating

Five out of five stars!

Check out The Stone Kingdom here!

Categories: Book Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

I need your advice RE: self-publishing a short story

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Greetings fellow blogotrons! In today’s post, I desperately need your advice. Intrigued yet? Read on!

As I mentioned in a recent post, my short story The Coin Collector (formerly The Numismatist) has failed to win a place in the Sword & Laser Anthology competition. Tragedy strikes again! Anyhoo, at the suggestion of the lovely Keri Peardon, I have decided to self-publish my short story on Smashwords. Huzzah!

First of all, I’m going to offer the short story for free — as a kind of sampler of my work, in the hopes that people will download the story on a whim, enjoy my writing style, and then seek out other works by me. This process will of course be aided by whatever I stick into the ebook at the end of the story — so, something along the lines of:

Enjoyed the story? Want to read more by Michelle? Check out her debut sci-fi/romance novel, Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It! 

Visit https://michelleproulx.com/ for details.

Or something to that effect. That’s what I was going to go with, anyway. Then the lovely Keri Peardon struck again, suggesting that I include an excerpt of Imminent Danger at the end of the short story. Her theory is that as long as I indicate the length of the short story in the ebook description, no one will be upset by a free preview at the end. I’m a bit worried, though, that people won’t read the description, and will just see “4000 words length” and get upset when the story ends about 2000 words before they thought it was going to. Then again, it’ll be a free download, so they really can’t complain, right?

Hmmm … what do you guys think about this? Let me know in the comments, or clicky clicky the poll:

 

I’ve also got a possible cover design I’ve been messing around with, which I will now share:

 

the coin collector cover 1

What do you guys think? I’m pretty pleased with it. The treasure chest image is from here: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/178312. It’s royalty free (woo!), but I will of course be crediting the photographer (“chancey”) in the front matter of the ebook.

 

SO! Please let me know your thoughts on:

A) Whether or not I should include an excerpt from Imminent Danger at the end of the short story

B) What you think of the cover design

Thanks oodles! Have a fab Tuesday!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Categories: My Works, Self Publishing, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 49 Comments

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