Posts Tagged With: writing

Give the gift of reading this Christmas …

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

… by buying a copy of my debut novel, Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It!

That’s right, folks, it’s shameless self-promotion time! For all my lovely readers who haven’t yet read my book, why not give it a shot this Christmas? Or if you have read it and loved it, how about grabbing up a copy for your friends, daughters, sons, nieces, nephews, alpacas, rutabagas … whomever in your life you think might enjoy a little science fiction fun!

Click the gigantic book cover in the sidebar to get links to all the various online retailers that carry the book. Or just click here to go straight to Amazon.com.

Now, sadly I can’t actually offer any discounts, because iUniverse controls the pricing, not me. I know, I know, I’m working on it! In the meantime, while I can’t offer a price drop on book, I can offer a signed copy (sort of) if you buy a softcover or hardcover. Basically, I’m using this newfangled contraption called a “bookplate” (also known as a “sticker”). The idea here is that you buy the book, you send me an email letting me know you want a signed bookplate (along with your mailing address), and then I send you a bookplate free of charge, along with some Imminent Danger swag (bookmarks, stickers, personal thank you note for supporting me, etc.) Here’s a picture of a hastily done up bookplate that I totally didn’t just make five seconds ago:

bookplate

I promise I’ll get a better gold marker so it isn’t all fuzzy looking. And if you want me to address the bookplate to a certain individual, or write a custom message or whatever, just let me know.

Anyway, that’s my shameless self-promotion for the Christmas season! If you’ve got a spare minute, please consider spreading the word about this whole “bookplate” thing … or just about my book and how awesome it is in general. And if you already bought a copy and want a bookplate, shoot a message/email my way and I’ll hook you up!

Unrelated media of the day:

As always, I can’t remember if I’ve already shared this or not, but either way, enjoy!

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/7FNBr

Categories: My Works, Self Publishing, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Be careful how you advertise your book …

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

I was browsing the “Once Upon a Time” sub-reddit yesterday, and …

Okay, I should probably explain that, because I know a lot of people have no idea what the heck I’m talking about. Reddit is a website where people post pictures, links, and comments about things they find interesting, funny, disgusting, whatever. There are thousands of “sub-reddits”, which are devoted to specific subjects. In my case, I was on the “Once Upon a Time” sub-reddit, where fans of the ABC network’s “Once Upon a Time” tv show post theories, fan videos, etc.

Right! Anyway, this leads into today’s topic, which is be careful how you advertise your book. Here’s what happened: a self-published author went onto this sub-reddit, thinking it was about fairy tales in general (i.e., she didn’t do her research), and posted a link to her book. This is obviously a silly thing to do, as the sub-reddit is for fans of a television show, and is definitely not a place to post what is essentially an ad for your book.

Most of the sub-reddit commenters ignored the post entirely. One did not, and took the time to explain to the author what she had done wrong. What followed was a very interesting conversation, which I think the author handled very poorly. She comes off as kind of haughty at the start, then gets snippy, and also kind of passive-aggressively implies the person she’s talking to is over-sensitive and a bit of an idiot.

Here’s a screencap of the convo (click to enlarge):

(Note: “/r/trees” refers to a sub-reddit about drugs, not trees)

subreddit

So what can we take away from this?

1. Don’t advertise on a website if you don’t know the purpose of the website.

2. If you put your advertisement somewhere it doesn’t belong, just take it down. Don’t get into an argument with the person who points out what you did wrong!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

 

 

Categories: Self Publishing, Writing | Tags: , , , , , | 31 Comments

What’s your opinion on ambiguous endings?

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

I, personally, get annoyed by ambiguous endings. I like my stories very clear cut — if I invest multiple hours of my time getting to know and care about characters, I want to know definitively what happens to them.

This has put me at odds with several of my friends, especially when we go see movies. For both Inception and Life of Pi, my friends walked out of the theater going “Wow! Amazing movie! I can’t believe that ending! What do you think really happened? Was it real? Was it a dream? Wow!” Apparently they really like to say “wow”. Anyway, then they turned to me and asked me how I liked it, and I had to truthfully respond “Meh”, because of my aforementioned fondness for clear cut endings. They then proceeded to sacrifice me to Enigmaticus, the god of ambiguous endings, but I may or may not have actually died because the ending to this story is left deliberately vague and you’ll never know if it was real or made up!

See how annoying it is? GAH.

Anyhoo, all that being said, I’ve recently been plotting out my NaNoWriMo book, and when I got to the end, I realized that there were two ways the story could end. Two extremely different ways. Both are totally viable options, and both would leave some really cool ideas and questions in the reader’s mind. But I’m having trouble deciding which one to go with. So I thought “Screw the rules, maybe I should just cut the story off right before he makes the choice and let the reader decide what happens!”

Of course, I immediately felt very guilty about this thought, because, again, ambiguous endings = evil incarnate (at least in my mind). But the more I think about it, the more I like it. And the more I hate it.

So I guess I’ll pose it to you lovely people — ambiguous endings: good or bad?

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Categories: Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , | 71 Comments

Guest Post: Back to Creative Writing School (Bridget Whelan)

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Today we welcome fellow author Bridget Whelan to tell us about her new creative writing how-to book! Take it away, Bridget!

Following Michelle’s excellent example of shameless self-promotion, I jumped at her invitation to guest post about my new ebook BACK TO CREATIVE WRITING SCHOOL and how you can get hold of a free copy.

back-to-creative-writing-schoolWhat’s it about?

It’s about finding ideas and developing them through a programme of 30 practical writing exercises that range from magic for grown ups to humour and horror writing. It’s about playing around with language and injecting a little rhythm into prose. There are lucky dip exercises that fling strange ideas together and formulas for creating characters that will walk off the page and start throwing their weight around. There are story prompts and poetry exercises for writers who do not want to write a poem, alongside exercises that will help you to start a memoir or look more closely at the world you live in.

All the exercises in the book have been tried and tested on real students. I’ve selected the most popular ones that offer an interesting challenge and have the potential to push you in new directions. And the ones that are fun. Writing is hard work: it doesn’t have to be punishment.

I’ve developed these ideas over nine years while I’ve been teaching creative non fiction at university, fiction in adult education and worked as Writer in Residence at a community centre serving the unwaged and low waged. In that period I’ve had one novel published by a mainstream publishing house and won $US4000 in an international short story competition, but no writer knows all the answers. Every time I am in a classroom I learn something new about creative writing. Every time I pick up a pen. Or read a book that grabs my imagination.

However, fair warning, this book will not tell you how to:

Bridget facebook 1 (2)

Bridget Whelan (author)

  • write a bestseller next weekend
  • win competitions
  • become rich and famous as a novelist.

Nor is it a guide to finding an agent or selling a short story. There are other books – good books – that can help with all that (except about being rich and famous, never trust a how-to book on that subject) but BACK TO CREATIVE WRITING SCHOOL is about creating the material that could become a prizewinning short story or the novel you’ve always wanted to write.

And for 24 hours it is free.

Download it from midnight Sunday December 1st (tonight!) to midnight Monday December 2nd (Pacific time) from your most convenient Amazon.

 

Amazon.ca

http://www.amazon.ca/Creative-Writing-School-Bridget-Whelan-ebook/dp/B00GJN576E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385418878&sr=8-1&keywords=Bridget+Whelan

Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GJN576E

Amazon.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Writing-School-Bridget-Whelan-ebook/dp/B00GJN576E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385399583&sr=8-1&keywords=bridget+whelan

 

And come over and say hello on facebook. I’d love to see you! https://www.facebook.com/creativewritingschool

 

Unrelated link of the day:

The tone matrix! Make beautiful music with no musical experience whatsoever!

http://tonematrix.audiotool.com/

Categories: Guest Post | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Barnes & Noble Black Friday 30% Off!

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Hi all! The lovely Tania L Ramos brought to my attention via her Facebook page that today is Black Friday, and that Barnes & Noble is offering 30% off your purchase when you use the promo code “BFRIDAY30”.

So if you’ve always dreamed of purchasing my debut novel Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It but thought to yourself, “Alas! If only it were 30% off, it would be in my budget! But as it is full price, I shall sadly have to pass up on reading this most glorious book!” … you’re in luck! Today’s the day!

Click here to buy Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It from Barnes & Noble!

And don’t forget to use the promo code: BFRIDAY30!

Happy Friday, everyone! And thanks in advance to whoever decides to take me up on this fabulous offer that I totally didn’t just found out about like 5 minutes ago. Hehehe.

Unrelated media of the day:

Categories: My Works | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What should I call my book series?

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

As work on the sequel to Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It proceeds at a glacial pace, my thoughts turn to the series as a whole and what it should be called. Considering that the first two things that draw me to a book are 1) the cover, and 2) the name, I want to make sure the series name is just as catchy as the book names themselves.

So to recap you, the two books currently in the series are Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It (published) and Chasing Nonconformity (not yet published). The genre is young adult space adventure / romance / humor. And now I need a series name.

The obvious choice is to base the name off of “Imminent Danger”, since that’s the first book in the series. But that could look a bit silly. Imagining browsing through Amazon and coming across this name:

Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It (Imminent Danger, #1)

Seems a bit redundant. Then again, that sort of thing happens to Twilight, Divergent, The Hunger Games … lots of popular series. Hmmm …

Time to draw inspiration from popular book series! Let’s see which popular YA series have “series names” that differ from the name of the first book in the series …

  • The Mortal Instruments (first book = City of Bones)
  • Caster Chronicles (first book = Beautiful Creatures)
  • The Infernal Devices (first book = Clockwork Angel)
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians (first book = The Lightning Thief)
  • House of Night (first book = Marked)
  • Lunar Chronicles (first book = Lunar)
  • Gemma Doyle (first book = A Great and Terrible Beauty)

Time to analyze! Weeeeeeeeeee …

So it seems like most YA series go with whatever the name of the first book is. Probably makes life easier. The series that don’t do that seem to draw their names from either the protagonist, important items in the story, or … well, whatever the heck “House of Night” means. The word “Chronicles” also seems popular.

Either I go with something slightly dull, like The Imminent Danger Series, or I spice it up and capture the essence of the book with something a bit more vague, like The Lamri Chronicles or The Reluctant Xenophile Saga or Abducted! (I quite enjoy the gratuitous exclamation mark in the last one).

Hmm … what do you guys think? What’s a good series name for my fledgling YA space adventure / romance / humor series? All suggestions welcome, no matter how silly!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

I may have already shared this last Christmas, but whatever. It’s a lovely Christmas medley shot in a very cool way, so listen/watch and enjoy!

Categories: My Works, Self Publishing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 46 Comments

Cover Reveal! Legends of Windemere: Allure of the Gypsies (Charles Yallowitz)

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Happy Monday, everyone! I’m psyched to announce that I’m taking part in fellow blogger Charles Yallowitz‘s cover reveal for his new book Legends of Windemere: Allure of the Gypsies.

Without further ado … the cover reveal!

Allure Final Cover (2)Isn’t it gorgeous? It was created by talented artist Jason Pedersen — click his name to check out his website!

And now, since you’re probably wondering what the heck the book is actually about, here’s the blurb:

The epic adventures of Luke Callindor and Nyx continue after their journey down the L’Dandrin River in Legends of Windemere: Prodigy of Rainbow Tower.

Reeling from his failures in their previous adventure, Luke leads his surviving friends to his hometown.  With his mind frayed and his confidence fractured, Luke must face the family and fiancée he left behind.  It is a brief homecoming when the vampire Kalam attacks the village, forcing Luke and Nyx to break into his lair for the key to resurrecting a fallen warrior.  It is a quest that will force both young heroes to reach new heights of strength and power that they never knew they had.

Can Luke and Nyx escape the lair of Kalam?  And, what role will the orphaned gypsy Sari play in their looming destiny?

The book will be released on December 1st, 2013 — so mark it in your calendars!

Also, this is the third book in the Legends of Windemere series. If you want to check out the first two books, here are some links:

Book 1 — Beginning of a Hero:  http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Hero-Legends-Windemere-ebook/dp/B00BL9GBU2/

Book 2 — Prodigy of Rainbow Tower:  http://www.amazon.com/Prodigy-Rainbow-Legends-Windemere-ebook/dp/B00E8WUD5S/

Aaaand to round out the cover reveal, here’s some info on the author himself, Charles Yallowitz!

Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under orders to shut up and get to work, Charles brings you Legends of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you and his wife is happy he finally has someone else to play with.

Check out his blog to learn more about his books!

I think that covers it! Best of luck to Mister Yallowitz and his new book!

 

Categories: Self Publishing, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Wisdoms from my writers society meeting …

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

I just got back from my monthly London Writers Society meeting, and there were a lot of interesting thoughts and opinions floating around tonight, so I thought I’d share some of them. Now, I don’t necessarily agree with some of these — in fact, several of them I think are totally wrong — but I figured I’d share the full spectrum, and then you guys can take or leave whatever you want!

In no particular order … wisdoms from my writers society meeting:

  • Great writers should aim to write 1,000 words a day
  • Great writers should treat writing like a full time job, and work at least seven hours a day, six days a week
  • It’s more effective to write for a set period of time than write toward a specific word count goal
  • Great writers should “blueprint” their books before they ever set fingers to keyboard
  • Great writers should write first, and research later
  • Great writers should research first, and write second
  • Great writers should write only what they know

Lots of interesting ideas presented … and I’m not sure where I stand on a lot of them. I definitely disagree with the “write first, research later” mantra. What if I’ve decided to write a story about 18th century pirates in the South Pacific? I don’t know anything about 18th century pirates. I don’t know anything about the South Pacific. I don’t even know if there were 18th century South Pacific pirates. For all I know, the 18th century South Pacific seas were ruled by a cabal of hyper-intelligent octopoids. I’ll never know unless I research!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Speaking of not knowing what the heck you’re talking about …

Source: http://distractify.com/fun/fails/the-x-worst-asian-sign-translations-of-all-time/

Categories: Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

Attack of the Were-Panda

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

I was going through my “Short Stories” folder on my hard drive and came across this beautiful little snippet of prose. It’s in the style of a newspaper clipping, and amuses me far more than it should. Read and enjoy!

TORONTO—In what the police are terming a “methamphetamine-induced psychotic break”, local gas station attendant Barry Yates terrorized Anime North convention-goers last night when he dressed up in a panda suit and ran around knocking over merchandise and screaming, “Flee, puny mortals! I am the were-panda!” There were no serious injuries, but several agitated parties have already filed lawsuits against Yates for aggravated assault, battery, and destruction of property.

Yates’s delusion of being a “were-panda” is likely a bastardization of the lycanthrope myth, in which a human transforms into a wolf during the full moon – known colloquially as a “were-wolf”. The reason behind Yates’s choice of panda over wolf has yet to be determined, although a police officer at the scene was overheard saying, “We think he chose panda over wolf because he just so happened to be near a panda suit when he flipped all the f***ing way out of his God damn mind.”

Yates’s life partner, a Japanese body pillow named Mitsuke, could not be reached for comment.

 

Unrelated media of the day:

John Smith and Kocoum as college students …

Source: http://hyung86.deviantart.com/art/Disney-University-John-Kocoum-398933403?q=gallery%3AHyung86&qo=0

Check out more Disney college students here: http://hyung86.deviantart.com/gallery/40579650

Categories: Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Who needs a muse when you have dreams?

Posted on November 16, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

I had the coolest experience this morning, and I really wanted to share it with you!

So like many creative types, I have really vivid dreams. Most of the time they’re erratic and fun, but not much use otherwise. You know, I’ll be running through a laser tag arena inside a closed shopping mall, trying to chase down a squad of Death Eaters and their pet panthers so I can stop them from reaching the grand library and aligning the twelve planets to attain ultimate cosmic power.

That sort of thing.

This morning, I had a dream about a boarding school in northern Ontario where a select group of students were learning magic instead of whatever subject they were supposed to be learning. It was pretty cool, as I’m a big fan of the whole “magic school” plot. Then I woke up, lay in bed grinning at the awesome dream for a few minutes, and then suddenly had a brainwave about a novel I’ve been struggling with. Eureka!

Apart from containing a school which technically teaches magic, but not really, because they’re mostly preparing themselves to fight giant elemental monsters, the dream had very little to do with my novel. But something about the dream triggered a spark in my brain, and led me to the solution I’ve been otherwise unable to come up with on my own.

Three big cheers for dreams and imagination! Hip hip, hurray!

 

NaNoWriMo update:

Yeah … it’s going pretty miserably, not going to lie. I’m at something like 4.5k words. It’s bad. On the plus side, I have made some strides in figuring out how the story will progress, so even if I only break 10k by the end of the month, at least I’ll have a solid foundation to work from in the future!

How’s everyone else’s NaNo dreams going?

 

Unrelated media of the day:

This comic (by illustrator “Strangely Katie”) is fairly long, but it’s a really cute story, so I suggest you read it all the way through! Click here to view the artist’s website.

Categories: Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

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