YAY!!!
Saturday, April 14, 2018
Monday, April 9, 2018
Book Illustrator FAQ: Where do I start?
Q: My mother has been a professional artist for over 40
years and has recently put together a wonderful portfolio of children's book
illustration examples. Her forte is definitely in the area of illustration so
she would like to somehow team with a writer to put together a book. She has
sent her portfolio to a number of publishers, but has yet to be connected with
a writer and ultimately published. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
A: I'm an author. I only restate the obvious to warn you
about the questionable value of advice from an author to an aspiring
illustrator. That being said, here are some thoughts.
It's good that your Mom has put together a portfolio
because, as she has discovered, you must have one to get work. Obviously, a portfolio filled with picture book appropriate art samples would be better to have for this purpose than one of poster art or portraiture. I have heard of writers and illustrators
teaming up "on spec," but this seems to be the exception to the rule -- usually husband
and wife teams, old friends, etc. Side note: When I first started writing books, I was concerned
that I was going to have to find my own illustrator. But a little research
quickly revealed that publishers actually prefer it if authors don't come in
with their own artwork (unless the illustrations are exceptionally good). Part
of the satisfaction that an editor or publisher gets from their job is in the
pairing up of the right illustrator with the right author.
So, all that being said, here are some thoughts on getting work as a children's book illustrator...
Your Mom could write and illustrate her own book.
Author/Illustrators are a well-respected double threat in the kid's book trade
(and get to keep ALL of the money!). If she's not crazy about writing an
original story, she might want to think about "re-telling" a classic
fairy tale or obscure folk story -- something in the public domain.
Another approach would be for her to keep slugging away and
submitting her portfolio to the various publishing houses.
Try visiting the FAQs on the Children's Book Council website. They're the trade organization for all the children's book
publishers and they provide a great deal of helpful info. Anyway, they're great place to start. The rest of the
site has a lot of useful info, too.
I'd also recommend the most recent edition of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books". It really helped
me out on the author side of things with practical "how to" tips and
I've read that the latest edition provides a lot of useful info for
illustrators, too.
Tell your Mom "good luck" from me!
**
If you have a question about writing books, send it to me via the CONTACT tab or leave them in the comments. Thanks!
Monday, April 2, 2018
Blog Tour: Wild Fire by Scott Bury
Happy to be a stop on the blog tour of Scott Bury's, Wild Fire. Check out the excerpt, links, and other important info for Scott's brand new mystery thriller! -RE
about this
business, Mr. DaSilva.”
**
Wildfire: Charlie the terrier
Tara felt panic tightening her chest.
She leaned forward, hand on the desk. “I do know something
“Please, call me Alan.”
“I know you’ve won a number of awards
over the years. Gold medals, prix d’honneur, more. Yours is one of the smaller
wineries in the Sonoma Valley with one of the best reputations. And from what
I’ve read, there are several competitors who are jealous of the piece of land
you have for the grapevines. They say it’s the most ideal location for a
terroir in California—with the best soil, best drainage, the perfect situation
to the sun.”
Alan was nodding, a smile playing at
the corners of his mouth. He twirled the pencil again. “Do go on.”
Tara swallowed. “But apparently,
you’ve been struggling to keep up with demand for your product. There have been
some accidents in the ... oh, I forget the technical term ...” Damn it, Tara, pull yourself together. This
is no time for memory lapses. “In the production area. Damage to some of
your larger tanks and bottling lines. They set you back and cost you a lot of
money.”
Alan continued to nod, but he no
longer smiled. “That’s true. We had a string of unexplained accidents last
year.”
Oh,
no, now he’s not happy anymore. Way to blow the first job interview you’ve had
in California, Tara.
Bring
it back to the positive. “But you’ve also had some good news
in the past two years. Your restaurant got a Michelin star, and nothing but
great ratings in all the reviews.”
A faint smile touched Alan’s mouth
again. “That’s right. The restaurant has done—is doing—very well. Making money.
That’s mostly due to my wife. She found our new chef, and managed to convince
him to come way out here to work. And she managed to get some big-name
restaurant reviewers to make the drive up from San Francisco, too.” He looked
out the window, too, and the smile vanished. “I still don’t really know how she
managed to do that.” He took a deep breath and turned his hazel eyes to Tara
again. “All right, your résumé proves you’re smart and ambitious, and Sophia
said you were a hard worker. What did you do for her?”
Tara shrugged. “Nothing much. We just
sort of met by accident. I needed a place to stay. She needed some help around
the house and the diner she owns. I helped her and stayed in her guest bedroom
for a few days. I said I was looking for some steadier work, and she mentioned
you.”
“So, you’ve worked in Sophia’s
restaurant?”
“Yes, just helping with some of the
food prep.”
“Did you study food service?”
“No, but I worked in a restaurant in
the summers between college terms. I love to cook.” Talk yourself up, Tara. “And I’m good at it. Very good.”
DaSilva nodded. “Anything else I
should know about you?”
“I have a black belt in karate. I got
that when I was in high school.”
“Wow. A dangerous woman. Remind me
never to get into a fight with you. I don’t know whether we can use you in the
winery, but we do need some help in the kitchen.”
The dog came to her and pressed its
nose between Tara’s knees. “Charlie, down,” Alan said. The dog looked at Alan
and whined. Alan pointed at the floor where the dog had been sleeping.
“Charlie,” he repeated.
The dog whined again but sat down
where it had been, its eyes fixed on Tara.
“What kind of dog is Charlie?” Tara
asked.
“A terrier mix.” Alan leaned over and
patted its head, and the tail swished back and forth across the floor. “Not the
smartest dog in the world, but he does know good people. Everyone who works
here has had to pass the Charlie test.”
“What’s the Charlie test?”
“Charlie has to make friends with you.
Well, one person isn’t Charlie’s friend. But … never mind.” Alan sat back in
his chair and fixed an intent look on Tara’s eyes. “We’ve had a lot of turnover
in the last few months. Chef Donald is great, but he’s not exactly the easiest
guy in the world to work for. If you’ve got a thick skin, I can put you to work
in the kitchen. The pay’s not great, but it’s steady, and it comes with room
and board. You can start tonight, if that works for you.”
“Tonight?”
Alan smiled again and stood up. “Like
I said, Chef’s not easy to work for. We had a line cook quit last night.” He
reached a hand across the desk and Charlie got up again, his tail wagging fast.
“So, you ready to work?”
Tara looked into Alan’s hazel eyes.
She noticed the very middle of the iris, a narrow rim around the deep black
pupil, was like a ring of green fire.
Wildfire
Wildfires swept across California wine country in
2017, destroying thousands of homes and businesses, and killing dozens of
people. Law school grad and single mother Tara Rezeck finds herself in the
middle of the catastrophe. When she returns to her job at the most
award-winning vineyard in Sonoma County, she finds her employer’s body in the
ashes.
The question that challenges her brains and her
legal training is: was it an accident? Or was his body burned to hide evidence
of murder?
Now available for pre-order on on Amazon (for Kindle e-readers) and Smashwords (for Kobo, Nook and other e-readers).
About the author
After a 30-year career as a journalist and editor,
Scott Bury turned to writing fiction with a children’s story, Sam, the Strawb
Part, and a story that bridged the genres of paranormal occult fiction and
espionage thriller: Dark Clouds. Since then, he has published 12 novels and
novellas without regard to staying in any one genre.
In 2012, he published his first novel, the
historical magic realism bestseller The
Bones of the Earth. His next book, One
Shade of Red, was a satire of a bestseller with a similar title.
From 2014 to 2017, he published the Eastern Front
Trilogy, the true story of a Canadian drafted into the Soviet Red Army in 1941,
and how he survived the Second World War: Army
of Worn Soles, Under the Nazi Heel
and Walking Out of War.
Scott was invited to write for three Kindle Worlds,
where authors base novellas on the fictional worlds of bestselling series. For
Toby Neal’s Lei Crime Kindle World, he wrote Torn Roots, Palm Trees & Snowflakes, Dead Man Lying and Echoes.
For Russell Blake’s Jet Kindle World, he
contributed Jet: Stealth, featuring
the explosive duo of Van and LeBrun.
And for Emily Kimelman’s Sydney Rye Kindle World,
he brought Van and LeBrun back for The
Wife Line and The Three-Way.
Now, he is beginning a new mystery series with Wildfire, featuring the smart and
passionate Tara Rezeck. Wildfire is currently available for pre-order on Amazon (for Kindle e-readers) and Smashwords (for Kobo, Nook and other e-readers).
Sunday, April 1, 2018
GHOST STAR: Special Discount for the Month of April
Starting today, Ghost Star takes its place on Amazon's MONTHLY DEALS page. That means the book, normally priced at $2.99, will be on sale at $0.99 for the entire month of April. Yay!
Pick up your own Kindle copy, or, if you already own it, share the news with your sci-fi adventure, bargain-loving pals.
You can shop the promotion by going HERE. Just type Ghost Star Adventures in the search bar.
Please spread the word and thank you for your support!
Pick up your own Kindle copy, or, if you already own it, share the news with your sci-fi adventure, bargain-loving pals.
You can shop the promotion by going HERE. Just type Ghost Star Adventures in the search bar.
Please spread the word and thank you for your support!
Thursday, March 29, 2018
R.I.P. Animation Great Fred Crippen
The folks at Animation Insider (definitely follow them if you haven't already) report that noted animation director/producer Fred Crippen recently passed away at age 90. Mr. Crippen contributed mightily to the cartoon biz with quirky commercials, spots on Sesame Street, and more. His most well-known addition to the corpus of American TV animation was the off-the-wall 1965 series, Roger Ramjet.
As mentioned on Wikipedia, "the show was known for its crude animation, frenetic pace, and frequent references to popular culture, which allowed the show to entertain various age groups."
Kids of that time loved it.
The series featured Ramjet as the adult leader of the American Eagle Squadron, a group of four kids who also happened to be expert jet pilots. Each episode, the squadron was tasked with saving the world in "around 5 minutes and 20 seconds."
Many thanks, Fred Crippen!
**
Here's a sample episode of Roger Ramjet entitled "Comics" wherein our heroes battle alien robots who hope to conquer a weakened Earth with (really really bad, boy it's bad) "comedy." Enjoy!
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Animation Writer FAQ: Script Formatting
Q: I have a teleplay. I've heard there are different formats
for scripts. My format consists of the heading, dialogue, and description being
1.25 spaces from the left edge of the paper. The character names above their
dialogue are the only things I indented. My page numbers are at the bottom
right
of the paper. Keeping in mind that there are different formats for
scripts, is my format correct?
A: There are two main script formats -- sitcoms and
screenplays. With the exception of "act breaks" (the annoying
advertising part that pays for everything), the hour TV dramas are usually
written in standard screenplay format. In this format, the margins are small,
the dialogue is indented from the action description, and the character names
are centered over the dialogue. Sitcom scripts are similar but the margins are
wider and the dialogue is double-spaced.
I would recommend that you find a show that is similar in
style to your teleplay (half-hour comedy, etc.) and then set about getting a
copy of a script for that show. There are various online resources. In order to
be taken seriously, you should make your script look like this script from an
existing show -- one that was generated by a professional.
Another thing you might want to consider is purchasing some
script writing software. These contain script templates for many kinds of
television and film scripts and even things like plays, novels, and radio
scripts. I have used both "Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000" and
"Final Draft". Final Draft seems to be more popular among
professional animation writers, to the point that it’s considered the industry
standard, but both are good. These applications can be kind of pricey ($100 -
$200+) because of their narrow appeal (professional writers) but I found they
seriously increased my productivity and so are worth every penny.
One more
thing; the page numbers go in the upper right hand corner.
**
If you have a question about writing for animation, send it to me via the CONTACT tab. If you have your own thoughts about this particular question, please leave them in the comments.
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
FANTASTIC BEASTS 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald Trailer
I thoroughly enjoyed the first movie, the second one looks even better!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Eater of the Dead: A Dragon Friend Excerpt
Just in time for Halloween! Check out a featured Dragon Friend excerpt on the BestSelling Reads blog: "The spooky season is upon us! H...
-
Hello Ninja Should I tell you what I want, what I really, really want? Sweet. Seeking a full-time staff writer position, but also avail...
-
Just in time for Halloween! Check out a featured Dragon Friend excerpt on the BestSelling Reads blog: "The spooky season is upon us! H...
-
He'd battle an empire to save his family! When his father is killed by a ruthless alien commander, young Galen Bray becomes th...