Archive for » 2010 «
03
Aug 2010
Aug 2010
02
Aug 2010
Aug 2010
Building a believable city, whether in SF or fantasy, requires many layers of detail. Odds are that your protagonist will visit a new city (or large town) at some point during his or her journey, so it pays to create a fully-realized destination for them to explore.
In the beginning, basic world-building (geography, weather, size and breakdown of the population) is paramount. But these basics can be expounded by viewing them from a different angle – the tourist’s angle. Tourists, like your reader, approach new surroundings with fresh eyes. Their alternate perspective may allow you to brainstorm various backdrop details, enriching the location.
Some ground work can get your creative juices flowing. Flip through some real-world guidebooks and see what is deemed worthy of a visitor’s notice. A field trip is fun too – try visiting a city near you and notice what interests you, how you interact with locals.
When you feel comfortable with this framework, apply your experiences to your fictional city. Either write a scene about or mentally explore how a fictional tourist would interact with your new city. You may be surprised by details that pop out and become useful for the plot.
Some questions to ponder:
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What are the landmarks that a tourist might visit in the city?
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Are there places that locals would consider “insider” destinations? What makes them different from the tourist traps?
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Are there actual tourists that visit the city? Do they come for entertainment, religious pilgrimages, or other purposes?
What helps you create your locations?
Category: Research, World Building, Writing Process, Writing Tips
Tags: World Building, Writing Process Leave a Comment
17
Jul 2010
Jul 2010
I was checking the Broad Universe mailing list and was excited to hear a new idea for selling and distributing e-books: USB drives. Branded USB drives are becoming available from a variety of sources, with many different styles and colors; you can even create your own custom shapes. To make a long story short, you can do almost anything with the external look of the drive.
Writers also have a wealth of options when it comes to the files loaded on drives. You can load your drives with a single book, or all of the books in a series, or even an anthology. This customization would provide an individualized product, one that also takes advantage of the growing use of computers.
Are USB drives cost effective for solo writers? Probably not. It seems fairly typical for sellers to charge around $11 per drive with a minimum order of 50 drives; this means you have to be confident you can sell at least 50, and at a higher price so you can at least earn a profit. Selling CDs loaded with your book may remain the safer way to sell your work in a self-publishing situation.
Despite the cost, I think it’s a valid idea for publishers (and writers that can afford it) to explore. USB drives may cost a little more, but imagine a Golden Snitch-shaped drive loaded with all seven Harry Potter books or a steampunk novel loaded onto an airship drive. Different USB keys could be designed as collectors items, increasing the visibility of the brand and leading to widespread distribution of the book. There are already some new products taking advantage of the movie market. Why not the realm of publishing?
08
Jun 2010
Jun 2010
Unfortunately the Courier, Microsoft’s folding tablet and intended rival for the iPad, has been scrapped. The Courier was never officially acknowledged by Microsoft before the cancellation of the project, though it now admits that the tablet had been partially developed.
After seeing Engadget’s mock-up of the Courier and its functions (including touch and pen capabilities), I was chomping at the bit to get one. The Courier seemed to be an e-reader/computer with unique capabilities for hand-written notes and sketches. These new features would be a boon for writers, who could use the Courier for writing down spur-of-the-moment notes, as well as e-books (in a more traditional book-like form) and all the usual computer functions.
Microsoft has mentioned that ideas from the Courier will be considered in future projects. Hopefully a new innovative tablet will bring the same writer-friendly features to the market and if so, I’ll be the first in line.
26
May 2010
May 2010
Music has always been important to my writing process, especially when it sparks ideas and provides backdrops for scenes in my novels. Though I do find inspiration in songs with lyrics, evocative movie soundtracks always make up the bulk of my writing playlist.
So when I heard Zack Hemsey’s track Mind Heist in the new Inception trailer, I knew that I had another winner for my collection. Hemsey is a young composer new to the film score scene. If this song is anything to go by, his future work should be a great source of inspiration (and just damn good listening).
Check out Mind Heist below (it should be available for purchase by mid-July):
24
May 2010
May 2010
There are plenty of new e-readers ready to take their place in the market, sporting new features and lower prices to entice consumers away from the usual big hitters. Pandigital now offers a full-color touchscreen to challenge the iPad’s look, while the Kobo e-reader prepares to take on the Kindle at a much-reduced price.
At $150, the Kobo is the first real answer to calls for an affordable e-reader for the masses. Reviews acknowledge that it does not have the same user-friendly wireless downloading or sleek interface, but the Kobo seems to work well enough for the average reader. Many formats, including ePub, are supported by the device and the Kobo seems poised to make its name in the market.
The Kobo’s reduced functionality bring up the question of what matters more to consumers: features or price? It seems to depend on whom you ask. Personally, I love all the features that the iPad can offer, as well as the interface and downloading on my Kindle. As a younger consumer with less money to spend, however, price is a big consideration. Sure I love my Kindle, but if it wasn’t a gift would I have bought it? Probably not. In fact, I have a feeling that I would be seriously considering the Kobo right now.
What matters more to you, higher functionality or an affordable price? Do you think there is there a happy medium that we’re missing in the market today?
06
May 2010
May 2010
Amazon has just announced a new firmware update that will add functionality to the Kindle (thanks to ebookNewser for the link). Kindle users will now be able to group their books into collections, use an improved PDF reader, and share passages directly with Twitter and Facebook followers. This seems to be Amazon’s initial answer to the iPad, though the Kindle is still far from the capabilities of the Apple juggernaut.
As a Kindle owner, I’m glad to see that Amazon has begun to step up and offer new features. I’m most excited for the chance to group my books, which would make them infinitely easier to find. The Twitter and Facebook capabilities sound pretty interesting too, but I’m skeptical about how it will actually manifest; I have a feeling that the length of the shared passages will be severely limited, just like the current text-to-speech function. A better PDF reader will also be a boon for the device, given the poor performance of the current one.
Even with all these updates, it’s still up in the air if consumers interested in the iPad will be swayed by the lesser (but growing) capabilities of the Kindle. Would book collections and Twitter/Facebook sharing entice you towards the Amazon camp?
16
Apr 2010
Apr 2010
Nathan Bransford’s excellent blog directed my attention to the Alice in Wonderland app for the iPad, which pushes past current e-book boundaries. The visuals are beautiful and look outrageously fun to play with.
Alice For the iPad
All kinds of books would be enhanced with this technology, but I’d love to see this interactivity with a book like Ender’s Game. Playing with formations in the battle room, anyone? Speculative fiction is definitely going to benefit from more e-books like Alice as interactivity rises.
06
Apr 2010
Apr 2010
Now that the iPad has officially launched, there’s lots of talk about how e-reader competitors will respond. Their best bet seems to be addressing readers’ concerns about the iPad before Apple can respond with an updated model that takes advantage of the e-book market. One of the main problems serious readers have with the iPad is the LCD screen, which is hard to read in direct sunlight and contributes to eye strain. E-ink displays, like those seen on the Kindle and Nook, are much easier on the eyes and can be read in sunlight. Skeptics say that despite these boons, the black and white screens are the soon-to-be-extinct dinosaurs of the industry.
But e-ink has already begun its evolution. The black-and-white screens of the Kindle and Sony Reader will eventually be overtaken by the color e-ink currently being developed by Liquavista, Blio, Asus, and others. It’s hard to say if Amazon or Barnes & Noble have considered adding color e-ink to the next generation of Kindles and Nooks; in any case, they will eventually need to add this feature if they want to compete with e-ink or LCD color screens that are flooding the market. With color options, the industry-leading e-readers will be able to compete in the textbook market and possibly in the development of enhanced e-books. Though it’s true that the iPad addresses a different part of the market with its internet capabilities, its dominance in the e-reader arena is not guaranteed, especially with color e-ink on the rise.
30
Mar 2010
Mar 2010
Adam flinched as something hissed in the dark hallway. He grabbed a heavy stone pedestal and jammed it against the door, nearly unending the gargoyle statute sitting on top.
A video, nestled within the e-book’s text, begins to run with slow, grainy flickering. It shows smoke floating under a thick wooden door, twisting upwards to wrap around a gargoyle statue perched on a low pedestal. The statute slowly blinks and then grins widely up at you, the reader, before springing out at the camera.
Dream or reality? On the dominant e-readers of today (the Kindle and Nook) this scenario is fiction. Embedded video is not supported by Amazon’s AMZ-formatted books. The Nook uses the popular ePub format – which can support embedded video – but does not support videos on the device. Apple’s iPad offers a potential step forward, utilizing the ePub format while also possessing the capability to run videos.
It is not clear, however, if the iPad will make use of this capability. Steve Jobs announced that there will be no Flash support on the first generation of the iPad. This poses a problem to potential author/videographers, as Flash is the most popular format for videos embedded into ePub files. Unless the iPad offers Flash in a later generation, it may be only another baby step toward fully-integrated collaborations between authors and other artists.
What if a device launches that does support embedded Flash video? Would you, as an author, be interested in inserting video into your novel? On one hand, the concept is compelling because video could add intense visuals to help establish and maintain a novel’s mood. Add too many videos, however, and they could smother well-crafted description and take away the reader’s opportunity to imagine the story in their own way. As we wait for new generations of the iPad and its competitors to provide a video option, it is worth examining the potential new art of mixing novels and videos, and how it would affect creativity and quality.
Category: Artists, E-books, Technology
Tags: Collaboration, E-books, iPad, Technology Leave a Comment