Posts Tagged guest post

Music for telling stories – guest spot on Kobo Writing Life

Posted by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris in Interviews, Undercover Soundtrack on May 24, 2013

Yes, another guest post. But just for a change, it’s not about the characters book!

When I was Kobo’s Writer in Residence at the London Book Fair last month, they were fascinated to hear about my series The Undercover Soundtrack. Firstly because they’re keen on fostering innovative ways for writers to get together and make contact with readers. And second, because they were busily scribbling their own novels and were imagining what they’d say was on their soundtracks!

Anyway, they asked me to write an introductory piece for the Kobo Writing Life blog. If you’ve ever wondered what all those red posts are, here’s Undercover Soundtrack 101. I tried to mention as many past posts as possible – so if you’ve been one of my guests, hop over there and see if you’re starring on the Kobo blog…

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Why fiction characters matter and how we make them memorable – video and podcast with Joanna Penn

Posted by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris in Interviews, Creating a character, The writing business, podcasts, self-publishing on May 21, 2013

Why is all good fiction driven by characters? How can we widen our repertoire so our fictional people aren’t carbon copies of ourselves? What kind of research can give us greater understanding of situations we have no experience of? Should we bother to create our villains with as much empathy and insight as we lavish on our protagonists? If our MC’s enemy is utterly evil, how can we possibly crawl inside their minds – and why would we?

In the yellow corner is Joanna Penn. In the pinkish corner is me, answering her questions. We’re at her blog The Creative Penn, and you can read a text summary, download a 50-minute audio podcast or watch us grin and and wave our hands while we discuss how to write convincing and compelling fictional people. Do come over.

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When to trust the reader’s intuition – and when to spell out what a character feels: post at KM Weiland’s Wordplay

Posted by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris in Creating a character on May 17, 2013

Readers don’t have to be told everything. Sometimes they will intuit how a character feels about a plot development or another character. Or they know what’s unsaid. Or they understand that the quiet character who rarely says anything is vibrating with mysterious depths.

Good storytellers are masters of the reader’s curiosity and emotions. They know what they can plant between the lines and how to make readers fill the blanks. So how do they do this? And how might it go wrong?

Today KM Weiland has invited me to her fabulous blog Wordplay, where I’m discussing this tricky – and exciting – balance. Do come over.

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3 ways the author temperament hinders our writing – post at Authors Electric

Posted by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris in Creating a character, Plots, Writer basics 101 on May 11, 2013

Characters and personality. Not the ones in your books: I’m talking about you, the brain that’s parked snugly behind your eyes and the temperament that feels the urge to write. Sometimes our human wiring is not ideal for creating the kind of havoc we need for stories – which is quite amusing in its own way.

Anyway, I’m enjoying this conundrum today at Authors Electric – do jump the gap and see.

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How do we discover what to read? Post at Authors Electric

Posted by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris in Book marketing, self-publishing on February 20, 2013

Sorry, you got two trailer posts from me today. It’s my turn at Authors Electric, where I’m wondering how relevant SEO is for fiction writers and readers.

It all started when I saw a link to a post on Problogger which advised bloggers to stop running guest posts with a lot of links because of new Google algorithms. Undercover Soundtrack host, please note. This led to a fun, fulminating conversation with Facebook friends Cyd Madsen, Vivienne Tuffnell and Beth Rudetsky about tails wagging dogs. But getting our work discovered is a real issue for writers, and at Authors Electric I’m wondering how that’s done. Come over and join the debate.

(Thanks for the pic Daveynin)

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A Christmas newsletter for modest authors – post at Authors Electric

Posted by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris in self-publishing, Writer basics 101 on December 20, 2012

On this blog I try to cover all your writing needs. Including the short but painful requirement to brag about your year’s achievements to your Christmas card list.

If smugness isn’t as natural to you as it is to Nina and Frederik here, you might need some help. So today at Authors Electric I’m giving tips to get you started. Do drop in.

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Why we need stories – tales of the earthquake at Authors Electric

Posted by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris in Writer basics 101 on June 21, 2012

We know why we write. It’s a natural inclination that some of us have to express ourselves on the page. But what might bring out the storyteller in non-writers? This incident from my recent trip to Italy turned a disparate group of friends into campfire tale-tellers – it’s on the Authors Electric blog now.

Have you had an experience that turned you and your non-writing friends into storytellers? Tell your tale in the comments here

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Shaking off the ghost – guest post at Jessica Bell’s

Posted by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris in Interviews, My Memories of a Future Life, self-publishing on May 10, 2012

When I was ghostwriting, I longed to have a novel published with my own name on. Today I’m talking about my journey to make that happen at The Alliterative Allomorph, bloggish home of author, singer, poet and songwriter Jessica Bell.

Her name might be familiar to you as a recent guest on The Undercover Soundtrack, where she made a big impression by revealing she wrote her own unique soundtrack for her debut novel String Bridge. Yes, that Jessica Bell, I knew you’d remember her… Come over and see where this very cool lady hangs out.

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‘I feared I’d never get the blurb finished in time for the launch’ – guest post at Jami Gold’s

Posted by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris in How to write a book, self-publishing, Writer basics 101 on April 26, 2012

1. Take 100,000 words.

2. Stuff that into three paragraphs or so.

3. Don’t leave out anything important.

Welcome to summarising your book for the back cover or for pitching to an agent.

A few of you may well remember the frantic email sessions last summer as we batted ideas back and forth for my novel’s flap copy. I proved that despite having written a reasonably lucid novel, I was entirely incapable of distilling it into a suitable blurb. I think it took six weeks, several false starts and wrong turnings – many of which I didn’t want to abandon because they’d been hard enough. Did three paragraphs ever cause such anguish?

Anyway, I learned a lot in the process, and today I’m at the blog of paranormal author Jami Gold, sharing all my tips.

One of those tips is to not become too attached to the wrong soundbite. Boy, I nearly hobbled myself there. You can see my blurb outtakes at Jami’s lovely blog, but in the meantime I thought it would be fun to share here some wrong blurbing that we’ve done.

Tell me, in the comments, the blurb or pitch you had to junk – and why it was soooooo wrong. I look forward to sharing your pain…

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Where do you write? Post at Authors Electric

Posted by rozmorris @NailYourNovel @ByRozMorris in Inspirations Scrapbook, Kindle on February 20, 2012

I’m addicted to those pieces in Saturday newspapers where writers show us round their writing rooms. The walls for Post-Its, the arcane but essential talisman on the desk, the flop-and-read area…. even if we all know that half our work probably happens in snatched scribbles at the Tube station, or in our heads while half-watching a film. Anyway, today I’m at Authors Electric giving the guided tour of my study, for those who are as nosy as I am.