Catching The Speeding Train in the Writing Journey

This week I have been thinking of added content....following on from ideas sparked by the 1000 true fans post and talking to various friends about the widening fields of being a content provider(author)

On Monday I was at Te Papa for the Institute of Modern letters Monday lunchtime talk series which featured Kate de Goldi talking to Vic. Writer In Residence, Paula Boock. Paula’s journey from editor to YA writer to script writer to TV Film producing to writing her first adult novel which we were privileged to listen to a bit of...(main character is a child tho, so she hasn’t strayed far away from us) and it got me thinking about the writing journey.

A long time ago I scribbled stories for myself then I thought I‘d better learn how to write so I went looking for the magic formula.(guess what... there isn’t one) Along the way I collected rejections...then I got an acceptance...I’ve made it, I thought...No I hadn’t.

Lots more rejections later then writing took a back seat to life...I got involved in the writing community, so I wrote by osmosis...free association with some of the best in the world at writers talks etc. Then back to collecting rejections, trying my hand at new styles of writing but always, always learning.

Our writing journeys take us into many lands where the language is different and the culture is foreign and obstacles look insurmountable...and so it is with the new ideas of writing content and digital media to the children’s author. But in essence it is applying your skills in a different way using a different medium or media. (I joked to Fifi on Monday that Paula could be a poster child for the Spinning Gold Conference as she has applied her skills across two or three medias. Fifi is a poster child...Martin Baynton is the poster child, Janice Marriot who is writing scripts for the Wot Wots is a poster child... (they are all marvelous New Zealand children's authors trying their hand at new media.)

They are leading the way for the rest of us...and I will learn from them by osmosis and posting little snippets of interest to you all, who are struggling, like I am, to make sense of the speeding train called ‘Social and Digital media as it applies to our craft.

So onto the Future....Eeeeek I’m not ready.....

Fourth Story Media a new publishing company in the ‘states’ are ready to launch The Amanda Project. CEO Mike Smith describes the company this way on their website.

Traditonally, stories would be told through one medium. A film would exist as a film. A book would exist as a book. Now, the internet and new forms of technology are enabling storytellers to tell their stories not through one medium, but through every conceivable form of media.
— Michael Smith, CEO & Owner, Mind Candy and Perplex City

To have a look at what they are doing with The Amanda Project go here or just look at the video below.




Chorion based in the United Kingdom is working with a range of writers and literary estates to add media content to enhance the book presence. Here’s what they have done for Agatha Christie but their flagship is Children’s lit....(their slide show is really cool)go take a look at their website.

Merchandising: PC games, jigsaw puzzles, mugs, pencils, cushions, deckchairs and more are available at retail and online.
Stage: We license first class productions worldwide and actively oversee the hugely successful Agatha Christie Theatre Company's ongoing professional tours in the UK.
Online: The official website at http://www.agathachristie.com/ features blogs, games, downloadable content, information on Agatha Christie and every story she wrote, newsletters and a very popular forum for her fans.

The world is getting bigger and bigger for the author(content provider)...but seriously have you thought about turning some of your writing into added content slogans for merchandise????

And finally as a present to Tania Hutley...(stat counter says her site sends the most people over to read my blog...I’m awed...) the following video because she loved the Buffy staked Edward post.

maureen

pic is the Ave Solar train in Spain and the new way to travel without carbon emmissions... it's as fast as a jet...the way of the future????

Warning! Links can be addictive....

In my quest to find interesting materiel for my blog...I follow links on others blogs...I’m thinking of you that’s why I do it. (yeah right) and tripping over to Tania Hutleys blog, I was caught by a link and followed it to the Book Publicity Blog.

When to schedule a bookstore event and when not to...and this blog was written with the help of tweeps ...people on twitter who post one line comments back. to the blogger. There were some good points to consider but lovers of Neil Gaiman will appreciate the comment on this post about an event he has just appeared at in Dublin’s Chapters Bookstore.

One of the first things that struck me after I read the good post on book store events was the huge list of book related blogs that Yodiwan has linked to on their own site. Bookgasm, bookninja, books and booze, books and you name it the list goes on and on and on.

Johanna Knox is about to start another blog as if the three she has got going isn’t enough. This one,tho, will be about books. She is already lining up guest bloggers....good marketing Johanna....(thanks for asking me....shameless self promotion.)

So book blogging is the topic toujour....

There have been various attempts to use the internet and writing in real time in creative ways.

Some writers are posting chapters on line and building up an audience for their work...One author I have heard of (not children’s) in NZ is having fans pay her to write the next thrilling instalment....

Publishers are starting to ask for extra content especially in the YA market. This sort of thing is becoming more prevalent in contracts overseas. The publisher writes a clause into the contract about adding content on their websites in character voices....or supporting full blogs in character voices....

Imagine the take up if you had to write a blog for Edward Cullen from the tween community....I note that P J Hoover has got lots of comments after she posted on the ages reading the Twilight books and they are young (about 9 and 10 yrs old) which is quite scary...because they often still believe that the fantasy world is real...

I have a book blog for Bones (clic on the pic)which has chapters that were cut out on the final edit and extras such as how I came to write the book etc. I always write the blog address for kids when I’m signing...so they can see the extra content.

That book is finished but what about book blogs from writers who are still writing...

The lovely Tania Roxborough is getting quite a lot of interest in her book blog and the book isn’t even published yet.

Banquo’s Son is a sequel to Macbeth....and who better to write it than Tania or TK Roxborough. How she fits it in with full time teaching secondary English as well as a full on family life is amazing!

Check out her blog and the cool template for it and read some of the juicy excerpts in what I know will be a great book.

and lastly tho not quite on the book blogs topic....Tim Jones has the press release up for

The Cuba Street Garret writers colony.....

If you are in Wellington looking for writing space....this could be for you. Doug Wilkins (on the NZSA Wgtn committee) has previously set one up in San Francisco and there could be a chance for a writers exchange.

Go have a look!

Warning! Following links can be addictive. Where have you been taken to lately...?

Chain link pic is from http://www.author-promotion.com/ (Spot the new links in my sidebar)