HOLYWOOD BOUND

 

Stage32 and the Big Picture

Have you ever had someone tell you your book would make a great movie? I’ve had people tell me that before (and not just my family or friends who want a free book).  Readers who I have never met have written to me on several occasions and have made comments to that affect.

Its flattering and I love it but could it happen? My and your best chances might just be in the following post.

A few days a go I was asked to invite other “creatives” in my field to Hollywood’s number one meeting place for the film and theatre industry. What does a site for the film making industry have to do with writers, you ask? I asked myself that very same question when I joined back in May of this year. After perusing the site and talking to a few people who seemed to be in the know, I decided, what did I have to lose. This is what I have come away with;

Stage 32 is a network designed for the film, television, and theater, including some of the most creative talent on the planet. It has over 70,000 members in over 180 countries and growing. It was created by Richard Botto and Curt Blakeney, industry leaders in their own right, with the belief that networking is the key to perfecting one’s craft, something writers are well aware of. It is a community of professionals and creatives who are committed to each other and to the reality of making their dreams come true. It is a place where talented people gather to discuss their projects and find open doors to success.

32 was originally geared toward the film and theater industry but has expanded to include the craft of writing, including authors, editors, and cover artist in fiction and non-fiction alike. Let’s face it, we are all looking to expand our horizons, to grow and challenge ourselves, to become better.

Is it like Facebook? Loosely, yes. Facebook is a community where we share everything; our family, our pets, what we ate last night, and our writing, Stage 32 is not. It is a community built around your professional profile, your resume, so to speak. When you connect with others on 32 it is your brand, the writer, cover artist, or reviewer, etc. they see, not how our cute pets do funny things.

Here are some words from CEO, Richard Botto:  

“What we hear from our users is that Facebook is great for family and friends, but not for networking to find jobs, form partnerships, etc. And LinkedIn is more geared toward corporate types as opposed to creatives. Additionally, their forums are littered with spam, whereas we have a zero spam policy.”

Don’t get me wrong, I love all of the fun stuff that’s on Facebook, not to mention the exposure for my books but I also like the idea that there is a site that is a little more business-like, and may give me the opportunity to expand my brand into a wider arena.

Going back to exposure, just the sheer number of people who will see your work will increase dramatically, worldwide. Who wouldn’t be thrilled with that? Getting readers is what it’s all about.

 

That is what Stage 32 is. A place to grow your contacts and build a network of like minded people, as well as opening doors to a whole new world of possibilities. Is it for everyone? That is for you to choose, but what writer doesn’t dream of seeing their work on the big screen? Someone, somewhere in this community might just read your book one day, and the rest, as the saying goes, “is history”. You never know who might be looking for the next big one (I already have my actors picked out, lol).

Here are three indie titles that are going to be movies:

Lisa Gace’s Angel Series, Colleen Hoover’s Slammed, and Hugh Howey’s Wool.

Not everyone is interested in having their book transformed into a movie, I understand that, but for those who have the dream, Stage 32 might be the door. So come on. Check out Stage 32. You just might want to stay.

Virginal McKevitt is an American author of fantasy. Her 5 star novel, FRACTURE The Secret Enemy Saga can be broadly described as fantasy incorporated with elements of the paranormal, suspense, mystery and romance (I couldn’t help myself). FRACTURE The Secret Enemy Saga is available in paperback at Barnes and Nobles and Amazon.com, and as an e-book through Amazon and Smashwords. Book two The Hunted is available as an e-book at Amazon.com and Smashwords.

 http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B007I0CTSG

 http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fracture-virginia-mckevitt/1111202198?ean=9781475051735

 http://vmmckevitt.blogspot.com/

 http://www.facebook.com/#!/virginia.mckevitt

 https://twitter.com/vmmckevitt

Dragons and Cowboys and Jason Bourne, Oh My!

 

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Administrators Indies Unlimited

Virginia McKevitt

That got your attention didn’t it, but the topic really is about crossing genres; can you, should you and if you do, can you pull it off. This coming from a fantasy, mystery, thriller, romance, action, eh, novelist (try slinging that out there when someone ask you what your book is about).
Someone once told me fantasy has rules. I agree, its magic, you can do anything: pigs can fly, cows can talk, a kiss can wake a princess, but wizards always have to carry a staff. No I’m serious. I was told never to break that rule. It has to do with quantum physics and pole shifts. Serious stuff that could change our world as we know it.
All kidding aside, every genre has rules that have been bent over the course of time. Plato or some famous cartoon character (Pluto, I think) divided literature into three classic genres: poetry, drama and prose but somewhere back in the 1900′s all hell broke loose. In 1898 H. G. Wells wrote a science fiction novel, War Of The Worlds, that spawned widespread panic in 1938, when it was aired on Halloween, by actor Orson Welles as a news bulletin. People actually believed the world was being invaded by aliens.
That is power people! Ah, but I digress. Back to the present. Today we are bombarded with creatures and human beings who are brought together in every imaginable way; love, or friendship, or even in a common goal, to save the world, and we do it by mixing genres. Case in point: Romance is supposed to be happily ever after with a strong emphasis on, well romance. With Fantasy, one designs the world’s geography, race and magic, with good verses evil. Westerns should have a hero in conflict. You get my point.
Jump to the present; rules are made to be broken and so they are. Today’s readers expect more. Romance doesn’t always end with the lovers riding off into the sunset. They do eventually; they just go kicking, screaming and fighting first. Sometimes the evil sorcerer wins, and we get a certain amount of satisfaction from that. Oh, and the hot guy in the cowboy hat? He runs off with the beautiful lonely widow’s brother.
For god’s sake people just make it believable! If you don’t your reader is out of here and them babies are hard to get back. How do you do that you ask? Do a little research on your subject matter. Know the basic structure of the genre you are writing in. What makes it work and why readers like it, then stretch it.
I know, I know. You have to write it for you. Well if that’s the case then you shouldn’t be disappointed if only you read it. The little lady down the hall ain’t going to be happy if Jack and Jane don’t make it. That’s what makes her read romance, because in spite of it all, they will be together. If Johnny expects his assassin to be like Jason Bourne, give him a little romance, but don’t have him cutting out hearts or humming the theme from Barney. Wait, that sounds creepy. It might work, she thought.
Ahem… So, write your paranormal romance about Jack the vampire, who lives a tortured existence because his mother was an alien who came here from that planet no one can pronounce, and then one day he falls in love and marries a half human history teacher who figures it all out, and then they ride off into the sunset in her time travel machine to live happily ever after. All in one breath.
See how easy that was.

Mixing Fantasy and Romance and Making it Work

      There are many challenges in mixing genres, especially fantasy and romance. How can beings from different worlds become romantically involved and even be believable? I hope I can shed some light on that very subject because that is what my novel, FRACTURE The Secret Enemy Saga stands on; two people from different worlds, fighting in the same cause and falling in love. That's a mouthful!
      How can I make that believable you ask? Next time you go to the mall look around you. The couples holding hands and shopping are as diverse as you can get; different nationalities, different shapes and sizes, even different beliefs, yet they seem to make their relationships work. How?
      The Asian man with the American wife are from worlds so different they might as well be from Mars and Jupiter. What about the Italian woman or the French man? I could go on and on. The cultures and beliefs that separate us everyday are broken and shattered by one simple need, to be loved and accepted by another.
      How far off am I that someone from another world could actually fall in love with someone from this world and vice versa? Not far at all. Take those two people, throw them into a conflict that threatens both their worlds and fill it in with a little magic and mayhem, friends and family and who knows. You might have a winner.

Colleen Hoover Climbs Self-Published Bestseller List - GalleyCat

Colleen Hoover Climbs Self-Published Bestseller List - GalleyCat

The Art of Lying

 Fiction writers are the best liers in the world. They have to be or they would never sell a book. You name it, a good author can write a story about it. Does it mean we are experts on our writing subject. Probably not (have you seen any vampires or dragons running around lately), but with imagination, research and good old lying a writer can transform a stack of dead trees into a world of fantasy, fear, science fiction, or romance, and readers everywhere want to believe it.
   That is what writing is all about. Taking those pages of lies and transforming them into believable bits of time that takes a reader away from their everyday lives and on a journey. That is what reading is all about. Every genre has a different set of lies. Some lies are based on real life situations, others on the utterly fantastic (there's that dragon again).
   Do you have a pack of lies you would like to share with world? Get started before the zombies get you.

Paranormal Romance~What makes It Hot?

   Paranormal Romance is one of the hottest genres (actually a sub-genre of fantasy) on the market today. The titles and book covers alone can make one break out in a sweat, but what is it that makes you want to read about romantic encounters with beings from other worlds or vampires and werewolves? Is it the old concept of forbbiden love or the thrill of the bad boy (or girl) image mixed up with fangs and wolf fur?
   Dragons and wizards are sitting on the back burner while muscled bodies and creatures who howl at the moon warm the beds of the humans we write about. Steamy romance, whether implied in Ya or graphic in Paranormal erotica, has encreased by leaps and bounds since the e-book revolution and now knows no boundaries.
   Don't get me wrong, sex sells in any format but you have to have a good story to back it up. There still needs to be adventure, a plot, somewhere that this is all going. Without a good story line its just porn on paper.
   Fantasy, as wild and imaginative as it is, still has rules. If your reader does not find your characters and story believable you will lose their interest. Make the relationships between your human and non-human characters real. Give them a cause they both have a stake in (no pun intended), especially if its for different reasons. Obstacles that strengthen real life relationships are everywhere. Just give them a little  twist.
   So, what makes it hot? Dark and dangerous delivers whether you dash it with a little pepper or turn on the hot suace. Romance appeals to the heart and the paranormal infuses it with the thrill of the fantastic, something we all want a little bite of (I just can't help myself).
  
  

My Love For Writing

   One of my earliest memories as a child was the Book Mobile. A great big panel truck from the local library that would come rolling down our streets in the summer carrying adventures, fantasies and places far away. The sides were painted in bright colors and a cheerful voice would announce its arrival over a loud speaker. (I think that lumbering elephant drew more kids than the ice cream truck.)
    My sister who was ten years older than me would run to the curb with me and my younger brother and sister in tow. She loved to read and she passed it on. Hot summer nights would find us falling asleep to the likes of Gulliver's Travels or Swiss Family Robinson.
    My imagination ran wild at that age and never quit. I love the fantastic. One can go anywhere and do anything and so I did. The move from the world inside my head to the pages of my first novel was only a matter of time.
    The first person to read my finished work,   Fracture The Secret Enemy Saga
was my husband who reads like most people eat. I'll never forget what he said when he turned the last page, "I feel like I've been on a journey that I didn't want to end. Don't stop."
Those words have pushed me onward and there is no turning back. I wrote this as a Q and A  post origionally at Goodreads to see what other writers had to say but the reach continues onward. So I ask,why do you write?

The Devils in the Details

   Do you have fight scenes in your book? What does your character used to defend him or herself; a gun, a sword or even his bare hands? How much do you know about how to use a weapon or use your hands as a weapon?
   My protag is a muscle bound assassin who is feared in his world but when he has to come to ours he is on unlevel ground. He's suppose to come here, find his prey and leave without being known but he gets found out by a young woman who will be his partner throughout the rest of the story.
   The young woman, Kristina is the key to the story. She has abilities she is only just learning about, but she also has fighting skills. Her parents sent her to self defense classes blah, blah, blah. How do I convey that in my writings?
   I have some knowledge of martial arts. Not much. I am a brown belt. Like I said, not much, and I didn't want Kristina's fight scenes to look orchestrated, so what did I do? I studied hand to hand combat and martial art videos and read articles from well known people in the martial arts arena. I even watched myself in a mirror with a weapon to see how to make it look real.
    My assassin's skills and even the marine in my novel had to feel real and I hope that I have accomplished that with what I have learned, and there is magic in my book also.
   Alas! that is another story. Study your characters abilities. Try to make them as real as possible. Research is the key, so don't treat it like poison ivy.
  
     

Bringing Your Words to Life

     I have a very vivid imagination, so when I read a book I see everything that's happening; the action, the character, even the scenery. How does a writer convey that to his or her readers? I put myself into the story. I touch the rocky wall, feel the sand under my feet and then I put it into words.

     Example: Jenny and Mica were laying on the beach. He kissed on the forehead and smiled. This would be a day she would never forget.

This is much better: Jenny felt the scratch of wet sand against her back. She opened her eyes. Micah was smiling. His blue eyes as turbulent as the sea they had just come from. He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. A delicious shiver went down her spine. This would be a day she would never forget.

    Even that can use improvement but I think you get the idea. Where are they? What are they doing? You tell me.
   

Snippets from FRACTURE The Secret Enemy Saga

Tegrin waited until midnight before he slipped into the caves and through to the other side, wanting to avoid humans at all cost. Darkness would be the best cover. He did his best hunting at night.

       He thought his knowledge of this place was very good but he did not expect the beauty that surrounded him. It could almost be home if he did not know better. His catlike eyes adjusted well to the dim light of a half moon. Tegrin’s excellent hearing picked up even the tiniest sounds.
       He sniffed the air, taking in every smell around him. Small rodents and birds nested close by. His eyes narrowed. Another scent filled his nostrils. The one he was looking for.
      The Couton, and they were heading towards the lights of a city. Urgency gripped him as he headed for the town below. He stayed in the brush along the road to conceal himself and tried to work on a plan of capture.
      Just before dawn he came across a cold, lifeless dwelling. He sniffed the air and the smell of death filled his nostrils. Tegrin circled the building, listening and sniffing the air, but found no life was present. He walked up the steps pushing the door open. Inside were two bodies, one male and one female, both had been murdered. He knew by the scent that the Couton had been there.
      The hair on his arms stood up. He was not alone and knew it. A young woman lunged from the shadows, a knife in her shaking hand.
      “You killed my parents!”
      Moonlight reflected off the long blade of a Bowie knife slicing through the air. Tegrin was too fast for the hand that wielded it.
      He deflected the knife, pulling her close to him. She had a whiff of something strange before darkness enveloped her. A deep voice faded away.
      “I did not kill your parents,” Tegrin whispered.
      He carried her back to the caves. This was a complication he did not need. “By the Throne of Patwain, what am I to do with this human?”
      He studied the woman for a long time. She looked to be about nineteen, maybe less. Long fiery red hair fell across her face. Quite pretty, he thought, in an unusual way.
     Those green eyes, he sighed, they had been filled with hatred for him before she blacked out. The wait for her to regain consciousness chewed at him. He knew he would have to tell her the truth.