Using pictures to spark words

A picture paints a thousand words, they say. So if you like both books and pics, you might be interested to know that I have Pinterest boards for each of my books.

I generally start these even before I start writing the book, and use them to save pictures of potential characters and settings - though I may keep the board secret while I'm still writing the book. These help me to get a sense of of place in my head, and spark ideas for characters, scene settings and even story elements.

I usually pin ideas for cover pics, as well as various cover designs, too. And as I go along, I add anything that seems to belong to that book - quotes, photos of people that could be characters (especially book boyfriends), fan art (which I adore!), songs, covers of foreign translations - the whole nine yards  ! (The picture above is from my board for Recoil, and relates to fashions in my dystopian world, and the picture at the top of the email if from my current work in progress.)

I'm not always sure how Pinterest works - like, can you post a pic on someone else's board? Anyway, if you ever find (or create) a pic you think should be added to one of my boards, send it my way and I'll add it to the collection :)

You can take a peek at my boards here: Dark Whispers, Scarred,Hushed, The law of Tall Girls, Recoil, Refuse, Rebel, and Self Help Stories. The board for the book I'm currently writing (for adults) is here- any guesses on the subject?

Audiobooks :)

I lurrvve audiobooks! It's how I do most of my reading these days.

I "read" while exercising, doing housework, driving, falling asleep at night, shopping, or doing mundane work like invoices and filing. I listen to hot, new books, but also to the classics I never got around to reading before.

You can listen on an iPod (as I do), or your smartphone, play it via your computer, or I think Alexa can even do it for you. On Amazon, if you've already bought the book, you can get the audiobook for cheaper (or maybe it's the other way around?).

I feel like audiobooks tap into the ancient tradition of story-telling - this is, after all, how the first stories were transmitted from writer/creator to listener/consumer. Plus, when you get the perfect narrator for a book, it gives the story a whole other dimension to enjoy. Perhaps my favorite audiobooks of all time are the Harry Potter novels - as read by Stephen Fry, who does such a perfect job of bringing them to life! I recently listened to Stephen King's It and that narrator was also exceptionally good.

Of course, sometimes you can hit a narrator you can't stand, so I've learned the hard way always to listen to a sample before buying. Buying on Audible.com or Audible.co.uk is a pleasure because if you don't like it, you can return it no questions asked and get a full refund. I also sign up to their daily special (excellent deals) and buy extra credits when they're on sale, so it doesn't work out too expensive at all.

In the last couple of years, I've found myself on the other side of the audiobook production process, and it's been fascinating.

With my YA romance, Scarred, I commissioned a production company to make the audiobook and I was very hands-on in finding and choosing the voice artists (one male, one female), and in having a say on how the book was read. I got to give input to the voice artists on the characters and how I'd like them read, and I listened to each chapter, picking up inconsistencies or where I thought the tone, expression or pronunciation was wrong. As a result, I think that book came out much as I imagined it.

Recently, one of the biggest audiobook producers, Tantor, bought the rights to The Law of Tall Girls and have just brought out a fabulous audiobook version - Yay!! I had a say in the cover and got to choose between two voices only, based on a quick sample, but other than that, I had no input. So it's been a very different experience, and although the book is different to how I "heard" it in my head while writing it, I love the result! I'm currently listening to it for the first time and it's terrific  and oddly moving - to hear my words come alive like this.

Have you tried reading by listening? What do you think of audiobooks? If there's a reluctant reader in your family, this might be a way to get them hooked on books.

You can check out my audiobooks (and listen to samples) over at Audible.com or Audible.co.uk, or wherever you get you audio from. Let me know what you think!

A bunch of giveaways!

I have so many giveaways for you thins month, you'd swear Christmas was coming!

Young Adult Book Central is doing a massive giveaway of YA books! In addition to weekly prizes (many of which are open internationally) there's also a Grand Prize giveaway of 38 paperbacks (US only, because of crazy-expensive shipping costs.) Enter here, and check out all the featured deals on the YABC website. 

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This YA Contemporary Romance Giveaway is smaller (so you stand a great chance of winning) plus it's open internationally! You could win five beautiful romances (including my favorite of Rainbow Rowell's books) PLUS Eleanor & Park jewelry and a Starbucks gift card. Coffee plus swag plus romance? Yes, please!

Enter here. Competition closes at the end of November.

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Here's an epic giveaway (open internationally) for lovers of young adult / new adult sci-fi and dystopian fiction. A bunch of paperbacks and ebooks are up for grabs, PLUS a $50 Amazon Gift Card for you to spoil yourself with!

Enter here. Giveaway closes Wednesday, December 6th.

A reading spree for Kindle Unlimited readers

 

Kindle Unlimited is an Amazon programme where you get access to read as many titles listed in KU (hundreds of thousands) as you want for $9.99 per month. Currently I have 6 of my books in the program, with more to come!

Check out the great reads in the KU Fall Book Fair here :)

The words are gathering again...

Yesterday, I started writing a new book. By "writing", I mean I mooched about the house, muttering what-if's and maybe''s by the dozen. Today I continued this process, which is grandly known as plotting or outlining. It breaks my brain. For every idea I get, I can see a bunch of reasons why that's not feasible, wouldn't work, is unrealistic. (I am cursed with a VERY realistic, logical, analytical brain.)

Today I continued this process. Couldn't come up with whodunnit or why. Tried showering - ideas are supposed to fall on (into?) your head in the shower, right? No luck.

Tried writing in a purrty notebook, In soft pencil. Some ideas, but no shabang.

I told myself I could just start writing, without knowing what happens, and see what happens. I know there are authors who write into the void, not knowing who the murderer is when they start their books, but... but ... HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!

Eventually, I took to my car. Driving the ring road around my city while muttering hypothetical situations and motivations to myself tends to loosen the cogs in my brain for some reason, and it worked again today - oh, happy day!

Now I just need to do some research to see if what I imagined is even possible. Reality is such a drag.

Anyway, gentle reader, the cogs have begun to turn.