The Ecstasy is in the Agony?

Yes! Sometimes the ecstasy is IN the agony!

Writer's block? Plot fracture? Missing perfect word?

I have a great team surrounding me and my writing career. CP's, beta readers, marketing geniuses and business gurus. And yet sometimes in my agony I'm gonna duke it out myself. Color me stubborn.

It's akin to searching for hours for a piece of the jigsaw puzzle. You know it's shape, at least one side of it. You have an idea of colors. You have a FEEL for what you are looking for, and yet someone walks up to your puzzle board, lifts off the piece from the pile of misfits, and snaps it into place without thought. You are left unsatisfied. And why? Your puzzle is on the road to completion!


I dunno. I'm not the shrink. I just know sometimes we need help. Most times. But sometimes we have to come up with our own puzzle pieces. All by ourselves.

It's Showtime!

The following is my guest post on Rasana Atreya's blog.
For anyone considering becoming a film producer for your own trailer, this information may shed some light to your cameras and action!

My thanks to Rasana for inviting me to chat with you today about my experience in producing my first video book trailer for my new release, Widow’s Row.

That should act as your first caveat. My experience is limited to one production. But I had a good team of advisors. Brandon Croy is a professional filmmaker in Denver, Colorado and Cameron Bruns is Vice President of an international marketing company. Like I said, I kept good company.

Let’s face it. Even with a big publishing house behind you, today’s authors are carrying the burden of their own promotion. The video book trailer has become an explosive tool in marketing books.

There is a maze of tutorials on the Web specific to Windows Movie Maker and this little guest blog is in no way an attempt at trying to replace their technical instructions. Most of these tips you read here should transcend well to any other movie-making program you use. These tips should make your experience with movie making grow ripe without aggravation.

Through my trial and error, here’s what you can learn from my mistakes:

Do invest the time to look at the tutorials. You’ll quickly learn how to incorporate the elements that will turn your book trailer into a professional piece of film, such as transitions and special effects.

Do make a study of the scores of book trailers already out there. Watch the ‘homemade’ trailers as well as those with big blockbuster budgets, including any new Big Screen teasers. Just as in the book business, trailers are subjective. Tune into your genre and your own voice and make your work a reflection of both. Evaluate your feedback, but tune out the naysayers!

I didn’t lay down my soundtrack first and this was a huge mistake. I wanted the images to be in sync with the varying beats of the music. Boom. Boom. Boom. Image. Image. Image. You get the idea. It’s far easier to lay down the audio and then drag the images into your storyboard and timeline once you have the soundtrack in place.

Music clips are available through various sites. Search under Royalty Free Music, but remember it probably isn’t going to be exactly free. There are usually membership fees involved, and maybe even small stipends per track.  There are also plenty of talented musicians out there that would love to help you with your own recordings. Buddy up with your local bands.

Most of these sources for short sound clips are designed so that you can make your video exactly the length you want, but just like the commercials that grab your attention on TV, remember less is best. You can choose from several coordinated timed segments. Some will be 60 seconds, 30 seconds, and even less than ten seconds. Rhythm. Pacing. All key elements to your ‘commercial’.

Do get permissions for everything you use! There are sources for images on the web that are royalty free. Many of the photographers will request credit for use of their images. Double check. When seeking permissions I recommend doing it via email so that you have a permanent record of correspondence.

If you’re currently writing a manuscript, always wear your producer’s hat. What scenes are you developing that lend themselves to an image? Is it the rolling hills of Ireland? A chase scene? Fava beans and a nice glass of Chianti? Keep a journal of anything that might make for a good still or short video. It’s no time to place yourself in the critic’s corner. Jot down every possibility. I like a good mix of the mundane and the ordinary, paired with the outrageous and unexpected, but I write suspense. I want my final film product to be arcane in nature. If you write in other genres such as historical, literary, or romance, I would still suggest the idea of blending the familiar with the not so familiar. Keep your viewers engaged and guessing.

If you plan to use speaking actors or a voice-over narrator, the Window’s Movie Maker is designed to allow you to lay that audio directly over your music.

If you are the photographer, make sure your camera is set with the date stamp turned off. Sighing, here.

Now this part is no secret. You will read it elsewhere on the web. Unfortunately some of us have to learn the hard way. Save everything. Save every still and every video and every audio, separately. And while engaged with your program open, save your work and save it often.

So, friends, here’s my first video trailer, Widow’s Row.

Widow’s Row The Trailer 0001

What did you see? I’m a perfectionist and I’m crazy mad about my boo-boos. The most obvious is the red lettering in the church video clip. Having a little trouble reading it? That’s because I manipulated the video after inserting it and deleted the original file.  Because I was stuck without the original, I was able to use the program to warp the imagery. Something to distract from the words you can’t read. Between you and me, I handle my film critics by claiming there is subliminal messaging in those words. LOL.

Did you notice the date stamp on the church still? Oops. And again, because I’d deleted the original and turned my movie into one single file, I was unable to remove the nasty yellow date stamp.

Give yourself time. And plenty of forgiveness. Remember this tool is a reflection of your book. Your name is on it. You’ve written and rewritten your book until it’s perfect. If you aren’t satisfied with your trailer, help is all around you.

And I leave you with my favorite tip of all. Have fun! Make mistakes. Start over. Start with a family movie or vacation memories.

Lala Corriere

Zara Larsen's Circle of Change

I hope you'll tune in this Saturday, tomorrow, for my guest spot on Zara Larsen's Circle of Change.


You can listen in live at www.1041thetruth.com
1:00 PM EST.

Or look for the audio at www.Thelarsengroup.com

I'll be talking about my new release, Widow's Row, and more about my writer's journey!

C'ya there!

A Diva, a Thug, & a Private Dick All Walk Into a Bar...

Got character?

Oh, man. I'm so pleased with my comments and reviews coming in for Widow's Row. How fun to see them from strangers, which BTW are simply friends I haven't met yet!

Hmmm, I say. The best feedback seems to be about my characters.

Here's what I know:

• Do your character interviews. EVERY character. Even the postman who always rings twice.  Know them well enough that you dream about them!
• Use dialogue true to your character. Even if you don't like it. If your character would say that icky word that starts with a C, and of course if your publishing house guidelines allow, then USE the C word.
• More about true dialogue. "You've got...." is horrible English. But guess what? We say it! You've Got Mail!
• Dichotomies. Characters are complex. Good people do bad things. Bad people have soft sides. Smart people do very dumb things. You get the idea. Give your characters dimension.
• More than dimension, give every character meat. Imagine that you are writing a screenplay. What does your casting agent have to work with? What have you given the actor to sink his teeth into so that he becomes this character? Think of Al Pacino in The Scent of a Woman. Novelist Giovanni Arpino and screenwriter Bo Goldman gave Pacino so much character that he ad-libbed the famous 'who-ahhh'. Would we all be so lucky for Mr. Pacino to enhance our work.

To Evolve, You Must Begin

'Insist on yourself. Never imitate.'

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Orange Dog is evidence of Mother Nature's sense of humor. Take a peek at this hideous prehistoric looking thing! He is feeding on the leaves of my lemon tree, which already struggles like Charlie Brown's sorry Christmas tree. At first I thought it was a fungal growth on the tree, but then I noticed its beady eyes staring at me. When I dared to encroach on his territory the orange horns (osmeterium) emerged and he let out a ghastly stink bomb!

Here's the amazing part. This guy will evolve into the breathtaking Giant Swallowtail butterfly!

While you begin your art as a writer, a painter, a doctor or Indian chief, your work will imitate life. This is the way.

What isn’t the way is to let your work imitate your self.

When you are true to self your work will evolve. This is nature’s way. You will grow. Learn. Live. Flourish.

Your ugly will become beautiful.

And one more thought.

Know when you have your butterfly. Write ‘the end’. Put your paints away. Draw up that contract.

Today I wish you lessons from Mother Nature.

Passion

Laura Williamson, Charron Vineyards, is a Master Sommelier here in Southern Arizona. Read her following quote and insert your work, your labor of love, your passion—inside my parentheses.

“Even though [winemaking] appears a simple measure…it is certainly one of the most tedious, unforgiving passions that can either fulfill or exhaust one’s desires.”

Wow. I love those words! Isn’t it so true for all of us that have found our passion in work? A writer would not write without passion. Sure, reporters are assigned stories they could give a rat about, and some fiction writers are persuaded into a story line that will sell rather than one that stirs their hearts, but writing is, by its nature, a labor of love. It isn’t glamorous. We sit alone at a keyboard for hour after hour but not counting, and the only thing in real time we recognize is that the necessity of eating and going to the bathroom becomes an annoying interruption.

Did you know that less than one percent of all persons that say they are going to write a book actually finish it?

I wish you a passion that will both fulfill and exhaust you.

                                                               Arizona Skylight. by lala corriere

LalaCorriere

http://www.lalacorriere.com

New character Interviews coming soon @    http://twitter.com/lalacorriere/

Debut release of Widow's Row coming soon!

Reading, Writing, & Mythmatic

My alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz.  It's the letter I use to spell yuzz-a-ma-tuzz.  You'll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond 'Z' and start poking around!  ~   Dr. Seuss

The definition of READING:  The dictionary says it’s the act or practice of a reader.

Simple enough!

Notes to self: Read. A lot.

The definition of WRITING: The dictionary says it’s language characters written or imprinted on readable matter.

Simple enough!

Notes to self: Write. A lot.

The definition of MYTHMATICS: Lala says it’s the art and science of fiction and it is not to be defied.

Simple enough!

Notes to self: Forget about the NYC super-agent who told me the setting for my manuscript, Widow’s Row, was ... “Ludicrous. No small town would have that kind of thing". She added, “Not in this world.” Well, as it so happens my manuscript is set in the actual sleepy southern Colorado town of Trinidad, known widely as the “sex change capitol of the world”. This is fact, and in my book of fiction. And the reason she rejected Widow’s Row.

I’m not writing historical fiction where my facts have to be correct, down to the very brand of shoelaces young women wore on their lace-up boots in the Victorian Era. But of course I wouldn’t use a real town and brand it something it is not.

What I see in the publishing industry is exciting! Writers are finding their voices and writing what they want to write, AND getting their work published. Is it good enough? Time will tell. The numbers won’t be fictional.

I guess my ranting is about the one true fact that fiction should be fun. It’s where you get to lie and make stuff up!

Today I wish you a little bit of make-believe!

Debut release of Widow's Row coming soon!

Learn More About Vooks

Thanks for all your comments and questions regarding VOOKS.
Here's a great link for a quick look at this growing trend:

http://promo.simonandschuster.com/vook/

Writing Rapture

“We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it is all about.”

                         -Joseph Campbell Author, Editor, Philosopher & Teacher, 1904-1987



Previously I wrote about life’s light bulb moments. Today, their Grande Papa…Rapture. Getting lost in the moment. For hours.

When is it that you lose track of all time? For me it is often when I’m deep into my writing mode, both fiction and non-fiction. Sometimes I feel I have been writing for an hour only to look up at the clock to see that three or four hours have passed. In a blink.

A page-turning book can do it. Currently I’m reading some Dennis Lehane, an old Mary Higgins Clark, and Patricia Cornwell. Occasionally I’ll become totally absorbed in an art project. Often it happens when my husband and I are sitting outside shooting the breeze, a ritual for us. This is pretty much amazing in that we’ve been shooting the breeze together for over 25 years!

Time is an odd thing, isn’t it? It’s an innate condition of our planet that we can’t ignore. Deadlines are to be met, dates and appointments are to be honored, and sleep must be respected and attended.

As a writer I am blessed. I do something I love. I have passion in my life.

Today I wish you time to think about your rapture experiences. And, once you’ve identified them, I wish you time to go get lost in your rapture.

Hooked on Vooks?

Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure.


—Edward Thorndike

Putting aside all debate on bookstores & libraries over e-publishing & electronic readers, the only sure thing we know is we must adjust to change. It’s not in the air; it’s in the lightning-speed shockwaves of our delivery systems. The metronome of the communications world seems to be on a cocktail of crack, Adderall, and steroids. Ask any kid. Emails take too long these days for those with nimble fingers able to text out their messages in nano-seconds.

Enter the Vook. High concept and arguably the next wave of story-telling, the Vook brings us the opportunity to read and watch at the same time. While reading online text, the user is able to click on high quality video at any time, as it relates to the story.

The advantage in the non-fiction category is obvious. Instructions can be illustrated so that the viewer can SEE the how-to exercise program, they can read the recipes, then see what their finished meal is supposed to look like when plated at the table, they can enter the boardroom, the courtroom, or the classroom, and experience the development of trendsetting thought through graphics and virtual blackboards.

For fiction, the Vook adds another dynamic. Reading becomes a true sensory experience. Imagine highlighting key moments in your manuscript with sound and color that explodes off the screen. Scenes elapsed by time are easily and quickly depicted with rising suns and fading light. Settings, once necessary and time-consuming to describe and often bordering on purple prose, are now instantaneous. This just may be the ultimate answer for the writer battling that age old rule… Show. Don’t Tell!

If you’re interested, Simon and Schuster has a good page on Vooks. Check it out at http://promo.simonandschuster.com/vook/


While we brace for the future of publishing and communication, all this speed, all this business of more and more information delivered faster and faster, can at times be dizzying to the soul.

This weekend we received a beautiful handwritten thank you note from a recent houseguest, via the good old USPS. Breaking open the seal on the envelope caused me pause. This had impact. This was happiness on paper.

Today I hope you’ll explore the arrival of the Vook, and I also wish you a good old-fashioned card, hand-written, in your mailbox. If you don’t receive one, send one. You’ll be amazed how good it makes you feel.

Memory Mountain

Every man's memory is his private literature. ~Aldous Huxley

I'm submerged in memories today. When writing, I must rely on memories to get at real emotion. Joy, shock, love, rage, hurt, pain. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Many years ago, I decided to create what I call Memory Mountain. Each side of the mountain is built-up with good memories on one side, and the bad on the other. Every time I have a flashback that stirs me, I put it on the mountain. If my mountain starts looking more like a cliff, it's time for me to push myself to build up the other side. I share this with you because I think it is a great tool for everyone, especially if we find ourselves having little pity parties. It works equally well when our bubbles get too big.

My characters must have memories in order to live. It's my job, before writing 'Once upon a time', to climb their Memory Mountain. Stamina and fallibility coexist, as do perfection and flaws, goodness and evil. We are humans, and my characters are humans, too. They are multi-dimensional. Think about the Tooth Fairy [played by Ralph Fiennes] in the movie Red Dragon. [Adapted from the novel by Thomas Harris] He's an insane and ruthless killer, and yet he takes the blind Reba [Emily Watson] to 'see' the sedated tiger. We are plucked from his evil world and into the poignant moment as Reba strokes the tiger's lush coat, touches his cold, moist nose, and feels the power of his rib cage.

What does your Memory Mountain look like? Is it a cliff or a rolling hillside? Maybe it's in 3-D, with several layers of peaks, valleys, and plateaus.

"Our bad memories our like land mines. Unfortunately, we are the ones that step on them. Over and over again." ~Lala Corriere

I wish you to walk upon plenty of cotton candy.

Writing to a Market

My opinion. Don't.

Upon the sage advice of a well-respected agent, I invested over a year in writing to the series market. He liked the protagonist I created. I liked her, too. And publishing houses like series.

Several well read authors follow the series blueprint successfully. Clive Cussler has Dirk Pitt. For James Patterson, it's his detective Alex Cross, and Janet Evanovich writes Stephanie Plum.

The second manuscript in my to-be series featuring the same protagonist has only one slight problem. It sits, unfinished.

I use the tool of character boards. I have a plot in mind, and maybe even a detailed story outline, but before I can proceed to write a single page I must first have intimate knowledge of the characters I'm writing about. I have to love them and hate them before I can share them with my readers, or they aren't going to love them and hate them. I need to know my characters so that my readers can see, hear and touch them as I do. It has taken you a long time to find the forever-friendships in your life. You have spent years growing these friendships into a deeper existence of 'Namasté' . I need to speed things up a bit.

The process goes like this. First, I paste a barrage of photograph clippings from old magazines that closely resemble the physical attributes of each character. Then I interview each character, even secondary ones. I need to know where they went to school, where they've lived, what they graduated in, what their hobbies are, and what they like for dinner. I drill down further. I learn their quirks, their regrets, their nightmares and dreams. I need to know despicable things about the sweetest girl in class. Only then have I dug deep enough to discover the authenticity of GMC [goal, motivation, and conflict].

It doesn't take long to discover your enemies, does it? But to truly understand their GMC, the writer must treat them with the same amount of authentic intimacy. Sometimes that means finding a thread of tenderness in evil.

The parting of ways with a beloved or despised character is always bittersweet. But, as when I moved from my home state of Colorado, I took my beloved friends with me in my heart and soul, and all of what is me. Namasté .


'No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.'

                                                                                                                       -Robert Frost-



For me, I lose an element of surprise and emotion when I continue with the same characters facing new sagas.

Then again, there's my second humble opinion. Never say never.

The 'M' Word

OK, guys, chill out! I'm not talking Marriage here. 'M' is for marketing.

But writers protest. 'Not me, I'm an artiste. Marketing is so bourgeois. Boring. Bothersome.'
Move over, ego. Get humble, get real, and get busy!

Everybody has something to sell. Shrinks sell hours with a lick, a promise, and serious pharmaceuticals. Garbage men sell out-of-sight, out-of-mind. Churches sell redemption.
The fact isn't going away. If you're going to succeed you need to sell. The sticky icky part is that you're selling your talent, true or imagined. That annoying little detail quickly rises to the top of the quicksand of procrastination.

I published an article on an extraordinarily successful living artist. An oxymoron at its finest. “Obviously he’s a huge talent," says a collector. "He doesn't hesitate to promote his work"..."in this competitive market you can’t sit around and wait to be discovered." Full article link below.

Is it beyond your comfort zone, this marketing? Probably. Johnny Mathis sings it best in my all-time favorite song, Arianne. '...what a writer has to feel like when suddenly he's discovered he's been read.' To listen to the lyrics see link below.

We are our commodity. Some will embrace our driven souls. Some will scoff. All will know we're up at bat!

My pitch today? I'm tweeting a character interview. Find me on Twitter @ lalacorriere.


http://www.tucsonlifestyle.com/index.php?category=Home%20and%20Garden&ref=HG_RegionalArtisan_Nov07&src=gendocs



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiOEOETObTs

Let's Get Cereus!

I get a lot of advice from sage publishing industry gurus. Some tell us writers to find our own unique voice. Others say to get commercial. Write stuff that pisses people off. Write stuff that shocks people. Write stuff that pisses people off and shocks them.
A highly touted New York agent once told me he loved my writing but wasn’t sold on the story. His equal in California said she loved my story but wasn’t ‘swept away’ by my writing. Same manuscript. What do I do? Write in a conforming genre to please agent number one, or change my writing voice to appease agent number two?
Get serious! I’m taking my lead from nature. Roses are aromatic long bloomers on the bush, but wilt quickly when cut. Growers found success in producing a rose with a wider, stronger stem, but the manipulation had its price. The roses were no longer fragrant.

Tonight is pure magic in the Sonoran Desert. It’s the Night Bloom. Occurring only one night each year, the magnificent Night Blooming Cereus Cactus unfolds and puts on its show. Tomorrow, except for the efforts of gifted photographers and inspired artists’ hands, their beauty is gone for another year. What keeps us longing for this fleeting beauty, and why do we tend the plant so carefully for a year when we know its gift is so short-lived?
I think the Night Bloom writes its own story, and it tells us that story in its own special way.

So what do I do about agent number one and agent number two? I’m cereusly thinking about cloning them together.

Here I am!

My guru marketing son finally convinced me it was time to start blogging. I kept thinking there were too many blogs and too little time. But I've been asked by enough avid readers & writers, and nudged by those in the know, until I was pushed off my little twig.



Now, if you'll join me, let's soar together as I share a writer's life with you. We'll look at some of my most popular characters, antagonists and protagonists! You'll see how wicked my mind can be and why I keep listening to a CD, 101 Ways to Commit Murder, over and over again. You'll see the rocky road and tough spine it will take to get published. Less than one percent of persons that say they are going to write a book actually FINISH it! But, alas, that's the easy part. It's like giving birth to a baby. Now that you have it, the work has only begun, and so has the joy, the nurturing, and the love!



Today I'll share with you what most already know. Last year was the worst year in my life. I shut down. I could barely focus enough to write emails to my closest inner circle of family and friends.



But that is behind me and I vow never to do this [to myself] again.



I am like a candle. All writers are, I should think.

If there is no flame, the candle is still a candle. True to its nature. Its purpose. The core of its being stands ready to be lit afire. But it can only bring mesmerizing intrigue and enchantment when two things happen. Always. It must be set afire. And the flame must be witnessed. This then fullfills its simple purpose. Its destiny.

BTW, for those whom frequent my website, it is slowly being revamped but a lot of its content will be posted here.

Next up I'll share an amazing letter of recommendation I have as I begin my search for a new literary agent.





My candle is lit. Come fly with me!



Lala