The Death of Books

So the Kindle might not be the end of books as we know it, but this device very well could be.

Straight from the website itself, the company admits that "reading would be more fun with pictures, sounds, interactivity and your child's favorite characters."

Now, maybe it's just me, but I interpret that as: "Here is a chance to schlock out more of the same old commercial product to further line our pockets. Rather than encouraging kids to use their imaginations, we feel it's best to reinforce the images we choose for them to see. And we can sell it all under the guise of 'reading.'"

I like eReaders. I like the idea of using them to get kids to read at an earlier age. Books evolving to eReaders makes sense. Books degrading to hyper-interactive, flashy, noisy distraction machines (oh hi, iPad!) is an unsettling possibility.

And is this just another step at replacing parents with computers? Some of my favorite memories as a kid were when my dad would read stories to me. The characters were done in his voice with his accents and told at his pacing. Then, when I read to my little brother, I made the stories my own. The vReader seems like just another device that would erase those memories.

Sure it's fun, sure it's flashy and is it even that different from the deluge of movies and video games with kid's characters today? Not really. But it's trying to replace books. Books! The last bastion of entertainment that lets you, the reader, interpret what you're experiencing in a uniquely personal way.

Maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe I'm just getting old (damn whippersnappers and their eReaders! back in my day, books were made of paper!). But something about this toy just feels wrong, all wrong.

~VK

I am having an affair...

with my Kindle!

It's so pretty and sleek and functional. The days of books overflowing my shelves and weighing down my luggage are now behind me. And they know it...

I swear that since I received my Kindle, my other books have been out to get me. I had one fall off my bookcase and hit me in the head as I walked by. Another ended up under my feet and almost tripped me (possibly because I was holding my Kindle and reading while walking). And, just last night, I woke up covered in paper-cuts... Eerie stuff.

Anyway, as if my new found Kindle love isn't obvious yet, then let me just say it outright: I love my Kindle!

I had some reservations about it and held off on buying it for a long time. It's a little dangerous just how quickly I can buy books on this thing. The only thing that prevented me from spending an entire paycheck on books before was the pseudo-necessary drive to the bookstore. Now, it's a simple button click and POOF! instant book. And the prices are unbeatable...so far.

My first purchase was Hunger Games, part of Suzanne Collins' trilogy. I devoured it in two days and have already purchased the second book, Catching Fire. Before I start on the second book, however, I'll turn my attention to Cinders, by Michelle Davidson Argyle. I was very happy to purchase this novella from an author whose blog I follow. It's a pretty cool feeling to support up and coming authors, and for 3 bucks, you can't beat it!

So, in summation, Kindle excels at:
- space saving
- money saving (sorta...)
- back saving
- self-published author support!
- nifty plastic device gizmotronics! Robot revolution!

And some day soon, I hope to self-pub my own little Kindle masterpiece. Stay tuned, you'll surely be the first to know. And do yourself a favor, buy a Kindle and get to readin'!

~VK

Obsession

The internets are all atwitter about the release of "Mockingjay," the third and final installment in the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. While I have yet to read any of the books (still waiting for my blasted Kindle...) I can't help but get excited at the anticipation surrounding the release.

And I wonder why that is...

What makes some books/trilogies/septologies into obsessions? What drives people to dress up as fictional characters or speak in made up languages?

Yes, the story has to be good/marketable and the writing has to be engaging, but for every Harry Potter there seem to be a dozen or more Artemis Fowl's and Charlie Bone's. There are scores of fantasy books and series that will never be turned into a multiple-Oscar winning trilogy like "Lord of the Rings." And "Twilight" copies still abound, without a fraction of the attention. Even the "Hunger Games Trilogy" doesn't seem to catch fire (pardon the pun) as easily as others.

I ask this question without being able to provide an answer. If I knew the secret, you'd better believe I'd be writing the next billion-dollar franchise instead of a blog post! I think it all comes down to hard work. Sure there is the necessary requirement of talent and a healthy bit of luck never hurts anyone. But persistence and tenacity must pay off in the long run, even if you never achieve over a million books in one printing.

I'll admit, I'm still obsessed with "Harry Potter." It was the reason I started writing (and I confess, the first book I ever wrote was a direct rip-off!). But I adore the series not only for the story, but for JK Rowling's story of her life. I just watched her the interview during the time that she was finishing up "The Deathly Hallows." It's inspiring, emotional and uplifting and I can't express how much I enjoy watching it.

And speaking of obsession, with the final Harry Potter movie coming up this fall (and...next summer?) I've decided to re-read the entire septology. It's as brilliant as ever and I can watch Rowling's progress and confidence grow as a writer with each installment. It's my life's ambition to write something as good as that series, not necessarily as well received, financially successful or as cult-inducing mind you, but just a work that in my mind is "as good as."

When that day arrives, I'll be sure to let you know!
~VK

Feelin' Lucky Friday!

And now..............champagne!

Nah, just contests. Here we go!

Flash fiction contest at Janet Reid's blog.
Prize: 101 Things I Learned in Film School and 101 Things I Learned in Business School
You've got until midnight tonight to submit!

More contests than you can possibly enter over at Adventures in Children's Publishing

And if you're more interested in submitting finished works, here is a list of deadlines:

For the literary types,
Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers - Deadline: 8/31

For the, erm, cowboy types (?) The Moonlight Mesa Associates Cowboy Up Contest. Deadline: 9/1, pardner.

For the environmentally inclined, The Bear Deluxe Magazine presents the 2010 Doug Fir Fiction Award. Deadline: 9/8

Bartleby Snopes is running their 2nd Annual "Dialogue Only" writing contest. Deadline: 9/12

And I wouldn't want to leave the poets out: The Greensboro Review is taking submissions for the 2011 Robert Watson Literary Prize. Deadline: 9/15

Happy hunting!
~VK

Post Delayed Due to Beer

Yes, yes, I know. I was supposed to put a new entry up yesterday. Well, I had a good reason not to: I was drinking.

Not just drinking for drinking's sake thought! I attended an event at Pittsburgh's Toonseum called "Toons & Brews."

The toons were everywhere: cells from TV shows, hand-drawn renderings of beloved characters, signed comic strips with editorial comments and a run of episodes from Warner Bros classic Looney Tunes (which I could watch all friggin day).

The brews were provided by Pittsburgh's very own Church Brew Works. This brewpub is built within an old cathedral and cranks out some very tasty beer. On tap last night were their very tasty Brown Ale and a special seasonal called Ambrosia that was incredible. They also had their award winning IPA in bottles. (I'm also an amateur homebrewer for those who are keeping track/want to enroll me in a 12 step program)

The beer was provided to loosen up people's inhibitions. Why, you ask? Because we would all be drawing in front of each other. With permanent markers. (Yeah our instructor took away the trusty pencil and eraser that I depend so heavily upon)

Drawing and writing have a lot in common when it comes to embarrassing uncertainty. And I love both arts, I even want to write/ink my own comic book someday, or maybe even start a web comic. The real trick to both of them is to, in the immortal words of Allen Iverson:


Practice! People are born with different levels of talent, that's for sure. That much was evident from the room full of different interpretations of the instructor's drawing. My friend who accompanied me seemed to draw things as seen through the eyes of a meth addict.

But practice and persistence is what pays off in the end. Regrettably I stopped practicing my drawing years ago. I was decent at drawing from a stock image, but I got frustrated at my inability to draw the things I could visualize in my head. And I quit.

Though last night I did win two prizes (more out of pity than skill, and more because they amused the judges than anything else), the most important thing was the rekindling of my love of drawing. And, any time you do something slightly out of your comfort zone, especially something creative, it sorta opens up your mind a little more. Since I'm mired in my writerly revisions, taking a step outside to do some goofy drawings was exactly what I needed.

Now I'm refreshed and ready to dig back into editing. If you have a local cartoonist offering booze and drawing lessons, I'd highly recommend attending. If not, just crack a cold one and get that doodlepad out.

~VK

Punctuation Celebration: Pilcrow!

As I am currently knee-deep in red ink from my first revision of Blackwatch, I thought it would be prudent to recruit some help. I've got 60,000+ words to sort through, multiple characters that may or may not be essential to the story, not to mention some truly awful dialogue.

Every time I try to cut a character, they convince me that it's better to keep them in. Some of them guilt me into submission while others threaten me with bodily harm. I started out having total control over this manuscript, but now, well it's taken on a life of its own!

For my own safety, I've enlisted a troop of hardened characters, or 'marks' if you will. This crew has been around for centuries, helping authors sort through the jumble of misspelled words and hackneyed dialogue. They cut and bump and interject wherever they see a need.

I found the ringleader of my little gang while he was working as a bouncer at a shabby jazz club in New Orleans. The place was a mess. Some of the foulest words I've ever seen were sitting at the bar, doing shots of ink and graphite. A pair of parentheses kept trying to get on either side of a word, trying to lead him over to a dollar sign with gold teeth. This was the type of place where young words could earn their capital letters.

I watched as a pair of <'s tried to get in the club, though they were clearly not old enough. The bouncer turned them aside. An @ sign and an ampersand in the club tried to tell him that they were with them. Words were exchanged, asterisks were thrown and when the dust settled, only the bouncer remained standing.

"What's your name?" I asked him. He shoved the trouble-making words and characters out of the way, shifting the entire line that had formed outside.

"Pilcrow," he said deeply. He was top-heavy and only ever faced in the direction of those words that needed a nudge. He was unafraid to throw his weight around, knowing that he could move sentences, paragraphs, whole chapters if he had to. Woe betide the careless writer who did not properly format his page settings, lest the mighty Pilcrow shift the whole manuscript out of whack. Such a powerful character, I had yet to encounter.

"Well, Pilcrow," I says, "How'd you like to do some real editing done? Some red-work? Get out of this hell-hole of flash fiction and get into something with some substance."

It was an easy sell. Now Pilcrow is on my side and my characters have stopped their bickering. If they thought I was simply going to shift their appearances around, they're sorely mistaken. Pilcrow introduced me to some other characters he knows, some more ruthless than him.

Stay tuned next week to see who else has joined my Revisionist gang!

~VK

Identity

Who would you rather hang out with:
Clark Kent or Superman?
Peter Parker or Spider-Man?
Bruce Wayne or Batman?

With the exception of that last one, I'd always go with the superhuman. (A billionaire's party beats brooding in a bat-cave any day.) Why? They're just more fun! They get to do things that ordinary people don't, or can't. Even though each of them is fully capable of handling himself in a fight, his alter-ego/public identity is often as mild and vulnerable as the meekest of us. What does this have to do with books you ask?

Well, let me ask this:
Would you read a book by Stephenie Meyer that had nothing to do with vampires?
How about a Stephen King book about baseball?
Or a football story by John Grisham?
Maybe you'd read J.K. Rowling's next project even if it had nothing to do with Harry Potter?

My point is that most famous authors are known for a specific character or series or genre. Is it that they have no interest in writing different types of stories? Is it that the authors are most comfortable in that given style? Is it that the publishers/readers would refuse to step outside what they perceive is the author's identity?

One benefit an unpublished author (such as myself) has over the big names is that we can experiment. We can find what style and genre and length of story works for us. Someone who starts off writing literary poetry can end up cranking out kid's picture books or nonfiction how-to's, or vice versa.

The difficulty is in knowing when you've hit your stride. Was my first foray into writing, a YA fantasy similar to Harry Potter, the style I'll end up in? Was my second novel, an adult horror story, more my calling? Or will I find a home in YA sci-fi, as with my current project?

And in this day and age of e-reading and e-publishing, is it necessary to limit one's self to a particular series or genre or style? I appreciate Stephen King's novels, but I absolutely love his short story collections and The Green Mile series. I wasn't a fan of Meyer's "Twilight" series, but tried "The Host" just to see if it was better (it wasn't, in my opinion). I'd read anything ever written by Rowling, literally anything.

In other words, I'm still searching for my identity. But along the way, I'm enjoying the freedom of playing around in a variety of different worlds. Here, sea monsters are as real as abusive parents, time control is as possible and effortless as wireless communication and elves, orcs and dwarves party up right alongside aliens and cyborgs.

Is there really anything better than that?

~VK