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Roxanne Bland

Roxanne Bland

Science Fiction Fantasy
    • AllAuthor AllAuthor 4 years ago
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    • If you could choose three people to invite for a dinner party, who would they be and why?
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      • Roxanne Bland Roxanne Bland 4 years ago
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      • Edgar Allan Poe, for one. My favorite author. I'd love to hear him recite "The Raven." And then maybe "Annabelle Lee." Wouldn't you? For two, Dorothy Parker. I adore her. She was so witty--who else do you know, when challenged to use the word "horticulture" in a sentence, could come up with "you can lead a horticulture but you can't make her think?" I also love her snark. One of the best! For the third, Alexander King. A brilliant raconteur. In his book "May This House Be Safe From Tigers," he hilariously described living in his family's quarters one summer as "we festered in a house not far from the shore." I laughed out loud at that one! What a dinner party that would be! It's a shame they're all dead.
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    • AllAuthor AllAuthor 4 years ago
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    • Have you ever incorporated something that happened to you in real life into your novels?
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      • Roxanne Bland Roxanne Bland 4 years ago
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      • Oh, I'm sure, though I can't give names and dates. It's only reasonable to presume that no matter the genre, a story, to some extent, reflects the writer's life experiences because a story is told through the lens of the author. I can't write a military science fiction story off the top of my head because I'm not a veteran. What I can do is interview veterans and turn their experiences into a story. They may not be MY experiences but I'm writing the story through my own lens, putting my spin on what happened to someone else.
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      • Roxanne Bland Roxanne Bland 4 years ago
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      • The only thing more important than a good cover and title is a good story. Say you walk into a party where you don't know anyone. If you were dressed like a slob, what do you think would be their first impression of you? Conversely, if you were dressed to the nines, what would they think? It's the same here. A book's cover and title is the reader's first introduction to you as an author, and you should make as good an impression as possible. The cover is the first thing the reader learns about you and your book. A book with a badly rendered cover is a turn-off. If a book has a terrible cover, what makes a reader think it's going to be a good book? The other thing to keep in mind is that a cover should give the reader an idea of what the book's about. If an author has written a book about elves, there shouldn't be aliens on the cover. The same applies to titles. A reader should find the title intriguing, to entice her to pick up the book to find out more. Finally, it's important that the title and the cover match the story the author has written. If an author has penned a sweet romance, she's not going to title it "Call of the Wild" and put a polar bear on the cover. That's an extreme example but it highlights the importance of hiring a cover designer who has a solid understanding of the genre. And speaking of designers, it's worth spending the money on a good one. This isn't to say an author should bankrupt herself but that an author should spend as much as she can afford. If the author doesn't have a lot of money, it's perfectly fine to work with stock photos but the same principles apply. Cover design is one of my biggest expenses when producing a book.
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      • Roxanne Bland Roxanne Bland 4 years ago
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      • Absolutely. Good reviews are more than just ego strokes. They tell the author what they're doing right in their storytelling. If an author has a book that's received a lot of high ratings, the author can be assured she's hit the right buttons, so to speak. More concretely, it shows that she understands her fiction genre and the elements of a story most likely to resonate with her readers. Bad reviews are disappointing but they can be helpful. Bad reviews sometimes offer an author good, constructive criticism which should not be ignored. This doesn't mean the author has to take the advice, it's just something to keep in mind. Reviews that basically say "you suck"--move on. The other thing about bad reviews I think a lot of authors don't understand is that a bad review is about your book--not you as a person. No matter how talented a writer you are, not everyone is going to like your writing. They might not like your story, your writing style, whatever. And that's okay. It doesn't mean you should turn off your computer, break your pencils, and go find something else to do. Look how many of the "classics" are getting bad reviews by today's readers--The Great Gatsby, for example. But we're talking about books that were written in a different time when writing styles were different, which might not resonate with today's readers. Can you imagine what today's readers would say about Charles Dickens?
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      • Roxanne Bland Roxanne Bland 4 years ago
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      • Yes! Good reviews are more than an ego stroke because they tell the author what she's doing right with her stories. Bad reviews are disappointing, true, but they can still be useful. If the review offers constructive criticism about the work, like maybe there's too much repetition of certain actions on the part of a character, this is great advice and the author should consider it. I received a review like that and on rereading my book, realized they were absolutely right! Other criticisms may not be as on the mark but they still offer something to keep in mind. Remember, if you write fiction (or even if you don't) the reader spent good money on your book and it's your job to make the reading worthwhile. Bad reviews that do nothing but bash--"this book should never have been published," or my favorite, "you suck!"--ignore them. Next! The most important thing though, especially for new authors, is that not everyone is going to like your book. They may not like your plot, your writing style, your characters, whatever. DO NOT take it personally. The reader doesn't like your book, not you. The reader doesn't even KNOW you. A bad review doesn't mean you have no writing talent and you should turn off your computer or break your pencils and find something else to do. Bad reviews have zero to do with your self-worth, so don't let one diminish you.
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      • Roxanne Bland Roxanne Bland 4 years ago
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      • Demanding money from authors to get published. A huge scam. Even if they claim they aren't, they're vanity publishers and that's that. Nothing wrong with being a vanity publisher but when they mislead an author, promising the moon and delivering nothing, well, that's just criminal. It also goes for publishers that, though they don't demand money up front, require authors to buy their own books. When I started out, I wrote to one asking for information, not knowing any better. They told me their process, then asked how many of my books was I willing to buy. That confused me but even back then I knew something didn't smell right. Another scam is when publishers charge authors for in-house services like editing, cover design, things like that. Agents charging for a read. I heard about one agent who charged authors for postage! A legit publisher--and an agent--never demands money from an author for anything. Publishers pay authors royalties, taking their cut out of the book's retail price. An agent gets a commission when she sells the book to a publisher. Period. I hear about authors spending thousands on these jerks and it makes me cringe. Lucky for the newbies, there are plenty of websites that target specifically the heroes and the villains in the industry. These sites are run by authors, so they know what they're talking about. My advice to anyone looking to be published, especially for the first time, is to check out these sites--Preditors and Editors and Writer Beware, for two. Another thing is these egregious publishing contracts. I read one contract that required the author to give up all rights to the work FOR LIFE. Unbelievable. But some authors, desperate to be published, sign these contracts, anyway. Makes me want to scream.
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