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alien romances

A by-invitation group blog for busy authors of SFR, Futuristic, or Paranormal romances in which at least one protagonist is an alien, or of alien ancestry.

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Trick or Treat? Copyright My Gourd!

"Trick or Treat? Copyright My Gourd" doesn't rhyme and it does not scan, unlike the original threat, "Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet..." which, by the way, seems to me ought to be punctuated as a question.

Trust the highly creative people of the copyrightalliance to come up with something highly entertaining, seasonal, and copyright-related.

Writer Sydney Blitman discusses a question on every pumpkin carver's mind at this time of year: can I copyright my jack-o-lantern?

Apparently, you can make an argument for it. 
https://copyrightalliance.org/copyrightability-jack-o-lanterns/

Follow the link to read a most excellent blog that deals with sketches, carvings, originality, fixation, mold and more...but not deer or bears. 

All the best,

Rowena Cherry

SPACE SNARK™  
http://www.spacesnark.com/ 


Posted by RowenaBCherry at 7:00 PM 0 comments
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Friday, October 28, 2022

Writing Holiday Stories: Tricks (and Treats) by Karen S. Wiesner

 Writer's Craft Article by Karen S. Wiesner

Writing Holiday Stories: Tricks (and Treats) 

Who doesn't love to read chilling tales at Halloween that embed inside readers deeply enough for them to bite their nails, shiver, or even scream out loud?

Holiday stories have always been popular. Scrooge and those life-altering ghosts of goodwill in A Christmas Carol have been giving readers pause for reflection in the 179 years since it was first published; An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott is all about family and gathering together grateful hearts; Emma, with its matchmaking namesake, is an unexpected tale custom-made for Valentine's Day; not to mention Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman thundering through the chill autumn countryside in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Whole hosts of fiction give us reading adventures that embody the spirit of the holidays they're set around. But what distinguishes a holiday story from all others? In this article, we'll talk about three tricks writers can use to craft authentic holiday fiction that will give readers a treat year in and year out.

1          1)    Prominently Feature the Holiday Itself

Just because there's a romance alluded to somewhere in the story doesn't necessarily mean it's a Valentine's Day story any more than any old garden variety of frightening tale is specifically a Halloween one. Before embarking on a specific type of holiday story, write down what defines the particular festivity you're writing about and what you want to highlight in your unique take on it. While countless stories have become holiday favorites unintentionally, if you want to write something that could become seasonally beloved, starting with a plan is wise. Be specific about you want to accomplish using this season in your story elements because in some ways you're actually making the holiday a character that needs to be developed fully and consistently throughout the tale. The more preparation you do in advance, the more your readers will exult in how you've captured the essence of the holiday.

Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has become an annual All Hallows' favorite since it was first published in 1820, although the author may not have specifically intended it to become such a Halloween haunt. Based on a 1790 Dutch settlement, the secluded glen of Sleepy Holly depicts a quaint, autumnal countryside in which the community is fascinated by tales of the supernatural. His vivid descriptions are the driving force behind this treasured yuletide yarn:

"From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere... Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all kinds of marvellous beliefs; are subject to trances and visions; and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air. The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions: stars shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with her whole nine fold, seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols...

"On all sides he beheld vast store of apples; some hanging in oppressive opulence on the trees; some gathered into baskets and barrels for the market; others heaped up in rich piles for the cider-press. Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn, with its golden ears peeping from their leafy coverts, and holding out the promise of cakes and hasty-pudding; and the yellow pumpkins lying beneath them, turning up their fair round bellies to the sun..."

2)    Set the Mood for a Seasonal Tale

The second thing that distinguishes any holiday story is mood (or tone). Mood is a carefully constructed means of building layers of tension and suspense, and the tone almost always fits the genre. Romance stories capture the tender feelings of swoon-worthy, appealing main characters that readers will root through obstacles to see share a happily ever after. Mystery stories tend to have an escalating sense of drama and the certainty that something is just not right; only by unraveling the confounding threads and clues can peace and order once again prevail. Gothic leans toward a suffocating feel of atmospheric foreboding. Horror should have the hairs at the back of your neck standing on end and you have to fight the constant need to look back over your shoulder to see if there's something unnatural lurking there.

In the same way, Christmas stories tend to be merry, festive, nostalgic, filled with hope and cheer and benevolence. Valentine's Day stories are frequently romantic, passionate, and rife with promise for the future. Easter tales usually personify grace, redemption, and joy. Thanksgiving yarns are overflowing with the gathering of loved ones, images of feasts and bounty, the good things to be grateful for in our otherwise mundane lives. Each holiday has evocative sentiments that tend to be universal.

Sensory descriptions that evoke the individual seasons should be used in holiday stories at their most potent times. Vivid descriptions bring the reader directly into this kind of story. Using these, you give something tangible in your vision. Your reader moves and uses his senses right along with your characters. The most effective way to capture mood is by using all the senses, as Washington Irving did so effectively in his Gothic tale that contains the epitome of all things spooky:

"It was the very witching time of night that Ichabod, heavyhearted and crest-fallen, pursued his travel homewards, along the sides of the lofty hills which rise above Tarry Town, and which he had traversed so cheerily in the afternoon. The hour was as dismal as himself. Far below him, the Tappan Zee spread its dusky and indistinct waste of waters, with here and there the tall mast of a sloop, riding quietly at anchor under the land. In the dead hush of midnight, he could even hear the barking of the watch-dog from the opposite shore of the Hudson; but it was so vague and faint as only to give an idea of his distance from this faithful companion of man. Now and then, too, the long-drawn crowing of a cock, accidentally awakened, would sound far, far off, from some farm-house away among the hills—but it was like a dreaming sound in his ear. No signs of life occurred near him, but occasionally the melancholy chirp of a cricket, or perhaps the guttural twang of a bull-frog, from a neighboring marsh, as if sleeping uncomfortably, and turning suddenly in his bed."

3)    Immerse the Story in the Setting


Setting is a critical foundation to immersing characters in a world that's directly tied to the holiday you're depicting in the story. In A Writer’s Guide to Active Setting: How to Enhance Your Fiction With More Descriptive, Dynamic Settings, Mary Buckham says, "Setting can create the world of your story, show characterization, add conflict, slow or speed up your pacing, add or decrease tension, relate a character's backstory, thread in emotion, and more… Setting can add so much to your story world or it can add nothing." If you're writing a Christmas story, for example, you're literally at the mercy of your imagination when it comes to crafting prose that floods the senses with Christmas songs, scents, tastes, sights, sensations, and the sheer multitude and range of emotions that can accompany each.

In fiction, settings should be less about objective reality (impersonal) and all about subjective experience (highly personal), especially when you're writing a holiday-specific story. Settings may provide the backdrop for festivity events to unfold, but they do much more than that by creating the context of each scene. Settings can suggest conflicts, personality, memories, goals, and motivations. The connotations are endless. What does the setting reveal about the character’s state of mind, preferences, desires this holiday season? What does the setting reveal about relationships? What in the setting means the most to the main character and/or brings the most regrets? What internal conflicts and motivations can be drawn to describe holidays more tangibly as a result? Are there ways in which the current holiday setting has been influenced by something that happened in the past, and what associations can be made with past events to deepen the present? How can this setting be used to establish the foundation for escalating conflict and suspense in the course of the holiday unfolding?

When you relate all of these things to the specific festivity you're highlighting in your story, amazing prose can homogenously emerge, as it did in Irving's haunting language that screams and embodies Halloween:

"All the stories of ghosts and goblins that he had heard in the afternoon, now came crowding upon his recollection. The night grew darker and darker; the stars seemed to sink deeper in the sky, and driving clouds occasionally hid them from his sight. He had never felt so lonely and dismal. He was, moreover, approaching the very place where many of the scenes of the ghost stories had been laid. In the centre of the road stood an enormous tulip-tree, which towered like a giant above all the other trees of the neighborhood, and formed a kind of landmark. Its limbs were gnarled and fantastic, large enough to form trunks for ordinary trees, twisting down almost to the earth, and rising again into the air... The common people regarded it with a mixture of respect and superstition...

As Ichabod approached this fearful tree, he began to whistle: he thought his whistle was answered—it was but a blast sweeping sharply through the dry branches. As he approached a little nearer, he thought he saw something white, hanging in the midst of the tree—he paused and ceased whistling; but on looking more narrowly, perceived that it was a place where the tree had been scathed by lightning, and the white wood laid bare. Suddenly he heard a groan—his teeth chattered and his knees smote against the saddle; it was but the rubbing of one huge bough upon another, as they were swayed about by the breeze. He passed the tree in safety, but new perils lay before him.

About two hundred yards from the tree a small brook crossed the road, and ran into a marshy and thickly-wooded glen, known by the name of Wiley's swamp. A few rough logs, laid side by side, served for a bridge over this stream. On that side of the road where the brook entered the wood, a group of oaks and chestnuts, matted thick with wild grapevines, threw a cavernous gloom over it. To pass this bridge was the severest trial. This has ever...been considered a haunted stream, and fearful are the feelings of the schoolboy who has to pass it alone after dark.

As he approached the stream his heart began to thump... Just at this moment a plashy tramp by the side of the bridge caught the sensitive ear of Ichabod. In the dark shadow of the grove, on the margin of the brook, he beheld something huge, misshapen, black, and towering. It stirred not, but seemed gathered up in the gloom, like some gigantic monster ready to spring upon the traveller.

The hair of the affrighted pedagogue rose upon his head with terror. What was to be done? To turn and fly was now too late; and besides, what chance was there of escaping ghost or goblin, if such it was, which could ride upon the wings of the wind?"

Readers love holiday stories for good reason. Using these tips, you can help your readers get in the mood for the season with a timeless favorite they can look forward to returning to each year.

What are some of your favorite holiday stories? What elements make them timeless reading on those special days of the year?

Happy writing!


Just in time for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!

Adventures in Amethyst Trio of Holiday Romances by Karen Wiesner
 
Three holiday novels in one volume including:

Halloween: NEVER A BRIDE, Book 11: When Charlize met Ben, he was in a committed relationship--the last thing she wanted. She returns at Halloween to find that Ben and Layla have broken up, but his ex- is having a change of heart. Despite the complications, the solution could be as simple as a kiss.

Thanksgiving: UNLUCKY IN LOVE, Book 12: Layla and Adam find themselves jilted at Thanksgiving. Heartbroken and wondering if there's anything left to redeem, they re-evaluate life…and love.

Christmas: SHOTGUN WEDDING, Book 13: Right out high school, Trevor and Eden married for the baby on the way. Years later at Christmas time, she finds herself competing with the other woman he'd been interested in back then, and their shotgun wedding is called into question.

Find out more here:

http://www.writers-exchange.com/trio-of-holiday-romances/

http://mybook.to/AdventuresAmethystTrio

https://karenwiesner.wee​bly.com/adventures-in-amethyst-series.html

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

She's also an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150+ titles and 16 series. Visit her here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Posted by Karen Wiesner at 7:00 AM 0 comments
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Labels: 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection, Adventures in Amethyst Series, fiction writing, Karen S. Wiesner, Karen Wiesner, Tips, writing article, writing craft, writing reference

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Is Time Travel Impossible?

A character in C. S. Lewis's posthumously published novel fragment THE DARK TOWER asserts it is. (Granted, one faction within Lewis scholarship maintains THE DARK TOWER wasn't actually written by him, but I don't find that claim convincing. Anyway, the issue doesn't affect the point of the story.) He argues that physical travel to the past or future can't be done for a basic, irrefutable reason: A corporeal trip into a different time necessarily carries all the atoms in one's own body into that other time. But in the past, all those particles existed in other entities in the physical world, whether inanimate objects, living creatures, liquids, gasses, whatever. In the future, those same particles will again be distributed through the environment. The only way you could materialize in a different moment would be if duplicates of each of your atoms, molecules, etc. existed in the same place at the same time. According to the laws of physics as we know them, that's impossible. Therefore, physical time travel is forever, irrevocably ruled out, unless we invoke magic rather than science.

That story is the only place where I've encountered this argument, which strikes me as highly convincing. On this hypothesis, other temporal "locations" could be only viewed, never visited. Accordingly, Lewis's character has invented a device for viewing other times, although it turns out the true situation is more complicated than he believed.

While I've come across other stories of observing rather than traveling to some non-present time, I don't remember any that offer a theoretical grounding for the impossibility of temporal travel in the flesh. It's not unusual in time-travel fiction, however, for a traveler to be unable to exist in the same location more than once in the same moment. In Dean Koontz's LIGHTNING, a traveler can't visit a place/time where he already is/was. He's automatically shunted away from that point. In Connie Willis's series about time-traveling historians from a near-future Oxford University, the same prohibition applies, but it's not clear whether the simultaneous existence of two of the same person is outright impossible or would produce a catastrophic result if it accidentally happened. In such works as the Harry Potter series, THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, and Robert Heinlein's "By His Bootstraps," on the other hand, any number of you can be in the same point in space/time at once.

To me, the former rule seems more plausible, because it makes the issue of the same material object being in two places at once less obvious, although I've enjoyed lots of fiction in the second category. One possible way to get around the problem raised in Lewis's DARK TOWER: Instead of a corporeal leap into a different time, travelers might project their consciousness and build temporary bodies in the other time by "borrowing" stray particles from the surrounding air, water, and earth. When the traveler released the borrowed matter to return to his or her point of origin, the particles would dissipate harmlessly into the environment. Another method of bypassing the problem shows up in the new QUANTUM LEAP series: The leaper's consciousness occupies the body of a person in the past, presumably suppressing the host's personality in a sort of temporary, benign possession. (The time-shift operated differently in the original series, while this version does leave unanswered the question of where the leaper's body is while his immaterial consciousness travels to multiple past eras.)

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt
Posted by Margaret Carter at 8:00 AM 0 comments
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Labels: C. S. Lewis, consciousness, Dean Koontz, Harry Potter, Quantum Leap, Robert Heinlein, The Time Traveler's Wife, time travel

Saturday, October 22, 2022

Cover Me

Authors cannot copyright titles, but one always has to be a little careful when the title belongs to a song: sometimes the song consists of very few lyrics apart from the title. I would not say that that applies to Mr. Springsteen's "Cover Me".

"Cover Me" has an astounding variety of meanings, including copulation in an animal husbandry context... well, perhaps not with the "me" unless one is thinking of Pasiphae, the Minotaur's mother.

When it comes to cover art, there is another wrinkle on the horizon if an author wants to license an image of a cover model who happens to have tattoos. The tattooed model might not own the copyright to certain, decorated portions of his own skin, and the author and publisher might find themselves exposed.

In 2011, the lawyers of Proskauer Rose LLP wrote about the use of Mike Tyson's face tattoo, which was duplicated onto another actor's face in Hangover II, and a lawsuit for copyright infringement (because of the copying without the permission of the tattoo artist).
https://www.proskauer.com/newsletter/three-point-shot-july-2011

Legal blogger Brandon W. Clark of McKee Voorhees & Sease, PLC discusses the revival in legal circles of the question "who owns the copyright in a tattoo" as a tattoo artist recently prevailed in a copyright infringement lawsuit that went to trial, and the jury found in her favor.
https://www.filewrapper.com/who-owns-the-copyright-in-a-tattoo/

Follow the filewrapper link for a thorough analysis, including six photographs, and great advice.

For the recipient of a tattoo, they should make sure to agree with the artist before the art work commences about the rights, and to sign an assignment of rights. For photographers, artists, authors and publishers, they should ask to see the copyright assignment document, and probably obtain an assignment of their own before publishing the cover art... or else, perhaps, not include the tat in the cover art,

All the best,

Rowena Cherry 
SPACE SNARK™ 
http://www.spacesnark.com/  
http://www.rowenacherry.com


Posted by RowenaBCherry at 10:00 PM 2 comments
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Friday, October 21, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: Fiction Fundamentals: Writing Elbow Grease, Part 5D General Revision Choices, concluded

Writer's Craft Article

Fiction Fundamentals: Writing Elbow Grease, Part 5D

General Revision Choices, concluded

by Karen S. Wiesner

Based on Cohesive Story Building, Volume 2: 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

In this three month, in-depth series, we're going to go over what could be considered the grunge work in building a cohesive story. Revising, editing, and polishing require a little or a lot of writing elbow grease to finish the job and bring forth a strong and beautiful book.

In the previous part of this series, we went over general revision choices. Let's finish that.

Tip Sheet: Effective Revision Choices

• Don't make me repeat myself--avoid careless repetition. Watch for repeated words. If you have a noun or verb in the first paragraph of a page, then that same word again at the end of the same page, it literally jumps out at the reader. The same can be true if you repeat a word for no other reason except that you couldn't think of a better, similar, more effective one. Look carefully at the first paragraph in the example below, rife with repetition that jumps out with its overuse, then notice the differences in the published version:

It was daylight. Mortal time of day, not his, and I felt the need to see what the men had done to his once beautiful home, to see if I could indeed walk the exorcized grounds or sleep in the wooden boxes defiled by holy hosts and holy water.

I searched the wall until I found a low wooden door hanging partway open, open enough that I could squeeze my body through.

On the opposite side, the once beautiful gardens were overgrown with weeds and scrubby bushes. The abbey church that had undoubtedly once been beautiful was overgrown with scrubby bushes and weeds that surrounded the vaulted stone frames empty of their holy glass.

What had happened to the holy order that had once lived here? Did their ghosts still walk these quiet grounds, broken, desolate souls among broken dreams?

Did the vampire's soul walk with their broken, desolate souls?

***

It was daylight. Mortal time, not his, and I felt the need to see what the men had done to his home, to see if I could indeed walk the exorcized grounds or sleep in the boxes defiled by hosts and holy water.

I searched the wall until I found a low wooden door hanging partway open, enough that I could squeeze my body through.

On the opposite side, the once beautiful gardens were overgrown with weeds and scrubby bushes. The abbey church that had undoubtedly once been beautiful was covered with dead ivy that surrounded the vaulted stone frames empty of their holy glass.

What had happened to the order that had once lived here? Did their ghosts still walk these quiet grounds, desolate souls among broken dreams?

Did the vampire's soul walk with theirs?

--Mina, by Marie Kiraly

Fixing this kind of problem is an editing and polishing job that really requires a lot of uninterrupted focus.

• Then again, all repetition isn't bad. Save repetition for places where it drives the impact deeper in, rather than annoying the reader or calling attention to your words:

Nothing was enough. Sitting still wasn't enough. Getting his hands on her wasn't enough. He wanted to devour her whole.

--Falling Star, by Karen Wiesner

• A thesaurus is not always a writer's best friend. Another thing I feel I must mention is that newer writers tend to overuse their thesaurus. While variety is good, you don't want to sound like you've been using a thesaurus. For instance, in this sentence, I've clearly used my thesaurus way too often:

The redolent perfume of gingerbread accosted her the moment she strode into her ignoble tenement.

 However, this type of "thesaurus talk" is perfectly acceptable if you use it as a character tag in dialogue. I remember a character in the TV series thirtysomething who spoke like a human thesaurus. He was one of the most intriguing people on the show. I can hear Miles Drentell quite distinctly saying:

"Ah! The redolent perfume of gingerbread accosted me the moment I strode into your ignoble tenement."

As with all guidelines, none of these suggestions are hard and fast rules. You'll know it's written the way it's meant to be when it won't be cut, replaced, or reworked in any other way. Only then will your editing and polishing be complete.

Next week, we'll conclude this series on the grunge work involved in completing a story.

Happy writing!

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of Cohesive Story Building, Volume 2 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Posted by Karen Wiesner at 7:00 AM 0 comments
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Labels: article, Cohesive Story Building, craft of writing, fiction, fiction writing, Karen S. Wiesner, Karen Wiesner, revising, Tips, writing craft, writing reference

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Animal Souls?

It's possible that spiders dream. Also octopuses and some birds and fish:

If Animal Dreams Imply Sentience

This article proposes (following the example of WHEN ANIMALS DREAM, a recent book by David PeƱa-GuzmƔn) that dreaming suggests an animal is sentient, "a unique individual who experiences life and processes it via thoughts and feelings." The article mentions multiple examples of animals that appear to display emotions and mental states such as joy, sorrow, empathy, gratitude, friendship, loneliness, and self-awareness. Many creatures have been observed coming to the aid of other members of their species, even at personal risk to themselves. The authors of the article go further and propose, "If a creature can feel and express feeling. . . then it is entirely possible that it is a spiritual being."

Clearly, they're using the term "spirituality" more broadly than most people do. For these authors, it seems the capacity for self-awareness, emotion, and response to other living beings constitutes spirituality. The article also suggests animals have souls. By this term, the writers don't mean "soul" as an incorporeal part of the personality that survives death. In fact, they state explicitly that they aren't asserting anything specifically religious. "The stronger capability a given species has for fellow feeling, the more likely it is that members of that species have perceptions we would recognize as spiritual. . . . The ability to emote is, in our estimation, a nascent form of soul." They're advancing a "biophilia view that many sorts of creatures share a connected sentience" on our planet.

Classically, Aristotle propounded a similarly broad definition of "soul" as "intrinsic principles of animal and vegetable life." All living things have souls, in ascending orders of complexity. The vegetative or nutritive soul contains the elements of growth, nutrition, and reproduction. The sensitive soul has the powers of sensation, emotion, and desire. The highest, the rational soul, constitutes the capacity for reason. Plants have only vegetative souls. Animals have both vegetative and sensitive souls. Human beings, in addition, have rational souls. This essay from the online ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA explains the concept in more detail:

Aristotle's Philosophy of Mind

Contrary to the view of animal cognition prevalent until only a few decades ago, contemporary biologists seem to be discovering more and more evidence that "lower" life forms exist on a continuum with us, not separated by a sharp line.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt
Posted by Margaret Carter at 8:00 AM 0 comments
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Labels: animal emotions, animal intelligence, Animal Soul, Aristotle, dreaming

Saturday, October 15, 2022

Where The Sun Doesn't Shine

Sunlight is said to be the best disinfectant, so Louis Brandeis said.

Eyal Zamir and Christoph Engel ponder cases where anonymity and lack of transparency serve justice better, such as the desirability of ensuring that American jurors are not doxxed and influenced (for instance, and my words, by vociferous persons who have not heard all the evidence). 

https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2021/05/sunlight-best-disinfectant-or-it-anonymity-means-enhance-impartiality

When it comes to reviews, whether of works of literature or products or services that are being marketed to potential customers, clients or investors, full disclosure is preferable....and even enforced by law.

Lack of disclosures bit Kim Kardashian recently, when an example was made of her by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission because she appeared to recommend some kind of cryptocurrency without advising her myriads of followers that she had been paid "a consideration" to promote said product.

(Myriads of... is appropriate here, as the lady doubtless has many multiples of ten thousand followers. Some say, she has 331,000,000 of them.)

https://www.allaboutadvertisinglaw.com/2022/10/keeping-up-with-disclosures-sec-punishes-kim-kardashian-for-crypto-promotion.html#page=1

Legal bloggers Leonard L. Gordon, Christopher L. Boone and Michael A. Munoz  of the law firm Venable LLP explain why a too-short series of social media posts caused Kim Kardashian to not only forfeit the $250,000 that she was paid, but also $1,000,000, and other costs.

The SEC has stated, “Any celebrity or other individual who promotes a virtual token or coin that is a security must disclose the nature, scope, and amount of compensation received in exchange for the promotion.”

Meanwhile, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is taking an active interest in the use and abuse of customer/reader/guest reviews and the dark phenomenon of consumer review fraud.

There are businesses that spring up like mushrooms (in the dark, where the sun don't shine), that for a fee will post fake positive reviews of whatever their customers pay to promote, and at the same time will post fake negative reviews for their paying customers' competitors.

It is claimed that some will edit other peoples' reviews without the author's consent, either to tweak them into something more positive or more negative. One would have thought that such a practice would be some kind of copyright infringement! There are also platforms that will simply delete negative reviews.

Reviews are a low-cost and quite powerful marketing tool for authors, professionals, hotel chains and even doctors and dentists, but as with the problems that social media influencers can bring upon themselves for not disclosing what is paid-for, reviewers ought to know that they must disclose any incentives they might have been given in exchange for their review.

Here is a brief snip from the Federal Trade Commission guidance

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/featuring-online-customer-reviews-guide-platforms

  1. Don’t ask for reviews only from people you think will leave positive ones.

  2. If you offer an incentive to consumers for leaving a review, don’t condition it, explicitly or implicitly, on the review being positive. Even without that condition, offering an incentive to write a review may introduce bias or change the weight and credibility that readers give that review. For these reasons, some platforms have prohibited incentivized reviews altogether or have established mechanisms for labeling them.

  3. Don’t prevent or discourage people from submitting negative reviews.

Legal bloggers Alexandra Megaris  and Peter Kim of the law firm Venable LLP's All About Advertising Law blog discuss various unfair and deceptive acts, and share great tips for platforms, marketers and reviewers.

https://www.allaboutadvertisinglaw.com/2022/10/a-sign-of-the-times-federal-trade-commission-releases-guidance-on-consumer-reviews.html#page=1

All the best,

Rowena Cherry 
SPACE SNARK™ 
http://www.spacesnark.com/   
http://www.rowenacherry.com
EPIC Award winner, Friend of ePublishing..


 

Posted by RowenaBCherry at 8:30 PM 0 comments
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Friday, October 14, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: Fiction Fundamentals: Writing Elbow Grease, Part 5D General Revision Choices, continued


Writer's Craft Article

Fiction Fundamentals: Writing Elbow Grease, Part 5D

General Revision Choices, continued

by Karen S. Wiesner

Based on Cohesive Story Building, Volume 2: 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

In this three month, in-depth series, we're going to go over what could be considered the grunge work in building a cohesive story. Revising, editing, and polishing require a little or a lot of writing elbow grease to finish the job and bring forth a strong and beautiful book.

In the previous part of this series, we went over general revision choices. Let's continue.

Tip Sheet: Effective Revision Choices

• As a general rule, avoid long sentences. While it's true that a dramatic scene should have longer sentences than an action scene, be careful not to have too many. Overuse of long sentences makes the style of writing clunkier than it needs to (and should) be. Take this example, for instance:

It was too terrible to close his eyes, and they burned with an internal pressure while his mouth was locked open in a scream that never came--at least he still recognized the shapes around him as hallucinations.

Now the panting confusion of this sentence might seem extreme, but I see sentences like this all the time as a contest judge and critic. Sentences can't be readily comprehended, let alone absorbed, in this form. Most readers can digest a single action or idea, perhaps two, in a single sentence. Any more than that, and they start to get confused and can't follow the action.

Think about each portion of a sentence as one action/idea that needs to be comprehended by the reader. For instance, one action/idea could be that the hero can't close his eyes. Next, he's realizing that he can at least still recognize the shapes as hallucinations. Then his mouth is locking open in a scream. You get the picture. Now let's look at this example as it was published in its more digestible, pleasing format in Thunderhead, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child:

It was too terrible. He could not close his eyes, and they burned with an internal pressure. His mouth was locked open in a scream that never came. At least he still recognized the shapes around him as hallucinations.

Imagine if every single sentence in your book was made up of three or four actions/ideas. It would read like you were plodding one mucky step after the other through a swamp.

Breaking up long sentences into two or more, as seen in the examples below, makes them much more immediate, and allows the reader to absorb what she's reading more easily.

Collet wheeled, his anger brimming as he thought, They lured us upstairs with the intercom! Searching the other side of the bar, he found a long line of horse stalls but no horses. Apparently the owner preferred a different kind of horsepower; the stalls had been converted into an impressive automotive parking facility, and the collection was astounding, including a black Ferrari, a pristine Rolls-Royce, an antique Astin Martin sports coupe, a vintage Porsche 356.

***

Collet wheeled, anger brimming. They lured us upstairs with the intercom! Searching the other side of the bar, he found a long line of horse stalls. No horses. Apparently the owner preferred a different kind of horsepower; the stalls had been converted into an impressive automotive parking facility. The collection was astounding--a black Ferrari, a pristine Rolls-Royce, an antique Astin Martin sports coupe, a vintage Porsche 356.

--The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

In the revised version, we get rid of as, realized, and that, and the result has a smoother rhythm and more impact. You'll also notice that the revised version just reads smoother, more like the music flow we're striving for as composing writers. Break your sentences up so readers can readily digest them.

The editing and polishing stage is the perfect time to be on the lookout for those overly long sentences. If you have to take a highlighter to each one so you're focused on fixing this problem, know that the end result will be well worth your effort.

• Unassuming it. I'm guilty of assuming that everyone will understand what I mean when I use the word it. Most writers do have some guilt in this regard. This happens most often in a first draft, but during editing and polishing, pay special attention to this little word to make sure you're not assuming your reader will know what you mean with its use. The word it, especially when used near the beginning of a sentence, loses focus and therefore impact on the reader. Don't let it sit there, assuming a role that hasn't been defined, explained, or adequately described. Try to make it more specific in your sentences, for instance:

It had taken a heavy toll on him, but he didn't appreciate seeing proof in the mirror.

This sentence begs a myriad of questions. What took a heavy toll? A death, an accusation, a sledge hammer? Any one of these and a million more could work. Luckily, this author didn't allow an it to assume itself to the reader.

The past year had taken a heavy toll on him, but he didn't appreciate seeing proof in the mirror.

--The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

Next week, we'll conclude the general revision choices.

Happy writing!

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of Cohesive Story Building, Volume 2 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Posted by Karen Wiesner at 7:00 AM 0 comments
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Labels: article, Cohesive Story Building, craft of writing, fiction, fiction writing, Karen S. Wiesner, Karen Wiesner, revising, Tips, writing craft, writing reference

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Putting the Fact in Fantasy

I've just finished reading an essay anthology titled PUTTING THE FACT IN FANTASY, edited by Dan Koboldt. The contents, contributed by over thirty different specialists, explore a wide range of subjects writers of fantasy may need to know about in order to make their fictional settings feel authentic. The foreword emphasizes the importance of getting the mundane background right. Readers will accept the wildest flights of fantasy if they're grounded in a world that functions believably. Conversely, if errors appear in details supposedly faithful to how things function in the real world, the audience won't trust the author enough to suspend disbelief in the fantastic elements. As a famous line from THE MIKADO puts it, we need those realistic background features "to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative." The introduction, titled “How to Ask an Expert,” contains practical advice on getting help from people with firsthand knowledge and experience.

Regardless of the depth and breadth of an author's research, flawless accuracy is seldom if ever attainable; minor goofs will inevitably crop up. Thus, the foreword bears the title "The Point Is to Screw Up Better." This book aims to help authors avoid errors in portrayal of environments, social structures, animals, weapons, etc. that might jar the reader out of the imaginary world. The anthology is divided into six parts, covering the broad areas of actual history as inspiration, languages and culture, world-building (e.g., money, food and drink, plants, ecology, politics, among other topics), weapons and warfare, horses, and wilderness adventure. Each category includes a wide range of sub-topics (aside from the horse section, which is more tightly focused). Entertaining as well as useful, the book could be picked up and dipped into in any order. The contents tend to consist of short, quick reads.

Therein lies its one drawback. Most of the essays comprise broad introductions to their topics. Some contain suggestions for further reading, but many don't. On the other end of the scale, some contributions list highly specific content such as popular myths about horses, fascinating material but touching on only one aspect of a wide field. Still, PUTTING THE FACT IN FANTASY, although subtitled "Expert advice to bring authenticity to your fantasy writing," includes information that could benefit authors in almost any genre. If nothing else, it's a fun read that may spark ideas for adding depth to the physical and social environment of your story.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt
Posted by Margaret Carter at 8:00 AM 0 comments
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Labels: craft of writing, fantasy, Research, verisimilitude

Saturday, October 08, 2022

FOGGY BOTTOMS

Disclaimer: this is not about Foggy Bottom, the place.  "Bottoms" is being used as a verb with connotations of lowness and swampiness for the conduct --alleged conduct-- of a data broker that would very much prefer that smart phone users remain in the dark about how it uses advertisements to track users movements.
 
The E.F.F. blogger rejoicing in the unlikely name of Bennett Cyphers describes how it works, how you can thwart it, and why such mass surveillance matters since it is sold to law enforcement without any probable cause or warrant.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/08/inside-fog-data-science-secretive-company-selling-mass-surveillance-local-police
 
This technology can reveal where the device-owner works, studies, sleeps, worships, frequents, works out, shops, goes for medical treatment, visits a ballot drop box, attends a protest, and more. Apparently, all they need is for a smart phone user to turn on an app.  Watch out for those weather apps!
 
There are multiple links to other E.F.F. revelations about warrantless surveillance.

You always knew that you were "the product", but perhaps you did not know how much. Every time you click "Agree", you are signing a contract that is almost invariably one-sided (not your side), unilateral, and arbitrary.

E.F.F.'s bloggers Saira Hussain and Will Greenberg discuss other invasions of smart phone users' privacy, especially in the context of Electronic Monitoring, which might be especially egregious when the user has no choice about "consenting", and where the user also has to allow all contacts in the phone address book to be "shared" (and often monetized).
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/09/study-electronic-monitoring-smartphone-apps-confirms-advocates-concerns-privacy

For anyone with copyrights to protect, the Copyright Alliance is working with RightsClick, and there will be a free webinar on copyrights which takes place on October 17th.
https://rightsclick.com/news/webinar-10-17-22-rsvp/
 
The webinar is free. RightsClick is offering prizes to Copyright Alliance members. Membership of the copyrightalliance.org is free. Membership of righsclick is not, apart from this webinar. For more info on RightsClick, see here https://rightsclick.com/about/
 
All the best,
 
Rowena Cherry 
SPACE SNARK™
http://www.spacesnark.com/  
http://www.rowenacherry.com
EPIC Award winner, Friend of ePublishing for Crazy Tuesday


Posted by RowenaBCherry at 5:00 PM 0 comments
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Friday, October 07, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: Fiction Fundamentals: Writing Elbow Grease, Part 5D General Revision Choices, continued


Writer's Craft Article

Fiction Fundamentals: Writing Elbow Grease, Part 5D

General Revision Choices, continued

by Karen S. Wiesner

Based on Cohesive Story Building, Volume 2: 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

In this three month, in-depth series, we're going to go over what could be considered the grunge work in building a cohesive story. Revising, editing, and polishing require a little or a lot of writing elbow grease to finish the job and bring forth a strong and beautiful book.

In the previous part of this series, we went over general revision choices. Let's continue.

Tip Sheet: Effective Revision Choices

• Watch adverb usage. Go over your story with a highlighter, picking out all the adverbs that end with -ly. You can't and won't--and contrary to what most experts will tell you--you shouldn't get rid of all of them. Adverbs have their place, just as adjectives do, so don't go crazy on this point and turn out an adverb-free story as if you'll win an award just for managing this feat. That said, it is very true that adverb-overwhelmed narrative tends to bog a story down. There's usually a better (less boring) way of writing these words that so easily pepper a first draft, such as in this example:

Guilt ran thickly through Jacquelyn's blood.

***

Jacquelyn's blood ran thick with guilt.

--A Time to Mend, by Angela Hunt

A lot is conveyed in the second version that wasn’t in the first, so the change involved more than simply cleaning up an adverb. In the second version (the published one), the delivery of the sentence itself is action-packed and to the point. You can almost feel shame, a violent and dirty emotion, polluting the character's veins. You want images like this to come through as you’re editing and polishing, so watch for opportunities to refine them.

• Avoid overused words. Was/wasn't, were/weren't, did/didn't, have/haven't, is/isn't, are/aren't, to be/been are some the most common culprits. Using a different color highlighter or your computer search function, highlight these words to see how often you're using them, then try to find viable substitutes for them. When I critique someone else's work or judge a contest entry, I usually find hundreds of these within just a few pages. While you can't and shouldn't get rid of all of them, make sure you're using as much active voice as possible.

To give you an example of what a difference it makes to clean up these words, below you'll see basically the same sentence, but written without overused words in the second example:

He'd have known it anyway. Fury was something he felt like pure energy coming from it in waves. It was hot and powerful, rolling toward him like heat from a house fire.

***

He'd have known it anyway--he could feel fury as pure energy coming from it in waves, like heat from a house fire.

--Constantine, by John Shirley

Both of these examples say about the same thing. The difference is that the first is written in an unimaginative, overwhelming, passive voice, the second in an active, impacting one that's extremely effective. It's just tighter and clearer to read.

Remove the clutter of unnecessary words as much as possible in your editing and polishing. Do the same for a whole host of careless choices in sentence structure. One culprit that crops up inevitably is the little phrase was going to. In a sentence like "She was going to be strong and independent," the was going to can easily be replaced with would. Or better yet, She'd. The outcome, "She'd be strong and independent," is right to the point without unnecessary words to clutter it up.

• Overused "idea stringers". Replace words like when, as, realized, wondered, occurred, felt, seem, appear, look. These are some of the most overused words in existence because they string ideas together so easily. But if you see them more than once per page, they start to call attention to themselves. As with adverbs, you can't get rid of them all, but you can reword or vary them. One way to handle this situation is to replace these words with more effective words or phrases:

She was greeted by the scent of gingerbread when she stepped into her apartment.

***

The scent of gingerbread greeted her the instant she stepped into her apartment.

We also get rid of that dreaded was in this revision. When can also be replaced with while, once, before/after, as, etc. Another good way to deal with these worn words is to take them out completely, dividing the sentence into two or more sentences instead:

She realized she could have called out to him only after he walked away and turned the corner.

***

He walked away. She watched him in mute shock. Only after he turned the corner did the word "Wait!" fill her throat with violent need.

While the first example is succinct, it reads very slowly and is a bit unfocused. The second version has a lot more impact, putting the reader both in the scene and in the character's viewpoint, as well as eliminating overused words.

• Start with a bang. Avoid sentences that begin with There was/were, It was, They were, He was. They tend to slow things down, and risk putting your reader to sleep. An example of passive construction, and suggested revision follow:

There was no evidence that he had heard her.

***

If he heard her, he gave no indication.

This one is another example of the reader looking through a glass pane at your character versus being with the character. You truly do want your reader with your characters.

• Wilt thou use contractions, or continue to live in the past? I honestly don't know why contractions are an issue, but I've lost count of how many contemporary contest entries and books I've read in which the writer refuses to use contractions (and, yes, that emphasis is important to note because a writer who refuses to use contractions is one who refuses to allow her characters to decide how they will or won't speak). We live in the twenty-first century. Everyone uses contractions in verbal speech, and our written words should reflect that.

Remember that the words you use have an impact on the reader's perceptions of the characters. A character who never uses contractions will come off as stuffy, uptight, and snooty. Besides, using contractions will give your sentences more immediate impact. So please do use contractive forms of had, have, will, etc. as much as you can if you're writing a contemporary story. Check out these examples, with the better ones coming from The Ocean Between Us, by Susan Wiggs:

She had said all those things many times before.

***

She'd said all those things many times before.

She still could not believe she had gone through with it.

***

She still couldn't believe she'd gone through with it.

While editing and polishing, you can easily use a highlighter or the search function of your word-processing program to make sure you don't inadvertently leave a cannot or have not in there. Save contractions for when someone is speaking in dialogue and making a point (possibly in anger) by not using a contraction instead.

Next week, we'll continue with the general revision choices.

Happy writing!

Karen S. Wiesner is the author of Cohesive Story Building, Volume 2 of the 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

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Prologue and Back cover copy from KNIGHT'S FORK
http://lsc.audioacrobat.com/download/36a63b92-29ef-5245-6f13-fcbee63c2ed6.mp3

Having failed to persuade 'Rhett to be a sperm donor for her, when she whispered her request at a royal banquet, the Queen visits 'Rhett in private (in a brothel) to try more heavy handed tactics.

Chapter Five (Bedroom scene)
http://lsc.audioacrobat.com/download/8a97474a-742b-325a-2055-daf3d7cb1661.mp3

Commercial:
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