All posts by Amber

Never doubt that your story matters. It maintains the past AND creates the future.

My Reads, Writing, ,

This morning I stumbled from my bed to the coffee maker, turning on NPR along the way.

The first story to penetrate my brain was about President Obama’s upcoming trip to Asia.  The reporter began, “The narrative President Obama is going tell…”  He went on to describe how the future of the US economy lies in Asia rather than Europe.  So our president is going to tell a story that he hopes will create the future for the US that he desires.  You understand me?  Stories can create the future.

The second piece was from Story Corp, a project beloved by me because it collects and values the stories of everyday Americans.  In this segment, Frank Curre, a Pearl Harbor survivor, tells the story of that attack.  He describes helping with the rescue efforts and concludes by saying,

I still have the nightmares, never got over the nightmares. And with God as my witness, I read my paper this morning — and right now, I can’t tell you what I read. I can’t remember.But what happened on that day is tattooed on your soul. There’s no way I can forget that. I wish to God I could.

Frank Curre may wish that he could forget, but I, for one, am glad he can’t because his story maintains the past.

Finally, let me share with you a bit of science.

In THE ART OF IMMERSION (an amazing read), Frank Rose describes the research of Demis Hassabis, a game designer and PhD neuroscientist.  He studied the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in memory.  If memory works by assembling the bits and pieces of the experience during recall (rather like a puzzle than vs. a video tape), then he supposed the processes of memory and imagination should be linked.  He found subjects with damage to the hippocampus and put them through a series of visual suggestions (e.g. imagine yourself on a beach).

The results were amazing.  People who had damage in the memory center of their brain could not dredge up complex imaginings. In other words, the same part of Frank Curre’s brain that remembers the bombing of Pearl Harbor is also capable of creating the future.

We are hard-wired for story.  And it MATTERS!

Today on my run I saw an old car with a bleeding eye, skunk-sprayed dogs, a smashed snake and…

Antics, Writing, , ,

 

… a talking mud puddle, sunlight shining on moss, and barges on the river below.   Running is good for my writing, my monkey mind, and my butt.  I am lucky that I get to run in the forest on a ridgeline high above my city.  There is lots to distract me from the burn in my legs and the feeling of near-suffocation as I run.

I was inspired to starting running by my writer friend and fellow Scriva, Liz Rusch.  She described her ideal writing day as one in which she went for a run, ate a big breakfast with eggs, and then went to the Sterling Writer’s Room at the Central Library in Multnomah County to work for a solid 4-6 hour stretch.

After I got the right gear for running in our wet, cold winters, I too embraced this start to my day.  I fell off the wagon for awhile because I was busy with the horses and sheep at the barn (that was good for writing too), but I’m back to my running.  And except for the squashed snake, it was a damn good way to start the day.  I’m off to write.  Maybe you should go run!

Getting jazzed about telling great stories in new ways

My Reads

On Wednesday, we launched Angel Punk Issue #1 at Things From Another World on Sandy.  It was a killer party!  And I particularly loved watching the guys flourish those shiny sharpies over Val’s fantastic covers.  I can hardly wait until I’m the one with pen in hand, but before that happens, a whole lot more words need to get on the page.  Come to think of it, the team is making me do the heavy lifting in the text production department.  What’s up with that?

Anyway, at the party, I was talking to one of our early supporters and telling him about the great response we had to the transmedia presentation we gave at KidLitCon 2011.  Our panel, widely talked up in the kidlit blogsphere, was called “epic” among other nice things!  We also got a short write-up in School Library Journal and invitations to speak to the publishing program at Portland State University as well as the Youth Services Librarians for Multnomah county.

But back to the party… Our mystery man asked me what people were most excited about—The story? The character? The means of telling?  Good question!  There’s no doubt that a kick-ass heroine who’s trying to do the right thing (even if her perspective is a little warped at times) is a huge draw to the Angel Punk universe.  I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of epic struggles and the hero’s journey.  But among the kidlit in-crowd, the idea of interwoven yet stand-alone stories is what fires the imagination.

None of us think that the traditional book form is really going to die (in spite of dire reports) because humans love good stories well-told.  What is changing is the way in which fans want to participate in the experience of the story.  Here’s the traditional model: (1) troubled writer alone in garret fights madness by writing stories, (2) writer is discovered and can afford alcohol again, and (3) story travels a one-way, straight-line path to the reader’s head.

In the transmedia model, we want to make story delivery less linear and definitely not uni-directional.  Angel Punk has an inner circle of creators but once the bones are in place, that circle will widen to include enthusiasts of the universe.  This is a model that can evolve with changing technologies not be made obsolete by it.  Books will change—how they look, how we get them, and how we read them—but good storytelling sticks around.  And not all stories are best served by a traditional book.  Some are so visual that comics or film are better media vehicles.  Others require a distinct audio component.

Ultimately, I think the kidlit bloggers were excited about Angel Punk because it leaps beyond current forms of storytelling and promises to engage reader/fans on many levels.  With that… I’m back to work.  And don’t worry, I’m not fighting madness or drinking myself silly.

 

 

 

Report from KidLitCon 2011 – CONNECTION and AUTHENTICITY

Events, Travel, ,

KidLitCon 2011 was all about CONNECTION and AUTHENTICITY.  It was invigorating like this killer mural I passed in Seattle.

(Forgive the cross-posting with VivaScriva.com, but I couldn’t decide which blog needed this post more!)

Unlike many writers’ conferences, which are tinged with an air of desperation, the path to publication was NOT the focus.  Instead KidLitCon attendees are primarily bloggers focused on connecting authors and their books to readers.  Not as marketers (though some authors assume that every blog is a lightly veiled form of advertisement) but as matchmakers devoted to getting the right book in the right hands.  Need proof?  Take the passionate conversation with Colleen Mondor about how her review of a book she loved could “best serve the book.”  Inspiring!

It was deeply satisfying for me to meet others (in person, since I had connected with many via Twitter) who are committed to the tripartite nature of story-telling.  There must be a story, a teller, and an audience.  CONNECTION—I love it!

Another key take home for me was that these connections had to be AUTHENTIC.  Truth starts with the story.  The panel on diversity (Lee Wind, Sarah Stevenson, Brent Hartinger,Sara Ryan, Justina Chen) reminded us that the heart of the story is inhabited by authentic, non-stereotypical characters whatever their ethnicity and orientation.  Writers (no matter their ethnicity or orientation) must get it right for truth to infuse the story.

Much discussion on authenticity circled around how we review books.  Bloggers make many choices about their own process and the key is transparency.  If you only discuss books you like (book recommendations vs. critical book reviews) then say so on your blog.  If you’re taking on the crucial job of true book reviews, remember that critique is not a litany of failures.

Authenticity was also a theme of Holly and Shiraz Cupala’s presentation on DIY marketing.  They urged authors to focus on giving value to bloggers, potential readers, book store buyers, and librarians.  We shouldn’t be trying to trick people into switching tooth paste brands.  We should be trying to fill a need.  Shiraz shared a quote from Simon Sinek: “People don’t buy what you do.  They buy why you do it.”  Isn’t that another way of saying we all want the heart of the story?

Perhaps the best gift of KidLitCon 2011 was the synergy with Angel Punk.  Devon Lyon, Matthew Wilson, Jake Rossman, and I presented a panel entitled The Future of Transmedia Storytelling: Angel Punk, Pottermore, and Skeleton Creek.  (For those of you who weren’t there, transmedia tells interwoven but non-overlapping story lines through multiple forms of media.  In our case, film, comics, novel, and online.)  Transmedia is about CONNECTION because of fan participation in the story-telling process and because each form of media engages and unites a different set of fans.  It was exciting to see the enthusiasm of other KidLitCon attendees for both our approach to story-telling and the heart of our story itself.  (Thanks, you guys!)

I’m still flying high from KidLitCon 2011.  I left with real, true, new friends—CONNECTION and AUTHENTICITY.

The Evil M Word: Marketing (or How NOT to Piss People Off)

Antics

Today I received, through the author contact form on this site, a press release for a forth-coming, much anticipated YA novel.  The Angel Punk team snagged an ARC of the aforementioned title at ComicCon so I have, in fact, already read it.  And I loved it.  It’s a great read, beautifully executed, and well worth your time and money.

By now (thanks to my masterful use of suspense), you’re begging to know what it is.  But I’m not going to tell you. Why, you ask?  Because it pissed me off to get a marketing blurb over my author site from someone I’ve never heard of.  This guy (not the author, who is a genuinely nice person) is scanning blogs that mention YA, paranormal, angel, or whatever and finds me as a spam target.  ARRGH!

Holly & Shiraz Cupala gave a killer talk on DIY book marketing at the KidLitCon in Seattle last weekend.  The workshop included a list of 72 ways authors can market their books.  (I know you wish you had one.  Holly and Shiraz should sell them.  The list is that good!).  The take home message: give your targets something of value.

Let me repeat: VALUE

That means a book mark, a way to use the book in curriculum, a comic book teaser, a few free chapters, a behind-the-scenes look…  Something that will add to my experience of your book if I read it.

But the bait and switch where I get all excited because I think that someone cares enough about my site to use the author contact form and then spams me.  Puke.  Don’t do it!