A friend and fellow author Alison DeLuca is launching Fantasy Island Book Publishing's blog series: Social Media for Authors. Her post is the fisrt part of this traveling series Pt. 1: A New Star in the Twitterverse. Here is a taste:
******
When I finished my book, agents and publishers never called or rang the doorbell. Once I was live on Amazon, the throngs of people clamoring to shell out three clams for my book also failed to materialize. I had to go and get them, one at a time.
One of the main tools I use to do that is Twitter. It’s a great resource for writers - in fact, I would hazard a guess that a lot of tweeps out there are writers.
When I started marketing, I had 17 followers. I now have close to 700, three months later. If you are starting off from scratch, I suggest you use your writer’s name as your twitter username, or your name + author if it’s not available. Go to Twitter .com and build a profile. Be certain to upload a nice photo – one that looks good humored or that has a bit of sass to it.
Include a short bio that mentions what your connection is to writing, as well as a link to your blogspot (more on that later.) The next step is to get a whole boatload of followers.
I built a following by participating in #WW or #WriterWednesday, and #FF or #FollowFriday. If you put some of your followers’ names in a tweet and add those hashtags, they will do the same for you. They’ll know you have done that because they will click on the @Mentions, which will bring up all the tweets with their names in them.
At a certain point the following will just start building on its own, especially if you take the time to say thank you to every new follower...
Danielle Raver is our special guest today. Her fantasy novel, Brother, Betrayed, features one of my favorite character types: the anti-hero! I’ve always found anti-heroes to be far more interesting than straight up good guys. They have a darkness inside – maybe it’s just a touch, maybe it’s a bucketload – that really opens up the potential for drama. A good guy might refuse to take part in shady dealings. An anti-hero wouldn’t think twice until it was over, and then he would have to deal with not only the consequences of his actions, but possibly guilt, as well. The more complicated the protagonist's emotions, the more involved readers will be! (for more of the interview click here)
Something about soldiers, policemen, firemen, brothers, siblings, and close friends has always appealed to me. I realized this week why.
Definitions of Camaraderie
Defined by Merriam/Websters: a spirit of friendly good-fellowship
Word English Dictionary: spiritoffamiliarityandtrustexistingbetweenfriends
The Free Dictionary: goodwill and lighthearted rapport between or among friends; comradeship
This revelation made me examine my favorite books and movies. To my surprise, each one featured a strong sense of "lighthearted rapport" and "familiarity and trust" among the characters.
Example #1 Only the Strong
My husband laughs at me because I cry at the end of this movie. Mark Dacascos, the hero Capoeira instructor, is near defeat when his students begin to sing the song he had taught them.
The theme song from Only the Strong
Example #2 All My Favorite Books
The Lord of the Rings ~ case and point... The "Fellowship" of the Ring
The Harry Potter Series ~ the friendship between Harry, Hermione, and Ron
The Dragonlance Series ~ the closeness between Tanis, Sturm, Caramon, Raistlin, Flint, and Tasslehoff made these books worth reading
Example #3 Toy Story III
Another movie that had me crying was Toy Story III, I love the friendship between Buzz and Woody.
Example #4 Brother, Betrayed (my book)
So it makes sense that I wrote a story about three brothers. Building rapport between my characters plays a large role in why I write at all.
So is it just me? How do you feel about camaraderie in movies and literature? If you are an author, are there examples in your own book?
This post is dedicated to my fellows at Fantasy Island Book Publishing. We are a team, and that makes a difference. xx
TAGS: camaraderie / Brother Betrayed / Danielle Raver / brotherhood / movies / literature / Only the Strong / Toy Story 3 / Lord of the Rings / capoeira / definition / fellowship / goodwill
Foreshadowing, prophecy, and dramatic irony are three devices used to create suspense in the reader. I will begin with an explanation of each of these devices.
Foreshadowing is a subtle hint of suspense to come. A classic example of foreshadowing is in Moby Dick. In chapter three, Ishmeal contemplates the painting in the entryway of The Spouter Inn:
"But stop; does it not bear a faint resemblance to a gigantic fish? even the great Leviathan himself?"
"The picture represents a Cape-Horner in a great hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its three dismantled masts alone visible; and an exasperated whale, purposing to spring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling himself upon the three mast-heads."
"Deeply Distressed" by Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917) ~ inspired by the above scene from Moby Dick.
Another example is from the popular novel A Game of Thrones. The dire wolf that the Stark boys found dead with an deer's antler in its throat was a hint of things to come. Okay, no spoilers for those of you just watching the series or reading the books.
Prophecy is a common component in Shakespearean and Greek tragedies. Two classic examples are Macbeth and Oedipus Rex. In Macbeth, three women, known as the weird sisters, tell Macbeth of his future rise to power. Would he have ever killed Duncan if they had not told him this destiny? There is also a component of clairvoyance and sight, in that the weird sisters are all blind, though they can see through the veil of time though a single eye they share.
In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, Oedipus's parents are given the prophecy that the babe will grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. To prevent this, the parents commanded him to be killed, resulting in his caregiver sparing his life and giving him away to be raised by others. Would Oedipus have come back to make battle with is father if he knew of his true identity? The theme of clairvoyance and sight becomes apparent when Oedipus gouges out his eyes for his inability to see the truth.
Prophecy is often used in modern literature. The inscription on the ring in The Lord of the Ring trilogy might be considered a prophecy:
"One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all
And in the darkness bind them"
(The score "Prologue" by Howard Shore, for the Lord of the Rings movies)
Prophecy is also a theme found in the Harry Potter series. J.K. Rolling utilizes prophecy throughout her books. In The Order of the Phoenix Harry learns of his mortal connection with Voldemort through a prophecy stored at the Ministery of Magic. Readers don't fully understand this prophecy until the final book, The Deathly Hollows. Again, I won't spoil it for those that haven't read it.
Finally, onto dramatic irony. Often confused with the previously discussed terms, dramatic irony means that the reader knows something that a character doesn't. A classic example of this takes place in act one of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:
"Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love"
(1950's enactment of Romeo and Juliet)
Though the readers know in the first few lines the lovers' fate, the characters never realize that their love will end in tragedy. Also, when Romeo is about to commit suicide, thinking Juliet is dead, the readers desire to tell him she is really asleep ~ thus... suspense.
An example of contemporary fantasy that incorporates dramatic irony is the Dragonlance Legends series by Weis and Hickman. In the final book A Test of Twins, Raistlin seeks to defeat the evil goddess, but the reader knows all along that he will fail.
Foreshadowing, prophecy, and dramatic irony are alive and well in contemporary fantasy. In my novel Brother, Betrayed, the hint of things to come begins with the title. Readers and authors that immerse themselves with classical examples of these literary elements will find more enjoyment and understanding when they are used in modern literature.
Please add comments of other examples you have read!
[This post is dedicated to my brother Michael, who told me he thought that modern literature has evolved out of using prophecy.]
TAGS: Shakespeare / Macbeth / Romeo and Juliet / tragedy / play / dramatic irony / prophecy / foreshadowing / J. K. Rolling / Harry Potter / The Order of the Phoenix / The Deathly Hollows / George R. R. Martin / A Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire / Starks / dire wolf / The Lord of the Rings / The Fellowship of the Rings / J. R. R. Tolkien / Dragonlance Legends / Margaret Weis / Tracy Hickman / Raistlin / Oedipus Rex / Oedipus / Sophocles / Moby Dick / Ishmeal/ Deeply Distressed / Albert Pinkham Ryder / Prologue / by Howard Shore / The Three Sisters/ Henry Fuseli / Danielle Raver / Brother, Betrayed
