So what about a film script?

Back from Fox Studios Sydney

Hi Folks

Wow, what a week it's been. It's a long story but to cut to the chase, I've been to Sydney and ended up at Fox Studios watching some post-production on an up and coming Australian film. I can't really talk about the film or how I got the invite but I can say that I am inspired to write and keep writing having seen the end product of what is, after all, the dream of most writers –– to see your work in film with famous actors cast as the characters that came from your imagination. 

Don't jump to conclusions here as I haven't been offered any lucrative deals for any of my work but yes, I do know someone. I saw some of the editing and watched the sound being put together on some very impressive equipment operated and creatively overseen by some amazing people. I was able to draw parallels between the creative decisions made with regards to image and sound and the creative process in writing where you have to use the fixed codes and conventions of the language to convey the emotions and the meaning that go beyond the technicalities of the medium. 

It was great to see the director making the same sorts of decisions I make when I write. Again, don't get me wrong, the guy I was talking to writes and directs and has professional notoriety, respect and has made a shed load of cash doing it. Me... well it was great to get a bit of advice. Nevertheless, I have come out of the experience inspired and am thinking of taking a different approach and putting my next project together as a script. I  have heard that this can sometimes suit work that isn't quite suited to the novel format. Maybe I am just dreaming here but that is what this blog and my project are all about. If I do this I will still make sure that I can load it up as a novel on smashwords so look out for the yet-to-be-named book about a band. 

Speaking of this, I haven't been doing a lot of work lately as I have been galavanting all over Australia and trying to get some study in at the same time. I have just finished learning what I need to know about alternative dispute resolution and tried to get some reading done on the flight home. My return flight from Sydney had been cancelled the day before and I had been put up in a hotel but just missed out on an upgrade to business. This was all good until while the passengers were boarding, a guy sat next to me and started reading. I had already settled my elbows into the comfortable economy seat reading position when he made a grumbling sound and physically pushed my elbow off the armrest and asked me if it was going to be like this during the flight. Well... for all my study in conflict resolution, rather than separate the person from the problem, look to the interests and try and expand the pie with mutual and neutral options, I just told him to &^%$#@# off loudly and aggressively. It worked like magic, not another word or a move back to the armrest. 

Not sure what the moral of the story is here but I think it has something to do with needing to take a position sometimes and playing hard.

Anyway, the novellas are doing well with uploads for 'Memoirs of a Vending Machine' doubling over the last couple of months. This has resulted in a few more sales for 'Kujira'. I did one last edit of 'Memoirs' and re-organised the various chapters with some new titles and just a little re-writing. I am now satisfied that 'Memoirs' is all done and I can move on.  

I haven't yet done my guest blog and will post that when it is done.

Anyway, that's all for now so... ogenki de ne.

Beerybaraoyaji

Guest blogger Adam on the creative process

 Beerubaraoyaji takes a break

Hi Folks

Sorry I've been absent for a little while. I promised a guest blogger––someone involved in the creative process and here it is. I have been in touch with a few people who have been following my blog and reading my ebooks and have discovered that they too have a creative soul and an interesting story to tell. I provided a link to Andy, a game designer who has read all my ebooks. After a series of exchanges relating to some download issues with one of the ebooks it became obvious that Andy had his own interesting story. He has been most encouraging so I provided a link to his free download as a way of reciprocating his creative commentary. In the same way, Adam has helped me with some great feedback on both Memoirs of a Vending Machine and Kujira. It turns out that Adam also has an interesting story to tell about the creative process. Although he writes regularly for a column in his local newspaper, he does not at this stage aspire to becoming an author and offers his advice on the basis of a range of experiences related mainly to music/video. I found that his advice applies equally as well to the budding musician/artist as it does to the budding novelist or game designer. Adam has provided a link to his web page where you can find out more about him and the music that he plays. I am particularly fond of the works he has recorded on harp and find his quirky videos entertaining.

Guest blogger Adam B Harris

Guest blogger Adam B Harris is a multi-instrumentalist composer who runs a recording studio located in Goomalling in the wheatbelt of Western Australia.  When not being a studio guy Adam has a growing involvement in filmmaking and is currently working on several projects in this area.  Adam takes some time out here to talk about his ideas of what it is to be an artist and the creative cycle.

Greetings all. I was complimenting James (Beerubaraoyaji) the other day on his great series of eBooks when he told me about his blog and suggested that I do a guest spot. I'm not really a writer but I've worked over the years with a number of art forms and multimedia which should qualify me to make some informed observations at any rate. I am an artist and in saying that I mean that it is “artist” that I write down in the occupation spot on my income tax return. Its taken me a number of years to get there and I'm still coming to terms with what that means.

From birth Hollywood feeds us many myths about what an artist is, what an artist does and how they live. In reality, a professional artist follows a cyclic product development process of planning, production and promotion. If a person engaged in artistic endeavour is not doing this, then it is likely that they are not a professional artist. They are probably a professional something else that is doing a little art related activity on the side.

The Planning Cycle :-

First comes the idea or artistic vision. Three things here:

1.    The artist needs to come up with the idea of presenting something people can relate to. If nobody can relate to the concepts presented, then the production cycles will be short lived (even if propped up by angels) and the artist will fail.

2.    The idea also needs to be to some extent congruent with the artist's experience and knowledge otherwise it isn't going to fly in the real world.

3.    The artist needs to imbue the idea with their original slant, otherwise its not really art, its just a copy, or something worse.

Production Cycle :-

The artist marshals what resources they have at their disposal in the way of land, labour, capital, enterprise and experience to build their product. Project management skills are important here and is likely that the products will improve over cycles as experience in this area is gained even if the original idea or artistic vision is weak. It is important to maintain flexibility during the production phase as the outcomes here may not precisely match the original artistic vision. Limitations are considered, serendipity and compromises are acted upon to produce the best possible outcome for that particular point in time.

Promotion Cycle :-

Art is definitely a case where “if you build it, they will come” doesn't apply. The successful artist is responsible for identifying the “type of person or group” (art client) that can relate best to the product and working out the most appropriate methods of reaching those art clients.

If we are talking about getting people to part with money here, which is quite often the case, most are looking for excuses not to buy rather than the other way around, so these barriers need to be considered and addressed. The product needs to be irresistible to the art client in that its satisfies a specific (or perceived) need. This factor is crucial and should influence the decision making process in all three cycles.

This is the simple view. In the real world, the professional artist will be running several cycles at a time and likely running them over a number of diverse areas in order to protect income. Costing, market research and evaluation processes should be built into each cycle to allow the professional to set priorities.

The career path of a true artist is an ongoing process. While the myth of the “one hit wonder” is an attractive one, it cannot sustain a career in itself nor generate sufficient income to satisfy the artist's needs permanently. The truth is that an artistic career is a marathon rather than a sprint.

Until next time

Chin Chin

If you would like to know more about Adam or sample some of his work, you can check him out at www.AdamBHarris.net

New Novella about a band coming soon.

Hi Folks

Happy new year and all that. It's good to be back and I'm looking forward to a productive 2012.

Over the break I had some good sales of Kujira. Memoirs of a Vending Machine went berserk and Bug had some good promotional downloads on Kindle. I've been  in and out of various category rankings and am satisfied with the turnover –– although more sales for a price would have been a nice surprise. How to Solve a Rubix Cube is popular although a formatting problem has stopped it from being shipped off to Apple, Kobo and Barnes and Noble etc. I'll fix this soon but it doesn't affect the ability to download it from Smashwords and it is FREE.

So... In the mean-time, I've been working on my next novella about a band. It is actually a re-write of something done some time ago. I am working page by page, adding dialogue where there wasn't any and adding to the narration as a more interesting way to tell the story comes to mind. I have decided to keep you all informed of its progress and to post little snippets from time to time. If you have anything to say or to add as I do, then I may be able to incorporate it into the story so that when it is finished it is definitely something that you would like to read. Of course, if you contribute, you get it for free.

I got this idea from a UK site where authors pitch at readers with an outline of the story that they want to write. Readers elect to follow authors based on this and when the numbers reach critical mass, the author begins to write for the readers who have pledged to read.  For anyone interested, the site is called Unbound Books and I attach a link for you.

Any way, following is my first excerpt from the yet to be officially named novella about the band. It's set in the 80s. This is from the first chapter. Please forgive the formatting as it gets messed up when I post to the blog. It won't actually be like this when I publish.

The Gig 

The band had been given the gig on the strength of a C.D released the month before. It was a collection of soul and funk covers they had been playing at gigs for the last couple of years as well as three of their best originals.
 By eight in the evening, Jack was well and truly fucked as he had been at the gig since four, setting up the stage and taking Brett through the set list. Didn’t matter though as he was on a mission to become disgustingly wealthy and was able to summon energy from nowhere when it was needed. The rest of the band had arrived by now and were together in a small, flimsy, makeshift back-room constructed from excess backdrop curtain and gaffer tape. Sat on various cases and plastic chairs, the chatter bordered on hostile as they feigned confidence to hide their true feelings of nervous inadequacy due to the size of the crowd and nature of the support gig.“She’s a blast from the past alright,“ began Dave. “Yeah, ‘Devil Gate Drive’, ‘Can the Can’ or ‘48 Crash’. Suzie Quatro is a legend  man.” "Yeah Ken, but the crowd are here to see and hear her and not us. Who booked this one anyway, was it Fezz at the Exchange?” “No, Jim it was me who convinced Fezz to try us out so let’s keep this civil. Fezz doesn’t book us yet.” “Don’t give me that shit Jack. How is it that we have to support Suzie Quatro? We’re a fucking soul-funk cover band with three originals, the crowd are gunna think we’re shit.” “So what? It's a chance to showcase our originals”. “Yeah, man. We’ve got three pumping originals,“ said Ken. “So ease up man.” “Where did you put the originals Jack?” “What do you mean Jim? The order of the song list?” “Yeah. Where the fuck did you put mine?” “Mine,” yelled Adam. “What the hell did you do Jim?” “Mine,” chimed in Ken. “Guys, guys, guys,” yelled Jack. “Chill. Just  leave it. The originals are great. There’s no recording, no publication, no nothing––just us playing our music. Leave this shit out of it. If Brett Wallace doesn’t like the originals, it won’t matter anyway ‘cause there won’t be any deal––nothing. So just leave it.”

Any comments, leave them with my publisher––me.

Next post I have organised a guest blogger to tell you about his creative endeavours and comment on one of my ebooks he has read. I too will be a guest blogger soon on another blog and will be commenting on the self publishing journey so far. I'll be advising on the pitfalls for newbies.

Anyway, that's all for now.

See you next post.

Beerubaraoyaji

How to Solve a Rubix Cube - is live.

How to Solve a Rubix Cube on Smashwords

Well Folks 

It's finally up and live on Smashwords. 'How to Solve a Rubix Cube' has had an amazingly successful debut on it's first day with the number of downloads ticking upwards as we speak. It is my first adventure in publishing, any typos attributable to me as I did the edit this time. I know this was not necessarily a good thing given my track record but it was only about nine pages with the majority of the page filled up with photographs of Rubix cubes at various stages of completion. For me, this was also an experiment in formatting and so far, I think all is well. Anyway, if you do happen to download the manual, I would appreciate some feedback, although if negative, I would appreciate it if you post that on the blog.

Last week I posted information about the amazing Andy who designs games. He has given me the OK to post a link to his game. It can be downloaded from the following link.  Don't forget the plight of the struggling artist when you look at the link that allows you to donate towards the sequel. In fact, don't forget me either as I could do with a few more downloads of Kujira on Smashwords and Kindle. If you go to Kindle you will notice the price has been reduced - involuntarily - to match the Smashwords price of $0.99. Sorry if you paid more for it before the reductions.

Anyway, my mission to upload the Rubix Cube book before Christmas is now complete so I think I'll take a break from blogging. It has been a very busy year and I have achieved a lot. I have a bit of study to do in January as I have enrolled in Summer School (Yep, Southern Hemisphere) Luckily I managed to pass the property law exam (yawn) this semester and so I am clear to move on. I have a huge family Christmas Lunch to contend with this year and need to finish buying presents for all. Best wishes to all, stay safe and I will see you in the new year.

BTW: Check out the latest vending machine in Japan – face recognition? What the... ?

That's all for now.

Beerubaraoyaji

What's with the cube?

How-to manual almost there...

Hi Folks

Well I thought I had better get my regular post up as I have been dragging my feet a little and don't want to leave my regular readers disappointed in the oh-no-not-the-old-post-again loop. 

Since I posted the copy edit version of 'Kujira' I have had a few more than the usual amount of downloads but things are generally slow. I keep dropping in and out of the Kindle top 100 for this and that and I have a great review posted thanks to the amazing Andy. Smashwords is doing well and I have had some readers clicking the 'like' button––something I never thought I would appreciate until now.

In the mean time, I have been working on the format for the 'How to do a Rubik's Cube' masterpiece and am just about there. I'll be working on it tonight and every night thereafter until it is ready to roll. I/we have decide to post it for free. It will eventually become a link to a You Tube post for anyone interested in learning the ' how to' part of the Rubik's cube after watching the Video. Don't want to say too much more but the video is not a 'how to do a Rubik's cube' video and is promising to be a lot more entertaining and interesting than that.

Speaking of interesting, Andy who did a review for me last week has turned out to be quite an interesting guy. It turns out that he designs games. I had a little play this week and was pleasantly surprised with what he has come up with. I must confess that I am not much of a 'gamer' and would never profess to be qualified to review a game but I must admit that I did have fun. It is based on a detective/crime/mystery sort of theme where you pick up clues as you move around the crime scenes. You keep track of things via a 'text box' that sort of suits me well as I like to read and follow text rather than just remember images. There is a background theme playing along in a minor key that sets the mood of the story as it unfolds. Looking at the credits, it looks like it is a one man show, all produced by Andy. If he approves, I'll post the link.

It is pretty interesting to find out about people who are reading my stuff and so I have decided to post a couple of features in the next couple of weeks about some interesting readers I have come across and the creative things they are doing. Turns it all on its head really as this blog was supposed to be about me and my books but it has become obvious to me that it is all a lot deeper than that.

Anyway, that's all for now. All the best over the Christmas Season.

Later

Beerubaraoyaji

What's the difference between a park bench and a writer?

 ANSWER: A park bench can support a family.

Well Folks

What a week. I have loaded up 'Kujira' on Smashwords and have also managed to load it up on Kindle. If you follow the link you will notice a price hike for Amazon. Makes sense given the costs but I have kept the price at $0.99 on Smashwords. Not that there have been huge amounts of downloads on either forum. 'Memoirs of a Vending Machine' is still motoring along as a free download but the encumbered 'Kujira' is lagging still. Doesn't really matter 'cause it isn't really about the money. I have a job and am able to support a family already so it is something else driving me to spend days and weeks absorbed in these special little literary projects. 

So... in order to encourage the proliferation of my latest creation and subsequent discussion, I offer a free coupon for this month for downloads of Kujira on Smashwords. As loyal readers of this blog, feel free to have a read and comment if you wish. When you check out use the following code. WJ92E. 

I gave this coupon code first to my most loyal advocate, Andy and he has responded with a fantastic review, the likes of which I would never have expected nor feel I deserve. Still it felt good to have that kind of feedback. If you have any work of your own that needs to be reviewed or publicised Andy, you have an instant forum on this blog.

I seem to have developed a regular stream of readers and on my last peek on my stats page I had readers from Italy, Australia, Russia, The UK, The US, Germany, France and this week, Latvia. I haven't seen Malaysia and Brazil  for a week or two but they pop in regularly and Japan chimes in every now and then. This month, Italy topped the list for the most readers. 

To end my regular post I just want to mention that I am making plans for a follow up to 'Kujira' but in between, I was thinking of finishing off a story that I have had waiting to see the light of day for quite some time now. It's about a group of musicians in a band. At this point in time it will be set in the 80s but that is about all I want to give away just now. I'll post some excerpts next time. The next publication however, will be the 'How to do a Rubik's Cube' manual. I'll do this as publisher though, not as author. I mean seriously, can you see a guy who, despite paying for a copy editor still manages to publish with typos being an expert with a Rubik's cube?

Thats all for now.

Beerubaraoyaji (one day someone is going to ask me what this means)

OMG - That took a long time but it's up now - enjoy

Kujira Cover No. 2

Well that was not a lot of fun. I have been obsessed for the past couple of days with the final edit. Of all places, I found myself in an isolated country location in Western Australia called Dwellingup. Despite it being the start of summer, the temperature dropped and I kept myself warm with a wood-fire while I corrected out of place commas, semi colons and quotation marks while intermittently staring in the hot coals of my Jarrah and Karri fuelled inferno. That all ended on Wednesday and I have only just finished. Ironically the temperatures have soared so I am sitting in my living room with the airconditioner on. So as the frantic pace subsides and the dry but cool air of my living room makes me sneeze the moral of the story for me as the tortured writer becomes clear–get it right in the first place.

Mind you, it was a fantastic experience to be under pressure to finish in order to get the final version to a patient reader. In those moments, when I questioned the reason I was actually submitting to the mental anguish and physical pain involved I remembered that someone out there was waiting to read about Mike, Mark and Jon and their adventure in Osaka. It made the characters dance around the corrections. It was as if there were there, making sure that I represented them fairly and accurately by adhering to the conventions that link them to the reader. I felt a responsibility separate the the creative process that created them in the first place. 

Anyway, thanks to Andy for being so patient and if there are others that have been waiting you can now download the most recent version of Kujira on Smashwords for $0.99. I will be loading it up on Kindle in the near future and pending approval, it will be available on Apple, Kobo, etc in the next couple of weeks. I would really appreciate some feedback on this one. If you have the time to rate it or to post a review, I would appreciate it. This is the longest of my creations and the only one with a price. As much as I do enjoy writing my copy edit fees are starting to add up and so I am aiming to recoup at least a percentage of my costs hence the $0.99 price. 

Plans for the follow up to Kujira are now growing in my mind and I will begin putting it together over the Christmas period. I'll keep you posted on this and other projects.

That's all for now

Beerubaroyaji