Memos From Fury Friday

 

Continuing in the vein from last week, here's another Memo From Fury to kick off your weekend.

Weekly Music

Weekly music time! I thought this song, "Welcome Home" by Radical Face, was a great one to carry us through today and into the weekend. Granted, it's not exactly a new and unknown one, but it's still a great one.

What Can I Say But the Abbreviated and Highly Edited Truth

First off, I want to state this:

Tumblr has a page for EVERYTHING.

Seriously. Anything you could imagine, I'm pretty sure Tumblr has it. And if they don't, give them five minutes. They'll get right on that shit. Cracked.com even has a post about the random pages of Tumblr.

Second, what led me to the Tumblr revelation which wasn't really a revelation but more so a re-establishing of past precedence that I had forgotten, I stumbled across this Lit Quotes page, which has kind of captured my heart. There was one quote that, for not any exact and apparent reason, clicked with me tonight.

I hadn’t realized how much I’d been needing to meet someone I might be able to say everything to.

-Talk Before Sleep, Elizabeth Berg

I think it stuck with me because it gets to the heart of the truth. It's something that's so basic, but it ends up completely buried and you don't realize this want, this need, until you've come face to face with a situation where it might be possible. What I do know is that this desire is certainly the basis for a ton of fiction, not just of the romance persuasion.

My third and final thought:

Hell's Kitchen is horribly addictive and I just need to learn self-control.

Anyway, here's to a short and, hopefully, productive week!

Memo from Fury

A Memo From Fury in honor of the release of Star Trek last weekend. I haven't seen it yet, and I haven't seen the new Iron Man, either, so don't ask, but hopefully might be able to knock one of them off my list this weekend.

Rhys' Music Monday

So I completely failed and totally spaced on Rhys' Music Monday. It was a grave oversight that I'm remedying right now. Be sure to check out her post featuring All I Think About is You by 3 Doors Down. 

Weekly Music

The music this week is from Imagine Dragons, which is a group I definitely recommend you check out. My favorite song from them is "Radioactive," but the one I'm embedding below, "My Fault," is becoming a very close contender for favorite.

Amazon and Fanfiction

Amazon has announced a new platform, Kindle Worlds, which will allow fanfiction writers to publish their work and receive royalties. The royalties will be split with the author of the original work on which the writer is basing their fanfiction. At this point in time, Amazon has partnered with Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment to allow writers publish their stories based in Cecily von Ziegesar‘s Gossip Girl, Sara Shepard‘s Pretty Little Liars and L.J. Smith‘s Vampire Diaries verses. More can be read about this at Galleycat.

Given the success of stories originally written as fanfiction and modified into published fiction, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Amazon would attempt to bridge that gap and go after the fanfiction market directly. As for if it will be profitable, I actually think it possibly could be. Some will argue why pay for it when you can just find it for free at any multitude of fanfiction sites. The same could be said, however, for the stories that were modified from fanfiction into published fiction. The original stories could still be found to the diligent Google searcher. 

Personally, I think, in general, there's a bit of a stigma concerning fanfiction by the public as a whole. I'm not saying it's merited, or justified; it's just an observation I've made over the years. As a result, I could see where fanfiction sold through Amazon will have the ability to separate itself into a new entity, lose the stigma, and become somewhat successful. It's all going to depend on how it's marketed in Amazon and I could see them avoiding the word 'fanfiction.' Instead, I could see a page set up with something along the lines of, "If you enjoy Vampire Diaries, check out other stories in this universe" or "Check out similar stories." It's all about shaping your market and Amazon has proven they're rather adept in that respect.

Agency Pricing

Galleycat has a post today with a summary of the review of agency pricing by the Department of Justice, which was basically brought about with the whole ordeal with Apple and agency pricing. You can also read the entire court document here.

Welcome to Sanditon

I don't know if you were like me and found yourself swept up in the wave of amazingness and addiction that was The Lizzie Bennett Diaries. I might have come late to the game, but I definitely lost my fair share of time devouring their YouTube videos. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, click that link and be prepared to lose your entire weekend. I'll wait. Terrific, wasn't it? Anyway, the talented group that brought you the black hole of time-wasting that is the modern day video adaptation of Jane Austin's "Pride and Prejudice" have now started their new project, Welcome to Sanditon. It's based on the unfinished novel "Sandition" by the one and only Jane Austin. Here's the recap, directly from their webpage:

Welcome To Sanditon is a modern multiplatform adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel “Sanditon.” The series was created by Jay Bushman and Margaret Dunlap, and is produced by the team that created the hit series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.
Welcome To Sanditon relocates the action from the English seaside to a California beach town, and replaces the novel’s protagonist with LBD’s Gigi Darcy.
Gigi has come to Sanditon, CA to run a beta demo of the Pemberley Digital Domino application. The residents of Sanditon have all been invited to join in the test, and discover how this “life-revealing” app performs.
And you will get a chance to play a resident of the town.

I know I loved Gigi in LBD and can't wait to see more of her and her story in WtS. This is definitely going to be my new black hole of time-waste addiction.They currently have three videos up on their YouTube page, one of which I've included below, so be sure to check out the rest.

Weekly Music

This week is going to feature a song that's a little more upbeat, at least in the instrumental. I make no guarantee of the lyrics. Today I present you with "Color the Walls" by Foster the People. Yes, they do have a song other than "Pumped Up Kicks." A song which, incidentally, was totally our boat/lake song for that summer. It still makes me think of lemonade beer, water, and coconut sunscreen. Despite already having one 100+ degree day this week, I'm eager for more.

Cover Reveal for Assassin's Ritual

Check out that cover!!

Recently, I've been working on a new erotica novella series, currently titled "Courtesans of Thiaria," with the wonderful Rhys Astason. It's a somewhat different, and hopefully interesting, way of doing the series. Instead of coauthoring a book, we've built a world where both of us will be telling the stories of our character. So, there will be two series based in the same world by two authors. That's pretty much two for the price of one, right?! What better deal could you ask for? Well, the better deal is if a third author, the also talented CC Denham, who is currently rather bogged down with other projects, can be convinced to sign on. Then it's three for one. I really don't know how it gets better than that.

The series is centered around courtesans who also double as assassins. Think of it as James Bond with a larger cast in a medievalish/steampunk verse with more sex and females as the lead characters. And, if that doesn't get you excited enough, check out the cover again. Seriously, I can't stop staring at it. Such book cover porn.

Be sure to check back here for updates. Along with this story, we're looking at getting a few more in the series published by the end of this year. 

How Many Words are Too Many Words?

CC Denham posted an intriguing question on her blog today; when planning out your novel, how do you determine the final word count target? What about per scene? Is there a right answer?

I suppose, for me, I do more of a rough estimate. I do my general outline in Scrivener, giving each scene a note card on the board. After writing some notes for each scene, I then set an estimated word count depending on the contents of each scene. For example, I know this is one of my longer sketched out scenes in my outline, so let's give that a 1,500 word target. This one is much shorter, so let's go with a 750 word target. I then add up all my scenes and get my rough final count and usually round it up a bit because, let's face it, there's going to be a few scenes where you're over your estimate. Or you might add a scene that you didn't think of initially. Ultimately, I think you just need to find what works for you and not get caught up worrying what other people are doing. At least, that's my completely obvious two cents.

Go ahead and check out the original post to see what other authors are saying and to add in your own thoughts.

Rhys' Music Monday

Be sure to check out Rhys' blog this week. She has a great song from The Uneven Bars posted for her Music Monday.

Did . . . Did That Just Happen?

Scandal last night can be summed up in one word: WHAT.

I already know the season finale is going to be the end of me. And David, you got some 'splanning to do.

Warning: Potential Spoilers in Vids. Don't watch if you can't handle the truth.

Oh god, season three, I need you now.

Weekly Music

Song of the week is below. Enjoy!

Sorry. Kidding. Though, honestly, and sadly, this song has been in my head because my boss at work has been singing it randomly throughout the day. In his defense, he does have kids of a young age so there's probably a reason it's stuck in his head, just the same as every parent.

The real song of the week is below and I'm switching it up again with "Future Starts Slow" by The Kills. Definitely different than "Barbara Manatee." It's strangely catchy and you'll find it in the back of your mind at the most random moments of the day.

Unfortunately, it shares that in common with the manatee song. Best of luck.

Weekly Music

This week I present to you Soldier's Eyes by Jack Savoretti. The music is great, but I just love, love the lyrics. Definitely a great find.

And, because this song made me think of it, I'm including a bonus throwback song that I discovered a few years ago and it has managed the withstand the test of time. Be sure to check out Revival by Soulsavers below; not only is the song awesome, but they have a great video for it, too.