M. K. Theodoratus, Fantasy Writer, blogs about the books she reads--mostly fantasy and mystery authors whose books catch her eye and keep her interest. Nothing so formal as a book review, just chats about what she liked. Theodoratus also mutters about her own writing progress or ... lack of it.

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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Action Speed or Character Depth

The Read ...
 My middle grade reading continues with Derek Landy's action filled Playing with Fire, the second Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain book.  Landy keeps the action rolling here, a great achievement for the second book in a series/trilogy(?).  But ... can't really see much character depth.  While Landy creates a host of fun characters -- especially villains, they pop in and out of the action as needed.  Who they are is left up in the air.  --  Maybe an exercise in minimalist character development?

Not even Valkyrie Cain grows much in the year between stories -- though I think there was a paragraph where she muses that her parents are good people instead of just another annoyance.

Still the book's a great read for light amusement.

Web Stuff ...
 As I struggle to get an ending on the Voices draft, I keep wonder why I'm spending so much time on the web, social networking ... or whatever you want to call it.  Today, Kris Tualla wrote a blog on publicizing your work in her blog "What's an Independent Publisher to Do?" on 1st Turning Point.  Don't trip over the term "independent publisher".  Click the link to find a nice checklist of stuff to do to get the word out about your work.

Now if I only had an email list.  [Actually, I do.  But I don't think I'd get many sales out of 20 people.]  I'll be muttering more about publicity in the future as I try to make my web-time more efficient.  I think my first step will be to blog only two times a week.

Progress ...
 Still grumbling about getting an end on my draft of Voices.   Last night, I got all wet in the flood.  Tonight, I get to confront social services and the neighborhood busy-body?

I also seem to remember I was going to clean off my desks before NYC son arrives.  Need to clean it off since I'll be working from a paper draft when I revise.

Trivia ...
 Turning carnivore at a local steakhouse for the old man's birthday.  A 40+ year tradition -- though now we split a meal so we don't stagger back to the car.

5 comments:

Patricia Stoltey said...

Hi Kay -- thanks for the link to the 1st Turning Point post. I'm always looking for new marketing ideas.

I had to chuckle at your comment about cleaning off your desk so you can work with a hard copy for revisions. I posted something about doing that about three weeks ago, and my desk is still a mess. Maybe tomorrow...

Unknown said...

Isn't there a song about "tomorrow"?

Patricia Stoltey said...

Ah, yes, "it's only a day away."

Margo Berendsen said...

Ah, finally getting caught up on your blog. I read all your posts since I visited last (where does time go!!!) but forgive me for being lazy and leaving only one comment. This MG series sounds interesting enough- Valkyrie and a skeleton??? - that I think I will try it even though it doesn't have much character depth. If nothing else it will be fun to read to my kids, once we finished Lightning Thief. As always I find your links useful and esp. enjoy the bits of trivia! Enjoy your trip (inspite of family confrontations. Every family has those)

Unknown said...

Margo: Valkyrie is a proper name. She's a rather snarly but astute early teen with a passel of obnoxious relatives. And, of course,being chased by the villains trying to take over the world.

Maybe I should be giving a summary of the book before I point out the parts I like.