It's getting close to August again, and you know what that means...
Come join me at the Spokane Comic Convention from August 15th through 17th at the DoubleTree Hotel in Spokane, WA!
As many of you know, I've been working with the SpoCon for years now, and even though I'm not in Spokane this year, I'll be coming up from Santa Barbara to be with you all at the event. It's not set in stone yet, but I'll post my schedule so far for you here.
Friday, August 15th
Building Dynamic Supporting Characters - Learn how to write strong supporting characters like Sam, Spock, and Ron at 12:30 PM in Ballroom B.
Fallon Jones Reading - Join me at 6:00 PM in the Reading Room, where I'll be reading from my newest novel The Lazarus Serum.
Up & Coming - At 8:00 PM in Ballroom D, learn tips and pointers for promoting your work and taking it to the next level.
Saturday, August 16th
Self-Publishing 101 - Learn about the pros and cons of self-publishing with me at 3:30 PM in Parkside II.
Sunday, August 17th
Writing a Dynamic Children's Character - How do you turn back time to relate to a child character? Solve the riddle with me at 9:30 AM in Ballroom A.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Meet Me at MacWorld
What are you doing in a couple of weeks? Playing with gadgets? Exploring Apple technology-infused art, music, and film, in all its glory? Hanging out with me? Yes?
MacWorld takes place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from March 27-29th. As you may know, PhatWare Corporation brought me out a few years ago, since I write pretty much all of my books on their iPad/iPhone app, WritePad, and do all my brainstorming on PhatPad, the iPad app.
Hey, we can't all be Moleskine-toting all the time today! My purse gets heavy with all those notebooks, pens, journals, sketchpads, books to read...you get the point.
Come find me at PhatWare's MacWorld booth signing and giving away copies of my newest novel, The Lazarus Serum, all weekend!
I hope to see you there!
Thursday, February 20, 2014
On Pushing Your Boundaries As A Writer
As many of you know, all of my books so far have starred feisty female protagonists who are roughly around the same age as I am. It's nice to stick with what you know somehow - especially when you write science fiction and paranormal fiction. Let's be real here. I will never know what it's like to live as a vampire or in a post-apocalyptic society - hopefully. So sometimes my characters are the only familiarity I get to keep while writing. It's safer to write about someone or something you understand - there are lots of great books out there about writers, English majors, and characters who love to read.
On the other hand, you can learn a lot by throwing yourself outside of your comfort zone while you write! I'm working on a story right now about an alcoholic man who is descending into madness. I while it is quite possible that I may also be descending into madness, I am definitely not a man, and I don't drink. Rather than writing in the past-tense like I usually do, I'm writing this one in the present-tense. The result is a work with a lot of indirect characterization, powerful sentences, and a whole lot of action. When I reread what I've created, it seems more like a book I would pick up at Barnes & Noble and take home with me than it does a story I've written myself.
Although it's harder to make myself sit down and work on it, I find myself feeling much more rewarded once I've pushed through a chapter or two.
Want to try the challenge with me? Here's a list I've put together to help you push outside of your boundaries as a writer and get your words flowing!
1. Create & listen to playlists that help set the tone for your story. If you plan on writing something dark, Taylor Swift isn't going to cut it.
2. Read lots of books that you wouldn't usually be drawn to. (I've been reading the love letters of Heloise and Abelard this week.)
3. Go somewhere you haven't been before. This can be as simple as sitting in a new coffee shop and watching the people around you. This leads into my next tip.
4. Get a feel for someone else's life and way of speaking.
5. Try to mimic it in writing.
6. Take everything a step further than you think you should. You never know what could happen.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Non-Fiction Books to Fuel Creativity
Believe it or not, I do have hobbies outside of writing, editing my work, and crying about it. Between marketing for The Lazarus Serum and fleshing out the beginning of a new book, I've needed to take breaks so I can learn something new.
That's where hobbies come in. I was recently asked how I keep up the "steam" for writing and editing. I'll post a new vlog on the topic soon, but until then here's a brief answer: take in as much information as you put out. I thought I'd share some of my findings with you, so here are four non-fiction books I plan on using to fuel my creativity!
1. A Beautiful Mess is a pretty neat book including tips on photography and photo challenges to inspire you.
2. Happy: Secrets to Happiness from the Cultures of the World is exactly what it sounds like - the book collects cultural secrets and teaches you how to apply them & bring a little brightness to your life.
3.Instant Happy is a great book for bitter writers - it's full of clever motivational tips and photos on how to stay happy. Sometimes a 10 second attitude makeover is enough to get you back into writing!
Have you read any of these books? Am I missing something important here?
If so, leave a comment below or shoot me an email at fallonjones@live.com!
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)