Camp Time Again!!

It is July, and so with hot days, open windows at night, mosquitos, and a longing to dip into a pool comes the obsessive need to get my 1000 to 2000 words written for camp.  This year I started by calling my novel Camp, but changed to The Butterfly Specialist last week.  Speaking of change - its time for the Character Archetype!  I love believe-ability, even with dragons and cyber-punk dystopians, as I reader I want to believe!  This worksheet helps with your arc of change the character goes through.  Helps you set motivation, build tension, break your character at a proper breaking point to move him/her/self to change, and then slide down the arc taking prisoners, resisting and dying, or whatever your character is going to do.  This year, I have typed out all the words in the video so that you don't have to take notes or watch the entire thing for suggestions to create your own character arc worksheet.  Here you go, campers!!  Subscribe to my vlog: http://youtube.com/KaraSkyeVlog New videos every Tuesday and Saturday and every other Wednesday.

Click read more for the typed version of this video.

Authors Adding a Video Blog to the Platform - Read This

As part of your indie published platform(s), you might want to add an Author's Vlog.  Video goes hand in hand with the real work you are doing as an author, but also makes great SEO content.

For self-published authors who are considering adding a vlog - or even doing personalized book trailers - here's my list of great online editing tools which serve to enhance that which you've got to tell and sell:

First off, Stupeflix provides members with an array of tools and features, like text-to-speech and call-to-action buttons, that can turn children's e-books into apps, is great for iTunes, and iPad users and basic, video editing online.

Youtube is best, and Vimeo gets great reviews.  But have you tried Wattpad?  This site is great for self-published authors faced with the task of making their own following and fans of their writing with short stories or even trailers.  Thinking about making trailers or ipad apps without the use of  a commercial studio?  I'm still working on the trailer goal, too.  I have found that with even the most basic movie editor (standard on my very inexpensive laptop) and Youtube's studio creator section, it is possible to make some magic for discerning book buying customers.  This site makes indie publisher goals awesome is attainable.

At Animoto.com, it is easy to create awesome slide shows with all sorts of effects and music.

1. Youtube - Check out my channel or just go - http://youtube.com
2. Stupeflix - https://studio.stupeflix.com/en/
3. Wattpad - http://wattpad.com
4. Animoto - http://animoto.com/intro/animoto/

A Cover Updates and an Introduction Videos Promote This Author's Middle Reader, Cyber-Punk, Vampire Book Series

Below is the cover illustration for The Quill Pen Killer, the first children's chapter novel I finished.  I had started The Faerie Ring Dance years ago, when my children were in their cribs.  I didn't finish that tale based on Irish Faerie legend until after The Quill Pen Killer, however.  This 11x17 image lives on the wall at my house.  I recently pulled it off the wall to update the e-book cover, shown here:


The DeAngeliuson Vampire Family Anthology book trailer - a sneak peek at all three e-books with a virtual family tree and images that are supposed to bring to mind a haunted mansion's hall of portraits which introduce characters to be found in the mysteries solved in the seperate books.

"Raven hurries home wondering if he'll stay friends with his childhood pal, Jessica, or if 'vampire'  is just 
too big of an obstacle."

These books are fun, humorous, and filled with mysteries which our heroine, Jessica, must solve. She doesn't much want to be involved in most of the mysteries, or even vampire life for that matter. She's bookish and smart, and simply gets to the matter of 'who did what' quicker than most, and for reasons like these, she ends up 'saving the day' (an oxymoron for an of-the-blood member of things that go bump in the night).

SUBSCRIBE to Picture E-Book Series VLOG HERE!! 

Research - The First Step to Creative Processing?

I was recently asked what the first step to the creation process is for me and I didn't know what to say.  I thought about recent things I had created and the steps I had taken, but all I could think about was a Pinboard I had looked at before beginning the piece.  I thought about coffee I'd drank and the gummy bears I had eaten.  Not wanting to reveal any of these secret (mundane) sources I didn't say much at all.
Today, I know what to say because before writing, this time, I didn't consult Pinterest, but rather history and it all became clear.  The first step to my novel writing - I am not ashamed to say - is Research.  Once I have an idea or an inkling, I research it.  Sure there might be coffee and gummy bears involved, and, I do think that Pinterest is a form of research - for visuals and imaginative tangents - but historical research and fact-finding are also involved.
Here's Proof! Before writing The Faerie Ring Dance, although knowing I was going to write about faeries due to experiences in the great northwest, I consulted ancient, Irish, faerie legend which motivated me to write 'an actual account' of occurrences inside the faerie's ring.  Leadville: 300 Days Away was first born from research, Chagall, naturally, although again the research was visual - at a gallery show of his work.
As I embark on the upcoming NaNoWriMo Summer Camp, I have on my list today: Research.  The research of - as usual for me - the dead and historical.  Which also might explain the interest in immortal status of vampires - novel series. Maybe most children's book authors purely invent the characters and worlds among their pages, but I find much more creativity to my process when I start with a snippet of truth. Hopefully, I won't be in the uncrafty, boring camp cabin for this admission!!