PR and voting

Been out with dog, inhaled lots of fresh air, tramped about 5,000 steps while he ran maybe three or four times that number, and came home before the rain started. Neat, as they say in slang speak. Also turned the thermostat up while dh wasn't looking. Rain and cold is so depressing, and we don't have a bottle of wine tonight as we're trying to cut down.

Done my PR for the day. I'm about to begin a read through of the Daisy story via print out. I fear there will be lots of little glitches, like heroes ageing two years in one day and heroines forgetting they have brown eyes. Probably lots more as well, but fear not, they will all be smoothed, removed, and brought into line before I attempt publication. I think I also need to up the mystery element of the plot. I've been having such fun with the romance I forgot the thievery.

Someone told me I was an established author the other day. I  can't tell you how that made me feel. Actually, yes I can. Quietly pleased, if still disbelieving; but a nice boost to the ego. Yes!

Writing is only half the story. The other half is promotion. It takes a lot of time and effort and there is often the feeling that it brings little actual reward in terms of sales. I have added to my collection of yahoo groups in the hope of furthering the word out there. I'd like to do more on Goodreads, but just don't seem to get the hang of how the site operates. Facebook is turning more and more to authors plugging their books, and ditto for Twitter.

But the world is strange. I notice people on FB calling on others to vote for Outlander in some competition that's running. Vote again, they cry. Vote anyway, even if you haven't seen it! which seems crazy to me. Imagine it - if one person wished to, they could vote again and again. How many votes could be registered in a day? 1,000? 2,000?  I hope online sites prohibit users from voting more than once, but I have the nasty suspicion they don't, or at least not always. But really - 2,000 votes from one person is/are meaningless, don't you think?

Since I'm on a small rant, I ought to add that I'm so tired of seeing pictures of Jamie Dornan, bearded or not.

Outlander - first thoughts

Anyone who has read the Gabaldon novels will no doubt be eagerly awaiting the tv series. 16 episodes for the first novel as far as I'm aware, which should be more than enough time. The critics seems to like it -
http://www.vox.com/2014/8/7/5980011/outlander-review-starz-diana-gabaldon-ron-moore - and from the snippets I've seen, it looks engaging. The pic above is from the website listed and from the Starz press-kit.

One thing puzzles me. Claire's narration is done in a lovely English voice, and the  dialogue is also English. But part-way though the section I saw, she suddenly breaks into American swearing. Jesus H Roosevelt Christ may be Gabaldon's choice of swearword for Claire, but I doubt it would ever be on the lips of a typical English of 1945. Same for "godamm." It just isn't English. So then I got to thinking was the character Claire English or not? 

It's a long time since I read the novels for the first time, but I did re-read Crosstitch (re-named Outlander now) not so very long ago. Somewhere along the line, Claire has metamorphosed into being American in my mind. It isn't something I've ever thought about until now, but there must be something in Gabaldon's depiction of Claire that has drip-fed my understanding that she isn't English, but American.

Which in turn is interesting for all writers. Can we really put ourselves in the skin of another character, particularly when they are from a different country? No matter how hard we try to get it right, something might give us away. Some little thing like curse words, for example.

Fiction v reaity

Isn't it interesting how certain fictional characters become real to certain readers?
There's an interesting furore going on in the press at the moment because J  Rowling has finally admitted that Hermione should have married Harry Potter and not Ron Weasley. Her readership has neatly divided into squawks of anguish or howls of joy. It's fun to read how intense these people get - see the excerpts below -

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/02/jk-rowling-hermione-harry-ron-married
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/03/harry-potter-fans-jk-rowling-plot-regrets

But then on a little reflection I have to own up and say I too indulged in this sort of thing over the Crawford of Lymond novels by Dorothy Dunnett though I have to say I found Lymond's marriage to Phillippa perfectly acceptable. It must be the mark of a good book when the character are regarded as real, don't you think? And how often does it happen? Much as I enjoy the Outlander series, I don't get so involved in Jamie and Claire as to argue about whether they should or should not have had sex on the window ledge or parted the first time or even if she should have returned to Jamie the second time. No other book has ever been that real to me, except perhaps for Pride & Prejudice, and even then that didn't happen until I saw the 1995 BBC version with Colin Firth as Darcy.

Which books became real for you?

Outlander

As a long time reader of Diana Gabaldon's Claire and Jamie adventures, I have to admit to a slight disappointment re the casting. Jamie was a redhead, and Claire had amber-gold colouring. Couldn't they have used a few packets of hair dye so the description matched the characters in the books? Also, she was some years older than Jamie. I forget how many exactly, but I did look it up once and it was a considerable gap. The actor is 33, the actress who plays Claire, 34.

I would never have described it as a science-fiction-fantasy story, which is how it is being advertised. To me it is historical through and through, though technically it is a time-slip novel. But it will be interesting to watch if only to see if they twist the story as much as they twisted the history in the Tudors. I'll be tearing my hair out if they do. Here are some links to whet the appetite of any Outlander fan:

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/arts/news/outlander-tv-show-will-secure-scots-film-future-1-3166093

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2507425/Sci-fi-fantasy-series-Outlander-begins-filming-Scotland-Super-8s.html

https://www.facebook.com/OutlanderTVSeries.starz

http://outlandertvnews.com/2013/10/photos-of-outlander-filming-1940s-claire-and-frank/

Much of the articles consist of  Scottish politicians/business people reacting to the news, but there are some nuggets to be had. The series will be of 16 episodes and will show in the US in 2014. (If it is peppered with adverts, then I suppose that will reduce it to a series of 12 episodes!)

It began filming in September 2013, with locations like Douane, Falkirk and Duns Castles.  To my knowledge, woefully inadequate about today's film world, there isn't a single "big-name" star to carry the series. I suppose they're banking on the success of the novels - 20 million sold and counting, with a new one almost ready to hit the streets. (Unless it already did? Note to self - check!)