Showing posts with label WEP. #IWSGPit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WEP. #IWSGPit. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Insecure Writer’s Support Group, October Movie Preview, CassaSeries Tour, Screen Rights, and New Releases

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

My awesome co-hosts today are Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Mary Aalgaard, Madeline Mora-Summonte, and Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor!

October 2 question – It's been said that the benefits of becoming a writer who does not read is that all your ideas are new and original. Everything you do is an extension of yourself, instead of a mixture of you and another author. On the other hand, how can you expect other people to want your writing, if you don't enjoy reading? What are your thoughts?

We need to read to see how it’s done – both well and poorly –we just can’t adopt another author’s style as our own.
Of course, if you’re reading a genre outside your own and a style very different from yours, then it’s cool. But if your sweet love interests suddenly turn maniacal killers, then there’s a bigger problem…

Important dates:

This month’s Write…Edit…Publish challenge:
As you sow so shall you reap. What will your character sow - dragon's teeth, elven bones, gouged eyes from tormented souls? Most of our members go with horror or speculative for October. But that's not written in stone ... or blood.

January’s IWSG post day will be on January 8, the second Wednesday. The first Wednesday is New Year’s Day – do not post that day! Note it in your calendars now – January 8.

The next #IWSGPit - our Twitter pitch event – is January 15, the third Wednesday. This will be our fifth one and last year there were thousands of agents and publishers watching, ten thousand Tweets sent out, and #IWSGPit became a trending topic. Polish your pitches and check the site for full details.



CassaSeries Tour

Silver Dagger Tours is hosting a month-long tour for me that includes a giveaway for an Amazon gift card and swag.
Here are the final dates:

Monday – Guest post at Daily (w)rite and stops at Valerie Ullmer | Romance Author and 4covert2overt-A Place In The Spotlight
Tuesday – Guest post at Inside the Insanity and stops at Defining Ways and Speculative Fiction Spot
Wednesday – Stops at Better Read Than Undead, Stormy Nights Reviewing & Bloggin', and Sylv.net
Thursday – Stops at Casey's Corner, Taryn Jameson, and Teatime and Books
Friday – Guest post at Introspective Press and stops at The Book Dragon and Twisted Book Ramblings
Monday October 7 – Stops at The Bookshelf Fairy, Word Processor, Romance, Cats, Kids and Creed, and Yearwood La Novela

Screen Rights by Damyanti Biswas!

Thank you Alex for the support on my debut novel, You Beneath Your Skin. It is a literary crime novel—a story that raises various social issues within the framework of a crime thriller. A woman from Delhi upper classes suffers an acid attack, and this case is investigated amid the backdrop of a crime spree. Unclad bodies of slum women are found stuffed in trash bags, their faces disfigured with acid.

This story is now being represented for screen rights by a top agent in Bollywood, and I’m writing a summary for adaptation pitches. It is so very different from a literary summary.
More pacey, more sensationalised, some literary parts suppressed. I’ve been at it for the past two days but am not even close to finishing.

I’m told that I need:
· a better logline,
· a short character sketch of the main voices
· less setting and characterization, and more action
· good handle on the beginning middle and end.

To the audience of this blog, and to Alex, my question and request would be for advice. Has anyone written a screen treatment? How do you go about it? Do you have any advice for me? Have you read You Beneath YourSkin?

Damy, here’s hoping you get those screen rights!

New Releases

One Good Catch by Heather Gardner
The next book in the Maguire’s Corner series
Find it on Amazon


A Sampler of Shadows by Roland Yeomans
Find it on Amazon

For a great laugh, visit Roland’s IWSG post today – he has some fun with me.




And here is the main character in Roland’s Dark Hollywood Cycle who's spoken of in several stories and appears in the last one in this collection:

September Movie Preview

Here are the upcoming theatrical releases for September! As always, descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snark provided by me.

4 –

Joker
A gritty character study of Arthur Fleck, a man disregarded by society.
Director: Todd Phillips
Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Jolie Chan
Yes, I’ll go see it. No, I don’t think I’ll like it. (And have to add after seeing it, while I'll never watch it again, the film was brilliant. Set in DC's Detective Comics world. Phoenix will get an Oscar nod.)




11 –

Gemini Man
An over-the-hill hitman faces off against a younger clone of himself.
Director: Ang Lee
Stars: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Will Smith, Clive Owen, Benedict Wong
Didn’t we see this already and it was called Looper?

The Addams Family
An animated version of Charles Addams' series of cartoons about a peculiar, ghoulish family.
Directors: Greg Tiernan | Conrad Vernon
Stars: Catherine O'Hara, Charlize Theron, Finn Wolfhard, Chloë Grace Moretz
From television show to movie to television show to animated movie – what next, Claymation?

Parasite
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.
Director: Joon-ho Bong
Stars: Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo, Woo-sik Choi
The true story of kimchi gone bad…




18 –

Zombieland: Double Tap
Columbus, Tallahasse, Wichita, and Little Rock move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies, fellow survivors, and the growing pains of the snarky makeshift family.
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Stars: Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Zoey Deutch, Bill Murray
Zombieland Two – Electric Twinkieloo

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Maleficent and her goddaughter Aurora begin to question the complex family ties that bind them as they are pulled in different directions by impending nuptials, unexpected allies, and dark new forces at play.
Director: Joachim Rønning
Stars: Angelina Jolie, David Gyasi, Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer
Are we sure this isn’t just an Angelina Jolie biopic?





25 –

The Aeronauts
Pilot Amelia Wren (Felicity Jones) and scientist James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) find themselves in an epic fight for survival while attempting to make discoveries in a hot air balloon.
Director: Tom Harper
Stars: Felicity Jones, Eddie Redmayne, Himesh Patel, Tim McInnerny
Rogue One meets Harry Potter meets Jason and the Argonauts.



What do you think about writers who don’t read? Participating in WEP this month? The CassaSeries tour coming to an end – have you visited a stop or two and entered to win? And what movies catch your attention this month?

We are going on a family vacation, leaving next Monday and coming back the following Monday. So I won’t be posting those two weeks or visiting anyone next week. See you on October Twenty-first!

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Insecure Writer’s Support Group, Godzilla and John Wick Reviews, June Movie Preview, and Lots of News!

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

My awesome co-hosts for the June 5 posting of the IWSG are Diane Burton, Kim Lajevardi, Sylvia Ney, Sarah Foster, Jennifer Hawes, and Madeline Mora-Summonte!

June 5 question: Of all the genres you read and write, which is your favorite to write in and why?

I read a variety, but so far science fiction has just been my comfort zone. While I grew up reading both science fiction and fantasy, I was exposed to a lot more science fiction in cinema and television. So I’m familiar with it. And while I’d like to write fantasy, it’s more challenging to come up with something really new. With science fiction and space and galaxies far, far away, the only limit is my imagination!


IWSG Anthology Contest

Don’t forget the Insecure Writer’s Support Group Annual Anthology Contest is open and taking submissions!
Genre is middle grade historical – adventure/ fantasy and the theme is voyagers.
See the site for full details.

#IWSGPit

Mark your calendars! The annual #IWSGPit Twitter pitch party is set for January 15, 2020.




IWSG Instagram

The IWSG Instagram prompts for June are:


WEP

The WEP challenge for this month is open!
Theme – Caged Bird.
Up to 1000 words.
There are also some changes regarding signing up, voting, and prizes, so be sure to visit the WEP site for details.






Movie Reviews

Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Ghidorah is awakened. Godzilla fights him. Monster awesomeness ensues.
Seventeen Titans awake, although you’ll only see half of them. But who you see the most of matters – Godzilla, Ghidorah, Mothra, and Rodan. We even get a glimpse of King Kong who will be in next year’s Godzilla film. (My money is still on the radioactive breath lizard – ape flambé, anyone?)
The story has to do with a broken family and terrorists reviving the Titans, but the real spectacle is the monsters. Every moment with them on the screen is breathtaking - and they are on the screen often! As for special effects, let’s just say we have come a long way since the rubber suit. These creatures are real and terrifying. Even Mothra kicks butt.
Some reviewers have called it absurd. Of course! Any film revolving around kaiju and a massive atomic-breath creature is going to be a little absurd. Like that’s stopped sixty years of Godzilla films.
There are a lot of little nuances that give nod to the original movies and you will grin when they appear.
This film is for the kid in all of us who longs for spectacle – and a really great monster film.
Highly recommended!

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
Continues the story of John Wick, now on the run after killing another assassin on neutral ground and with a fourteen million dollar price on his head.
The previous films featured close to a hundred gun shots to the head. This one contained only a little over fifty, but there were swords/knives to the head and other creative deaths.
The best sequence involves two dog trained to attack. Great animal stunt work – they steal every scene.
The human stunt work and special effects – I’m not sure how they pulled some of it off without really killing people. And it’s a very slick and stylish looking film.
However, those expecting more than just Wick running around killing people while everyone tries to kill him will be disappointed. After all of the glowing reviews, I felt let down that it was just more of the same. I do like this type of film, but it’s become very repetitive.
And will continue to do so, as it left it wide open for them to continue with a fourth film. Wick is really having a bad month…
Recommended if you really dig the series.

June Movie Preview

Here are the upcoming theatrical releases for June! As always, descriptions courtesy of the IMDB. Snark provided by me.

7 –

Dark Phoenix
Jean Grey begins to develop incredible powers that corrupt and turn her into a Dark Phoenix. Now the X-Men will have to decide if the life of a team member is worth more than all the people living in the world.
Director: Simon Kinberg
Stars: Sophie Turner, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain
A whole movie wrapped around a blown transformer in Arizona seems a bit much, but I’m all for it.




14 –

Men in Black: International
The Men in Black have always protected the Earth from the scum of the universe. In this new adventure, they tackle their biggest threat to date: a mole in the Men in Black organization.
Director: F. Gary Gray
Stars: Tessa Thompson, Chris Hemsworth, Rebecca Ferguson, Emma Thompson
Maybe it’s a new marketing trick – no funny lines in the trailer.

Shaft
John Shaft Jr., a cyber security expert with a degree from MIT, enlists his family's help to uncover the truth behind his best friend's untimely death.
Director: Tim Story
Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Alexandra Shipp, Avan Jogia, Regina Hall
Didn’t I see this already? Oh yeah, it was called Shaft. Wait, didn’t I see that one already as well? Yeah, it was also called Shaft…




21 –

Toy Story 4
When a new toy called "Forky" joins Woody and the gang, a road trip alongside old and new friends reveals how big the world can be for a toy.
Director: Josh Cooley
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks, Tom Hanks, Patricia Arquette
Two hours of Buzz and Woody in a bin at Goodwill sounds depressing, but that’s how all toy stories really end.

Anna
Beneath Anna Poliatova's striking beauty lies a secret that will unleash her indelible strength and skill to become one of the world's most feared government assassins.
Director: Luc Besson
Stars: Sasha Luss, Helen Mirren, Luke Evans
Apparently John Wick has a daughter…




And I’ll end with a cool shot my publisher sent from a recent con – Live Long and Prosper!



What’s your favorite genre to write? Participating in WEP or the IWSG Anthology Contest? Have you seen the latest Godzilla or John Wick? And what movies catch your eye for June?