Plethora of Ghost Writers

Three weeks ago, I blogged about authors ghost writing for deceased authors, like Robert Ludlum and James Patterson. Sometimes you can tell when a book has been written by someone other than the author whose name is blazoned in big letters across the top of the cover. The secondary writer’s name is somewhere on the cover, in much smaller letters. Sometimes you can’t tell because it’s kept secret or hush-hush. They don’t want you to know because they’re worried about sales.

Yesterday, the New York Times came out with an article about ghost writers or those who take over another author’s series, Here’s some of the other authors, dead or alive, whose books are sometimes written by others:

[Ludlum’s] estate has borrowed from the examples of V.C. Andrews, dead since 1986 but selling well thanks to novels in her name written by an uncredited author; Ernest Hemingway, whose estates issued several books after his suicide; and Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler (both quite alive) who diverted from their skin of solo thrillers to create series written in conjunction with, or solely by, others.

According to Sara Nelson, editor in chief of Publishers Weekly:

Series and big-name authors have tended to work well. Publishers, like executives in other creative fields, want Nos. 2, 3 and 4 to work as well as No. 1. And instead of going off to find the new Ludlum, they figure they’ve got this formula and will continue to use it.

Interesting article.

Potter Review

One more Harry Potter post. This weekend I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. SPOILER ALERT: some things I say here might be spoilers if you haven’t read the book.

Despite the time lag between reading the previous book, I quickly got into the characters and story. Overall, I liked the book. It was fun to follow along on Potter’s quest and to see the arc of the three main characters coming to a seven-book fruition. There’s a long section of the book where the three main characters are traveling from spot to spot that, to me, began to run long. Not to say that the places they went and the things they did or that happened were unimportant. Just that I began to think, oh here we go again.

None of that detracts from J.K. Rowling as a writer, though. The world and characters she created are amazing and it is so easy to see how kids and adults alike can get lost in her books and hunger for more. There’s even one point in the book where I cried.

My least favorite part of the book was the Epilogue.

SPOILER ALERT. I did not want to see the main characters as adults. From the book itself, I know who died and who lived. It ended on an up note with an exciting climax. Then Rowling takes us into a ho-hum existence of the leads. They might as well have turned into Muggles or bland middle-class suburbanites. Not what I wanted for Harry, Hermione and Ron.

I think I know one reason why she did it. She wanted it clear that she had no plans to write another Harry Potter adventure. She left it open in the Epilogue for the possibility of an adventure of one of the offspring. But the feel I got was: here, this is it, I’m done with Harry. Well, jimminee cricket, give him at least a teaching position at Hogwarts or something other than mundane adulthood. END OF SPOILER.

But, Epilogue aside, I recommend the book. But not by itself. You gotta read the books leading up to it. I’m well past my teen years, but even I’m sorry there won’t be another Harry Potter book.

Love of Reading is Hereditary

Despite the fact that in yesterday’s post I gave a compilation of statistics about the latest Harry Potter book, I'm rather tired of hearing about Potter. Of course, it could be grumpiness on my part because I bought two copies and only yesterday got to see the cover of one of them. My son picked them up from the store shortly after midnight on the day Potter was released and dropped off one copy on his way home from work just yesterday. That one, after I read it, will go to my daughter out in San Francisco and the other will probably stay with my son after he and probably most of his friends read it.

You keep hearing about the phenomenal numbers of sales that took place over the weekend for the book. You also hear lamenting that kids who read the Harry Potter series are not necessarily reading other books. The chant is that Harry Potter is not the savior of children's books nor of children's minds.

Well, frankly, it shouldn't be. What should be the driving force getting kids to read is ... parents. Notice I didn't say teachers. Sure, teachers teach our kids to read and they require reading in class. But I firmly believe it is up to parents to develop in kids a lifelong love of books and reading.

Video games are the rage nowadays. They were when my kids were young. Parents buy those games. Parents also buy books or take their kids to libraries. Parents set examples for kids by reading themselves and reading to the kids. My son played a lot of video games. He also is an avid reader and there were always books in our house. He'll read about anything, but especially loves science and history. Just the other day he told me he's taught himself to speed read.

Even parents who are not big readers can encourage their kids to read. Read to them when they're very young. Get them a library card. Take them to in-store readings. Help them find the kinds of books they like to read. Set them up with their own reading place, whether it's a bean bag in their room or a spot in the living room. Sit with them and read your own favorite book or magazine.

Encouraging children to read will pay off in life-long benefits, for you and for your kids.

And now I have to go read. I’m only on Chapter 12 and already the spoilers are coming out.

Harry Potter Stats

I’m growing weary of hearing about Harry Potter and I haven’t even read the latest book yet. So, before I grow completely tired of it, I wanted to pass along a compilation of statistics. For writers, the sales figures for this book and series are not only interesting, they’re staggering.

So here goes. The first set is from the July 23, 2007 issue of Publishers Lunch:

Scholastic said last night that they estimate sales of 8.3 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the first 24 hours on sale in the US.

Borders says the chain sold 1.2 million copies in the first day, and Amazon announced shipments of 1.3 million copies to arrive on Saturday morning in the US.

In Barnes & Noble's ... The chain says they sold 1.8 million copies in the first 48 hours of release (including BN.com sales), and they recorded sales of 560,000 copies in the first hour on sale alone.

In the UK, no formal count has been released yet, though a Bloomsbury spokesperson indicated, "Last time we sold two million copies in the first 24 hours. We are thinking it might go over three million in the first 24 hours this time."

No surprise, Asda sold through all but about 3 percent of their 500,000-copy order, priced to move at over 70 percent off.

BN reports over a million visitors to its Friday night in-store events, and Borders tabulated over 800,000 visitors that evening.

NBC News said that worldwide, 72 million copies were sold.

Then the BBC said:

Author JK Rowling launched the final instalment with a reading session at the Natural History Museum in London, and signed 250 copies an hour for fans between midnight and 0630 BST.

And finally – hopefully – Publishers Lunch on July 24, added:

Back in the US, Random House Audio reports projected opening two-day sales of over 225,000 units in its compact disc and cassette editions--up 40 percent from the previous title.

And up in Canada, Raincoast Books announced sales in the first two days of 812,000 copies.

Another Celebrity Book Auction

In yesterday’s New York Business, Matthew Flamm noted that rocker Keith Richards’ autobiography:

has turned into the hottest auction of the summer.

My first thought was, haven’t there been enough books already about the Rolling Stones?

Apparently publishers don’t think so. The bidding on the proposed book is up to $7.1 million. You heard right. Ordinary writers sometimes don’t get more than $10,000 for their first book, some with small presses get even less. Then they get absolutely no support with promotion for the book. Keith Richards will have to fight off the reporters clamoring for an interview. He already has a platform.

Also, keep this little tidbit in mind:

The $7 million offer would be for world English language rights. Translation rights, which Mr. Victor will sell separately, will push the total advance even higher.

Richards won’t be writing the book by himself. He’ll have a long time friend and non-fiction author James Fox collaborate with him. This might be because, as the New York Business said:

Some reports have questioned whether “Keef,” as he’s known in Britain, would remember enough of his past to write a book.

Publishers are willing to pay this much for a book if they believe they’ll get their money back. They may or may not think an aging rocker’s memoir is as important as the memoir of a past president. It’s the bottom line that’s the bottom line, not the significance or the quality of the work when it comes to celebrity books.

Chocolate Pudding Lovers Unite

Today, as I’m out running errands, flipping through radio channels trying to find something remotely worth singing along to, it occurred to me that it’s been too long since I had an audio book to listen to. Audio books are great when you’re in your car on a long trip or even on short daily trips to the grocery store for chocolate pudding. Besides very few people stare when you listen to a CD book. For some reason, they do when you’re dancing and singing to Crazy while you wait for the stop light to change. Go figure.

I really like audio books and, yet, I haven’t had one in the player in months. In that time, I bet I’ve heard Kelly Clarkson wail Since U Been Gone about five hundred and thirty two times. I still can’t figure out whether she’s saying she can breathe for the first time or she cannot breathe for the first time. So I don’t know whether she was being strangled before or after he left.

I rarely have trouble understanding someone reading an audio book. And when you get a really good reader, you not only can hear every word, you can see the book playing in your head. People look for their favorite readers the same way they look for favorite authors.

With an audio book, you can listen on your way to work, then pick it right back up on your way home. You can forget your road rage and the annoying guy in the next cubicle in an audio book. You can share them with other people at work or friends who also make frequent trips to the grocery store for chocolate pudding.

Capture the Imagination

Nope, haven’t read Harry Potter yet, despite having bought two copies. Haven’t even seen the cover art. I’ve got a couple of other books I’m reading now anyway. Just have to stay away from any spoilers until I can wrench a copy from my son’s hands.

Did go see the latest Harry Potter movie, though. In 3D at the IMAX theater. Wouldn’t say that ending scene, which was the only part in 3D, was worth the extra bucks, but it was fun to watch and the screen was huuuge. Luckily, we sat far enough back to be able to watch without twisting our heads back and forth. I’d sort of forgotten the plot, but caught up with the movie. Have to say, the movie was good, but the book was better.

The sales figures for the last Harry Potter book are staggering. I’m going to list some of them here this Thursday and also in this week’s issue of my newsletter, Doing It Write.

The word is that Harry Potter was good for Rowling, but it hasn’t transferred to other books. Kids are reading Harry Potter, but not necessarily reading other books. Well, seven books are better than none. But, of course, it would be wonderful if kids took up reading as much as they play video games or listen to their Ipods or talk on their cell phones. Balance is important. And not all kids abhor reading. My son grew up playing video games, yet he’s an avid reader. My daughter did not play video games, and she, too, loves to read. Just as you buy Nintendo and Wii and other games sets and hundreds of games, you have to provide your kids with books. Good books. Books that will capture their imaginations and make them want to read more.

That’s what Harry Potter did. The books are not masters. They’re not the ultimate in writing. But they did enthrall kids. That’s what video games do. So choose books that will do the same for kids.

Potterized

Yep, I’ve been Potterized. Went this morning to pick up my “ticket” to get the latest Harry Potter book soon after midnight. I say “soon after” since I didn’t get to Barnes & Noble before nine, so I’m in group E, instead of A.

Actually, I won’t even be going to pick it up. My son will. And I won’t be reading the book, at least not for a while. I ordered two copies. One, I’ll send to my daughter out in San Francisco. The other my son will read first. Then it’ll probably get passed around to all his friends who want to read it. Eventually, hopefully, it’ll come back to me.

So don’t anyone tell me the secrets or the ending. Not for several months. Or maybe longer. Depends on if my son can keep track of who has the book. I’ve bought all the books in the series, but a couple have disappeared.

I lose books that way. But I learn from these experiences. I don’t lend autographed books and most first-editions. They often either don’t get returned or they come back damaged. Even so, I have a ton of books that anyone can come by and “check out.” Take ‘em and read ‘em. Good chance you don’t even have to return them. But I guess if I ever want to re-read all the Potter books, I’ll have to re-buy some of them.

So, to all of you who will be up all night reading the latest Potter, have a joyful night. Just don’t send me any spoilers. Wait until after Labor Day. Or maybe Christmas. Paul has a lot of friends.

Never Say Never

My daughter played the clarinet in middle school. She was actually quite good at it. But when high school came, she closed the clarinet case and said, you can throw this away, I'm never playing it again. And she was true to her word. She hasn't.

But the other day I got an email from her (she's now living in San Francisco). She asked me to send the clarinet to her. She didn't ask if I still had it. She knew I wouldn't have actually thrown it away.

Now, before you jump to conclusions, she isn't going to start practicing again. Actually, she's going to give it to a friend who wants to learn to play. She, meanwhile, is learning the banjo.

How does this relate to writing?

Never throw away old manuscripts. Even if you think they suck or fifty agents turned it down. You can throw away the physical copy (or keep one hard copy at most), but save a digital copy on CD or smart stick or hard drive. Some day, years from now, you may pull it up and re-read it. By that time it may not sound so bad. Or you may have learned so much in the writing process since then that you can see where you went wrong and what can be done to salvage it. Or you may see parts of it that are really good and could be salvaged for some other book you're working on or thinking of writing.

My daughter probably will never play the clarinet again. But because she learned, she knows how to read music, she knows how the notes should sound, she has rhythm. It most likely will be easier for her to learn other instruments.

As a writer, you learn as you take classes, you learn as you write, you develop, not a musician's ear, but a writer's ear. And with that new skill, you can go back and read previous writing and learn from it, as well.

Reading in the Dark

This will be a short post because I've been having computer problems. New ones. Last night, my computer went black, literally. I thought it had gone to sleep. Nope. It just went black. Did the usual, took out the battery, restarted. Black.

This morning, turned it on. Black. Tried to call my tech guy. He's disappeared. Probably black too, considering his phone number didn't work anymore. Probably means I won't be getting the memory chip he was supposed to have ordered for me either.

Called the ubiquitous tech guy in India. He got my screen lit up again, although I'm not sure it was the fifteen things we did or the last one that worked. Problem was, I then had a pink screen. Not a lively or neon pink, but a light, sickly, pink. You'd think black or blue ink on a pink background wouldn't be bad. You'd be wrong.

But on my own, I got it to go white again. Much easier on the eyes.

Unfortunately, the day's half done and I'm way behind on work. This sort of things happen to all the time. You have pages you need to get written or edited, and something comes up to throw you off. Some things, like dusting, can be put off. Some things like a black screen on your computer can't. You gotta go with the flow. Just don't let so many things distract you that your flow gets totally blocked.

Tech Speak or Not Tech Speak

Ever noticed how popular those "For Dummies" books are? Ever noticed how many of them there are! There's a Dummies book for just about any subject you can think of and for a few you couldn't have thought of (but someone else did).

Know why they're so popular? Because anyone, for the most part, can understand them. Why else would you pay $22 for a Dummies book when the software program you bought came with its own 400 page manual? Some manuals are so laden with technical jargon and goobledeegook that you'll get a headache just trying to understand the index, let alone the instructions.

You can convert the perimeter of the stroke of a selected path into a closed path. The resulting path creates the illusion of a path with no fill and a stroke that is the same as the original path object's fill.

Okaaaay then. That's perfectly clear. Take two aspirin and pass me the Dummies book.

So, how does this apply to those of us not writing the For Dummies books? Am I telling you to dumb down your writing?

No, no. I'm saying make your writing clear and understandable, without sacrificing the flow and flavor of your writing and story. But, yes, you do have to consider your audience.

If you're writing a piece that will run in a technical magazine or a specialized journal, then you can get away with jargon and insider-terminology. You won't need to describe a 757 and list its specs if you're writing an article for a pilots' magazine. In fact, if you did, your readers might consider it an insult.

If you're writing a fiction piece for a magazine that goes out to retired Navy personnel, you don't need to explain the slang. They know it. They use it. They may even be it.

But, if you're writing for the average audience, the general public, you may have to demonstrate unfamiliar terms or use them in a context that makes them understandable. You'll notice I said may.

A few years back I read Birth of Blue Satan by Patricia Wynn. I don't usually read historical mysteries; I prefer modern-day settings. But Pat's a friend and I'd heard people raving about the book. And they were right. I really enjoyed the book and looked forward to more in the series.

But, back to the point. In the book, there's mention of a disease that one particular person has. That disease is called the King's Evil. Now, I hadn't a clue what the King's Evil would be called today. And the author doesn't tell you within the concept of the story! Oh sure, you can find out afterward by reading the Author's Notes, but during the book, unless you're a medical historian, you don't know what disease that character has.

And, the kicker is, you don't need to know.

All the reader needs to understand is that the character has the disease and what it's doing to his body. Telling the reader that the King's Evil is actually Disease X (don't want to spoil it for any of you planning on reading the book) would only disrupt the flow of the book.

So, you have to figure out who your readers are going to be. Plus, you have to decide what to tell and what to save. . . what to explain and what to demonstrate . . . what to go into detail about and what to just toss into the wind and see if it sails.

Remember, though, unless you're writing a book in the For Dummies series, you're not writing for dummies.

A Maze of Books

Finished reading Atlantis yesterday. (Yeah, I’m back into my old habit of reading multiple books at once. This time it was Atlantis [finished], Evil Inc. [just started], The Bourne Ultimatum [about a third of the way through], Diary of a Radical Mermaid [finished two days ago], and The Vampire Lestat [only read a few pages and finding it hard to keep reading].)

If you like archaeology, you’ll like Atlantis. It’s got lots of archaeology history with a dose of suspense and action thrown in. On some of the action stuff, I had to suspend my disbelief a bit, but not on the archaeology. And, yes, I know it’s fiction. The difference was that all the archaeology fiction was based on reality and facts. The author is a renowned expert and I liked reading his Author Notes at the end.

My husband is now reading Atlantis. As soon as he’s through, I’ll give it to my son.

I used to read multiple books at once. I’d keep them stored around the house, in the car, or in my purse. Problem was, I’d find a book in the glove compartment or a drawer that I’d totally forgotten – that it was even there and what I’d read so far. Half-finished books would get dropped because I didn’t want to start over with them.

So, then, I went to reading only one book at a time. And that worked. But without even noticing, I’ve fallen off the wagon. Now, I’ve got multiple books going at once. But this time, I seem to be keeping them centralized in the living room. But that presents a problem in itself.

For example, I had Atlantis sitting on the coffee table. I was close to the end. My husband was leaving on a trip and needed something to read on the plane. So, being the loving wife that I am, I offered him Atlantis. Well, then he got into it and continued to read after he got home. So, then, I had to grab it whenever he wasn’t reading and I had time so I could finish it. Since he’s about two-thirds through with Atlantis, he bought Evil Inc. So I, of course, picked it up and started reading. You’ve probably already guessed what’s gonna happen next – he’s got another trip coming up this week and by that time, he’ll have finished Atlantis and will take Evil Inc. That’s okay, though, I’ve got The Bourne Ultimatum to return to.

See? It all works out.

Changes Afoot

You probably noticed I didn’t post yesterday. Had problems with my computer or with the site or something. Kept getting an error message every time I tried to go to it, but I could get to it on a different computer. Finally, after being frustrated all day, I went into the template for the blog and deleted the last change I’d made. That worked. But I’m still confused. If the problem was in the blog template stored on Blogger, why did it only affect my computer?

Ah well, I’m back up. So, on to other things.

First off, last Thursday in New York, ThrillerFest started. I’m sure everyone there is having a stompin’ good time. I’m jealous of you all!

Another thing that might be of interest to those of you who are Romance writers or Mystery writers: changes have been made within both RWA and MWA.

According to Writer Unboxed, several changes were made at the association’s annual conference. It appears those changes have not been posted to the RWA website yet, though, or at least I couldn’t locate them. Writer Unboxed noted changes in the contest categories, as well as requirement to be accepted into the Published Author Network (PAN). You can go to that particular blog post to learn more.

Lee Goldberg, a member of the membership committee for MWA, on his blog announced big changes to the criteria for active status membership for professional authors. Among them:

An author of books must have received a minimum advance of $1,000, royalties of $1,000, or a combination of advances and royalties in at least that amount.

The initial print run for the author's work of fiction or non-fiction must be at least 500 copies.

To find out more, you can go to Goldberg’s blog post or to the MWA site itself.

What Makes You Read?

I'm reading Atlantis by David Gibbins. If you like history and underwater exploration, this is the book for you.

Gibbons is an expert in underwater archaeology, ancient shipwrecks, and sunken cities. He uses all of that knowledge in the book. His main character is an underwater archaeologist and scientist. Even though it's clear Gibbons did his research, I did find it hard to believe the protagonist is also an expert on all types of weaponry and can fly attack helicopters, despite being severely wounded.

Those of you who know I was a mermaid for three years might have suspected I'd like a book about the lost city of Atlantis. Even with this frame of mind, I am at places overwhelmed by the technical jargon and details about ships and history.

So I've skimmed in places -- mostly in the first half of the book because what I really wanted to get to was where the characters finally get to Atlantis. I wanted to see where it was and what it looked like.

But that's not to detract from Gibbons' obvious expertise. He definitely knows his stuff. And because of his credentials, I'm more likely to believe that the city would look the way he describes. That it might actually be where he puts it. Without all the technical stuff, his theory wouldn't be so believable.

But, still, I skipped some.

But that's me. Someone else might read it just for the pages I skipped. My son for example. I'm going to pass this on to him because I think he will love the history and technical stuff. I think that will be the pull for him, not the characters searching for the city.

We each read for our own reasons. We each look for different things in books. And as writers, it's good to remember that there is no "one" reader.

Author Deborah Smith

I recently discovered a new author. Okay, she’s not exactly new since she’s a nationally best selling author with 35 novels to her name. But she was new to me. Her name is Deborah Smith. Pam at A Thirsty Mind (see yesterday’s post) recommended her.

I got two of her books, both in the Waterlillies Series. The first is called Alice at Heart and the second is Diary of a Radical Mermaid. After I bought the books, I discovered Smith lives in the Georgia town I did as a kid. Small world.

I’ve finished Alice at Heart. It was very different from what I expected, although I’m not exactly sure what I expected. It’s rather like a literary romance. I’ve not read Smith before so I can’t say that this is her style, but I was surprised at the flow of the plot, the elegance of the characters and the voice of the story. At first it was hard to get used to, but once I got into it, it was an easy read. Despite the fact that it had a romance story line, there were a couple of places that made me cry.

If you like a southern voice and setting, mermaid lore, a bit of fantasy and romance, you might like Alice at Heart.

I’ll read Diary of a Radical Mermaid next. I read the first page, expecting it to be a continuation of book one. Definitely not. This one is starting off as sort of a modern, sassy chick lit, mermaid style.

A Thirsty Mind

When I travel, I try to visit bookstores and then blog about them here or write about them in my newsletter, Doing It Write. I’m not traveling at the moment, but thought I’d mention a local independent bookstore.

As far as I know A Thirsty Mind is the closest bookstore to me. It’s in the neighboring town of Lakeway. It’s not on a main road, so check the map before you head that way. It’s also not a huge store. But it has a nice selection of the latest releases, best-sellers and local authors, and since it’s not huge, you can actually find what you’re looking for without a map. There are also gifty things available. The store itself is open, bright, and inviting. There are comfy chairs to sit in while you browse.

Pam Headrick, the owner, is usually there, and if she’s not, Anita probably is, so introduce yourself and tell them “hi” for me. The nice thing about a smaller store, locally owned, with great people working there is that if you need any help finding anything or deciding what to get, you’ll get advice fast. And both Pam and Anita know their books and authors.

A Thirsty Mind also has lots of events going on. You can sign up for their newsletter to keep up on author signings and other local artists, including musicians, coming to the store. And Pam has plans to put book reviews up on the website.

And if you’re so inclined, you can cozy up to the check-out-slash-bar and buy a glass of wine while you get to know the owners and other people stopping by to chat.

Nice Guys Get Forgotten

Think back to the characters you've met through books over the years. More than likely, the ones you recall are not the nice, even-tempered, straight-and-narrow characters. You remember the villains, the guys (and gals) with an edge, the ones teetering just this side of sanity, or the quirky, even volatile, people.

They caught your attention -- they made an impression. And a lot of the time, though you may not want to admit it, you could identify with them.

Remember that as you develop and write your characters.

We're all a little crazy, a little flawed. People are not black and white. Though some hearts may be a bit blacker than others and some souls a shade whiter, basically, we're all some hue of gray. And there's a wide range of gray in-between black and white.

Readers can resent a character who is too saintly. Yeck. Unbelievable. Uninteresting. They can also turn away from an antagonist who is too evil. Yeck. Unbelievable. Get real.

Nice, sane, likeable characters need a touch of insanity, something to make them interesting -- to keep them from being overshadowed by the counter character. And the bad guys need a likeable quirk or some almost redeeming quality or motivation to keep them from becoming cartoonish.

If you're not sure how to do this, check out books on psychology or abnormal behavior written for the lay person. You'll find personality models laid out for you. Look for books that profile personality types or the sociology of character.

Remember, though, that whatever *flaw* your character has, it will -- must either directly or indirectly -- affect the plot, the character arc, or the outcome. Your bad guy can't have the *flaw* of loving his mother while murdering innocents, without that bit of character likeability having meaning to the story or climax. Your protagonist shouldn't have the *flaw* of being rigidly judgmental of others without that crack in his armor being important to his development in the book.

Don't be afraid to write characters who are not like sane, centered, lovable you. Write the characters who are similar to the *other* you, the one you try to keep hidden. Now, I'm not saying write an autobiography. Just look inside yourself and admit that you're not perfect. And neither are your characters -- not perfectly good nor perfectly evil.

Characters who are edgy, flawed, or "gray" are more likely to be remembered. And if the characters are remembered, there's a strong chance the author will be as well.

Transformers, the Movie

Went to the movies last night to see Transformers. I remember the cartoon show from when my son was little. We had all kinds of transformers around the house.

I bought our tickets online, but, even so, we should have arrived about forty-five minutes early instead of fifteen. We ended up on the second row, way down front in the overflow area. Looking straight up. One of those seats where you have to turn your head left and right to try to see everything happening on the huge screen only feet from your nose.

Every seat was taken. And I heard that the show after ours was sold out. Transformers is a hit. I heard someone on TV say it could be the summer blockbuster. For a show about toys? No, for a show that has amazing special effects and non-stop action. And that’s from someone sitting on the second row who couldn’t see the entire screen at once.

Of course, there was a screenplay. There was, after all, some dialogue. So someone did write the script. I’m not sure who, although I did stay through every last credit at the end. I was amazed by the list of those involved with the graphics, special effects, animatronics and such. Loooong credits.

I would like to go see it again – from a row farther back in the theatre. I think from a better seat some of the fight scenes would look like two transformers fighting rather than a big blur. Even from close up, though, I could tell that whoever did the transforming effects probably was a genius. They also probably spent hours on each few seconds of film.

No discredit to the screenwriter, but don’t go see Transformers for the dialogue. Go for the action and special effects.

The Simpson Book

A friend and author, Lila Guzman, sent me an email yesterday. She thought I might want to look into the story that the Goldman family has acquired the rights to OJ Simpson’s book, If I Did It. I hadn’t heard about it, so I did some research.

Apparently, according to USAToday and a lot of other sources, the story’s true. Everyone has their own opinion as to whether OJ Simpson killed Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson. This blog entry isn’t about that.

What I found interesting was that the Goldmans didn’t just obtain the right to publish the book, which they apparently intend to do under the title of Confessions of a Double Murderer, they bought much more.

The British paper, The Telegraph, said:

''Ron Goldman LLC will own Simpson's name, likeness, signature and story and will hawk it to satisfy this terrible judgment,'' their lawyer, David Cook, said.

The USAToday paper confirmed this, but added a bit more detail:

The Goldmans own the copyright, media rights and movie rights. They also acquired Simpson's name, likeness, life story and right of publicity in connection with the book, according to court documents.

If you carefully read the above statement, it appears they only have the right to use his likeness as it is connected to the book. I guess that would be required for this kind of book where the main “character” of the book is OJ Simpson, a real person. When I first read it, though, it made me stop and think. A bankruptcy trustee can sell not just your book that’s part of the bankruptcy, but also your likeness. Makes you sit back and take notice.

Franchises

Have you noticed lately that there seem to be more franchise books being published? I'm talking about those books that have a famous or well-read author's name on it, but are not actually written by that author. They're written by someone else.

Like James Patterson or Robert Ludlum. They have the author's name in big letters at the top, then at the bottom is the name of the author who actually wrote it.

Authors writing as someone else is not a new phenomenon. But it seems to be more acknowledged now. On the one hand, it's a good thing since the actual writer of the book is getting some recognition. But on the other hand, it can make the reader feel cheated. They thought they were getting a Patterson book, but didn't.

My husband likes both Patterson and Ludlum, but he's not crazy about those written by someone else. He can tell the difference in the writing style and although he's supposedly reading a Ludlum book, it isn't the same.

But other people don't seem to notice and they continue to buy the books in the franchise. That keeps the franchise going, gives the big-name author an outlet for book ideas, and keeps the money rolling in for the author or estate.

But, once again, ghost-writing is not new (of course, with the ghost writer's name on the book, it's hardly ghost writing). The same person didn't write all the Nancy Drew books. Different authors penned the Sweet Valley Twins books.

And, surely, you didn't think all celebrities wrote their own books, did you?

I think it's probably a good thing that more "secondary" authors are getting recognition. Die hard fans of a series or a particular author will now know whether they're getting the real thing or not, at least.

Books to Movies

How often do you read books that are being or have been made into movies? Do you read the book first or see the movie first?

I usually try to read the book first. Sometimes that helps, like with The DaVinci Code. I’m glad I read the book first. It helped with the movie. There were changes in the movie that made it different from the book, but it still followed close enough that having read the book first, I was better able to understand the intricacies of the story in the movie. Plus, it was sort of fun to spot where things had been altered either to get all the story in or to be politically correct.

In a few cases, the books and the movies are almost identical, like with the Harry Potter books. Sure, some things get left out of the movie because the books are so large and so cram-filled that you can’t get everything into a two hour movie. Even so, the movie is more true to the book than in almost any other case of a book to a movie. The only problem for me is that I’ve read the books so long ago that by the time the movie comes out I’ve forgotten the book.

I’m now reading The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum. I know there’s another Bourne movie coming out soon, but I’m not sure if it has the same name as the book. But this is the third movie in the series and The Bourne Ultimatum is the third book in the series. So, I figured I’d read the book. I’m on page 130, but I knew right away that the movie, if it is based on this book, will be very different. Without giving too much away … Bourne’s whole motivation in the book for doing what he does cannot be his motivation in the movie. That motivation was taken away in the second movie.

So, it’ll be interesting to see what new motivation they give him in the movie. Hopefully, I’ll have read the book close enough to the movie’s release that I’ll still remember the book. It is very involved, though. I’m only to page 130 and I’m already struggling to sort out the characters. Part of the problem, though, may be that I’ve got so much going on that I can’t sit and read for long stretches. It’s a couple of pages and that’s it for the day.

Wonder when the movie comes out? It’s not out already, is it?

Naming Your Characters

I’m back from my whirlwind trip to Alabama. It was so fast, it’s sort of a blur of highway. Won’t do that again in basically four days. Next time, it’s at least a week, with stops along the way.

I didn’t take my laptop and as you might imagine, the majority of the time was spent in the car. But I did notice something during all that driving: Towns could make really great character names.

I’m not kidding. Check out the names of cities. You don’t even have to go on a butt-numbing road trip, just pull out your map or atlas. Around here in central Texas – how about Kyle Buda? Or Granger Niederwald? I envisioned a character, Southern of course, from the highway sign for two cities – okay, no one steal this ‘cause I’m gonna use it – Tallulah Vidalia. Can’t you just see that woman? Tallulah Vidalia – the name even conjures up her posture.

Usually we dig out our baby naming books when we should also consult the atlas. And don’t forget your own city maps for street names. I just glanced at the map of Austin. How about the name Willow or Trinity? What about Perlita or Sevan?

That atlas or city street guide book is good for more than just directions.

But, remember, Tallulah Vidalia is mine.