Peace on Earth–A Writer and a Conservative Get Together at Christmas

by Sylvia McNicoll | Dec 17, 2012 | Sylvia McNicoll

Okay, I was beating a dead horse, trying to explain how Bill C11 affects writers, how school boards and ministries were trying to opt out of paying anything for copying and downloading copyright files under the umbrella of educational “fair dealing”.  Mike Wallace, our Burlington (Conservative) MP seemed shocked to learn that universities and colleges also want to eventually opt out under said exemption.  But he said copyright hadn’t changed in 30 years and this bill made both sides unhappy so he thought it was pretty fair.  “It’s over and done with.  There aren’t going to be any more changes.” I am paraphrasing.  Well, I suggested to him, that we would be battling this in courtrooms for a long time.  

But for today, Merry Christmas, peace on earth and goodwill to all.

Ebook or Paperback––I want both

by Sylvia McNicoll | Dec 12, 2012 | Sylvia McNicoll

Why not just buy both?

My ereader resembles my favourite toy: an etch a sketch. It fits a gazillion books and slips into my purse, most importantly, the version I have, allows me to make scribbly notes (that I likely can’t read later) on the text.

So why hasn’t it replaced the paperback novel in my heart?

Holding it seems like a one hand job but my fingers have to stretch uncomfortably to grip it. (World’s tiniest violin is playing, I can hear it in the distance). Using two hands feels…odd.

Okay, and I haven’t mastered downloading stuff on it because I don’t do it enough. Inevitably I want my resident tech at my side especially for library take outs.

One of the strangest disadvantages is that I tend to speed read on it. My screen may be the closest facsimile to paper there is but it’s still a screen which signals WORK to my brain. Years of editing makes me want to quick scan for errors.

I also don’t have a physical sense of how long the book is. Yes there’s a page count at the bottom but in my own Crush. Candy. Corpse for example page 4 goes on for 5 pages, a function of the font and text design no doubt.

When I read the paperback version, I physically sense when I’m half way through, there’s an equal stack of pages on either side of my hand whereas that 5 page for 1 thing on the eversion makes me feel I’m behind in my reading. I’m a victim of the Evelyn Woods school of reading where you’re supposed to scroll your eyes down instead of across in order to read more quickly. When I went

to school, reading was always a race. The ereader, with it’s narrower focus, seems to feed that psychosis. Faster and faster I gallop through story breezing through whole passages of delicious description.

Knowing physically where I am in a book affects how long I’ll read, especially at night. I may want to savour the last 20 pages and save it for morning alert reading. Or if it’s a bit of a thriller I may push on for the last 40 pages and loose some shut eye.

Gone with the ereader.

But there’s that fitting in the purse thing. I HATE when I’m made to wait anywhere and I don’t have a book on me. I end up reading the posters on the walls and the sales pamphlets. Instead, what I’d love is to have the paperback I’m reading on the ereader. I want the ereader to read it out loud to me when I have to take a break from the physical book to drive for example.

In other words, I want all versions of the book. I wouldn’t mind paying more for both e and soft but somehow want them packaged together. I think that’s in the works some.

Visiting old characters-Mrs. Dobroski from Grave Secrets

by Sylvia McNicoll | Nov 27, 2012 | Sylvia McNicoll

Mrs. Dobroski, sticklady from Grave Secrets

What does my new GPS have to do with my 1999 title Grave Secrets?  Lately I’ve been reading all the books on the Red Maple list so that when I meet the authors May 15th, I will know a little about them, perhaps their voice if nothing else.  So far I’ve read The Tiffin (Mahtab Narsimman) Testify (Valerie Sherrard) The Town that Drowned ( Riel Nasson), This Dark Endeavour (Kenneth Oppel) and most recently The Vampire Stalker (Allison Van Diepen)

In The Vampire Stalker, the characters of a book step into a reader’s real world and I noticed in some of the reviews that many of Allison’s fans love this concept and have imagined it themselves.  I thought “Not me!  I like to keep my characters on some other plane of existence”.  And then I thought about it awhile and realize how they do kind of seep into my real life.  

There is a real dog named after Beauty from my Bringing Up Beauty series for example and she sent me a Christmas card one.  I also have a candle holder wreath made up of black Labs with Santa hats.  A boy named Tom was killed by a car in front of MM Robinson and somehow I knew it was my character Scott.  My research often involves integrating snippits of real people into my story actors.  Somehow Tom had been some part of my character.

The other day, in replacing my stolen GPS Princess Leya, my husband downloaded some voices for me to choose from.  The Hungarian grandmother really grabbed me.  Perhaps because as a kid, all of my friends’ parents were of eastern European descent.  And then it hit me when I named her.  She would be Mrs. Dobroski, the Hungarian sticklady from Grave Secrets   In the book she said about her oriental rug: “Be careful.  Step only on the red parts.  The white parts are so difficult to clean”.

My GPS says:  “Listen to me.  Why don’t you stay in the right lane?  Then you will go onto the highway.  But please, don’t drive too fast.  It makes me nervous.”

None of my characters, to date, have required a place to stay or money from me, thank heavens.  But I know I have written series so that I could revisit them and sometimes I’ll daydream about them and wonder how they’ve grown up and what they’re doing on their own separate plane.  I think Elizabeth from my Beauty series travels the world to rescue people with a search dog for example.  Don’t know if she’ll ever get married and have children though.  She will always miss Kyle…

At least for now, one old character Mrs. Dobroski will lead me in new directions.

The Making of the Reading Trailer

by Sylvia McNicoll | Nov 15, 2012 | Sylvia McNicoll

 This isn’t Hollywood.  We have no production budget.  I created a great script but became too busy to audition actors who would have to fill the roles with no reimbursement.   A publisher I worked with once told me she wanted a Q & A with an author.

Meh.  That sounds dangerously close to a free author visit.

I decided I would read the opening instead.

People have asked me how I made this trailer.  First I drove my son to Confederation College for film studies in Thunderbay some 12 years ago.  Really I owe it all to Craig McNicoll who works for Emotion Pictures in Burlington (emotionpicturesstudio.com).  They’re a wonderful small firm that creates great corporate videos at a price no one can beat. If you’re a corporation, not an author. If you’re an author, you probably can’t afford them.

My son doesn’t charge me more than dinner but if I get the GG, or some good grant money, Hon, there’s a new dishwasher in it for you.

Perhaps some of you remember Craig from when he filmed our first mass book launch at Mississauga Public Library.  He worked for days on that one and used to come up from his office quoting some of you. He can still call up a quote when I mention any author who participated.  He especially enjoyed author Claire Mackay emceeing (and then totally edited her out due to space and time constraints)  

First Craig brings a huge expensive high definition camera and films me reading a few times.  We discuss images and collect some from stock art:  the eagle, the solo crow.  Some my husband photographed, the Scrabble tiles, the plastic crows in a line, I shot the clock.  The sound and ominous music Craig inserted from stock.

First draft of the video (yeah, even in video editing we have “re-writes”) went on past a couple of minutes.  Way too long with not enough images.  So last night he brought his immense screen over and together we adjusted images and cut a huge chunk out.  Craig did this, I just ooohed and awed. And held my three month old grandson.  It’s always a pleasure working with my kids and witnessing their talent and skill. And holding their babies.

So thank you Craig.

Arts Hamilton

by Sylvia McNicoll | Nov 13, 2012 | Sylvia McNicoll

Last night, November 12, was a celebration of literary arts in the Hamilton community. Lots of prizes are given out and my friends Marsha Skrypuch, Estelle Salata and Gary Barwin were celebrated.  The crazy thing about awards is that such diverse books end up in the same category.  So I think Tori’s Happy Journal by Estelle Salata should win a prize for the best book set in the Lake Erie cottage country with windsurfing in it.  Last Airlift by Marsha Skrypuch should win for best nonfiction on escaping Vietnam and Gary Barwin’s poetry books should win for…I’m not sure.  But you get what I mean.  We pit apples against grapes when readers love all kinds of fruits er books.  Still…  These awards offer a lovely get together for people who usually work alone in a messy office. 

The strange cooincidence is that instead of working on rewrites I declared Monday a reading day and read True Blue by Deborah Ellis.  I bought the book at Telling Tales in September and just got to reading it yesterday.  It was a compelling dark read about an uncomfortable character who does not stand up for a friend.  True Blue won in the Young Adult Category.  If only Deborah could have been there to hear Aquarius Theatre’s creative director Ron Ulrich read the first chapter.