Alphabet Remix - Couches and Casting Calls

These blogging prompts are brought to you by Nicole at The Madlab Post....

It’s time for The Alphabet Remix - A Writing Prompt Idea Engine Treating A to Z Blogging Avoidance Disorders

October is shaping up to be quite a busy month. I’m currently holding a casting call for the short film that I’ve been working on for several months now - AND - I am one of maybe a dozen or so hosts for Couch Fest Films, an annual film festival that screens short films in people’s houses and other alternative venues throughout many different countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Iceland, Sweden and India, to name a few.

On Saturday, November 10th, you are all welcome to attend a Couch Fest screening if there is one happening in your area. The one I’m hosting is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but there are several other places where screenings will be happening throughout the U.S. including Iowa, California, Ohio and New York. So today, C is for Couches and Casting. Here are some blogging prompts related to these two topics that you can write about during the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

Casting Couch Claims

For those of you who are familiar with this term, it is often used to describe the exchange of sexual favors with famous directors who have the clout to help actors land a role or further their careers in some way. Write about a famous Hollywood actor or actress who has allegedly used the casting couch to further his/her career. More specifically, add your opinion on whether you believe the claims are true or false and why. You can also use this time to express why you think this particular actor or actress would benefit (or not) from utilizing the casting couch method of gaining roles, representation, contacts, contract negotiations, etc. in Hollywood.

Critique Casting Choices

Write about films that you think could have been better if they featured different cast members than ones originally cast for the film. You could also write about casting selections that were pleasantly surprising due to low expectations or a mere guess that the casting choice may have been misguided. For example, many fans of the film adaptations based on James Patterson books were not too happy when news broke that actor Morgan Freeman was not going to be in the upcoming Alex Cross movie -- and movie mogul Tyler Perry was cast in the lead role for this film, instead. Surprisingly, however, Perry has received positive reviews from movie critics and industry insiders who got a first-look at the film.

A Cast of Couples

List your favorite couples featured in a movie. They don’t have to be a couple in real life -- your blog post can be about couples who have the best on-screen chemistry or actors and actresses who played the most convincing couple in a particular film.

Now onto other news: The WINNER of Alphabet Soup - Cinematic C’s is....

Tina Downey at Life is Good

Tina correctly unscrambled three of the five cinematic terms that start with letter C. As a result, she has not only reclaimed her title of ALPHABET WIZARD but she also gets to pick the letter for the next Alphabet Soup game as well as the option to suggest a topic for an upcoming Monday Movie Meme over at The Madlab Post.

Congratulations Tina!

Here are the answers to the Cinematic C’s themed Alphabet Soup game:

1. iterapngmhyCoa is Cinematography.
2. ctsuCgnhoiCa is Casting Couch.
3. esdnigirlCsotC is Closing Credits.
4. Cyitnotuin is Continuity.
5. oiroCtls is Colorist.

Have a Fantastically Fun Friday Everyone!

Nicole

Find Me @MadlabPost on Twitter

Sign up for the Monday Movie Meme, a weekly group blogging series that inspires discussion about entertainment in a whole new light and provides recommendations for your DVD, on-demand or theater fix. New topics are posted every Monday at The Madlab Post!

What does your Bookshelf say about You?

As a little girl, I envied my father's bookshelves, which had pride of place in our tiny living room. They were never far from my eyes or my greasy fingers -- I was forever nicking books and reading them inside the covers of my Social Studies or General Science texts. I was caught reading Anna Karenina at 10, Nana at about 12; I was poring through the complete works of Bernard Shaw at 15, along with generous helpings of Chekov, Tolstoy, Ibsen, Hemingway, Flaubert, Rabindranath Tagore, Neruda and of course, Shakespeare. Then came Camus, Kafka, Schopenhauer (which I persisted in, with the aid of distractions from M & B romances, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Alistair MacLean from the local library.)

All through that time, I never wondered what my father's bookshelves said about him. He was a self-taught reader (English was his second language, as it is mine) -- and his books were filled with notes in our mother tongue, and a variety of underlines.

But obviously folks believe that you can tell a lot about the man/ woman by the books he/she reads. Here's an article that says exactly that:

Your bookshelf is an intimate physical representation of your accomplishments (titles as trophies earned), aspirations (that ever growing to-read pile), associations (that book your boss gave to each employee), personal development (those self-help titles that urged you to talk to strangers), guilty pleasures (50 shades of beach reads), escapes (sci-fi to some, travelogues to others), memories (meeting that author, visiting that indie shop on vacation), interests (the bigger the Star Wars fan, the more Star Wars books) and countless other tells that another reader would unconsciously and immediately compare against their own shelf. And that's just the ingredients – how you organise, arrange, and display these titles should impart even more insight as to a reader's personality.

 
 Perhaps my father's collection showed a well-rounded and insatiably curious reader. I'll have to take a look at the shelves for any deeper insights when I visit him next.

My living room has no bookshelf. All of the shelves are in my study, where they cover two walls, and spur me on or distract me as I write, depending on my level of concentration for the day. They probably show I'm a random reader, with no defined taste, who would read almost anything, depending on her mood on any given day. The pic here is part of the only bookshelf that I could click without bending my back out of shape.

Where are your bookshelves placed, and what do you think they show about you? If you mail us pictures of your bookshelves (you can try me at atozstories at gmail dot com), along with your blog links, may be we could do a blog post series based on bookshelves and their owners.
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This post was brought to you by Damyanti from Amlokiblogs.

To every Author out there. . This post is for you.

Good morning wonderful A-to-Zers!  It is so wonderful to be posting here again.  

Today I am here to capture the attention of every published (or soon to be) author in the world!  (Okay, honestly that would take a lot of work and I really don't have the room for all of you. But you get the point). 

You see, last year I held  this wonderful event on my blog.  Let me tell you about it. 

Last year I did The Twelve Books for Christmas.  I interview 12 authors (per blog, there were three blogs signed up). And each author gave away a book or two or three or twelve.  :)  And we did this for the twelve days leading up to Christmas.  It was a TON of fun and even though it was short notice last year, it got a LOT of attention.

So why am I telling you about this in September?  Well here is why:

Last year I posted the "Are you an author" post on November 30th and it was incredibly difficult to get everything set up and even with my handy-dandy best friend, we still struggled getting everything ready on time.

SO, I am telling you this because I am hoping to get more than *36 authors signed up for The Twelve Days of Christmas.  :)  Want to know more? Interested in signing up?  Want to read the rules?  Everything can be found HERE on this form!

There is a slight mistake in the form.  It does say that Interview Questions will be sent out within the next week.  This is not true.  I will slowly be e-mailing out interview questions as it gets closer to the actual event! But knowing which authors are signing up ahead of time will make it easier to build up some hype!

Oh and if you're worried about participating because you are Indie, don't!  Want to know why? CLICK HERE! 

If you're worried about signing up because you are Traditionally published, don't!  Want to know why? CLICK HERE.

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please look at the form first and then feel free to comment or e-mail me!

Okay, now go fill out (or at least look at) the Sign up Form!

*We now have room for more than 100 authors for the Twelve Books for Christmas. 

Alright, so if you're a YA (or middle grade. And Adult by request) Author,  SIGN UP! Seriously, what do you have to lose??  

If you're NOT an (Published) Author,  go tell all your friends who are about this post!  Spread the word!  Because, hey, that means more books for you to win right?

~Konstanz

nothoughts2small.blogspot.com       ~     thewriterace.blogspot.com

It's October and I am in a A to Z Challenge PANIC!!

Hail to the King, Baby!

Yes, we behind the scenes of have been [A to Z Team] working on our plans for the "A to Z Challenge 2013" and it makes me wonder what the heck I am going to do for 26 Letters... in 26 Days. There are many things going on in my life as I am sure you all have something happening... I want you all you start you game plan, is there going to be a theme... or are you going to wing it?

-So how do you prepare for something that is so far away and yet.. so close?

-What will inspire you, how do you know?

-Who is thinking about it, right now?

-Are you thinking about right now, cause I brought it up?

Good I am glad I am not the only one, see it is a little early to start the panic.. but at least you are thinking about it...



In the meantime can I recommend a few things:

Retro-Zombie's: 500 Followers "Giveaway"

                            Spray Blood "Giveaway" [Ends Today]
Dave Wrote This "The Nineties Blogfest" [Oct 15th]
Ciara and Alex's "Did I Notice Your Book Blogfest" [Oct 17th]
 

Yeah, I know it feels like a set up, doesn't it... it really is not. I am truly in panic to think of what I am going to post this coming April. Do you have something that will help keep your mind occupied until then or are some really cool people thinking they are ready? See I didn't even mention my "NEATORAMA'S T-SHIRT" store, wait I just did... sorry I could not help myself.

I even put a photo of my cat "Gizmo" she is real relaxed...
alas she doesn't have to think about the challenge!
Jeremy Hawkins
[Retro-Zombie]

Special Challenge Participant Feature - Author Cherie Reich!

Today’s Special Challenge Participant is author, Cherie Reich! She is the author of the Gravity and Foxwick series, and one of the sweetest people I know. Her theme for the Challenge this year was twenty-six flash fiction pieces from the Foxwick Kingdom. The result was her book, A to Z Flashes of Foxwick.

What made you decide to do flash fiction for the Challenge?

I’ve participated in #fridayflash off and on since July 2010, so I decided flash fiction would be the way to go. It’s generally short (I think my longest pieces was 600+ words, but most were in the 200-300 word range), and I thought it was a great way to showcase my writing.

Did you write it all in advance or as the Challenge progressed?

If I remember correctly, I wrote them all in March, but I had my critique partners look over them, so I didn’t get them all scheduled in advance until after the first week of April. I like to plan ahead.

Which one was the most challenging?

It’s a tossup between “Merrilea’s Music” and “Tyre and Thay.” For “Merrilea’s Music,” the piece wanted to be much longer than a flash fiction piece, so it was a hard idea to translate into flash fiction form. For “Tyre and Thay,” I wanted at least one drabble (100-word exactly flash piece), and I kept going under and lower before hitting it just right.

Which was your favorite piece and why?

Such a hard decision. Hmm, I’ll have to go with “Yonder Yew” because I amused myself with the pun on “Yew” and “you.”

What are the Shadowlands? (And what is a Foxwick?)

The Shadowlands is where souls go to live after they part from their bodies (i.e. die). I came up with the name of Shadowlands from my favorite quote from Sophocles’s Ajax, “For I see the true state of all us that live – We are dim shapes, no more, and weightless shadow.” Thus, we end up in the Shadowlands. As for what is a Foxwick, I’m not sure. I can’t even really remember how I came up with the name. It was either a Fantasy Place Name Generator or something else. I first used Foxwick as a setting in October 2010 for “Lady Death.” I thought perhaps it might be the founder’s name, but the more I play in Foxwick’s realm, I don’t think that’s true. So far, it hasn’t given up that secret, but I will keep searching.

Where do you get the names for your fantasy characters and places?

Various places. I’ve used a fantasy name generator. I think that’s how I got the names for Lochhollow and Merrilea Sea. I studied a lot of history in college since I majored in Classics, so some of the names come from there, like Vesta. I also do baby name searches. That’s how I came up with Eirwyn, Attor, and Kona. And the A to Z Challenge gave me a few names, such as Quaylin.

Now that the Challenge has ended, how can people read A to Z Flashes of Foxwick?

I self-published A to Z Flashes of Foxwick on April 16, and it’s a free read on Smashwords, Amazon, Kobo, and iTunes. Of course, people can read it on my blog for free or purchase a copy for $0.99 on Nook and various Amazon affiliates who would not price-match to free.

What are your plans for the Challenge next year? More Foxwick?

My original plan was to write a YA Fantasy Foxwick story featuring Eirwyn (Princess of Wintermill at the time) called The Loveless Princess, but I soon realized my idea was too large for the A to Z Challenge, although I still plan to write it in 2013. Now I plan to find 26 random prompts HERE and try to craft a short story from them for 26 blog posts. I’m not yet sure what genre the story will be in, but I’ll figure it out once I find the prompts. I plan to collect the prompts in December and begin working on the story then. Yes, I really do like to plan ahead.

Thanks, Cherie - you rock!

Co-host Ninja Captain Alex is the author of CassaStar and CassaFire and his blog can be found HERE