Category: Guest Posts

Make Me Believe the Unbelievable

Guest post
by Walt Morton

There is a pact between every author and every reader. The pact goes like this: “I, the author, will tell you a story with characters and events so interesting and true you’ll enjoy every word to the very end.” But sometimes, good intentions fail and the story stinks. The betrayed reader throws the book into the trash and swears never to read the %&$*$ writer again.

The worst offense is when the pact between writer and reader fractures because the writer presents something false, unbelievable, or inconsistent with real life experience. Among Hollywood screenwriters, the relevant tenet is called “suspension of disbelief.” The concept originated with the poet Coleridge in 1817 who said if writers put “human interest and a semblance of truth” into stories then readers would not be put off by any implausibility of the narrative. But what are the three big violations of plausibility that most frequently send books into the trash? Continue reading “Make Me Believe the Unbelievable”

Don’t Insult Readers by Being Lazy

Guest post
by Jim McCulloch

I’ve been a reader far longer than I’ve been a writer, and I’ve never enjoyed being insulted by authors who have written patently inaccurate detail into their otherwise excellent novels. I never know for sure if they were being lazy or just plain arrogant. Some have managed to become national and international best-selling authors but it doesn’t necessarily make what they wrote worth reading, at least for me.

I’m a fan of realistic action, adventure, mystery, spies, and tough guys so I’ll stick to those for purposes of discussion and because examples are easy to find. Apply the same concept to your own favorite genre and subject matter. Continue reading “Don’t Insult Readers by Being Lazy”

Tutorial: How To Get A Gravatar

We still get emails asking why folks don’t see their happy faces next to their comments here on Indies Unlimited. That would be because you need to get a Gravatar. How do you do that, you ask? Well, Ms. Zoe Lake is going to tell you. Since this tutorial was run just about a year ago, if you notice something doesn’t jive, please let us know. – The Admins.

Are you like me and ever wondered how all those other bloggers, and the like, have their image on their posts? Have you spent hours trawling over a website looking for the magic button that will allow you to upload your image too, only to be disappointed when you just couldn’t find THAT MAGIC BUTTON! and ended up feeling downright frustrated with a headache to boot?

Well wonder no more my friends, because this is how you can have your image on your blog and forum posts too.

Gravatar.com is where you can access this great, free (Yippee!), online program that will allow you to do all of the above! Following is a short tutorial to help get you started.

Continue reading “Tutorial: How To Get A Gravatar”

Trademark and Copyright Issues

Guest post
by Curtis Edmonds

The main character in my book, RAIN ON YOUR WEDDING DAY, used to work at Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta. He has a smallish collection of Coca-Cola memorabilia. And, not to put too fine a point on it, he drinks a whale of a lot of Coca-Cola. The bubbly drink is mentioned by name multiple times in the manuscript.

Am I about to get sued?

I don’t think so, but it’s not impossible. It almost happened to author Patrick Wensink, who wrote a book called “Broken Piano for President.” The cover of that book was designed as a homage to the Jack Daniels whiskey label – enough so that lawyers at Brown-Forsman, the parent company of Jack Daniels, wrote him an extremely polite letter asking him to change the cover art. That particular situation worked out well for both parties—Jack Daniels got goodwill points for handling the situation in a gentlemanly way, and Wensink got a small-but-welcome bump in sales. But it could have turned out in a much more negative way. Continue reading “Trademark and Copyright Issues”