April 16th, 2008 · 1 Comment
Steven Jan Van Der Ark, whose Harry Potter Lexicon is at the center of J.K. Rowling’s copyright infringement case, testified on his own behalf yesterday. Unlike everything else about this case, Mr. Van Der Ark’s testimony actually made sense.
For those not keeping track of the case, here’s the back story: J.K. Rowling is suing to stop publication of the Lexicon, which is an encyclopedia of the Harry Potter universe. She claims that his book copies material from her own books while adding no additional insight, will decrease sales of the seven published Harry Potter novels, and competes directly with a Harry Potter encyclopedia that she plans to write.
Her crusade, of course, would no doubt be more sympathetic had she not given Mr. Van Der Ark’s website – on which the offending book is based – a prize, and had she not said at the time that she often used it to check facts when she couldn’t be bothered to read one of her own books.
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Tags: Uncategorized
April 15th, 2008 · 1 Comment
By popular request (or, to be more accurate, by the request of the lovely folks who have e-mailed us about this blog), we will now be running a self-published book cover every Tuesday.
For those who object to this feature, we’ve selected a cover especially for you.
Let’s be honest: yes, it is. Also, when you consider that someone paid to make this, sort of sad.
Tags: Uncategorized
The words “story” and “plot” are often used interchangeably. So much so, in fact, that new writers often think that they share the same definition. Where this belief can lead them astray is in planning the direction they want their projects and imaginations to go.
Let’s say that your friends ask you what your novel/play/movie is going to be about. Your answer is likely to be something along the order of “It’s about a homecoming queen who loses her crown” or “It’s about a parrot that likes to herd sheep” or “It’s about a high school dropout who goes to live with his grandfather.” [Read more →]
Tags: By: Christina
Mark Hilton, a 42-year-old police officer, recently signed a book deal with British publisher Houghton & Stoddard for 800,000 pounds. The deal, which is roughly equivalent to $1,567,000, is for Mr. Hilton’s first novel, “Dead Man’s Dust,” and its four projected sequels. This works out to about $315,200 per book. When taken as a whole, it may be the largest deal ever offered to a thriller writer. It’s almost certainly the largest amount ever paid for a first novel.
Hilton has no history in the publishing industry. He seems to have come out of nowhere. After dropping out of school at 15, he worked as a groundskeeper, a security guard, a store detective, and a tree surgeon, before finally becoming a policeman. During all of this, he says, he was writing.
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Tags: By: Sara
Last weekend, the movie “21” was the top box office draw in the country. As anyone who has seen the preview can tell you, it was promoted as being “based on a true story” – specifically, on Bringing down the House, the non-fiction bestseller by Ben Mezrich. Yet a recent piece in the Boston Globe suggests that, contrary to Mezrich’s assertions, Bringing down the House is “true” only in the broadest possible sense of the word.
Drake Bennet, who investigated Mezrich’s writing methods and interviewed his sources, found that he routinely re-named characters or created composites, invented characters that did not actually exist, and exaggerated or even fabricated the events that he described in order to add drama.
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Tags: By: Sara
