10 Things To Do Before Buying A Novel

Written by Jill Brennan


OK, you don’t get much time to read novels anymore. You used to but that was another life. Before you could pick up something that appealed and because you read so much, you weren’t too disappointed if it didn’t grab you like you thought it would. Things have changed. Now when you pick up a novel to read it has to get you in quickly or it will collect dust on your bedside table. There are too many other things demanding your attention…like sleep!

And when you go torepparttar bookshop sometimes its hard not to be overwhelmed byrepparttar 149487 sheer number of books on offer, especially withrepparttar 149488 big mega stores becomingrepparttar 149489 norm. So what to do?

I’ve put together a checklist that with a little bit of preparation can help you wade through repparttar 149490 sea of books and help you pick a surefire winner: a novel that will captivate YOU.

1. The best place to start is to look out in magazines, newspapers and online for book reviews – see what is being billed asrepparttar 149491 latest must read. Even if you don’t have time to readrepparttar 149492 whole review, jot downrepparttar 149493 title and author as one to look out for.

2. Ask friends forrepparttar 149494 best book they have read inrepparttar 149495 last few months or this year orrepparttar 149496 last few years if like you they really are struggling withrepparttar 149497 whole when-am-I-going-to-find-time-to-read-a-novel?-thing. Don’t just ask them what book was their favourite; ask them why they liked it. Was it an unusual story, wasrepparttar 149498 pace so fast they needed a crash helmet, did it have edge ofrepparttar 149499 seat suspense, did it remind them of growing up? You want to know what exactly made it a great read for them. This will help you to refine your search, especially if they say they likedrepparttar 149500 quirky twist inrepparttar 149501 ending and you don’t do quirky. Just because you’re close friends doesn’t automatically mean you likerepparttar 149502 same books.

3. Askrepparttar 149503 people behindrepparttar 149504 counter at your favourite bookshop what they enjoyed reading and get them to take you to it or give you a specific reference number so you can find it easily yourself.

4. When you getrepparttar 149505 book in your hands look atrepparttar 149506 cover. Is it a catchy title? Doesrepparttar 149507 cover appeal to you? Despiterepparttar 149508 old saying about not judging book covers, publishers put a lot of time and effort into creating a captivating cover and title. Does it work for you?

5. Turn it over and readrepparttar 149509 back. Does it still appeal? Do you only like reading modern books and this is set inrepparttar 149510 1800s? It’s important to be fairly ruthless at this stage. Ifrepparttar 149511 premise forrepparttar 149512 story doesn’t leave you wanting more, chances arerepparttar 149513 writing probably won’t either.

Making Your Own Music For Your Movies

Written by Fred Ost


So you've got some great scenes on tape andrepparttar only thing that could make them better would be some music.

The bad news is of course is thatrepparttar 149442 cost of buyingrepparttar 149443 song you really want is probably way out of reach forrepparttar 149444 indie production. The good news is that forrepparttar 149445 price of talking to a decent attorney to getrepparttar 149446 price ofrepparttar 149447 music that you want, you can buyrepparttar 149448 software that will enable you to createrepparttar 149449 music that you need.

The software I'm talking about is Acid 4.0. It enables you to easily drag and drop different music loops together to create royalty free tunes you can use in anything you'd like.

The software is really simple to start using right out ofrepparttar 149450 box, allrepparttar 149451 files you need are located inrepparttar 149452 bottom portion ofrepparttar 149453 screen andrepparttar 149454 tracks you are working with are onrepparttar 149455 top. You can previewrepparttar 149456 loops onrepparttar 149457 bottom ofrepparttar 149458 screen before you drag them torepparttar 149459 top to start mixing. Once you have a few loops mixed onrepparttar 149460 top ofrepparttar 149461 screen you can play them while you samplerepparttar 149462 loops on file atrepparttar 149463 bottom ofrepparttar 149464 screen so you can preview what they would sound like together.

You can setrepparttar 149465 beat ofrepparttar 149466 song to just about any speed you'd like, you can go from a slow, mellow tune that sounds like it belongs in a family sedan commercial to romantic moments or you can cut loose with a mad techno beat for fights and car chases or club scenes. The only limit to what you can create with this software is your imagination.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
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