Electronic Literature

Lately I've seen this website call Inanimate Alice. It about a project which focuses on reading from the screen, for the generation that is more technology oriented. It is also made to encourage school students to bridge in gaps in the story. And also encourages kids to read on the internet instead of reading books. However I don't think e-literature would appeal to me more than reading a book. I think the reading experience is about relaxing and reading a book. And e-literature is starring in front of a screen for hours which would burn my eyes. However I can see how this reading style could appeal to younger people, they're dealing with an interface there used to. What child does not have access to the internet these days, also e-literature is free even though the cost of a book does not cost much I'm certain a young child would rather have a toy. But the disadvantages I find in e-literature is true in-safety of the internet on sites there could be viruses, stalkers or pop ups which lead children to inappropriate sites and most children would not know any better. But some will still say that this is still say that this is the same as traditional reading, I can see there point of view. The words on the screen are exactly the same as the words on a book, so they probably provide the same as a regular book. Now thinking about e-literature I do remember buying an audiobook of iTunes and constantly listening to it, this was back in Year 5 and really enjoyed the book. I liked it so much I decided to purchase the paperback version and used to listen to the audiobook and read along, I then started reading the book by itself and enjoyed that far more. When trying to compare Electronic Literature to the old fashioned way I prefer reading a book because a book is more tranquil, trying to read from a screen after a while will really start to heart my eyes. And if I am reading something of a computer I'll be really tempted to check my email or visit Youtube. That is why I enjoy books more, because my mind is focussed.

Authors

I recently viewed the blog of Steph Bowe a 17 year-old author of YA books. I have noticed that she has designed her sight to appeal to a young audience because of the soft font and youth style of writing so that it would appeal to her target audience which I believe is a smart move. There is not an awful lot of information on how she became a writer but it does explain when she was younger she appeared in many various competitions in writing. Her first novel girl saves boy is teenage based novel many people are enjoying it because it is down to earth about some regular teenagers. But all authors are different take Michael Hyde his style is completely different, Michael has written multiple books in a series called "Change the Game" similar to choose your own adventure, his books are more sport oriented where the reader chooses plays which will affect the results of the story. It contains a range of different sports including Basketball, Soccer and Aussie Rules. Another example is the writer of the Time Riders Series, Alex Scarrow. Aside from Time Riders he has written another book called october skies for a more mature audience it involves a group of people finding a wagon containing evidence of something horrific happening in their town. But getting these books published was not easy he spent a long time getting there. After he had finished college, he spent the next ten years believe or not chasing record deals. And next twelve years after that designing computer games, until eventually having his genius recognized in 2005 and his first book published.  

Getting in the zone

Getting in the zone for me is extremely easy when I'm hooked on a book. When trying to start a new book it is not as easy but it is not relatively hard compared to other people who struggle when trying to begin a novel. There are three main places and/or times I enjoy to read a book and get in the zone. One is where I absolutely hooked on a book I will read all day and night the only time I take breaks is when I eat a meal or need to use the toilet. Secondly is when I've finished watching TV or playing a video game and I just lie down on my bed and read a book. My third and most common way is at night before I go to sleep I read around 1-5 chapters, I prefer this way because I have completed everything I wanted to and there is nothing to worry about. A book series I enjoyed which I read last year was the Alex Rider series. I like this series particularly because of the action and how the main character Alex Rider as a spy manages to solve problems. As in the second book in the series Point Blanc there is a forbidden floor which no one but the mysterious head master can get to, Alex climbs the chimney to reach it. Another element I have enjoyed is the mystery of what the villain is up to which I have found in all the novels and is what I enjoy most. The people who recommended the alex rider series to me were my friends they showed me the graphic novel which I adored which made me want to read the series. My family however has completely different tastes to me my father enjoys Sci-fi and my mother is more into Filipino cook books while my sister is still young and has not read any long novels. But my friends seem to have similar tastes to me I have recommended The Alex Rider series when they gat back to me they said they really enjoyed it. Time Riders was a really interesting book in was not the regular genre I read but it turned out to be really good and I really enjoyed it.        

The Suspects

It had happened all so quickly at one point he was running around without single trace of sickness. But poison can act very quickly and you could drop dead within five minutes, and this is what had happened to Marvin Fauster's best friend. "I'm telling you the truth, I'm innocent ." "We did an autopsy on the body we see that he was poisoned at 09:32 the time you said you were preparing drinks for him and yourself." said the interrogator speaking in an American accent. "We also found that the poison was in fact toilet bowl cleaner, which you had purchased 4 days earlier" he had said as he held up his receipt. "But No!, It wasn't me." "Who was it then," he said in a smug voice. He licked his lips "Well Marvin did have enemies, he borrowed money from rich entrepreneurs promising to pay them back, but he would gamble it away." He took a nervous breath "I bet this infuriated the lender Xing Chu, at these clubs marvin would always get drunk and insult him on things like his ugliness, him being homosexual and his small bladder. A man from the back appeared we have an arrest warrant. The police then raided the house and arrested Xing. But to test if he guilty or not they needed a DNA sample. "Will need a urine sample Xing," "Didn't that boy tell you I need a glass a water." The interrogator gave him a glass but as he drank, he collapsed. While at the same  time a former suspect was on the open road.

The Heist

"It's impossible no one could do it" muttered Jacob. "I'm telling you this will be an easy job" I protested. "Couldn't we hit some other place," "Okay now listen here Jacob!, It's your fault I'm in this if you didn't borrow that money from those men we wouldn't need to do this." "So I think I'm entitled to choose which place we rob and I choose The Castle of Sir Jillian III because I want some money from this thing." But Jacob continued " It's not that I'm saying It'll be hard to go in take the money and leave with my groin intact." "What are you so worried about we'll be able to get in take the money and no one will ever Know." "You sure?, of course if we just use the underground tunnels we'll be undetectable." "But why are you so certain they won't find us because only my family knows about them, my great great great grandfather found the entrance when he was a kid and passed it down all the way to me." "Well I hope you're right." As It started getting really dark me and Jacob hopped out of the Jeep and headed toward a large pointy grey rock. "Okay we just have to push and twist this," I said achingly as we both pushed with our full strength which just had enough might for it to open. Once we climbed down we clicked on our LED torches and begun heading through the dark caverns. Jacob seemed a bit uneasy as if there was someone behind right now. After about 90 minutes  we reached our destination,"Okay we're here." Me and Jacob climbed up the wall and I chiseled through the ceiling I wiped the sweat of my brow as a chiseled away the last segment of rock. We lifted our selves up and we were in the safe. "We actually did it" Jacob uttered in shock. We filled our bags with as much we could take without anyone noticing that something had been stolen. We then lowered ourselves through our improvised hole. We then used shotcrete (a fast drying pressurized bit of concrete) to quickly cover up the hole we created. We quickly moved through the caverns the money making noises as we walked. We reached the end and climbed through the entrance.     And at that moment we had stolen 2 million dollars from the 5th richest man in world without anyone knowing.

URGENT

Don't forget to vote on my poll on which you prefer electronic literature or books!!

The Blurb

What sells the book to me if it's not part of a series I'm reading is the blurb. The blurb is a small hint off what is inside the book, they are attention grabbing and fun to read because they are short and interesting. I love reading the blurb because the author always writes interesting and attention grabbing text which feels good to read. Take for example the first part of my book's blurb: LIAM O'CONNOR should have died at sea in 1912. The bold and capital letters of the first two words draw your attention and the actual sentence is interesting and makes me want to read this book so that I can find out what happened to this character. The blurb is what sold this book to me, the title is what got me a little interested in the book as I previously mentioned time travel is one of my favourite subjects so I didn't take much for me to get sold on this book, but the blurb certainly influenced my decision. The blurb gave a good account of the story, it mentions how they weren't rescued but recruited this is true because they spend the rest of their lives in the agency until they die. The most attention grabbing part of the blurb is where it shows the main character's year of death, the name in bold and is broken up into paragraphs. Trying to think of a way to rewrite the blurb would be hard but I would say When a mysterious man says to three people "take my hand..." everything changes. They are recruited into an agency designed to protect time, but there skills will be strained when there put to the ultimate test.

The Cover

This is definitely the most important thing to consider when having a book published. The cover is the device which encourages us to pick up the book, look at the blurb and have a read. In most cases if the book's cover is boring it may hint that the publisher is lazy and has not put effort into indicating that there may have not been much effort put into it. On the cover my book is a lot to soak up, The main title is surrounded by the gears found in a clock. The main picture has the three main characters emerging from a flash of light and behind them is the main setting, New York where they time travel to. Under the main title is a Slogan and even further bellow is the authors name in capital letters. The thing that really caught my attention when first seeing this book was the massive title taking up a quarter of the book cover all capitals and golden. Taking this cover as an example a well designed cover needs big capital letters for the title, one main graphical element such as a logo or an event which takes place in the story. What I would find unappealing in a book cover is if the publisher has put little effort in the cover if the cover contains no quality it would lead me to believe the story contains poor quality as well. The Cover is really never what interests me in a book it is my friend who recommends a book to me which I will usually enjoy and end up becoming very fond of that particular book. The cover of my friends book looked very appealing to the eye at first glance, the title of the book is "Six Impossible Things" it was a very well thought out and designed cover. It had multiple extractions from a school kids notebook this made me infer that the book was about a boy going to school, I could tell the author put a lot of effort and thought into the cover  

What's in a Title

The title is what catches our attention when analysing a book, without one we may not want the book. Look at the title of my current book 'Time Riders' it is a straight forward to the point title which is intriguing. Time Travel being one of my favorite topics I was quickly sucked in by it, after reading the blurb I was certain this was the book I wanted. After having have read the book this is the most sensible title that could be chosen because that is what the whole book is about time traveling. Now thinking I believe this book could have two other possible titles: The ripple effect ( in the story one of the main characters explains that changing one small thing in the past can severely change the future) Protecters (three main characters protect all of time). And another two possible additions to the series Lost in Time: The Characters are involved in a horrible accident which traps each of them in different time periods and each have to find a way out of their unique environments and reunite, Annihilation: The Time Riders are in a race against time to stop a nuclear war, they have to find the one point where time went wrong, they will have to go back through their own history to stop it.