Craving a Scare-the-Hell-Out-of-You Movie for Halloween?

Okay, so I know  I don't usually post on Mondays. But since it's Halloween and I watched a seriously scary movie last night, I felt compelled to pass along the recommendation.

Now, first of all, I love a scary movie, but lately it seems like most horror focuses on special effects and gratuitous gore. I'm not so much for the gore. I find movies that leave a lot unseen tend to build more tension and fear. And this movie, The Strangers, had tension-building down to a freaking science. I watched most of the film between my fingers.

Hubs makes fun of me for covering my eyes.

Him: "I thought you liked scary movies."

Me: "I do. This is part of the process."

Him: "Not seeing half of it is part of the process?"

Me: "Definitely."

But honestly, if I'm peeking through my fingers and curled up in a tense ball on the couch, this means it's an effective horror movie. And The Strangers was highly effective. 

The scariest part of this movie is that this could totally happen (apparently it's based on true events--eek). And the reason why the bad guys/gals are after these people is probably the most chilling of all--"because you were home."  

So, if you want a scary movie to watch tonight, try this one out. I suggest you don't watch it alone in a dark house in the woods. Just sayin'.

Here's the trailer: 

Has anyone else seen The Strangers? What did you think? What movies scare you the most--the could-happen-in-real-life or that paranormal/monster type horror? And am I the only one tired of the gore subsitituting for true tension?

13 Steps to Creating an Author Website Readers Will Love

Last week I posed the question--what do readers want from an author website? Thanks so much to those of you who chimed in! :)

So after reading your responses, I decided to update an older post I did on Fiction Groupie on this topic and add in the new information. 

Photo by NNECAPA Photo Library (cc)

13 Steps to Creating an Author Website Readers Will Love

1. Make sure a drunk monkey could navigate it.

Please, please, please make it easy for me to find whatever I'm looking for. I don't want to have to dig. I will move on.

2. Have a clean and quiet design.

Make the design eye-catching but clean. No black background with white text please (okay in the title just not in heavy text areas) because it's super hard on the eyes. And DO NOT HAVE MUSIC that auto-plays. 

3. Make it easy to read about and buy your books.

I'm amazed at how many author websites bury the info about their books like they're some sort of prize at the bottom of the cereal box. I want to be able to see the following:

a) Available Now - The books you have out now with blurbs AND covers

b) Coming Soon - The books that are upcoming and their blurbs and covers once available

c) Buy buttons where I can choose which store I want to purchase from.

4. Label your series and provide an organized view of your backlist titles.

 If you write series, LABEL them and put the books in order so that I know which comes first. It's sometimes hard to tell on bookstore sites what the order of a series is. Please help your readers with this. And even if you don't write series, have your backlist listed in date of publication order. If you have a lot of books, provide a printable/downloadable list.

5. A photo of you. Not your avatar or cat. You!

Get over your I-hate-all-pictures-of-myself thing. EVERYONE except maybe those kids on Jersey Shore hates pictures of themselves. It's normal. But I as a nosy reader want to put a face with the author name. And I don't care if you don't look like a supermodel. But believe me, if you have no pic, I will imagine you as a wart-covered troll. Just sayin' Also, a bio that rocks is a necessity. (Tips on that here.)

6. Provide links to all the ways I can stalk you.

Have links on your contact page with your twitter, facebook, goodreads, google +, email, etc. links. Recently, I've discovered a few authors have Tumblrs but I stumbled on that fact, it's not listed on their website. Don't make people track down their preferred way of connecting with you.

7. Don't have your blog be a replacement for your website.

This doesn't bother me personally, but readers mentioned it in the Dear Author post. Readers wanted a dedicated website, not just a blog to find information. Though I suspect if you use the pages feature in blogspot or wordpress where you have tabs, most readers would be okay with that. They just don't want to have to dig through blog posts to find information.

7. If you blog, don't phone it in.

If you hate blogging, we'll be able to tell. So if you are going to do it. Really do it. And for the love of all things good and holy, please attempt to make it interesting. And it's not about YOU, it's for the reader. I'm going to quote from a fabulous post over at Author Tech Tips: "Yes, yes, you’re a big famous author. But people still don’t care about you. They care about themselves. Think that is selfish? Take the plank out of your own eye before you can point the finger. If you offer something of value, your readers will want to come back. Photos of your kids will not bring them back." 

If you hate blogging, just have a news page (see tip 10) or do a less time intensive blog like Tumblr and feed it into your website. (See: Blogging solution for those who a hate to blog.)

8. Be addictive.

Give your readers a reason to want to come back. Do you offer something they can only get on your site? Contests? Super secret snippets from your current project? Deleted scenes?  Pictures of your characters? Playlists for your books? Think of takeaways that would excite a reader.

9. A website is not like a cactus--you can't water it every six months and assume it's going to thrive.

Going to an author site who has an update from months ago is like getting served stale chips at a Mexican restaurant. It makes your image feel stale. Like, wow, nothing exciting is happening with his books right now. Even if you don't blog, make sure that your release dates and such are up to date. Don't say coming soon and the book release date has already passed.

10. Be newsworthy

Have a News & Events page so that readers can quickly access what's going on (and not have to sift through blog posts). Are you going to speaking somewhere or did you win an award? Did you just find out you're going to be able to write a book about so and so character? Put that in your news section. It's a good addition or even alternative to having an active blog. Just make sure you keep it fresh.

11. Pimp Out Others

On Author Tech Tips, they quoted a survey that said a third of readers like to see what books your recommend when they visit your website. I think one way to do it is having other authors stop by your blog and do interviews and contests. You can also put a Goodreads widget somewhere on your site (like mine over there on the right) that shows what you're reading right now. That's a form of recommendation.

12. Be likable

Please do not use your site for rants or whining. It should be a positive, happy place for people to be--even if you write about serial killers. You want people to leave your site thinking that they could enjoy being friends with you.

13. Interact with your readers

Everyone is pressed for time and if you're Ms. Super Duper Hugely Famous author maybe you have an excuse, but try to respond to your readers. If they send you an email, try to respond. If they leave a comment on your blog, comment back. (I've not been perfect on this, but I'm working on it.) Show readers that you do appreciate them and are listening.

Alright, so those are my tips. What are some of the things that you like to see on an author website? What are some author sites you visit regularly--why? What did I forget on this list?

5 Reasons Why You Should Give the New Footloose a Shot

Okay, so if you haven't figured it out yet, I am a child of the 80s and hold on dearly to the memories of that simpler, hypercolor t-shirted, hairspray-laden time. So when I hear that they are going to remake a movie that is untouchable in my mind, I have a visceral reaction.

How can you mess with something that achieved perfection during it's own little slice of time? 

How can anyone else play THAT part?

How can someone think they can recapture the magic of that movie?

All these questions went through my head when I first heard they were going to remake Footloose (and don't even get me started about the Dirty Dancing--my favorite movie of all time--remake.) But at the same time, even knowing that I would probably hate it, I felt compelled to see it. I had to know what they did with it, had to know how they tried to recreate something that couldn't be recreated.

So I saw it last night and well...

*ducks head* I kind of really enjoyed it.

I know, I know. I went in there expecting to mock it, but found myself genuinely laughing. I was entertained. And no, the magic of the first one will never be recreated. It's impossible. But I have to say they did a really good job and I have no problem recommending others to go see it.

So, if you're still not convinced, here are my top reasons I think you should give it a shot...

1. They pay homage to the original without being an exact replica.

For instance, the chicken-race with tractors in the original:

In the new one, they have a chicken race and the bad guy rides a tractor for a minute (to give a nod to the original), but then they race with modified school buses instead. 

2. The casting was really great.

Okay, so no one could top Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer, obviously.

But I thought they did a good job casting Julianne Hough (though she wasn't as believable as the good-girl-gone-bad as Lori was) and a great job casting Ren (Kenny Wormald). Also, they did a FABULOUS job casting Willard (Miles Teller). He was spot-on and super funny. (Original on the left, new on the right).

3. They did keep some things exact, which gave me little "aww" sentimental moments. 

For instance, the outfits for the prom:

4. They developed the backstory a bit more, which made the Reverend more of a sympathetic character.

5. Being brought back in time.

Of all the things, I think what I enjoyed most was that sense of being brought back in time. I was too little to see Footloose at the movies when it originally came out, so this felt like a chance to experience a bit of what I missed. Movies were much simpler in the 80s. We've gotten really complicated with plots and special effects and such--which is fine--but sometimes it's nice to just go and simply watch something that is fun, light, and entertaining.

Oh and they even did the freeze frame shot at the end of the last scene, which I haven't seen done in a movie in ages. :) (Couldn't find a pic of the new one, so here's the original last shot.)

So did I convince you? How do you feel about these classic movie remakes? Anyone else seen this one yet?

Author Websites: What Do Readers Want?

Photo by goXunuReviews

I referenced this post on Dear Author about author websites on Fiction Groupie yesterday when I talked about Can You Know Too Much About an Author, but I want to touch on a separate issue today:

What do readers most want from an author website?

In the comments section of that Dear Author post, hardly anyone talked about blogs (except to say they don't like the blog to BE there in place of a website). Most of the things people focused on were pretty straightforward:

• Have a clean, user friendly design (No flash, autoplay music, etc.)
• Make your books easy to find and buy.
• Make series lists and backlist titles available and clear so that people know the order of your books.
• Keep things updated.
• Provide a Current Release and a Coming Soon page.
• Have an FAQ and Contact page.
• Excerpts.

Basically people want to be able to find information easily and quickly. Period. If they have to hunt for your book information, you've lost them.

One of the commenters, KKJ, offered this list of those she thinks have good websites:

The good:
- http://www.philippagregory.com/ 
- http://julialondon.com/ 
- http://tessadare.com/ – book trailers!
- http://macleanspace.com/ 
- http://mayabanks.com/
- http://www.elizabethhoyt.com/

 These are good examples and I recommend checking them out. (And interestingly, many of these don't have blogs at all, but simply a news page.) But this left me wondering, beyond these basics, what makes an author website stand out? What do readers want to see when they go to an author website?

So I'm asking you guys...what kinds of things do you want on your favorite author's website?

Do you want a newsletter option? 

Do you prefer to have a news page separate from a blog?

Do you want "extras"?

If so, what kind of extras do you like--playlists, cut scenes, stories about how the stories came to be, interesting research tidbits, downloadable bookmarks, videos, live chats?

What would make you come back beyond just looking up the next release?

And I'm sure there are more questions I'm forgetting, but I really want to hear from y'all. So I'd love for everyone to let me know in the comments what your thoughts are on all these things.

Life Lessons From Poltergeist

I'm true believer that every good story,whether it be a book, a movie, or a TV show, has a lesson--some nugget of knowledge that can help us get through life better. So I figured I'd start occasionally picking out a story here on the blog and sharing the most important things I learned from it.

And in honor of Halloween approaching, I figured I'd pick one of the formative horror movies of my young years--Poltergeist.

Now pay attention. If you don't heed these life lessons, you could end up sucked into the television. I'm doing you a public service. 

1. Never leave your TV on a white noise/snow channel. This is where the evil lurks.

2. Never trust a clown or have one in your house. (see the movie IT for further confirmation on this lesson.)

3. If your orthodontist tells you to get braces, ask for those invisalign things instead. The metal kind can attack you.

4. No large oaks should be within ten feet of your house because, well, they eat children.

(We actually had one of these trees in our yard when I first saw this movie. It would tap against our windows at night. I think it ate a few neighbors.)

5. If chairs do THIS in your house...Move. The. F*ck. Out. Okay? Let's not negotiate on this one.

6. And for the love of God, DO NOT go into the light. 

Here's the trailer for the movie, which contains one more lesson--if you have to ask the neighbors if they've experienced any disturbances lately, you should have already left town and be staying at a Holiday Inn. 

See, now aren't you glad you read this? You may have been walking down the street today and stumbled into a people-eating oak tree. Your welcome.

So were you a fan of this movie? Did it scare the bejeezus out of you like it did me at the time? What's your favorite 80s horror movie? And did I miss any life lessons from this one?