Tech Talk, or What Tech I’m Using To Help Me as a Writer That Doesn’t Have To Do With Writing
Things that might help me (and you) do things having to do with writing that aren't writing
Sadly, one of the paradoxes of starting to write and having any care toward letting people know about your writing is it can take your attention and time away from writing. Generally, the skills of writing are not necessarily related to the skills of marketing and promoting. Sometimes people have the talent, sometimes they don’t. I think I’m at least a pretty good writer, but marketing and promoting are not things I’m the best at. Well, at least I’m trying to learn.
So, since I didn’t have much to write about otherwise, I decided to try and write a bit about a few of the little tools I’ve been utilizing as part of my creative and/or marketing efforts. Don’t worry, I won’t take long12.
Canva
A few years ago, I first got introduced to the Canva app and website. I was never a gifted artist, so the idea of a web site that helps you create designs was intriguing. Eventually, I made so much use of it I found myself signing up for the Canva Pro plan. It wound up coming in handy for my next book project, The Yank Striker.
I used Canva to design the badge not just for my fictional East End of London club, Donford FC, but several other logos I used as artwork for the book. Eventually, I used it to design some business cards, bookmarks, and also a display banner I use when I make personal appearances at book fairs and other events.
A Brief History of Donford Football Club
Worldbuilding, as I have mentioned previously here, is never an easy process. It’s not likely that you have the entire world your fiction will reside totally sketched out before you begin writing. It’s usually in the revision part of your writing process - or, if you are writing a series, maybe not until you get the first one or few books under your belt before you start seeing the entire iceberg rather than just what’s visible above the waves.
I would love to try and use it to create some book videos like this one an Instagram acquaintance named Ray Bush did for The Yank Striker a couple months back. I haven’t had too much of a chance to experiment with it at actually make something like this, but I really would like to.
Anyway, I’m hoping I can do something this cool sometime myself.
Video Apps
The days when I just pointed my phone at myself and clicked on the record button are in the past. I’m trying to at least do some minimum work to make them more visually appealing and somewhat professional.
I’ve started to use a phone app called BigVU for some of my initial recordings. Even the free plan allows you to write a script for what you want to say and then scrolls that script over the phone so you can see it as you are recording. It makes it a lot less likely I stumble over my words as I talk and leads to a lot less editing when the time comes (and BigVU does allow you to cut and past video as well). It doesn’t show up on the video when it does playback. It also allows for a few subtle filters and background blur, which is a big advantage for me when I’m shooting in an awkward or messy location.
It turns out a lot of people on mobile watch videos while they are muted, which makes accurate captions a good thing. If you use Instagram or other Meta platforms (I think the only reason I’m on there now is to promote books), it gives the option to caption your videos automatically, although it does give you the option to edit the captions to make sure the AI or whatever they are using is spelling all the words correctly. (This is a good feature when your last name is Liegois but is pronounced LEE-juss).
However, I wanted to have an option to add captions to my videos without having to rely on Insta. I’ve been experimenting with two different programs, Clipchamp from Microsoft and VEED Captions, which add captions at no cost and allow you to edit those captions so you don’t look stupid. I’ve used both, and so far the VEED app in mobile seems to be more user-friendly when it comes to caption editing.
Again, I don’t claim to be an expert on videography like some people. However, I’m starting to up my video game. I might try and do more videos in the future if you don’t mind a big fifty-something dude with a deep and dippy voice appearing in them. Maybe you might want to mute it and rely on the captions, then.
That’s about it for now. Next Saturday, I’ll do the (now) monthly newsletter and let you know how things have been for me. See you then.
-30-
It also happens to be my birthday, so pardon me if this seems like I'm slumming.
It is the same birthday as Vincent Van Gogh, among others, and the same day Ronnie Reagan was shot. For what it is worth.