Tingle Dingle Audio Sample

Tingle Dingle and The Little Mischiefs is for those lovely people who like fun little fairy tales about mischief, magic and 'the moral of the story.' Please share with parents and children alike who enjoy such stories... Thank you so much. The link for the audio is at the bottom of the page...

http://www.audible.com/pd/Kids/Tingle-Dingle-and-the-Little-Mischiefs-Audiobook/B01GW55E48/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1467135555&sr=1-1

"Nice book for my grandchildren"

Where does Tingle Dingle and the Little Mischiefs rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I haven't listened to very many but I loved the way the narrator added sound effects. Even though this is a childrens' book I thorough enjoyed listening to it.

What did you like best about this story?

The sound effects

What about Triera Holley’s performance did you like?

Her voice is soothing and clear.

An Interview With Ray McCurdy, Audio Producer.

An Interview With Ray McCurdy, Audio Producer

 

 

At the beginning of 2015, I put The Office Zoo up for audition on ACX.com, the audio production platform. In all honesty The Office Zoo was an accidental book, one that I wrote for fun while observing office dynamics and politics. I used to take part in a weekly 'call of doom', which was an incredibly boring call. In that time I would observe a character and post it on a blog and share it with my fellow office workers. I have to admit what made the blog so popular was the brutal honesty of the observation. I wrote what others dared not to say. Well, I had to stop because the call stopped and my working life is intense. It was then fate stepped in because I ran into a colleague on a train. We were both about to go on holiday and she said to me 'I used to love your blog and reading about the bizarre characters - is there anyway you could turn it into a book? I want to get it as a Secret Santa and as leaving gifts for people who leave the office.' I had not considered that such a book would be popular but produced it anyway because I like to take opportunities when they present themselves.

Anyway fast forward to Ray's audition. I had asked for a 'voice' who could deliver a humorous dialogue and sounded like David Attenborough. Well Ray didn't just deliver, he had me crying laughing at the delivery of the Office Stinker. As soon as I heard his voice, I knew he was the 'one'. Anyway here is his interview and I hope he inspires you!

 

 

How did you get into producing audio books?
In 2014, I was the musical director, and also played one of the main characters, in a production of the musical Smoke On The Mountain.  One of the starring roles was played by my friend Rich Grimshaw who has been producing audio books for several years.  Rich and I talked about his audio book experiences and he encouraged me to give it a try.   I've always been an avid reader and I also enjoy voices and dialects.  I enjoy performing, so its a way for me to combine all these interests into one activity.  

What do you look for when choosing to work on an audio book?
When choosing a book to record, I look for something that I enjoy reading first of all.   Then, when possible, I like to find something that allows me to use different character voices or dialects.  Sometimes, I'll find something that I think is good information, like a self-help book, that someone might listen to, but not get around to reading.  So I can read it for them!

What are some of your funniest / weirdest and most awkward experiences within audio production?
The funniest times are when you read something that makes you laugh, and the laughing causes you to mess up the take somehow.  Then you have to do it over, and over, and over.  Sometimes the more you try to fix it, the worse it gets until you just have to come back to it later. 

What was it about The Office Zoo that appealed?
As I read through the audition text for the Office Zoo, I began to recognize "types" that I had encountered myself in the various offices I've worked in.  I loved Ruby's
descriptions of her observations of these wacky "animal" characters and I found myself channeling Sir David Attenborough in the Life series of nature documentaries.   That's where the accent came from that I used when reading the book.

 

What are your favourite bits of The Office Zoo that the readers should listen out for?
My favorite is the "Office Take All The Credit".  There is great satisfaction when he / she gets what they deserve!  I also identify with the Freaky But Definately Geeky as (there is one sitting close to me right now!).     

Readers should listen out for the insufferable "Office Maternal / Broody / God She Wants To Get Pregnant" and the accompanying "Office - I Did It! I Got Pregnant - I Am Going To Be A Mom!".  Sadly, everyone knows this person and Ruby says what we've all wanted to say but didn't.  That's what I like most about this book.  It gives hilarious voice to all those things we WANTED to say, but were pretending to be polite enough not to say. 

To hear Ray's sample on audible: http://www.audible.com/pd/Comedy/The-Office-Zoo-Audiobook/B013H90AZU/ref=a_search_c4_1_4_srTtl?qid=1448708535&sr=1-4

 

If you were an office animal, what would you be? Erm...what do you mean an office animal? Well you may not know this, but there are numerous varieties of office animal migrating to the workplace each day. Every type, with its own characteristics, is awaiting discovery in The Office Zoo. All of those who enter the office jungle on a daily basis have potential for office animal categorizing adventure. Whether we like it or not, each of us falls into one of the many office zoo categories. So which one are you? Which office animals surround you?

 

The paperback on Amazon.com: http://amzn.com/B00H7MRV5G

   

Alex  : "Read this. Share it. Discuss it with your friends."   -    

I’ll try to write this without spoilers or going too long winded, but the basic gist of this review is: If you are a fan of humour with a generous helping of wit and you’ve ever worked in an office, you will like listening to this!

Boy, it’s a jungle out there. If only there was a field guide with the helpful hints, tips, and ‘general don’t get yourself eaten accidentally’ advice that could help us navigate it all…well this might just be it! Office zoo reads like a Nat Geo guide or a safari special, but on the study of a species of 'animals' that you don't need to travel outside of your city to see in their natural habitat (yay!).

The book reads from point of view of an explorer, which added to the experience and immersion into the guide. The author’s tone was to me perfect for the subject matter. It took me a moment to get used to the narrator’s voice, but once I settled in I realized it was actually a good choice. The narrator reminded me so much of animal nature guide narrators, and that definitely put my brain right in the action, and I had no trouble visualizing the office beings that the author was so helpfully describing.

Despite it being in the humour category, there were quite a number of valuable lessons presented, albeit some slightly over emphasized - the better for us to recognize and work to correct them. If only all company welcome packages included certain snippets of this with the avalanche of company policies - if not only to show that humour is not dead in the office world, but so that people would have a much more enjoyable (and more memorable) reminder to be aware of how they engage with others in the office. We spend so much of our lives in offices (unless you are an actual safari guide, professional base jumper, or something equally office-free), a guide is definitely needed.

There are some characters that were rather harshly covered, but these are made in ‘lemme tell it to you straight’ tone, so it fit with the narrative of the book. Near the end of the book a few of the character’s seemed repeated, or at least very similar to those described in the beginning of the book (granted a I listened to the whole book in one shot, so it may be better to listen to the chapters in segments).There was a weird thing with the recording on my device where all of a sudden it sounded like the narrator teleported to an echo-y tunnel right in the middle of a chapter. I got over it, but it is jarring.

I went into this book expecting to be entertained. I was. But it also got me thinking about my everyday environment in a different way. A humorous take on office culture and a well spent afternoon! I will look up the author’s other work.

 

An Interview With Mil Nicholson, Audio Producer

An Interview with Mil Nicholson, audio producer, is the second in the series of interviews with the professionals I have worked with who gave my books an audible existence. What I have loved about these interviews is that you gain an insight into what the producers are looking for and that highly experienced producers are out there looking for original new works to bring to release into the audio market place. Thank you Mil for the interview because it is so insightful.

An Interview with Mil Nicholson

 

How did you get into producing audio  books?

In 2005, my husband and I left Hollywood for North Carolina,  after fifteen years of working stage, screen and TV.  Missing acting work, I came across an item in a computer magazine, listing the best free sites, Librivox.org being one, and they were looking for narrators.  Everyone involved in the site is a volunteer, and their goal is to record all the literature in the public domain. After joining a team and performing some chapters in Anthony Trollope's works, I desired to try going solo, with my favorite author, Charles Dickens.  I've now completed seven of his works, each having about forty or more different character voices, over a period of several years, and so far there have been over a quarter million downloads, and lots of wonderful fan mail from all over the world. A fan in New York, after finding my Dickens recordings were voluntary, obtained work for me with Audible.com, and for them I recorded a fantasy series of eight books, by Dave Duncan, and a western saga series of nine books, by Janet Daily. Happily this was paid work at my professional union voice rate.

Then I found ACX, and some wonderful writers like Ruby, and have recorded about fifteen books, whilst continuing my quest to perform the complete works of Dickens. My husband, Gary Bullock and I, who have had the good fortune to work together as actors in several productions on stage, now work as a team for the audio books, he's my editor, sound person, and producer, and we really look forward to each recording session. Our site is Act2sc3.com where there are links to the free Charles Dickens recordings.

What do you look for when choosing to work on an audio book?

When I read the audition piece, I want to feel something, excitement, sadness, laughter, anger etc, and a compelling desire to read more. Interesting characters are always a draw, and good writing, comfortable to record, also comes into play.

What are some of your funniest/ weirdest and most awkward experiences within audio production?

When in Hollywood, I was auditioned to play Julie Andrews voice on the 'making of'' DVD of "Princess Diaries". The piece was a really fun 'Rap' poem, quite long, and in her voice, was a hoot.  The Disney people had put together a cartoon to go along with it, and we all laughed heartily. They left the studio all excited.......BUT, it never appeared on the DVD.  Perhaps someone didn't think it quite appropriate for Ms. Andrews to do Rap!  However on another casting, I was chosen to narrate the life story of JRR Tolkien on the "Lord of the Rings" DVD. I felt very proud of getting this job, as my agent informed me that actors from Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and England had been auditioned. My Agency were thrilled.  They liked the check too!!!

A very awkward experience occurred when I had contracted with an ACX author to perform her book. When I got the whole script it was impossible to read, words missing, sentences incomplete, tenses changing in every paragraph and much more.  I had to contact the author  to say I could not perform the book in the condition it was in. 

Thankfully the author agreed it was a mess, and would take it off the listing and get it put right, but I felt sad, as it was a neat premise and story, but I would have gone insane trying to fix it myself. I never heard from the Author again.

What was it about Clan Destine  that appealed?

I thought the opening was terrific, and the whole idea of a band of women assassinating the miserable jerks who did what was described, stirred me. The whole story just whips along at a grand pace, and the twists and turns keep one guessing all the time. I enjoyed all the characters, what they had to say fit so well with the way they were described. 

What are your favourite bits of Clan Destine that the readers should listen out for?

There are so many. The opening, as mentioned, sets things up so well.  Eve's meetings with Madam and Sue, always left one feeling things were not quite as they seemed, and therefore intriguing.  When Alex explodes onto the scene, Eve's life is drastically changed, and not in ways she likes. Describing her inner thoughts was well done. The club scene, where the two murders occur, was terrific, there was no way to know this would happen, or how it would be resolved.  Eve's scenes with Mike were really lovely, you could feel how divided she was with herself, and how letting go could make her so vulnerable. I thought the prison scene was great, her little bit of Scottish accent livened it nicely. Finally, learning all about her real self, was a fascinating unfolding, she underwent such trauma during that scene.

I would like to add, that my husband and I were horrified at the statistics in the 'Truth' section, it really brought home how appalling the violence against women really is. Certainly these figures made Clan Destine seem a very real possibility and the actions believable.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed performing Ruby's book, from my experience I can tell she is a very talented writer and if she doesn't continue writing, the public will be missing out on some first class novels.

Thank you so much Mil and to those aspiring writers who are reading this - make sure your book is edited and proof-read to the highest level because the time involved in producing can be dramatically affected by having to have additional re-proofs done. I learned this one the hard way!  If you have any comments please share:)

To listen on audible: http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B015YJ3P8K&action_code=AUDORWS0424159DCE

http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B015YJ3P8K&action_code=AUDORWS0424159DCE

 

How would you feel if you knew there were women out there who worked to protect the innocent from the cruel, depraved, and vindictive people who walked Earth? The Feminas, an elite group of women trained to assassinate in calculated feminine ways, work for the CLAN. They don't use guns or their bodies as lures; instead they are calculated, precise, and not easily traced when removing their targets. They are the "grey women" who blend in, observe, and create perfect accidents.
Eve, one of the Feminas, excels at target eradication. However, her compulsion for perfection causes the CLAN concern. The more she attempts to conceal her tapping to the beat of 10, the more she feels she's breaking down. The problem is that when one suppresses emotions, then the trauma will rise in other ways. So how can Eve maintain her perfect targeting record and reconcile her denied self without facing a whitewash process?

REVIEWS
"Drama, Drama and more Drama....in a good way"

Any additional comments?

This was definitely a very good book. There are a lot of twists and turns in this book which adds a nice bit of suspense to the mystery of Eve's previous life and her current situation. The main character, Eve/Jane, was psychologically messed with so much that at times it seemed a bit much. While the premise is not that original and some aspects of the book were a bit out there, I still enjoyed it very much. The narration was excellent and I highly recommend this book to lovers of mystery, suspense and thriller novels. On a serious note, the statistics noted in the novel with regard to domestic violence and crimes against women was a real eye opener.

 

"Dead Women Have Books"

Clan Destine: Dead Women Have Vendettas by Ruby Allure is my third book by Ruby Allure. AND: Its the best! Money Farm and The Office Zoo are both funny and good. This is darker, and i like, no wait; I freaking love it! Yes this not the most funny one, no it does not have the lough out loud moments, but the humor works even where it is a thriller. I recommend all the books i read by Ruby, and i cant wait to see what she is going to do next.

Mil Nicholson is the perfect voice for this book, her british accent is just what this book need. It is read with love and i do feel that. 11 hrs and 17 mins never feels boring, uninteresting or just bad. It feels right!

Ruby Allure is maybe new to you, but i see all bright things in her future. 

   

CHAPTER 4 - A Short Course In Creative Writing

A Short Course In Creative Writing

 

 

CHAPTER 4

 

Character Construction and Consideration.

Characters are the crucial to the writing of excellent fiction and non-fiction. Characters who are dull, two dimensional and lifeless do not engage the reader, that is, unless there is purpose behind the dullness or lifelessness. Readers are usually fascinated by quirks, mystery and curiosity. A level of identification is also useful to enable identification with the character.  One of the easiest ways to create an interesting character is to create a biography (a character history) of that character. You may like to consider the following when building your character:

Note: you can use these considerations for real or imagined characters.

·         Attitude

·         Posture

·         Tattoos

·         Accent

·         Origin

·         Gender

·         History

·         Wealth

·         Religion

·         Height

·         Build

·         Job/career

·         Addictions – drinking, smoking, coffee, sex or food?

·         Hairstyle

·         What activities do they do?

·         How do they maintain themselves?

·         What is their choice of clothing?

·         What period of time were they born?

·         What do they eat? What is their favourite food?

·         What are their ambitions?

·         What motivates them?

·         Who are their friends?

·         Have they made any sacrifices?

·         Have they suffered hard times?

·         What makes them who they are?

·         Who would they like to be?

·         Where do they go on holiday?

·         How do they cope with stress?

·         What makes them stressed?

·         Do they exercise? What sort of exercise?

·         Inner world/outer world.

·         What kind of house do they live in?

·         Are they single or married?

·         Do they have children?

·         Do they suffer from any ailments?

·         Victim, rescuer or persecutor?

·         Why are they interesting?

·         Are they overweight or underweight?

·         Why would anyone want to read about them?

·         What are their fears?

·         What is the worst situation you could put them in?

·         If they had to confess one thing what would they confess?

·         What are their quirks?

·         Do they fall into a stereo type or cliché?

·         What are their flaws?

·         What are their hobbies?

·         Satisfaction level – happy and content versus angry and discontent?

·         What would their friends say about them?

·         What would their mum say about them?

·         How do they justify their behaviour?

·         What makes them laugh?

Consider the below approaches:

1) Sometimes it is easier to find a picture that resembles the character you intend to create. Try browsing through art books that feature portraits. Family photos, magazines and the Internet are great resources for finding inspiring faces.

2) When writing about the character consider all the senses. How do they appear? What stands out? How does the person talk? Accent, tone of voice, stutter? What smells come to mind? What aftershave or perfume would they choose? How would you describe their skin, hair, clothes and posture?

3) Consider the people around you including friends, relatives and co-workers. When you write what you know it is more convincing. Real life is often more interesting than the imagined. Using what you know, try combining character traits of those who you like and dislike.

4) An individual exists beyond the moment and so should your character. Build the personality outside the story. Consider their past, present and future. Accumulate as many details as possible until you really know that person. Consider them in different situations, on a train, in a lift, at a party or dealing with a crisis.

5) Look at the inner traits of the character versus how they are appear. What the character conceals makes them interesting too. What is the character’s inner dialogue? What is the character trying to conceal from the world?

All of the above will help you develop a more three dimensional character.

6) A basic character sketch can include:

·         Physical description

·         Career

·         Partner/Ideal partner

·         What makes them angry and what makes them happy

·         Strengths and weaknesses

·         Hobbies

·         Fears & Hopes

·         History

·         Family

·         Dreams

·         Quirks

·         Attributes

7) Consider using metaphors and do your best to avoid stereotypes. The most vicious bully could be in the guise of the sweetest little girl instead of the more obvious bulldog-featured man. Also the character who is willowy can be considered metaphoric for flexibility and lenience. The rigid character can be considered stubborn or resistant.

8) It is often the case that the best loved characters have the most obvious flaws. A character with flaws, quirks and emotions is far more interesting than those who are perfect. Consider positive and negative traits. The villain who evokes sympathy because of their flaws is far more powerful and interesting than someone who is simply vile and rotten to the core. Imagine a character who desperately wants to be kind but when the kindness is not noticed they become angry.

9) Avoid being too obvious. It is all very easy to re-create characters that we have been influenced by; however, the fun is pushing them and making them more interesting.

10) The general consensus of opinion is that perfect characters are not that interesting. So have fun using contradictions and polarities. Take for example the cleaner who does not wash or the gourmet chef who lives on fast food.

EXERCISE FOR CHARACTERS:

Write two positive traits such as kindness and compassion. Now write one negative trait such as anger or jealousy. Use these traits to describe one of the characters you have in mind.

To make the characters more complex write three positive traits like cheerful, optimistic and gentle with two negative traits such as a compulsive liar and manipulator. Take these to a character you have in mind and write the character with these traits. See what happens and where your character leads you.

LINK TO SOUNDCLOUD

https://soundcloud.com/ruby-allure/creativewriting-edit-99-retail-sample-mastered

 

 

LINK TO BUY ON AUDIBLE:

http://www.audible.com/pd/Self-Development/A-Short-Course-In-Creative-Writing-Audiobook/B012OVUKE8/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1443260320&sr=1-1

 

LINK TO PAPERBACK ON AMAZON.COM

A Short Course in Creative Writing
by Ms Ruby Allure
Link: http://amzn.com/1517234832