I am pleased to announce that this week I joined the circle of Catalan authors. A professional approach that I consider very important for discussing the arts and our profession. A possibility for you too, dear readers, to come and meet us in places favorable to the sharing of ideas.
Meeting around large print publishing
The meeting around the edition in large print took place online on Thursday, March 28, 2024 on the website of Occitanie book and reading. It is part of the reading for all. This event brought together several professionals around a theme related to the accessibility of the book.
I participated in this meeting which seem interesting for the artists here is a little report on this subject. The interventions of several participants including a visual disability awareness association and a specialized publishing house.
One of the most important information for reading adapted books concerns the font used, its size and the fact that it is necessarily without serif. The text needs to be formatted (paragraph, leading, etc.) too. A font has been developed following several studies, firefly is available on this website.
Tips
:
Avoid fonts with serif, that is to say with wheelbase, for reasons of accessibility.
Prefer a suitable size for reading or that can be enlarged with a support tool.
Regarding formatting air paragraphs with interlines.
Following the conference, a font that can be downloaded and used free of charge was proposed by a speaker: link to the website of this font.
Updating a trailerbook
As part of the reissue of my books in digital format, I updated the trailer for Fantastic L.A. because the cover of the book changed on the version published in 2023. I use the open shot software on Linux, it seems to me that It is also available on other platforms.
I acquired the video files and composed the music. Then, repair the track by track assembly.
Rendez-vous on my books page
Through History and Literature
From March 8 to 22, 2024, events around women’s rights week took place in libraries and other cultural places in my area.
At the start of the week, I listened to extracts from several books by women authors during an evening hosted by a feminist reading club. During these discussions, several specific points were shed light on. After the club’s intervention, I added a comment on the vision of witches through History and Literature.
Later in the week, I attended a conference on the role of women during antiquity and in particular as philosopher.
Among the books proposed, I opted to read the novel the daughters of Egalie written by Gerd Branterberg.
In another setting, I read also rock’n roll witch from Pleasant Gehman who I worked on documentation about Fantastic L.A.
Currently, I am devoting myself to several artistic projects, however taking the time to discover and discuss current themes enriches my thoughts.
The choice of characters
On this International Women’s Day, I reaffirm my support for all women. It’s a long fight for equality and although the progress is real, certain measures plunge it back into a certain form of archaism. Violence and discrimination have no place. And that for no one.
Writing, like any artistic form, reflects a part of the society that surrounds it and the impulse that an author gives in her story is a trace left.
For my part, the choice of characters was made in several ways. On the one hand, as I thought there were few female detectives in literature, I tried to create personalities along those lines. On the other hand, I made sure to maintain a certain logic to avoid falling into clichés.
Here are two excerpts from my fiction.
Beginning of the extract from Fantastic L.A. dialogue between the detective and one of the protagonists:
– Legend or not, what’s certain is that in the museum, there’s an indefinable presence that seems to protect what’s there.
– How do you know this?
– Gladys had mentioned it. All the employees knew that Fantastic L.A. had been set up in a building where a hold-up had been committed. Since the unsolved murder of one of the victims, unexplained events have been recurring.
– Have you seen or heard of a vampire kit acquired by the museum?
End of extract
Beginning of extract from Duel à Albi dialogue between the cinephile and a visitor:
The visitor stared at her intensely with a keen, deep gaze. Lydia in turn stared at him from head to toe, as if to make sure she wasn’t mistaken. She could detect no difference. It was indeed Gary Cooper, a Hollywood star of her childhood who had mysteriously crossed space-time to Albi.
End of extract
Work mutations number 3
Today, I will attend the career changes conference organized by Occitanie Livre et Lecture. If you are an author too, you can contact me at this address.
Forensic science
I used the knowledge I had acquired by enrolling in Forensic Science (University of Singapore), it gave me the necessary elements to develop Fantastic L.A, even if it is about a fantastic story. This information still helps me in my writing.
Useful link: Forensic Science
Structuring of the story
When I write, my thoughts sometimes move vertically and other times horizontally. What I mean by this is that a chronology in time can be visualized horizontally and moved around, whereas a list of clues, for example, is best understood vertically. Using thought in motion allows you to apprehend the story in a different way.
Science Fiction contest results
As you know, I participated as a member of the jury in the science fiction prize organized by Anticiporg.
A collection of short texts has been published. It is available on the official website or on this page
Information and link to the Theater
When I work on an art project, I do researches. Some are directly related to the creative phase and others concern implementation. Here is an address to a platform offering support for live theatrical performances. You will find the link here.