Speaking of craps, the name for the old and popular dice game is believed to have originated from crapaud, the French word for toad, given because of the toad-like crouch the players assume while tossing the dice. I’m not making this up. Honest. Gotta love the French.
Okay. So we’ve established that writing is not the romantic, suave, easy life non-writers assume it to be. It has its moments, yes, but the same can be said of childbirth and weed pulling. The fond moments always pertain to the end product, never the process. Crapaud! I could crawl in a hole just thinking about it.
And to throw even more light on our word of the day, according to The Reader’s Digest Great Encyclopedia Dictionary, crapaud also translates into “baby grand [piano].” I swear I’m not making that up either. Do you suppose it has something to do with the way the French sit when they play the piano?
Just a thought.
If writing can be a drudgery, and rewriting an even worse drudgery – and let’s not even talk about submissions, rejections and marketing – why the deuce do we do it? If I were sitting at a typewriter, this is where I’d rip out the sheet of paper, wad it up and toss it into my over-flowing waste basket, then choke myself with my ascot.
Gosh, I’m feeling metropolitan today.
So, is there anything fun about writing? Yes, yes, and yes. To name a few: getting into the groove, breathing life into the nostrils of your characters, writing The End on a story well written. Hearing from happy readers. Investing well the millions you’ve earned from your Hard Work. Oh, wait, that last part was pure fiction. Ignore it.
And making trailers.
For me, making trailers is the “icing on the petit fours of (the writing) life” – to quote one of my characters, from one of my books. As I sit here I can’t remember which. Okay, maybe making trailers isn’t really the icing, but it’s one of the ingredients. I love making trailers. They’re fun. And in comparison to actually writing the book, they’re easy. I love selecting the music, getting just the right feel for the story; selecting the images I’ll use; and writing the script, which will hopefully help tell the story of the story without giving the story away. (That last part of the last sentence reminds me of a button I wore in my hippie days that said, “Why do we kill people who kill people to show people that killing people is wrong?” I’ve since had reason to reconsider that button.) Then I love watching the completed trailer, feeling a sense of a different kind of accomplishment. Of course, I wouldn’t have known where on earth to begin without Katy. She’s such a wealth of information, and beyond helpful.
But putting all the fun things of trailer-making aside, are they useful? Do they create interest and help sell books? I personally enjoy book trailers. I view them to learn what other writers are doing, and to compare them to my own. But I’ve also purchased books because of trailers. Have you?
Another question I have is how do you get people to view them? I’ve talked about my trailers on Twitter and Facebook, but I haven’t generated much traffic to them. Should I add that to my list of things to worry about? I love lists, but I want them manageable. If I put the link to my trailers, say, here, would you be even a little bit enticed to view them? If you liked them, would you encourage your plethora of friends to view them? Then would you participate in this completely unscientific poll and tell me what you think about the trailers and the subject of trailers and whether or not you would create trailers for your own books?
