-
on May 17
Beverlee Pattonallen
Posted project update #21Progress
Thanks so much for your good thoughts that surely helped us through an intensive weekend of story editing. It was a creative-collaborative process between editor and writer, which helped us resolve the most challenging parts of the story. The opening needed to feel more lively while also introducing the characters and context. The "train crash" section in which the children and the horses confront the enemy needed to be experienced differently by the children. Then the ending (always a difficult part) needed tweaking. Allison and I worked flat out for two days and nights (May 5-6) while being lovingly cared for, encouraged, and fed by my Santa Rosa family, to whom we are deeply grateful. Behin has finished the menus for meals that appear in the story. Don is creating vibrant chapter icons with magical horses and exquisite lettering. Brett is completing his doctoral dissertation, and ready to shift his creative energy to finish composing for "Keep Eyes Behind". So we are moving towards the finish line. With gratitude once again for your backing and encouragement. Beverlee
Post Comment -
on May 3
Beverlee Pattonallen
Posted project update #20Your good thoughts
Dear backer-producer friends, please keep your good thoughts flowing this weekend (May 4-7) for Allison and me. We're taking our iPad and MacBookAir on an intensive editing retreat. We fly off tomorrow to my son's generous family's beautiful home in Santa Rosa, CA. The goal is to have a refined and refreshed manuscript by Monday night. In the meantime Behin is working on menus to be included in the book's appendix - at your prompting and encouragement. Later we plan to host some dinner parties - serving some of the foods featured in the story. Please Keep Eyes Behind in your hearts this weekend. Thank you. BeverleePost Comment -
on April 22
Beverlee Pattonallen
commented on a projectCongratulations on early success. Our Kickstarter project is "Keep Eyes Behind", a fantasy audio book also based on historical figures, 19th century Baghdad. Being shy & novice to social media, I'm curious to know how you make so much happen, and wish I had half your outreach. Proud to be a backer of Wollstonecraft, Beverlee
-
on April 17
Beverlee Pattonallen
backed a project
Wollstonecraft by Airship Ambassador
A Snicketesque girl-power adventure featuring Ada Lovelace and Mary Shelley at 11 and 14 in 1826 London, for ages 8-12
-
2,293% funded $91,751 pledged
- 2,936 backers
- Funded Apr 30, 2012
-
-
on March 31
Beverlee Pattonallen
Posted project update #19Progress Report
Dear Backer Producer friends: The story is finished. We've entered the editing phase - the long, tedious, creative, collaborative, process of making "Keep Eyes Behind" worthy of your eyes and ears. Please send us your good thoughts to enhance and advance this process. Beverlee
Post Comment -
-
on March 10
Beverlee Pattonallen
Posted project update #18We love food
Dear backer-producer friends: The last Update, asking your opinion about including recipes in the appendix of "Keep Eyes Behind", received more response than all the other Updates put together. Unanimously "Yeah". So it will be done. Clearly food stimulates the imagination. My dear friend Behin Mirshahi White will help create appropriate menus for the scenes in which the children, Maryam and Naim, eat a meal as they journey along the Tibris River in search of the best horse in the land. In a future Update we will share some of the menus and invite you to offer a favorite recipe. If your recipe is used, you will be credited in the book. Keep posted. Thanks for your response and your comments, which were very encouraging. BeverleePost Comment -
on March 10
Beverlee Pattonallen
commented on a projectJacqueline, thank you for your lovely card with news and your "delectable comment. Greetings and blessings of the Fast. Beverlee
-
on February 24
Beverlee Pattonallen
Posted project update #17Your opinion please
Dear backer-producer friends: Sorry, I've been away for awhile. I'm back and have a question for you. Food is a rather important "ingredient" in Keep Eyes Behind. Often I describe scenes in which, along their journey, the children are eating - sometimes Persian food; sometimes food more culturally of Baghdad. The editor noticed that these eating scenes allow the characters a break from more intense dramatic action, which either has just occured, or is about to occur. Although it was an unconscious aspect of my writing, we realize that the importance of food and hospitality adds texture to the 19th century Middle Eastern culture in which the story is set. Here is the question: Would you like to have recipes of the foods the children eat included in the Appendix of the book? The editor and I are eager to know your opinion, so please don't be shy. Thanks, Beverlee3 of 7View Previous Comments-
-
-
Susan R. Stengel on February 24
Yes, I'd love to have the recipes too, but not sure if I will actually make them. Depends on what they are and how appealing they sound. Thanks.
-
-
Post Comment -
-
on January 27
Beverlee Pattonallen
Posted project update #16Good Guys & Bad Guys
During our last meeting the editor and I analyzed authenticity of the story's "bad" characters. For instance: how bad are the bad guys? Are they motivated by their own hate, resentment, fear and need to survive? Or are there more powerful forces using them to instigate wrong doings against the "good" guys. These are important distinctions, but fortunately for me, it does not require major re-wrting but can be accomplished with nuanced comments, descriptions, and dialogue - a sentence here; a paragraph there - not any major chapter revisions. The key word is "authenticity". Are the characters' motivations and behaviors always consistent within themselves, and with the story line and theme.? This is one of the more intriguing aspects of writing and working with an insightful editor who questions and challenges me at every point. We do not always agree. Sometimes the editor makes a valid point, and I make the writing adjustment. Sometimes I argue my point and stick with it. In either case the clash of differing opinions is part of the process, which enhances the story. A good editor is invaluable. The author, me, in this case, gets her ego out of the way, and it's the editor's job to make a better writer and a better story. See the cast of characters on: keepeyesbehind.blogspot.com I hope you won't find the bad guys. . . yet. BeverleePost Comment -
on January 18
Beverlee Pattonallen
Posted project update #15Power and the Challenge of Character
At this stage, nearing completion of the manuscript, the editor and I are working together to analyse character, plot, and elements of dramatic tension. Yesterday we consulted long and hard about the power balance between the protagonists and antagonist. In "Keep Eyes Behind" the primary protagonist/hero is a 12-year old girl, Maryam, the story narrator. Yet her 8 year old brother, and their Uncle are more than supporting characters. Then enter two huge, magical horses that bring additional power to the protagonists, against one major antagonist. Back to the drawing board - another re-write. This is one of the many challenges of writing fiction. It is like putting a block puzzle together, where all the pieces must fit together perfectly, balance each other, and in the end, stand on its own, and not fall off the table. What I'm doing now is working backwards. I'm writing a new biography for the characters, including the horses, in order to illuminate the unique flaws and strengths of each. Hopefully this process will help me enhance the characters' behaviors and interactions to bring greater balance of power between them. A believable power struggle is the seat of dramatic tension. Get that wrong and you've not got a story. We're almost there. Please send your good thoughts this way. P.S. On my blog, I will list the cast of characters. [keepeyesbehind.blogspot.com]Post Comment
Beverlee Pattonallen
Los Angeles, CA
My writing projects deal with wide-ranging subjects, including: short stories for children, performance pieces for adults, musical plays for children and adults, and essays and true stories offering guidance for end-of-life planning. A set of childre... view more
Sounds like you are busy, busy and making wonderful headway toward an exciting conclusion. What a wonderful group project.