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The Process of Creating A Book: From Idea to Finished Publication

Creating a book goes beyond asserting your personality or promoting your business. Book creation, essentially, has to do with story sharing and knowledge transfer. It can be helped by things like an AI publishing platform.

The main reason you’re considering writing a book right now is probably because you have a story to tell: a story with a lot of valuable lessons you’d like your readers to draw from as they read through every page of your work.

However, book writing, and publishing, is not a particularly easy task, as many are inclined to believe. A head full of ideas and a blank page, needed to start, are not all there is to writing a book; it takes a whole lot of steps and processes to put those ideas you’ve built over time into writing a book people would love to devour.

So, how then can I start?

Quite simple!

First, you have to learn the ropes—all you can do to make your book creation as smooth as possible—from those who have accomplished the task of writing and publishing by themselves.

…which is why I have created this article, you’re currently reading, to help you through all the steps you can follow in creating a fascinating book from idea to finished publication.

So, what is the process you can follow to create a book?

Dedicate Yourself to Writing

If you’re writing your first book, you’ll come to realize writing, generally, can be time-consuming and mentally draining, whether fictional or non-fictional. It takes a great deal of time, months or years even to complete your written work, and also a little extra amount of time to brush up the needed to make it completely readable.

Without this time, the mental strength, and creative energy you need to create a fascinating book from idea to finished publication, it would be almost impossible for you to attain.

So, ask yourself, do I have the time and mental resources needed to write a book?

If yes, then you can go ahead to start writing, every day?

And, here comes your commitment to getting the job done!

Take Time to Research

Research is a systematic way of developing your writing knowledge. It involves carrying- out in-depth research into the topic, genre, etc., you’re writing on/in before even making the decision to start writing.

Those books you read didn’t just come about. They took months, even years, of rigorous research to compile in an organized manner perfect for publication and human consumption.

Read wide

Robert Greene, an author of six international bestsellers, says he reads a lot of books for a duration of one to two years before he starts thinking of typing.

You really don’t have to do as much as Robert, but you can develop a system that works best for you.

Don’t forget to record and organize the useful ideas and thoughts you come across in your research, too.

Who are your readers

Research doesn’t end with just “reading wide” alone and acquiring the relevant knowledge, needed for creating a book, in the process…

No!

As a writer who wants to tell a story and pass on important information to their readers, you have to painstakingly research your audience.

What is your target audience?

What do they enjoy?

And, how can you make what you have for them enjoyable?

Write Away!

Frankly speaking, publishing is not the hardest part of all the processes you’re likely to go through, as many people seem to believe. Even though, in itself, it can pose a bit of a difficultly. The hardest part, however, with book creation, is in organizing your ideas, right from the scratch, into words, sentences, and paragraphs your readers can relate to.

How do you want your book to be written?

After the research, comes the main task: which is, writing.

To be honest, there’s no shortcut to writing. If you would like to write a book people can read, you’d have to create an outline.

This outline serves as a blueprint to follow to divert your ideas, and those you would probably have gathered in the course of researching, into writing.

How would you like to start?

How would you like to end?

How many chapters would you like to have in your book?

How would you like to write, in terms of your voice, personality, and mood?

Minimize distractions

You might have to give up a lot of things (not entirely, though. You can just minimize usage or take a lengthy break from them) to avoid any sort of distraction you’re likely to face. Then, make it a job to write every day. Adopt the mindset of a professional writer who sees writing as a job to enjoy and be inspired to do at every chance they get!

You do have to edit as you go

According to Ernest Hemingway, “The first draft of anything is shit.”

You don’t need to edit your writing as you go.

Phyllis Whitney once said, “Good stories are not written. They are rewritten.”

If you want to be able to complete your work, you just have to continue writing.

Don’t mind the errors or the mistakes you make in the process; you can fix those later on.  What you have to do, now, is to concentrate on getting those ideas and thoughts on paper, and ultimately to your readers.

Set a daily mark

If it works fine with you, you can also set a daily mark you’d always be eager to reach at the end of each writing day, right until your book is complete and ready for publication.

How many words or pages would you like to write per day, depending on the total word count you aim at?

100? 1000? 2000? Or more?

Make your decision now before writing!

Take your time

Dan Brown, author of the Robert Langdon series, in an interview with Bookbrowse, said;

“If I’m not at my desk by 4:00 A.M., I feel like I’m missing my most productive hours. In addition to starting early, I keep an antique hour glass on my desk and, every hour, break briefly to do pushups, sit-ups, and some quick stretches. I find this helps keep the blood (and ideas) flowing. I’m also a big fan of gravity boots. Hanging upside down seems to help me solve plot challenges by shifting my entire perspective.”

Writing takes time. So, do not rush it!

Take a walk, play video games, visit friends, and watch a movie if you have to, to stimulate the flow of ideas.

Create a personal writing space

As a writer, you’d need your own writing time and, most importantly, space.

Distractions are almost inevitable, especially if you have people around you.

If you can afford it, create for yourself a personal writing space that you find highly comfortable and free from unnecessary disturbances and distractions.

Fight writer’s block

“I don’t know what to type!”

“I have the words in my head, but don’t know how to put them on paper!”

If you’re this person, then it means you’re experiencing what’s called the “writer’s block.”

Writer’s block is a very serious issue a lot of writers usually complain about. It can hinder your thought process and even halt the creation of your book altogether.

That’s if you allow it to overwhelm you.

Writer’s block is completely normal and really easy to overcome if you’re willing to do the right thing.

The best way to overcome writer’s block is by taking a break, when you need to, and minimizing every distraction, just as mentioned earlier.

Edit Your First Draft

No matter how competent you are, your first draft cannot be perfect. It’d still require editing before it can be sent to your publisher for printing.

Let it rest!

No doubt, editing is one of the most tiring activities of all time.

You have to cut out some sentences, revise some, rewrite some to sharpen your write up and create more details, such that when your readers pick the book up to read, it’d be extremely easy for them to understand every part of it, as you’d want them to.

So after writing the first draft, take a rest, for as long as you want, before picking it up again to edit.

Proofread & edit

This is where the real work lies.

Proofread your work and edit it of errors.

However, if you feel you’re not up to it and would seriously like to have your story told the way you want it, you can also make use of good essay services. Not only do they offer proofreading and editing assistance to writers who need them, but they can also help you in creating a book summary for your work.

If you’re worried about the quality the company you choose will deliver at the end of the day, you can read honest topessaywriting.org reviews online, as they will assist you in making the best choice.

Accept your work

You have to also understand that writing cannot be “perfect” or that there’s no perfect writing anywhere.

If this is your first time, you have to know the creative process takes years to master. And, even at that, you’re still going to continue to feel dissatisfied with whatever you’ve written until you put it out and receive feedback for people.

Publishing

Book publishing, as closely-connected as it is to writing, is a whole new process on its own. On one hand, writing has to do with your knowledge and creative ability to use language in a way your readers will understand, while publishing, on the other hand, takes a lot more practical approach to setting and organizing your write-up in a printable and more readable manner, especially for your readers.

If you’re self-publishing, below are some of the steps you can take to make your written work publication-worthy:

Formatting

To make your book publishable, you have to format it in a way that makes it easy for you to print, and for your readers to read.

You want to examine the character type, the font (size), the line spacing, arrangement, and many more, to make the text more appealing to your target audience.

Title

Your title should come first, but, at times, before the final publication, you’d need to refine it to make it more appealing than to people that stumble on your book.

Book cover

“Don’t judge a book by its cover!”

But, in the real world, people actually judge a real book by its cover design.

Apart from the title, your book cover is the second most important feature that will attract people to your book and force them to buy it.

Copyright

Writers continue to worry about creative theft which, today, has become so rampant. If you’d like to protect your original engaging content and intellectual property, you need to register your book for copyright.

Many writers don’t know this and will continue to fall victim to creative piracy if they don’t take advantage of this. So, before sending your book to your publisher (in case you’re not self-publishing) or your printer, you have to have it copyrighted to prevent people from replicating your work without permission and selling it.

This article was written by Laura Fields, an expert writer, researcher, and owner of BestEssayServicesRadar. Essay Radar is an online resource you can use in confirming the best essay writing services for your essays, assignments, and projects. Laura is not only a writer, but she’s also an interesting personality, with a strong desire to always express her thoughts.

How To Approach A Style Change

From time to time, it is a good idea to undergo a change of one’s personal style. Doing this has a number of benefits. For one thing, it means that you are going to be able to reinvent yourself, surprising people you know with your new look. It can also act as a very effective confidence-booster, for when you need to try and feel better about yourself. Whatever your reason, it’s wise to plan ahead so you know exactly how you are going to approach the situation. Let’s take a look at how to approach a style change now.

Get Clear On Your Reasons

First of all, you might want to take a moment to get really clear on just why you want to change your style. This is to ensure that you are doing it for the right reasons. If you are trying to impress other people or you feel pressured into this in any way, then that is unlikely to end up in the right way. Instead, you should be doing it merely because you want to. It is best when you approach this as a kind of play, or just because you want to see how it turns out. If you are doing it for that reason, you’ll enjoy it a lot more and get more out of it.

Gather Inspiration

Arguably one of the most important parts of all this is to spend some time gathering the necessary inspiration. You need to have some kind of idea of what styles you are following along with. You can think of this as a kind of creative pursuit. Just as you would look to other artists for inspiration when you are creating something, so too do you want to look at other people for inspiration in how to improve your own style.

There are a lot of places to look for inspiration. You can look online at instagram, pinterest and so on. Or you can look to your friends or, quite simply, people you see in the street. Then there are magazines and people in the media. Gather all the inspiration you need, but always remember that you are aiming to improve and change your own style, not simply copy the style of someone else. Inspiration means that you use these ideas as a springboard, rather than a template, and move on to do what you want with the ideas.

Get Rid Of What Isn’t Working…

At the same time, if there is any aspect to your style that you immediately feel is probably not working all that well, you will want to try and get rid of that as soon as possible. You might already have an awareness of one or two elements that you need to do away with. If not, these might start to become clear as you gain inspiration and start to think about the changes you want to make. Be ruthless: don’t hold on to anything just for the sake of sentimentality or ‘just in case’.

…But Try Revamping Old Items

That being said, there are bound to be one or two of your old items that you could revamp into something completely new. By being a little creative and looking at some of your old clothes, you might be able to create an entirely new look without having to hardly buy anything new at all. That is great for those on a budget, or if you just want to put more of your own personal artistry into the whole process. In any case, you should think outside the box of each item before throwing it out.

Start Collecting New Items

Try not to put too much pressure on yourself when it comes to collating together the new style. You are not necessarily going to know exactly what you want straight away, and that’s okay. It is often preferable to simply start collecting new items piecemeal as you go, even if you don’t have a clear idea of where you are going to end up with it all. Later on, you will start to find that things naturally come together more and more. For now, just think of yourself as a kind of scavenger or scrapbook artist.

Begin Making Some Combinations

At the base level, what you need to be doing in all this is putting together outfit combinations that make sense to you, speak to your personality in some way, and offer up some kind of a departure from your old style. By beginning to put together some combinations for outfits, you are going to find that you can much more easily start to get a good sense of what direction your new style will take. This is where the real creating actually starts to happen, so you should try to enjoy it!

Collect Some More Basics

In all of this, you are going to find it is so much easier if you have the right essential items in your wardrobe. There are certain basic items which are likely to crop up in various outfits again and again, and by having these in your wardrobe you will find the whole process a lot simpler indeed. Start collecting your white t-shirts, denim shorts, jeans, and all-purpose shoes now, as they are going to become very important once you are trying to put everything together into a new style. You can think of these items as the canvas you are painting on. Without them, you’re not going to have a painting at all.

Come Up With A Label

Whether or not you generally like to ascribe to labels, they can certainly be helpful from time to time. Coming up with a label for your new look might prove to be one of the most powerful steps you can take, as it will enable you to work to that headline, as it were. If you don’t like the idea of this, by all means skip this part. But a lot of people find it is surprisingly useful, so it’s worth trying out at the very least.

Match Your Body

There is always a lot of talk around body type, body shapes and so on. Whether or not you believe in these, it is certainly going to make a difference to be aware of what kind of a body you have, and how clothes tend to sit on you. This is more often than not an intuitive thing, but even so it’s something that you can work on too if you want to get more out of it. Make sure you are wearing clothes to match your body at all times, otherwise you might find that things just look off from time to time.

Be Aware Of The Little Touches

During all of this, you are going to want to think about both the large and the small. The large is obviously the overarching style, and all of the major outfits that you are beginning to put together. The small is those little touches that go into an outfit, and which often serve to actually complete the outfit as a whole. Be aware of these things, such as belts, purses, tragus earrings, and other little touches. They really do make all the difference in the world, and it shows if you have not paid attention to them enough.

Approach Your New Style With Confidence

Whatever it is that you decide upon, one of the most important things is that you are approaching the new style with confidence. In truth, having confidence is what ultimately sells it, so if you do not have this, you are not going to feel quite as good about the changes you are making. The best confidence, true confidence, comes from within, which means that you are actually happy with yourself in a genuine way.

To develop that, make sure that you are happy with all aspects of your life, and that you are living in a way that you are happy with too, and which falls in line with your own perception of yourself. You should also make sure that the style you are adopting is one that you feel confident in and which you feel is true to you. If it is, you will automatically be able to approach it with greater confidence from the outset, and that is going to help you to carry it off in a much better way.

By working on your confidence in these dual ways, you can hope to approach your new style in just the right manner, and that is going to make all the difference in the world to how it is taken by other people as well. Make sure not to overlook this.

As you can see, there are quite a few things that you might want to be aware of. But as long as you have worked through these ideas, you should be able to approach your next style change in the best way possible, whether it comes in a month or a year from now.

Are Documentary Films Documenting Any Reality Anymore?

By definition, a documentary film exists to document a truth. As such, unlike other genres, the documentary is limited by the boundaries of not only what is possible, but also what is real. It is a story like no other genre because it tells the factual and real story of the subject. Where other films can leave room for imagination, narrative prowesses, or breathtaking special effects, the documentary is the only genre that elevates the everyday image and sound by keeping it as unchanged and unaltered as possible. 

As such, it’s easy to assume that a documentary film’s purpose is to turn the truth into a work of art. From a directing and editing perspective, the statement is accurate. However, the audience has the right to question the trustworthiness of the truth that the documentary delivers. Can documentaries give viewers a 100% accurate picture of the untainted truth? The answer may surprise you but they do not document events and facts as impartially and exactly as we would like to believe. 

There is no denying that most documentary teams approach the project with an honest commitment to showing a part of the world as it appears to them. These are no works of fiction, and they also include sufficient preliminary research to convince the audience of the camera’s intent. However, there is plenty of room for deviation from the pure truth. 

Truth does not have restrictions

In theory, a documentary should be able to display the truth as it is. However, this would require the team to be able to proceed with filming and editing without any restrictions. Unfortunately, the quest for telling a true story comes with a long list of dos and don’ts that can affect the narrative process. Teams also need to be aware of the risks and costs inherent to the production of a documentary film. Indeed, if you’re planning a project, you need to consider insurance coverage to protect not only your activities, but also the crews, bystanders, and your equipment. There can be no safe project without ensuring that you can tick all the boxes on the list of what you should know about documentary insurance. This will affect some of the decisions regarding filming locations, equipment use, team size and qualifications, and the story you choose to tell. To keep costs to a minimum, small documentary filming agencies may choose to avoid expensive equipment, prolonged rental fees, or even diverse team hiring. Additionally, fear of lawsuits can also prevent filmmakers from exposing controversial truths. 

The truth of self-truth

There can be nothing more real and impactful than making a documentary about yourself. As the main subject, you know and understand what you wish to share with the audience. This could be the case of Charli XCX, who has been working on a way to document herself making an album in quarantine. The artist decided to make the most of the unique creative situation to reflect on her quarantine experience and related insecurities. It is a bold move that fans and creatives applaud. But it also is a move that is influenced by her unique perception of herself and her creative journey. Documenting yourself is a double-edged sword that can both reveal and hide more than you expect. Being both the subject and the initiator, you could end up with a biased end product that will never be able to tell a fully accurate and truthful story. 

Is truth marketable?

In theory, a documentary should be motivated by the search for truth. In practice, however, things are different. The truth that is told needs to be marketable and saleable. Ultimately, a documentary film is a commercial product that needs to be sold to be seen and generate an income. Indeed, no documentary team can work without considering the best ways to maximise their distribution strategy. Unfortunately, ensuring a documentary will reach its audience influences the creative process. The synopsis acts as an attention-grabber, as it needs to encourage the audience to watch the film. Filming the documentary with a synopsis in mind will ensure that the product can remain attractive, but it can also affect the story you’re telling. Perhaps some elements of the truth may not feature in the final result due to marketability. Naturally, it makes sense to tailor the content and promotion of your documentary to meet the audience expectations and mindsets. However, too much tailoring for marketability could distract from the original purpose. 

Telling the same truth with feelings

While documentaries are based on researching and sharing facts, they can’t deliver a factual breakdown of the truth. Documentaries are more impactful when they create an emotional engagement for the audience. Ultimately, for the truth to be heard and seen, the documentary film needs to maximise the properties of the channel. A film adds a drama edge to the narrative. The best films are those that can drive an emotional response. They keep the viewer on the edge of their seat. Documentaries obey the same rules. Some of the most impactful narratives are those that take viewers on a journey, such as Brother’ Keepers in 1992 and Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children in 2007. Yet hitting the right balance is no easy task. For each emotionally engaging documentary, many lost their truth for the sake of emotionality. Maintaining the appropriate level of feelings without obscuring or altering the truth is a delicate skill to master. 

The reasoning behind the documentary

A documentary is no work of luck. It is designed to answer a real question, whether it’s showing the reality of being an orphan in a foreign country or exploring the creative process in quarantine. The set of questions is crucial in providing a guideline throughout filming. But as they provide a direction, the questions also limit what can be and can’t be told. Because a documentary can’t be the blind exploration of a topic, it by definition needs to exclude some elements of the truth, specifically in the process of telling one truth. Ultimately, deciding on what you want to show instantly determines what you don’t want to show, even if those elements are real and tangible facts. 

The filmmaker needs to tailor the content for digestibility. Attempting to answer too many questions within the documentary could prove too hard to follow and comprehend for the audience. Therefore, it is in the nature of the documentary to keep some truths untold as filmmakers decide on the best direction to follow. 

Celebrities docuseries are the new gossip channel

At which point does a documentary turn into an exercise of voyeurism? It is a tricky question and one that the audience can’t answer anymore. Reality TV and documentaries may be two different genres on paper. But on the screen, they can be surprisingly similar. Following current celebrities inside their homes or as part of their day-to-day lives poses a crucial dilemma. Indeed, does every truth have documentary potential? Purists argue that the documentary presents a thoughtful, factual, and relevant truth that tackle important topics. On the other hand, reality TV shows and mock documentaries can confuse voyeurism with relevant and thoughtful content, displaying family feuds and eccentric lifestyles disguised as an honourable quest for a deeper truth. We, the audience, welcome the confusion for the sake of entertainment. But this could come at a cost as it can influence the quality of future documentaries.  

In conclusion, documentaries explore a truth in an industry where they compete for attention against fictions, gossip celebrities content, and marketable emotions. Due to the nature of the filmmaker industry, it is fair to say that the audience’s expectations and the market determine the level of truthfulness and facts of the documentary. More importantly, the popularity of scandal-prone real TV shows can dramatically change the balance, forcing future documentaries to focus on entertainment over fact-checking. We, the viewers, are writing the story of documentaries in our everyday choices.

Men’s Essential Items For Winter

Every season comes with a whole new wardrobe, and it can sometimes feel intimidating to know what to buy in order to be ready for the season ahead. The fun thing about fashion is that new styles and trends come to light each year, bringing a whole new look to the fashion industry. The thing is, buying an entire new wardrobe each season isn’t actually necessary – with a few key items, you’ll have more than enough clothes to wear throughout the winter and keep you warm and looking good. This will keep your budget right where it should be and also ensure you never go a day without something to wear. That said, here are some essential men’s items that will be sufficient for the entire winter.

Hoodie

A hoodie is one of the most comfortable items you can have in your closet and is suitable for most occasions. Whether you’re going to a chill session with your friends, to the gym, or even if you’re just chilling at home and don’t want to wear some uncomfortable and stiff jacket, a hoodie is a perfect option. This clothing piece will also fit most outfits – a jean, sweatpants, shorts, and chino, so you’ll have an item that can work with multiple looks; have a look at WTAPS for some terrific options to choose from. When buying yourself a hoodie, rather size up than down – the idea behind a hoodie is that it should be super comfortable, so you don’t want something that’ll be skin-tight or too small.

Statement jacket

This is what you’ll be wearing when you go out or have a special occasion. A statement jacket will be your go-to when you want to go for a more formal or class look, so get something that also looks good with most of your clothes but stands out. A bomber jacket is always an excellent way to go, and they keep you warm as well in the winter months. When buying your statement jacket, don’t worry about splurging a little on this item – this is what will complete your look and will also be one of the things you wear the most. You also want the jacket to last and still look good even when being worn a lot, so opting for something a bit more expensive and high-quality will be wise – you definitely won’t be needing a new one anytime soon!

Boots

Safety footwear goes a long way, and they look great too. Boots can be worn to work, when going out, during the day, and at night, so you’ll have a pair of shoes for any occasion. Boots are also a great way to bring a look together and never go out of style. So, even though you buy a pair now, they’ll still be right on trend next year. When purchasing a pair of boots, rather go for a pair made from genuine leather than faux leather – they are much more durable and look better for longer. 

Jeans

It is probably one of the staples of every person’s closet, so make sure your jeans are ready for the winter. If you have pairs that have been through a bit of wear and tear throughout the seasons, throw them out and get yourself a few pairs. This is important, seeing as a jean is one of the most worn pieces of clothing in the history of fashion and continues to be utilized for all the trends and styles each year. Understandable; you may have that one pair that fits perfectly in all the right places and is super comfortable, and even though it has reached its expiry date ages ago, you can’t seem to bring yourself to throw it away – now might be the time! Because you best believe you don’t want to be in public when that jean finally decides to go to the white light and bid farewell by tearing right where it would be most embarrassing to have a tear. There are plenty of styles to jump on board with – straight fit, skinny, slim fit, cropped, and pin rolled; the list goes on!

T-shirts

This is where you’ll be saving a ton of money. T-shirts are much less expensive than other items of clothing and are something you’ll literally be wearing every day. So don’t worry too much about buying fancy T-shirts, they’ll hardly be visible in the winter because you’ll be layering other pieces of clothing over them. T-shirts are also something that you buy every year, so maybe don’t spend a lot of money on clothing that you’ll be replacing in a few months anyway.

These few items combined will give you a wardrobe that will be more enough to suit your needs during the winter. Be sure to buy these items according to your style as well – after all, your style is what makes you an individual!

Artist Spotlight: Uma

A year ago, at the height of the pandemic, Barcelona-based singer-songwriter Uma released her debut EP, Bel.li, weaving her folk-centred songwriting around delicate Spanish guitars. Her second EP, however – titled The Moth & The Dove and arriving this Friday – is a collection of songs as wholly different as the world we now occupy. Folk influences still abound, but they do so alongside a gleaming array of other cultural references that range from bossa nova chord sequences to ominous synth basses. 

Part of this shift in style has been Uma’s frequent collaborations with partner and fellow musician, Lucy Lu (Luke Bower). The pair have contributed to one another’s work over lockdown, bringing fresh ideas to each other’s music while also providing the drive to create something new. As such, the Slow Dance signee knits together a broad church of influences with breathtaking ease on her new EP, using her intimate and balanced vocals as the anchor her experimentation flits around. Standout tracks include the ominous ‘Bring Me The Mountain’ and closing track ‘Even When She Knows’, both of which exhibit this promising young musician’s ability to remain sincere in totally contrasting ways.

We caught up with Uma for the latest edition of our Artist Spotlight Q&A series to talk about the process of making her latest EP, working with Lucy Lu, and more.


Something that I heard when I first listened to the new EP was that there’s quite a lot of different influences. There’s a lot of bossa nova and soul and R&B, which I thought was quite different from the debut EP, which was consistently folk in its approach. Is this something you always wanted to do and what triggered this change in style? 

I think that for me, the process of making music is just about having fun and learning – constantly learning. The first EP came out at the start of the pandemic and the second one is coming out now, mid-pandemic, and this time has been really amazing for me because I’ve been able to explore some parts of sounds I maybe haven’t before and really wanted to and just playing and having fun with it. So yeah, it wasn’t really even intentional. But it’s one of those things where you record something and it comes out almost a year after you started writing it, and there’s a slight disconnect to that music already because you are already working on new things or exploring themes or sounds. It’s something that I’m quite excited about and the music I’ve started right now is even more different in a way. So there’s this rapid movement towards different sounds, but I think essentially they are all still based in songwriting and very influenced by the folk side. 

Where did you find the influence for ‘Bring Me The Mountain’? Because that one I feel is the most divergent of all the tracks on the EP. What were the influences behind that? 

I think that with the whole of the second EP, but especially with ‘Bring Me The Mountain’ and ‘Black Bees’ – it’s an EP that’s been shaped by Lucy Lu, who’s been producing this music. We’ve co-produced all of the songs, which has been an amazing experience. I think ‘Bring Me The Mountain’ is where you can see our two different styles the best. It was the first song we wrote together in a very long time and the first song we produced for the EP, so I feel like it’s almost the most coherent and most disjointed one in it. And I think a lot of that sound is down to his style as well. 

You and Lucy Lu are partners, right? 

Yeah, we are. We’ve been locked down in Spain for like a year now. 

Oh really? Okay, well, was there an intention to specifically write a lot of the EP about your relationship? Or was it like the change in style, where it happened quite naturally? 

It’s something that happened quite naturally I think. My music is very autobiographical and I write a lot about my life and my relationships and things that are happening to me. And I think we were at a point in our relationship and our friendship and our creative partnership where we needed to process a lot of things. And that naturally happened because it was the start of a pandemic and we didn’t know what else was going to happen this year and how long it was going to last. So we just were writing for the fun of it and a lot of stuff came out naturally of it. So yeah, again, almost unintentionally, and it’s become a theme throughout the EP. 

How did you find the process of writing this EP? It’s your second one now, so did you find there was more pressure on it compared to the last one? 

Yeah, I think it feels more scary now to put it out, just because I think second EPs are weird. Especially when you grow your fan base, you introduce yourself to a set of people with a sound, but when that sound changes this soon turns into a career or a process. I think it’s very scary because it is very much still folky to me, but I am also very aware that it is in a different world – in a different sound world. But it didn’t really feel like that when we were writing it and when we finished it, I felt really free in the whole process and free to put it out there. But then you start getting into the logistics of the whole industry and it starts making everything scarier. 

And how did you find the process of writing the EP under lockdown? Did you find a lack of creativity as I know that’s been a very common issue for artists over the last year?

Yeah, definitely. I mean it’s been a really tough time, I feel like putting these two EPs out kinda looks like I’ve been super busy and super creative, which I have for the most part and again I think that’s down to having somebody else who is willing to push you and work with you and find the joy in that work. But it’s definitely been a struggle. We wrote that EP in summer last year and since then I’ve found it really hard to get back into writing. 

Is some of that struggle partly down to the lack of wider collaboration you’ve been able to do? Because you had a residency called Can Obert, so is that something you feel like you’ve missed in the last year or so? 

Oh, definitely. I think that side of it I really miss. I really miss gigs. I think when that whole side of work gets taken away it just suddenly makes everything else seem, not pointless, but you’re like, “Well, what am I going to be able to do with this if I am just stuck in one space for one or two years?” When time gets hard to define by events and work, I really enjoy working, so that was really big for me. 

Can you tell me a bit more about the Can Obert residence? Because it also involved Nilüfer Yanya, right? 

Yeah. I mean, we haven’t done it for three to four years now, so it feels like one of those things that gets brought up and that we’ve worked on in different formats. But we haven’t done a residency for about three or four years now because everything got so busy. But that was really amazing, I think that we made that with a group of friends when I first felt very serious about songwriting. And I think it was just very selfish in a way because I was like, “Well, let’s bring all of these people to my house so that we can all have fun and work.” And the first few times were really chaotic, but every time we came out with something really amazing. So yeah, we’re looking at doing some more, but trying to organise it in COVID is tough. 

Is collaborative music-making something that you’ve always naturally been able to do, or is it something that you’ve had to encourage yourself to do? 

I think I had to encourage myself because I’ve always loved organising things and putting on events and bringing people together. But mainly because I feel so lucky to witness creative people doing what they love. And that was always the main thing and that enthusiasm is just very infectious. And you can be behind the situations, but there comes a point where you are wasting the opportunity to make some really special work. So I almost forced myself to get over it through these residencies and events. 

Yeah, definitely. It must be such a difficult situation to be in as a soloist, because how much influence can you naturally take from those around you? If you’re in a band you would naturally collaborate with other people. So I guess that it helps to have someone like Lucy Lu to guide you through that?

Yeah, I think it’s been an interesting process, because while obviously Luke has collaborated a lot in his work with a lot of different artists, and he feels very comfortable in that, I’m a bit shyer. And especially with the first EP, I knew what sound I wanted for the songs and I had a very clear vision and I wanted to do it a certain way. So it was a very individualistic project in a way. So yeah, this collaboration with Luke has been really interesting because he’s been working on his album, so we’ve both been able to bring stuff to each other’s projects that really might not have been there had there not been a pandemic. 

And how have you found the process of writing songs about your relationship alongside your partner? 

It’s very therapeutic in a way. Very honest. I think in the process of writing these songs we have found a way of communicating and a way of working. I mean, it’s hard being with someone who works in the same field as you and who shares so much interest, but obviously, we’re different people so we have different ways of working. And I think we really had to work out a way of communicating in this shared space and working together because we both know we can do it and we both respect and admire each other as musicians. But we’ve never really found a way to work together, because we’re both very stubborn as well. So I think writing these songs has opened up a space that we didn’t have before. And obviously, it’s been very challenging to work on songs like ‘Black Bees’ and ‘Bring Me The Mountain’ because they are songs about stuff that is very personal to us, that sometimes you don’t know whether you should put it out there and be talking about it with everybody. 

So this is the second release you’ve had on Slow Dance, who have also collaborated with some exciting and up-and-coming artists like black midi, Jockstrap, and Sorry. Does it feel exciting to be part of that roster or are you quite humbled by it as well? 

I’m definitely very humbled by it. I lived in London for like two years – and when I decided to move back to Spain, the week after I got back, Darius from Slow Dance got in contact. So it’s been incredible, I admire their work so much, they work with incredible artists and it does feel humbling. And at the same time, I’m really sad that I haven’t been able to enjoy it as much this year because I know that their label really enjoys putting on live music and have got incredible artists who do incredible live music shows. But yeah, I’m excited for when that comes back. 

So if you are living in Barcelona, what is the plan when lockdowns start easing and live shows become more prevalent? Would you be willing to split your time between Spain and the UK or would feel like you needed to settle down in one space for the purpose of doing live shows? 

Lockdown has made it possible to work from anywhere so I feel very happy working from here and being able to go back and forth. I think that’s going to be the plan, to be able to combine my time but also just knowing that it is possible to work outside of the big city. I’m in the countryside at the moment, so it’s really nice to know that I can work outside of London but still dip into it and enjoy it. 

Have you got any plans for live shows in the future, or given the current situation is recorded music something you’re focusing on at the moment? 

Yeah, I’m focusing on shows, I’m rehearsing a lot for when shows come back. We’re very lucky here in Spain in that live music has been one of their priorities for the economy. So last summer I was able to play quite a few shows, all socially distanced and masked, it’s a really weird experience. But I think for this year, at least for the first part of this year, I am looking at staying put and just working on writing. 

To close, what sort of music are you listening to at the moment? 

Oh, I have to check my playlist. I have massive playlists that last for hours with loads and loads of different things. Like, I’m listening to quite a lot of Spanish music, there is a Spanish rapper called Gata Cattana and she died really young but her work was incredible. I’ve been really hooked on a London artist called Sola, she just released her debut EP. And a lot of old-school Brazillian music. 


This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length. 

Uma’s The Moth & the Dove is out April 9 via Slow Dance Records.

Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson Cast in New Martin Scorsese Film ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson have joined the cast of Martin Scorsese’s upcoming film Killers of the Flower Moon, as Deadline reports. Based on David Grann’s 2017 nonfiction book, the Apple Original Film is set in 1920s Oklahoma and focuses on the serial murders of members of the Osage Nation. Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson will play the roles of Bill Smith and Henry Grammar respectively, while the cast already includes Jesse Plemons, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert De Niro.

This marks Isbell’s first movie role; Simpson has previously appeared in films including Queen & Slim and Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die. No release date for Killers of the Flower Moon has yet been revealed.

Netflix Unveils Trailer for ‘Monster’

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Monster depicts the experience of seventeen-year-old Steve Harmon (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), an honour student whose entire world falls apart when he is charged with felony murder. The film follows his dramatic journey from a bright and likeable film student from Harlem, who attends an elite high school, to a complex legal battle that could threaten his life.

Netflix is currently trading at $547.14 on NASDAQ.

Monster is a new addition to Netflix and will be available from the 7th of May.

F/CE. Ready-to-Wear Autumn/Winter 2021

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F/CE. digitally presented their 2021 autumn-winter collection at Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo. The collection called Discipline took us to the countryside, revealing classic autumnal materials such as wool, tweed, sherpa fleece and plaid with earthy colours. We saw trench coats, duffle and parkas, as well as knitwear with different layered patterns on top of the outerwear. The other predominant designs were puffer scarves and ruffled collars. Seeing classics and the fashion film’s scenery felt quite nostalgic for the previous season; you could feel the crisp, fresh air.

Watch the runway here.

12 Best Quotes from Whiplash (2014)

Damien Chazelle’s fast-paced drama Whiplash finds its setting in the fictional New York Shaffer Conservatory, where Terence Fletcher (J K Simmons) mentors an up-and-coming jazz band with an iron fist. He’s verbally and physically abusive, but he believes that this is necessary in order to breed greatness. In his view, mediocrity is the enemy, and it is his duty to mentor the next great jazz musician.

Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller) is accepted into Fletcher’s band as a drummer, where he is subjected to extensive abuse. At first, he seems wimpy, not driven, and forgettable. Fletcher’s methods seem to spark something inside him and Andrew endures his abuse in seething anger. Obsessed with becoming someone to be remembered, Andrew pushes himself beyond his limits.

Thanks to Chazelle’s colorful screenplay, the story flows easily, tempered with humor and emotion that feels both natural and surprising. Simmons’ performance as Fletcher is particularly memorable. His character does most of the talking in the film, usually to throw out insults and spur his players (because Whiplash feels so much like a sports movie) into action. Here are twelve of the best quotes from Whiplash.

  1. Terence Fletcher: There are no two words in the English language more harmful than “good job”.
  2. Terence Fletcher: Not quite my tempo.
  3. Andrew: I’m upset!
  4. Terence Fletcher: For the record, Metz wasn’t out of tune. You were, Erickson, but he didn’t know and that’s bad enough.
  5. Terence Fletcher: I ask why you stop playing and your version of an answer was to turn into a wind-up monkey.
  6. Terence Fletcher: Parker’s a young kid, pretty good on the sax. Gets up to play at a cutting session, and he f***s it up. And Jones nearly decapitates him for it. And he’s laughed off stage. Cries himself to sleep that night, but the next morning, what does he do? He practices … And a year later, he goes back to the Reno and he steps up on that stage, and plays the best motherf***ing solo the world has ever heard. So, imagine if Jones had just said, “Well, that’s okay, Charlie … Good job.” And then Charlie thinks to himself, “Well, sh**, I did do a pretty good job.” End of story …
    Andrew: But is there a line? You know, maybe you go too far, and you discourage the next Charlie Parker from ever becoming Charlie Parker?
    Terence Fletcher: No, man, no. Because the next Charlie Parker would never be discouraged.
  7. Terence Fletcher: Now, are you a rusher, or are you a dragger, or are you going to be on my f***ing time?!
  8. Andrew: Hey, you know, f*** off, Johnny Utah! Turn my pages, b*tch!
  9. Terence Fletcher: Oh, my dear God. Are you one of those single tear people?
  10. Terence Fletcher: Neiman, you earned the part.
  11. Andrew: I’d rather die drunk, broke at 34, and have people at a dinner table talk about me than live to be rich and sober at 90 and nobody remember who I was.
  12. Terence Fletcher: Either you’re deliberately out of tune and sabotaging my band, or you don’t know you’re out of tune, and that’s even worse.

Album Review: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, ‘G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END!’

Despite the wordless grandeur of their music, Godspeed You! Black Emperor don’t leave too much up to the listener’s imagination. You might be able to flesh out some of the details, but the world it occupies is always riddled by unending wars, political unrest, environmental catastrophe – and it always ends up in flames. The Canadian post-rock collective, which has earned a fair amount of acclaim despite operating in near-total obscurity since its inception in 1994, doesn’t need lyrics to channel a sense of impending doom and apocalyptic dread, but they often use statements to provide the necessary context for their albums: on their previous LP, Luciferian Towers, it was fire (“we recorded it all in a burning motorboat”); now, writing about their seventh full-length, the specifics seem unsurprisingly harder to recall: “we wrote it on the road mostly,” the note begins, “when that was still a place.” While the content once again points to a dystopian future (“this record is about all of us waiting for the end, all current forms of governance are failed”), the parallels to the current state of the world are made clear: “these are death-times and our side has to win.”

There’s always been a revolutionary undercurrent to the band’s output, which has become increasingly political without losing its aura of mystery – two qualities that demarcate them from their peers in the genre. Rather than distancing themselves from the increased pertinence of their ideas in a time of unprecedented uncertainty, they deliver their radical message with even more weight and urgency on G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END, their first album in four years. Expanding on the melodic elements that ran through Luciferian Towers but leaning more firmly on the fury and power of their earlier work, it might be one of their most immediately impactful and downright beautiful efforts to date – propelled by a new dynamism that’s less the result of timing than careful refinement of craft.

But to pick apart what differentiates State’s End from the rest of the band’s discography is to ignore the one thing that’s crucially remained a constant: the terrifying thrill of listening to those foreboding arrangements – marked by dense layers of pummeling drums, soaring guitars, and lofty crescendos – never goes away. Some critics might be so bold as to compare its visceral impact to Zack Snyder’s Justice League, though one could also make a similar case with another cinematic universe that’s occupied a space in popular culture in recent years – the slow-burning horror of A24 films like Midsommar and The Lighthouse. It’s a sound that can be described in a hundred different metaphors as overused as the most tired of post-rock tropes, but Godspeed masterfully take those familiar forces, the perpetual cycle of build-up and release, and transmute them into something rich and all-encompassing.

G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END is further proof of that, but feels in some ways more rewarding than their latest material. Comprised of four pieces, two longer and two shorter, the album utilizes cryptic spoken-word passages and soundclips from shortwave radio to set an apocalyptic scene, but it’s the music itself that does the heavy lifting. The longer pieces are sprawling and ambitious, building to roaring climaxes filled with promise and rays of optimism; the shorter ones are mournful and meditative, floating through the cloud of cacophony with a kind of elegiac solemnity. Again, the formula is familiar, but the album ventures ever so slightly beyond it as it progresses, reaching a hopeful denouement their music had previously only gestured at. The title of the final track might assert that ‘OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.)’, but the previous piece already invoked a sense of triumph and victory. And yet, for an act so adept at evoking the feeling of an ending, State’s End‘s biggest surprise is that it leaves us with the glimpse of a new beginning. This battle may have been won, they seem to suggest, but it’s bound to start all over again.